Shore Leave: Coherence

[Gheskori]

Shore Leave: Coherence

The Enzio slid into its docking port at Starbase 47, the vestibule extending before docking was completed such was the eagerness of the crew - and especially that of the commanding officer - to disembark and take their well-earned leave.

Contrary to this eagerness, Gheskori, as had become tradition aboard the Enzio during her comparatively short service when put next to other ships assigned to Starfleet Sector 47, was the last to leave the ship, stepping down to the end of the vestibule behind his senior staff. He raised his arms as he walked alongside his executive officer - the rest of the senior staff filtering out of the end of the vestibule ahead of him - ready to accept the applause of the undoubtedly grateful Starbase officers for turning back the Romulan 'invasion' of Trill as it'd seemed. Instead, predictably one might say, nothing and no one greeted them.

"Well... I suppose we can't accept the plaudits at the end of every assignment, Commander..." he commented to his XO, his face souring. "It would be a strain for any crew of celebrity status such as ours."

"Yes, sir. That must be it." The temporary XO smiled and stepped down the ramp to shake hands with the senior staff: Galwyn, Saryn, Hood and chief engineer Xotk'li and his assistant Palmer who also happened to be present. He was soon to be reassigned to the USS Swift as her commanding officer. He beelined his way across the docking platform against the backdrop of the vast interior space of the arena and the graceful silent starships that occupied it, and was lost - another face in the sea of faces.

Ghes himself made his way to the promenade where he stopped at the same cafe at which he'd met Telmak before the outset of the mission. He paused at the entrance, seeing the same table where he and Telmak had sat and discussed books before Saryn's arrival, and before the whole debacle of the blood feud between the Romulan and the Vulcan had come to light. His mind was elsewhere for a moment; he blinked and shook his head - it felt like he'd come full circle, so effectively as if he'd never left, as if the whole journey to Trill had been a dream.

He approached the counter in the cafe, freezing in horror for an instant. "Telmak?!" he whispered harshly. The person in front of him in the queue turned round; a Romulan, a slightly disdainful but mainly mystified expression on his face. Of course, Telmak was currently on his way to the Starbase detention cells. Ghes drew himself up, "Apologies, sir. I did mistake you for someone else."

"Clearly so. Excuse me... Admiral. I have a meeting with your superiors in a little over 20 minutes." He looked around the cafe's interior whose decor was clearly not to his liking, "To discuss a minor infraction that took place around one of your Federation's member worlds. The matter, I'm sure, will be brushed over smoothly." The Romulan bowed and, beverage in hand, departed the cafe to sit outside.

Ghes ordered his food, distracted again. The Romulan, an ambassador perhaps, would not have been so candid with him unless he knew that Gheskori was in some way personally involved in the incident at Trill - for that was surely what the Romulan was referring to. In an independently owned establishment on the promenade? He wouldn't speak of matters of such high level among all these civilians unless he knew something about this Admiral.

Ghes took his food and walked briskly outside. If this ambassador thought he could get away with branding the Romulan attack on Trill as a minor infraction, and if he planned to cast a bad light on Gheskori, then Ghes suspected he'd find Admiral Drew and the Starbase commanders to be a lot less forgiving. Taking the same table he'd sat at when first seeing Telmak - for the first time in the flesh; previous correspondence had been conducted via subspace - Gheskori took up a PADD and sat - much to the Romulan ambassador's chagrin - right in his eye line, two tables away from the man. He noticed an officer approaching the cafe, heading for his table, and was reminded once again of the start of the previous mission.

<Tag Any>


OOC: Shore leave officially commences. Time to disembark and enjoy yourselves everyone , free from the constraints of the mission! I have left the mission thread open for anyone who wishes to contribute final thoughts/perspectives, e.g. Tiana and Savin's recovery in sickbay to round the mission off nicely? Or could that be written into the shore leave thread so we have continuity moving from ship to Starbase?

