Hello S'hib

Posted on Fri Dec 24th, 2021 @ 4:19am by Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Lieutenant Commander S'hib
Edited on on Sat Dec 25th, 2021 @ 4:42pm

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: S'hib/Naxea's Quarters
Timeline: MD 8 0600
1529 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Naxea stirred as her naked body laid against S'hib. She enjoyed having him close by again. She turned and looked at him, watching him sleep, hoping he would stay this time, especially since they still had a wedding to plan.

His chest slowly raised with each gentle inhale, moving the arm she had draped over him up and down with each long inhale, though beyond that he had hardly moved, sleeping for an abnormally long time for a Sequus and deep within a dream.

"You have long exhausted your usefulness world shaper!" Spat a metallic feminine voice, startling him awake with wide eyes as he looked about, unsure of where he was.

"Naxea?" He gasped, catching eye of her before resting his head back down, panic still gripping his chest.

Shib's sudden waking startled Naxea, as she placed her hands on his chest. "Shib!? I'm here, it's alright," she pulled herself closer to him. "What's wrong?"

He looked back at her, blinking as he struggled to wrap his head around the sudden transition to wakefulness. "Must have had a bad dream..." S'hib said quietly, sounding very unsure of him the words he just said.

"You sure?" she questioned. "You seem really disturbed by it. Want to talk about it?" she caressed his head as she looked at him

"I... I don't know..." He stuttered, leaning further towards her. "A lot happened on Sequella..."

"I'm here if you want to talk about it," Naxea offered, wondering what all happened on his home planet but she wouldn't force the issue if he didn't want to talk about it. She'd known that feeling all too well.

"I know, I just don't know how to process it all... or even start to explain." His words were tired, even for someone who had just woken up.

He rolled slightly onto his side, facing her completely as his hand searched for hers. "So much should have stayed buried in the damnable desert..." S'hib mumbled with unintentional cryptic words.

"I don't believe anything good has ever been uncovered in a desert," she grinned as she took his hand into hers. "You mentioned your planet was threatened but how, exactly?"

"Sequella had been experiencing seismic activity emanating from the centre of Rellulla... our only landmass," S'hib began, his voice hushed and low as if attempting to keep his words confined to the pillows beneath their heads.

"Beyond the vast Red Sea are the plains... cracked dead valleys and red mountains that stretch just as far... the air was so dry you could feel the moisture on your tongue evaporate... nothing can survive out there..."

"Least that's what we thought since the area is shrouded with a highly charged shell of electrostatic energy, no electronics, no sensors, nothing can get within a thousand kilometres of the centre without walking... though the shroud had increased somewhat by the time we left... it was a rough landing." He smiled awkwardly, blinking and looking away as his mind wandered back to that moment.

"But the uhh, the tremors had been getting worse, we didn't know why but it wasn't natural... they would increase in intensity by point eight percent and occur every few days." S'hib said with a slight sigh. "Sequella would shake itself apart, within a matter of weeks... but we would have had to evacuate well before then, tsunamis and earthquakes were expected within seventy-two hours."

"Why not contact Starfleet?" Naxea asked, propping herself up on one elbow. "We have some of the best scientists in the galaxy."

"I wondered this at first myself, but then I was told why... and then later I found out first hand the uncomfortable truth of our existence..." He replied before falling deathly silent, struggling to swallow the lump in his throat.

"What I'm about to tell you must never leave this room, please... promise me you'll bury in your heart as I have." He asked quietly, almost afraid of the question as he squeezed her hand firmly.

Naxea was unsure of what to say at first, unsure what could be so terrible that he wanted to keep it a secret. "Um, sure, I promise S'hib."

"My people aren't from Sequella... And to be honest we aren't even sure if we are from this galaxy, though it is our home." He whispered, shuffling closer to Naxea.

"We uh, my ancestors... they were brought to Sequella through a gateway to be used as forced labour, and... food for whoever would come through next." He shuddered at the thought, closing his eyes briefly before continuing.

"But something happened, we aren't too sure what but Sh'le... a relatively small moon had begun breaking apart in low orbit at the time, her death and subsequent bombardment of the surface is thought to have damaged whatever power source they had at the time... it shutdown the gateway, deactivated the security collars around my peoples' necks..."

"So it's possible there are more of your people somewhere else," Naxea concluded. It was a big discovery, but it didn't explain why his people wanted to keep it a secret and the only species she ever heard of using gateways were the Inconians and they were long gone. "Why don't you want anyone to know this information?

"It could destabilize our society if the wider populace learns the truth, so much of our culture is built on lies, Naxea... Sequella isn't even our home." He replied, on the verge of tears.

"S'hib," she began as she caressed his face. "That's not true. Your home is where you make it. You were born on Sequella, raised and lived there. Take your identity from that. Take the Romulans for example, a long time ago lived on Vulcan and now they call Romulus their home. I'm not trying to make light of what you discovered but to say Sequella isn't your home just isn't true."

Silence fell between them both as he leaned his head against hers, he was still so very tired despite the hours of sleep he had spent entwined with her body. "The gateway reconnected as our team found it... it was the cause of all the seismic activity, had been using the core as a power source... we learnt all this from the Architect, some kind of android acting as a caretaker... she seemed even pleased to see us at first, don't think she was aware of just how much time had passed... some thirty-odd thousand years had gone by but to her, clocks stopped ticking when everything went offline... didn't take her long to figure it out though," S'hib said as he looked down under the sheets at his arm.

"She spent too long kicking my ass after that, gave the rest of the team time to destabilize the gateway, but we think she sent a message through... can't be sure though."

Naxea sighed after weighing what he had said. She was unsure of what to say. If what he had said was true, his people would need Starfleet's help to fight off the caretaker's people and they would learn the truth that S'hib wanted to keep from them. Nothing good would come from that. "If the message got through and the time comes, don't be afraid to ask for help from Starfleet. You will at the very least have my help."

"I already do..." He mumbled as he pulled her onto his chest while rolling onto his back, wrapping his long arms around her dainty frame and hugging her tight.

Naxea smiled as she laid against him. "Very true," she confirmed. So, now that you're back, do you think we can get to setting a date for our wedding?"

His eyes blinked open, staring at the ceiling with abject horror. "I was meaning to talk to you about that actually," He started, gently moving a hand to run up and into her hair.

"Since I haven't actually asked you to marry me, not how Sequus do it anyway, though it's nowhere nearly as serious as what you call marriage."

"So this ring is for nothing then?" Naxea asked, showing the ring that he had made from his hair and given it to her. She had heard about Sequus being open to multiple partners in a relationship, which was something she wasn't a fan of.

“What no, that's not what I'm saying… You know how complicated this is for me…” He sighed deeply, already feeling a headache forming. “The only thing my people have even remotely close to marriage is the Man’de’far… an exchange of manes which is then worn in your own… it didn't feel sufficient to honour your cultural practice but my time on Sequella made me miss all the little things that make me, me.” He finished before gently tugging at the back of her head. “So go get the scissors.” He snorted.

Naxea cocked her head to the side. "Fine, but if you screw it up, I'm kicking your ass," she said, with a slight grin as she pushed herself up off of him and across the room towards the lavatory.

"Take your time..." He snorted, admiring her rear with a smug grin.