Shore Leave: Triads

[Gheskori]

Shore Leave - Triads

The Enzio pulled into its mooring at Starbase 47, vestibule unlatched from the giant silver vessel reaching out seemingly perpetually such was its speed for the airlock at the docking port terminus they'd been assigned. Ghes watched from the window in the corridor that led down to the vestibule, seeing its slow extending. Earlier he'd been on the bridge, signing the Enzio off for another mission and speaking to some shadowy figure on a private comm who was situated on the Starbase... one of the brass, perhaps prepping his crew for another mission out into grey areas such as that which they'd just experienced in the three way intersection of Federation, Klingon, Romulan space.

He was just glad the colonists were now safe; Tetri in a Federation prison, his attempted escape with the Klingons failed courtesy of their ship exploding, and the rogue colonist's last minute rescue by the resourceful fellow at the Enzio tactical station before the cloaked Fek'lhr class had ripped itself apart under Romulan disruptor and plasma torpedo fire, whose ship had also exploded and their Commanding Officer delivered hopefully fortuitously into the Enzio's hands.

"Admiral Gheskori to all hands, shore leave commences. Please enjoy yourselves." He smiled perhaps over-enthusiastically and rose from the centre seat, surveying the still occupied seat of the helm officer and ushering him along off the bridge.

What would it be? By his quarters first to pick up his literature - shame there was no Telmak to trade his books with, swap tales about the latest in the publishing market out on the fringes where counterfeit currency was still rife and could be utilised to engage in such capital-driven enterprises. Then off to the station, take in the sights and sit in his favourite cafe - not the one where he'd met Telmak that last time and more recently Tedak, but the one that was frequented by a particular independent trader who offered particular holoprograms of a certain variety.

On the other hand he could choose something more down to Denobula and head for the great eateries and less disreputable bars, spend some time before the bartender's beaming eyes, his mouth unmoving only his irises and pupils black, internal and eternal, conveying the words appropriate to him in his played role as a bartender on Starbase 47.

Hopefully some of his staff would join him - here, at Legnano's, an Italian place of course; everyone, he understood, loves Italian, and Ghes could find some time for them to revel in the wonders of his food and relate to them tales of his days before joining the Federation - in the genetic engineering labs on Denobula and all its foul practices - while his staff gobbled down their lunches. Potter about in his imaginary kitchen and call up mysteries from the past, alongside those things that sprung out of the pots and pans reminding him of those pressing issues that'd been on his mind of late... 1. Deceased wife, 2. wife position non-filled, lack of contact with 3. second wife and other members of the family - each of their faces appeared in the pots, gleaming a bit too brightly, and in the ovens - old-style here - amongst the crockery, the myriad old oak cupboards and collectables scattered among the shelving already overloaded with the dusty old books, and in the replicators.

It was something that couldn't be avoided. Perhaps an extended leave of absence was due, perhaps he needed to return to Denobula, before his mind cracked apart.

If it was long or short he'd still need to put the ship in control of one of the staff if the Enzio was due out for another assignment before he returned to the sector. Further thought would be given to this... first, Gheskori, find that restaurant.

<Tag All>

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana was relieved to return to Starbase. She needed a break and somehow the last trip hadn't let her rest properly. She had felt completely wired since the shoot out and it almost felt as if the adrenalin had never faded. She had slept particularly well since then either. Not poorly enough that she couldn't cope but poorly enough that she could feel the difference. She wasn't quite sure what had brought this on, yes she had been in a firefight but it wasn't even Tiana's first one of those. Sure, some of Cet's previous hosts has definitely had a hint, or more, of addiction to the adrenalin rush of being in danger. But this wasn't that. All of them had been glad to return to the ship and normal duties.nscince they had come to their second arrangement, Cet was actually enjoying the change of pace and very different horizons that had come with Tiana rather than a host that had been carefully matched to all the previous ones.

Tiana shook her head. She was convinced that this was just a temporary thing, something was bothering her and once she worked out what it was all would be well. At least that was her hope. In the mean time, well, she intended to spend time genuinely off. She didn't have plans and intended to enjoy that. She wandered on to the base and looked around for somewhere to go for lunch. She had been intending to chose randomly but when she saw Ghes sitting alone in the Earth, Italian place she decided to see if he would be amenable to company.

