Star Trek: Starbase 777

The shrine was a quiet place with only a couple renjens wandering around. At the front of the shrine, one could pick up sticks of incense or joss paper/hell money to burn at the alter. There was food laid out for the spirits! Please do not touch!

Ellara was here, standing at the shrine to greet people if anyone wanted to talk to her!

Shears sat at the shrine table. Truth be told, he didn't even really believe in ghosts. He would liked to have. It would probably be some strange alien summoning apparitions. Pretending to be Abraham Lincoln or Surak or whathaveyou. That or something in the food. Shears looked down at their robes. It looked orderly. Standard yellow, straight. He looked acceptable. His antennae twitched with an unusual chatter. His fingers were even tightening at unusual times. It was strange. It was almost as if he was... nervous. So, that's what it feels like. Of course, fear was foreign to Shears. But, if it were to surface at any time, this would make sense. The bug lowered its arms to its sides. Slowly, his fists unclenched. He lifted a plate of food he had assembled with a roll of hell money. He set down the tray, filled with pastries and skins and legumes, all the things he loved--and what he figured any Insectoid of taste would love. He lowered himself in front of a pit by the alter and lit a flame. Okay. Let's see if Vizra will choose to talk to me.

In front of the tray filled with all the tasty food and money, a hazy figure appeared. The figure seemed to 'eat' the food, but the food only wiggled a bit. The crunching sounds definitely made it seem like the food was being eaten even if it was still completely whole to an onlooker. The figure was of another Xindi, Ich'schon'viz'ra to be exact! "Oh, this food is lovely."

The Insectoid, kneeling on the ground saw his posture shoot up. He was immediately alert at the sight of the spirit. Instantly, his notions of worrying about his appearance went out the window and he focused intently on the spirit. One would even think his skepticism ended in a second. "My elder!" He reacted with great nervousness. "I hoped you'd enjoy it. This is the greatest honor I could think of!" The Xindi lowered his green head in a bowing fashion.

"It was very delicious. I have consumed the spiritual part of the food and you can now enjoy the physical part," The spirit of Vizra said, bowing her head slightly. "Your elder, I take it you are one of the residents of New Xindus?"

Hal Gertie was doing his best to be quiet and contained, but there is only so much one can do when herding an eight year old. He gently guided Naijwe by the shoulders around spirits and people alike, driving her towards the shrine, apologizing quietly to anyone they happened to get too close to. When they got up to the shrine, he picked up the single kava roll from Naijwe’s hands, placing it with the rest of the food. Then, he turned to her, tilting his head slightly. “Do you need help with the incense?” He knew what the answer was, but it would remind Nai that there were non-roll related reasons that they were there. They had worked all afternoon to make it, so it had been the center of his daughter’s attention— even in the middle of the festival.

Naijwe had kept her eyes locked on the kava roll as she walked, convinced that if she were to take her eyes off of it for even a second, something terrible would happen to it. She had been walking as fast as her little legs could carry her (so, admittedly, not very fast) and so was surprised when they came up to the altar. She stepped up, looking at all of the food, trying to decide the best possible place she could put it… but suddenly it was gone from her hands. She looked up at her father with a look of great distress. That was HER roll! SHE was supposed to place it! Luckily, her attention was quickly redirected to burning the incense. She gave Hal Gertie a solemn nod; she knew how important the incense was. Brows furrowed in concentration, she lifted one of the sticks and pressed it into the coals before placing it and looking around expectantly.

From the smoke of the incense came the ghostly figure of a half-Betazoid half-Bajoran individual who immediately recognised the young Naijwe. It was Pilomja! Hal's partner. "Naijwe! Hal? Are you two really there?"

“Yes, I… yes!” Hal Gertie laughed, and stepped towards her. Even after seeing others, he almost… hadn’t expected it to really work. Not for him, at least. “I never thought I would get to see you again.” He was smiling, but it was a sad smile. He reached forwards, like he wanted to touch her arm, but instead pulled back and turned to Naijwe. “Look at how tall she’s getting! Surely those are your genes.” He laughed again. Pilomja was not short but… he was still definitely taller than her. “And- we brought you a kava roll. We baked it together.” He gestured towards the roll they had made. Hopefully it was any good; Pilomja was always much better at Bajoran cooking than he was, and as much as he loved Naijwe he just didn’t think she could give him much help on that front.

Naijwe watched as her parents conversed, looking back and forth like it was a tennis match. She hadn’t really recognized her mother when she appeared, but the ghost’s hair was so similar to her own it had to be her. When her father said that she was tall, she gave him major side eye. She was not even a little bit tall.

