Two (Or Even Three) Heads Are Better Than One

Posted on Sun Feb 27th, 2022 @ 7:04pm by Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale

Mission: Season Two - Incidentals
Location: Kale’s Quarters

It had been two days since Lieutenants Hart and Kale returned from the planet Ketram. The Captain had told Camille Lévesque that both had been given down time, and she didn’t want to disrupt that. She was new to the ship. She was a stranger. But both were expected to return to duty today, and Camille wanted to make a point to meet both, starting with her immediate subordinate, the Assistant Chief Science Officer and their local guide in this part of the Delta Quadrant. So first thing in the morning, after getting dressed and having a quiet light breakfast in her quarters, Camille set about finding her.

“Computer, locate Lieutenant Kale.”

The computer chimed and answered. “Lieutenant Kale is in her quarters.”

True to life, Vespa was in her quarters. Cramped, but only by the virtue that she was a Dalacari. Truth be told, officer quarters were very nice, and spacious. Generally they were solo cabins, but then again, Vespa was a complete Dalacari. She was a pair.

She was going about a routine, rearranging things and making things look, for lack of a better term, prettier. Just something to occupy her time at the moment.

It was not long before the Dalacari’s door chimed. Camille had not sent word that she was coming, and part of her worried that she was being rude. Still, this was best. A bit of conversation in the morning before they both got to work. Minimal interference with daily routines.

The door chime? Who on Dalacar could it be? Vespa thought it over for a fraction of a second before realizing there was a very simple way to solve this dilemma. "Come in!" one of her forms called out, as the pair of her entirety made its way to greet their guest. As the door swished open and she saw she had a visitor, she motioned in, "Oh, well good morning. Please, please come in. I was getting around to making some breakfast when I noticed a few things out of place and..." and that was it. She stopped talking. Well, that body did.

Her other body, without missing a beat, picked up the conversation, "... started to tidy up, but a guest will help me focus. Any dietary requirements? I'd hate to feed someone food they can't eat." the file on her was true to life: Fluent conversationalist, but dizzying to speak with.

Camille grinned as she followed the train of thought between Kale’s bodies. “I don’t need anything, thank you. I’m glad to meet you, Lieutenant, and I’m looking forward to working with you. I had the pleasure of working with Dalacari anthropologists on a survey two months ago.”

Vespa gave a pair of nods before getting herselves something to eat. A breakfast consisting of sunny-side up eggs, some thin strips of steak, some bacon, and hash brown potatoes for each of them. "Oh that's excellent to hear. I hope the experience was as interesting as it sounds." she hoped. One spoke, one ate. Seemed to be the balance. "And it's very very nice to get to meet you before the ..."

"... official beginning of the shift. Always good to meet new people, and especially new co-workers. Oh this is so exciting." she said with the biggest smile on each of her forms. "So, ummm, tell me..."

"... a little about yourself?"

"Well, I'm human," Camille answered. "My first language isn't Standard and my accent sometimes causes des mots to not get translated properly, so pardonnez moi if that happens. My specialty is exobiology. Um, what else? I have a partner back in the Alpha Quadrant. She's a doctor in the Rigel System. And I need these to see." She adjusted her eyeglasses for emphasis. "What about you?"

It was Vespa's turn to smile. "Well, I'm a Dalacari. Specifically a *complete* Dalacari." she motioned between her two forms. "My first language also isn't Federation Standard. I don't have an accent but..."

"... I do have a focal shift, so there's that. It's when there's a handoff between dominant mindsets in a task or conversation. With special training that shift..."

"... can be pushed back quite a bit, but I don't have that training." she admitted. "And of course, I'd forgive you. If that's what that meant." she giggled, an odd sound and gesture that started with one form and moved over to the other.

"My primary study is exoplanetary phenomenon. Stellar events, asteroid physics, black holes, that manner of subject. I'm currently not seeing anyone." she giggled again, before her twin continued the conversation, "And we don't use the term 'Single', it's a medical condition among our people, so we just say Not seeing anyone. I also don't date outside my people."

"No offense, you're all fantastic people, it's just weird conceiving of dating Single instance life." a pause, to let that awkward moment drift away. "And my last checkup puts my senses at..."

"... par for the baseline. What you'd call 20/20. Or, I guess, 20/20 20/20?" she asked with a smirk.

"40/40?" Camille suggested, returning the smirk. "This is good. Our skill sets are complementary. Stellar phenomena and life sciences, and there are enough other scientists on the ship that surely we have experts in chemistry and materials science, as well as the soft sciences. What we used to call the humanities before that became an unnecessarily limiting term."

The suggestion brought a giggle to the Dalacari. "Quite possibly, I don't know the conversion. But I do know it's always so fascinating to see how language evolves once you meet interstellar life." she offered.

"For instance, there are so many innocent saying in Federation Standard that are just downright mean to a Dalacari. Double Time, perhaps. Or calling someone..."

"... Two Faced." she suggested with an amused air. "Such a fascinating concept, but yes, I have a feeling between you, me, and the other able minds of..."

"... Sciences, there won't be a problem we can't solve together."

"It will also be good to have someone competent to double-check each other's work," Camille said, before shifting uncomfortably on her feet. "Um, so to speak. Sorry. On my last starship assignment, my team was so small, there was no one competent enough to check my work, or bounce ideas off of, except the CMO if we were working on something biological. But another senior scientist to work with, to develop ideas, with...as they say, two heads are better than one." She stopped and cringed. "Câlisse, that was bad. I'm sorry. I'll work on that."

Vespa actually giggled. A full on giggle that consumed each of her bodies in hysterics. "Oh I love that one. Oh, no no please don't trim your vocabulary too harshly. As much as it's your part to know what a hurtful term is, it's my..."

"... part to realize that not everything is intended as hurtful. Language existed far longer than our species have been in contact, so it'd just be rude of me..."

"... to ask an entire lexicon to shift just because two new peoples meet." she offered. "Besides, I like that one. Two heads are better than one." she repeated, with a smile.

Camille joined in the smile and adjusted how her glasses sat on her face. "There's another expression you might like, which would actually be directed at me. Historically people might tease someone who wore corrective lenses like these 'four-eyes'." She cleared her throat and made a mock-serious expression. "But there will be no tolerance for something offensive to the Chief and Assistant Chief of Sciences. No, none whatsoever." She could not maintain the serious look for long and started to giggle.

Vespa gave a pair of giggles, "I can see how that might be concerning to a Dalacari." she smiled twice. "But you're right. Between you, me, and me, there's nothing we can't..."

"... accomplish. We'll conquer intolerance and ignorance and everything else." she joined in the giggle. Oh this was going to be so much fun.