"May I join you?" She asked looking at the table. She wondered if he was waiting for someone and didn't want to intrude.

Tag: Ghes.

[Gheskori]

"Tiana, please!" he got up delighted, signalling for her to take a seat and after asking what the CScO would like calling to the waiter to bring another drink.

Hurriedly he made his way back round the table, making sure everything was in order, "I've been waiting for some of the staff to arrive. It's good you're here, I'd been wanting to discuss the mission and some of the other things on my min- ..." he cleared his throat, "Well, have you ever heard me tell about my research at the genetic engineering institute on Denobula before joining Starfleet? You see, the autopsies were quite interesting to an 'initiate' such as myself, as I was in those early days. Well, in the absence of the others perhaps I can leave that story for now before you choke on your drink... How has your shore leave been thus far?"

<Tag Tiana>

The over-eagerness and agitation with which Ghes spoke was probably indicative of some turmoil, however trivial (or not trivial), in his mind, but despite the hyperactive state the Denobulan gave little away about what could be bothering him.

"Do you remember my wife, my first wife?" he asked. "No of course, you never met her, though I'm aware all the crew knew about it: her death over two years ago has left a... gap in my life, not merely because while she had been present she is now absent but because I feel guilty - Ha, where's the counselor?" he grinned as the waiter offered to refill his drink, Ghes nodding and holding his glass up continuing to speak, "Guilt for my own absence... Not existential, as the humans would say, no... But that I wasn't present when she breathed her last, surrounded by most of the rest of my immediate family. Can you imagine that? Stuck on some long-range reconnaissance mission while my first wife, my first beloved, lay comatose, dying from a rare terminal illness on Denobula."

<Tag Tiana>

Images flashed before Ghes of his family, each of them their expressions contorted into ricti of hate, demanding that he return to the home system immediately, grieve (for it was much overdue) with the rest of them over their shared loss - he hadn't been to Denobula since that time, only the occasional subspace communication with his brother and brother-in-law, and occasionally with his son (by his dead first wife; he was working for the Denobulan civil government as a receiving ambassador for Federation executive delegations).

To take another wife - that was something his family would demand of him and which he would all too readily accept as his duty. But there were seeds of unease in him at so rapidly taking a new spouse, for while two 'slots' lay unfilled, the fact Ghes hadn't witnessed the combustion of wife no. 1 (the event would only exist now in playbacks provided by the moratorium/crematorium facilities) he felt he had no closure, no right to move beyond her and find another...

Preferably she wouldn't come from his immediate family; perhaps the southern continent: warm climes, tropical beaches analogous to those of Earth and which were rare on Denobula, perhaps there he'd find one bathing in the sun - accidentally drenched with water thrown from a bucket by Ghes from slightly down the beach, laughing maniacally as the female ran from the scene, and so the first meeting would commence... the ritualistic water-throwing ceremony was one of many ways to court a new wife; it could never happen like that the other way round... Evidence of promiscuity - while not necessarily making the pursuing wife more desirable - was generally something the prospective husband looked for while he surveyed the possible options and, not to mention, the competition.

"I believe I will be taking a leave of absence before the conclusion of this shore leave, Tiana. I plan to return to Denobula - it's long overdue. I haven't discussed this with the rest of the senior staff yet... Ah," he smiled as the waiter returned with a confectionary-oriented menu, "Would you like the souffle, or the marmalade and chocolate sundae?"

<Tag Tiana>

[Aeryn Tavik]

An hour after the Admiral had had sent the crew to Starbase 47 for shore leave, Aeryn looked at herself in the mirror. What she saw was something she had never thought she'd see again after she joined the marines. But after the last mission, she had a new sense of life invested in herself and she decided that now was the time to 'get back out there.' Aeryn was dressed in a knee length, form fitting, little black dress that she'd order a few years back but never actually wore. She of course sported heels and bracelet on her left wrist. Of course, there was another piece of "jewelry" strapped to her right thigh, but she didn't expect anyone to see it tonight. The night was young, of course, so one never really knew what trouble she might get herself into. Taking a last look, she said aloud, "Damn, I look good!"