Pilomja reached her hands forward to touch Hal, but he pulled back making her look a little sad. She was a ghost, it was true, but that didn't mean she couldn't touch and feel, even if her ghostly arms would go right through whatever she touched. "A kava roll? How lovely," She stepped forwrd to reach for the roll. Although she could not actually 'eat' the roll, she could move it a little and make it look as if she were eating. She was technically eating something, she was eating the spiritual portion of the roll. "Mmm.. She has and she's beautiful," Pilomja looked at little Naijwe again. "I love you, you're doing great, you know that? Would you like the kava roll? I cannot eat the physical roll, but the spiritual part was very good."

Nai did, in fact, want the roll. She looked up at her mother with a slightly positive expression. For her, this was brimming with excitement. She slid the roll off the table inconspicuously like she was doing something bad. She had already started nibbling on it before she realized she should probably share. So she pulled off the tiniest piece of the roll, and handed it to Hal Gertie.

After seeing how sad it seemed to make her, Hal Gertie did reach out and take her hand. “She knows you love her. I tell her that every day. I still read her the books we used to read to her together…” He squeezed her hand, trailing off. After so long apart, it was like he forgot how to talk to her. He took the piece of roll and chewed it thoughtfully.

Pilomja was happy to see her daughter take the roll and she looked upon her fondly. Her gaze went back to Hal when he spoke. Even though she couldn't physically feel him touching her, it was the thought that counted. "I am glad. She looks happy, I hope you two aren't too lonely without me. I may not be there physically, but I do know when you two are thinking of me."

"Yes, my elder. Your name has become synonymous with the city." He looked down and collected a thin slice of meat. "I- I always wanted to ask you... how did you manage to do so much in your lifetime, sir? Your life was so short but you have accomplished more than any member of our race."

"That makes me glad. That my work meant something in the end," The Xindi Insectoid said with a sigh of relief. Ghost breathed? Apparently they do. "Time was not on my side. I was not thinking about.. any legacies or any fame. All I knew is I wanted to do everything I could to make a home for our people. I did what felt right, taking on all the risks. There are many adventures to be had, even with our short lifespan."

The living Xindi looked down at his three-fingered hands, resting in their lap. "I feel as if time is slipping past me. I don't feel like I have done enough with my life."

"Are you not?" Vizra looked around. "This... doesn't look like New Xindus. You are travelling! Somewhere? Do you live here? Are these people your friends?" The Xindi looked at a couple of the renjens who were helping to maintain the small fires and placing more offerings on the tables.

Shears' antennae twitched. "Well, yes, I do live here. This is a starbase... but, I don't know much of the people here. I try to help every day. I've followed you're writings, and I'm trying to be just as accomplished as you... I just feel like I'm missing something."

"How lovely! A starbase! We're on Starbases now?" She asked, sounding very surprised that one of her own seemed to be making a life for themself off in the galaxy. "I am sure you are accomplished in your own way. In my lifetime, I didn't feel like i was doing much. It's easy to miss when you're in the moment, but I bet if you step back you will realise you've done more than you think. Like this base. It's a nice atmosphere.. I never would have thought we would travel so far, not from New Xindus, not so far beyond the stars."

A wandering spirit had been summoned in the shrine area, but it was not a friendly one. It was a demonic entity, a Dokkaebi or sometimes called a Korean goblin...

Iiani approached the shrine, wishing she could put a muffler or something on the vacuum. Apart from the Dokkaebi, it seemed relatively peaceful here. It would try to make getting this one quick. Well, as quick as her admittedly lackluster vacuuming skills would let her. It lifted its hoover and turned it on a lower setting, hoping it would be quieter and wouldn’t make its vacuuming skill suffer even more. 🎲6

Rolled: 1d6

[6] ➜ 6

And the Dokkaebi was promptly SUCKED! But then two popped up in its place and flanked the starfleet officer on both sides. One of them attempted to shove Iiani and the other tried to fall her by slapping the backs of her knees!

The officer kept his eye level below the ghostly figure. He felt as if he was not worthy to be speaking to this person directly. Yet, he felt that this did feel like what the true Vizra would say. He sheepishly raised his head to meet the specter's red eyes with their own. "Thank you, my elder." he held his arms up, hands clasped. "Your every word gives me confidence."

"I look forward to seeing what you do with your precious time in this realm. Every Xindi accomplishment is a win for our species. It doesn't matter how big or small," The Xindi founder said, extending a hand? Do insectoids have hands? Well she was offering one to Shears.

