Ophelia watched closely as the Captain oversaw the final bits and pieces of the renovation of their new home and the development of their computers though she felt pleased though with the teamwork they were showing, despite moments of hostilities, it was all kept well together and they had all what they needed.
Their replicator they had was now built, functional and also they had made sure it was able to move. Once they left, Ophelia didn't want to leave it all behind, it had cost a good fair amount to get the parts for it to start with; she's not get rid of it quite so much.
Now, with the replicator done, they had been able to get a computer made. Narwani had been able to code up the systems and now they were patching in with Starfleet comms. Gant had been good at securing everything; how they had ears where they needed them the most. Starfleet.
"Is all of this mobile?" Nambue asked, watching the screens as they went.
"Yep."
Nambue nodded, "What are we looking for?"
Ophelia's eyes turned from the set up to the former doctor, "USS Discovery. A federation ship. There's someone we need but she's protected. She'll be coming to us soon but we need to keep an eye on that ship for future purposes" None that she'd disclose now, but had earned that little snippet of knowledge, not everyone knew the plan and not everyone is going to know everything. Why should they?
She was excited though, there had been snippets of the ship that she knew of, given her little time with Burnham's pale and blond pet, Stamets, his mind though her touch had given her some knowledge. Sure, she'd actually have to keep that vampire around for her needs but given the fact she had this many under her wing already, getting him on her side shouldn't be all that hard, more so given his mate was human…. Something she so clearly work with. Humans were so easy to play with it was hilarious.
"How soon?"
"Next week." Gant called, "She'll be meeting me then I guess we'll be on our way, right?" His eyes flickered to her, uncertain though she nodded swiftly.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Captain Spoke from the corner, arms folded over her chest though her red eyes remained fixed as they worked.
Ophelia smirked though with a flitter, she nodded the captain to walk with her and within a few minutes, they were in the low sun beside a hill of rocks boulders and foliage, far from everything and prying ears. The sunlight glittering off their skin though she gently took a seat onto a large boulder.
The captain looked at her with a careful expression though took her own seat on the sand, cross-legged, hands coming to rest on her knees. She was curious but knew better to ask.
"This human will know you, Captain." Ophelia started carefully, "She knew the human you, your…human name."
Captain nodded. "I see." Her lips pursed a fraction. "Are you concerned about that?"
"Only on what it might trigger for you, Captain. Human memories…human emotion might cause you to hesitate or lose control. If she is to be yours, I have to ensure that you don't lose control."
Captain's head tilted, concerning her word. "I am not that human woman she knew. I know nothing of my past life except I used to be in Starfleet if the uniform I wear is any indication." Her fingers coming to pat her grubby blue uniform, which was a little browner from the dry blood from the last few meals. Ophelia had grown used to the state all of them in but… perhaps she should start trying to enforce some hygiene maintenance. Starting with washing their uniform…
"How are you in terms of restraint in the taste of spilt blood?"
Captain swallowed, tense before her face relaxed. "Hard. Not impossible. If…if we get that human, I would…prefer it if you could oversee the process. I don't want to make a mistake and kill her."
Ophelia smiled, rising up to her feet and wandered closer until she stood over her, reaching a hand forwards, brushing her fingertips over her cheek and down to trace her bottom lip. Though the touch was subtle, she felt the fragments of emotions; the desire behind the idea she had planted, but…she felt no curiosity in context for the human's perception for her. Her hand dropped before she stepped back.
"Get me Gant, I want him here. Go assist with the computers and get them patched into my ship's comms." She needed to take a trip to Trigger again, she could get some stuff made up to get those collars made; she'd love to see one of those around Burnham's neck; make her weak as she had before Trig had been able to pry it off; maybe have that other Georgiou with it on too… her collard was what she deserved. Make her nothing more than a clan pet. At least her Georgiou could heel to order; this rebellious one… she could have a little more fun with.
Captain rose to her feet and darted away.
"She's so cute!"
"Look at those tiny hands."
"—and teeth."
"Na, those little death-traps aren't my cup of tea," Detmer replied, her face lit up as she watched the infant in Tilly's arms, watching as she had a firm two-handed grip on a lock of the orange curls with wide brown eyes, not certain of what to make of it.
Michael though smiled, allowing them to fawn over her; seeing their reactions were…entertaining. Airiam's lips were up, and she was convinced that she was most likely beaming as far as she physically could and had already had her hold of her but Misha hadn't liked the augments when looking up at her; a much better reaction than when Saru had attempted to visit; a whole new face that she had never seen before was clearly too much for her.
But Tilly and Detmer were now swapping between, though Michael could sense the looks, stares and whispers of the rest of the mess; others trying to take their peek of the new infant. Detmer slipped forwards and gently slipped her hands under her arms and lifted her from Tilly's arms.
