08-11-2026, 11:29 PM
For all her confidence, and there were absolutely times when it appeared boundless, Mara was still happy just to sit back and learn when it was appropriate to do so. And this seemed like one of those moments. It didn’t phase her in the least that the ‘teacher’ in this case was one of her closest friends, because Aeryn was giving a great demonstration of how to handle planetary survey. Sovar too had a scientific background and between the two of them there was a lot for the Bandaran to take in.
This is absolutely the kinda thing I need exposure to. It’s way outta my usual comfort zone but I need to know how it works.Ops and Tactical are close enough that I got transferable skills. This science stuff? Nope. Well. Not yet, anyway.
Calleja saw the First Officer had zeroed in on her, and she turned to meet his gaze.
“I understand that Lieutenant Junior Grade Krid gave you some…” There was a tactful pause from the Commander. “...sass during your last watch? In return, you have been quoted as delivering some colourful repartee; specifically an expletive that I am unfamiliar with. A compound of two nouns with a euphonious quality despite its crudeness? Being a Tellarite, Krid was initially upset regarding the exchange, but I now understand he has added your word to his lexicon.”
There was a faint smirk on Mara’s lips at that.
“Dare I ask what the word meant? Or should I be happy that Krid only received the verbal reprimand rather than your physical presence?”
The Security Chief chuckled quietly.
“I mean, most swearin’ is just various words meanin’ genitals, right?” she replied. “Us humans got so many words for those bits o’ the anatomy an’ most of them are taboo to someone. Me personally, I go for the weight o’ the word.”
There was a smile on her lips as Mara spoke. A lot of people made the mistake of believing that, just because she was often brutally direct with her turn of phrase, the Amazonian woman didn’t know better. But she really did. Use of language was an interest of hers and now Sovar had unwittingly let the genie out of the bottle.
“A sharp one syllable curse just comes across as nasty,” she continued. “I’d still use a curse though, an’ the reason I do that is shock value, especially up ‘ere. Most people take a second, thinkin’ they can’t ‘ave heard what they thought they just did, an’ that lets me speak. You add another couple syllables to that curse, then there’s added insult an’ ridicule to it. I call him a twat, that probably comes back on me for bein’ crude. I call him a useless catastrofuck of a man, then there’s a pretty good chance others are gonna laugh at that. An’ they did, meanin’ it smarted a lot more, an’ the admonishment is gonna stick with him. He’ll think twice before takin’ me on a second time, which for me is job done. So there’s method behind the madness.”
The feral smile returned.
“Well. Usually, anyway,” she finished.
== Back atcha boss! ==
This is absolutely the kinda thing I need exposure to. It’s way outta my usual comfort zone but I need to know how it works.Ops and Tactical are close enough that I got transferable skills. This science stuff? Nope. Well. Not yet, anyway.
Calleja saw the First Officer had zeroed in on her, and she turned to meet his gaze.
“I understand that Lieutenant Junior Grade Krid gave you some…” There was a tactful pause from the Commander. “...sass during your last watch? In return, you have been quoted as delivering some colourful repartee; specifically an expletive that I am unfamiliar with. A compound of two nouns with a euphonious quality despite its crudeness? Being a Tellarite, Krid was initially upset regarding the exchange, but I now understand he has added your word to his lexicon.”
There was a faint smirk on Mara’s lips at that.
“Dare I ask what the word meant? Or should I be happy that Krid only received the verbal reprimand rather than your physical presence?”
The Security Chief chuckled quietly.
“I mean, most swearin’ is just various words meanin’ genitals, right?” she replied. “Us humans got so many words for those bits o’ the anatomy an’ most of them are taboo to someone. Me personally, I go for the weight o’ the word.”
There was a smile on her lips as Mara spoke. A lot of people made the mistake of believing that, just because she was often brutally direct with her turn of phrase, the Amazonian woman didn’t know better. But she really did. Use of language was an interest of hers and now Sovar had unwittingly let the genie out of the bottle.
“A sharp one syllable curse just comes across as nasty,” she continued. “I’d still use a curse though, an’ the reason I do that is shock value, especially up ‘ere. Most people take a second, thinkin’ they can’t ‘ave heard what they thought they just did, an’ that lets me speak. You add another couple syllables to that curse, then there’s added insult an’ ridicule to it. I call him a twat, that probably comes back on me for bein’ crude. I call him a useless catastrofuck of a man, then there’s a pretty good chance others are gonna laugh at that. An’ they did, meanin’ it smarted a lot more, an’ the admonishment is gonna stick with him. He’ll think twice before takin’ me on a second time, which for me is job done. So there’s method behind the madness.”
The feral smile returned.
“Well. Usually, anyway,” she finished.
== Back atcha boss! ==