Having made her way to the promenade, Aeryn took a look around. So many new vendors had come in. Even several of the shops and restaurants were new. She wasn't entirely sure where she was going, but she somewhat hoped she didn't run into any of her crew. She never let them see her like this. Not dull, actually cleaned up, looking for more adventure. She was typically the clean cut, very neat, Senior Marine CO, not some random bimbo. Of course, she knew she looked much more sophisticated than a "bimbo," and hoped it would rub off correctly on other's opinions.

After walking a bit more, Aeryn took a deep breath through her nose and smelled a magnificent cluster of fragrances and aromas. She looked at the sign on the door and it read "Legnano's. It was obviously Italian. She smiled and went for it. Walking up to the bar, she ordered a glass of wine. She was in full view of two of her crewmates sitting at a table nearby, but she was unaware of them. Taking a sip of wine, she wondered what the evening might bring.


TAG all

[Gheskori]

Ghes had decided that the marmalade was good, was a good addition at any rate; he couldn't imagine any situation where he would be eating marmalade just for the sake of eating marmalade, out of a jar or otherwise, though perhaps he might try it some time when back amongst new prospective wives on Denobula, see what their reactions were and if no, then there were countless others and one would think a third wife would eventually be found going by the law of averages which was a fallacy...

He arrived at the bar, having excused himself from Tiana's presence momentarily, grunting and mumbling to himself about the various issues on his mind and about the interior's decor, "Oh yes, I will have the Gin Fountain. Put it on my tab. The same goes for any others who, if when you ask, say they are of the crew of the USS Enzio." Well, that was reckless, Ghes... "Thank you," he took the 'drink', "Make sure you ask them."

"Do I recognise the Colonel?" he said, sauntering towards his SMO with Gin Fountain in both hands. This should really be placed on the table by a member of staff, he thought, like a waiter. "How has your shore leave been so far, Colonel? May I say you look delightful this evening." Was it evening?

"Care to join me and Commander Galwyn at that table over there?" he pointed, "We were just finishing our meal but plenty of merrymaking still to be had I'm sure. Here, hold these." He handed Aeryn the Fountain and the gin bottle, wondering how the whole contraption worked, and produced a PADD with details of a holosuite program he'd worked out for his crew on it, starting reading and verifying as they set off for the table, heady smells of Italian cooking on the air.

<Tag Both>

A week later...

Ghes was returning from Denobula aboard a type IX shuttle, reading sometimes aloud, sometimes in silence, from Borges. Something so abstracted from reality was where he felt he needed to turn to right now, wanted to as the old Earth saying went 'escape'; the real, the truth still being too hard to bear. Despite the funeral - the combustion of his wife - being over two years ago, just meeting those people who'd been present (where he had not) along with the other members of that branch, in fact the whole family and its many extensions, had brought the whole experience back, that experience's return made all the more damning for him, all the more a cruel joke, as he'd not even been present! Not there to hold her hand as she breathed her comatic last in that cold anaemic hospital in the capital of Denobula.

How was it possible to feel the terror of a traumatic experience, a memory, when that event had never occurred for the subject? Only in the dark recesses of the worst dreams, he thought, might images approximating that reality be conjured up, have him rising, pitching through 90 degrees as if an automaton, a wind-up clock, in his bed, dripping, suffused it seemed with sweat, and howling for an abrupt instant before collapsing back into his hibernation, the two week long biologically-imposed shutting out of the external world, the true reality, the object of anxiety par excellence embodied in his last non-existent relations with his wife, now no more than ashes scattered in the air currents of Denobula's upper troposphere.

But now at last he had a third. A second, in effect. She would accompany him on the ship for a while, as a guest, something he'd been able to secure virtue of his position. He wondered with amusement how the crew might react to her. He was new to her himself, of course, perhaps he could learn something more of her from how they handled her or, unfortunately, he winced slightly but only slightly, how she handled them. They were now on final approach to Starbase 47, and given his week away Ghes knew his crew would be eager to get away onto their next assignment, however, he was curious as to what'd transpired during his absence...

