USS Sojourner; Ready Room – Deck 1

Kirin sat in her ready room on the sofa, utterly exhausted from the last few days. She ran a hand through her already messy hair and sighed. Tucking her legs up onto the sofa before her and took a sip of her cup of tea and looked out the viewport at the swirling clouds of the gas giant’s upper atmosphere. After two days of sitting here, she was getting a little sick of the view, and she knew the crew were as well.

A moment later the door chimed and without turning she said. “Enter.” A second later she continued, “So, what’s our status?” she asked without looking away from the view.

Thanen stood by the door, his hair askew and his uniform dishevelled. “Warp drive will be back online in two hours and we have full power to our impulse engines again. The hit to the port nacelle was more severe than we initially thought and blew out a number of secondary systems. It is pure luck that we didn’t lose power completely leaving us adrift before we got there.”

Kirin nodded and turned to look at Thanen. “Would you please sit Thanen and get yourself a drink? You and the engineering team have outdone yourself the last two days.”

“Thanks for the offer Kirin but I need to get back and ensure the warp drive comes back online without an issue then I think I am going to go hit the shower and sleep,” Thanen said. “I just wanted to come by and give you the update in person. I know you have been working on the weapons and shields.”

“Yeah, we Ril and I got them back online and everything will be at full power once the core is up and running. We think we have figured out a frequency for the phasers that will damage the entity but even so we cannot face it alone. Once the drive is up I am taking us back to the Markonian Outpost for additional repairs. Lieutenant Sanin has been holding the Wavecrest outside the system and has confirmed that the entity has not returned so we should be able to leave and pick up your wayward engineering team and assistant. Our maps from the Turei Alliance show that there is an entrance to the Underspace network about ten light years from here towards the mutara-type nebula we detected on our way here. I plan on taking us through the network and getting in contact with the fleet. Maybe, someone, there has some ideas.”

Thanen thought for a moment, his pale blue antenna shifting slightly, “I think that is the right call. We are not a warship and we shouldn’t act rashly. The endeavour here in the delta quadrant has been costly. Several ships have gone missing, including the Ulysses, it is a dangerous part of space for sure.”

“I am glad I have your support on this Thanen, let me know when the warp drive is back on.”

Thanen nodded in acknowledgement and smiled, “As always Captain.” With that, he turned and left the room leaving Kirin alone with her thoughts as she turned back to face the swirling blue and purple maelstrom outside the ship. 

Kirin sat there for a while lost in thought and planning before she stood up and was about to leave when her door chimed again. She opened the door and found Ensign Tycon standing there looking very nervous and a bit upset.

“Dese? What can I do for you?” Kirin asked as she stepped back from the door and waved her in.

“Captain,” Dese said as she stepped into the room, “Do you have a minute?”

Kirin nodded and returned to the sofa and sat down across from Dese and waited for her to speak. After a moment or so when Dese was clearly organizing her thought she spoke. “Captain, I wanted to apologize for my behaviour along with that of Ined’s, um, Ensign Bruco’s the other day in the lounge. I…I didn’t know that exposure would affect me like that. I have never had to worry about that aspect of Orion physiology, I know not every woman has, ah, that ability and I was happy I didn’t.  I had wanted to check if he was ok we went for a coffee and well….” she said trailing off.

Kirin could understand exactly how she felt. Unlike Dese she had been dealing with this her whole life. She smiled and offered Dese a small Risian chocolate from the bowl on the table before she spoke, “You have no need to apologize. As you said you had no way of knowing. It hit me as well though, unlike yourself, I have lived with that ability as you say since I was a young girl and have an implant which helps regulate it. Even with that though my adrenaline went through the room and I wasn’t thinking straight.” She paused for a moment and considered what she would say next before continuing as Dese looked at her. “The doctor mentioned to me not long ago that you responded well to the suppressants but the stimulation by the blood dilithium has left a permanent change. How do you feel about that?”

Dese looked away from Kirin, her eyes slightly glistening with tears, “I am not sure, which is why I wanted to talk to you. Nurse Joy and the doctor thought you might be able to provide some insight. I just don’t want to have to worry about who I am around, or will my presence cause issues and negatively affect my job.” Her voice then took on a bit of an angry tone, “I don’t want to be seen as one of those stereotypical Orion women we see in all those holo novels where she has men control through her pheromones. I get that enough with the skin colour.”

A sad expression crossed Kirin’s face, she knew all too well how Dese was feeling. The federation was much better than many places but she had more run-ins with that image of Orions, not to mention her Risian heritage, for a hundred lifetimes. “I know exactly how you feel. I have been there, gotten into fights about it, and knocked out a senior officer when I wasn’t much older than you are now Dese. There are ways of managing it, the suppressant that the doctor has given you but if you forget to take it then you will be back to square one. I would recommend that you speak to the doctor about getting teh same implant I have. It isn’t perfect but thanks to a run-in we had with Dr Helen Saint-Claire back on the Daradax the implant she provide me is much better. The doctor has it on file and I am sure he could fit you with one. Honestly, I don’t think you will even notice a difference from before and you can deactivate it if need…”

Dese looked at Kirin and wiped her eyes on her sleeve and nodded. “Ok, that makes me feel a bit better. I will speak to the doctor about it,” she started to rise from the sofa but stopped and looked back at Kirin, “Captain, did you really knock out a senior officer?”

Kirin laughed and nodded. “Yes but that is a story for another day Dese. Go get some rest and if you ever need to chat about anything, especially this stuff, my door is always open.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Dese said and quickly left the room.

Kirin sighed and glanced at the time, ‘It’s been a bit over two hours since I spoke to Thanen…’ she thought and stepped onto the bridge. 

Checking one of the engineering consoles she confirmed the warp drive was still offline but cycling up. Before she could message the engineering team her combadge activated and Thanen’s voice came through. “Captain, we are activating the core now. You will have warp drive in the next few minutes.”

“Thank you Thanen, go get some rest once it is online.”

Kirin turned to Belania who was the next highest ranking officer on the bridge, “Belania, once we have warp set a course to the Underspace network I sent you earlier after we rendezvous with the Wavecrest. I am going to get some rest, the Bridge is yours.”