How do we fit?

Posted on Wed May 1st, 2019 @ 11:05pm by Commodore Jane Saulitis

Mission: The Fool's Odyssey
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 03 18:30 Hours
1726 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Stef marched his way up to the bridge, beelining straight for the captain's ready room. He ignored the stares he was receiving, having eye only for the door ahead of him, and the surprise he carried in his arms. He reached for the chime, and slapped his hand to it.

The young Vulcan clearly was agitated, and equally clearly, very unhappy with how things had gone about.

"Come in." Jane called. She entered her ready room for some clarity when the away team had reported in that they'd found Stef and he was being transported up with a guest. She figured he might want to see her and so she'd made herself a cup of tea and waited.

Stef walked in, looking none too pleased. "How could you leave me behind," he started, not even caring for pleasantries. He held something in his arms, trying to soothe it, speaking softly in Vulcan. "I waited for weeks, months....and after a time I realized you would not be coming back... How did this happen, why did you wait five years?"'

"Five years? Stef, from our perspective, it's only been a couple of days. Something happened, we don't know exactly what yet, but all life disappeared from the planet. We couldn't get a lock on anyone or anything. And then suddenly we started registering life forms again. This was the first opportunity we had to investigate and now we've lost contact with our away team."

"And you made me come back. I have a life there captain..." He indicated the form in his arms, which was visibly clinging to him. "A family... He is very scared, this is all too much for him." He set the boy down to his feet and knelt down to be at his level. "I will be with you all the time," he promised the child, then stood again. "This is my son Alecx."

Jane tried to hide her astonishment. All of her training though could barely mask it. She bent down to the child's level but stayed several feet back from him. "Hi," she said with a smile. Then it dawned on her that she had called Beata to her office thinking that the woman would be glad to see that Stef was okay. At the moment her door chimed and Jane stood up again. "Come in," she said, letting out a big sigh.

Beata walked in, a PADD in her hand as she glanced up from it. "You wanted to see me Captain?" Then she saw Stef and her eyes widened. "Stef! Are you alright?" She want to hug him and caught sight of the child and of the fact that he looked quite different from the last time she saw him.

Stef's eyes lit up at the sight of her, a smile already forming. Despite his recent experience, despite having had a wife, he had never stopped loving her. Svara had repeatedly told him he was mentioning Beata in his sleep. "Bee," he said, aching to hold her. "Yes, I am alright." He rested a hand on Alecx's shoulder in an attempt to ease the boy's fears. "I have so much to tell you, once I get my bearings..." It was almost too much for him.

"Daddy," the boy murmured in an alien language, "I want to go home."

Stef sighed. "Soon," he promised while anxiously watching Beata's reaction.

"Umm," she looked back at the Captain then again at Stef and down at the child. "What's going on?"

"It seems," Jane said carefully. "That five years have passed down on the planet where we experienced only two days."

Stef nodded slowly. "I waited a very long time for you to come back for me," he explained, "and when I realized that you were not, from my perspective, I felt I needed to move on with my life. I studied and got a position as apprentice veternarian, I got married and I had children." His expression changed, sadness in his eyes. "My wife died in childbirth," he added softly, "and his sister passed a few days later, she was too weak. I am fortunate Alecx did survive because I nearly lost him too."

Beata's mind was registering what he said, but it was going over and over things again. Five years. Stef had a wife, children. She felt like she needed to sit down, she kept staring at the child. "Wow, that's . . . wow. You got married." She supposed in his situation, not knowing what had happened, not being able to contact the ship, she might have made some of the same choices. But it didn't make it any easier to take. She put on a smile though as she looked down at his son.

"Eventually," Stef corrected, watching the boy next to him frown. He could understand the confusion, to the child everyone was an alien, he had never seen other aliens besides his own father before. "I waited two years, and then I just knew I was going to be alone. When that team arrived, imagine the surprise I felt? I am sorry this is difficult for you Bee, but can you imagine how I felt?"

