Star Trek: Starbase 777 - xo：cdr-zellina

Styre returned to his quarters after having the bridge for a few hours. He had entered his quarters in his regular red-uniform pressing against lean torso and the black trousers against his tall legs. He moved towards the sonic shower and turned it on, removing his uniform to ensure an even and cleanly clean. After the sonic shower, Styre put on a pair of knit shorts and a maroon t-shirt, conforming to his body nicely. Styre sat at his desk, looking over numerous reports from the ship, approving quarters and looking over other bureaucratic necessities. After all of his work was officially done, he closed his console and signed off. He grabbed the PADD and moved to his bed, sitting against the frame as he read some Vulcan literature, particularly transcripts of Surak's speeches and some of his philosophy. After reading for about half an hour, Styre went to meditate. He placed his mat on the floor in the large open space of the quarters and began to focus on meditation. Though, something lacked in his meditation. The quiet, the peace, the serenity... it was all too much for him at this moment. In his deep thoughts, Styre realized how truly alone he had become. His run ins with Clarke all but diminished, his friends nonexistent, and he was merely a colleague of everyone else. Nobody had seemed intrigued by his research, and when they were they were merely trying to get information out of him. It was just that... his research. It was his research that defined him, not his Vulcanness, not his blonde hair, his research and his ear-twitches. That is all that people know him for. His leadership competency was questionable at best, and his sociability was all but existent. That was the focus of his meditation session, and it ended quickly. Styre's ears began to twitch as soft tears fell from his face. He wiped them away and sat on his couch, looking through his PADD, trying to determine his next move.

5

06:03

His next move would be an illogical one, one made out of pure emotional glee. Styre wanted a cat. A cat could cheer him up, a cat could provide company in the lonely nights aboard the Eventide. And a cat could be a conversation starter for many social interactions to come... or he had hoped would come. He browsed around, waiting for a contact to pop in his head. Operations, that was it! Styre spent around 5 minutes composing a message to the operations department, citing his need for a cat and whatnot. After writing it he hit sent, he would not allow a moment of hesitation to allow his logical-self to gather control and revoke permission from his self. It was done, it was final. He could not back out of the deal now. Styre would soon be the new owner of a fresh cat! Or so he had hoped.

5

A chime could be heard from outside the door. Was it unprofessional to show up at a senior officer’s door for basically no reason? Yes. Did Ava care? No. She was back at being a chaos agent again, also she had missed Styre, but don’t tell anyone.

Styres ears twitched. Who would be ringing his quarter chime without prior warning? Whatever it was it must be important. He shouted forth. “Come in!”

Styre had thought wrong. It was not important, it was just Ava being a good ~~friend~~ colleague and checking in on him. The door opened to reveal the young woman in uniform, giving a small wave and a subtle smile. “Hey, Styre,” she said in her usual, cheerful manner. And she kept it up as she asked, “Whatcha doing?”

Styre's ears twitched a bit more once he saw who entered his quarters. Ah, Ava. The lieutenant who served under him years prior. "Greetings, Lieutenant."

“I just wanted to check in, seeing as I’m stationed on 777 now,” she explained, kind of lingering around by the entrance. She eyes him curiously. “I heard you switched into Command.”

"I did not switch into command, I was requested to transfer into this position and it was illogical to deny it." he replied stoically. He remained in a white t-shirt and dark red sweatpants as he sat at the terminal, looking over reports from the science department.

Ah. So not a deliberate decision. That’d do it. Ava had been surprised to head that Styre would change divisions. It hadn’t really made sense to her, with how much he was devoted to science. “And yet, you are looking over reports from the science department,” she noted, because as always she couldn’t stop putting her nose into things that were none of her business.

Styre locked his terminal and looked towards Ava. Lucky he wasn’t looking at any classified information, nonetheless he continued. “I find it pertinent to maintain a mind of knowledge, especially when science is what had consumed my life for decades upon decades. It’s not logical to abandon knowledge.”

“Agreed,” she said, resisting the urge to throw finger guns at the Commander. Damn, he was a Commander now. Not that she hadn’t grown out of her Lieutenant Junior Grade shoes as well, but it was still odd. “Anyways, how have you been?” She leant against the desk, hands in her pockets.

