Old War Dogs

Posted on Wed Apr 2nd, 2025 @ 12:11pm by Captain David Tonelly [Reece] & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea

Mission: Season 6 - 5.5 - Day to Day
Location: USS Elysium, Arboretum
Timeline: MD 1 / 1400 hours
1264 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

David was sitting in the Arboretum with his and Baeryn's infant daughter, Samanthanna. The happy little girl was smiling and laughing as her father made silly faces and bubbling noises at her as the two sat on a sage green blanket

As David finished another round of animal noises, he glanced around the park area, and his eyes caught sight of his former commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Naxea, and her young daughter Sle'anna. When their eyes met, he smiled and waved.

Naxea returned the wave. Things in her personal life was stressful, not to mention having to run a Detachment. Right now, Man'darr was acting XO as she couldn't recall what happened to the last XO. Had he been with them hunting the monster on the station? Naxea pushed the thoughts from her mind as she looked back down at Sle'anna. "Come on, little one. Let's go say hi to some people." She moved to pick Sle'anna up in her arms as the infant held onto a stuffed pirate ship. She still wasn't sure who gave Sle'anna the toy. "Hey. How are you two doing?" she asked as she approached David.

Seeing her approach, David straightened up in his seated position. Though he was now a fellow department head, as he was the current Commendant of the Academy Annex, he recognized that Naxea was still of higher rank. "Hello, Colonel," he said with a polite smile. As he spoke, Samanthanna looked up at the Bajoran woman, who was holding her child who, like herself, was a hybrid of two species. She smiled the smile of innocence, as she reached our two chubby little hands towards Naxea.

Seeing this, David chuckled softly. "It seems, my little angel wishes for you two to join us." He shifted over on the blanket, offering a full half of it to Naxea and Sle'anna.

Naxea smiled and gave a slight nod. "Alright." Setting Sle'anna down, she held up a finger to get the infant's attention. "Sle'anna. Play nice. Be gentle, Ok?"

Sle'anna looked back up at her mother. "K," came the high toned voice of the Bajoran/Sequus hybrid.

Naxea sat down on the blanket. "She doesn't know her own strength sometimes," she explained.

David grinned and nodded. "They never do, when they're young, do they?" He then smiled as he watched his daughter reach out and gently touched Sle'anna's nose ridges, before smiling and leaning in to give Sle'anna a gently kiss on her nose.

"Pitty," she said with a big smile.

"That's right, sweetheart. Sle'anna is pretty, just like you are," David spoke softly to his little girl, then glanced up at Naxea and shrugged. "If we're not careful, these two are gonna run rough shod over us in about sixteen years."

"I'd give Sle'anna about ten. She can already nearly outrun me in a full sprint," she replied, chuckling at Sleanna as the two started playing. "I just wonder if I'm the right person to be raising her or if the Elysium is a good place for her. I know she's still an infant and part Bajoran, but her speed and strength is greater than most children. "

David sat up and looked Naxea in the eye. "Ma'am, if I may speak freely, one parent to another?"

"Sure, go ahead," she replied, turning to look at David.

"You are the right one to be raising that little girl. She is of you. No one else in all of creation could love her more than you. Don't ever doubt that. In fact, the simple fact that you are doubting your abilities, slams home the proof that you are the right one to raise Sle'anna!" Though he spoke passionately about the subject, there was no judgement in his demeanor or voice. "As for raising her here, we don't currently have an alternative. Besides, every location haa at least one thing that makes it dangerous, so, all we can do as parents, is take each day as it comes."

"Yes, but it's the Sequus part of her that I worry about," Naxea explained. "S'hib is good at that...and things between him and I aren't getting any better," she paused, taking a breath. "We're talking of getting a divorce."

A look of sorrow crossed David's face as he listened to Naxea speak. "I am so sorry, Naxea," he said softly, using her name for the first time. If you ever need anyone to talk to, please know that I am here."

"Thank you. Gami also offered, but I will be fine," she said, trying not to grin as she recalled that Gami even jokingly offered a threesome with her and Moses. 'That woman is incorrigible,' she thought. "Just wasn't meant to be."

He nodded sadly. "So long as he stays a part of this little angel's life, though, yeah?" He smiled as he reached out and gently, and in the way only a parent knows how, playfully tapped Sle'anna's nose, as he made a silly face at her. "Gami is a good woman, a good Marine, and a great friend. I've seen the two of you together. You're able to drop the ranks when you think you're alone. That speaks volumes of the respect the two of you have for each other." He gave Naxea a soft grin.

"Don't tell her that. Her ego is big enough as it is," Naxea chuckled lightly. "So, how are you doing with yours?"

David chuckled in reply to Naxea's warning. He then smiled warmly as his eyes moved to his daughter playing with hers. "For the most part, we are doing okay. Then, there are times that she calls out for her mother, but can't understand why Baeryn can't be there." A bit of his happiness faded as he spoke. "Sthilg still hasn't been able to either figure out what exactly caused the disease, or how to treat it. Of course, he has told me that the Elysium, as advanced as she is, was never designed to keep someone in cryogenics indefinitely. If something doesn't change soon..." he couldn’t finish the sentence or thought of losing Baeryn forever.

"Don't think like that. You need to stay positive. At least for your daughter, " she said. She and Baeryn had connected and became friends over their kids. She missed Baeryn. She thought back to several friends she had lost on the Elysium over the years.

Naxea's kind words brought a soft smile to David's face. "You're right. Thank you. You'd think, one who has lived as long as I have, experienced what I have, I'd be better suited for this situation." He was quiet for a couple beats, then continued. "Baeryn is special. I have never felt for another, as I do for her. We are more than husband and wife, more than best friends...she is the other half of my soul. It has taken me my entire life to this point to find her." A tear fell free from his left eye as he shook his head. "No. Our story isn't done yet. It can't be. She will survive this and come back to Samanthanna and me!"

"I know she will," she replied softly. She wasn't sure what the future held at the moment bit she knew that she had to remain strong, especially for Sle'anna.

The four of them spent the next hour or so enjoying the artifical weather in the Arboretum, until Samanthanna started to get tired. David had suggested that they get together more often, as both friends and a support system for each other.

~OFF~