CHAPTER 2
Captain Enor walked along the Academy campus, as old memories resurfaced from his time there. He went looking around the flower gardens that were maintained by Boothby, the Academy grounds keeper. He also saw Lieutenant Kallandra there, just smelling the flowers and smiling. He had seen that she was right near a section that he had helped Boothby cultivate three years earlier, when Chris was in his junior year at the Academy.
"Hi Molly," he called out.
"Chris!" she yelped as she jumped out of the garden area she was in. "What are you doing out here? Weren't you supposed to be helping with the tours for the cadets?"
"I left that to Commander Mathison. She's a better tour guide than I am and wasn't on duty at the time, so I asked her and she loved the idea," he told Molly.
"Let me guess... Saying 'Hi' to all the instructors we both had?" she asked.
"Molly, you just know your brother too well, even after being Joined." He shook his head slowly, in a bit of disbelief. "I think that there's also some Betazoid DNA in you that lets you have telepathy," he said jokingly and laughed at the silly remark he'd just made.
She giggled with that and shook her head. "Then why didn't Doctor Ogawa even tell me, you, or anyone else if I had Betazoid DNA? Can you answer that?"
Chris just shook his head.
"Alright, well, you didn't change, except for last name, when that symbiont crawled into you." She gently poked his upper abdomen, where the Enor symbiont was nestled.
"HEY! That tickles!" he said, trying to get her to stop the poking there, and couldn't stop laughing.
They just sat there laughing for a while, attracting the attention of some of the cadets, who in turn joined in on the laughing, without knowing what the apparent joke was.
"There is a friend of mine who graduated with me from the Symbiosis Institute, who I'm told got a symbiont with the same name as mine, and ironically is also a first host," said Chris, after he calmed down, "so I guess, in a funny way, she and I are family."
Molly looked at her brother, after finally managing to get control over her own giddy laughter, and had a look of shock on her face. "You can't be serious!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, but I am, sis. Her Joined name is Moll Enor, and last I heard, she was stationed on Deep Space Nine, becoming their new Chief Science officer, when Jadzia was killed." He paused, as a tear rolled down his cheek, remembering how much he liked Jadzia Dax. "I don't know much about this new host, named Ezri Tigan..." He corrected himself for her new name, "I mean, Ezri Dax. All I know is that she can't get her pronouns right, and she never wanted to be Joined."
"Well, maybe Commander Williams will get to know her some. She has a habit of knowing who everybody is, and meeting them in one way or another," Molly said, trying to comfort Chris.
"Oh, I'm sure Tatie will learn more about her than her personnel profile shows... She admitted to scrounging up more information on me than I even knew about myself, before she ever boarded the Hornet. Now that idea scares me..." he said to her.
"I know. She may not be Joined, nor want to be, but she can be nosy at times," replied Molly.
"She told me she wanted to be Joined, eventually, and hopefully make another first host," Chris told her.
"You cannot be serious!" she said with surprise. "Only one Trill in ten thousand even makes it to be a first host. Sometimes slimmer odds than that, from what you told me."
"True," he said, getting up off the bench. "What do you say we go to the Academy lounge, and get something to eat, before the lunch rush comes in?" he asked her as she stood up too.
The lunch rush would normally leave them out in the corridor for an hour, usually.
"Sounds fine by me. But, if I see any gagh or anything that's slimy, I'll scream," she said in a funny way.
"Fair bargain," he agreed. "Personally, I cannot stand gagh. Just seeing it makes the symbiont jump, not to mention my stomach."
Molly smiled, trying very hard to not laugh from that remark, but she knew the same was true of her own stomach, even though she wasn't Joined, she could sympathize.
As they went down to the lounge, exchanging remarks about the very few differences they had, even though he was Joined and she wasn't, Chris thought he saw Jadzia Dax. He blinked away his vision, and could still see her.
"Dax?" he asked, seeing her.
She didn't turn her head, but she could easily pass off as Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, just by physical appearance and voice. The only difference this individual had, was that she had no spots that marked her as a Trill. Other than that, she was identical to Jadzia.
Enor shrugged off the thought as he and Molly reached the lounge, which was rather quiet, compared to the lunch rush.
