[BACKLOG] A Heart So White

Posted on Monday May 8th, 2023 @ 6:37am by Lieutenant Commander Michael Stevens & Commander Kanaka Shakura

1,674 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Recreational Lounge, Deck 04; U.S.S. Poseidon
Timeline: En-route to Starbase 129; Stardate 72144.4

Ever since she had taken on the role of Executive Officer, Kana hadn't had the chance to carry out what was often one of her favorite pastimes; sitting amongst a throng of people and just feeling. Sensing the mood, tone, and atmosphere of these self-contained galaxies and their interconnected webs of people, with their own planets of emotion and reason. It was like a Betazoid's version of people-watching, but instead of just plainly looking at a person and guessing at their lives based on just the fraction of information gained from their appearance, Kana could look deeper; still reading the surface, but noticing the smaller intricates of expression and tension that the untrained eye would miss. Of course, her nature as a Betazoid meant that she couldn't sometimes help but "sense" them too, but she tried not to rely on that too much. That felt more like an invasion than an exploration of these worlds, as she liked to imagine it.

However, the purpose of her coming here today meant that she had to go a little deeper. All the incidents that had been building up on the Poseidon as of late - at first banal, then suddenly all the more harmful in the case of Lieutenant Commander Perkins and his unfortunate injury - required that she had to start figuring out what was causing this to happen, and individual or group interference at this point couldn't be ruled out. There were two big obstacles in her way: the first is that there were far too many souls aboard the Poseidon to be able to whittle it down to exact culprits, even with all her abilities. The second was the reason why she hadn't partaken in her usual pass-time: being Executive Officer didn't afford many opportunities to just blend into the background very easily.

Despite these obstacles, she knew she had to start trying to make a dent in the problem before things got any worse. So she set about developing slight deviations to her routine; ones that wouldn't look too out of the ordinary and cause any fuss on the surface level. The occasional trip to the Arboretum here, a drop-in at the Officer's Mess here and there, and a quick pit-stop here at the Recreational Lounge. All these things were the sorts of things she had been aiming to do, anyway, so it wasn't disingenuous of her to say that she was looking out for the welfare of the crew. In each of these stops, however, she was gauging that mood. Looking for any slight deviation or depression; if individuals were behind what was happening, she wondered, they had to be carrying some form of a chip on their shoulder. Even if it wasn't necessarily against who they had hurt.

So, as she settled in by one of the large viewports of the Lounge with a cup of Earl Grey and her PADDs, Kana cast out her net to see what hearts she might catch drifting out in this wide and buzzing nebulae of people, their hopes, dreams and problems all intermingled.

Michael had just left the meeting with the Staff Sergeant and Chief Hirsch on whatever they could get done quickly after the event with Lieutenant Commander Perkins and what if any information had been gathered so far, although he needed something to eat and had decided to to the rec room and relax although still wearing the earplugs.

as he entered the room and scanned the room he noticed Poseidon's Executive Officer and walked over to the table and came to a halt.

He said, "Sir, May I join you?"

Kana had watched the Chief Operations Officer enter the Lounge. As he approached, she noticed his wearing of earplugs and made a mental note of it as he then asked if he could join her. Smiling, she gestured politely to the seat across from her. "Lieutenant Stevens, please, do sit down. I trust everything is going well?"

This was actually one of the first times that she properly had a chance to have a conversation with the young officer, having only crossed their path in Senior Officer briefings before. He seemed pleasant enough and more than capable for the role despite his young age, but she realized that she knew very little about him. His record didn't say much beyond commending his hard work ethic. Apart from that, he was known to be fairly withdrawn at times. She was aware he had lost his parents while he was in the Academy, so it wasn't a hard leap to imagine that was potentially the reason.

"as well as expected sir," replied Michael continued, "Stores are running well and are expected to be ready before the next mission, although some requisitions have not been fulfilled as yet due to base stores sending our stuff to other ships," as he remembered the arguments with the base stores manager recently.

