What's A Few Billion Miles Between Friends?

Posted on Mon Sep 23rd, 2019 @ 12:28pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Maica III 47 & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox
Edited on on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 @ 12:46pm

Mission: Family Detention
Location: USS Hera, Deck 8, Captain's Quarters
Timeline: 2396
Tags: Romulus Bound

Hefting the bottle of Saurian Brandy by the handle of the traditional sling in which they were sold, Rita made her way next door to the Captain's quarters. Sonak had once pointed out that the Saurians made the leather for the bottles from Saurian hide, which to this day she couldn't decide if that added to or detracted from the experience.

She'd been gone a while, and she'd worried about her Captain while she'd been gone. To have come back the moment she left had been a huge relief to her, and she was glad Enalia hadn't been alone fighting her way through this for the past two months and change. But the ancient astronaut was certain that she was likely a bit tenser than normal. Which meant that as chief morale officer, it was time to get the queen of the Artans, Mistress and Commander of all she surveyed. to relax a bit an unwind and likely unburden herself. Likely while blaming herself, a common trait on the Hera.

But that was part of why Rita was here, in this time and place. Of that she was rather certain. Thus she tabbed the chime and waited to see how Maica was holding up with the baby- another stressor on the Captain.

Interestingly, it was Enalia herself that answered the door personally, a tribble in one hand and baby Moira cradled in her other arm while the sounds of cooking came from the kitchenette. Moira was bound and determined to reach the poor little tribble as well, whom was already quite damp from being in the tyke's mouth.

Seeing Rita, the stressed captain couldn't help but give a wide grin and wave her inside. "Rita, please, come in. Make yourself at home." While the quarters were usually clean prior to the introduction of a baby, now that Moira had been added to the family, it was obvious that even Maica had not been able to keep up with the housekeeping and there were baby toys, towels, and dishes scattered about in random places. Even a few of Enalia's prized teacups looked to be suspiciously missing.

"Well hello little one... hello there!" Rita beamed at the babe in arms, as she stepped into the quarters. "I brought real booze- I figured you could probably use a drink, all things considered, and I wanted to check on you and make sure you're okay. I'm glad we haven't left yet- little gift from the universe I guess. Because I was worried about you before we beamed out, and that was a while ago for me. But you look surprisingly calm... even with a wee baby in hand, yes, yes little one, hello!"

The inspirational first officer was apparently having trouble being distracted by the infant, who gurgled and cooed happily for the moment as she continued trying to gum a tribble to death.

Relieved to have an extra set of hands, Enalia handed off her little tribble and smiled that zen, dead-eyed smile that only parents that have crossed a certain threshold of lack of sleep have. "I would love a drink. As soon as I get Moira to bed again, I'll..."

That was when Maica swooped in from the kitchen with a pair of plates with simple egg salad sandwiches and fried potato wedges. "Rita! I heard you come in so I took the liberty of making you a plate. Please, have a seat. I'll get little Moira tucked in." She set the plates on the table and transferred the infant to her own prodigious care, starting in on a strange rendition of a Trill lullaby as she headed for the bedroom.

“Thank you Maica, that’s very sweet of you!” Paris smiled, taking the plates and handing off the soggy robotic tribble.

The spotted Captain could just stare and smile after her wife, with that same glass-eyed look. "I don't know how people do it. Moira's tried to eat my tribble three times just today and I think it's programmed to let her. Everything goes in her mouth and there are so many diapers... So many diapers..."

“I hear that’s part of the experience at this point. Nonstop feeding and pooping for a while at least,” Rita owned as she sat down, setting down the plates as well as the bottle she was carrying, which she promptly uncorked and poured one for the captain. “Here, Enalia. Take a seat, stop long enough to eat and have a drink, and you can catch me up on what I’ve missed, hm?” Again, while it had been months for Rita it had only been a few days since Captain Telvan had learned of the Dox’s kidnapping. Thus it seemed to have been much longer to her, and she was still working to readjust to the local timeline… again.

