Family Matters

Posted on Fri Mar 20, 2015 @ 5:43pm by Lieutenant Saria Rex & Commander Caden Aldrex

1,135 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: Science Labs

[ON]

The doors parted and Cade Aldrex walked into the science department's administrative offices. There were a few people present at heir desks, writing reports and chatting about work among other things. "Excuse me," he asked one young lady, "is Lieutenant Rex in her office?"

The woman looked up from her computer monitor, her concentration momentarily broken. "Yeah, she's in her office. Down that corridor to the right." She pointed in that direction.

"Thanks," Aldrex said with a grin. He headed down the corridor to find Saria's door open. She was also at her desk focusing intently on some data displayed on her monitor. He knocked gently on the door jamb. "Mind if I drop in?"

Saria was startled by Caden's knocking on the door. She looked behind her monitor, just to see her cousin standing at the door.
"Anytime." She replied, standing up from behind her desk. "Take a seat if you like, plenty of them are unoccupied." She pointed at the actually single chair on the opposide side of the desk.

Aldrex did as told but not before planting a kiss on her cheek. It had been years since he and Saria had been in the same room. One of the nicer surprises of this new assignment was finding out that she was still stationed here.

"So... Caden, if you don't mind me calling you like that, Commander..." She smirked. "...how have you been? I heard you got married and settled down on the station while I had a little trip to Trill."

Aldrex plopped down into the chair and grinned. "Yeah, it's been an eventful few weeks for me. I'd like for you to meet her. Are you busy later tonight?"

Saria shook her head "Not at all, not at all. It would be a pleasure to meet the wife."

Her cousin grinned. "Wonderful! Our quarters, then. 1800 hours."

"So... before I'll get acquainted, do tell me about her!" Saria placed her elbows on her desk and made a small bridge by intertwining her fingers, resting her chin right on top. "What's her name, what's she like, where's she from, what does she do...? Etcetera, etcetera." She grinned.

Another grin. "Her name is Amia. She's a doctor, and a brilliant one at that. She's Baku by birth, but her home planet is something she doesn't talk about. I'll let her explain if that topic comes up." He sat back in his chair and his eyes took on a glimmering, faraway look. "She lights up whatever room she's in, you know. She's gracious, and erudite, and a whole host of other things. When we're apart I think about her all the time." He shook himself out of his reverie and chuckled bashfully. "What about you? Anyone in your life? Your mother tells my mother that she worries about you."

Saria listened blissfully to Caden's description of his wife. "She really must be the perfect wife from what you're telling me!" Saria smirken, but then shook her head.
"Well... I'm afraid that nobody really yet has gained any interest in the old man, so here I am. Doing stuff for the science department... Oh, and don't worry about my mother. She just likes to be a grandmother one day, and I'm the oldest child..."

Aldrex threw his hands up. "Oh, you don't have to explain Aunt Bryna to me. She's the same as my own mother." Inwardly he made a mental note to be on the lookout for any decent fellows to introduce to his cousin. Surely there had to be plenty on a station this size. "Anything else of interest going on in your life?"

Saria looked up. "Well, uhm..." she cleared her throat. "I-I think you might've heard... from the Captain... about the... uhm..." she paused again. It was needless to keep it secret. Ofcourse Aldrex would know, as the XO.
"...about the whole case with Anaia Rex, right? And my connection?" It wasn't pleasant to talk about, but almost all of the senior officers aboard the station would already know by now. Rumors spread fast.

"Not that it's interesting... I mean, not that it's something very pleasant. But it's kept me quite captivated, y'know? I need to advise the Captain, Security, and Intelligence what to do, and all that." She added quickly.

Aldrex looked at her quizzically. "No, I hadn't heard anything about that. What's going on? Is Rex alright?"

Saria clasped her hands together, and sighed. This would be a long story to tell Caden.
"Well... there is something I haven't told you before, Caden." She spoke. "Anaia Rex was... my third-last host. Up until recently, myself and some Starfleet personnel only knew about Rex' involvement with Anaia Rex. Till Lieutenant Trellis accessed the file, and was determined to capture her."

"Before that, I lost control of Rex multiple times. I thought it would be a disease that only affected Rex' species, but I went to Trill and it seemed that something was ripped from Rex' memory violently. And it weren't even Anaia's memories... but I'm okay now, Rex is okay now. We were patched up by the Symbiosis Commission and the Guardians of Mak'ala."

Aldrex was taken aback. Though Saria was family it had been many years since he had been in the same room with her. This was the first he was hearing of this whole situation. "Are you in any trouble? What's going to happen?"

"Not for now" Saria replied. "Captain's asked me to join the taskforce that wants to capture Anaia, since she and I share the same symbiont and so I would know her 'personally'. Though, I have no idea if Starfleet has any business with me after we get Anaia." Saria replied. "Right now, I'm still just performing my duties aboard the station. No necessary precautions have been taken for me." She paused. "...though, I suspect that Lieutenant Trellis is not too keen with that idea."

The XO nodded soberly. "I had no idea. I'm sorry. I can't believe anyone would think that 'precautions' need to be taken with you." He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "If you need my help with anything, then you know I'm always on your side, right?" His tone was earnest.

Saria smiled and nodded. "I know." She replied, reaching for her cousin's hand. "The same goes for you, Caden. Through thick and thin, I'll support you." Though Saria and Caden did not see each other face to face a lot in the recent years, their promises from before their time in service were still standing. Loyalty was an important thing in the Merida and Telamon families, and both swore to be there for each other. No different from those of Saria and Aldrex.

[OFF]

Lt. Cmdr. Caden Aldrex
Executive Officer

&

Lieutenant Saria Rex
Chief of Science

 

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