She really couldn't think about anything at the moment. She didn't even know how she felt, other than numb. "I should get back to work." She said suddenly.

"No, ensign, you're relieved of duty for the day." Jane replied, worried about her. This was all a big shock, for the rest of the crew as well but she knew it would hit Beata extra hard.

Bee nodded. "I need to go sit down. This is a lot." She wasn't sure why she was becoming angry, but she was. It felt like a trap in there. They had thrown all of this on her with no warning.

Keeping a slight distance, Stef crouched down before her. "I never stopped thinking about you," he said softly, "Svara said I kept mentioning your name in my sleep. She knew all there was to know about you, even though she would never meet you. I did not know about the phasing Bee, I honestly thought you all had left me behind."

Sensing something, but not knowing what exactly, the little boy went down to his knees and crouched up towards the young woman. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch her hand, before tapping his own chest. "Alecx," he said clearly, before pointing at her. Federation standard was something he didn't understand yet, as his parents either spoke Mardran, or Vulcan to him. This was his attempt to communicate and show her he was no threat.

"Bee," she replied, using the short form of her name that Stef had given her as a nickname. "He's empathic like you." She said it as a statement of fact rather than a question. She didn't respond to what Stef had said. She knew it was going to take time to come to terms with everything but the child gave her something to focus on.

"Bee," the boy repeated, then arched an eyebrow as he looked at her, reaching out to her with both arms, expecting a hug.

"He is half Vulcan," Stef answered with a nod, "at least he will not have to suffer what I did as a child. Though in a way..." He paused, sighing softly. "He lost a twin sister too..."

She wasn't sure if he wanted to be picked up or just wanted to be held. Beata got down on her knees on the floor in front of him and gave him a hug. It was the perfect salve to a wound, the child was blameless in all of this. She took a shaky breath, feeling his warmth against her. "Do you think he'd like to see the chickens?" She asked Stef.

"THey are still alive?" he breathed, momentarily forgetting that here, only a few days had passed. "Oh...yes, of course." He bit his lip. "Are you sure you want to be near them, I mean...you are afraid of them." He turned to his son, speaking briefly in Mardran upon which the boy offered the most eager of smiles.

Stef looked up at the captain. "I think we need to give him a UT implant too ma'am, I cannot keep translating for him, even if he will pick up on standard quickly enough."

"I can arrange that with Doctor Adamson." Jane replied, thinking the two lovebirds should probably leave her office and go talk.

"Yeah, I don't mind." Beata said. "I've been feeding them. Not one has tried to attack me." It was the first hint of a smile coming off her lips. "I bet he would like them. And they'll be so busy with him they won't notice me."

"You... took care of my chickens?" Surprise flickered across the Vulcan's face, not realizing that the boy took his hand, and placed it over hers.

"Well yeah . . . someone needed to feed them and I wasn't sure when you were going to be found. I couldn't let them starve to death. It's not their fault they're chickens," she joked. "I realize they get some food from the arboretum but I wasn't sure it was enough to keep them happy so I replicated some feed." Beata thought she was holding Alecx's hand but when she began to move she realized Stef was following her instead. She looked down and then back over at Alecx. "Protein mix, I'm trying not to think about all the bug parts."

Stef chuckled. "Seeds will keep them most happy dear." He squeezed her hand while reaching to lift up the boy. "Captain with your permission, I need to get Alecx to sickbay and have him checked out. Bee....would you come with us? Please?"

"Granted, of course Stef." Jane replied, glad there seemed to be an ending to this meeting but also happy that Beata and Stef were talking again.

Beata nodded. "Sure."

"Than you Bee," Stef said honestly. The boy on his arm merely smiled as he rested his head againt his father's shoulder. All was well now. He turned towards Jane. "Thank you captain, I realize this was not easy at all. On all of us."

Captain Jane Saulitis
Commanding Officer
USS Majestic

Ensign Beata Lauryl
Operations Officer
USS Majestic
pnpc by Saulitis

Crewman Apprentice Stef
Returned Yeoman
pnpc Lhaes