"Hey! She's still got my hair!" The ensign explained, moving like a chain before managing to tug her hair free, though a few strands were left between little fingers.
Detmer chuckled though shifted Misha against her chest, allowing her to sit back and rest to face the table. Her hand coming to support her by the chest nonetheless.
"So, what's the plan when you get back to the facility?" Tilly asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the child, "They're not gonna keep you there, right?"
Michael shook her head. "Just assessments and dropping off our…new supplies. Starfleet's disavowed D'vir's works that made this little one and everything else to stop awkward questions on the illegal activity but I suspect there's more to it." There always was with Starfleet's attitude problem. As Cornwell said, they had enough to ward the wolves away but this child now no doubt presented both a risk and opportunity that they has a species could be interested in.
"But you're coming back, right?" Detmer asked, eyebrows pulling in as he looked up, adjusting the baby in her arms, though for a second, Michael could see the cogs in the infant's mind turn to how close Detmer's arm was, her jacket over the chair so her arms were bare before she lent down and lent face-first into her flesh, though what surprised Michael was that… Detmer didn't even notice as she carried on talking, the scent of blood wafting into her nose a few seconds later "I mean, I get if you need maternity time but I'd hate for you to leave."
Tilly sniggered softly, seeing this and Airiam's head tilted curiously. The synthetic and blue eyes flickered to their faced before she frowned.
"What?"
"She's…eating you." Airiam offered dryly. "Surprised you didn't notice."
Detmer looked down then gasped softly before letting out a giggle. "Oh my god…"
"Let me," Michael started, moving from her seat and gently coaxed Misha's head up and to push her fingers softly into the jaw hinge to force her to unlock her teeth without tearing or doing more damage to Detmer's flesh; though it was clear that her saliva contained pain-numbing agent to get away with it but she didn't want to risk her losing a chunk.
A loud pitched cry of displeasure left the infant's lips as she unlatched her and pulled her back into the arms though silenced herself from a fit by bringing her hands to her mouth and sucking on her fingers. Detmer grabbed one of the tissues on the plate side and presses it into the new wounds, the blood quickly pooling.
"Let's get you to sickbay," Airiam decided, rising up to her feet.
Still smiling, Detmer rose and they both departed.
"Cheeky little thing." Tilly cooed, leaning back towards her.
"Now, now, Tilly, you shouldn't encourage this behaviour." Michael tisked, "but, that means she'd due for another feed, then I have to go." She had probably kept the admiral waiting long enough but they had been waiting on Culber getting everything cleared and her baby-pack ready for her feedings and everything she'd need for her bottles, from supplements to her drug dosage and a recommended blood type. Surely by now, they were done and she could leave.
"See you later."
It had been a brief meeting back at sickbay before she got a fresh bottle and was feeding her again, feeling mildly more confident with it as the content was glugged down. Her kit that they had prepared had been sent to her home in advanced and Michael was allowed to leave the ship. Though she felt disheartened that she wasn't bidding her last goodbyes to Chris, they had already discussed this after he had first awoken and…she wanted him to rest up some more. Mild fractures to his ribs earned him that.
Misha wailed though as soon as they had beamed down to the orbital station and final checks of the newborn vampire on the surface with one of Misha's blankets before the go-ahead was given and Michael found herself at her doorway.
Scents hung around, Dexter's mostly and some of her clanmates, though she could clearly see the new equipment through the windows before she entered though it wasn't until the doors shut after her and the quietness of everything… and the tense breath of heat that seeped into her jacket that the reality of the fact was….
She was now alone with the baby.
Michael's jaw tensed before she looked down before a low wet guttered sound echoed from Misha's diaper…
Admiral Cornwell breezed through the land, though she knew she was expected, entering other clans territory was…somewhat intrusive. Though as she got closer, there was the distant sound of crying, frantic steps and Michael's attempts of reasoning before the crying quite abruptly stopped.
"Burnham?" She approached the door, which opened quickly though immediately, Cornwell's nose was assaulted with a horrid smell that she was unfamiliar with, baby powers, soap, blood and there was the low sound of running water.
Cautiously, Katrina followed her nose to the living room where there was a considerable amount of mess; a diaper changing mat on the floor, a few looked to be in the verge of being disposed of, a few blankets were stern about and spit-up rags also seemed to decorate the little furniture but in the middle, at on the back of the sofa with her feet on the seats, sat Burnham, nearly shirtless aside a bra, the infant in her diaper and a huge bottle that she was feeding from.
All in all, it was clear she could see the amount of stress this vampire was animating.
"Wow."
Burnham just nodded, displeased. "She wouldn't settled, pooped in her bath, vomited on my shirt and cried every time I tried to dress her."