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

At the restaurant with Ghes

Tiana was not expecting the first topic of conversation that Ghes brought up.

"Do you remember my wife, my first wife?" he asked. "No of course, you never met her, though I'm aware all the crew knew about it: her death over two years ago has left a... gap in my life, not merely because while she had been present she is now absent but because I feel guilty - Ha, where's the counselor?" he grinned as the waiter offered to refill his drink, Ghes nodding and holding his glass up continuing to speak, "Guilt for my own absence... Not existential, as the humans would say, no... But that I wasn't present when she breathed her last, surrounded by most of the rest of my immediate family. Can you imagine that? Stuck on some long-range reconnaissance mission while my first wife, my first beloved, lay comatose, dying from a rare terminal illness on Denobula."

Tiana made appropriate sympathetic noises but there was no space to actually say anything.

"I believe I will be taking a leave of absence before the conclusion of this shore leave, Tiana. I plan to return to Denobula - it's long overdue. I haven't discussed this with the rest of the senior staff yet... Ah," he smiled as the waiter returned with a confectionary-oriented menu, "Would you like the soufflé, or the marmalade and chocolate sundae?"

The abrupt change of topic caught Tiana completely unaware and she floundered for a long moment as she fought to remember what soufflé and marmalade were before deciding on the former.

"I think..." she said slowly, "...that spending time with your family when you have the chance is very important. I lost one of my brothers before I joined Starfleet and afterwards my other brother and I didn't speak for years. It's only recently that we have got back in touch and I hadn't understood how much I had missed him."

Tag: Ghes (if you want to back post anything)

The rest of meal passed with sweet food and lighter conversation.

[Gheskori]

OOC: Back post section

After a while, staring at the table, unsure whether he was wanting to smile or dismiss himself from his CScO's presence as soon as possible, Ghes grinned and raised his sundae and clinked it against... well, the edge of Tiana's souffle cup. "It will help the healing process most certainly," he acknowledged, "Though the thought of having to face my extended family always leaves me slightly cold. When did you last speak to your brother?" he asked tentatively, "Ah, an idea... excuse me a moment, Tiana."

[Meeting with Tavik and return of both Ghes and Tavik to the table]

<Tag Tiana, Aeryn>

---

Orbiting Denobula in the shadow of one of its moons, Ghes's shuttlecraft kept out of sight of the planet - symbolic perhaps, if nothing else. He'd already seen to affairs on the surface, had his marriage, the spouse still below on the surface bidding farewell to her extended family which was now, Ghes thought, a part of his massively extended family.

It was part of the reason why genetic engineering had been pursued on Denobula, the technological and medical applications developed therefrom had been implemented with not inconsiderable success. A growing problem on Denobula over the last three centuries had been the extensive and inevitable inbreeding amongst families; as the extended families had grown ever larger... Well, some social theorists had postulated that before long (indeed they said it may have happened already) the planet would become in effect a single extended family. Such was the case on all worlds inhabited by intelligent lifeforms with reproductive organs of course, all including animal life were genetically linked virtue of having evolved on the same world, but the family units of Denobula on the other hand... despite their tremendous size, due to the ubiquitous polygamy an effective network of relations was created where the so-called degrees of separation existed in the extended family unit rather than as a sociological phenomenon amongst non-relations.

The growing problem of inbreeding in not just isolated areas on Denobula but possibly across the whole globe (if some researchers, such as Rlex et al and Tomaix, were to be believed) had been the catalyst that'd turned the scientific and medical community to the unfairly stigmatised field of genetic engineering; through selection of certain chromosomes and manipulation of ribonucleic acids the institutes had in short order managed to eliminate most of the defects that came with borderline-incestuous breeding, and the fears of the population that their polygamous way of life was debilitating them as a species were allayed.

---

That week later, back at Starbase 47...

Ghes was in his residential suite reading Borges again, on to the Ficciones now, this time reading in silence, the grief having subsided from him further and thus no sudden vocalisations of the narrative as during the return trip to the station, when it was as if he'd thought by reading the book aloud in the phenomenal world it would allow him to escape further and at the same time would further ingrain the despair into his mind - something he thought he needed - and hold up a mirror to it to which travelled sound rather than light...

