A Mission Post by Commander Zivit Agron & Lieutenant Commander Jin Rha-Yaleii
Mission: Coil of Darkness
Location: USS Crazy Horse
Timeline: current
"Shhhhh...." was murmured softly, the fussing child for whom the sound was uttered being held close but gently. This long term assignment was not exactly what Isara had...expected, when she had accepted the offer. But a young woman that had the desire for adventure without the commitment required of many other jobs...Working as a nanny on a starship had been a dream come true. After all her younger siblings, it should be a piece of cake, right?
For the last hour she had been pacing the corridors, trying to lull the babe within her arms just to...sleep. After an entire day being generally unable to appease the small infant, it was all Isa could do to keep herself occupied as well. If nothing else, she was able to say that the self-imposed tour of the vessel had at least been vaguely educational.
===
"Fifth Hell and Redflies! What are you, the ship's resident security backup? Do they just throw you at intruders or do you eat them, too?"
"Kharn wants cheesecake!"
"And you talk."
Looking at least somewhat more like a Starfleet pilot instead of something pulled from the gutter after a long - extremely long - night, Jin had decided she might as well search for what qualified as a bar around these parts. After Le Moose had practically given her the wave-off and suggested it was all over but the politics. And now she had run into … a fat turkey? Without the big tail and long neck, but with an impressive crest, blue-black feathers and a beak that looked like it could crack bulkheads. Parrot turkey? War turkey? Parrurkey?
"taHqeq!" the animal agreed cheerfully, and just in case the tiny humanoid didn't get the message, added "Cheesecake!"
"Well buddy, you got the wrong Efrosian. I can't even find the bar on this bucket."
"Fyur'ixa d'xja."
"You can say that again."
Just then the plaintive, soft wailing of a baby humanoid sounded in the corridor and the little Efrosian turned towards the next surprise Ducky' ship held in store.
Ah. Harried looking lady with baby. Cute little thing with a spoon … oh boy.
"Hi there, Miss. You wouldn't happen to know where a pilot could get a real drink in these parts?"
Startled at actually being addressed, Isa flashed wide eyes up at the Efrosian. Shifting the babe to rest on one hip, the young human offered a tentative smile. "I...I honestly don't know. I haven't been here all that long, myself. I believe there are drinks to be had in the lounge...I have not had much time to seek it out myself." was stumbled out, finished with a small, self-depreciating chuckle.
Disapproving of this new position, the child in question flailed his displeasure within the confines of his blanket. Sweeping the infant back into her arms, the woman shifted from one foot to the other to try and mimick a suitable rocking motion. "From what I am led to understand, real drink is rather hard to find, around here."
"Ponfo mirann!" the war-turkey offered helpfully, and Jin nodded agreement.
"Lounge sounds good. If there's any place on a starship where the good stuff might be kept it's usually there, or engineering. Unless of course it's a carrier ship in which case you always try the pilots first." Jin gave the poor fidgeting human a winning smile and absentmindedly pried away the beak nibbling on her uniform sleeve. Hard to find wouldn't surprise her one bit on Duck's ship, though.
Fussy little kiddo. But Jin certainly remembered the type. "And who's your handsome boy?"
Probably a boy. Most likely. Sometimes it was difficult to tell with species she had little close experience with, but Cardassian scents were quite distinct.
"Oh," the woman replied, looking down at the baby within her arms. "Oh, no. He is not...mine." Isa hedged, a slightly lopsided grin cracking over her lips. "I am the caretaker for Commander Agron. He's named Doran." was further explained, turning the little bundle around for a better view. While the Cardassian assumption had been correct, it was swiftly obvious that it was not the full story to the little boy's lineage. And that neither of which were even remotely related to the Valzhan named as the child's mother.
Agron. Now there was a familiar name.
"Doran" the little Efrosian pronounced the name in a soft, lilting, playful timbre, and taking the nice human's shifting her precious cargo closer for permission, wiggled her fingers lightly in front of the frowning babe's face. Not entirely unexpected, two tiny snowcloud-grey hands shot out from under the blanket and grasped Jin's fingers. Looking a little startled at his success, Doran proceeded to peer at the golden-toned skin with a critical look on his tiny features, but Jin hedged a guess he found at least her naturally higher body temperature rather pleasant.
"A pretty name for a pretty boy with a very pretty mama. You know, pronounced just a little different you could be one of the Cloud God's wind sprites. Ah, no chewing on Efrosians."
"Kllhe'mnhe?" the parrurkey peeked at the baby, found it did not resemble cheesecake, and lost interest.
"Oh, I'm Jin by the way." One hand still firmly stuck in an inquisitive baby's grasp, the little pilot wiggled the fingers of the unstuck one in a human gesture of greeting "And I'm pretty sure there's a story there with the cute kiddo, but you look like you're on your last thread and I'm thirstier than an Andorian on Vulcan. If you could help me find the lounge, I'd be happy to hold him a bit while you grab a snack, or coffee."
