Comforts of Home

Posted on Wed May 8th, 2019 @ 5:42am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris & Ensign Kara Hoffman
Edited on on Fri May 22nd, 2020 @ 8:50am

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Gallia and Kara's Quarters
Timeline: after Review of Engineering
1407 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Gallia, fresh from Anje's quarters and constructing the plot against Lovejoy, beelined to the nursery and then home, carrying Tayalas in one arm and a bag of fresh, non-replicated food in the other, "An' we're gonna make a nice meal for Mummy Kara, love." She told the little one, "An' we're gonna get our wee Blueberry all clean and pretty for 'er."

"Sana." Tayalas giggled, she smelled something in that bag that she liked.

"'At's ma girl." Gallia smiled, keying open the door. She figured she still had about an hour before Kara arrived, more than enough time to get herself and Tayalas ready and get dinner started.

An hour or so later Tayalas had just had a nice bath, as had Gallia courtesy of the energetic child, and both were dressed an new outfits from IFFY: Tayalas in a light pink number from Estelle, she in slinky red leather. The steaks were grilling, the potatoes baking, and soup was on, "Hoffman's got no idea how lucky she is." Gallia bragged to the attentive Tayalas, "I'm a bloody domestic goddess."

"Sana!" Tayalas chirped and cooed, cosigning her mother.

"Bloody right." Gallia nodded, waiting for her bride to be to come home.

The quarters room door opened, and a bedraggled Kara stepped in. Her hair out of it's usual pristine ponytail and her usual pristine white uniform, almost grey in colour. She spoke in an exhausted voice. "Hi honey, hey Tay, I'm Home!"

Gallia looked Kara over and was genuinely worried, she'd never seen Kara look this... beat up, "Oh, love, what in hell happened to ya?" She asked, though she knew it was probably Lovejoy's doing.

Tayalas looked at Kara and raised an eyebrow, she'd never seen her like this, either.

Kara shuffled herself inside and smiled as best as she could. "Well, I've been working overtime on a project. However I've taken it as far as I can by myself. I think It's time to ask for some help." She took off her coat and placed it over the dining chair carefully. "I've been working on a prototype shield generator. When it's completed, it'll efectively double the Elysium's defensive capabilities. I've been working on it for a few months now in secret." Kara explained. "When it's ready, I have the Captains approval to field test it. It's an exciting prospect, but I've gone as far as I can on my own with it." Kara explained.

"Wait jus' a second, darlin'." Gallia stopped dead in her tracks, "You've been workin' on ground breakin' tech on the ship we share, in the engineerin' section we met in, an' ya didnae tell me???"

Kara sighed lightly. "Easy hun, I didnae tell anyone. Truth is, I thought the project wouldn't be possible at all. However I had a breakthrough just a week or so ago, which changed everything. here, have a look for yourself." Kara moved to the wall panel and brought up the "Sornis" shield generator specs. "As you can see it's called the Sornis shield amplification generator." She sighed. "About two years ago or so, on the planet Sornis three, in the Beta Sector. A genius mathematician and engineer, developed a new way for shield harmonics and generation to work. The theory, as it was at the time just a simple theory, was called the Sornis theory. Simply put, It allows a much higher density fractal multi-phasic shield, to be expanded over anything you wish."

Kara smiled to herself, reminded of how she had explained this almost exactly the same to the captain and commander Taylor. "I got approval from the Captain and Commander Taylor to construct and field test the generator. Truth is, it's already built. I had it transported over to DS9 in secret when we first arrived, so I could continue to work on it in secret. However I have done all I can on my own."

"Mah God, it's bloody brilliant." Gallia gasped, "I cannae aven fathom the potential applications. You could shield anythin' from the ship to a moon to individual ground troops with this thing."

"Exactly. The theory was lost because the planet Sornis three and it's surrounding systems lacked the necessary raw resources to field the technology. However we do not have that problem. The modifications to the warp core are completed, since as you can see, the power requirements are quite steep for the generator." Kara moved over to hug Gallia lightly. "However it's ready to be installed and field tested anytime....I think. Would you help me with it?" Kara asked.

"Of carse I will!" Gallia answered quickly, still not believing Kara had kept a secret this big from her for this long, "Now, why don't ya clean yourself up and I'll finish makin' dinner."


Sounds lovely. I'll go and have a quick shower. Kara moved over to tayalas, kissing her forehead lightly. "I'll be back fresh and smellin' fine in a few Tay bay." Kara headed into the bathroom and stripped her uniform, stepping into the sonic shower. As the cleansing waves of energy washed over her, she instantly felt much more relaxed. ~What a day, it's nice to be home.~

Tayalas cooed and giggled, everything seemed to be back to normal, the way she liked it; babies, whatever species, had a deep seeded love for their routine, Tayalas more so than others.

While Kara showered and Tayalas took a quick nap, Gallia finished preparing the night's repast: steak, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, bread, and a blueberry cobbler for dessert. She'd prepared a soup for Tayalas, with small pieces of the meat, just right for her five, soon to be six, little teeth to handle, along with the potatoes and peas, "Gonna be quite the feast." Gallia said to no one, then laughed at herself a little, remembering her mother telling her that this would happen one day, "Didnae see this comin', tha's far sure."

Kara emerged from the bathroom half wrapped in her towel. She wasn't very good at the whole wrap towel around self thing, so she's taken to just half wrapping it instead, leaving her upper body exposed. "Didnae see whit comin hon?" She replied, curious.

"My mum, she used ta tell me that one day I would have my own family, an' be in here preparin' meals the way I am, the way she did." Gallia explained, "An' I told her, 'Mum, I dinnae think that's a thing for me.' an' she laughed at me, said, 'You'll see, darlin'.' Now, 'ere we are, right?"

Kara smiled. "Aye, we've...come along way eh Gallia. I didnae think I'd ever fall in love, I was always too focused on work, but, as you say. 'ere we are, darlin'"

"Aye." Gallia nodded, "An' there's no where else in the galaxy I'd rather be."

Tayalas, now back amongst the conscious, looked to them and said, "Sana."

"I think that means let's eat." Gallia laughed, picking the baby up and bringing her to her high chair, "That's okay, angel, we're hungry, too."

Kara laughed wide, pulling on her casual t-shirt and jeans combo. "For sure, as always you've got quite the spread here Gallia. Your a much better cook than I am, for sure." Kara looked to Tayalas, and lovingly said. "Tay, your momma's amazing and so are you. I won't ever stop telling you both that everyday."

"Sana." Tayalas said with a broad smile, it was one of the two words she knew, but the happiness behind it made the meaning self explanatory; this was the best place in the galaxy for them.


Kara giggled as she sat down at the table. "Incredible how quickly she's grown eh? I realised the other day when i picked her up, she's gotten quite a bit heavier. She's so strong." Kara nodded, piling pieces of steak and mashed potatos onto her plate. ~I love Gallia's cooking. Everything tastes so much better than when i make it.~

"Aye, Lana was that way accordin' ta mum." Gallia replied, taking a second to savor the happy memory, "Charles, too. Me, I was a slow grower at first, caught up later though. Lana, she was six feet barefooted, not countin' antennae. I'm expecting Tay to be around the same size when it's all said and done." She smiled a bit as she remembered, "An' it's gettin' near a certain someone's birthday, too. We might ta be organizin' somethin' far that."

-OFF