Star Trek: Starbase 777 - ens-falada-schuchert﹢ens-linn’uen

TW: blood and death Lorin was asleep in her room. She was stiff as a board despite having bed space, still somewhat tuned to her tiny quarters on her old outpost. There wasn’t any light at all in the room, nor any noise. Lorin needed complete silence and complete darkness to sleep. Sadly her sleep wasn’t very peaceful. She was dreaming, something she hated. It was why she never slept. She was terrified of what her mind could conjure up. Cue fade-away to her dream or whatever. She was standing in a hallway, tile floor and gray walls. The air was cold, the view through the windows showing a fierce blizzard. A storm so big that nobody could call for help or transport out. They were stuck, all the scientists, on an island in an unforgiving ocean of snow and ice. The Thealin III outpost. She heard a noise behind her, immediately turning around. A human man was there, leaning against the wall for support. There was blood all over him, red and horrifying. From his nose, mouth, even his eyes were bloodshot and disgusting. He could barely choke out a noise before collapsing. The virus was wreaking havoc on the base, Lorin herself was frozen. The scene changed, and she found herself lying down on a hospital bed. She was alone, with only the gentle beeping of machines. There was an IV attached to an empty bag in her arm. Whatever was in it was gone now. There were corpses in some of the beds. Maybe a few days old? The intense cold slowed the rot. Most shocking, a dead woman in the bed next to her. This corpse wasn’t old at all. 12 hours old, at the latest, but undeniably dead. How long had she been lying here? Days? A week? She took out the needle from her arm and rose up. Everything hurt, a white-hot ache across her whole body. (edited)

She stepped over this body, trying not to look at it, just looking at it made her head hurt. There was a distinct feeling of something unlodging itself in her mind. This body was her fault. She had infected her. How long had she been in Sickbay while this poor doctor worked until she dropped, nobody to even take her off the floor? The smell of blood was still heavy in the air, something more reminiscent of a hallucination than reality. It shouldn’t smell this fresh. She wasn’t bleeding, not anymore. She, against all odds, had been cured. She emerged from Sickbay after decontaminating herself. The storm was over, the comms station working now. With trembling fingers, she sent out the distress call. She heard footsteps behind her, but she didn’t dare to look. She didn’t want to see. She didn’t want to talk, she couldn’t if she wanted to. Her voice didn’t work. “Oh, hello. You’re alive. I suppose I can’t claim myself for curing you.” It was the voice of the man who liked her least on this Outpost- and just like that, she was back in Sickbay. She was laying half-conscious in a biobed, staring up at this man in a full hazard suit. Another xenobiologist, hellbent on promotions and not afraid to kick others down to do it. Another person working with her on the autopsy of the dead body that infected the outpost. An Andorian, unable to contract the virus. It was only ever humans. Humans and her.

13:51

“I suppose this is where I say goodbye. Can you even hear me?” Lorin could hear him. But she couldn’t tell him that. She couldn’t move, much less speak. “You wouldn’t mind if I said your work was mine, right? I helped you research, and you’re going to die anyway. I could finally be promoted after all this bullshit. And it’s not like you did much. You’re here, aren’t you? Anyway. I’m going to my quarters to ride this out. Hey, bright side, maybe how this bullshit works on a hybrid could be different. Your dead body could be a scientific marvel.” He was cut off by the dead body on the floor- but she was alive, not covered in blood, and very much angry. “Get the fuck out of Sickbay! You’d really insult a woman who’s already going to die? I swear, fuck off and let me work.” He had walked out of Sickbay, and Lorin herself had blacked out. And there she was, back to reality. She turned, seeing him. She looked into his eyes, burning hatred completely and utterly evident. Somehow, she found her voice again. Maybe just to curse this man out. “I live, bitch. And if you ever dare claim my work as yours, I will hunt you down and engineer a virus for you so you can die like how I should have.” But before anything else, she shot awake. There were fresh tears on her cheeks. If she had a voice, she would have called for the Computer to turn the lights on. But she didn’t, so she used her PADD. Another Thealin III nightmare. So common, she was afraid to ever fall asleep again. Without fail, her brain tortured her trying to process something it probably shouldn’t. And there were plenty of traumatic things to process. Her brain had a lifetime of things to choose from. She turned, fell face first onto her pillow, and sobbed. She couldn’t work today, she didn’t want anyone to see her. She didn’t want anyone to know she existed. They could go on with their lives, Lorin could take a day off for the first time.

