A Little Help

Posted on Sat Apr 15th, 2023 @ 3:33pm by Lieutenant Rebecca McMillen & Captain Natalya Markova

Mission: The Interim
Location: Mess Hall

ON

Okay so the best part about the few hours she had been here so far as all the super friendly people. Everyone was so helpful and they overlooked her condition so easily. Well, overlooked might not have been the best word, since it sounded like the punchline to a joke. The only issue was that if she was to continue serving, she would either have to get used to relying on the help of others constantly, or request the installation of ramps and start working on her stamina and cardio.

Case in point, the mess hall. All the replicators were up there, and while she could work the math to get the food to her, that then left her on the floor. She didn't want to start abusing the site-to-site beaming protocols without the Captain's approval, so until then... she'd settle for....

"Ummm, excuse me? Ummm, little help here?" she called up to the looming figures walking around her diminutive frame. "Ummm, hey, hi, I'm the n..." and they just kept walking, no one paying much mind to the two inch tall squeaky girl on the floor.

Nat stopped dead in her tracks. She had been heading in for a bite to eat, and lose herself amongst the commotion of the lounge. Something was off. Different.

Trained to ignore the din of a battlefield, Nat tilted her head slightly. Her focus drifted into the distance, as she searched the sounds. It was... odd. Both above, and below the cacophony. Glancing around, Nat didn't see anything at first, then she looked down.

There, on the floor, maybe three meters away was ... a person? Perfectly proportioned, yet no taller than her pinky finger. Nat approached slowly, carefully. Her knees bent, and the Marine hunched down, resting on the balls of her feet.

She surveyed the tiny figure, intrigued and amused, though tried to keep a straight face. "You okay?"

Rebecca stopped, and looked up, and up, and up at Nat. Whoa...

"I'm... I mean other than being a little late to lunch yes. Yes ma'am." she corrected. "Okay so, long story short, I'm waiting on my quarters to be outfitted to accommodate, and so like a hungry fool I said to myself 'I'll just head to the mess hall and see if I can get someone to help me', but you are literally the first person to look DOWN in five minutes, maybe ten." she vented, it was so adorable seeing someone so small be so .... so MAD.

"So, Hi. My name's Rebecca, I'm the new Science Chief and I'm having a terrible moment of lack of clarity. Do you think you could help me?" she asked. Learning to ask for help was tough, but it was a lesson Rebecca had to learn, fast. "All I need is a spot to sit and eat, and a ham and cheese sandwich. Tell the system it's for me, otherwise it'll make it the size of a California King mattress." at that, she giggled.

Nat glanced from her crouched position up to the Replicator, and reached down a hand, palm facing up. "You want a lift up?"

Rebecca followed Nat's glance upward, then back to her form. At the offer of a hand, the diminutive officer clambered up into her palm before she sat. Taking the age old posture of 'criss cross applesauce' for maximum stability.

She was so light, so nearly weightless. So small.

"Yes, please. The system knows better than to give me a plate I can't manage...I mean it should, but you know how reliable things are these days. " she joked.

Being infinitely more careful than she had ever been with anything, Nat rose back to a standing position, making sure to keep her palm as level as she could. A few commands to the Replicator, and the tray materialised, with two plates. One for a regular person, and one that looked like it might be for a doll's House, inside a doll's House.

Nat made a noise in her throat. She hadn't thought this far ahead. "You wanna ride on the tray to a table? I kind of need two hands." A sheepish, almost self conscious grin.

Rebecca was, as one would expect, the very model of politeness and a very well behaved guest. She sat, stable and with a low center of gravity during her ascent. She offered a smile as her order was keyed in. "Thank you. Oh, oh ummm, yes. Yeah just move your hand near the tray and I'll transfer." she offered with a giggle. "Yeah, no need to worry about where to carry me." she moved over once she was closer to the tray. "I mean, already had a compromising run in, no need for two."

Nat let the woman off her hand and onto the tray, lifting the piece of flatware with both hands, trying not to let her worry show in a tremble. She had never had to help someone like this before, and it was rather unsettling. Casting her eyes around, the Marine selected a nearby table, taking careful steps, and finally, mercifully, setting the tray with the most minimum of impacts.

Nat let out a small breath as she sat, fixing the diminutive officer with a smile. "Safe and sound."

"Never a doubt." Rebecca said with confidence as she got to her feet and walked over to claim her proper scaled plate before heading to the edge and all but hopping over the edge of the tray to land on the table. "Whoa, okay, we're good. Rebecca sticks the landing." she giggled, and then sat down with her sandwich and her drink.

"Thank you again. You did an excellent job, if it helps your nerves, I never felt like I was in danger."

Nat smiled appreciatively. "Thank you. In the Corps, we're trained to help each other, but we also know everyone else in the unit has our back. I have never met anyone like yourself... I mean..." She screwed her eyes shut. "Sorry, mouth engages before brain sometimes."

Rebecca smiled. "It's alright, I'm used to it. And it's something I'm already expecting for folks that don't dig through the bio of everyone else on the ship." she started, taking a nibble of her sandwich first. "Are you familiar with subspace compression events? We study them to try to help unlock the transwarp puzzle. Things get compressed to a smaller size when they pass through the event, so we need to catalogue them to make sure that a ship travelling at warp doesn't pass through one and have part of their structure compressed." she explained.

"So, I was studying one, up close and very informative. The station I was ... stationed at, that sounded weird. Okay so the station I was *assigned* to came under attack, so we got the call to evacuate. The station exploded, and the shockwave threw my escape pod through the anomaly. When it was recovered, the entire pod fit in someone's hand. With me still in it. I didn't know what happened until the hatch was opened."

Nat was trying to keep up with the explanation. Science was not her strong suit, and she found herself coming up to a hard line of understanding. "So, if you're no longer in this .... subspace event ... why are you still compressed?"

"Passing through it is what does it." she responded. "If I was stranded in it, oh golly, I'd probably just shrink out of existence." she shook her head. "Not a pleasant thought. Sorry, I tend to get a bit rambley when it comes to Science. We all have our passions." she offered, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"I may not know Science." Nat admitted with a shrug. "But you ask me about any design of hand-held phaser or disruptor this side of the Bajoran Wormhole, and I'll tell you anything you need to know about it."

"Okay then, that's a deal. I need anything to do with a weapon I know who to go to." Rebecca gave a nod, smiling. "Always best to know who and where your experts are."

"And if I need any help with some science weirdness, I'll see what you know." Nat replied with a broad smile.

She giggled "Well then, this is the start of a beautiful friendship, I'd say." she paused, "And, thank you for looking down."

"Look where you're stepping, or you'll trip over your own feet." Nat said with an almost laugh.

OFF

Captain Natalya Markova, SFMC
Detatchment Commander

&

Lieutenant Rebecca McMillen, CSci
Diminutive Scientist