Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-hopps-leap﹢lt-tr’ehweia

A Secret Santa Gift arrived for Hopps: What arrived for Hopps’s Secret Santa was a small box. It was rectangular in shape, the outside a black colour and covered in a felt-like material. On the lid there was an image engraved in silver of a little chef’s hat. On the lid's interior it was engraved with 'Secret Santa 2413.' Inside, held in the middle by soft fabric, was a single isolinear rod. When plugged in the isolinear rod became a cookbook of recipes from the Delta Quadrant to help Hopps get in touch with his Talaxian side. Some recipes included: x_divider

09:35

- Throck: A traditional Kazon meal made using the tongue of a paradise angel-peach, a fruit bird from the planet Porakas. It included the peaches, sugar, and cinnamon and was served cold with cream. - Sweetened-and-Pickled Wild Fantasia Beans: A complicated recipe from the dark side of the Nijian moon. It required 1 bushel of wild fantasia beans, 15 cups of salt, 35 cups of sugar, the roots of 6 dried and stretched boodo leave, 3 buckets of sap from the sacred wala wala tree, 1 teaspoon of Bavadian smaka sedge, 1 large roasted Gazala, and at least half a barrel of roda water. - Fried Mochana Shoots: A recipe which was easy to make, involving frying the shoots until they were completely black and serving with sour cream. However, Mochana shoots were known to be difficult to harvest due to the ailurus lizard that lived where they grew. It was to the point that a species had almost gone extinct from doing the harvest. - Komar Cookies: A cookie recipe from the Komar, a species who lived in a nebula and fed off the neural energy of other people. It was noted that instead of baking their cookies, they zapped the dough with a magnetodynamic T5 solar-photox blast. It was advised that normal people just bake them. - Yallitian Crystal Salad: A summer salad made with the hearts of ice ferns that grew in the purple glaciers of Yallitos, the coldest planet found in the Delta Quadrant so far. What made the dish more curious was the fact that the ice ferns were only harvested during the summer when the Yallitos people could go outside. During every other season, they lived hidden away inside the bellies of giant Koko whales. x_divider

09:35

There were both ingredients and instructions, along with replicator codes in case the recipient wanted to try them without cooking. Ten of the ones listed were old Talaxian dishes that had been preserved following them leaving their home planet. The recipes came with suggestions on what to replace certain ingredients with if they couldn’t be procured outside of the Delta Quadrant, ready to be cooked here on the Starbase!

A Secret Santa gift arrived for Lama: in the box was a pair of headphones, and the circular speaker housing bits had a pattern on them that looked like sliced lemons! A note was attached:

I was sooo excited to get you for the secret santa! And then nervous because I suddenly forgot every interest you've ever had, haha. Really had no idea what to get you until something occurred to me. It'll give me away massively because I have a similar pair of headphones, but orange-themed. There's also a lime version if you know anyone who really likes limes or the colour green. I think if you wear this, you'll look extra cute! I wear mine on stream and lots of people seem to like them. Hope you enjoy

After a week of sparadic sleep, Lama was unsure what to do. He was going to therapy as was required following the mission, but this was a bigger beast he was fighting, one that his therapist agreed couldn't be fought with counselling alone. His therapist encouraged him to reach out to his family and for a week, Lama debated it. He didn't like asking his brothers for help, not when they had their own stuff going on. He had lived his life being the problem Ehweia and had liked to believe he had grown out of it. He had medicine to help him sleep and of course all of the resources of the station's medical staff, it was just... difficult. So here he was, reaching out to his brothers. Taev, the new Republic recruit who had joined to return to his Romulan roots. Taev had always been itching to return to his people and now he was finally there. Rocking the ugly bowl cut with the gold Republic uniform. Joining him in gold was the triplets' full Romulan older brother, Hvirr who now held the rank of Erei'Riov, commander. Hvirr had long black hair tied up in a ponytail and embodied all of the typical Romulan traits. Serious, dedicated, and fiercely loyal to the cause of the Republic. Lastly was Lama's sibling, Imin, who sported the same blonde hair as their brother. Imin was living on Betazed and worked as a classical Romulan musician, playing folk songs and travelling. "Jolan tru, dinams, and ravsam," Lama greeted the two boys and one enby in the chat with a wave but no smile. "I have gathered you all here today because umm... I have something that's one my mind."

03:17

"Of course, we're here to help, we care about you, Lama," Hvirr, the oldest of the four, said with a gentle smile and wave back. His voice was the deepest of the four and he was definitely the tallest. It seemed all of the Ehweia triplets' height had gone to him, not that it showed on video call.

"Thanks," Lama looked at the little square that was Hvirr on screen. "So I wanna ask... umm... Do you guys think I'm like... bad?"

"Well yeah, I can't think of a single thing you're good at," Taev responded almost immediately with a blunt tone, earning a loud bang from Imin's side as the person slapped their desk. min began furiously typing out their response in the text chat alongside the video call. Eggymin: I don't think that's what he meant. Don't be a cunt, Taev.

Lama's brows furrowed and he looked slightly distressed by his brother's comment. He nodded when he read Imin's response, happy that his sibling was stepping in.

Eggymin: No, I don't think you're bad. "Yeah, what Imin said," Hvirr spoke up as he glared at Taev's square on his screen to silently scold him.

"It's okay guys, yeah Taev is right," Lama sighed and covered his face with his hands. "Let's not argue, I just wanna have a chat."

"Hey Lama, we can't be good at everything. Someone has to suck," Taev said, earning massive glares from both Hvirr and Imin. Eggymin: You are not helping, I'll kick you from the chat. "That's not how a Republic officer should act, Taev. I will pull rank on you if I have to," Hvirr warned Taev, causing the youngest of the triplets to frown and look away from his screen. "Lama, did you fail your security drills again?" Hvirr asked, assuming perhaps that was what this whole meeting was about.

