JPL ~ Lt Entek & Lt sh'Thrass ~ "We Can Say: We're Just Two Friends"

Posted on 241505.17 @ 9:34pm by Lieutenant Katilya Entek MD, PsyD & Lieutenant Zhyalla sh'Thrass

Katilya had decided to take a moment out of paperwork and reading personnel files, in preparation for the annual psych evaluations, to head aboard the space station and take advantage of the short amount of shore leave the crew had been granted. Heading along the main promenade of the space station she ducked her head and covered her face as best she could to avoid the uncomfortable states. There was, on occasion, times she wished she could rip every feature that made her what she was from her face and fit in, truly feel like she belonged. She shook the thought from her head; she'd been around these people too long. Flicking her hair back she met the gaze of a passing officer that had decided staring was acceptable. She was torn, part of her wanted to go and knee the man in the crotch, but that would just land her in trouble with security. Instead, she winked and smiled, watching the man squirm and move on quickly.

Turning the corner and passing through the sliding doors she entered one of the bars. The lighting was darker than the main promenade but the blue skinned, orange tipped hair Andorian was still unmistakably distinguishable at the bar. Katilya smiled, their first encounter had amused her greatly. Sidling over she dropped on arm onto the bar and looked at the Andorian. "Struggling to work out which neon drink you fancy today?" She asked, noticing the woman was without.

"The neon ones don't get you sloshed enough, and I'm on leave," Zhyalla answered before she looked over to see who'd sat down. "Beside, I have a holographic AI to look forward to when I return to the ship. Someone decided that playing around with a holoprogram to fly a ship was a good use of R'n'D's resources. Based upon the reputations attached to the names on the project, I wish it wasn't against regs to be drunk on duty. It'll likely help..." The Andorian woman leaned forward, placing her forehead on the interface in the bartop the lit up her features with the listing of drink specials.

"Not liking the idea of a hologram that can fly? Like a really fancy autopilot, no?" Katilya asked with interest as she waved at the bartender, pointed to a bottle of dull amber liquid and held up two digits. "Well, getting drunk on duty probably isn't a good idea for the whole career, thing, but we can drink now." As if her words had been timed to perfection, the bartender placed two drinks in front of them and shuffled off. "Get those down you, and tell me all about it. I'm a counsellor, you know." She teased with a smile.

Zhyalla rolled her head to the side, looking up at the Cardassian woman with a sceptical arch of her eyebrow, and a curious quirk of her antennae. Her gaze fell to the two glasses of booze that sat next to her on the bartop, then she slid one back at the stone colored woman. "We drink together."

Katilya inclined her head and shrugged a little; she picked up the glass and necked the drink back. She coughed, not expecting the rough burn of the alcohol to set fire to the back of her throat quite as much as it was. "Oh, wow! That's... Bad," she choked and laughed a little. The petite Cardassian waved at the bartender for two more. "Your turn." She said with a sing-song quality to her voice.

"You say that like you doubt I can keep up with you," Zhyalla accused, collecting her glass. She raised her head and gulped down the contents in one smooth move, slamming the glass on the bar top as their refills arrived. The bar tender removed the empties without a word and the Andorian grinned at him. "I'll have you know that I've drunk large Klingons under tables. A Nausicaan once too." She collected her fresh glass and gestured with it as she spoke.

Katilya laughed and watched the Andorian with interest as she knocked back the drink with ease. "Oh really? That must be some story... I meant what I said the first time we met, you really don't seem like a helm officer." The petite Cardassian watched for a reaction not breaking the gaze of her golden eyes as she toyed with her second drink.

"Andorians in the fleet are weird, which you wouldn't expect for a founding race of the Federation, would you?" Zhyalla insisted with a grin, raising her fresh glass in salute. She took half a moment to look closer at her drinking companion before she emptied the new glass.

Katilya smiled, "crazy, right? But it's more than that... You only seem to give half the story." She shrugged it off but kept eye contact as she knocked back the second drink. "Another?" She asked more rhetorically than anything else as she waved for more drinks. "So, why you hating on the hologram?"

"I'm not hating it, I just don't want to be a Jenny hen for some bored R'n'D bee, and I'm supposed to treat this new autopilot like it's crew. Instead of beetle reports, I have to sit it down and discuss its performance with it before sending feedback to the project handlers." Zhyalla shook her head, waving her hand to the bar tender to stop him from pouring more of the same. She pointed at a bottle with blue liquor in it on the top shelf. "I'm choosing the poison this time, something from my frozen little ball."

