Homecoming

Posted on Fri Oct 5th, 2018 @ 12:24pm by Lieutenant T'Pral & Lieutenant JG Annie Dixon

934 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Food for the Gods
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: Current

ON:

[Vulcan]

T'Pral stepped out of the temple and took a deep breath. Her final link to S'tras was severed at last. Divorce was rare on Vulcan, but the practice was not unheard of. It was logical that if a mate died, or was a fugitive of the law, the other would wish to marry again. It also made pon-farr easier to deal with. With S'tras on the run, she just had to go through the rituals.

As she had expected, S'tras did indeed flee. He wasted no time and disappeared off of the Exeter immediately following their fight. Vulcan Security had traced his movements after the fact, discovering that he had boarded a Yridian freighter with a flight plan to Deep Space Nine. A query had been sent to the station's security office, but T'Pral was not optimistic. Yridians weren't known for their honor, and even if the ship truly went to DS9, S'tras would find it trivial to disappear into the crowd and find another ride.

For now, he had escaped. But T'Pral was certain their paths would cross once more. It was an illogical consideration - the Federation was large, and the likelihood of two random souls meeting by chance was astronomically low. She shook her head and chalked it up to the human influences on the Calypso.

T'Pral walked the streets of her childhood planet for a while before returning to the ship. Nostalgia was an illogical human consideration, but this was home. She felt… comfortable here. One day, she was certain, she would return for good. But for now, the Calypso needed her.

Her injuries were now largely healed. She no longer needed the cane, and her stoicism hid what pain she might be feeling. The hospital had been confident enough in her healing to have released her, so she was free to return to work. It would be agreeable to have a normal routine again.

She stopped in front of the statue that had precipitated her extended stay on Vulcan. The ruined pedestal had scaffolding set around it and a cloth-draped figure within. The statue of Ambassador Spock was an important symbol of logic and peace; they would replace it exactly, as if the actions of S'tras and the Guardians of Surak never happened. Their ability to forget and ignore was both a strength and weakness of the Vulcan people.

T'Pral took a breath and glanced around once more before tapping her commbadge. "One to beam up."

[Engineering]

T'Pral stepped into Main Engineering to a chorus of cheers. Her eyebrow rose at the illogical celebration of her return. She grunted as a form impacted her torso - Lieutenant Dixon had run up and hugged her. "Lieutenant?" she asked.

"Oh! Um, sorry ma'am." Annie extricated herself awkwardly, looking anywhere but in her boss's eyes.

"What was the purpose of such a physical display?"

Annie looked surprised. "Don't tell me you don't know what a hug is?"

T'Pral had her usual stoic demeanor, and did not change her expression. Annie narrowed her eyes and thought she caught a glimmer in the Vulcan's eyes indicating it was a joke. But she could not be certain. Annie raised a finger and opened her mouth to speak, but T'Pral walked past her to the pool table systems console. She tapped at it, bringing up some status displays.

"How are the repairs progressing?" she asked Annie.

"Um," Annie began, catching up with her boss. "The new injector coils and manifolds are in, and all of the fused feed lines have been replaced. While we had the core apart, I took the liberty to replace some additional parts that were getting worn. And Ensign Murphy scrubbed out the intermix chamber. The dilithium crystal could use realigning, and there's still diagnostics to run once the core is buttoned up. But I estimate a 2% increase in efficiency with the new parts."

T'Pral nodded as she absorbed the information. She knew as soon as she stepped into Engineering what the status was, having glanced at various displays and the open warp core. It was good, though, to let Annie explain it - it helped the girl's self-confidence. Indeed, T'Pral could not detect her usual stuttering. "How long until we are under way?" she asked.

Annie bit her lip as she calculated in her head. "Barring any surprises, a day, maybe two."

T'Pral nodded, "We can do it in a day." She turned to Annie and offered a tilt of her head. "You did well, Lieutenant. Your icosahedral shuttle matrix was particularly inventive."

Annie flushed, "T- thank you, ma'am." T'Pral rarely praised her engineers, a fact they had come to expect. But when she did, Annie knew it was a big deal.

"There is still much to do," T'Pral stated, "Let's get to work."

[Quarters]
[Much Later]

Once she was confident the warp core would be ready in the morning, T'Pral returned to her own quarters for the first time in nearly a month. Between her injuries and the Calypso's own problems, the last time she was in here was before…

She frowned very briefly, remembering how logical and companionable S'tras had been… before he revealed his true extremist nature. They had spent most of their lives married, but living on different starships, she had to admit she never really [em]knew[/em] him.

A legacy of that would live on, mostly because he had escaped for the time being. But also… she tilted her head and cupped her hands around her belly.


OFF:

Lt T'Pral
Chief Engineer
USS Calypso

Lt (jg) Annie Dixon
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Calypso

 

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