Saying Hello in Many Different Ways

Posted on Wed Sep 19th, 2018 @ 6:56pm by Ensign Nadia Jiaying & Lieutenant Grayson Hawk

1,167 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 0 - Christening of Legacy and Crew Arrival
Location: The Mess
Timeline: 2261.185 Off-Duty

Having reported in to everyone he could think of and been assigned quarters where, he was sure, his belongings were piled in a heap, Grayson entered the Officers' Mess and stopped short just inside the door. Ships were the same in some respects and different in others. He wished that he could just fast-forward through the whole process of being 'new' but that wouldn't be happening. He stepped to the side as someone came in just after him and said, in a polite British accent, "Pardon. My first day aboard and I'm afraid, I've been gawking a bit."

Nadia was wearing her usual outfit when outside of her quarters. Black knee high leather boots, her black leather skirt and her tunic with the red collar showing her department. Her PaDD was out like usual and she was reading some papers on the etymology of some Latin words. Looking up Nadia noticed a man taking her glasses off revealing her sapphire blue eyes. "Gawking, huh? Should I call security?" She asked hoping that her dry sense of humor came off.

Grayson smiled politely and bowed. "At your service," he answered. "Grayson Hawk. Assistant Chief of Security."

"Nadia Jiaying, communications officer." Nadia said noticing that he didn't pick up on her humor. "If you would like you join me lieutenant?"

"Pleasure," he said and then added, "I'd love to join you."

He followed the lieutenant and made himself a cup of tea; he would have pulled her chair out for her but she'd already seated herself. Starfleet wasn't much for old-world manners but some lessons died hard. He took a seat across from her then occupied himself removing the tea bag and placing it on the saucer. He preferred his tea strong with a touch of milk and while it wouldn't have been his first choice, it was nevertheless good.

Nadia turned off her PaDD and took a sip of her tea. ".....so security?"

"Yes, I am," he said. He held the teacup by its handle, pinched between thumb and index finger, and the took a sip. "And your Communications. May I inquire what you are reading?"

"A paper on dead Earth languages along with some etymology of some of the words." Nadia said simply knowing that whenever that she spoke about this a) people struggled to follow her and b) they got bored.

Hawk nodded as he listened. "Latin being dead, no longer in use as a native language, versus a language like Hebrew which was becoming extinct, with no one actually speaking it, until it was revived. I read an article once about Ben-Yehuda's daughter. She had been taught Hebrew by her father and was actually corrected by a store clerk for not speaking Hebrew correctly. The store clerk spoke Hebrew but mixed with idioms and bits of other languages. Whereas the daughter spoke pure Hebrew." He grinned as he added, "my grandmother swears that she's leading the charge to prevent proper English from going extinct."

"I think dead is misleading. Yes it's not being spoken like it was but we still use it to help us understand almost all Western languages. And like with you said Hebrew yes the ancient Hebrew is becoming extinct but it is evolving and surviving. Which I think Latin did as it became the root of almost all Western languages."

"And I thought that was the textbook definition of 'dead' ... one that isn't spoken day to day. I know we tried back at school to speak in Latin. Quite hard to do." He cocked his head slightly to one side as he considered the rest of what she had said. "How can a language be 'going extinct' but also evolving and surviving. Ancient Hebrew is more the language of prayer and I agree, also not spoken in the day to day, though the more modern form of the language, with all its idioms, is alive and well."

Nadia looked at the man. "My interoperation of extinct is different. Things need to die to allow them to evolve like Latin helping form the languages of the Western world. Or how ancient Hebrew has survived by evolving into what it is today. But I also believe those languages shouldn't be forgotten."

"Agreed on not being forgotten," he said and paused a moment to take another sip of tea. "However, I tend to think that modern Hebrew is a separate thing to ancient, biblical Hebrew or so, one of my mates from the Academy informed me. Biblical Hebrew remains as it is. The language of the Torah and of prayer while modern Hebrew evolves and grows as any living language will."

"That's fair," Nadia said looking at the man finding him a very intriguing security personnel. "May I ask why security? You seem very different than most security officers I have met."

Hawk chuckled as he set his cup back on its saucer. "Not the typical knuckle-dragging grunt, eh? I wanted to serve and to see what's out here. I'm endlessly curious about space all the way back to when I'd watch the stars with my mate and his father. At the Academy, given my background and test scores, they steered me toward Security." He shrugged slightly. "I didn't fight the idea. Protecting others is a noble way to explore the vastness of space."

Nadia nodded realizing that's pretty much how it happened for her and how she ended up as a communications officer. Even if she hadn't gone into the Academy she would have either taught or found a position that would've required her skill set. "It's nice to see that you're not the typical mold of the security officer."

"Not typical though I've been called predictable now and again," Hawk said with a slight chuckle. "I generally see that as an insult. Surest way my Mum had for getting me to do something different. Say I was predictable."

"Being predictable isn't a bad thing especially in your line of work." Nadia said finishing up her tea.

"Being predictable is a terrible thing in my line of work," Hawk said dryly. "Less of a target that way. I worked that out for myself."

"I guess that is true," Nadia said now thinking about it, ".....but predictable in the sense of knowing that you or someone in your department well always be here to make sure that the crew is safe is something is a good thing to predictable at."

"In that, I'm entirely reliable, I promise you," Hawk said, right hand over his heart, "though," he added with a barely noticeable wink, "I may be a tad unpredictable in the way I choose to arrive and offer that help."

Nadia nodded. Predicable unpredictable didn't matter to her as long as jobs got done. "It was nice meeting you but I need to go get some sleep."

He rose as she did, through long-ingrained habit, and nodded politely in response. "The pleasure was mine." He waited until she had departed than resumed his seat.

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