"Yeah, thanks..." With a light sigh, Enalia flumped into the dining chair and sipped at the offered glass. "Oh... That's good. I haven't had Saurian Brandy in ages. It's been Artan Vintage this and Praetor's Reserve that since the whole Tribunal kicked off I almost forgot what a good brandy tastes like. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."

Picking up half of her sandwich and biting into it, the spotted woman moaned softly. "Mmph... I swear she can make dirt taste good. Anyway, medical scans show that you've spent something like seventy two days inside of some sort of pocket dimension while only around thirteen seconds passed in our time. Are you okay? I'm no counsellor and I'm honestly horrible with feelings, but I'm here for you if you want to talk."

"Actually?" Rita offered a sheepish smile as she poured out a shot of actual Saurian brandy for herself, which she never did. Alcohol-impaired mental function by inflicting brain damage, and Sonak was rather opposed to such things. Although he left the choice in Rita's hands, she generally obliged it, respecting the logic. But tonight, with her captain, catching up, Rita was gonna let her hair down a little.

"It was like a colonial adventure saga, like Boroughs or Howard. The planet's gravity was lighter, so I was alarmingly strong. I still had my weapons locker in the bracers, and I used them sparingly, but there were not that many energy weapons, really. Just lots of swords, some powerful psionics like magic maybe? At any rate, I was worried- worried about you facing this alone, about the ship, the crew, missing Sonak. But I knew he'd find me and figure out a way to bring me back. He always does. So while I went on adventures and kind of spurred and maybe led a rebellion against a mad god-king, it was..." Rita shrugged and smiled, that irrepressible smile of hers that could light up a room.

"It was the best vacation I've had in years. It was like being stuck in a theme park for almost three months. I had adventures and setbacks and situations and negotiations and..." Words failed her as Rita shrugged broadly and tossed down the shot of brandy. "It was amazing. The only bad part is that I might never see any of those people again if the time differential between dimensions is consistent, but I don't think it is. If so, they are thousands of years down the road from my visit by now, and all of my friends there are dust. But... maybe not." Pouring out another shot, the fulsome first officer handed the shot glass to her captain.


"The universe is not unkind, and I think I might have a theory about what happened." Rita wagged her finger, a habit she was fond of when she prepared to lecture or pontificate. "You know how much space we covered in the 3 seconds of what would have been the standard beam-in at that speed? Around 2 billion kilometers. In those three seconds. That's a lot of space. And mine stretched, of course. Transporters still seem to do that with me- they take longer. No clue on why that is. But at any rate, we covered about ten billion kilometers in the time it took me to beam in. That's what happens when two ships moving at warp 9.2 do in moments like that. Cover a lot of space."

"Right..." Enalia was starting to see where Rita was going with her logic as she downed the brandy and handed the glass back. "With the Vulcan ship and us both moving at warp 9.2, that's a lot of quantum dilation, even with compensation. If we had stopped the ship we would have completely reset the cooling system and flushed the intermix chamber and we'd have lost at least a day. I had requested the use of one of their high-speed shuttles..."

“Oh, I know. Somehow the Vulcans seemed to take an intellectual satisfaction in beaming me regardless of my protestations. Which I will definitely be bearing in mind moving forward, trust me,” Rita rolled her eyes at the memory. “Point being, somewhere in the first two billion kilometers, my best guess is that my transporter signal managed to get dragged across an energy ribbon of sorts… it’s this phenomenon they have still not thoroughly explained, but it’s like an extradimensional tear. Why my signal and not Sonak and Az’Prel’s, I am sure there’s a scientific explanation for that too, but… well, Rita and transporters, can’t say as I was surprised.”

While she remained transporter phobic, as she would for life, Rita could at least casually discuss the details in hindsight, The same mentality that enabled her to bounce back from just about anything applied here, and relieved as she was to be safe and sound back on the Hera, she could let go of the fact that the universe got her lost. Again.

Long ago Rita had earned the nickname ‘the Lost Navigator’, and the universe apparently like to reinforce that to her occasionally.

