Lt Commander Alieth - We will walk the desert fire

[LuxaLorana]

@Alieth the depth in which you write a Vulcan is always impressive but I love love love everything about the lore, the detail and the history in this sim. 

 

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[[Chief Science Officer's Office, Deck 10, USS Ronin ]]

 

Once again, the petite CSO turned one of the tiny crystals she had in the Petri dish and looked at it closely. So far, they were the most perfect she had been able to achieve, using her knowledge of chemistry and the ideas of the medical department. Still, it did not have the same properties as the natural material. Aye, it was radioactive. It was also poisonous and caused hallucinations. But the highly energetic qualities it possessed were attenuated, a distorted reflection of what they should be. So Alieth had spent the last few hours introducing tiny contaminants into each of the crystals, traces of other compounds, minute alterations in the structure, detached atoms... tiny details that would eventually turn it into what he wanted it to be: food for Tetra. An artificial substitute that would allow it to continue growing and living a little longer.

 

Just a little bit longer to guarantee that she was no longer dependent on that substance.

 

At the moment, her success in that facet was being rather nil, and she had dedicated practically all the hours she had available to modify one by one each of the crystals that the Tholian hatchling required.

How many hours she had been doing this. Forty-eight? Seventy-two? She wasn't quite certain. The shifts in the outside lab were the only thing that marked the passage of time, as well as the short breaks she took to deliver the crystals, or feed herself. She had made many more trips for the former purpose than for the latter, certainly.

 

For a moment, she leaned back, let the spectacles she wore drip almost to the tip of her nose and rubbed her eyes, sore from long hours concentrating on something so tiny.

She needed a break.

Nearly as if the thought had summoned it, the chirp that signalled that someone was waiting at her door made itself heard. She pushed her glasses back into position, rose from her chair, and tugged the edge of her uniform to stretch out any invisible wrinkles she might possess.

In other circumstances, she would surely have hidden the spectacles in the hidden pocket of her sleeve, for fa-thakau-nosh¹ was an affliction of which she was ashamed, but she was too tired for that. So much so that she hadn't even minded that someone had added a new plant to the growing collection of succulents that occupied one of the corners of her lab. Except that this time it was some kind of withered brown-leaved shrub.

 

Alieth: Enter

 

The door to the lab opened and, to her well restrained surprise, the one who entered was another Vulcan. Taller than she was (which, incidentally, wasn't exactly difficult), perhaps a decade older than her, he wore the blue of her department, with a single gold pip trimming the collar of his uniform. Her tired brain regarded him as aesthetically pleasing, by the standards of their people, with neatly cropped hair cut shorter than usual, slightly tanned skin and dark aquiline eyes.

Someone who, of course, would have caught her attention if she had met him before, which was not the case. Certainly the Ronin wasn't a ship that had many Vulcans in its roster, and she appreciated the presence of one who, in all likelihood, was also a follower of Surak.

Finally, and considering that she did not know him, she concluded her ocular inspection and in good Vulcan custom, she stated the obvious.

 

Alieth: I reckon we have not had the opportunity to meet before, ensign.

 

 

Kawarda: ::offering the traditional Vulcan greeting gesture, but foregoing the words:: Commander, I apologize for my tardiness. I am Ensign Kahwa-ra-de, called Kawarda by most non-Vulcans.

 

She offered a subtle nod, as she interpreted in her new subordinate's words the same struggles she had experienced in attempting to get aliens unfamiliar with their language to articulate the complex nuances of Vulcan names. He, like her, favoured an adapted name, which saved them from hearing assaults on their names pronunciations. For her part, she had been called by enough variations of "uncle" to avoid trying it on most occasions.

Finally, she raised her own hand in a ta'al¹ that was almost an identical reflection of his.

 

Alieth: Al’rig-pseth. ³ I would value the use of the Vuhlkansu⁴ version of my name.

 

It had been months since she had heard her own name as it was bestowed upon her. Since she rejoined the Fleet. She let it roll in her mouth, dragging out the r's and s's, as was usual in Xial's accent.

 

When she spoke once again, some of the cadence lingered in her voice, adding a particular tempo that slowly faded as she returned to Federation Standard.

 

Alieth: I presume you have joined the crew during the evacuation?