After a few hours of just lying there, Lorin dragged herself out of bed. She wasn’t going to work, no. It was far too late for that, her superiors would have already marked her as skipping work. No use doing anything about it now, she thought. She would go get some coffee instead. This was the usual cycle for her. Have a nightmare, then stay up for an unhealthy amount of time to avoid having another one, rinse and repeat. She tied her hair into a messy bun and pulled on a hoodie, and walked out the door.

Another day, another day awake. Thanks to being Vulcanoid, she wasn’t tired. She thought she could go a few more days without sleeping again. She’d give anything for a night of dreamless sleep. But she had that meeting with Evoras today, and she wasn’t about to be late. She put on her uniform, then her normal black gloves. She put her hair back into a ponytail (her haircut made a bun almost impossible) and walked out the door.

[D] Nalas was here! He was dressed in long flowing Bajoran robes, greens and reds, with a little santa hat! He had a gift bag in his arms with a card tucked inside. The bag was handmade, origami! With cute pictures of wintery things like snowflakes and ice pops (don't tell him that's not a winter thing). The bag was red with some silver glitter sprinkled throughout the outside to give it that christmas flare. He chimed the bell and awaited a reply.

The door opened, revealing a green-haired woman in a reindeer themed sweater. There was Christmas music (Mariah Carey, you know the one) playing in the background and some poinsettias in pots on the nearby table. “Hello!”

"Hello Lorin!" Nalas greeted with a silly smile and a cheerful tone. His jade green eyes sparkled under the bright lights of the corridor and he gave the neon green haired woman a friendly wave. "Can I come in? I have a gift for you!!" He said excitedly. It was supposed to be secret santa, but Nalas was an artist who wanted to show off his creation to the recipient! He couldn't do that in secret, he had to see her reaction.

“Of course! I must be who you got for the Secret Santa. I’m sorry I’m a bit of an enigma. But your gift looks incredible and I haven’t even opened it yet. Oh, and I have coffee brewing right now, would you like some?” She gestured to the coffee machine in the background, the kind that used those little disposable cups of coffee material. In the room, there were some Christmas decorations. Lorin was big on Halloween and Christmas.

"Yes I got you!" Nalas said with an excited giggle as he looked into the room to see the coffee machine accompanied by the familiar smell of coffee brewing. How lovely! He always liked wintery coziness because there was none of that on Cardassia. The weather on the planet was humid, hot, and more humid. And they also didn't have any holidays that weren't to commemorate some military victory or triumph. "I'll take some coffee, extra sweet please!"

“I sent mine anonymously. I’d have delivered it in person, but they’re like.. higher ranking, and I’ve only talked to them professionally.” The coffee was done brewing, and she poured two mugs of it. One for herself (a red mug with stars on it), and one for Nalas (a white mug with candy canes on it). “I don’t have any sugar, sorry. I’m Vulcanoid and I drink my coffee black anyways, and my roommate’s also Vulcanoid.”

