Neighbors

Posted on Sun Mar 1st, 2026 @ 1:09am by Lieutenant Varkl Brukh & Lieutenant Jane Belanger Dr

1,099 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Echos on the Deck
Location: Officer's Quarters & Officer's Mess
Timeline: The morning after "Solutions"

Brukh woke before his alarm, cancelled the computer notification and went to shower and prepare for the day. While basking in the steamy mist he couldn't help but ponder. At some point today the Nausicaan fleet would arrive to... well he supposed 'negotiate' for the return of their family members would be an accurate term. Things could possibly get tense during that time, so it would be best to prepare as much as possible. Need to have damage control teams on standby, and get all power cores ready to run full for the shields and phase cannons. OPS and Tactical may want to do a few dry runs to ensure there are no bugs in the new system.

He turned off the water and dried off his furry hide before putting on a new uniform. The final touch was to pick up the uniform jacket, although he had managed to increase the ambient temperature in his quarters to a comfortable level, the rest of the station was still cool - outside of Engineering of course, those fusion engines still put out a lot of heat regardless of the dissipation system.

Finally time for breakfast, he opened the door to his quarters and found the Chief Medical Officer... what was her name again... Bell something... Grinning broadly he greeted her, "Hello Dr. it looks like we are neighbors! I was just heading down for breakfast, would you like to join me?"

Jane had stepped out of her quarters but not paying much attention. The offer caught her off guard. Why not? The day promised to be busy. If things went bad with the Nausicaans, it could get even busier in unfortunate ways. That meant she had to get Sickbay in marching order... and it wouldn't do to try and function on an empty stomach. This was the one meal she could be sure of today.

The Tellarite was the first neighbour that Jane had an opportunity to meet. Some things she'd learned about his own species rolled in her mind. Brukh was obviously making an effort to be civil on Human terms. She decided to return the favour.

"You look terrible today, Chief Brukh," she observed, feeling lame and awkward that she couldn't come up with more. "I guess I'd better make sure your breakfast choices won't send you to Sickbay, we have enough on our hands today." She broke off the pretense and sighed. "Sorry, that's all I got, Chief. Do I get points for trying?"

Brukh chuckled, "Better than most Dr. many humans can't get used to the Tellarite practice of insults as a greeting."

"I only had a couple meals from the mess hall yesterday but they seem to have a lot on offer," she added for small talk as they made their way to deck 9. "How do you like your quarters? Mine are bigger than I expected, quite comfortable too. I hope environmental settings are to your taste?"

"They are indeed quite spacious." Brukh concurred, the view out the windows is spectacular, if a bit sparse. With the station rotation I'm sure stargazing could be an interesting pastime. I did manage to get the temperature up to what I would consider normal, but elsewhere that's what the jacket is for." He replied brushing the sleeve.

This got them to the mess hall where they fell in line at the counter, as Jane preferred to have a good view of what breakfast time had to offer.

"Have you tried the melon called cant-alope? I had it for the first time yesterday, it was marvelous. The Captain said I should try some kind of toast from France today." Brukh added. "Unless there's something you would recommend?"

"I don't mind what they call an English breakfast myself... Bacon and eggs." Jane noticed he looked lost. Right. "Bacon is thin slices of fried meat. Eggs are something produced by some Earth birds that can be eaten if not fertilized to produce other birds. But..." Her eyes hovered over the dishes on display. "I don't mind something Japanese. So tasty, healthy and filling. Seaweed, rice and fish, with a great cup of hot tea or maybe two," she made her decision, no longer looking at Brukh.

"My people consider meat a delicacy. I may have it on occasion, but not regularly; for the most part we are vegetarians - from the description, that would likely include eggs." Brukh paused while Jane collected her order, then made his own request; "A whole cant-alope melon, a plate of mixed vegetable, and a large plate of toast from France, and the orange-color fruit juice.

"Toast from France? Do you mean French Toast perhaps?" the confused server inquired causing Jane to stifle a giggle.

"I believe that is what the Captain referred to..." Brukh mused looking in Jane's direction, she nodded in response. "Very well, French Toast - with extra maple syrup." While waiting for the food dispensers, he continued the conversation, "I did not get the opportunity to sample much Earth food while I was there, so this is somewhat new for me."

"How much time did you spend on Earth?" she wondered. "The Cadets' mess hall had plenty to sample, or did you stick with fare from your home world?" she ventured. There wasn't a lot of alien foods on offer on Earth the last time she was there but she would imagine that the Academy would make a big effort to suit the new trainees' needs now.

"I was on Earth for almost one of your years when the academy first started accepting all Federation cadets. The course was for Andorian, Tellarite and Vulcan volunteers to acclimate each culture to working with each other." Brukh explained, "the Vulcans didn't participate as much, they prefer to keep their own ships rather than integrate at this point. There may come a time however when they will need to break that habit."

Their meals arrived and they found a nearby unoccupied table. Jane started handling her sticks, which took some explaining too. Brukh watched her handling the delicate eating implements with curiosity before picking up his own normal tools and digging into his own meal. "So what did you do before this new adventure?" he asked between mouthfuls.

They knew each other a bit better by the time their breakfast was over. Jane headed to Sickbay, still chuckling inwardly over the Tellarite's gusto with Human food. Brukh sure had an appetite and she wouldn't mind learning some more about his customs.

Lt Jane Belanger, MD
CMO
Sentinel Station
and
Lt. Varkl Brukh
C-Eng
Sentinel Station

 

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