 

The first part of the ill-fated mission on Grus Beta 3 she had performed on the surface, so she had been unaware of the latest crew additions. To her discredit, she had to admit that subsequently she had been too absorbed in the Tholians on board and trying to make sense of the processes they had observed in the atmosphere and on the surface of GB3 to take the time to study the changes in the roster.

 

Kawarda: Indeed. The mission became the clear priority. If I misjudged the situation, I shall receive any sanction you deem appropriate, of course.

 

Alieth: Sanctions will not be required, I encourage a crew that prioritizes time-sensitive conditions over protocol.

 

Had the opposite been the case, she would never have left the VSA. Not even with the circumstances that prompted her to put as much space as possible between her and Chi-Ree, back in the day.

 

Kawarda: Response

 

As she carefully closed the sample dish and stepped away from Kawarda to deposit it in a small portable field containing radioactive and high-energy substances. Then her hands keyed nimbly on a side panel and the machine began to whirr grimly. She would need to wait 46.39982 minutes for the process to complete, so the unexpected visit would not delay her schedule.

 

Alieth: Now, wuh-lan⁵, what is your speciality?

 

As she posed the query, she went to the other end of the small laboratory, activated a Bunsen burner and adjusted it until the flame was the appropriate colour. Next, as she rummaged for the kettle, she realized what she was actually performing on automatic, poked her head from behind the door that concealed her and then asked

 

Alieth: tea? I have a blend of zhar-kur tei brought from Homeworld, if you are so inclined.

 

Kawarda: Response

 

She took out the appropriate number of cups, while the water slowly heated over the burner. She extracted them from an old-looking black box, which possessed a circle of delicate Vulcan calligraphy on the lid. The text in ancient Golic was executed by hand in gilt, as one would expect on something as valuable as the native wood of a desert world. The cups it contained were, in themselves, an objet d'art, small, of an earthy to black shade, handmade centuries before by the diminutive CSO's ancestors and passed down through generation after generation of her father's family. Some of them had been repaired on more than one occasion and small metal strands, of varying shades of gold and cooper, indicated the life the cups had had and the devotion that had been put into keeping them in the household.

 

Alieth: I see. :: She observed him for 2.45 seconds and finally let slip the question that had been stewing in her mind ever since he introduced himself:: Does your t'dahsular s'ka-yu-mur⁶ Ha-dahkuh also serve in the fleet?

 

It was reasonable to assume that the scientist had a brother, given his name. "Similar mind", a traditional name for a twin, just as it was traditional for the other to be called Ha-dahkuh, Haadok, meaning "Two-life".

 

Twins were unusual among their species and in some places, such as Chi-ree, they were considered auspicious. An illogical assumption, of course, coming from a time when survival of two neonates was almost near impossible in the harsh conditions of the Vulcan's Forge. Of course life in the Forge and Xial had changed a fair amount since that time, but the custom of how to name a pair of twins remained. After all, Vulcans relished the tradition, and Xial natives more than anyone else.

 

The fact that her ancestors had traditionally sacrificed one of the twins for the survival of the other before the Sundering also crossed her mind, but she pushed that notion aside quickly. Life then was especially arduous in the Womb of Fire. A harsh and violent land created harsh and violent people. Nevertheless, it was an excellent reminder of why Surak's teachings were so necessary. Especially for someone like her.

 

Kawarda: Response

 

[[Tag! TBC]]

 

OOC:

 

¹fa-thakau-nosh → Vuhlkansu, eyesight abnormality resulting from the eye's faulty refractive ability; distant objects appear blurred. It is of common genetic inheritance in the clans of the Womb of Fire and the Vulcan's Forge and develops gradually starting around the coming of age. It can be corrected with surgery, but not until it has reached its maximum development stage, or it reproduces again.

 

²ta'al → Vuhlkansu, the Vulcan hand-greeting/salute; also ta'a

 

³ Al’rig-pseth → Vulcan traditional name, translated to Federation standard as Alieth. It means “desert-branch”

 

⁴ Vuhlkansu→ Vulcan (person, language, etc.)

 

⁵ wuh-lan → Vuhlkansu, Ensign

 

⁶t'dahsular s'ka-yu-mur → Vuhlkansu, either of two identical twins

 

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Lieutenant Commander Alieth
Chief Science Officer & 2O

USS Ronin USS-34523
E239702A10 
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[+ Hiro Jones]

This really was an incredible post. I meant to post it here myself, but I haven't been on a computer since Friday. Lol

 

Masterfully crafted, @Alieth 😊