embarkation | First Contact {for greenstarshipping}

First Contact {for greenstarshipping}

While life had certainly been worse for the Voyager crew in the last few months, it hadn't been quite this boring, either. Captain Janeway knew it was in bad taste to complain because it was far better for her crew to contend with mostly empty space punctuated by a few disinterested planets who seemed happy to give them safe passage in exchange for minding their own business. It didn't take long for them to get passed the few inhabited planets in the sector and within a couple weeks, they were well on their way to a week of boredom.

Harry managed to track down a few anomalies here and there, but Janeway was getting the impression he was looking for anything to keep them busy. So when he excitedly announced the appearance of a distress beacon on sensors, she couldn't help the roll of her eyes and give a knowing look towards Chakotay. It could have been anything, they knew, but she had Paris change course after it immediately. Even if it proved to be nothing, and took them off course by a couple hours, it was better than the nothing they had been biding their time with.

When freighter came up on sensors, Harry confirmed once again it was a distress call. Janeway stood up, smoothing out her uniform and telling Tuvok to scan the area before she asked Harry to open up a comm channel to the freighter.

"This is Captain Janeway of the starship Voyager," she announced, hoping whoever manned the freighter would be able to respond. "We received your distress beacon. Are you in need of assistance?"

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"That's quite a story." Esteri lets out a low whistle. Stranded so far from home? She's not sure she'd have had the mental fortitude to try and make it home instead of finding someplace to just settle in with a friendly bunch of aliens. the hum of the turbolift is new, too. Nothing like the mechanical sounds of the lifts she's used to!

"I can't imagine a society without money or currency. That seems so strange to me. In the commonwealth, we have government support for people who can't work, but you're supposed to contribute in some way. Being able to put all these resources into a ship for exploration... It's fascinating." She smiles brightly. She's a military woman, but she means it. If a society can afford ships like these for science, it must be a good one, as far as she's concerned.

"I mean, there's not a lot to tell. We're a collection of planets that banded together for economic and military reasons and we mostly trade and don't make trouble. It's a nice enough place to live. I'd probably be happier if I had something to tie me down besides my work, though." Esteri shrugs, her face taking on a bit of a distant look as the turbolift hums to a stop. With no real family to hold her down, she spent much of her life wandering the spacelanes, now. An interesting life, if a bit dull at times.

"I served in the Commonwealth Space Defense Force for a while. I was a pilot," she mentions casually as they step into engineering. Any further explanation is cut off by an admiring gasp.

"That's your warp core?"

Janeway waits patiently as the turbolift smoothly moves them down to engineering, genuinely interested as Esteri talks about her background. While she loves learning about new races, she also enjoys the excitement she sees when people step foot on Voyager; she's a nice ship, and Janeway is proud of her and her crew.

"A currency based economy is just as strange to us as we are to you," Janeway notes with a smile. "But it sounds as if you have a system in place to help all members of your community. It's more than can be said for Earth hundreds of years ago."

She listens to Esteri as she recounts her personal background, making notes for future questions. When the turbolift finally opens to expose engineering, Janeway gestures to let their guest out first as she and Tuvok follow. Engineering is busy, as usual, crew members wandering around, chattering and working on diagnostics. Janeway spots B'Elanna draped over a console and waves her down.

"This is Voyager's warp core," she confirms. "And this is our Chief Engineer, B'Elanna Torres."

B'Elanna, as usual, seems irked at the interruption as she approaches them. "Captain, I'm swamped right now..." Janeway's look silences her and she sighs, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Lieutenant Torres, this is Estari Attar. We'll be helping her with repairs on her ship. Among other things."

"We do our best to help everyone. Some are more fortunate than others, though. I was lucky I was in the military or my prosthetics wouldn't be nearly as good as the ones they gave me." Esteri shakes her head. The accident that had ended her career was still a fresh sore in her memory at times. Further thoughts turned quickly to the technological marvel in front of her. She'd never seen a Warp core like this before! Usually they were broad, bulky things encased in a meter of protective shielding to make sure the radiation didn't fry the engineering crew. Torres doesn't get a salute, but she does get a curt military nod, one working woman to another.

"I don't want to interrupt if your engineer has more important things to do than look at my rust bucket, really," Esteri says sheepishly. She shoots B'Elanna a sympathetic look.