Katilya crumpled her nose a little and watched as the bartender pulled down the bottle of blue liquid and started to pour out two measures. She couldn't help but wonder at what it was before turning her attention back to the Andorian. Her language confused the petite Cardassian but she had understood enough and chuckled slightly before pausing, clearing her throat as she felt a little fuzzy and then continued speaking. "You consider the hologram an it?" She asked after a pause.

"Of course it's an it," Zhyalla insisted as the two glasses of blue liquor were set in front of them and their empty glasses were taken away. "It's a program, intended to replace a flesh and blood person. It can't possibly be as good as a person, even if the use of an AI will help it. It's still a program; too logical, too obedient. You gotta fly on two parts improv'd seat of your pants, one part physics... and that's only there because the laws of physics are nearly impossible to break. Drink up your Andorian Ale." She collected her glass, twirling it around under her nose.

"That's very narrow minded... Just because it's a program, light and photons doesn't make them any less of a person or whatever gender they decide to be." Katilya crumpled her nose again as she cocked her head and watched the Andorian. She paused and sighed a little. "You're worried aren't you? Worried they'll replace you? Worried the hologram will be just as competent at flying? AI is far more advanced than it used to be..." She trailed off as she picked up her glass and swirled the blue liquor, mesmerised by it, before taking a sip.

"It's a program, a tool. It doesn't have a gender... though I hear that they made it look male. Of course they made the first one male," Zhyalla's antennae twitched in annoyance as she said this. "They can't replace me with a program. They can't teach a program to have a gut instinct, and the sensor lie to you, you need to know when they ignore them or compensate. It's not something you can teach or program, it's something you feel. The can't feel. Can't. It's why they still have people fly the ships, and autopilot doesn't cut it. And I don't get why she's involved in the project. The Death Kitten, the smasher of records, the lunatic... she should know you can't just hand a starship or a fighter over to an AI. You just can't." Zhyalla knocked back the contents of her glass in one swig, and looked for the bar tender for a refill.

Katilya cocked her head to the side as she listened to the Andorian vent. "That's some very strong," she hiccupped, "feelings of resentment towards holograms and other artfical - artificial life forms. They have rights, just like us... There have been a lot of changes since Data, The Doctor. Both artificial life forms that achieved great things, just like he can if supported. I don't think they'll ever replace you with a hologram, but what if something happened to you... What if someone needed to fly the ship and save us?" She posed the question to the Andorian as she finished her own drink and watched the bartender bring two more. As she tapped a finger, clinking it against the glass, she spoke again. "Who's Death Kitten?" She asked, simply.

"Death Kitten," Zhyalla repeated the call sign, pointedly ignoring the attempts to crack her head open like an egg and root around inside the contents. "Is a woman by the name of Diziara. She's a red-headed Klingon-Trill who broke numerous records in flight training during her time at the Academy, who has a reputation based upon her discipline record during the earlier parts of her Starfleet career, and is now happily playing at Utopia Planitia as the lead test pilot on the fighter design team, which her husband heads. And she, her husband — a rear admiral Waterhouse," Zhyalla waved her hand dismissively, rocking in her seat a little and clutching the bartop with her hand, "and some crazy engineer named Calhoun, are vexing me as a test bed for this holographic pilot stuff."

"She sounds... interesting," Katilya mused as she looked to the drink before back at the Andorian. "Maybe, though, if she's working on this project and is the hot-head ace pilot you've made her... out to be... this project, this holodam-gram is kinda important for some reason? Why not talk to her, ask her about it?" She offered.

"How do I approach a legend, a legend like her, and tell her that her project is stupid?" Zhyalla protested, a finger reaching out to push the Cardassian woman's shoulder in emphasis. She finally spotted the bar tended, and held up her empty glass as a request for another.

Katilya raised her glass to her lips and gulped at the liquid, feeling the burning sensation it left in her throat as it went down. "Perhaps... oh wow, that's strong. Not quite like that. Approach it in the sense you want to learn more, why they feel it will be of benefit, what the purpose is... after all, he's in your department. See what she says, maybe you'll be surprised."