"Let me see... Terry recommended something called pizza, as an excellent nutritional and a very palatable food. He did warn me about the spiciness of it, too..." Chris said, more to himself while trying to decide what to order.
Molly and Chris went over to an empty table, near a large window, showing the Presidio, Starfleet Headquarters, as well as the eastern and northern wings of the Academy complex.
A waitress came over, and said, "My name is Kendra. What can I get you?" She had the appearance of a young Trill, with a slim figure, and was very attractive. Her voice was very soothing on the captain's nervous tension about having cadets running his ship, and over his concern for his chief of security, Commander Tatie Williams.
Chris looked back over the menu of available items, and after a lengthy debate with his hunger, he decided he'd take his first officer up on the suggestion.
"Cheese pizza, add mushrooms, pepperoni, and sausage," he said, having some difficulty totally deciding on the toppings. "Small size, please."
Kendra nodded and turned to the lieutenant, waiting on her to order.
Molly sighed in thought as she read over the menu choices. "I'll try this thing here.." She pointed to it, unable to pronounce it at all.
"Trill's choice pasta'vienereenie," she replied. "Is that what you want?"
Molly looked at her in awe. "That's some weird name. What all is it?" she asked.
"It's very similar to a Terran beef and noodle casserole, except with a few extra spices from Trill mixed in. I highly recommend it for nutritional value and for the exploratory palate," said their waitress.
"Ok," Molly said enthusiastically, "I'll take some."
Kendra looked at them again, her spots reflecting strangely off of the room lighting. "Ok, so that's a small pizza with only cheese, mushrooms, pepperoni, and sausage; one order of pasta'vienereenie. Will there be anything to drink?" she asked, very politely.
"I'll take an ice cold glass of ichoberry juice," the captain said, more as a request.
Molly perked up. "I'll have the same."
"And two very cold glasses of ichoberry juice? Will that be all for you two today?" she asked, in a very polite way.
"I think that pretty well takes care of it, Kendra," replied Molly, nicely. "Thank you."
Kendra nodded, and rushed back to the kitchen, almost catching her cadet uniform on the corner of the bar.
Chris decided to tell his sister about the mission going on. "I had received word from the homeworld, that the symbiont pools are over-crowded. Our objectives are to go to the moons of Trill, and see if we can find places ideal for the symbionts, so that more of them can live, without being so crowded and being Joined too soon," he explained. "Two were killed by being Joined too early. They drove the hosts mad with the infantile minds and thoughts." A saddened look came over his face. "Right now, Starfleet wants the Hornet to see to this problem and get it solved immediately. The next symbiont breeding cycle is in 3 months, and when that happens, we could be looking at somewhere around an estimated twenty- five percent of the newborn symbionts being sacrificed, and the Commission is not willing to permit that. I've offered to bring some onto the ship as an alternative, but haven't gotten any response yet."
Molly looked at him in pure shock, unable to say a word.
"I know. I couldn't believe it either. But, we need to find more room for them to live in, without risking their safety. Starfleet has given us clearance to use whatever resources we need in order to ensure success in our mission."
Molly stared at him, finally finding her voice, and asked, "When do we leave?"
"As soon as possible. I'll have a conference with the cadets and the senior officers together in the observation lounge after we get through here. Starfleet Command has informed me that Captain Picard and the Enterprise will also be within two sectors of where we're going, in the case we need their assistance," he replied.
"That's good," she said. "At least we'll have the Federation flagship in the vicinity, should we run into trouble."
"Agreed. Personally, with the war going on, and us getting our break for some scientific work, I like the idea of having a shipful of scientific minds to fall back on, just in case," he told her.
Moments later, Kendra came back with a rather large tray, holding their food items, and beverages. "Sorry it took so long on the drinks, but I had to reprogram the juicer to get the right proportions of juice out of the ichoberries," she said apologetically as she brought the plates and tall crystal glasses off of the tray and set them down gently in front of Chris and Molly.
"That's okay, Kendra. If it helps any, I have to do that whenever I make some, unless I use the replicator," Molly said, smiling to Chris, since he was the one who practically lived off of that drink.
Kendra smiled, and took her now empty tray back to the kitchen, came back out with a plateful of food for herself, sat at an adjoining table, and started eating away.
Enor and Kallandra both started eating, and kept up their discussion regarding the mission ahead of them.