When little Doran increased his efforts to gnaw on her fingers, Jin looked back down at him and gave a musical laugh at the tiny face scrunched up in determination "Maybe we could find something for him to chew on, too? You think he might be teething?" She had no clue when Cardassians started that process, but she remembered Mhvol being a right menace when his teeth had come in.
"Thank you," Isa breathed, her tone legitimately grateful at the offer. Very carefully, she extricated the little boy's hands away from the Efrosian's, only to instigate further fussy noises. Tucking him close against her chest, she gave a small gesture that indicated to follow as she turned to head the opposite direction from that she had previously been pacing in. "I am Isara...But I usually prefer Isa."
"As for him," the young woman continued, looking down at her generally displeased charge. "I cannot say for certain whether or not he would be breaking teeth. Though I doubt honestly that anyone could. It is certainly a possibility, however." Isa shrugged, taking a moment to look at her newly obtained companion. Or, it could simply be that Jin happened to look relatively similar to the boy's mother, at least in coloring, that attributed to the calming effect. Despite leaving that particular observation unvoiced, Isa remained grateful for the potential for quiet, even if it was short-lived.
Already on the appropriate level, the lounge was not a difficult locale to reach. Truly, if the Efrosian had only continued walking, it would have been easily found by herself. Still, as the human drew up just on the threshold of it, she gave a small smile and gestured with one relatively trapped hand. "And here we are."
"Isa. Very nice to meet you." Jin followed her new acquaintance with the good cheer of an Efrosian who has met a nice person; and the war-turkey apparently hadn't quite given up on the idea of cheesecake yet, either. Or perhaps he was just bored and decided to tag along in case something interesting was going to happen.
Well, at least she'd gotten the deck right; though with her special talent Jin probably would have managed to get lost three times between there and here. Or crashed into some bewildered marines.
"So we are. Huh. Fancy" the little Efrosian's white-golden brows shot up as the ball of feathers strode past them with a decisive
"Kharn wants cheesecake!" and the doors swished open to reveal not only an elegant bar and plush seating arrangements, but what looked like a balcony. With real trees in the background. Wow.
With a fighter pilot's unerring instinct, Jin made a beeline towards the dark wood of the bar, motioning for Isa to follow. Holographic wait-staff? Spirits of the Seas.
She hoisted herself up onto the polished surface and leaned over, eyeing the assortment of bottles and assorted cans and boxes kept out of sight but convenient to reach. Not the special stuff for sure, but she hardly expected the local barkeep to break that out for a stranger. Yup, fancy.
"Isa? What'll you have? Looks like there's some Vulcan mocha and … I think that may be Earth teas. Lots of them. That green stuff smells pretty good. And …" she leaned further, nearly to the point where all that was visible was the hind-end of a small Efrosian and some nicely shaped legs sticking up "… oh, Levithi nuts! I officially like this place!"
Watching Jin practically swim behind the bar, Isa took her attention temporarily off the anxious child still writhing in her arms. "Yerba mate for me, please..." was directed towards the holographic bartender that stood behind the polished wood. Eyes drifting to the slightly flailing legs still above the bar's surface, the human arched a brow slightly despite the smile that crept over her lips at the display. "And maybe some of those nuts, while you're down there..."
"On it!" the cheerful reply was slightly muffled, as Jin had located a drawer with clean towels and held one between her teeth while rummaging for a bowl.
"An oo edd me fome ife, Miffper 'olowramm?"
"Ife?"
"Hunh!" with a triumphant sound, the little Efrosian slid backwards, planting a bowl with Levithi nuts firmly on the bar.
"Ice, Mr. Hologram. Shaved, preferably. Plain. A little glass will do." She shook out the fabric and grinned at Isa "we can wrap a tiny bit of it in the towel and let Doran chew on it. Helped a treat when my little brother was teething. I'd not try any kalhvhego tea on a non-Efrosian even if they had some here, but even without it should make the itching better. Or at least keep handsome boy here busy a while."
With a practiced flick of her wrist, Jin cracked open a few of the nuts against the counter and tossed one to the parrurkey when it eyed the process with interest.
"toDSaH! Cheesecake!"
"You're welcome I'm sure. Alright now Miss Isa, you can hand him over for a bit if you like and give those arms a rest, I'm sure they feel like lead wrapped in sodden wool by now." Winking at the nice human's raised brows, she held out her arm at a slight angle and cooed softly to Doran in her native language.
With the babe in another's care for the moment, the human exhaled a long sigh before quickly moving to wrap up a few pieces of ice inside the towel, trying it off deftly. "My little siblings were plenty unhappy when they were teething...but I guess I just did not think of it, with as young as he is." Isa explained with a small shrug. "Though, my arms are quite tired." was added, accompanied by a small grin. The cool cloth was pressed against the infant's mouth; almost immediately resulting in tiny hands latching on, suckling on the towel tentatively.
