Posted by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Vaughn (XO) in Promenade- A Side Sim Toveka nodded and listened as she watched him cook. Perhaps some night she would return the favor and cook a meal for him. “You said you helped prepare for the fight with the Borg. Yet you are not old enough, so it would seem to me, to have done so.” She tilted her head slightly and looked at him a bit closer. There was something in the way he told the story that made her realize there was more to the man before her than she first thought. One did not simply ask how old another person was, though it was on her mind. Instead, she asked the other question she was thinking, and hoped the rest of her curiosities, in time, would be fulfilled. “So what are we making, and what else can I do to help?” : : : : : : : : She moved off the stool she was on and came around the table to stand by the stove, the better to watch what he was doing. She was becoming more curious about the quiet Strategic Officer as they went along. : : : : : : : : Lt JG Toveka Brine : : : : Science : : : : : : Gunny was stirring the vegetables and getting them nice and tender. Then he added stock to the pan with a sizzle. At her statement he could not help himself, he began laughing, it was a belly laugh moving through his entire frame, deep and vibrant, and she was likely the second person on the station to have actually heard it. Turning the heat up a bit, he turned back from the pot towards where she was standing. “Answering your thoughts in reverse order. “ Tapping the pot he had been cooking in, “Winter Squash, and Lentil Stew,” With a glance at the second pile of ingredients. “That stuff is destined to become dessert, Double chocolate Zucchini bread, well once we mix everything together and put it in the oven. If you want to find a loaf pan, from over there” Gunny pointed at a cabinet just a dozen or so feet away. : : : : : : Gunny reached for the bowl of lentils and squash, and a third yet unidentified vegetable, and added all 3 to the pot. Then deftly set the bowl to the side and affixed the lid to the pressure cooker, sealing it to let it do its magic. With that completed he turned and moved back to the table. =^=Set Timer 12 Minutes, Lentil Stew=^= the computer gave a warble to show it had done as requested and a timer appeared on the counter they were working on with the Label of the Dish below it. “To you original train that you were too polite to actually ask. As humans, of which I am not, rate things I look to be around 35, I stay in great shape, that too makes me look younger. My hair is still without grey or white, that also helps. But much to your surprise I am sure, I am over a Century and a half, and all but about 17 years of that I have spent in the SFMC, moving from assignment to assignment. There is not an officer on the General staff that I did not know as an knobby kneed, wet eared shave tail 2nd John.(2nd Lieutenant), that is why I seem to know so much, I have had a lot of time to learn. And if nothing kills me, I am not sure how far this road will go.” Gunny stated fairly flatly, it was without boast, or arrogance, just someone giving facts. To him it was natural and normal, he was after all El Aurian, and his people lived a long long time, well those that were left. The great listeners had been all but deafened by the Borg. : : : : : : Master Gunnery Sargent Ransom, SOO : : : : Toveka was unable to school the surprise on her face. “I had not read your file and didn’t think you were anything but human. Then for your age, I admit, you ‘do’ look good. I am sure it surprises many from your past to see you nearly unchanged from when they first knew you.” She was moving now towards the destination cabinet to get the requested loaf pans for dessert. Being quite fond of chocolate, Toveka was keen to the idea of such being dessert. But she admitted to herself that the idea of chocolate and zucchini in a bread was something she would never have considered. : : : : Coming back with the desired pans, she set them on the table. “And I admit, while I will not live nearly as long as you have, or will, I am glad to have your past experiences as reference points for the Captain and the crew. I am sure it puts this station at a great advantage to not have to constantly rely on computers for all knowledge. Sometimes what is written isn’t always all the facts, or even those in the right order.” She wasn’t overly familiar with the Borg other than the warnings and trainings everyone receives in the Academy. The idea this man had not only helped Earth and the Fleet to fight them, but to overcome then, put him higher in her mind. Not many long lived races shared knowledge like that. They believed if the species survived, as they had, they were worthy… if not, then then simply weren’t ready. : : : : Lt JG Toveka Brine : : Science : : Gunny shrugged, “Only in some matters, I am not much of a history expert, but I am a repository on the different ways a single individual can inflict damage to other beings or structures. There are things I have yet to learn, like ship to ship combat. That is a far more complex idea than I had imagined it to be. Not the same as lying motionless for hours waiting for the perfect shot. It is so much easier when it is just you and the target, a silent game of waiting, and anticipating. The math involved in ship maneuvering makes little sense to me.” Which if looked at on the onset or overall was actually quite humorous since Gunny could calculate ballistics on the fly in multiple ways with a few dozen different calculable variables. It was the application not the mechanics that confused the man. “And my age is not readily available in my file. My people are not often open about how old we are, and there are relatively few of us left. Like yours, we are a people without a home. Where you faced the Hobus event, we were driven out by the Borg. That is why we know them so well. Many of us that remained have joined or aided Starfleet over the years. I have heard rumors one of us even made it to Captain once.” Gunny began adding items to the mixing bowl to make the bread that he had mentioned it would need longer in the oven, but should be hot ready and gooey when they were done eating the Lentils. : : Master Gunnery Sargent Ransom, Strategic Operations. At his comment of ship maneuvering eluding him, Toveka smiled. “I don’t understand it, either. Sometimes I think the small fighter ships can move counter to how they are supposed to.” She settled on the stool and watched him make the bread. It was a unique thing for her, to talk to someone this intimately. He was the first one she had spoken to this way in many years. It felt nice, despite not even being aware of what it was doing to bolster her self esteem. “As to your age, we are a race that is long lived, though perhaps not as long as yours. And many of us never look our age, even at the end.” Another thought, slightly dampening her thoughts, crossed her mind. “I would imagine it’s hard to find folks to speak with that don’t make you feel like you’re talking to a child.” She realized her statement probably included herself at many points. She tried to redeem her presence with her final comment before falling silent. “We are both people without a home, from different sides of the galaxy, who ended up on a small floating city. Perhaps we have more in common than you think.” She watched him finish mixing the bread and putting it in the pans. Toveka Science

Gunny shook his head at the comment about people being like children, and then sighed at the people without a home comment. That was the truth of the matter, the Romulan people, the El Aurian People, we both a people that no longer had a home world. Nothing would change or replace that.

“We definitely have more in common than people would think. We both are intelligent, inquisitive, indirectly interrogative, and introspective. This floating City, is home, at least it is for me now, I do not think there will be another assignment I accept when it is time to be done here. Maybe it is time to completely shift my Paradigm. As for the child thing, not really, I know people with as many years as I, that are still children. When you accept an adult’s role, and act as an adult, then I see you as one, if you never do, then you will forever be a child.”

Master Gunnery Sargent Hunter J. Ransom, Strategic Operations