Captain Enor walked along the Academy campus, as old memories resurfaced from his time there. He went looking around the flower gardens that were maintained by Boothby, the Academy grounds keeper. He also saw Lieutenant Kallandra there, just smelling the flowers and smiling. He had seen that she was right near a section that he had helped Boothby cultivate three years earlier, when Chris was in his junior year at the Academy.
"Hi Molly," he called out.
"Chris!" she yelped as she jumped out of the garden area she was in. "What are you doing out here? Weren't you supposed to be helping with the tours for the cadets?"
"I left that to Commander Mathison. She's a better tour guide than I am and wasn't on duty at the time, so I asked her and she loved the idea," he told Molly.
"Let me guess... Saying 'Hi' to all the instructors we both had?" she asked.
"Molly, you just know your brother too well, even after being Joined." He shook his head slowly, in a bit of disbelief. "I think that there's also some Betazoid DNA in you that lets you have telepathy," he said jokingly and laughed at the silly remark he'd just made.
She giggled with that and shook her head. "Then why didn't Doctor Ogawa even tell me, you, or anyone else if I had Betazoid DNA? Can you answer that?"
Chris just shook his head.
"Alright, well, you didn't change, except for last name, when that symbiont crawled into you." She gently poked his upper abdomen, where the Enor symbiont was nestled.
"HEY! That tickles!" he said, trying to get her to stop the poking there, and couldn't stop laughing.
They just sat there laughing for a while, attracting the attention of some of the cadets, who in turn joined in on the laughing, without knowing what the apparent joke was.
"There is a friend of mine who graduated with me from the Symbiosis Institute, who I'm told got a symbiont with the same name as mine, and ironically is also a first host," said Chris, after he calmed down, "so I guess, in a funny way, she and I are family."
Molly looked at her brother, after finally managing to get control over her own giddy laughter, and had a look of shock on her face. "You can't be serious!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, but I am, sis. Her Joined name is Moll Enor, and last I heard, she was stationed on Deep Space Nine, becoming their new Chief Science officer, when Jadzia was killed." He paused, as a tear rolled down his cheek, remembering how much he liked Jadzia Dax. "I don't know much about this new host, named Ezri Tigan..." He corrected himself for her new name, "I mean, Ezri Dax. All I know is that she can't get her pronouns right, and she never wanted to be Joined."
"Well, maybe Commander Williams will get to know her some. She has a habit of knowing who everybody is, and meeting them in one way or another," Molly said, trying to comfort Chris.
"Oh, I'm sure Tatie will learn more about her than her personnel profile shows... She admitted to scrounging up more information on me than I even knew about myself, before she ever boarded the Hornet. Now that idea scares me..." he said to her.
"I know. She may not be Joined, nor want to be, but she can be nosy at times," replied Molly.
"She told me she wanted to be Joined, eventually, and hopefully make another first host," Chris told her.
"You cannot be serious!" she said with surprise. "Only one Trill in ten thousand even makes it to be a first host. Sometimes slimmer odds than that, from what you told me."
"True," he said, getting up off the bench. "What do you say we go to the Academy lounge, and get something to eat, before the lunch rush comes in?" he asked her as she stood up too.
The lunch rush would normally leave them out in the corridor for an hour, usually.
"Sounds fine by me. But, if I see any gagh or anything that's slimy, I'll scream," she said in a funny way.
"Fair bargain," he agreed. "Personally, I cannot stand gagh. Just seeing it makes the symbiont jump, not to mention my stomach."
Molly smiled, trying very hard to not laugh from that remark, but she knew the same was true of her own stomach, even though she wasn't Joined, she could sympathize.
As they went down to the lounge, exchanging remarks about the very few differences they had, even though he was Joined and she wasn't, Chris thought he saw Jadzia Dax. He blinked away his vision, and could still see her.
"Dax?" he asked, seeing her.
She didn't turn her head, but she could easily pass off as Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, just by physical appearance and voice. The only difference this individual had, was that she had no spots that marked her as a Trill. Other than that, she was identical to Jadzia.
Enor shrugged off the thought as he and Molly reached the lounge, which was rather quiet, compared to the lunch rush.