Iiani fell to the ground with an omph after being tripped. This wasn’t good… there was no strategy to being on the ground. So she did the first thing she thought of— turning her vacuum on and moving it wildly above her head. With luck, at least one of the ghosts would be sucked and it would give Iiani an out. 🎲5 🎲2

Rolled: 1d6

[5] ➜ 5

Rolled: 1d6

[2] ➜ 2

Shears extended a hand into the cloudy apparition. For a moment, they believed their hand would reach the other Xindi. But as expected, it passed right through. Shears looked up at the ghosts' face.

Xal skirted a wide berth around the bonfire to get here, to the shrine. While beautiful and frightening in its own way, the bonfire felt too simple for Xal. They had choesn the shrine because it was a symbol, like many others in many cultures, of a place of worship, prayer, and connection with something beyond the corporeal. If Xal was going to actually summon someone, it was going to be here, with all the pomp and circumstance of incense, hell money and joss paper, and offerings of food. As they approached, one of Xal's manicured hands slid into the pocket of their nicest powder pink suit and grasped something that had made a bit of a bulge in their short jacket. Their fist rounded out the pocket from inside, and they pulled, revealing a handful of Romulan Tree candy. They were multicolored and glistened in the warm, low lighting from all of the candles, shiny and hard like many other candies from around the galaxy. Xal set them down in an empty spot at the altar, grabbed and incense stick, and lit it with whatever fire-making materials were available. The smoke plumed upward, and Xal waited.

One goblin was sucked but one remained! It flew up and then dove down, trying to DIVE BOMB DA POOR SCIENCE OFFICER

Ellara watched the scene unfold in front of her, smiling at the heartfelt moments.

The Xindi reptillian took Shears' hand and gave it a lil kiss. "Do great things," She said before slowly fading away. Not too far from the Xindi, a cloud of smoke was forming in front of the local Cardassian-Romlan trendsetter. It was the ghostly figure of a Romulan woman, wrapped in what appeared to be a very fluffy bathrobe, complete with head towel. It seemed all ghosts were essentially wearing the same thing. All the peaceful ghosts at least.

Ellara heard the sounds of Renjens scurrying around the shrine area. It seemed something big was coming , but no one knew what...

Silver, having very sensitive mechanical ears designed to pick up the smallest of mechanical problems, could definitely hear the rumbling. So, she too, scurried over to the shrine area, vacuum in hand.

From the shrine area a ghost head appeared, it was...... a demon from the legends of Asia, a Ma lai! it was the floating head of a woman, but instead of a body it was just organs. Like the Borg Queen but it's fleshy any gross. She was also very large, it would take at least 3 hits to suck her...

Oh, damn! A bigass ghost! This definitely wouldn’t be easy to fight. But, Silver was no quitter, hefting her vacuum and switching it on to take a crack at the Ma Lai. 🎲3

Rolled: 1d6

[3] ➜ 3

And the Ma Lai escaped and flew away from the crazy hoover peeps and started shaking the candles on the shrine.

Well, now that was a very rude thing to do! Silver wouldn’t have that! So, she moved closer and aimed her vacuum again for another shot. 🎲6

Rolled: 1d6

[6] ➜ 6

And the Ma Lai took ONE HIT... but needed two more!

Iiani was still scrambling on the ground when the Ma Lai appeared. It seemed like… maybe not the best position to be in, so she tried to suck up the little goblin currently pestering her the most. It rolled to a sitting position, stuck its vacuum at it, and turned it on. 🎲4

Rolled: 1d6

[4] ➜ 4

And the second goblin was sucked!!!

With that taken care of, Iiani got to her feet and turned her attention to the… it seemed impolite to call a ghost the elephant in the room. Whatever. It shrugged off the thought and lifted its vacuum, ready to SUCK! 🎲2

Rolled: 1d6

[2] ➜ 2

The Cardassian-Romulan was somehow tuning out all of the chaotic ghost hoovering, paying very close attention to the place on the shrine where they set their offerings. Shortly, a mist started to form in the shape of a Romulan woman... their mother? So it had worked. Sometimes it took more for Xal to believe or trust, but they had not told a single soul about their desire to summon their mother. Literally no one knew, not even Rojin. "Ri'nanov," Xal whispered, standing very still now in front of the ghost as she formed, completely lost for words. Her outfit was...not like her, but he supposed if she was going to go to the spa, it would be in the afterlife when she could actually rest.

"Yes... Xal... Xal is that really you? Oh how.. how long has it been," The Romulan woman said with a smile on her face when she recognised her son! She floated closer to him and extended her arms. "You're.. tall."

