| May 15th, 2155
| Corridor, E Deck, Discovery NX-04, Drydock, Earth Orbit
| 1730hrs

Another turn down another corridor, and still nothing looked familiar. Well, that wasn't true. Everything looked familiar, but that didn't help Chloe Bishop find the mess hall. Everything looked the same on the ship. It wasn't like the wide, brightly lit hallways of Starfleet Command. Everything there was clearly marked, and even though some halls looked similar, there were still little differences that told her what wing she was on. But not so up on the ship. Every corridor was dark, cramped, and looked exactly the same. All she knew for sure was that she was on E Deck. At least she thought that she was on E Deck. She knew that she had left her quarters, and that her quarters were on E Deck. But as lost as she seemed to be, it wouldn't surprise her to find that that wasn't even true. She noticed another turn coming up, and could only hope that it would lead to some sort of landmark. She hastened her step as her stomach growled, hoping that she could make it to the mess before they stopped serving.

Leo had found himself immersed in the detail of Professor Emilia Hamalainen’s latest treatise on flux-state fermion annihilation when he suddenly realised the time. Most of his crew had cleared out of the lab and he was alone when an abrupt feeling of dread well inside him and he stuffed the PADD into his breast pocket and rushed down to his quarters.

Lorenzo had not been happy. The despotic feline had to wait over an hour more than he should have for his late afternoon feed and expressed his displeasure with a guttural meow only a few octaves shy of a growl. While the cat ate his delayed meal, Leo fell back into Hamalainen’s article, soaking in every nuance, every elegant equation and every considered proof. It was really a fascinating article and Leo thoroughly enjoyed it. But he would enjoy disproving her hypothesis even more.

But first, some dinner. He grabbed the PADD and set about re-reading the article as he bounded out of his quarters, intent on getting to the mess. He had long since committed to memory the path from his cabin to the mess, so he was essentially walking on autopilot through the corridors of E Deck while his eyes busied themselves with Hamalainen’s concise calculations.

So when he barreled into the rushing ensign and dropped the PADD it came as a complete surprise to him.

“Maledizione!” he exclaimed, reaching out to steady both of them and make sure neither hit the deck. “Mi scusi. Are you alright?”

The ensign had not been prepared for the possibility of someone else wandering the halls, and she plowed right into him. Thankfully he was a bit more balanced than she was, and he was able to grab her before she stumbled to the floor. "Sto bene, grazie! Le mie scuse!" Once she had recovered, she bent over to pick up the dropped PADD. She continued in Italian, not realizing that she was even doing it. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

Hearing somebody else fluent in his native tongue was music to Leo's ears and he smiled as he continued in Italian. "Nevermind," he said then pointed to the PADD. "I confess I was reading and walking. A failing of mine, I'm afraid and it tends to lead to accidents."

It was about that time that Chloe realized that she had run into one of the senior officers. The flash of three pips signifying commander had just caught her eye. "Being in a hurry to get even further lost doesn't help either, sir." She stretched out her hand. "Ensign Chloe Bishop, the new chief communications officer and xenolinguistic specialist."

"Ahh!" Leo said, allowing the syllable to extend as he raised his eyebrows and nodded. "That would explain the fluent Italian," he said as he shook the ensign's proffered hand. "Commander Leo Carpegiani, Chief Science Officer. May I have my PADD back?"

Another look of shock and horror had appeared on Chloe's face. She quickly handed the Commander his PADD. "Sorry sir. I had actually forgotten that I still had it. It's the same with the languages. I know so many that it just comes naturally. It hadn't even occurred to me that I wasn't speaking English. I'm not normally this flustered, I promise. It's just that it's a big ship, and it will be my first assignment beyond the Solar System, and I'm very excited, very and nervous." It had been just then that she realized she was rambling, which was still a better reaction time than she had had with the PADD and her use of Italian.

Leo suddenly felt like the old and seasoned astronaut that, on reflection, he supposed he probably was. He had been in Starfleet for sixteen years and had spent about half of that time in space; it was nothing new to him. He decided he should be the wise old sailor and offer some advice to the young officer, even though it took him way outside his comfort zone. "Calm down, Ensign," he said, "we all start out as novellini." He shrugged and continued, "Though not all of us on a ship such as this. Just focus on your work and you will do fine. I don't think the captain would have you here if she wasn't confident that you could do your job."

Chloe smiled and nodded. He was right, she was sure. Even it it wasn't the captain specifically, someone felt that she should be here. "Thank you, sir. You're right. I'm just a long way from Canada, is all." She grew quiet for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Perhaps I should let you get back to what you were doing." She quickly had another thought. "But could you perhaps tell me how to get to the mess hall? I'm pretty lost. I think I'm going to need a map of this place."

"Don't worry, you will get to know your way around," Leo said, then gestured down the corridor. "Follow me; I'm heading to the mess myself."

The young ensign let out a long sigh of relief. "Grazie, signore. I'm starving." Chloe offered him a friendly smile and gestured for him to lead the way. With a little luck, she might survive this voyage after all.

[tag - that sounds good to me. If you don't have anything else to add, let's post it.]

OOC: Posted in main mission post thread.