Of Trills and Symbionts: Part 2

Posted on Thu Jan 22, 2015 @ 4:05am by Lieutenant Saria Rex & Captain Maritza Soran

1,504 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: The Promenade, Deep Space 5

OLD:

Maritza looked up, surprised to be interrupted. She turned the padd she was reading over. Confidential reports that should not be casually accessed by being red upside down. "What can I do for you Lieutenant?"

"Not much, actually..." she sighed. "I spotted you sitting here at this -fairly- new restaurant, if I'm not mistaken. I was actually walking back to my quarters from the antiquarian as I bought this... uhm, piece of ceramic!" Saria joyfully took the stump and primitive ceramic figuring from under her arm and almost shoved it in her face. "It's a Kurlan naiskos from Kurl... you know, the planet that the Trill once colonized but was never heard of again?" She slowly retracted it back to her abdomen.

There was a long deliberate silence. "How is the science division, Lieutenant?"


NEW:

Saria was startled by the sudden change of subject. "Oooh, yeah... the Science department. It's performing within parameters, you could say. Our lead Astronomer discovered a graviton ellipse not too long ago... but it's on a safe distance, so no need to worry!" Saria said with a confident face.

"However, Lieutenant" she suddendly said. "there is something I might require your opinion of..." she said. "Would you mind if I sat here for a moment?" Saria pointed to the chair on the other side of the table.

It was obvious she wasn't going to get rid of the eager trill anytime soon. "Is this a starfleet matter or a personal one?"

"It think it is a bit of both" Saria replied, with a more serious attitude.

Soran pushed a chair out with her foot. "Okay, lets hear it?"

Saria sat down on the chair, and placed the ceramic on the table. She cleared her throat. "So, from what I've taken from the talk with the captain, you know who Anaia Rex was, and that she is connected to me... in a memory-like way. Personally, talking about her or someone else explaining who she was is some kind of... walk of shame for me. No offense taken though, the captain asked you." She looked up into Maritza's eyes now.

"...what do you think of Lieutenant Trellis' plan to take such a dangerous person like Veronica Sterling aboard...? You don't have to answer, really, but I need some second opinion on it. And with both you and me being Trills alike, I feel alot easier asking it..."

"Is it Lieutenant Trellis' plan?" Maritza asked. From his record, she doubted Trellis was the source of this scheme.

"Well, sort of. He proposed it, but the captain later altered it with the different department aboard." Saria said. "It actually came into motion after Admiral DeRose, one of Anaia's former crew, and Primar Parmell of the Trill Protectorate, approved of his course of action."

That explained a lot. "And why do you need a second opinion so much?"

Saria sighed. "...well, for all we know she is actually a dangerous person and that could be a great risk to the lives of people. And I can't forgive myself if something like that happens... I'm scared that others will be hurt." She inhaled. "I know that Lieutenant Trellis is thought it out very carefully with the captain, but if feels so... unsure..."

Maritza stirred her drink and put the spoon in the saucer. "Anaia was your third to last host?"

"Yeah, she was." Saria replied.

"So Rex has had two more hosts since then? Have they not tried to bring her in?"

Saria shook her head. "My second last host, Taya, was not in Starfleet. She was married to Gul Tekor Madra, the last prefect of Free Haven when it was still in hands of the Cardassian. She died in a shuttle accident before she could even learn about Anaia's whereabouts." She scratched her head.
"My last host, Ouban, served for the Trill Protectorate and didn't want anything to do with Anaia. He contracted a disease which exhausted him both physically and mentally, forcing him to un-join to recover."

"So whats changed? WHy now?"

"I feel as if my last hosts threw away their opportunity to catch Anaia while she was still out there. She's been haunting my memory for the past months, and it just doesn't feel right to have a dangerous person such as herself still wandered freely around, doing as she wish."

"it doesnt put your previous hosts in a good light. They are witnesses to a crime, and failed to comeforward." Maritza sipped her drink. "You are aware of a condition called pseudo-psychopathy?"

"Yes" Saria replied. "What about it?"

"Your description of head trauma followed sudden and violent change in personality is the typical description of the condition. It sounds like Anaia was seriously ill when she committed those acts. And because of the embarrassment of your symbiote, a woman who needs serious medical attention has gone without it for forty years. NO-one, not three hosts, have said anything, despite carting the primary witness around in their intestines."

Saria raised her eyebrow. "Well, that's a way to put it... carting" she chuckled. "But perhaps you got a point there. But I wouldn't blame it on a lack of emotion. Because I can tell you for sure, my last hosts did feel the burder they carried. They only couldn't get it out there because... what would they tell? "Yes, I'm a joined Trill but my past host committed a crime. Starfleet knows of her but doesn't get anywhere with it. Will that cause my symbiont to be removed?""

"Who would they tell? Lieutenant?" Martiza couldn't believe the naivety of the statement. "The Tau Volantis massacre was, is, one of the biggest crimes in federation history, not to mention Trill. Maybe they should have told anyone, someone. The justice department? The symbiosis committee? JAG?" SHe couldn't keep the disgust from her voice, or the scorn from her face as she looked Rex up and down.. "And symbiosis candidates are supposed to be the best of us. AS far as I can see it turns you from decent people into selfish pricks."

Saria bit her lip. "What the hell did you just say!?" Did you just call me a coward?" Taya, her second former host, spoke to her in her head. "Do you really think I didn't do anything to get people to know about her? I wanted to catch her, even more badly than you would right now!"

"Lieutenant Soran" Saria spoke, while she turned to Maritza. "What is it, that you hate so much about joined Trills?" She cleared her throat. "Because they are regarded higher in Trill society and look down upon the unjoined as unworthy? Or because they seem not to care about serious things, like what happened on Tau Volantis? Tell me, I wish to know. I wish to know why you think every joined Trill thinks that way."

"The correct form of address is Commander Soran, Lieutenant Rex." Maritza gave Rex a very pointed look, an unspoken warning that she was addressing a senior officer. "Now, at not point did I say that the joined did not care about Tau Volantis. I am saying you don't care. Not really. What you have just said to me is you are embarrased, and have been too embarrassed for over forty years, to do the right thing. You don't care about my opinion on the Captain's plan, you just came to have your ruffled conscience salved because you are only now trying to do the right thing and bring a war criminal to trial. Too worried about the symbiont, too worried about losing it."

Martiza gave Rex another look of pity, "I also note that you immediately went for a personal attack, rather than discuss the point I made about available avenues of informing the authorities of your evidence. So unless you wish to be up on charges of insubordination, I would think very carefully about what you say and do next. You are dismissed, Lieutenant."

Saria looked up. "Very well" she said calmly, and pushed herself backward to stand up. She grabbed the figurine from the table she shared with Maritza, and put it under her.
"...I'll see you around, sir. Enjoy your drink." She said, turning around, and leaving the scene without looking back. She made a quick dart around the corner she originally was about to take.

"WHAT the hell was that, Taya? Speaking you mind in front of a superior officer." Saria thought.

"She earnt it, that fricking lunatic. I know more of her kind, and they're all the same. They absolutely hate joined Trills or symbionts because they wanted to be moral crusaders in our society. They only believe that having all Trills unjoined is the right thing." Taya replied in her head.

"Just shut it next time, will you?"

::OFF::

Lt Cmdr Martiza Soran
Chief of Strategic Ops
DS5
NPC by Notty

&

Lieutenant
Saria Rex
Chief of Science

 

RSS Feed