"Ohh it's okay, I'll drink it black then," Nalas said with a smile, he was not going to pass up some warm caffeine. He walked slowly into the room and placed Lorin's gift on the table before taking the mug from her. He was not a big coffee drinker, perferring juice, but he did like the idea of a warm drink to get into the wintery spirit. They don't have seasons in space after all. "Please, open my gift! I made it special for you!" Inside of the gift bag was a plushie version of Lorin! She had neon green hair in a wolf cut just like life sized Lorin and red lipstick. She was dressed in a pretty red ball gown, but in the bag there were other clothes for her if Lorin so wished to change her outfits. The plushie was most certainly cursed with wide eyes and a blank stare, but it was made with love by Nalas. The card in the bag also read:

"To Lorin, Have a wonderful and cozy winter! I hope you enjoy this mini Lorin that I made for you! I know it is supposed to be 'secret' santa, but I wanted to see your reaction! Mini Lorin also has different clothes, but if there is any requests for outfits I would be glad to make them for you! The fabric is all sourced directly from Bajor, created with the fibers of the Bajoran Rubberwood tree so the red colour is not a dye-- it's natural. Happy holidays! - Nalas Za'ari"

She opened the bag and took the doll out. Her face broke into a smile, and she placed her mini-Lorin onto the table. She couldn’t help but flap her hands a bit, something she did often when she was excited or happy. She just didn’t do it around Alizati, for reasons even she couldn’t quite parse. But she quickly regained control and took the other clothes and the note out of the bag. “Oh, this is absolutely amazing! I love her so much. This is really nice work too, you’re really talented. Thank you, Nalas!”

When he saw Lorin flap her hands, he did the same, flapping his hands and giggling. He was so happy he was able to get such a positive response from Lorin and nodded. "I am so happy you appreciate her!! I love making plushies! Please love her well!" He knew Lorin would, mini Lorin's eyes were looking in two different directions, but you know it was the thought that counts. "Have a super fun end of the year! Are you gonna be doing anything special?"

“I’m giving gifts to my friends, plus I’ll be at the New Year’s party! Besides that, I’ll probably stay in and watch some old Christmas movies. My favorite one is Home Alone.” Ace one said that Home Alone was basically if Jigsaw was a small child. And she couldn’t lie, it kind of was. That Kevin kid was a mastermind. She watched it a lot, wondering what booby traps she would make to protect a house like that. She took a sip of her coffee, burned her tongue, and put it back down

"Oh yeah the New Years party! I like some French films but uhhh I don't really understand what goes on in terran films. I like that one terran reality show, it's like a knockoff of the show Keeping up with the Cardassians, but with humans and not Cardassians. Believe it or not it's a Bajoran reality show about a bunch of Cardassians living on Terok Nor and they get into bar fights," Nalas explained, not a very Christmas-y show but he loved seeing people argue about the pettiest things. From whether or not yamok sauce belonged on everything to whether Cardassians looked better with or without tails (spoiler, Nalas liked them with tails and thought evolution robbed them of their tail-glory). "What's that Home Alone film about? DOn't tell me... It's about someone who is home with a bunch of friends?" Nalas said with a laugh, the corners of his eyes and nose ridges wrinkling as he did so.

“Damn, the Bajorans got some good shows, then.” Her coffee was cooler now, so she took another sip of it. Finding her tongue to be not burnt, she drank a little more before answering his next question. “No, it’s about a little human boy who got accidentally left behind by his family while they went away on a Christmas vacation. While they’re away, two burglars try to break in and he fends them off with a series of elaborate traps.”

"Oh yeah they really do," Nalas only discovered the show recently and already he was hooked. People arguing about stupid shit was exciting. Anyway he slowly sipped his coffee, not really enthused by the lack of sweetness but it was warm and he welcomed the cozy feeling. "Ohhh, wow he couldn't like... Throw a poison dart or something?" Nalas said, confused why all the traps, why not just stab or shoot the dudes? Or maybe that was not something humans did, but even baby Nalas knew how to defend himself! It was part of Cardassian education after all.

“Well, he was a kid! He didn’t have any poison darts or anything.” Lorin was pretty nonviolent. She’d kill in self defense but hoped she’d never have to. Also if you made her mad enough she would fistfight you behind the Waffle House.