Styre weighed the logic of lying and saying he was well, or telling the truth. He decided on the former. "I have been well, Leiuten--" just as he was about to finish his sentence, the door to his bed slowly opened as a small, patterned cat (orange, white, black), emerged from the bedroom. Styre looked over and then just stared at the Lieutenant, not knowing what to say.

4

Ava turned to look at the small animal in surprise. She blinked. Then, she looked at Styre, her face a mixture of disbelief and delight. “You got a cat?!”, she half-squealed. And she wasted no time in crouching down and offering the small animal a hand to sniff on. “What’s its name?”

Styre's ears began twitching again, and this time they did not stop. He looked down at his lap, then towards the cat, and finally back to Ava. "Cat." he said simply, implying that he had named his cat... well... Cat. As he was doing this, the cat walked up to Ava and sniffed her hand, rubbing his cheek along her fingers.

2

For a good four seconds, Ava stared at Styre with her mouth hanging open. “You did not name your cat Cat. That’s… wow.” She shook her head and returned her attention to Cat, the cat. She have Cat a gentle pat. Nice rhymes there. Renakir, write that down. “Literally, you could have named it after one of your killer viruses, anything would have been more creative than Cat,” she joked, but she was too busy caressing Cat to really be mad at Styre for messing up his naming duties as cat owner so spectacularly!

1

"It was an impulse buy, a purchase made without consulting logic." he paused, not sure what to name it. "Would silicon be a better name?" he inquired, taking her suggestion of naming it after a virus. "Or protovirus-12B?" he enquired, not really sure what to name Cat.

“Neither.” Ava snorted. “You? You’re telling me that you made an impulsive decision? And I lived to see the day! I mean, the cat.” She was grinning at this point, scratching Cat behind its ears. “Is it a boy or a girl?” That was important information when one wanted to make name suggestions. And Ava definitely wanted to make name suggestions.

Styre looked at Ava as she pet Cat. "Cat is a male." he commented simply, his ears twitching again. "Lieutenant, it was a moment of irrationality, something I choose not to regret as regret itself is illogical. But it is not a moment I wish to repeat." He continued. "If I am to be honest with you, it was after a session of meditation in which my own thoughts were corrupted."

“Call him Corruption, then,” she joked, as she played with the small cat. God, what a cutie. “Did you corrupt Styre’s thoughts? Yes, yes you did, you little rascal.” She was totally talking baby talk to the cat and nobody was going to stop her. “Hey, Rascal is a good name!” At that, she returned her attention to Styre, looking up at where he was still sitting by the terminal.

"Corruption?" he inquired. It was very indicative of his thoughts at the time of purchase. "Rascal sounds too..." he paused. "too different for me." Styre had decided upon two names, and it would be up to Ava to make the final decision. "He is either to remain Cat, or Corruption." he spoke gently.

She rolled her eyes. “Literally anything is better than Cat, so I guess we’re going with Corruption.” She looked down at the cat. At this point, she had sat down cross-legged and the cat was climbing into her lap. “Right, Corruption? You like that name?”

"I chose Corruption because his ears twitch like mine." he commented briefly, getting up out of his seat and moving closer to the two that were now on his floor.

“Commander Ear Twitches and his cat, Corruption,” she whispered to herself. “I already love this posting.” And then she looked up at Styre and asked, “What had your brain so preoccupied that you got a cat anyways?”

Styre shook his head, his ears abruptly stopped twitching as he looked earnestly towards Ava. "Lieutenant, I am not one to be dishonest, but it is quite difficult for me to express emotions. I believe I was feeling sad. My meditation session exposed the realities of my life aboard."

Ava dropped her smile. It was rare for Styre to be so sincere about his emotions. In fact, he rather liked to pretend that he didn’t have any emotions at all. “I take it that means you haven’t exactly been content with this posting,” she said quietly and watched as Corruption made his way over the floor towards Styre.

Styre sat down on the floor a few feet away from Ava, putting his hands out and picking up Corruption. "I've known that since my transfer to Command, Lieutenant. Yet, despite my discontentness, I find it illogical to transfer. Where would I go? What would I do? Every option leads to either a downgrade in position, or something that makes no sense."

“Why not switch back to Science?” She shrugged. “It’s what you do best, it’s where you’re most needed…” She had to admit, seeing Styre with a cute little kitten was definitely amongst the best things she had seen in a long time. “Hold on.” She needed to capture this moment. Whether Styre wanted or not, she pulled out her PADD and took a picture of him and Corruption. For science, she told herself.