There was a chime at the door, "Yes, enter..." he said softly. The chime came again. He stood, clearing his throat and tugging down on his uniform jacket, saying louder, "Enter." His third wife Mwv'mci stepped into the room, heading towards the cupboard and depositing her bags on the floor. Ghes beamed and ran for her, "Ah, beloved! I'm glad you could make it here so quickly," he paused, looking concerned, "You weren't stopped by the Nausicaans on the promenade, were you?"

"Absolutely not. Father sent for me and I spoke to him using your subspace transceiver. He lets me go reluctantly, it must be said. He's concerned about my well-being, and wants to be sure that I will be safe aboard your ship..."

Well, in a sense he's every right to be concerned, Ghes thought, considering Mwv'mci's only 19 years of age. He'd approved absolutely of the marriage, though when Ghes had insisted that she accompany him back to Starbase 47 and the USS Enzio the father had been visibly worried. "The patriarch will always worry, dear. Now, just a word before we board the ship - I'll be absent for most of the time between now and when the Enzio sets off again and won't be able to tell you of this during that time - do keep, at least for the start, to this residence and when on the Enzio in my quarters, and when you do want to roam the ship try to avoid... shall we say exciting? certain members of my crew?"

[Aeryn Tavik]

Aeryn took what appeared to be a bottle of gin and some sort of fountain contraption and followed him to the table. He sat down, obviously merry as can be and she made notice of Commander Galwyn. "Hello Tiana," she said pleasantly as she plopped the fountain on the table. "Look what I have!" a slight color of sarcastic enjoyment in her tone.

Tag Tiana

As the night went on, they exchanged stories of days gone by. They all had a long history to tell, certainly, but after a short while of his talking, Aeryn realized that it was the Admiral's intention to return to Denobula for some leave. Though she hadn't known the Admiral for long, she could tell that he was committed to his work and as such, might not necessarily have the time to go home that often. She'd be sure to encourage that, since the Enzio was to stay around Starbase 47 for a while.

Tag Tiana and Addy Ghes
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few days later...

Aeryn had been spending a fair amount of time on the bridge. With her promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and her position as Senior Marine officer, she was awarded bridge command time. She hadn't been bucking for it, certainly, but it did have an oddly satisfying feeling to it. Whether it was pride, or some sick sense of titillation, she did not know, but she liked sitting in the chair. It hadn't been a career goal for her, being a marine, or at least, it didn't used to be. At present, however, her duties consisted of watching an empty bridge while the refit and resupply crews of Starbase 47 worked their magic. To be fair, she wasn't required to be on the bridge at all. It must have been the chair. Since no one was around, she was leaned to the side with her feet propped up on the right hand console. It was quiet and almost nap-worthy. She cupped her hands behind her head and smiled, finally going into that ever elusive state of total relaxation.

Naturally, it was short lived. A beep at the console brought her back to reality and she straightened herself to view the console. Reading the information, it appeared as though the database was being downloaded from somewhere on the ship. She wasn't sure it why that was happening in the least. Aeryn made note of the fact that she needed to brush up on standard procedures when docked at Starbase. Her marine skills also kicked in, giving her at least some direction on how she might check it out, since it wasn't being made through the usual channels. She exited the bridge with a tricorder in hand. The tricorder had been downloaded with triangulation data to locate the source of the uplink. As she followed the signal, Aeryn found herself on Deck Nine. Inside a lab was a console that was activated, but no one was around using it.

"What the hell..." she said sighing. "If I ever left a console on, engineering would have a fit." She walked over to kill the link and shut the console down. As she keyed in the kill switch, it would not activate. "You've got to be kidding me." She tried again. Nothing. She then started paying more attention to what was actually being downloaded. Apparently, they were files pertaining to their recent missions and technical specifications of the Enzio. Aeryn tried the kill switch again. Nothing.

Aeryn tapped her commbadge. "Tavik to Commander Galwyn. Tiana, please report to the Deck nine research lab. We've got a problem."

Tag: Tiana

[Gheskori]

A week ago...

