Wreck Thyself III

Posted on Wed Apr 7th, 2021 @ 10:49pm by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun

Mission: *CD*
Location: USS Liberty - Holodeck
Timeline: Before Dinner

Back on the Liberty Rhenora sank against the wall of the holodeck, emotionally spent from the ordeal of the day. Her dress was pokholed and smelt of smoke, her hair reeked. She longed for a shower, for something to eat, and just to return to normality.

What was that though? She had always been restless, never being able to stay in the same place for very long. The stars offered a means to her wandering heart, able to travel and see the wonders of the universe without so much as lifting a finger. Starfleet provided the purpose and the means of such a traveling lifestyle. Her rise and fall in the ranks had taken her to every corner of several quadrants, encountered new species and new cultures. On the flipside Remal had built a cottage on Bajor, planned somewhere for them to be whenever the wandering heart allowed them to be close enough to their homeworld. It hadn’t been huge by any stretch of the imagination but it was comfortable, and she loved that he had built it with his bare hands. He was the practical one, the one who grounded her when her head and heart rose to the stars in search of greater things. The yin to her yang. They worked well as a team, each complimenting the other.

The revelations from the Prophets had called much into question over the last few months, and Starfleet life being what it was there hadn’t been too much time for reflection.

She felt for Remal, whilst willing she was sure he would rather settle down on Bajor, raise a family, reopen his counseling centre and live a quiet life - a life away from the constant and never ending drama that seemed to follow her wherever she went.

‘Soon’ she promised herself, soon she would return to their homeworld and rest, not just for a brief visit but for a longer period. She was pretty sure the baby boat had long since sailed and felt it would go against the Prophets' wishes to seek medical assistance in that regard. If the Prophets blessed them and followed through with their vague premonitions then all well and good - if not, that part of her life would have to go unfulfilled. There was the vision of the birth in the cottage though - the most recurring dream she had ever had. Part of her wanted to dismiss it as subconscious playing on her fears, the other part wanted to believe at least part of that was her fate.

“We need to rebuild” She made the decision as she opened her eyes, not realizing her mind had wandered off again.

He dropped the bat onto the floor, listened to the clanging briefly, then brushed off his hands. The emotions of the afternoon were waning and the heat of his anger was well spent in this therapy session. Musing he looked at Rhen, "You mean now?" He asked fully aware she wasn't referring to the Wreck room but the Cabin they called home.

"Why not? We're only here for a few days, let's save what we can, and rebuild." She stood as though her mind had been made up, although she looked at her husband to gauge his reaction.

He was trying to gauge her determination as well. "I'm not opposed but I don't think we can even go to the site right now. Active crime scene and all. Besides I would have thought you would see this as an omen." He could address the fear factor of returning early but he was not afraid to face his enemies, only of losing more than he had already lost.

"Once the authorities are finished, I don't see why we can't, if you want to of course. Omen or not we can't let them win" she spoke with a resolution that spoke of her conviction.

"Well the Prophets did show you giving birth and passing from this world in our cabin. With the cabin gone the prophecy not only has changed but can't come to pass as described, now can it?" He hoped Savar would be proud of his logical deductions.

"You know everything we have been shown is only one possible future, what they want us to see"she turned to face him and held his hands, squeezing to offer comfort. "Cabin or no cabin, death or no death, it is a possible future. I refuse to believe that it is the only future available to us"

Giving in to the idea that she was right "I do want to rebuild but I have my reservations." There were several in fact, all of which flitted across his mind. He squeezed her hand in return. "Or maybe us rebuilding is the catalyst for something bigger."

"What does your heart tell you? What do YOU want, regardless of Prophets or duty or what your head says we SHOULD do?" She turned the situation sideways. They were always trying to do what was right by everyone else. Maybe it was time to do something for themselves.

He looked at the dust-strewn floor, sullen and in deep thought for several moments before he spoke. “From the very beginning I was given a gift. The Prophets gave me a vision, of you, of a house by the beach, of children playing in the sun stroked sands. I worked for many years towards that vision as though that was what I was supposed to do with my life, that those things were the only things that mattered.”

“And then I found you. First across a battle fallen village, and then later when you came to rescue my village from the firestorms. By that time, the things the Prophets had shown me, had become the things I wanted in life. I had taken their ideas and made them my own.” He swallowed the lump building within his throat.

“Since that day, traveling out here with you amongst the stars, I’ve come to realize that the only part of that vision that held the rest of those ideas together, was you. Without you everything else means nothing.” He squeezed her hand as she moved to place her head upon his chest.

“So when you ask if rebuilding is something I want to do, the answer will always be yes, so long as it’s what you want as well. Do I fear it will be in vain should someone try and burn it down again, maybe, but then we do it again. And we keep doing it until they learn their lesson. We go on living because we can, as long as there is breath in your lungs I will continue to build.” He knew a simple yes would have sufficed, but when did an emotional Bajoran ever stop with a simple yes?

She smiled at his resolve, knowing it matched her own. "Then as soon as we get clearance we get our asses down there, clean up, and start again"

“We can at least sift through the rubble and pick up the pieces. Either way it will have to wait until at least the morning. I forgot to mention, Savar and Aurora have invited us to a dinner in their quarters at about 1900 this evening. Sorry.”

"Oh really? I guess replanting the garden can wait until tomorrow morning, it's a lovely gesture for them to invite us for dinner. Sometimes I forget the social airs and graces'' she giggled as she sipped into a low courtesy "after you mi-lord."

He stood up, rapped upon the wall with the barrel of his fist twice and said, “Computer, turn this off and let us out.” To which the computer responded by removing the debris in a satisfying swish, then replacing the room with the familiar grid of the holodeck. He took her by the arm, and led her back to their quarters.

"You know we should have more of these therapy sessions, far more satisfying than just talking" she smirked as they headed back to their quarters.

"I agree, though I tend to appreciate our more intimate sessions a bit more." He smirked a knowing grin. "There are a variety of therapy options I am aware of that I've never shared with you."

"Really, I would really like to know more" she stopped him in his tracks and kissed him on the nose before returning to her place at his side. "Do tell"

As the turbolift doors closed around them Remal was heard mentioning a thumb technique that involves a full three fingers. Rhenora could be seen blushing. Despite the trauma of the day's events and their future plans going up in literal smoke, life would go on. And as long as they remained diligent to one another everything would turn up Rhenoras.

* (Rhenoras are the name of the flowers that once bloomed along the path to the cabin that Remal built.)

OFF for Now