Chief Rokuua had made his way back to the holodeck for another round with his Bat'leth. He had just done an inspection of the troop he was borrowing from the Marine division and while they weren't sloppy by any respect they were quick to break discipline. Half of them thought this assignment was a waste of time and there was no real danger to justify the Federation being used as a glorified taxi; the other half didn't even think that the Romulans deserved our help given their history of slavery and murder. Rok leaned towards the second camp, these folks lost their home world sure, but if they were hated within their own quandrant then it was their own damn fault.
He decided to fight against the Klingon's today. He had a great program where he would get jumped by a gang of Klingon's on the streets of their home world and he'd have to fight them off. It was one of his more entertaining programs because he got to play the noble warrior harassed by common filth. He thought for a moment and realized that he doesn't have any Romulan programs. He snmirked, that race was known for cheating, not for fighting. If he was going to design a holo-fight with them he'd had to prepare himself to be the fool, where he'd be led to trust some ugly Romulan and follow them to an inescapable room; then there'd be twenty of the bastards hiding somewhere and they'd pop out with phasers. Come to think of it, maybe he would prepare the program, it might be fun to mop the floor with a bunch of Romulans.
The thought hit him, was this Senator some kind of set-up? He wouldn't put it past them, though he couldn't imagine why. Romulans were sticky in the best circumstances and now with the Empire fallen and independent agents reaching for power who knows what insidious machinations might be afoot.
Rok stepped into the Holosuite after his program was loaded and took a few test swings with his Bat-leth. He grinned a reptilian grin as the streets of Kronos took shape around him. If this Senator was setting up the ship for something he'd prepare for it. When it came to Romulans it was wise to never trust the one who says they're your enemy, and double never trust the one who says they're your friend.
Chief Engineer Horst & Lt. Commander Lox
Conaar Lox was working in Engineering inspecting the relays for their photon torpedo bays when Chief Engineer Horst came over. "Need any help?" he said awkwardly, his hands clasped behind his back. He was trying to be friendly with the Trill but he wasn't sure how to begin.
Lox looked up, "well no, not really," he smiled, "I've only been doing this for a number of years now."
"Don't ya mean centuries?" Horst said with a conspiratorial nod. Lox took a moment to consider his response, he determined the man probably didn't realize that was rude.
This could be fun, Lox thought.
"My symbiote has never done this kind of work before actually," he said as he began to scan to panel, "I lived most of my life in the breeding pools on our home world. I was granted the permission to become joined as a special request so I could know what it was like before I passed of natural old age." He remained focused on his work.
Horst swayed back and forth on his heels, opening and closing his mouth, unsure of what to say but still he felt drawn to try and make friends with this new, strange crew-mate. "Yeah I've bred before..."
"Excuse me?" Lox stopped his work to look at his companion in the face. Horst turned bright red.
"I mean Romulans, huh? They've been trouble to Starfleet for ages. Maybe they'll be able to rebuild into something better this time, something peaceful." The Engineer smiled at his recovery.
Lox smiled and bent back to the relay, "I hope so as well. Life itself is precious and being militant and selfish would only loose more life when they don't have much left to lose. But they aren't the first to lose a home world, and they won't be the last. Others have recovered, they might too." He finished his work and closed the console. "There, perfect working condition. It amazes me how this vessel is so ready to fight but so beat up at the same time." He said while looking around.
"You don't joke," Horst replied, "I've been able to push our warp capability to 9.6, smooth and clean as a whistle. I'd even say I could push us to 9.8 because of modifications the ship has in her core but her thermal exhaust modulators are Cardassian, Cardassian!? Can you believe it? Well, Cardassian equipment should work fine but it's definitely not up to Starfleet standards, how they missed it in the inspection at port I have no idea."
Horst smiled expectantly at his new friend, but Lox only smiled blankly back.
"Whelp," he said awkwardly, "I'll see you around Chief, good talking to you," and he walked off.
Horst watched him walk away, thinking about everything he did wrong in the conversation. He took a deep breath and then opened up the console the Lt. Commander was just working on and began addressing the things he saw the Trill miss.