Gheskori returned to the cockpit area of the shuttle, taking the controls and surveying the starfield; part of it was blotted out by the third moon of Denobula. Mwv'mci was sleeping in the aft compartment, having said her goodbyes to her father and others via comm to the capital city. Picking out amongst the stars where he believed Starbase 47 to roughly be, Gheskori wondered how his crew were getting along in the holosuite program he'd set up for them...

The program: 21st century America, the two most willing participants among the crew in Commander Galwyn and Colonel Tavik assuming the roles of private detectives who were investigating each other, without each other's knowledge.

The crime in both cases was of course murder. The program provided a holographic assistant to each novice detective in addition to the other Enzio crewmembers that took part. One assistant was a breeding Gorn heavy with eggs, and the other a Horta; whichever way they were allocated to the two officers Ghes imagined his officers would have some trouble in getting them to cooperate or do just about anything for that matter.

The winner of the program would be whoever solved the mystery of the other's misdeed first, the only surprise being that in proving the guilt of the other officer, the winner - through an impossibly complex system of causality - inadvertantly proved her own guilt, thus while he was about his play Gheskori thought it wasn't too much of an indiscretion to playfully lock the holosuite doors for the two hour duration of the program.

He settled back into his seat about to lift the Ficciones of Jorge Luis Borges. On his thumb brushing the weathered dust cover jacket he changed his mind and lapsed into a sleep not unlike hibernation, until Mwv'mci came in and startled him into falling off his chair when he saw that she was carrying a baby zebra.

OOC: This above part, re. the holodeck, need not necessarily be explored

---

The present...

He had hoped in being summoned to Admiral Basirov's office he was to be assigned a recon mission to the Denobulan colony at Delta Cygni II, seeing as Basirov had mentioned it to him at least ten times over lunch. Ghes at the time had put it down to the man's well known philodenobulanism, as Ghes liked to call it, borrowing from Earth language roots. Unfortunately as had proved the case on every single occasion of their meeting thus far the Admiral's kindly thoughts towards Ghes's species didn't extend to Ghes himself.

He was entertaining two Commodores when Gheskori walked in, being not overly quick to dismiss them upon the sight of the Denobulan Admiral. "Yes, Ivan?" Ghes asked eventually.

Basirov huffed quietly and collated some PADDs on his desk before pushing them aside almost onto the floor, "Please," he gestured to the chair opposite, Ghes sitting and being bombarded with a stream of words approximately only half of which he was able to distinguish and retain with any accuracy; he was thus glad when Basirov pushed four of the now haphazardly stacked PADDs into his hands.

He headed back in the direction of the promenade, nodding to passers-by - fellow members of the brass with whom he'd recently become acquainted with his rise through the ranks - and looking over the PADDs given to him; going by Basirov's rushed, misspelt notes the Enzio was to traverse one of the new transwarp conduits to the great barrier of the galaxy (which was indeed intriguing as very few Federation vessels over the last century had travelled there, less than a dozen Ghes believed).

Entering the promenade a wave of colour rushed towards him, the living matter of the Federation given microcosmic form in this grand technological cavern. As if some intelligence was behind the intersection of the lifeforms that made use of the place, he virtually ran into Mwv'mci, who had under her right arm two large Earth felines and in her left hand what appeared to be a large bundle of blue string. Strapped to her back was something resembling a 20th century Earth hiking bag with a pole protruding from the top reaching half the height of Mwv'mci again and colliding with some of the shop banners as she accompanied him across the sea of clientele this side of the promenade. Above the hubbub of noise he managed to make himself heard, "What's that? What do you think you're doing?!"

"Camping! Camping!" Ghes looked at her quizzically. "I took the liberty of using the... LCARS database, and found a pursuit I thought may be to your liking. It's called camping."

[Gheskori]

Ghes irritatedly pushed back the sheet of canvas to see the glistening meadow, sloping as it was down to the equally light-reflective stream that wound its way through the shallow valley towards some distant sea, Ghes supposed, though he doubted the program's capacity to carry him that far - some excuse of the computer's would be made up, or an obstacle, such as a fallen tree of crumbled virtually prehistoric tower whose trunk and bricks respectively conveniently fell to cover the path Ghes and his decidedly young new wife might take to reach such a quantity of ocean.

