Ground, Pack, and Quarry
Posted on Tue 27th Jul, 2021 @ 7:07am by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD & Voareth Darqaron
1,516 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Waging Peace
Location: Brown Sector?
Timeline: MD-4, 1800 hours
Voareth was well satisfied that she had no concerns with letting her guard down whilst aboard this station. In fact, she purposefully let her guard down in full public view so as to blend in more and to possibly fool any onlookers into mistaking her as easy prey to rob and whatnot.
She stepped about the corridors, looking at her new PADD, perusing the layout of the station, at least what the public were allowed to view. She moved to the sensor data of her ship, watching as Crewman Emmie Walker moved about and performed her work.
The display was complete with the name of her ship, ‘Vedek’ displayed in large bold lettering at the top of the screen. Entering an intersection of corridors, where there was also a meeting of several turbolifts, Voareth continued to step about without much care. She bumped into someone, which she took as a perfect opportunity to drop her PADD, adding to the pretense of carelessness.
“I am so sorry sir,” she took a step back. “I can be so clumsy at times.”
The person she'd bumped into was a tall, thin anthropoid male with graying hair, deeply-set brown eyes that seemed to regard the world from a permanent squint, and ridges on his nose. His face was scarred, and so were his hands. An ear cuff consisting of a single chain and a spherical, amber-colored stone pendant hung from his right ear; he wore no other jewelry. His tunic, thigh-length jacket, and trousers were all in shades of brown and rust that meshed well with the color scheme people wore on this deck but did not look as threadbare as much of the clothing she had seen the inhabitants wearing.
Voareth quickly noticed and likewise made mental notes of the single bit of jewelry hanging from his ear as well as the nose ridges; something to research later. His attire made him appear to blend in with the population, but not quite. It was as if he was not like most of the civilian population, but wanted to make it appear as such.
"That's all right, miss." He crouched to retrieve Voareth's PADD, his eyebrows lifting slightly as he glanced at the screen and returned it to her. "I hope it's not broken, but you seem to have it in a pretty sturdy case."
“I paid a little extra for it,” she gave a somewhat embarrassed smile as she retrieved the PADD. “Twenty hirens. Though,” and while brushing a lock of hair over her shoulder and looking around shyly, “I am uncertain what that equates to here aboard your station.”
"I have no idea," the man said. "You're new here? I don't think I've ever seen you before, and I'm familiar with a lot of the people in Brown Sector."
Him being familiar with a lot of people was music to her ears. Voareth could certainly use him from time to time to acquire information.
“I am very new here,” she said immediately. “Only arrived a day or so ago. From very far away. My ship,” she looked at Vedek’s schematic displayed on her PADD, “is in need to repair. I am afraid I will be a resident here,” she smiled, “until the work is done.”
Dhuro Lanis looked at the ship on the PADD Screen that the woman indicated. "Well, that's interesting. From its name, I had thought you travelled here on a Bajoran ship, but your ship's design is entirely unfamiliar to me. What does 'Vedek' mean in terms of your ship's name?"
“It is a Hirogen ship.” Voareth thought to be honest and open about it. This was not something she intended to keep secret anyway and, with the amount of public around, if anyone was looking to gain some kind of advantage over her, they would already think her to be overly trusting. “That is where I am from; Hirogen Space. Well, spent the majority of my years at least. ‘Vedek’ is the Hirogen god of death. He is also the lord of the hunt.” Voareth followed as the man stepped slowly away, making way for more foot traffic through the area. She pondered his question and wondered if he had any prior knowledge. She had to ask, “Have you heard name before?”
"The god of death, eh?" Lanis laughed. "In my language, 'Vedek' is the name for the second-highest rank of priests in our religion. I'm going to be highly amused now, if I'm ever introduced to one of them." He glanced at Voareth curiously. "I remember reading about the Hirogen in an old medical journal article or two. They have intricately ridged skin and no hair. The males are taller and stronger than most humanoids, and they're resistant to most diseases and to anesthetics, correct?"
Voar stepped along beside the man. “I have not read any medical journals, but I have cared for an elderly Hirogen. I would say your information is accurate. We are a proud race,” she said as though feeling more than a strong kinship with them. “We do not always surrender ourselves to tests and observation. In my travels, however, I have found that to be needed from time to time. I recently met with a Dr. Khellian aboard this station to scan my body for any foreign microbes that could adversely affect the population here. Likewise to see if I could be adversely affected by anything already here.” She cutely spun once and smiled at him. “All seems well thus far.”
He would have to read up on the Hirogen people, Lanis thought. This young woman was clearly not of that race, and if she knew of them so deeply as to consider herself one of them, she indeed couldn't possibly be from around here. "Hirogen space is half the galaxy away from here, isn't it? That's quite a long way to travel."
And yet she had traveled from there to here, presumably in the Vedek, herself. Not human, then, Lanis decided, despite appearances.
“Part of the reason I am here,” she began, “is because Vedek has not seen much professional engineering attention in a long time. I have kept him together, but, alas my engineering skills are not exemplary. I put a work order in with your station. Someone is looking at him as we speak.” She looked back at her PADD and at the sensor readings, showing where Emmie was and what she was doing. “Besides,” she lowered her PADD and leaned toward the man beside her, lowering her voice to a whisper, “I am told that I am a bit older than I appear.” She resumed walking beside him. “But don’t tell anyone,” she added.
Before he could ask anything else, “And you, sir, what brings you here? What do you do?”
"I'm guessing you're El-Aurian by birth," Lanis said. "I'm a trauma surgeon here on the base, and I teach the skill to others. Aside from that, I push a lot of paper, do my best to tease the Chief Medical Officer at least once a day, and spend much of my free time down here, where there's a large Bajoran population. You made an excellent choice in Dr. s'Siedhri. He'll take good care of you."
Although he had guessed correctly, Voareth left him to continue guessing. She had grown to have a distaste for the term ‘El-Aurian’ despite her intentions against the criminals for their deed against them. She was Hirogen. And she was proud of it.
“Dr. s’Siedhri,” she repeated and annunciated. “So that is how it is pronounced. Afraid of offending him, I called him Dr. Khellian until I was sure.” She spoke the name a few more times until it rolled off her tongue naturally. “So, medical you say? And a teacher? If I keep up my clumsiness, looks like I will have no shortage of experts to turn to should I get injured,” she said with a laugh. “I’m sorry, I did not catch you name, Mr…”
"My apologies. I'm Dr. Dhuro Lanis--Dhuro being my surname. You have an excellent ear. Most people consider Romulan names awful tongue-twisters." He smiled at her. "I had to spend an entire evening practicing with the universal translator before I could get it right."
“Being well travelled, hearing a name once is usually all I need. Except for the inhabitants of Kluflelglahlug. With slit tongues, they can make sounds we cannot.” She looked to Dhuro. “Reth,” was the name she chose to give him and, before he could grow curious over the existence of a family name, she followed that up with, “Qaron. I will answer to either. Well met, Dr. Lanis.”
"Well met, Miss Qaron. I hope we meet again. You intrigue me," Lanis said. He gave her a slight bow. "If we become better acquainted, I'd enjoy taking you out to dinner sometime. I suspect you have many fascinating stories to tell."
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