"Oh humans need to get more self defense on their houses! Cardassians can't relate! Actually we don't really have crime on Cardassia, we used all our crime energy to do crimes on other people," Nalas said before taking a big sip of coffee. He had to force himself to swallow the bitter liquid, it truly did not hit as well without the sugar. "Anyway, it sounds pretty funny. Uhh maybe I'll see if there's a French dub somewhere or something," Nalas said, putting that on his to-do list that he would surely forget in about ten seconds. He put his coffee mug down, only having taken a few sips but he was pretty done with it. "Take care of mini-Lorin, I gotta give gifts to my other friends now! We should hang out sometime, i mean we're both scientists! If you swing by the biosci lab maybe I can get Saren to let us play with the epohhs!"

“Yes, we should! I work in the bioscience lab anyways, but we should ask Saren about them anyhow.” Lorin had finished her coffee. She definitely intended on taking care of mini Lorin, she was so cute and Real Lorin intended on keeping her forever.

"He's my home dawg, my homie G, my home skillet, he will totally agree," Nalas said, giving Lorin a thumbs up as he made his way to the door. "Have a fun time watching home begone or however the title is, happy merry crimes mass," He said in the most perfect Standard accent he could muster before skipping out the door.

She sat in the corner of her room, a look on her face that one could describe as dissatisfaction. Her breath was slow, as thoughts flew in and through her mind. Her mother, her voice, her face. Part of her regretted her actions, another did not. She had did what she did not, even killed other Tal Shiar as she escaped. She had done things, planned things, and killed things her mother could never do. That side of her was filled with pride, the pride of an obsessed woman. The other was filled with guilt. Despite their difficult relationship, she never should have pushed her out completely, especially during the final years of her life when she was bed-ridden, or use the anger she felt as an excuse to commit crimes and murder for the sake of some unhinged satisfaction. It was sick, deplorable, and the loss of her home and everyone she ever cared about was something she deserved She sighed, as she stared down towards the ground. Her PADD was glowing as she thought, and her eyes darted towards it slightly.

She picked the PADD up, wondering what to do. Am’el already knew that only a few people survived the whole ordeal on her home planet. What else could she find? It’s not like… Her name. Not Linn’uen, the false name her mother gifted to her, but Rllaillieu. Am’el Rllaillieu. Was there even anyone from that house left? Surely there was, but the question never crossed her mind before. She typed the name into the PADD, intending to use the civilian public search engine. Instead she had inputed the name into Starfleet’s database by accident.

The database pulled up a name and a face, 'Sakkath s'Rllaillieu, Vulcan-Romulan, OPS, USS Rapture' along with the corresponding contact information and brief service file. Sakkath's photo on their file showed them with their fluffy black hair and dyed blond streak and striking heterochromatic eyes, one blue, one brown. Beside Sakkath's name was a list of living family members, two on the Vulcan colony Surak Prime, and three on Mol'Rihan.

So some of them were still around. Admittedly she used to be disgusted by their actions against the Tal Shiar when she was one of them but now? Little did she know she’d end up thinking like they did. She sighed, wondering if she should contact them. They were probably distantly related to the point they might not even care beyond a “uh, neat”. At the same time, she was curious. A moment later, she began typing. The message simply read: “Jolan Tru, my name is Am’e Linn’eun. Though my actual lineage belongs to that of the Rllaillieu house. That most likely makes me your distant cousin. If you do not mind, I would like to engage in conversation.”

A few minutes after Am'el send the message, a reply came through.

To: Am'el Linn'uen From: Sakkath ir-N'Keth s'Rllaillieu Jolan tru, my name is Sakkath. I am our hru'hfirh (head of house). I believe we could be distant cousins. I am the child of T'Lora from Remus, however I am half Vulcan and was raised completely Vulcan. I am still trying to learn about Romulan culture and our family. I was unaware we had more surviving members aside from myself and my uncle and his two conspirators. I am a communications officer on the USS Rapture, and you, Am'el?

She quickly responded, typing; “I am the child of Hivv’ae Rllailieu, born on a colony planet called Horinav, former Romulan Navy Centurion. Currently I am serving as a repairs technician on Starbase 777. I do not know much about our family aside from my mother. Could you tell me more about yourself?”