"Mmmh it might not be it at all, maybe handsome boy just feels stressed out by all the adults giving off nervous vibes. I'm hardly an authority on my own species, let alone another one."
Actually, if Jin wasn't all too familiar with this kind of edgy energy emanating from an entire ship's crew – she wouldn't go so far and say she was used to it, nor did she really ever want to be at a point where she might become so – poor Isa might well have a small Efrosian trying to hop into her tired arms. Despite looking weary enough to nudge a treebear off its branch and settle in for some well deserved hibernating, the nice human radiated calm and caring that to Jin's fine senses were a soft, soothing note in a cacophony of discordant sounds.
"Try the Levithis. I'm told to a human they taste like something called hazel and chestnuts with a bit of apricots and rum." She motioned her elbow at the ones she had cracked open, earning herself a gurgle and sternly disapproving look from little Doran. Well, at least he seemed reasonably content cradled in the petite pilot's arm, chewing meditatively on the towel while eyeing the light glinting on the wings affixed to her collar.
"So, you haven't been on board for long? Too bad, I was hoping you'd know some juicy bit of gossip about yon Captain." A mischievous glint in her glacier blue eyes Jin quirked a Vulcan-esque eyebrow, but as usual ruined the 'I'm logical' impression with a smirk. The kind that one might see on a pixie's face right before the fairy dust exploded.
Shaking her head, Isa reached to accept her tea as it was brought by the holographic tender. "I have only been here a month or so... And I can honestly say I do not hear much in the way of gossip." Selecting one of the nuts after a moment of poking about, the shell was crushed open with some minimal struggle. Lifting the meat up to sniff at it, nose crinkled slightly. Shrugging to herself, it was popped between her lips, chewing slowly. The flavor that had been described was...mostly accurate. Though there were other notes that could not so easily be placed.
"I know that he took Commander Agron's place. Though she does not seem upset to be returned to second-in-command..." Isa mused, lifting a her mug to take a long, contemplative sip.
"He did? That's odd. But then, I never thought Starfleet could get Ducky into a Captain's chair without some really strong glue." The little Efrosian chuckled softly, remembering the scowling space-elf Khiy had been at the Academy. A good soldier, yes, and in her view at least with a great deal of potential, but more thickheaded than a firebull.
The lovely Commander though … Jin wasn't sure why, but she readily believed that Miss Agron hadn't been terribly upset.
A perpetually cranky Romulan and a first officer right out of Efrosian legend. Jin shook her head with an amused snort, sending white golden strands of hair flying. As if picking up on her mood, little Doran chortled into the by now quite soggy towel.
"Cheesecake?!"
"You're a persistent bugger, aren't you."
"Feckin' women's knickers!"
"Alright, fine. Mr. Hologram, can we get some cheesecake for … whatever he is?"
As unperturbed as only a holographic projection could be, the bartender nodded and strode off, leaving the war-turkey to nibble on Isa's sleeve for a change.
"Well I'll say this for the Horse, she's an interesting ship." Jin let her eyes drift across the luxurious lounge, feeling almost a little disoriented in these placid surroundings. Sure, the few crewmembers stopping by for a bite all had that unsettled feel to them, but she caught a few smiles here and there directed at the two women and the quietly gurgling infant. And even a light chuckle or two at the preening parrurkey.
"That, I cannot deny." Isa smirked, reaching out to delicately pat the strange blue bird's head. A sidelong glance confirmed a sneaking suspicion she had about the now quite babe; his pleased sounds coming less and less frequent as dark blue eyes drifted half-closed, though he still fought it. Exhaling a soft sigh, the human took another long, lingering sip of her tea. Turning her gaze to the Efrosian, she let a more genuine smile slip over her lips. "Thank you...I did not realize how much I needed this."
"Ah, my pleasure entirely, Miss Isa. I'd have gone stir-crazy in guest quarters before long, and then Ducky would have given me that Look like he did after we accidentally set the bar down on Fountain Street on fire. Well, a little bit. More of an enthusiastic bonfire, really." Leaning against the barstool with a half-asleep baby in her arms, the little Efrosian was the picture of innocence, from the guileless smile to the merry sparkle in glacier blue eyes. Or at least she would have been if not for the impish glint side by side with the merriment; and the languid, indolent air of a kitten who currently has no ball of wool in sight, but might be persuaded to go find one. Soon. Maybe. After her nap. Are those shoelaces?
"Cheeesecake!" the war-turkey declared happily, prompting another soft snicker from Jin when he snatched the dish from the hologram and bit right through the aluminum.
"While there's pretty blue eyed boys and nice ladies and funny birds and cheesecake …" Jin smiled down at the by now fast asleep infant, her voice little more than the soft murmur of Efrosian rain "…we'll all be just fine. Right, Doran?"
=/\=
Lieutenant Commander Jin Rha-Yaleii
Currently a Guest
USS Crazy Horse
Isara
Live-In Nanny
apb Zivit
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