Dinner

Posted on Sunday, 27 September 2020 - 9:55am by Lieutenant Talarn Zilth

Mission: Operation: Dreamweaver
Location: USS Standing Bear
Timeline: 2393 - Before all the excitment Started

{ON:}

Eyelaya had been wandering the ship since her shift ended a few hours ago. She decided that wandering perhaps wasn't the best thing and she hadn't had any dinner. Heading home, she showered, changed and then headed to the mess where she picked up her dinner and some dessert and tea and then she headed to the observation lounge to look out at the stars. She loved to watch as the ship traveled in warp.

Entering the dimly lit room she was surprised to see a figure standing there. It didn't take long to ID him as Talarn. "Good Evening," she said.

Talarn was a little startled, although he didn't outwardly show much of it, he turned his head quickly to see Eyelaya coming towards him. He smiled stiffly. "Greetings, Chief," he said with a hint of warmth in his voice. "Good to see you. I was..." He paused. "Staring..." The second statement was followed with a little snort, like he found what he had said to be slightly humorous.

"Nothing wrong with that. The stars can be calming." She smiled. "I can go, if you'd like to be alone."

He looked at her tray of food and then back at her face, his brow ridges furrowing. "Why?" Then he looked around the mostly empty room. "This isn't my room. If I wanted to be left alone I wouldn't have come here." He offered her a crooked smile.

She smiled a little. She felt a kinship with this man. Talarn seemed different. Perhaps a soul that had gone through some of the pain she had. "There is a big sandwich here. Want to share? I also have chocolate cake, an extra big piece."

The brow ridges stayed raised. "You would share your food with me?" He looked at her tray and then back at her face, yet again. "I could go to a replicator and get food. I don't want to eat your dinner." He smiled again, still stiffly. "I had to feed Barret earlier, so I've actually had dinner, but I do appreciate the offer. It does look like a delicious sandwich. Would you mind if I sat with you while you ate?" His eyes narrowed a little and his ridges dropped again. "I might, however, have to take you up on the chocolate cake."

"Of course I would share my food." She set the tray down on the table in the center. "There is plenty of food and I can't eat it all myself, so help would be appreciated. Especially with the monster size chocolate cake." She took a half of the sandwich and passed the other half to Talarn. "When you say 'had to feed' do you mean make dinner or the totally romantic feeding one another." She grinned.

Talarn sat and took the half of a sandwich from her, his eyes widening at her question. He snorted, staring at her, the light over his right eye blinking rapidly. When he had recovered from his initial surprise, he offered her a crooked grin. "Well... not that it's any of your business, but both. Does it surprise you?" She was a very interesting person to him, she hadn't asked any of the usual "So you used to be a Borg" questions and even though she had helped him replace his cortical node, she also hadn't asked him about the regeneration chamber his reliance on it required. It was curious to him that she hadn't.

"Nope. I think it's totally Romantic." She grinned. "I love romance. What can I say?" She paused to eat a little. "So how was shore leave?"

Talarn snorted. "Was there shore leave?" The snort was more humorous than sarcastic. He picked up his sandwich half and bit into it, chewing slowly at first and then nodding, smirking in pleasure at the taste. "This is good..." he said around food in his mouth. "My shore leave was very occupied. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but I'm very conflicted about how I feel." He took another bite.

"Hm... why conflicted? Might help to talk it out."

Talarn finished his mouthful of food before speaking again. "I mean... Starfleet. They kicked me out because I was Borg. I was angry when it happened and more than happy to get as far away from the fleet as possible. Make a life for myself. I can't say I didn't enjoy my years in. I did. I was dedicated. I planned to spend the rest of my life in Starfleet... serving. So, I was understandably hurt." He took another bite of the sandwich. "But I find myself back here. Serving again, but in a capacity that stays insulting in many ways. There's part of me that wants them to acknowledge and accept me, but there is also a part of me that is still very angry and hurt and doesn't want to have anything to do with them. I don't want you to get me wrong. I support Barret. I would never undermine what he has to do here."

"Of course not, but it is difficult to, as humans say, 'turn the other cheek'. I can understand how you feel. You gave all that was you and then you were ostracized and pushed out and it was insulting. Not only to your skills and what you had to give to the world, but to you as a persona, as someone who has been through so much and has overcome so much. The fact that you are back says a lot about the strength of your character. Not many people would give Starfleet another chance." She paused. "We all want to be accepted, Talarn, but you have every right to be hurt and angry at how you were treated. But your love for your husband and your dedication to him demands you try and I can understand how it can be conflicting." She paused. "Perhaps you have an opportunity here."

He tipped his head to one side, light flashing, curiously, his bright blue eyes searching her face, as if the answer was hidden there somewhere. His uncle used to tell him that his curiosity was a Cardassian trait. That it was in their nature to be curious. Talarn had not really found that information to be particularly true of any one said-species, but sometimes he thought of it. "An opportunity?" he queried. "I don't see it..."