"Mother," he said again, this time in Cardassian. He had a tendency to switch back and forth, especially when he was overwhelmed. "You are surprised by my height? You are one hundred and ninety three centimeters. I am not that tall without these on," he said, his eyes glancing down to his six inch, baby pink stilettos with platforms and an open toe. "Father's genes made me a bit shorter than you, unfortunately." He forced a dramatic sigh, and brought his eyes back up to meet hers. "What...I don't suppose you know how this all works." His eyebrows drew closer together in confusion and frustration. He wasn't really sure what he wanted to ask or to say anymore. When he saw her, it was like all of his thoughts fell to the wayside for a moment, the feeling of his Romulan emotions overpowering any coherent thoughts.

"Ah... well you know, ghosts shrink. Most of us do anyway," She replied with a soft laugh. "I mean to say, you have grown well," The ghost responded back in Cardassian and moved to place her ghosty hands on Xal's shoulders. "I.. no I do not know how this works. Where are we? Who are they?" She pointed to a couple renjens walking behind Xal who were tidying up the shrine.

Iiani took another shot at the Ma Lai. Hopefully she’d be able to return the shrine to relative peace. 🎲3

Rolled: 1d6

[3] ➜ 3

The Ma Lai looked at the science officer and lunged at her with her mouth open to.. eat her?!

“Huh?!” Iiani, who’s affect was usually quite blunted, was caught so off guard she could do nothing but express her surprise. It hopped back, and raised up the vacuum between it and the ghost, and switched it on full blast. 🎲2

Rolled: 1d6

[2] ➜ 2

The Ma Lai took a big 'chomp' of the officer's head which would knock the wind outta her but no actual damage. It was certainly scary though!

Iiani would not be bullied by the Ma Lai! Certainly not! Even as she was… backing towards the wall in fear. It wasn’t retreat, it was a tactical decision intended to catch her off guard. Definitely. It lifted the hoover once more, making small swirling circles in the air. 🎲5

Rolled: 1d6

[5] ➜ 5

Xal could feel a small smile form on their face as they looked down at their mother. Their shoulders felt cool where she was holding them, almost like a light breeze was flowing around them. “Oh, those are Bajoran monks. We are currently attending a Bajoran festival on the Starbase I live on…as a civilian. I am a linguist…” They trailed off, wondering briefly if their mother would be happy for them or judgmental.

AND THE MA LAI WAS HIT! only one more to go! Yes all suckers who helped will get a point for this one!

06:18

"Ah... Bajorans? Monks?" She looked surprised that a bunch of Bajorans would be okay with her son just summoning her. "A civilian linguist, now that is something I am surprised to hear. I am happy that you found your calling though. The Bajorans seem nice," She said, glancing around. "I hope people are nice to you here, it seems... nice. There are a lot of other spirits here, I had to wait in a little bit of a queue on my way up."

Iiani celebrated getting a hit on it silently. Sucking pieces of it one at a time didn’t seem very efficient to her, but it wasn’t as if she could upgrade her vacuum. Not right now, at least. So it went back to work and, once more, lifted its hoover towards the Ma Lai. 🎲4

Rolled: 1d6

[4] ➜ 4

ANNNNND THE MA LAI WAS SUCKED!!! The surrounding Renjen's all clapped when the beast was fully sucked, a few thanked Iiani personally and offered them some incense to burn at the shrine.

Iiani bowed twice. She was, truly, a fantastic ghost sucker. Truly. It accepted the incense with thanks; it had no reason to burn them personally, but it seemed quite rude to reject the gift. Afterwards, she decided to politely take her leave, heading to where Silver had disappeared off to.

"Yes, Bajoran monks. We are on a Federation starbase, mother. They have set up this place in the Hromi cluster near a planet our people settled on after..." He trailed off for a just a moment, a wince and a bit of discomfort on his face. More expressive than he usually was, if anyone who knew him happened to be looking in his direction. "After the Supernova. It is called Mol'Rihan." For a moment, Xal was taken aback by her kindness. It wasn't that she hadn't been kind in her life, just that they'd been through a lot of hard things before she died and sometimes her demeanor had reflected that. She wasn't unkind or mean, usually, but far less even-tempered. Xal had half expected her to be angry to be summoned here, if it had broken her concentration on anything else. And yet, it did kind of make sense she was...happy. "They are kind. I did not speak to them about this, however. Some of them live on the Starbase and take care of the temple, and some are visiting..." A pause. "Thank you, mother. I'm sorry you had to wait, but I am grateful you came. I... I have missed you so much. I didn't think this would work or that I would be able to talk to you ever again. I don't know how long this ritual lasts, but I wanted to say what I didn't get to say before you died... Jol hwi arhem - I love you."