Why she'd pitched the... tent, he'd heard her call it, on a slope, a shallow one yes, but any slope at all, was beyond him. Constantly rolling down the hill over the 'flooring' and being bitten by this fictional world's fictional insects that lay beneath him and buzzed about his face, wasn't what he'd had in mind. Nor was slipping out from under the canvas and appearing, to an imaginary outside observer, a strange embryonic white-gauzed hulk emerging from beneath the dark canvas, kept their by the gauze only that otherwise would mean his unceremonious, half-conscious rolling descent towards the stream and, if he was lucky, the small brook that lay between him and the body of water.

Well, it wasn't too late to call up her father and tell him he'd made a terrible mistake, and that Mwv'mci had, too, in electing to come here. But hearing the noises of her stirring nearby him, the very sound of it, put him off any such rash decisions. Youth could be foolish, and the older could be foolish too, he knew, though he was willing to disregard any potential error he'd made in marrying the young one, virtue of the fact he'd been with her only a few short weeks and because of her beauty, in the same way he could forgive her for this calamitous misplacement of the... tent, on the side of the valley that was buffeted with wind. Oh no, no shelter up here near the summit of the hill with its craggy peaks of rock and breathy vicious air currents blowing through giving off a low whistling throughout the night...

He got out and breathed fresh air, striking down immediately towards the stream - water, he and all his race loved water - just up to the knees though, no mad swimming down this really quite peaceful stream/river with its wide course and vibrant green reeds drooping over its sides, casting thin spindly shadows that were totally eclipsed in places by the - in this early morning light - shadows of the ghostly, moon-like limbs of trees that dotted the course of the river, down to where he'd have lost its next direction after that tight passage between two sheer rock faces like the gap of the Bosphorus on Earth - as the Argonautica had it anyway - ready to close up and crush any who dared its passage.

Hmm, Ghes thought, he supposed such a measure wasn't beyond the computer in its attempts to close him off from entering areas of the program its memory wouldn't have the capacity to simulate. But, but would it go so far as to override the safety protocols? To protect its absence of knowledge dictated by the limits of the program? Stranger things had happened with holodecks, especially on starships, but Ghes suspected the Starbase's own facilities were a lot better equipped - a few more redundancies and so on - than the standard ship of the line.

Mwv'mci soon joined him in the shallows and laughing, gripping each other by the arms, they danced in the margin between the still river's depths and the shore, splashing the water and having it mingle with the ethereal air of the new dawn and the just departing night.

---

Starbase 47 Promenade

He'd considered giving the senior staff the call to convene in some conference room on the Starbase or perhaps even on the Enzio, to discuss some of the details of their forthcoming assignment, but he decided to let them rest easy for a while longer... Instead heading to Legnano's where he'd been sitting once before departing for Denobula, and waiting for those who'd been in his holodeck program to come along (as had been prearranged).

<Tag Tiana, Aeryn>

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

"Hello Tiana," she said pleasantly as she plopped the fountain on the table. "Look what I have!" a slight color of sarcastic enjoyment in her tone.

Tiana had no idea what the fountain represented or what Aeryn was drinking. She didn't ask, she didn't know much about alcohol except in the chemical sense so if she asked any questions she would get answers that she didn't understand and explanations would just take even longer. She, Aeryn and Ghes talked for a the rest of the time that they were in the restaurant. Tiana didn't know the newly arrive marine at all well but after that evening she felt that she knew her a lot better.

*************************

A Few Days Later

Tiana is in the main science lab contemplating the rearrangement of equipment required to set up a new cluster of experiments when her communicator beeps, she tapped it without really taking her mind off the problem in front of her. =/\=Tavik to Commander Galwyn. Tiana, please report to the Deck nine research lab. We've got a problem.=/\=

Tiana's mind snapped to what Tavik was saying, there was a tone to the other woman's words that meant that this was something important, but not site-to-site urgent. =/\=On my way.=/\= She said, all ready out the lab door and heading for the lift. =/\=What's the situation?=/\=

Tag: Aeryn Tavik (apologies for taking so long to respond)