I'd also like to take this opportunity to officially welcome Commander Daya to IC simming on the Enzio.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana had been released from medical care, although she had been informed that there would be numerous publications based on her infection. She had to admit that she much preferred writing journal articles rather than featuring in them. She had been informed that her release was contingent upon her resting. She had managed to spend time with her parents and with Haven and Luci before the Enzio had had to leave for Starbase 47. She had had a long overdue conversation private conversation with Haven in which he had apologised once again and she had confirmed that she had forgiven him for what had happened between them before she had left for Starfleet. Then they had both burst into tears, hugged and started playing catch up on the years they had missed.

After the Enzio had left Trill orbit, Tiana had still been not allowed to return to duty, so she had spent the time more or less literally getting her head back in order. Cet's memories were louder now than they had been and no one had been able to tell her whether that would last or whether the memories would fade back to their previous levels. Tiana had also spent as much time with Savin as she could. She wondered if she should be embarrassed about how much of her he had seen, but, somehow, the fact that he had gone through so much and hadn't run screaming meant that she didn't think she had anything to worry about. It had certainly been a rough welcome to cross-species dating but Tiana truly believed that no one else could have coped as well as Savin had. And she was certain he had saved her life.

[Deleted]

The Romulan in question had hurried to his table and buried himself behind an old fashioned menu card for a few minutes. He cast the admiral an annoyed look as the Denobulan took a seat at a nearby table, but shrugged indifferently. If the man wanted to see who he was meeting with, then so be it. He looked up when he heard a familiar squawk, then smiled, making a vague gesture.

---

Now knowing that Savin would survive his ordeal, though he still had a long way to go towards recovery, Saryn had made sure his son was resting comfortably. He had spent the last few hours just sitting at his bedside, monitoring him and watching anxiously as his extremely low vital signs first continued to drop, then hold level and finally, slowly started to rise again.

"Keep him unconscious," he ordered one of the other medical officers, "and keep him comfortable, make sure he receives nutrition and is moved several times an hour. I need to head to the starbase."

The hours spent in sickbay and in angst even prior to that were taking their toll on the Vulcan medical officer. He needed to get away from the ship, and have some time for himself. Finally, he walked past the bar where, only days ago, he'd met Telmak. He hesitated in the doorway, debating whether to go in or not, when he spotted Gheskori sat at a table. Sighing to himself, Saryn stepped inside and walked right past the still waiting Romulan. He spared the man, who looked young for a Vulcanoid, but was likely around the same age as he himself, a single glance.

The single glance told him enough to know this particular Romulan carried little threat, he didn't even look to be armed. His trained warrior's eye told him that the man did know how to fight, by the way he carried himself, but was passive about it. The easy smile told him there was no threat. "captain," Saryn said softly, as he approached the admiral's table. "May I join you?"

[Gheskori]

Ghes smiled, "Yes, Saryn, please have a seat." The Denobulan sat up to the table, fiddling with his cutlery and handing Saryn a menu, "I'd recommend the prawns. Earth fish; one of the few animal species of that planet I'm able to stomach. Honestly, I never knew what all my fellow Denobulan cadets harped on about... bovines and canines and all."

He was delighted to have some company to detract from the presence of the nearby Romulan, though he was also mildly unnerved that things seemed to be following a very similar pattern to the previous shore leave. Hopefully this Romulan wouldn't attempt to persuade Ghes that he was on an important diplomatic mission appointed to him by Starfleet Command and needed passage on the Enzio, then backstab Ghes halfway to their destination. If he would just deal with the Trill issue and leave the Admiral well alone in the interim that would be fine.

"Why the low voice, is something the matter?" he asked Saryn, itching for his food wondering when it would be arriving. He accidentally met eyes with the Romulan again, whose eyes half-peeked over the top of his menu, Ghes only now noticing that the probable ambassador had some species of avian on his shoulder. He shared a glare with the Romulan before turning back to Saryn, lowering his voice likewise, "How is Savin? Last I heard his vital signs were steady, if still somewhat critical."

