The Turbolift doors opened and Captain Jonathan Archer stepped out onto the bridge of the Enterprise NX-01.
"Good morning" he said, greeting his officers in the situation area, situated directly behind the bridge. Waiting for him were T'Pol, Trip, Malcolm, Hoshi, Travis and Marlaya. "So, what have we got today?" he moved into his normal position at the end of the table facing the bridge.
"Something you might be pretty interested to know about. A Minshara class planet. About 3 light years off our current course." Trip said smiling, and as if he read John's mind he quickly added. "Population about 4 billion!"Archer was now excited. A wide grin covered his face and he laughed slightly. A planet that had roughly the same population as earth.
"Are they capable of warp drive?"
"Yes sir. Tarnisians have come across these guys a couple of times. Their species are called Torkaya." Marlaya replied. Archer kept smiling, this was going to be a good day and he wanted to get down on that planet. A new first contact trial, so hopefully everything was going to go well.
"Let's go and say hello. Malcolm, prep a shuttlepod. Standard orbital approach Travis." The officers nodded and departed, moving off to their various stations and to fulfil their newly given tasks. Marlaya and Trip stayed in the situation area. She tried to stifle a yawn, but Archer noticed her movements. "Trouble sleeping?" He asked. She looked at him and slightly smiled.
"You could say that. It's the twins. They were half the night arguing about who was going to sleep on which side of the bed. A pillow fight soon ensued." Trip andArcher laughed with Marlaya. No matter what kind of situation they were in, their new security officer could usually make people laugh and feel better.
"Cap'n, those two are now 5 years old. Maybe they're now old enough to have a room of their own. Give Marlaya some peace and quiet for once." When Marlaya had gone to Starfleet academy she had to take her children with her, and nomatter how tough they were to handle she still managd to pass through, gaining a very high score... Matching what Malcolm had managed to pass through.
"We'll sort it out once we've met the Torkaya. Marlaya will do the initial greetings." Marlaya looked at Archer with slight shock labelled on her face. "Something wrong?"
"Yeah. I don't know how they greet each other. I've only ever heard of them."
"Never mind. I'm sure we'll be able to cope." Together Trip and Marlaya left the bridge. Marlaya made her way off to her quarters and when she got there and opened the door it looked as if the Enterprise had been in a hard fight. Marlaya stood in the mess looking at the clothes and books strewn across the floor and then at her two daughters. Avide and Seejeah. both were trying to look innocent.
"What have you been doing this time?" The two girls tried to avoid their mother's stare and stayed absolutely silent. They knew that they had done wrong, but they couldn't help it. They were constantly bored, no other children the play with and they weren't allowed to many areas of the ship. "That's it. We're finding you your own quarters. I can't take any more of this. I'll set you up in one of the quest quarters. Come with me now." The two girls quickly exited the room and waited along the corridor. Marlaya looked at the mess and sighed heavily. She then left and took her two girls to empty guest quarters. Avide in one and Seejeah in another, splitting them up so no more damage or arguing could be done. She then locked them in so they couldn't get to each other. And there she left them. It was the first time she had actually had to split them up, and she wasn't please that she had done it. She made her way back to her room and sighed looking at the mess. It was going to take her a long time to clean it all up.
"Archer to ensign Marlaya. Please report to launch bay 1." Archer's voice came over the COMM system. Marlaya moved over to the panel and pressed the button so she could reply to the Captain's call.
"I'm on my way sir." She took one last look at the destroyed room, sighed and left.
Upon entering the Launch Bay, Malcolm noticed her features, slow walking, hand on head as if she had a headache.
"Is everything all right?" he asked as he moved forward to her.
"No." She took her hand away from her forehead and placed them both on her hips.she sighed deeply before continuing. "I've just had to split them up... I can't take any more of them. They're both in empty guest quarters. Locked so they can't get to each other. I hope you don't mind sir."
"Not at all." Archer replied and they all got in the shuttlepod. "What was it this time?"
"The room looks like it was a bomb test site." She sighed as the other men slightly smiled at her description of her now messy quarters. The pod left Enterprise and made it's way down to the planet. Whilst Marlaya had been dealing with her daughters Archer had contacted the planet, their ruler was a man called Chancellor Narzuc,and he had agreed that they could go down and hopefully establish a successful first contact with the Torkaya.
The shuttlepod landed at the co-ordinates the chancellor had given him. It was a small area, concrete paved. There were a couple of other small space craft, obviously for transportation to any larger vessels that might be orbiting the planet. Around the edge of the area were flowerbeds, giving the place a calm and serene feel to it. The flowers were vibrant colours, and many small insects buzzing around them, most likely collecting some sort of nectar to make wax and honey. Archer opened the hatch of the pod and stepped out followed by Trip, Malcolm and Marlaya. They looked around them at the scenery. The landing pad was obviously on a fairly high hill looking over a valley. A wide river ran through the middle meandering until it reached the sea. It was a breath-taking site. A small group of people moved over to Archer.
