Erasing Old Yellow Stains

Posted on Saturday, 24 June 2023 - 4:39pm by Commander Soral & Commander DeVala Victrix Ph.D

Mission: Operation: Lobes & Liberties
Location: Guest Quarters | USS Standing Bear-A
Timeline: 2396

ON:

Soral finished buttoning the last button on his uniform and headed out of his quarters. It wouldn't take long to get to the quarters that were occupied by a woman who'd left an impression on him in both verses. He walked in silence when both his halves seemed to converse within his head, a thing he head yet to get used to. He'd thought that the transition would be seamless yet he could still converse with his counterpart. It was odd and comforting at once. In this inner conversation he found that he had been learning much about himself in weird way.

Before he could think on it farther he reached the door he was looking for and then rang the chime. He stood stone still waiting, waiting to see if she would answer. He knew she was there, the computer had told him so.

DeVala Victrix was not sure who to expect when the chime rang out in the quarters she was staying in for the time being. She had a lot history with nearly all the senior staff aboard this Standing Bear even if it wasn't the Merian class one she had commanded in her search for then Commander Stillwater. Some faces were old and familiar while others were new. Some were the same faces she remembered, but so much had happened from there to now that there was more behind their eyes. This crew had been a family, and they had been through a lot. More than three different Commanding Officers and a ship change.

It was Commander Soral, the First Officer at her door. She was taken aback to see him standing there, but a smile came across immediately. "Do we hug yet or have we not gotten to that point?" she said to him with a Vulcan brow raising. "It's been a while, Soral" she said politely. "Too long even" added Victrix.

"If you wish to hug i am...not opposed to it," He said honestly.

Victrix smiled and wrapped her arms around the man's waist. "Well then," she said embracing him. "Not so bad is it?" offered the woman. "How have you been, Soral? It's been far too long."

He hugged her back, the side of him from the Mirror verse was quite comfortable with this and thus, so was he. "I have, as humans say, been through the ringer."

"I can relate," she replied. "I guess it goes without saying that you don't climb up the ranks of Starfleet and pass the Commander's examination without finding yourself being put through the ringer more than once in a while" added Victrix. "We lost a lot ships recently, a lot of good people in the southern frontier."

"Indeed but I have no doubt that you will strive for and reach the presidency of the Federation. You have ambition but also strength of character."

Victirx headed over towards the replicator. "There's a Human saying about a pot calling a kettle black, Soral" she stated. "I feel that is an appropriate analogy here. You have a strength of character that I feel very few could ever match."

"Somehow I do not see it at least i didn't until recently but...I'm not sure if you were briefed on the mirror verse happenings."

She shook her head as she ordered herself a beverage. "I am afraid not. I don't have my finger on the pulse of everything especially operating on the southern frontier. You don't really get much when you are just the First Officer of a station" she explained. "Though anytime someone brings up mirror universes or parallel universes, alternate dimensions, or whatever the case may be, I brace myself for some real tough stuff."

"Well to make a long and somewhat traumatic story short my Mirror self lost his wife, Mirror Alexandra and came looking for her here. In the end he took her, we got her back but there was a cost. Both Hamura and I have merged our Katra's with our Mirror selves and are now two in one and Alex...has been traumatized by the entire experience. Short of it is I agreed to the merging because I... admired my Mirror counterpart."

Victrix sipped the beverage as she listened carefully to the details of the recounting. "Soral, that is a lot to unpack. The way I see a mirror universe or really any universe where you still exist, it's a variation, a version of yourself. I can understand the admiration you may have had for that Soral, just as I probably would for a version of myself. We get to see something different, how we could have been if some different choices were made. Now that you've merged Katras, that Soral is very much a part of you. In a way, I imagine its similar to how being a joined Trill is like."

"Indeed. More so then I thought. He is there, I can have conversations with him, distinguish his thoughts from mine. Where I lack he seems to provide. It is unusual and...it was advised against by Vulcan healers yet I felt it the one place I had shown ambition. To be more then I am here."

"And has this... blending changed where you see yourself, Commander? I know when we worked together, you were focused on being the best First Officer that you could be, to 'right wrongs' and hopefully gain a command of your own one day."

Those were my hopes at the time but I find that they have...evaporated." He stopped and looked at Victrix. "I...have different ambitions and that is in part why I cam to see you. In this Verse and the other I valued your advice."

"The space hippie from Risa," she countered teasingly. "Or the fact that I know my way around paperwork and how to utilize loopholes" added Victrix. "You know that I am always open to helping, to listening. What is on your mind?"

"I...do not think that Starfleet is for me anymore. I find my mind keeps going to Romulus and the people that Starfleet and the Federation could have helped but did not. I... cannot get past that point. I exist in those moments. When I tried to uphold the ideals of the Federation I was court martialed for helping them. I ... have been thinking of resigning my commission."


"This may be your last mission then, one last rodeo? And how convenient that both Captain Stillwater and I will be here along for the ride."

"I hadn't decided on leaving...until now actually. But I want to rebuild Romulus, My grandfather is still a senator on New Romulus and I think that I take up his offer of joining them." He studied her. "How do you do it? How do you do what's right for everyone? How do you balance diplomacy and politics. I fear I may not be up to the task."

"You know that answer," she shot back at him. "What did Spock always say?"

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one or the few.” He sighed. “You do not have some hidden counseling degree that I did not know of do you?”

She flashed a smile. "I was always good at social sciences and reading people. Not exactly counseling, but it does come in handy."

He smiled a little and paused. "Do you think me a fool for wanting this?"

"Why would anyone think you a fool?" Countered Victrix. "It would be more foolish if you were to stay in Starfleet with your heart being pulled elsewhere."

He sighed. "I am sorry I have bothered you with all this. I really came here to see how you were and here I am talking about myself." He studied her. "I also came to apologize to you about how I acted that night of the talent show. I guess I came to clean up an old yellow stain." He raised an eyebrow in hopes that she found his pun funny.

Victrix smiled. "You are very Vulcan, Soral. Perhaps not as entirely Vulcan as some others, but that has always been what I liked about you. You are your own person and I don't think there are any yellow stains to clean up, not between us" she explained with a small chuckle. "It was dumb of me to make such a joke like that but I had a bit too much to drink and I was nervous around all the crew. So, I hope after all this time we can restore the friendship and admiration for one another that we had begun."

"On my side consider it done,” he said. He leaned back in his seat. "Do you realize that our friendship is something that could be of great importance if we were to ever sit at a debate table." He sighed. "I have taken up a lot of your time. I am...glad that you are back aboard."

Victrix smiled. "You have plenty of time. You are hardly what I'd consider an old man," teased the woman. "Besides, after everyone is done saving the Ferengi Alliance and hopefully stabilizing relations with the Lurians, we could catch up some more?"

“I would very much like that.” He stood. “Well, I should go then.” After a few more goodbyes he headed out. He felt some sort of peace about leaving the ship and he was looking forward to a new chapters.

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