Katrina moved in though the second thing explained the horrid lingering smell that was worse than the others. "I…would have thought you could have handled it." She was a vampire, though, with reason Cornwell supposed there was panic involved; a crying infant was always like a ticking time bomb and the feeling of being judged about sorting everything. Burnham was a first-time mom and this… was probably new. Perhaps she should get someone with parenting experience to assist.
"You'd think but have you seen the colour of her poop. It's black. Black. Sticky and has the consistency of barely watered down toothpaste. And those are just the better poops. Otherwise, it's like liquid!" Her tone turned scandalous. "I didn't…expect this. You'd think she'd be happy but no…."
Katrina sighed though didn't press the subject. "I'll help with the clean-up while you keep her occupied."
Burnham's shoulders relaxed a fraction. "Thank you."
"In the meantime, I'll fill you in on everything else since the last met." Opting to deal with the lingering smell, she made her way up to the showers, where inside lay the baby bath on its side, being cleaned out with a rush of water from the tap though it was quite obvious to see the skid-marks in its inside mesh that supported small newborn until it outgrew that for the proper bath.
"We've got a vampire stationed at the outpost, which has attracted some eyes our way but we've not yet established a formal greeting as of the moment since we're still setting up there. Bajoran's so far are most interested as they've offered assistance."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
Katrina shrugged off her jacket and tied it around her waist, before grabbing one of the sponges and began work with a good wad of soap.
"So far, it's good but we're keeping things at a distance for now. I suspect they're also interested in building a colony in our sector of space as well so our planet would be a good start." There was no judgement to that, it was an option she was considering taking, but the fact was… their numbers were just too small to be seen as an…appropriate sized government. A whole population that was barely even 25 people… or 26 if they included that child in Burnham's arms. They still had to show some dignity as a new species. They couldn't afford to risk that because some cultures did not have the same understanding of others.
"I take it there's still a lot holding us back."
"Indeed." There was no mistake about it, everyone was on the same page on the main problem. "To get us around that, I'll reopen the requests to the humans had had submitting an application, but only to the terms of them terminating their Starfleet commission for it to be accepted. We'll sidestep some of the rules in place and pass the loopholes." That would take them out of jurisdiction as well. Starfleet could get huffy but there was nothing more they could do once they signed over to them. A dirty trick but still legal.
"This is not a new conversation, Admiral, I suspect there's something else you—" Burnham was interrupted by a soft gurgle and the obvious sounds of a regurgitation then a soft burp before a displeased hiss echoed. "God, how does something so small make such a huge mess…"
Finishing up with the bath, she flipped it over and left it to drain before wiping her hands on a cloth and made use of a decorative baskets and began to collect up blankets and the rags up, putting the dirty ones to the bottom. Getting back to Burnham, the infant was on the verge of drifting to sleep but a huge red, splodge down the woman's skin seemed to give reason of why she was lacking a shirt, not just for skin-to-skin contact.
Carefully, Burnham rose and carefully opened up a type of blanket and transferred the infant into it, securing her up in blankets like a wrap and quickly and carefully placed her into the small crib in her room.
Cornwell chucked everything into the recycler and began a few replicator processes for more and held up a wipe and a shirt as Burnham returned, cleaning and dressing herself.
"Thank you."
Katrina just nodded. "We've got all the samples from the Discovery, with Landry back from Starbase one, she's running the planet's security. She's got a vault built for it but we've yet to decide on a new course of action now that…we know there's a chance we can have hybrid offspring and the blank vampire shots…. That is both scary and an opportunity for us if we want to expand our population."
Burnham's head tilted, "if we can't use humans, other species would be the next logical step but… that might be seen as aggressive to both parties by converting them."
Cornwell hummed, not disapproving. "It's still in debate but… we've got it out of Starfleet's hands, the illegal nature of it has forced them to disavow D'vir and his works." Small mercies. "But, I will need to ask about Stamets."
"Stamets?"
"His venom holds the genetic key to create vampires compatible for a spore drive."
Burnham's gaze lingered at her, the dots easy to connect. "You want to use a spore drive that's not commissioned by the federation?"
"I'm keeping my options open. If we get removed from Starfleet service, you and Stamets will lose your position on the Discovery, the ship will be converted into a standard science vessel since the drive is inoperable without him."
"But, if you build a ship for the Legislation, with an active Spore-drive, then it'll allow you to travel anywhere without having to wait for the red tape or escorts by the federation" Burnham finished, lips pursed, "He's wise enough to not give his venom away, even to you, Admiral."
"I'm sure but I need him to know of the options in place. We may need them When you return, I do want him to come to a decision by then."
Burnham's lip twitched before she nodded. "I'll pass it along."
With a beep behind her, the replicator finished and opened. Burnham's dark ruby eyes flickered passed her shoulder to it then back. "Anything else?"
Cornwell nodded, now that they had started and the child asleep, they had a lot to discuss without interruptions.