"Let me see... Terry recommended something called pizza, as an excellent nutritional and a very palatable food. He did warn me about the spiciness of it, too..." Chris said, more to himself while trying to decide what to order.
Molly and Chris went over to an empty table, near a large window, showing the Presidio, Starfleet Headquarters, as well as the eastern and northern wings of the Academy complex.
A waitress came over, and said, "My name is Kendra. What can I get you?" She had the appearance of a young Trill, with a slim figure, and was very attractive. Her voice was very soothing on the captain's nervous tension about having cadets running his ship, and over his concern for his chief of security, Commander Tatie Williams.
Chris looked back over the menu of available items, and after a lengthy debate with his hunger, he decided he'd take his first officer up on the suggestion.
"Cheese pizza, add mushrooms, pepperoni, and sausage," he said, having some difficulty totally deciding on the toppings. "Small size, please."
Kendra nodded and turned to the lieutenant, waiting on her to order.
Molly sighed in thought as she read over the menu choices. "I'll try this thing here.." She pointed to it, unable to pronounce it at all.
"Trill's choice pasta'vienereenie," she replied. "Is that what you want?"
Molly looked at her in awe. "That's some weird name. What all is it?" she asked.
"It's very similar to a Terran beef and noodle casserole, except with a few extra spices from Trill mixed in. I highly recommend it for nutritional value and for the exploratory palate," said their waitress.
"Ok," Molly said enthusiastically, "I'll take some."
Kendra looked at them again, her spots reflecting strangely off of the room lighting. "Ok, so that's a small pizza with only cheese, mushrooms, pepperoni, and sausage; one order of pasta'vienereenie. Will there be anything to drink?" she asked, very politely.
"I'll take an ice cold glass of ichoberry juice," the captain said, more as a request.
Molly perked up. "I'll have the same."
"And two very cold glasses of ichoberry juice? Will that be all for you two today?" she asked, in a very polite way.
"I think that pretty well takes care of it, Kendra," replied Molly, nicely. "Thank you."
Kendra nodded, and rushed back to the kitchen, almost catching her cadet uniform on the corner of the bar.
Chris decided to tell his sister about the mission going on. "I had received word from the homeworld, that the symbiont pools are over-crowded. Our objectives are to go to the moons of Trill, and see if we can find places ideal for the symbionts, so that more of them can live, without being so crowded and being Joined too soon," he explained. "Two were killed by being Joined too early. They drove the hosts mad with the infantile minds and thoughts." A saddened look came over his face. "Right now, Starfleet wants the Hornet to see to this problem and get it solved immediately. The next symbiont breeding cycle is in 3 months, and when that happens, we could be looking at somewhere around an estimated twenty- five percent of the newborn symbionts being sacrificed, and the Commission is not willing to permit that. I've offered to bring some onto the ship as an alternative, but haven't gotten any response yet."
Molly looked at him in pure shock, unable to say a word.
"I know. I couldn't believe it either. But, we need to find more room for them to live in, without risking their safety. Starfleet has given us clearance to use whatever resources we need in order to ensure success in our mission."
Molly stared at him, finally finding her voice, and asked, "When do we leave?"
"As soon as possible. I'll have a conference with the cadets and the senior officers together in the observation lounge after we get through here. Starfleet Command has informed me that Captain Picard and the Enterprise will also be within two sectors of where we're going, in the case we need their assistance," he replied.
"That's good," she said. "At least we'll have the Federation flagship in the vicinity, should we run into trouble."
"Agreed. Personally, with the war going on, and us getting our break for some scientific work, I like the idea of having a shipful of scientific minds to fall back on, just in case," he told her.
Moments later, Kendra came back with a rather large tray, holding their food items, and beverages. "Sorry it took so long on the drinks, but I had to reprogram the juicer to get the right proportions of juice out of the ichoberries," she said apologetically as she brought the plates and tall crystal glasses off of the tray and set them down gently in front of Chris and Molly.
"That's okay, Kendra. If it helps any, I have to do that whenever I make some, unless I use the replicator," Molly said, smiling to Chris, since he was the one who practically lived off of that drink.
Kendra smiled, and took her now empty tray back to the kitchen, came back out with a plateful of food for herself, sat at an adjoining table, and started eating away.
Enor and Kallandra both started eating, and kept up their discussion regarding the mission ahead of them.