A reply arrived shortly after Am'el's message, Sakkath seemed to also be off duty, hence the fast replies.

To: Am'el Linn'uen From: Sakkath ir-N'Keth s'Rllaillieu We are probably distant cousins, my part of the family had been banished to Remus after some comments they made against the Empire's secret police. I was raised Vulcan and learned very little about my Romulan family growing up. That was until my mother found her brother's contact information on Mol'Rihan and I was then selected as our head of house. My uncle is still on Mol'Rihan, he is married to two conspirators and they have an epohh sanctuary. What about you, how is 777? What brought you to join Starfleet?

She sighed. She didn’t like to tell how she arrived, but she figured she had to be honest for once. At least it was far more likely they wouldn’t tell anyone. “My mother was a Tal Shiar operative, who had to flee due to those comments. As to my joining of Starfleet, it is a little complicated to say the least. To simplify it, I was assigned to a task force who were meant to deal with a supposed uprising on my home planet. There was no uprising. To say the least I rebelled, trying to save what I could before fleeing for Federation space. I was held up on Starbase 1 for about 1 or 2 years before finally joining.” She slumped back slightly, taking her eyes off the PADD. It stil bothered her heavily, despite the continual meditation she did.

The next reply came after around ten minutes, a little longer than the last ones. It seemed Sakkath had to take a while to form a reply.

To: Am'el Linn'uen From: Sakkath ir-N'Keth s'Rllaillieu Horinav? What has become of that colony now? I wonder if we have more family there. May I ask how old are you? I have just turned 28. To be honest, I thought the message notification was from my uncle to wish me happy birthday. Speaking of him, he never spoke of another Rllaillieu, have you been to Mol'Rihan since joining Starfleet?

She picked it up after a while, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. “I do not know what happened. All I remember was that it was already it ruins by the time I fled. As for my age, I am 31. I have not been to Mol’Rihan, what is it like? Oh, and I would also like to wish you a happy birthday. “ She was a bit on edge, but curious at the mention of Mol’Rihan. She knew about it but never actually asked more about it. Oddly, there was a sense of longing, despite having never been there.

The next reply took some more time to come in.

To: Am'el Linn'uen From: Sakkath ir-N'Keth s'Rllaillieu I am sorry to hear that about your colony. I have not been to Mol'Rihan yet, but Hanaj told me it was beautiful. I met him for the first time a couple months ago, I am aware that 777 is close to Mol'Rihan, right? Perhaps you would like to meet him. I wish I could meet you, but I do not believe Rapture is set to be docked for some time. Thank you for the birthday wishes. It is not something that is customary on Vulcan so it is not often that I hear such words. I appreciate it.

She smiled a bit. Was this what it was like to have a proper family? She couldn’t answer that yet. It wasn’t long before she typed out a response. “I look forward to meeting Hanaj if I have the chance, as well as you. Once again I wish you a great day. Peace & long life, Sakkath.”

A message came in a few minutes after Am'el's.

To: Am'el Linn'uen From: Sakkath ir-N'Keth s'Rllaillieu I will contact him. He is running for senate, but I am sure he can take time to visit you. He will be in contact with you soon. Live long and prosper. - Sakkath

And just on time, another message came in for Am'el, this one of a different sender.

To: Am'el Linn'uen From: Hanaj ir-Biscae tr'Rllaillieu Jolan tru, this is Hanaj, Sakkath told me you are another Rllaillieu and you would like to meet? I can visit 777, just tell me when you would be available.

She took a moment to think of her reply, before writing; “Jolan Tru. Yes, I am another Rllaillieu. If you could, I would appreciate it.”

The reply came soon after.

To: Am'el Linn'uen From: Hanaj ir-Biscae tr'Rllaillieu When are you available? I have visited 777 before, I believe we could meet at the #airlock ? Would tomorrow work?

”Yes, that can work. I hope to see you soon.” She put her tablet down, taking a sip of her drink. It was weird, she was somewhat relieved but also anxious.