Outside of office hours

Posted on Tuesday June 14th, 2022 @ 4:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Niali Deval Dr

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Crew Lounge
Timeline: 1830 hrs (Day -1)

On:

Jason rarely ventured too the crew lounge, the officers mess hall, or in general anywhere with large gatherings going on, the crowds were more an uncomfortable reminder that he wasn't that great in large groups. The idea of being in a room with more than ten people was just another marker of a person who had less than nothing too do with anyone since the passing of his wife. The oddly open invite too meet with the counselor was somewhere between panic and a more important step in dealing with the loss of his wife. Jason had left their meeting with an odd sense of wanting too know her more and a realization that he was better off shedding the reputation of being a loner. Plus he figured if he offered too show his dad's journal too her they could figure out some of the details of what he was really up too all those years ago. In an attempt too blend in he decided to ditch the uniform in favor of a more casual look, as the dual sliding doors parted he walked through them it wasn't as busy as he expected, one of the wait staff nodded too him, he couldn't help notice her reaction too the scars and tattoos on his arms that were now very visible too anyone who was paying attention. He did a quick scan of the room, he saw Niali sitting near one of the large view ports, "Nice view." breaking the ice.

“Niali was wearing a simple blue linen type suit with her communicator . She stood, “yes I love looking at the vastness of space makes up for the feeling I get of claustrophobia sometimes. Thanks for coming, may I call you Jason? And please can me Niali.”

"I have no problem with that Niali." He said trying too be a bit of a rogue. "Can I get you a refill?"

Niali smiled thinking he looked very young. “Yes, thank you it’s a Risan sunset.”

Jason signaled on of the servers to order their drinks and then turned to the beginnings of their conversation "I rarely do much at times, when you have a job that is solely too keep secrets it's hard too find things too talk about, let alone look out a window some times." The server returned with the drinks and inadvertently took a long stare at the runic tattoo on Jason's left arm.

“What does that say?” Niali asked interested, looking at the tattoo.

"There isn't an exact translation, I was told it says 'never fear what is in the dark' but it's not an exact translation." Jason said

She thanked the server who brought her drink, took a sip and asked, “May I ask why you had that particular tattoo ?”

Jason was caught off guard "I saw several of them in parts of my dad's journals' most of them looked important for some reason, but this one I was told to get when I turned 16; I was told the markings would come in handy if I was in trouble." Jason took a larger sip "I've looked up these runes they are from some obscure Nordic dialect."

“It certainly looks Interesting and it all sounds very mysterious. You just have to make the decision to explore the world that your father left you in his journals. It just takes that initial leap from you.” She sat looking at him wondering what he was thinking.

"They're also a source of tension with my family, Dad left them too me but My older siblings and their families think they should have them, we haven't spoken in years and when we do it becomes tense bordering on impending violence." Jason paused thinking of a tame way to describe events "I broke my brother-in-law's nose the last gathering when the topic of the journals came up and a family friend has more than once been on the business end of a phaser in an attempt too get them."

She leaned forward, interested.”it must mean there is something contained inside them that they want badly. It sounds much more than just wanting a remembrance of him. If they are willing to go to extremes like that. I am sorry you have lost your family Jason.” She sat back and sipped her Sunset.

Jason took a larger drink "I rarely talk about them, it makes life easier." Signaling the server for another drink "I have to ask you something, not the usual question about being a joined Trill, how do you separate the past lives from the life you're trying to forge now?"

“This is my first joining so I am by no means an expert but it’s a learning process. There are the separate entities but you know that person as a part 0f you.” She was uncomfortable discussing this as she was having problems with her symbiont Korial.” She deflected the question. “Do you recognize anybody here tonight?”

Jason quickly glanced around the room, "Couple of engineers and the one lab technician but no one else." Jason was suddenly puzzled by the question.

Niali heard the question in his voice, “ I just wondered if you wanted me to ask them to join us If I wasn’t here would you be sitting on your own? She asked looking at him earnestly,

Jason paused deep in thought, The lab technician, Genevieve Jason thought her name was, looked over at Jason and winked, "I don't think that's going too be a problem."