She smiled sheepishly. "I totally studied your record. You are good! No, in fact you are great! You were and will be one of the best officers out there. Starfleet, the dumb dumbs they are, will not restore you to your former rank. Trust me I know their... weirdness, but they won't not give you a chance. Your record is too good and I hate to say it but Stillwater is important to them. So, you take the chance and you show them just how valuable you are. They do learn, despite their... temporary stupidity. So, they will see what they are missing. When they do, you are in a position. Take your rank back and have them live with their own wrong judgement and prejudice on a daily basis or refuse and shame them repeatedly by writing your story of how you were treated by an organization that you gave your loyalty to."

"Mmm..." he said around food in his mouth. It took him a moment to chew and swallow the bite he was working on, but when he did he tipped his head back and forth in an unsure motion. "That's the problem and thank you, by the way. I was proud of my career. One good thing I can say about being Borg at one point. They do instill a good sense of work ethic." He chuckled softly. "I know the offer is probably coming... it's just deciding what to do when it does come. Who knows... I might make up my mind now and then when offered, change my mind again. It's just... confusing. They talk about how it is bad to send mixed messages... yet it seems perfectly alright for them. Sometimes, I feel like the only reason I'm here though is because of Stillwater. Maybe, they no longer care at all what I do, or how much I help. What am I supposed to feel if that offer never comes?"

"Hmm," she said as she thought about his question. "It's hard to say. I would say if the offer never comes. Maybe you should feel a sense of certainty that they are absolute idiots."

Talarn chuckled. "Well... I can't really argue wit you there. Absolute idiots, I'm not so sure. I know there are smart people in Starfleet... they just aren't where they can do anything about anything."

She laughed. "Well, they are if they don't take you back." She paused. "Now, I was talking to a friend of mine... she's Ex-B too and I told her about you, my new friend. She actually had a suggestion that you may find... fun."

The eye ridge that wasn't covered by a Borg panel, shot up sharply. "Fun? What kind of fun?" he was interested. "And what is this "Ex-B" thing about? You are the second person I've heard use that term. I understand what it means... I just don't understand why."

"Actually funny thing, that phrase Ex-B is something started by an ex-collective member. Like ex-pat. It's kind of cool. Now, as to the fun. There are several former members of the collective, have you ever thought about writing, sharing your experience so that you can reach others who may be going through the same thing?"

Talarn stared at her, his expression not changing in any way. "No... and I do not think it's "kind of cool". What did any of those people ever do for me? I don't know what I would have to write about anyway, that hasn't already been said. I don't have any sort of experience that was unique or exciting as compared to any other ex-Borg. I don't really see how sharing it would help anyone. Do you want to read about how much unbecoming a Borg sucked? I'm fairly certain that by this time everyone knows how much it sucked. I am what I am now. I don't really want to spend time in the past."

"Well that's one way of looking at it. But the other way is that you could help a lot of Ex-Borg feel less alone after the severing of the collective mind and if you share your struggles you can show Starfleet what their behaviour did, how much they have deviated from what they were." She smiled at him. "I would like to read your experiences. I'd be the first one lined up for an autograph."

Talarn laughed. "I'd rather spend my time writing mystery novels. That's where my passion really lies when it comes to literature. I'm really not the type that wants to help people or write my memoirs. There are enough of us that they don't really need me to do those things. I'd rather write a story about some sort of mystery. Although, it would be difficult for me to decide if I should make a detective that's modern or set it way in the past like the novels I love..."

"Ohhh well what about both? An old world detective that gets pulled into the future... or vice versa."

The Cardassian nodded, eating the last bite of sandwich. "It's a good idea. I think I would personally relate better to someone from the future being sent to the past... but the other way around could potentially be interesting to explore as well. I can't really say that I've tried a lot of writing. I mostly do a lot of reading. What do you do in your free time?"

She smiled. "Well, I know you'll be good at it." She shrugged. "I build things. I tinker."

Talarn snorted. "I don't know how well I'll do, but it's a nice thought. What sort of things do you tinker with? Do you make stuff?" he asked curiously. "What sort of things do you make if you make stuff?" He leaned forward a little in his interest, his eyes on her and the light on the panel blinking quickly.

"Well stuff we can use. Like, I'm working on a new shielding system for away teams to protect them. Actually, it's based on Borg tech. An adaptive shield liked to an away belt. It absorbs energy and will adapt to phaser strength like Borg shielding."

Talarn's eyes widened a little. "It sounds interesting and useful. Do you have any prototypes yet?" he asked, his eyes shifting to the chocolate cake. "Do you come up with a lot of those sorts of ideas?"

She smiled as she passed him a fork for the cake. "Yup, I do have a prototype and yup. I find ways to tinker and things to invent."

"That's nice..." he said, taking the fork from her. "And here I said I wasn't hungry. I like to paint... and study death rituals and read. I can't say that I'm super handy, but if you ever need any help or someone to bounce ideas off of, just let me know. I'm always up for a good discussion."

She grinned. "Deal!" She liked Talarn. He was so genuine and open. "I'm glad you're here," she said.

Talarn smirked and leaned back from the table a little. "Excellent. I'm glad you're here too, Chief."

{OFF:}