Growing friendship

Posted on Sat Feb 26th, 2022 @ 7:21am by Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Commander Rin

Mission: Season 5: Interlude: Darkness Abounds
Location: Arboretum
1394 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Sthilg let out a smile as he reached for his water bottle. His small plot of the Arboretum was going well with his collection of vegetables coming along nicely. He let out a sigh as he downed the cold water before wiping his mouth.

Hearing some footsteps he looked up though he already speaking as he did so. " Hello Rin how are you thisss fine day." he inquired with a smile.

"I'm well, Doctor. Visiting a friend. How are you?"

" I'm well." He said gesturing to the small basket of tomatoes and potatoes at his side. " Jussst keeping my patch healthy." He explained as he moved onto the coffee plants. " Thessse are excellent.." He said as he looked at the ripened fruit before looking at his friend. " Don't sssuppossse you have the time to help me harvessst thessse?" he asked

"Um...sure?" You'll need to show me what to do though," Rin answered awkwardly. The garden clearly meant something to him and she didn't want to damage anything. "I've never picked a garden before. All I can do to keep one plant alive in my room, and that only because it's practically indestructible."

" I know that feeling." The gorn said with a hearty laugh. " My first ever plant was an arandoa cactusss. Kept that thing alive for fifteen years in my little quatersss of a klingon warbird kitchen. Ssstill there'sss a firssst time for everything. " He explained as he bent down and using his artificial arm handed the exborg a pair of shears.

"How did you end up on a Klingon warbird?" Rin asked as she followed the directions.

" I wasss the ssship'sss doctor. " The lizard explained. " After travelling around the universsse for around fifty yearsss I ended up in a border world which had ended up in a conflict with the klingon empire. In the heavy fighting the localsss manged to damage the leading klingon warssship and kill it'sss doctor. The klingon houssse asssked for a truce and a doctor. I went up and manged to sssave the injured klingonsss and get the houssse to declare a victory and form a peace deal with the locals. The houssse head asssked me to ssstay on asss the ssship'sss doctor,"

"Then how did you end up in Starfleet?"

" The dominion war my dear. " The gorn said as he reached for a coffee berry and gently sniped it off. " I wasss part of the joint medical team between ssstarfleet and the Klingon defences force. Given my contract was running out with the KDF I was sssponssered to join ssstarfleet. "

Rin nodded as she continued to clip. "I forget how personal the Dominion War is to everyone. Most everyone here lived through it, whether in Starfleet or still growing up."

" It truly wasss." The gorn said rubbing the shoulder of his artificial arm mount. " Gained thisss beauty during that war."

"What happened?"

" I was captured and ended up being thrown in the pit." The gorn said as he continued clipping the ripen fruit. The well-know Dominion prisoner camp was widely know and the horrors that took place there. " The lassst governer decided to cut my arm off over a group of POW liberating the gaurdsss medical sssupliesss. I think he expected me to beg for mercy. I don't think he expected the running commentary of what a terrible job he was doing. Jussst as he managed hacking the last bit off hisss head exploded as the klingon commandoesss had arrived to liberate the camp."

Rin just nodded in acknowledgment as she continued to clip.

" What about you my dear?" The gorn asked as he worked. " What wasss the planet the fedration found you on like?" he inquired

"Tavara is mostly hostile to life," Rin explained. "Too hot, too dry, and fairly poisonous. Civilization has remained limited to areas close to the water and in the shadows of mountains which help trap moisture."

"Go farther inland, and you'll encounter rather beautiful pools of sulfur and mercury. Sulfur springs leave colorful deposits around them, and mercury flows like a liquid mirror."

"But the valleys are covered in life, with the help of irrigation."

" What about that nativesss? They mussst have been nice people if they looked after you and the resst of the exoborg'sss?" The doctor added.

"The Tavari had never encountered the Borg. They didn't know what they were dealing with. They did rescue us, yes. We wouldn't have survived without them. And they were kind to us. But they also found us useful. We were
good soldiers. The house which recovered us benefitted a great deal from it."

" Off courssse the age old desssire for a combat advantage." The gorn said as he looked at Rin's work. " Not thossse one'sss my dear they need a little longer." He said calmly as she reached for another bundle of fruit.

Rin moved on to another branch. "Imagine how the Starfleet first contact team felt, seeing us all walking around, overseeing the exchange. We had a lot more hardware at the time and were far less personable. Captain Lazzen took a chance on me when I asked to return with him. His crew was not happy. That was the first time I saw people truly scared of me. Rather a shock, since I had spent eight years with people who found us more weird than scary."

" The borg really are sssomething to be ssscared off. My people are lucky we only even encountered them once. I hope in my lifetime we can find sssomeway of freeing everyone and ssshit them down for good." the old doctor added.

"Of course they are. But they are a reality of this galaxy. Best I can hope for is that xBs can find more welcoming places to resettle. We have a new xB botanist. He's the one I just came from visiting."

" I've not met him, but I'll make sssure to make him welcome." Sthilg said as he picked the last of the fruit. " There now we need to processsss them."

Rin fell in line behind him as he started to walk off. "What needs to be done to them?"

" Now we need remove the ssseedsss and ferment them." The old lizard explained as he walked to a cylinder he had sitting next to his tools. " Fortuntly all we need to do isss thisss." He said picking a fruit and dropping it into a hole at the top of the machine.

Rin watched the machine work for a bit. "I've been having odd dreams. The counselor suggested I explore them with the help of Medical, since normally I only dream nightmares, and I try suppressing those. She said Medical would mostly be there "just in case." What might Medical be able to provide, if I choose to go down this path?"

" What wasss odd about them?" the old doctor asked as he gestured to a bench for them to sit down.

"A memory of my old life, perhaps. Or maybe I'm ascribing meaning to something that really was just random."

" Why don't you tell me what happened. A ssseconed opinion alwaysss helpsss." the doctor replied reassuringly.

Rin shrugged. "Usually my dreams are from the perspective of the Collective. The other night I think I dreamt my own assimilation. I don't get dreams of my previous life. And like I said, maybe I'm reading too much into it."

" Maybe it'sss due to you being out of the collective for ssso long. I could run sssome ssscansss if you'd like." The gorn asked reassuringly.

It hadn't occurred to Rin that there might be physically something to detect. Certainly, it was a better next step than diving into nightmares. it had been treated as a psychological issue for so long she had lost sight of other possibilities.

Did she want something found? She still wasn't sure. She was comfortable with things as they were, with status quo.

That was probably a failing on her part, she admitted to herself. She liked trying new things, learning more about the things around her. But she did shy away from things more personal. There were lots of reasons for that, some legit, she still believed, but others perhaps not so much.

"I would like that, thank you," she replied.

" Well." The gorn said warmly as he stood up. " let'sss drop thessse off on my roassster and I'll get you ssscaned."