“Would you like me to invite her over or is this a little too fast for you, I just want you to begin to make acquaintances that could turn into friends and maybe more?”

Jason couldn't get get the next sentence out of his mouth as a voice broke "Hey you two! I don't think I've ever seen you here before Lieutenant." The blonde burst out.

Jason half gagged as if it was supposed too happen on cue "Genevieve hi, uh did you want to join us?" Jason looked to Niali as if he wanted to say ~Did you plan this?~

"I would like too but I'm helping with a spectrometric study of that nebula we're passing by tomorrow so I have to be up early, but if you want too meet for coffee say 1430 hours tomorrow?" She said followed by a almost inaudible giggle.

"Uh....yeah, my day is pretty light until we start our next full assignment." Jason said wondering what he had just gotten himself into, "Are you working in science lab three?"

"I'll be in stellar cartography tomorrow, I keep the door unlocked." she said with a wink as she walked away.

Niali beamed, “I don’t think you need any help from me at all, and no I didn’t plan this. “She took a large drink from her glass. “I don’t know if you know but I am involved with someone so we can be friends, as good a friend as you want me to be but, no more. I believe in being faithful. I would love to help you with your father’s papers if you want me to?”

Jason paused, "I actually came to talk to you about the journals, I found an entry from about a decade ago in some notes, a child was abducted on the Trill home world there's some strange notes." Jason took the pages out of a pocket.

Niali blushed beetroot red. She choked on her drink and ended up coughing. When she had finished she tried to look professional and failed bursting into loud laughter. “I am so sorry, I got this whole thing wrong. She cleared her throat . How can I help?”

"The location in the entry, it describes a forest of some king near some kind of temple, the name is unfamiliar." Jason said pointing too the first paragraph.

Niali looked at the page, There are obviously many forests on Trill but the age of these pages and the fact it was over a decade ago helps. To have a Temple attached to it the Forest would have to have been of some larger size and contain a large number of Thota trees. These trees are always paired with Temples and are sacred trees. So, that reduces it to Three.

"The entry on the next page says they found the child in a catacombs being guarded by some entity, that I found in a mythological reference from Trill, a Warth?" Jason paused "the only entries I've found are it being something like a werewolf from earth."

“Catacombs are found only in two places with a temple on the Trill home world. Obviously the Trill symbiosis community and at Ergath on the far western coast of Trill. There is an ancient forest there and history and legend tells of catacombs underneath the forest.. Warths are supposed to exist in legend only though.” Niali took a drink. “About 30 years ago remains were found in solid rock. They were found to be over 3000 years old and were the remains of an upright creature with an elongated face, copious teeth were found alongside the remains. How are we doing so far?” She looked excitedly at Jason.

"That matches this sketch on page three." Pulling out the page, "This one here, and this creature was very alive."

NiLi noted a bipedal creature approximately 7ft tall with a head and snout like a wolf with extended canine teeth. It appeared to have arms but no hands, more like claws, it had large human appearing feet and was covered in fine hair with a crest of coarser hair like an old Earth lion on its shoulders likely for protection of its neck and shoulders. It made for an impressive creature but Niali had an odd feeling that it was not wholly aggressive. There was something about the eyes. “Those forests have not all been explored being part of Trill spirituality.” She said.

"That's sort of a sample of the stuff that is in the journals, I've honestly never believed some of it until..." Jason was interrupted by the monotone of the computer =^="Senior staff meeting is rescheduled for zero seven hundred hours."=^=

"I guess that changes my plans for the rest of the night."

She sighed, “me also, well we can always continue this at later date, that is if you want to?”

"I'd like that, I'll dig out the complete journal and we can piece together what went on with my dad and his associates." Jason said as he stood "Until next time." Jason said with a smile.

Lieutenant (jg) Dr Niali Korial
Chief Counsellor
USS Oberon

&

Lieutenant (jg) Jason Elliot
Chief Intelligence Officer.
USS Oberon