3

Styre had to face the reality. It would be better for him to go into science. But the positions available were all demotions or downgrades, he thought. "Because if I was needed in science, I would not have been requested into a command position. It is obvious that they believed this position to be better for me." He said, not minding the fact that he had just been photographed with a cat.

Ava put her PADD back down. For serotonin at a later time. She looked at Styre and gave a thoughtful hum. “Starfleet doesn’t know you as well as you know yourself, Styre. Besides, you will do nobody any good here in Command, if you’re merely unhappy with the posting and would rather be in the labs — where you would be more efficient, by the way!” She gave a small shrug. “I’d like to work with you again, not gonna lie. You’re a painful perfectionist, but als you have a cute cat.” She grinned.

"There is no need for me to switch. If I were to request a science position I'd just get moved to a large science vessel as their Chief Science Officer and then what? Continue operating as a bureaucrat?" Styre pressed Corruption against his body and gave a tight hug, the cat releasing a soft 'meow'. "There is simply no path forward other than the one I am in, Ava." He said it, he referred to the Lieutenant by her first name. That really exposed how emotional Styre was at this moment.

Oh my fucking God, the ‘Ava’ treatment. Everyone stay calm! It’s happening! Everyone stay fucking calm, Styre is being Emotional™️. He was even going as far as cuddling which was straight up illogical. This was a really bad sign, actually. “Styre,” said Ava softly, “You miss the labs. You miss not being in a senior position, being able to conduct your research in peace. But you also can’t just request a demotion, because that would be illogical… So, you’re just gonna spend the rest of your days accumulating cats and dealing with the fact that you hate your position? That doesn’t sound very pleasant, nor very logical to me.” She gave him an empathetic look with her big brown eyes.

Styre took a deep breath with Corruption in his hands before setting the cat back down. It took another moment of processing to determine what he was about to say. Styre was stuck in an illogical trap. Either he requests a position and a downgrade to pursue work he enjoys, which would be illogical. Or he maintains his position and dwell every single session of meditation, that too is illogical. "Ava..." he started, his voice starting to break up as one soft tear fell down his cheek. His ears remained calm. "I do not know what to do. No amount of logic... n...no amount of guidance can help me."

3

Ok, now that had never happened! In all the years that Ava had known this man, she’d known him to be cold, calculated, odd, reservedly irritated, and even joyous. But never ever had she seen him cry. For a moment, the sight was almost alienating. But then, her friendship senses kicked in. “Hey,” she muttered, trying to sound soothing. “Hey, Styre, it’s okay. You’re gonna get out of this, okay? There’ll be a logical solution for sure. We just haven’t found it yet…” She scooted a little closer and placed a hand on his knee, careful not to touch any skin, but still unable to resist the urge to just give him some kind of physical reassurance.

Styre nodded, more tears dripping down his cheeks as he attempted to calm down. Corruption rubbing up against his knee certainly aided in that venture. "I cannot speak to my father for he will surely be disappointed. My mother will be overjoyed, so I do not know she will give the best logical advice moving forward. I cannot talk to any Vulcan logician, for they will tell me to suppress these emotions and stick where I am at. I do not know what to do, Ava." He let in a deep sigh. He weighed potential options and their disastrous results in his mind.

It was so rare that Styre talked about his family. “You.. could talk to your sister?” And that was when Ava had an idea. “Hey, you know what? What about… mission specialist.” She gave his knee a small pat. “You’d be good at it. You’d be doing field work, combining Science and Command… Whatcha think? You could conduct research again, without a drastic demotion. Maybe you could even remain first officer and also take on the position of mission specialist.” All the while, her voice remained soft and encouraging. She had this terrible feeling that she might be the only person that Styre trusted enough to open up to about these things. Which was mildly hilarious, because they had basically started off as enemies!

Styre listened to Ava as he pet Corruption, whom had been sitting his lap. He nodded, tears drying up as he wiped the remaining from his cheeks. "I'd have to speak to Mona, or Mo, perhaps someone else. I definitely cannot speak to my sisters, they're like my mother, too overjoyed in their emotions." he paused. "I do not want to indulge in my emotions, Lieutenant. But this time is an oddity, for my emotions guide me towards a logical answer. This one time." he clarified. "Becoming a mission specialist would not require much more training... I.. I don't know what to do." He placed his head into his palms, his ears beginning to twitch once more.