<Tag Saryn>

He caught another annoyed glance from the Romulan at the table nearby, leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, "Doctor, there aren't any other blood feuds from your past you'd like to tell me about are there? If that man comes near this table, promise me if he says anything to you, you'll keep your... sword in its scabbard?" He dismissed the issue, seeing the other Romulan was buried deep in his menu, irked and discomfited he said, "It's nothing, I've just started getting flashbacks."

His food arrived and he began by saturating it with as much salt, pepper and the various sauces that'd been brought to the table as possible. Saryn watched with an impassivity that, Ghes thought, suggested disdain; this was Saryn's impassive disdainful expression; he had many others, all impassive but conveying a particular emotion.

"I'm glad not to have had lunch by myself... I would like to meet Commander Daya again though. It's been too long, since he left us and took command of the Rainier."

<Tag Daya, All>

[Daya]

Commander Daya stood in the doorway to the restaurant and scanned the room. He had recently arrived back to the space station where he was to be reinstated as an officer onboard the Enzio. Finally spotting his commanding officer he wondered over to the table. Clearing his throat he waited for Ghes to turn around.

"Glad to see you again as well, sir. Its been awhile" taking a seat at the table he looked at the other officers. "Good to see you all again" he said to those he recognized

(Tag all)

Ooc only bad part about using my phonenis I can't go back and re-read the previous posts lol

[Gheskori]

Ghes was enjoying himself a bit too much considering that the presence of a Vulcan and a Romulan in close proximity to each other - no matter how well-intentioned each might be, and he hadn't got that impression from his exchange with the bird-carrying Romulan when they'd exchanged curt words inside the restaurant - should be making him feel uneasy, and should remind him too much of the start of the previous mission.

"Oh yes, another glass, a fine product of Peredel III," he said, the waiter bowing and pouring the fizzing liquid into his tumbler, "Third and last," he promised Saryn, who reacted indifferently. Since the initial exchange with the Romulan - the probable ambassador maintaining a steady monolithic pose on the table nearby though not at all bothering them - Ghes and Saryn had been joined by two other officers, junior members of the senior staff, the Counselor Hartley and the ship's octogenarian astrometrics officer Lieutenant Rusei.

Hartley had joked about being by far the youngest at the table, Denobulans and Vulcans of course always appearing far younger than their actual age once they passed 25-30. The old man from astrometrics smiled and sipped his coffee.

As Gheskori was considering approaching the Romulan and quizzing him further on his purpose being on the station - in fact he was halfway to the Romulan's table, the latter pushing his shoulders back and turning to await address - he heard a voice from behind him, Commander Daya's.

"Glad to see you again, sir. Its been awhile" taking a seat at the table he looked at the other officers, Gheskori turning back and taking his seat between Saryn and Lieutenant Rusei, assuming Daya must've addressed Saryn. "Good to see you all again" Daya said to those he recognized.

"Pleasure to be serving with you again, Commander." Gheskori raised a glass, then stood and shook the man's hand, wincing slightly at the physical contact, which was a stigmatic offence in Denobulan social etiquette that all members of the species had to endure from time to time, the same as Vulcans. "You have your orders?"

Daya handed him a padd, Ghes taking it and stowing it in his carry case before sitting back down, "I'll see to your security clearance once we get back aboard. For now, we're all on shore leave," he laughed. "So, Commander, how was your experience of command. Captain Cornette didn't step on your toes?"

<Tag Daya>

They ate a meal, afterwards Ghes leaning over to the Doctor, "You should invite your ancestral cousin over," indicating the Romulan. "Or go over to him. He was brief with me in the restaurant... I think he might be investigating what the Enzio was doing at Trill, considering his people were there also."

"When are we next heading out, Captain?" Rusei asked, making to leave.

"Two days, if the debrief goes to schedule. Let's hope for a more peaceful mission this time!"

<Tag Saryn / all at restaurant on promenade, feel free to join>