"Yes...I've just been reading the report. Less than ideal, for sure, in light of what we're being expected to prepare for." She said with a slight grimace etched across her face, her PADDs which she was reviewing laying across her lap. She took a sip of her Earl Grey, before she added, "Still, I'm confident you and your department are doing the best job you can."

Immediately moving on to the most pertinent topic, "I trust there have been no other harmful malfunctions from the replicators following the incident with Lieutenant Commander Perkins?"

"No Sir, Not that I know of," replied Michael looking back at Poseidon's XO, "there is a personal matter I'd like to raise with you, Sir," as he heard the voice of his Imzadi in his head, he continued " Well, you know Lieutenant Commander Ky'lar De'Lenn?"

Kana could sense the slight nervousness in Michael, mixed with genuine warmth and delight. She could already tell where this conversation was likely headed, but she decided to play innocent to allow the Lieutenant a chance to express himself on his own terms. "Aye, I'm familiar with Lieutenant Commander De'Lenn. What about them?" She smiled.

"Well, she and I are bonded as she is my Imzadi and as a higher rank than I am we would like Permission to get married?" he stated looking back at the Ships XO.

Kana's smile grew ten times as large as the Lieutenant referred to De'Lenn as his imzadi, the Betazoid word for "beloved". It wasn't a dismissive smile; she was genuinely quite pleased to hear it. It had been a while since she had last heard it herself.

"I see." The Commander acknowledged. "Well, I suppose congratulations are in order. Indulge me, if you would; how did this come about? Have you and De'Lenn been bonding for long?" She didn't immediately answer his request for permission to be married, mostly because she was genuinely curious to hear more, but also the longer the conversation went on the easier it would be for her to empath with her wider surroundings unnoticed.

"Well, we sort of bumped into each other in the corridor a few months ago and I was going to come here for dinner," replied Michael looking back at his senior officer, "Instead I invited her to my quarters for dinner and one thing led to another," as he wiggled his eyebrows, he finished "and we woke up bonded together."

"I see." Kana smiled, getting the gist of what the Lieutenant was implying. "And I suppose this means you wish to request a Betazoid service aboard the ship, and this is why you came to me before going to the Captain?" She arched an eyebrow expectedly. It was a sensible approach on both Michael's and De'Lenn's part.

"Actually a bit of both, 1 half-human 1 half betazoid," replied Michael looking back at Poseidon's XO, He continued " I mean the guests have a choice if they want to go naked that's fine if not that is ok as well," as he knew giving them the choice was a good idea.

"Sensible. I wouldn't be surprised if most opt to go for some form of clothing, particularly considering how many of the ship's crew are quite young." Kana thought it best to be clear from the get-go that a wholly traditional Betazoid service was going to be out of the question, but she was glad that Michael and De'Lenn had already considered that.

"However, if it would make Lieutenant Commander De'Lenn more comfortable, we could officiate the actual union in a more traditional ceremony, though we would likely have to restrict that to a small group of friends. Traditionally, it'd be the Captain who helps officiate such nuptials, but I'm sure I can be on hand to assist with the technicalities."

"Yeah well, she wants a place with peace and tranquillity for the Ceremony" replied Micheal looking back at Poseidon's Xo as he knew that his wife wanted it to be special and a joyous occasion for all after what they had been through.

"But of course!" Kana responded enthusiastically. She did however feel in that moment a sudden pit in her stomach, as she sensed that her enthusiastic tone had been picked up by less than enthusiastic ears. "I know you're here somewhere...", she thought, knowing that the culprit responsible for all the recent sabotage was currently listening in.

"Well..." Kana carried on, her tone still enthusiastic, trying to give no signs of anything untoward. "May I suggest that you and De'Lenn come to meet me in my office this evening, and we can go over the particulars?"

"Yes Sir," replied Micheal he continued," I will get her when she is off shift," as he knew that she was busy with Engineering, and disturbing her whilst she had her head stuck under a console was not a good idea, but he also knew that is Imzadi would have picked up on it.

==================

Lt Cmdr Michael Stevens
Chief Operations
U.S.S. Poseidon

&

Cmdr Kanaka Shakura
(Then) Executive Officer & Chief Counsellor
U.S.S. Poseidon

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