“Oh, my God, Styre,” she muttered affectionately. This guy was too much for real. “I’m gonna hug you now, if you have any objections speak now, or forever keep your peace.”

"No hugs." He said in a firm voice, indicating that he definitely did not believe a hug was necessary. "Ava..?" he said questioningly.

2

“Yes?”, she whispered, using all of her willpower to not hug the man.

"Why did you visit?" he questioned. Her reason for visiting was not really made known, at least not to Styre.

She looked at him for a long moment. Styre with tears on his face and a cat in his lap. This was messy, this was insane. “I came exactly for this,” she responded quietly. “To check up on you. Because I… I hate you, you’re so annoying, but I also missed you and I wanted to know why you left the science division. In all the time that I’ve known you, you’ve always been completely devoted to research. The fact that you would have changed to command, it… It didn’t make sense to me. It still doesn’t. And… that’s why I came. All of those reasons.” She sniffed. God, it was hard not to cry when other people were crying. “Because I consider you a friend, you idiot.”

Styre thought. Her words hit him sharp. Yes, he was annoying, that was understandable. But why anyone would find Styre as a "friend", or "miss" him baffled him. That just wasn't how he defined himself. It was indeed just his research that defined him, mainly because he defined his research. He was one of the few scientists within his niche field, and he was among the top. He was definitely considered an expert within Silicon-life and highly dangerous viruses, but alas, he was placed within the office of XO. "Why one would miss or befriend me is beyond myself, Lieutenant. Why one cares so much about the life of a highly crazed Vulcan-Human hybrid will forever remain a mystery. But despite all that, I must thank you. Corruption here would've been able to only help so much." (edited)

“Listen, I have no idea why I’ve decided to call you my friend, but it happened for very illogical reasons somewhere between meeting you in that shuttle and falling asleep on your shoulder in the lab that one time.” Nowadays she could smile at the incident. Back in the day, she’d been quite offended by the fact that Styre has just scooted away from her, causing her to pretty much slip and slide to the ground and awake mid-fall. “And I don’t regret it,” she went on, “And you’re welcome I put up with you, because I know it isn’t always easy putting up with me and my illogical behavior. In any case, I would like to give you a piece of advice, Styre. Just this once, do what feels right. This once, make a choice based on what you like doing, what you enjoy, rather than what you think is logical.”

"That is quite impossible of me. For my own personal endeavors and wishes simply cannot supercede logic." he paused, allowing Corruption to wander out of the general area. Now it was just Styre and Ava... He took a deep breath. "Lieutenant Ava Lopez. You are the rank I was when I first met you. May I pose a question?"

“Of course,” she said, folding her hands in her lap and looking back at him.

He did not hesitate when asking his question. "What are your plans for your future? What goals do you wish to accomplish?"

“Honestly?” She looked at him and chuckled. “I wanna keep helping out the folks from Silia 5 and conduct scientific research here on the station. Eventually, I’d enjoy getting a Chief of Science position. And then, when I finally decide that I am content with my work and career, I will quit and settle down somewhere on earth. Perhaps I’d like to give lectures at Starfleet Academy, I think I would enjoy that; becoming a professor of sorts.” She blinked, tilting her head slightly. “Why do you ask?”

"Just curious." he said, his ears twitching as his voice cracked slightly. "You do not wish to exceed to Command?"

Ava shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t be for me. Besides, we can’t all be Captains. Somebody has to be crew.” She smiled slightly, taking note of the crack in his voice. She wished she could help him seriously, but there was not much more for her to do than sit with him on the floor of his room and talk. Maybe that was enough.

"I have another question." he posed, not wishing to interrupt her day or take up too much time. If she wanted to go, he did not want to keep her from doing that.

“Go ahead. We’re way past asking to ask questions,” she responded.

He nodded, a small smile forming on his face. "Understood." he paused for a moment. "Do you believe I could ascend to captaincy given my c..court martial..?"

Really? That was what he was worried about? “I’m not gonna lie to you, Styre. I do not know. I think it might delay your ascend to captaincy. It might make it more difficult. I don’t think it’ll be impossible. Still, you shouldn’t ask me about that, I’m not Command, I don’t know about such things.” She paused. “The real question is, why do you want to ascend to Captaincy?”