"No no, this has nothing to do with that I just.. This is about my life as a... spy," Lama sighed, realising that there was no point in beating around the bush. He was a bit annoyed at Taev, but he wanted his brother to hear what was on his mind too before Imin or Hvirr booted him from the chat. "I feel guilty, like really really guilty. So guilty I can't sleep, I can't think of anything but how much I hate myself," Lama looked up with an exhausted expression, not entirely sure how to bring up literally serving the Tal Shiar.

Eggymin: We are aware and we don't think that makes you a bad person. You are remorseful, a bad person would have no remorse. "Imin is right, and I should take some blame too. I'm sorry I sent you down that path, Lama. I am the one who encouraged you to join the Free State. I was the one in the wrong," Hvirr said, his voice full of remorse. Lama never told him exactly what he did whilst serving the Tal Shiar, but he knew it was not a good environment for his half Betazoid brother and he completely took the blame for even suggesting he join the Free State with him. "If you're a bad person, then so am I."

03:28

"I hurt people though. I've been trying to make up for it but honestly, I don't know if it's enough. There is nothing I could do that can bring back all the lives I ruined. Even if I didn't directly cause harm, I served a literal evil regime. This is one cancellation I don't think even the most sincerest of apology videos could save me from," Lama smiled weakly in an attempt to use humour to keep himself from giving into his emotions.

Taev was eerily silent, maybe he had learned his lesson and was going to keep his mouth shut if he didn't have something nice to say. Hvirr also fell silent, not entirely sure what to say to help comfort his brother. Eggymin: You're just Romulan and Romulans are no different from any other species in the galaxy. You did do something bad and you're right, I don't think any apology can make up for what you've done, but you have a platform to give back to others. It's not about erasing the scars of the past, it's about standing confidently today and putting in efforts to move in the right direction.

"Thanks guys," Lama couldn't help but laugh at the juxtoposition of his brother's stupid comment and then his siblings uplifting and motivational wall of text. He thought about how Vovi had said the same thing to him during the mission.

03:29

"I still feel evil, though. I regret everything I did. It wasn't just one or two years of bad decisions, it was eleven years of bad decisions. That isn't a mistake, it's a reflection of my values and even if it's in the past, I went against what we, what the Republic, what Betazed, has always strived for," Lama told them with another sigh. He combed his fingers through his hair and rubbed his eyes.

"We're in the same warbird, Lama," Hvirr finally spoke up. "I also served them. I regret my actions too. Even as a Republic officer, I look around at my fellow officers, people I know I've hurt whether directly or indirectly, and I feel like shit," He explained as he leaned forward to get closer to the screen. "And yes, I agree, we did bad and not everyone is going to forgive us or even want anything to do with us and that's valid of them," Hvirr spoke softly as if he were tallking to Lama one-on-one. "But as Imin said, we need to do our best to move forward. We can't change the past, but we can help build a better future."

Lama nodded at his brother's words and then looked to Taev who was still surprisingly silent.

03:30

"I am but.. I don't know if I'm doing enough. I feel like my colleagues are just so much better at their jobs. I.. this isn't related to the spy stuff, but during an investigation I got yelled at by an angry Klingon who said I was, 'a fucking Romulan prick'," Lama shivered, remembering that very cringe memory.

"Based," was all it took Taev to say before he was muted and Imin started to type furiously. Eggymin: No more talking. EggyTaev: My comment was aimed at Lama's colleagues being better at their jobs than him. And dude, it was /joke /sarcasm "Let's not fight," Hvirr looked nervously at the chat and then up at the screen to see Lama looking very worried. "That's not true, Lama. You just have a different set of skills. We can't all be good at our jobs all the time, even D'Tan has made mistakes," Hvirr offerred a more hopeful statement.

Lama couldn't help but chuckle at the little exchange between Imin and Taev. It was a weird thing to laugh at. but it felt... Comforting, to see his siblings banter back and forth.

"Thanks you guys. I... Yeah, thanks for the advice. I want to keep working hard," Lama said with a nod and a weak smile.

"We know you're more than your past and we appreciate you, Lama. You're our dearest brother and I think I am speaking for all of us, no one has as much rizz as you. Someone's gotta represent the Ehweia house," Hvirr said with a smile, making Lama smile back. Eggymin: That's right! You've had more dates than all of us combined! EggyTaev: Lama gets dates? /j "You're good at getting along with people, funny, a little clumsy, but a lot of people find that endearing nowadays," Hvirr added, choosing to ignore Taev's comment in the chat.

"Thanks you guys, I can always count on you. Well, except Taev, I'd count on a rabid rorse before I entrust any motivational pep talk to you."

EggyTaev: Terran Christian bible, galatians 4:16.

Lama paused when he read the message and quickly looked it up on his PADD. There was a gap of silence as the other Ehweia siblings did the same and when they did, Hvirr and Lama burst out laughing. Imin did not laugh, but they were clearly very amused.

"Alright Taev, that was pretty funny," Hvirr said through his laughter. “But anyway, seriously. Lama, do you want us to visit you? We got some shore leave coming up and it sounds like you need some Ehweia motivation magic," Hvirr offered, thinking maybe a big family reuninion would help lift his brother's spirits. Eggymin: I'd love to see the station, do you think you could hook me up with a recording session with the Starlots? EggyTaev: Yeah sure, Ehweia trip. I wanna see that Allan guy again, he was hot.

"Yes, you guys can definitely come visit. I think you guys should also explore the station too. And I'll let you meet Allan again, but you need to not be a dick," Lama looked at Taev with narrowed eyes.

Eggymin: You got it! EggyTaev: ok. "We'll see you soon, Lama the egg tr'Ehweia."