Posted by Cadet Teresina Jason Christine Tanner (Engineer) in Pre Sim - Quarters Chat
They had reported to the Chief Engineer, followed by the Chief Medical Officer and then a Counselor.

“Okay so who is the spunk?” TJCT let the photograph go and let it land in the hand of her roomie.

TJCT had hoped that her roomie would let things lay but it seemed that, that wasn’t going to happen. She has two choices. Ignore her, or talk to her.

“Come on roomie, you’ve gotta give me something?” She pushed TJCT’s legs back towards the wall and wedged herself onto the lower bunk. “I won’t repeat anything you say.”

“He is my husband to be. On my home planet, marriages are arranged. This is Daytona Savage, he is currently one of the planets CDF Colonel’s.”

TJCT glanced at her roomie and rolled her eyes at the expression on her face. “Yes you heard me correctly. On Coolac, once a girl child reaches three they are mated with a child of the opposite gender. Females get mated at three. Males at five. The powers that be expect the marriage to take place once the female is twenty. Unless there is a reason, such as the girl manages to leave Coolac.”

“Which you managed?”

“I was lucky enough to be part of a repair crew which went to the aid of a Hirogen ship, the ship became the target of another Hirogen ship, whose captain, wanted the role of Hirogen Alpha. We got dragged into the battle. I killed the other Captain, which got me granted membership to the Hirogen network. I crewed with them for a couple of years before I joined Starfleet. I am unofficially as far as the Hirogen crew are concerned the sister of the regions Hirogen Alpha. Should I go back to Coolac, I’ll be forced to marry Savage.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Marriages are expected to increase the population. It’s not the getting pregnant that’s the problem, it’s the looking after the kid that is. I’m CDF whether I’m on Coolac or elsewhere. Kids are trained from two.”

“What does Savage say or want?”

“Me back, as his wife and back within his CDF unit.”

“When you say mated, what do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean?” It wasn’t a question. TJCT knew how it sounded, and given the pair were to marry the powers to be didn’t see any problems with it. It was meant to create a bond. A bond which saw the male dominate the female and take the lead role.

“Does Starfleet visit Coolac?”

“Yes, for shore leave and repairs.” TJCT answered. “Coolac has different sections the entire planet is ice, snow and a temperature range of minus zero centigrade through to minus twelve centigrade. There are hot ponds in the caves and underground cities.” She didn’t go into defense or offense or what species used Coolac.

Cadet Teresina Jason Christine Tanner

“So tell me more about Coolac?”

At least she hadn’t asked anything about the mating process. At least not yet.

“There are seven active Volcanoes, around them are lakes, caused by the melting ice. Too hot to swim in, but they feed the hot ponds which are in the caves outside the main underground cities. Most of the people live in the underground cities, but there are some that live outside the city boundaries, which means no power unless they’re tapped into the volcanic hot water. There are plenty of tourist spots where people can stay in igloos, some of the population lives in them. Those which repair ships etc are based outside the cities and make do with what they can. We have..... my parents that is have two Warp Cores and use them for power. We’re about five hours out from the nearest city, which means five hours from the main market, and two hours from the tech market. We have a wind which picks up at different times and can turn everything white and unless you’re trained you can get easily lost and death can be very quick.”

“Transporters?”

TJCT snorted. “no chance in hell. Either the ships land or shuttles are used. Coolac has a mineral called ‘ZDP5523900AQ1’ which stops transporters and other energy items from working. PADDs drain in minutes. Tricorders drain in ten minutes. Phasers drain in thirteen minutes. We’ve created special pads for landing shuttles on, which keeps them from being drained. Ships use larger pads, otherwise in hours they’ll be dead, and become salvage pieces.”

“How does the warp cores stay active?”

“They are buried a certain depth into the planet itself and that keeps them from being drained. Which is why everyone living and working on Coolac have turned time backwards. We have large sectors for tourists who want to experience life without so much technology.”

“What about scanning the planet from orbit?”

“Forget it. Nothing shows up.”

“Replicators?”

“Nope. What we eat we grow, whether plant, greenery, vegetables, fruit, animals. We get a lot of traders.” TJCT answered.

“What about other species wanting what Coolac has?”

“They come up against the CDF.”

“And what happens?”

“Usually they die, unless the council orders the females to go into the population program. Sometimes they are sold to slavers.” TJCT watched the expressions flutter across her face. “Come on you aren’t going to tell me you didn’t know they existed?”

“I thought they were tales.”

TJCT snorted. “As false as AYK-884229-BETA doesn’t exist.” She thought about the weirdest thing she knew about, and AYK was it.

“What is AYK-884229-BETA?”

“A planet in the same cluster as Coolac.” TJCT answered

“So are you telling me about the mating bit you’re avoiding or AYK?”

Teresina sighed. She could ask why she wanted to know. The dictionary definition of mating was having sex. Which really should explain everything. Except on Coolac it didn’t. AYK in her opinion was far more interesting, but she really didn’t want to talk about either. She looked at her roomie’s face and immediately knew she wasn’t going to let either go. The grumbling of her stomach interrupted her choice. “Lunch, then maybe one or the other, if you don’t bring any or either of it up outside of these rooms.”

“Done.”

Cadet TJCT - Engineering