“All of that aside, Oh Evasive One, how are you holding up? That’s why I’m really here… while I genuinely appreciate your concern, I am actually none the worse for wear. Heck, I even have some abs- no carbs, all protein diet was great for burning and tonight with all that exercise. But you’ve got kidnapped personnel, and a mystery, and if I know you it’s been eating you up.” Pouring another shot, Rita tossed it back, then poured another to hand to the Captain. “So talk to me, Enalia- just you and me here, no ranks, no junior officers who have to see you as indestructible. This is our time and in your privacy, so be honest- how are you holding up?”

Enalia downed the shot and handed the glass back once again, that patented lopsided grin of hers finally showing through for just a moment. "Me? Evasive? Yeah, ok... I've been trying to keep it together in front of the crew as best I can what with the Dox's having been kidnapped, both of them being friends and important to me. I have to be a bastion of strength, after all. But then I get home and I have to be a bastion of strength as well, what with motherhood. Maica has hundreds of databases, but she has zero instinct so she's been relying on me for that."

"On top of that, I think my boobs are getting tender and... I don't even want to think about where that might lead." Enalia's face kept falling as she poked at her fried potatoes, occasionally nibbling at one. "And then there's the potential Tal'Shiar spies we have in the brig. I'd like to toss them all in a penal colony and be done with it, but my inner Rita won't let me. Something about doing the right thing and due process or something."

"So yeah. That whole 'don't burn both ends of your flame-stick' saying? I think mine is on fire at several points in the middle as well." The Trill woman waved a particularly large potato in the air before biting into it to punctuate her point.

“Well. That is a bit of a list,” Rita agreed. “Yes, the crew needs to see you as a bastion of strength, but I don’t. So that’s why I am here, so you can be mortal, cry on my shoulder, try to blame yourself for letting them get kidnapped, fret that we might not manage to rescue them and be afraid. That you can do here, with me.,.. that’s why you have a first officer. Someone to keep your secret that you aren’t actually Superwoman.”

"Yeah, far from Superwoman. Maybe Captain uh..." Enalia waved a hand in the air, trying to remember the obscure 20th century comic book references. "Captain America? Maybe? Anyway, I feel like I let my guard down at the end of the Tribunal and I know it's not my fault, but like you said, I can't help but feel like it is. On top of that, we're heading straight to Romulus. We have no hope of rescue if we fail. We'll be up against the Tal'Shiar. Any sane captain would turn around and hand it to the Diplomatic Corps or at the very least, have a far better plan."

"What's the core of our plan? Oh, our ship is so much faster we're hoping to catch them by complete surprise and rescue them when THEY get there? Ok, there's more to it than that, but..." Enalia picked up her sandwich again and bit into it, moisture building up in her eyes before continuing her rant around a mouthful of egg salad sandwich. "I'm worried that... That we're not only not going to rescue them... But we're going to lose other people as well."

“I know, Enalia. I know,” Rita offered in a soothing conciliatory tone. “I’m scared of all of that too. But we’ve been through a little too much together for me to give up hope. Dox is a lot of things, but she will have unshakable faith tat we’ll come for her. Because she knows Artan Queen Captain Enalia Telvan will face off with death herself if need be to get back her pilot. And I didn’t invest all that time and energy in those two to lose them to the Romulans.”

“We’re going to get them back, Enalia. I don’t know how yet and I don’t know if it will go well or poorly, but I’m not in the habit of losing people, and I don’t plan to start now. So you just keep that chin up and keep looking like the indestructible iron-willed Captain, and you let me worry about how we’re going to make it work, okay?” As a legendarily awful liar, Rita was known to speak the truth. And here, her voice did not falter, her eyes did not look away. Instead, she remained focused on Enalia and did her best to instill in the spotted mistress and commander of the USS Hera the confidence that she needed, that she was having trouble finding in herself.

When Enalia Telvan couldn’t believe in herself, Rita Paris would do it for her.