"The Doctor thought you might want to give my prosthetics a scan, but I don't want to be a bother."

"It's no inconvenience," Janeway replied with a look that was aimed more at B'Elanna than Esteri. The mention of prosthetics did seem to immediately pique the moody engineer's interest, though, and suddenly the pile of work that she had been complaining about faded into the backgound.

"These are pretty advanced," B'Elanna had admitted once she had taken a look at them. "I can run some diagnostics and make sure they are in working order." B'Elanna didn't have to add the "probably," but Janeway could pick it up in her voice. She had no doubt B'Elanna would catch on quickly to how the prosthetics worked - she was the chief engineer for a reason, after all.

She excused herself to gather diagnostic tools and Esteri was left once again with Janeway and Tuvok's silence observation. Janeway gestured to a chair for Esteri to sit down and leaned against a console, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Lieutenant Torres is one of the finest engineers I've ever worked with. She'll be able to find anything that might be wrong," she noted, nodding. Janeway had to admit, she was really curious as to what had happened to make her need the prosthetics, but she didn't want to ask. It seemed like an overly personal question and likely traumatizing, and Janeway's need to ensure her guest was comfortable outweighed her own curiosity. Instead, she decided to stick with safer subjects for the time being. "What brought you to the military to begin with?" It could have been a multitude of reasons, Janeway knew, but she wanted more background, more insight into who their new friend was.

Esteri humbly submitted to the scans and finally took a seat when Janeway offered. Really, it was nice to be able to move around a bit after spending a few days floating.

"I'm sure she will. I'm not terribly worried, though. I have the feeling they came through none the worse for wear." Although Esteri didn't technically need to stretch, she did so anyways. She arched her arms over her head with a shift of her weight, then settled again as Janeway continued to speak.

"I wanted to fly, mostly. Have since I was a kid and I was really good at it. Still am. Just not the way I used to." Ruefully, Esteri shook her head. She's mostly made her peace with her situation, but it's still not fun to think about.

"I spent a decade of my life in the SDF. Longer, if you count the academy."

"Remind me to introduce you to our helmsman. I'm sure you two will have plenty to talk about," she said with an affectionate smile. Tom was one of the many crew members she had taken under her wing, and definitely a talented pilot - the reason he was chosen for the mission that got them stranded in the Delta Quadrant in the first place. It seemed, as far as Janeway was concerned, that Esteri would fit in just fine with the crew until the time came for them to part.

"That is an admirable amount of time." She meant it; any amount of time in service to something greater than yourself was admirable to her. "Although I can't imagine you get the same kind of rush from piloting a shipping freighter than you did in during military service. I certainly wouldn't have, but I'm also not a pilot." That said, she had heard Tom complain enough when he didn't feel like he had much to do.

"Current circumstances excluded," she added with a gentle laugh. "I imagine the last few days were enough excitement for you to last a while."

"Maybe! Depends on how you fly these things..." Esteri is still staring at the warp core from time to time. She's no engineer but the damn thing is fascinating. She flexes her fingers on both hands just to make sure they're still in working condition and then pushes herself to her feet.

"Mm. Nothing like it, but that's probably a good thing. If I couldn't fly at all, I'd be miserable." She shrugs a shoulder, leaving that cryptic statement hanging in the air.

"And yes, yes. I think a nice long, quiet break from excitement is just what I want these days..."

"It depends on the ship when it comes to Starfleet. Some ships and crews are assigned to specific missions for a period of months to years, usually exploratory. Others serve more long term purposes. But in all cases, you won't find any members of Starfleet who are unhappy to spend as much time as possible on a starship - or flying one, in this case."

Members of her crew might have been excluded from that statement years ago, but a lot had changed since their arrival to the Delta quadrant. However, now Janeway would find it difficult to parse the Maquis from the Starfleet officers. They all shared a common goal and, in turn, a loyalty to a ship they were never meant to spend more than a few months assigned to, much less the next several decades.

"If you're ready to go to your quarters, I can promise to give you a more thorough tour of the warp core once you've had some rest." Janeway gestured to the door, leading her out as Tuvok continued to follow in silence. "And I would love to hear more about your past if you would be willing to share. It sounds like you come from a fascinating background."

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First Contact {for greenstarshipping}

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sorry this took a bit

same <3

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I am SO sorry, this month really got away from me