"I am surprised, surprised that someone like her would get involved in a project like this... I mean, I mean, maybe she got drug in kicking and screaming. After all, it did start only for emergency purposes, then someone got the crazy idea in their head that it would be the hornet's elbow to make these holograms turn tricks." She stopped suddenly as the bar tended provided her with a fresh glass, and gently set down her empty glass to be taken away.

Katilya quirked a brow at the amount the Andorian was putting away. She waved at the bartender, perhaps a little more vigorously than she intended, to provide her with another and watched as he poured out a drink and slid it down the bar to Katilya's waiting hand. She took a sip and listened, allowing a silent pause before speaking again. "Maybe you could learn something from them, new tricks... Or perhaps you," she pointed a finger, "you could teach him some of yours... I mean, you're good right? Make him a good colleague for those times you're knocked out cold or on an assignment. You could become part of this legacy." She took a swig of her drink and winced at the after burn. "Why don't you just... talk to her?" She added with a satisfaction like she'd just discovered gold.

"Legacy? The project will get mothballed when the other big whips on the project get bored of it... or she comes to her senses and drops it like an old pencil." Zhyalla shook her glass at Katilya, her antennae pointing at her as she spoke. She seemed to consider the glass for a long moment before setting it down on the bartop, clutched in her hand, without drinking from it yet.

Katilya grinned and shook her head at the phrases the Andorian was lining up and narrowly missing. "Possibly... It may happen that way I suppose... Or it may be the most significant development of this century." She offered up playing devils advocate. Sipping at her drink she watched the Andorian with interest. "Funny, never had you pegged for being intolerant of others. But then I wouldn't have made you for a pilot." She shrugged.

"It is a program, a tool. How does that make me intolerant?" Zhyalla leaned in close as she asked. "One can not discriminate against a tool."

Katilya just shook her head and took another sip of her drink, allowing that statement to fester a little longer. "You know its comments like that which result in oppression. My people did it to the Bajorans... and these humans did it on countless occasions to whole sections of their society... now you're doing it, like others, to holograms and artificial life. You don't think he feels, thinks, lives? Tell that to Voyager's CMO, he was as you put it just a tool too."

"How do you tell the difference between a program simulating sentience, and actual intelligence though?" Zhyalla leaned over, bumping Katilya in the shoulder with her own. "In the end, he's a bunch of ones and zeros. You, me, the Bajorians, all those pink skins oppressed on Earth, we're all flesh and blood. That's easy to tell."

Katilya pondered on that for a moment. It was a good question - what is the difference between sentience simulation and genuine intelligence. It was a fine line. She shook her head and finished her drink. "I think..." she hiccupped. "I... think you should talk to the hologram and decide for yourself... if he's just a tool or a person. In fact!" she raised her hands, feeling the alcohol rush to her head. "Oh, wow... um... ok. What?" She rubbed her head and looked at her drinking buddy. "We should get back, coffee. That would help. And. AND, I'm ordering you to speak to the holomam, holospam, holo-GRAM as therapy." She concluded with a lopsided grin.

"I knew I was swimming in the jello a little," Zhyalla insisted, slipping off her stool. She had to take a step before she found her balance, "But you are three ships to the wind. Coffee and ice cream, my quarters? Then we'll debate the stars into the sea about this tool, and your theory that it's people too." Zhyalla grasped Katilya's arm, appearing to offer a steadying hand when the other woman was ready to slide off her stool.

Katilya, gulped the air as she forced the burning feeling back down to the pit of her stomach. By this point, she was a lot more fuzzy-headed than she assumed. Stumbling to her feet she reached out and grabbed the air before finding Zhyalla's hand. "Yes... coffee cream and hot ice... no... Oh, you know what I mean!" She slurred, waving a hand.

"You are a spider weight!" Zhyalla insisted with a laugh, throwing the Cardassan's arm over her shoulder. "You would not have survived a winter on Andor, as it gets so cold that you can't drink water, it freezes. You have to switch to the alcohol because of it's lower freezing point."

"I, would have survived fine. Just fine." Katilya pointed a finger at Zhyalla's chest. "I've seen things, you don't know." She said somewhat dramatically. "Now, where's this ice seen-scream-CREAM, you promised."

Zhyalla just shook her head with a snicker, guiding her new friend out of the bar and back towards the ship.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Lieutenant Zhyalla sh'Thrass
Chief Helm Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F

Lieutenant Katilya Entek MD, PsyD
Chief Counselor
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F