Arrival At Cestus III

Posted on Tue Apr 24th, 2012 @ 7:04am by Captain Alexander Gunning & Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax

Mission: The Mystery Men of Mira
Location: USS Carnegie [Captain's Yacht]
Timeline: MD03 - 1300hrs

[ON]

Gunning hadn't seen his travel companions in a couple of hours. He had been taking time to go over the black box reports from the USS Metis and the crew reports from the battle. There was a surprising amount of hostility towards both himself and the Sojourners amongst the crew which troubled him. He had thought that there was nothing else he could have done. Once he'd been fired upon, what was he meant to do? Turn tail and run?

He sighed into the tepid mug of tea that he had been ignoring for almost an hour. This was getting him nowhere. He was to go into this tactical briefing confident in his own ability but here he was, beginning to doubt himself.

Liarra leaned back in the pilot's seat with a novel in her hand. The past couple of hours was her shift at the helm. On one hand, she was thankful that the journey had been uneventful. After what they had been through, the peace and quiet was very welcome. One the other hand, sometimes a little adventure was needed to break up the monotony. Fortunately she had remembered to bring some books with her. Even though she was manning the conn, they were primarily on autopilot. She was only babysitting.

As the door to the small chamber which Alex had taken as his quarters for the trip slid open with a more noticeable 'whoosh' than on most modern starships that reminded her of the Jackal, Nilani leant in with one hand on the door frame. "Do you have a minute?" she asked.

Gunning pushed his chair back and looked at the Trill in the doorway. "Nilani, I have all the time in the world."

As she stepped into the room and took a seat, the Trill took a few minutes to compose the thoughts that she had been trading back and forth with herself since before the mission to Thane. "I was wondering if, once we get back to the station, you'd give me permission to ask some of the crew to participate in my zhian'tara?"

The Captain did his best to stifle a laugh. While the zhian'tara wasn't actually terribly funny and was important both to joined Trills and the Symbiosis Commission alike, he had always enjoyed the ones he had been witness to. There was something about people one worked with every day suddenly having completely different personalities that amused him.

"I don't see any reason why not." He replied, sure that he would be able to get through the conversation without chuckling. "As long as you can get them to volunteer."

Nilani returned the smile that hinted at the captain's face, relieved for some reason that he'd granted her request, though she couldn't think of a reason why he wouldn't. "Thanks," she said. "I've been giving it some thought for a couple of months now, and I think that meeting some of them would help me ground myself a bit more, with what's been going on."

"I'd agree." The Captain replied, instantly becoming concerned at the inevitable question. "I know it helped Omar when he went through the process."

"I've been considering who I'd like to ask to take on the memories of each of my hosts... I still don't know who to ask to be Torin yet, but... if you're willing I'd like you to be Kronat? He was my second host."

"I'd be honoured." Alex said, wracking his brains, trying to remember what he knew about Kronat. He remembered that he was part of the Trill Military but that was about it. "Do you have any thoughts on who else you'll ask?"

"Thanks," Nilani said, pleased that her friend had accepted. Knowing that Kronat was a part of her gave her a huge sense of pride, considering the standing and success he had held within his own time, and was one of the hosts that she was most eager to meet. "I was hoping to ask Liarra to take on Melissa, my last host, and I thought Bastin might be a good match for Omar."

Gunning thought for a second, "I think you might be right there."

"I've been trying to decide who to ask to take on Vanessa, my human host. I can still remember how traumatic those years were as her body tried to cope with the symbiont, and I thought that Melissa might be the best fit for her, but I think it would probably be a good idea to get a counsellor to sit in with us on it for that portion of the ritual."

"Agreed. Although, I think if anyone can handle it, it'll be Melissa."

The comm chimed in Gunning's quarters. "Alex, we're coming up on the Cestus system," Liarra's voice reported from the cockpit.

Tapping his comm badge, the Captain replied, "Acknowledged, Liarra. We'll be up in a minute." He turned his attention back to his "old" friend. "Looks like we'll have to continue this chat at a later date."

[OFF]

Captain Alexander Gunning
Commanding Officer

Commander Liarra Von
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax
Chief Science Officer
Starbase 332