"Greetings Captain Archer. Welcome to Gandah." Said one man as he shook hands with Captain Archer. Gandah was the name of the city that they had arrived in, and it was the capital of the Torkayan homeworld. The chancellor was about the same age as captain Archer and he had slightly greying, almost black hair. His eyes were blue and his clothes consisted of a white shirt and red trousers. The Torkaya's physical appearance was identical to humans – nothing to be able to tell them apart. If an alien completely new to both the Torkaya and Humans had to identify which was which, it was most likely that he would get them wrong.
"Chancellor." Archer replied. "This is my chief engineer Commander Charles Tucker, My Armoury officer, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, and Ensign Marlaya." As Archer introduced each of his officers to the chancellor he moved forward and shook hands with each of them.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all. May I introduce to you my wife… Lia." He indicated a woman standing slightly behind him. As her name was said she slightly bowed her head. She was wearing a tight green top with black velvety looking trousers. Her hair was short and blonde and her eyes were brown. "Vice chancellor Eidaian." He looked to his right where a man was standing. A fairly tall dark haired man with blue eyes and glasses stood in a dark brown shirt with beige coloured trousers. "And my daughter… Vera." A young woman, around the same age as Marlaya stepped forward and the chancellor puts his arms around her. She had slightly reddish, blonde hair and blue eyes. She also wore a blue top with purple trousers.
"It' a pleasure to meet you all."
"You said that you were a species called humans, captain."
"Yes that's right. Marlaya, however, is of a species I believe you already know of. Tarnisian." Archer explained as they began to leave the landing site and made their way towards one of the flowerbeds. The away team inspected the flowers. There were big ones, small ones, tubular shaped ones, bell shaped ones, frilly ones, deep coloured, pale coloured. A couple of palm like trees stood in the corners of each of the flower beds, providing a small amount of shade for the benches that had been placed by the flower beds. The Chancellor smiled at the mention of the Tarnisians.
"Yes. I was very shocked to hear the news that their homeworld was destroyed. I thought the Tarnisians were gone forever until I heard from the Gregtarnans that a few were still alive."
"There are only 4 Tarnisians left alive. Myself, my brother and my two 5 year old daughters. My mother was Seejeah, the queen of the Tarnisians." Marlaya explained. Sadness and tension could be detected in her voice as she spoke of her past and what was left of her people. The Chancellor stopped walking and turned round to face her. Eidaian, Vera and Lia did the same, eyeing their visitors, especially Marlaya.
"Forgive me. But the Gregtarnans told me that around 50 Tarnisians were still alive. I was told that about 6 years ago." Vera replied. "I was told they were on a new planet. Hundaria IV."
"That's not possible. I was there, on Hundaria IV as a prisoner, for four years after the planet was destroyed. I would've sensed if there were other Tarnisians on the planet."Marlaya explained to the people around her.
The Chancellor moved forward and looked deep into her lilac eyes. "A peaso." He said. "Tell me, Marlaya… did they torture you while you were there?" His voice was gentle and Marlaya could sense he cared for the well being of Tarnisians as the relationship between the Torkaya and the Tarnisians had been well established. Marlaya sighed before replying to the chancellor's question
"Often. A couple of times I was nearly left for dead. It's while I was a prisoner that I became pregnant with twins." She sighed again. it hurt her deeply totalk of those years she was a prisoner of the Gregtarnians. she had always hated them fr the murder of her people and the pain she had endured at their prison camp. the Chancellor nodded his head.
"Do you remember much about what happened at the prison camp?"
Marlaya shook her head. "Not a lot." She sighed. she thought back to those years but the only thing she could remember was the day she met Trip and Malcolm.
"Then perhaps I can help you." Malcolm and Trip noted that sometimes the Chancellor could be slightly cryptic in his words.
"What are you saying Chancellor?" Archer asked as they began to move again.
"I believe that Marlaya was drugged. A drug which blocks some memories."
"But why…" Marlaya began. Sudden realisation hit her. "Do you mean I was drugged so I would forget that there were other Tarnisians on that planet. Make me believe that I was the only one left?" she asked him. Malcolm looked slightly concerned at what Marlaya was suggesting and the way Narzuc was responding.
The chancellor nodded again. "There is only one way to be sure." They continued moving off. Marlaya stopped walking and Malcolm placed his hands on her shoulders, giving her comfort, and she needed it. She was hearing what she thought she would never hear again. With the extra comfort she was getting from Malcolm she continued to follow the Torkayan Chancellor. moving through the city. not many people seemed to be afraid of the appreance of the humans and most continued with their daily chores and business. a few people came up to the Chancellor and his family and greeted him before greeting his new friends and moving off. They soon cameto a building, about 4 stories high. I looked like the headquarters of Starfleet back on Earth. they made their way down stairs and along corridors until they came to a room. Narzuc typed in a code on a small keypad control panel and the door slid open. The group filed into a room. In the centre was a reclining chair, and several wires linking to different small appliances, hung on a rack. Marlaya looked at the chair and recognised what it was from what she had heard from friends who had been to the Torkaya.
"What is that?" Trip asked as the chancellor moved over to stand next to the chair. The chair itself looked comfortable, but the objcts linked to the wires, however, could prove to be the opposite of the effect of the chair.