"I believe that the most logical choice." he paused, taking a deep breath to understand and take in what Ava had responded with. "Ava, if I ascend to captain, then I could captain a small science vessel and focus on research. A small science vessel is akin to a floating research station. I can conduct research, focus on maintaining logic, and just overall, be more content."

“Hit me up when it happens, I wanna be your first officer,” she replied, grinning opening. “And… I get the appeal, really. But if you wanna ascend to captain, that means you’ll have to spend some time here as XO and if I were you, I would talk to somebody about that court martial and make absolutely sure that staying in Command will be worth it!”

"I do not know who to consult other than you. As a hybrid yourself you've gained a unique insight into being a unique individual. Bringing this up with someone would not be well... logical."

Ava couldn’t help but smile. It was oddly touching that Styre deliberately chose to speak to her. It wasn’t something one would have expected. Ava and him had always done nothing but bicker and annoy each other, but despite all of that, here they were. “I’m gonna talk to somebody,” she said softly, “I’m gonna talk to some people in Command, I’m gonna ask them whether they think that your court martial would prevent you from ascending to captaincy or not. Because I wanna know, and you gotta know as well.”

"I will not mandate that, but it would be appreciated, Lieutenant." And there it goes, Styre's emotional rampage has ended... somewhat. Corruption walked back into the room and rubbed up against Styre's leg. Styre pet the cat on the head before eying Ava.

“Good,” said Ava, looking first at Styre and then at the cat. “Corruption is very cute, by the way. I approve of your impulsive decisions, you should make more of them.” And they were back to their familiar banter.

"I do not feel that is logical." he maintained a stoic tone once more. "Corruption can stay, but I do expect you to catsit sometime." he paused. "I blame you entirely for his existence within my quarters."

“ME?! What? Why?!” She gave him an incredulous look. “I mean, not that I’m opposed to catsitting…” She’d been keeping Ken’s cat for a while now, after all. “But you can’t possibly blame Corruption on me!”

A small grin formed on Styre's face. "It is the only logical conclusion I have come to. You are entirely to blame for him belonging to me."

Ava gasped as she saw the small grin on Styre’s lips. She shook her head. “I wasn’t aware you had a sense of humor, Commander.”

"I do not." he said plainly, stoic tone echoing out of his mouth.

“Sure you don’t. Way too illogical,” she said, nodding along as if it was the most obvious fact in existence. And then she burst out into laughter.

Styre unleashed another smirk as Ava laughed. "I thank you immensely, Lieutenant Lopez."

She chuckled and then raised an accusatory finger at him. “You’re welcome; and now stop before I have to suspect that someone secretly replaced the Styre I know with a much friendlier and funnier version!”

"You're excused, Lieutenant." he said as Corruption walked over to Ava.

1

“Did you hear that, Corruption? He dismissed me. That means I’m going now, because he’s done with The Big Sad,” she whispered to the cat, scratching behind his ear for a last time before getting up. “I’ll get back to you. It was surprisingly nice seeing you again, Styre.”

Styre too stood up and let out a heavy sigh. He walked over to Ava and wrapped his arms around her torso, effectively hugging her. "I look forward to our future endeavors, Lieutenant."

3

2

Okay, she had not expected that at all. For a moment, she was perplexed, but then she hugged him back with a smile. That was… surprisingly less awkward than she would have expected it to be. In fact, it was kinda nice. “Me too, Styre,” she said quietly, before pulling out of the hug again. “And now stop with the emotionalism for real, or I’m gonna be really, really concerned for your well-being.” The smile on her face indicated that she was joking.

"Once that door shuts behind you, Styre will return to normal." he said with a smile on his face. "Farewell, Lieutenant."

“I’ll see you around, Styre,” she said, looking up at his smile for a last time — it was a rare sight after all. “PADD me if you need catsitting. Or other stuff, I suppose. And come by the labs!”, she added, already half out of the door.

He waved goodbye before walking back to his terminal as the door shut.

1

[D] The tall new arrival entered the station with it's map on her PADD. Her steps were long, not having to run to get across the station but still be quick. After entering a series of turbolifts, she eventually reached to the corridors. This was a first time working on a station, so this was a new experience for her. The doors open and Zizi walks inside. She headed to the replicator. "Lets see... I'll have a block of cherry Jello-o." The replicator chimed, Zizi setting her bags next to the couch. She walked over to the replicator and picked up the tray. Seeing the Jello-o wiggle, she shook the tray a little to watch it jiggle more before eating it with a spoon.