TITLE: Dear Annie ("Oasis")
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Oasis."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: Geez, if Hoshi doesn't get some screen time soon, I'm gonna have to give up on writing these! And it took me about a zillion times longer to write this letter than usual because my Hoshi muse thought the whole episode was fairly stupid. I'm grateful to Captain Average for the encouragement, the beta, and a good suggestion for this letter (which I pretty much stole verbatim). Um, and a quick note of apology to downinnewyork for T/S shippiness...Sorry, dear.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
Married only a little while and he's already cheating on me, can you believe it? Okay, I'm being melodramatic, considering Trip and I aren't really married, but you'd think the man would have learned his lesson from the time he got pregnant: Don't mess around with alien girls, they'll only break your heart.
I know you asked where Trip and I stand at the moment, and the answer is...heaven only knows. He seems to be taking the approach of pretending nothing strange ever happened, and if that's what he wants...well, there you are. I think you're right about why I find him appealing, though. The question remains, what do I *do* about it? I've never been one to chase a man, especially one who immediately went after another woman. I suppose I just read too much into a small incident.
I suppose it's not surprising that I was confused. Trip's relationships with women of *any* species are a bit odd. For instance, Trip and T'Pol have this strange not-quite-adversarial, not-quite-friendly, bickering thing going on.
In any case, Trip found himself an alien girl a few days ago, a pretty blonde thing and she was an engineer, too. No way for a simple linguist to compete with a woman who can talk engines with him.
And Malcolm managed to get himself shot, *again*. I know he's our security officer, but doesn't that mean he's supposed to know how to keep from getting shot in the first place? I'm starting to worry about him.
But it was a strange situation all around. We found this supposedly abandoned ship on an empty world. I say supposedly, because the merchant who told us about it also said it was supposed to be haunted. Yes, that's haunted as in ghosts, spectres, beings from the "other side." Color me skeptical.
But when the away team went down to scavenge some parts and material from this ship, they started seeing things the tricorders didn't register. Turns out there were these people living there, carefully hidden in a shielded part of the ship. They came out and scared the heck out of anyone who tried to loot the ship, thus creating the image of a haunted ship.
I'll skip the lies we were told originally and jump straight to the upshot: Liana (the aforementioned blonde) and her father, Ezral, were the only people actually living on the ship, all the other members of the crew were sophisticated *holograms*. They'd been living there for 20 years, since the ship crashed, with just the holograms for company. Kind of creepy, if you ask me.
So, instead of getting materials from the ship, the Captain ended up depleting our stores further, helping them to repair their ship so they could return home.
Somehow, this whole experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I've been trying to figure out why. (That is, *other* than Trip mooning over Liana. I'm fairly certain I'm not that petty. Am I?) I think it has to do with honesty and trust.
It bothers me that Liana and her father lied to us over and over, but somehow nobody ever took them to task for that. It bothers me that Liana trusted Ezral to take care of her, but he marooned her on that planet. Instead of asking one of the ships that passed in the last 20 years for help, it took Trip yelling at him to get him moving.
I suppose that I should admire the Captain, Trip, and Liana for their ability to forgive and forget, but somehow I can't quite manage it. It seems like forgiveness should be preceded by some sort of regret on the part of the party who erred. I did manage to forgive Eric, after all, but only after he apologized for his behavior.
I'm also concerned that the Captain and Trip seem inclined to trust everybody we encounter, and Malcolm and T'Pol are inclined to trust nobody. I can only hope that they'll manage to balance each other out. (I'd be fairly pleased if I thought the Captain was paying more attention to Malcolm's security suggestions. I thought after the female portion of the crew was nearly sold into slavery, he'd learned a lesson, but apparently I was wrong.)
Speaking of "trust," apparently we can't trust Mark out without a keeper. I'm assuming you've heard about his little escapade in Oaxaca, and have teased him suitably for me. All the high technology available to him, and he manages to get lost within a 20 minute walk of the site? Unbelievable. If you get a chance, send him one of those kiddie GPS units for me, would you? You know, the ones that talk to you if you stray too far from your parents.
As for me, other than feeling a little disgruntled about Trip's odd behavior, I'm feeling a little claustrophobic on the ship again. Unfortunately, I'm also afraid to go down to any of the planets we visit, as well. Really, it reminds me of Dr. Gi's story about being caught in that revolution in El Salvador. You know, where she was afraid to stay, but afraid to try and leave the country? Now I understand the concept of being caught between Scylla and Charybdis better than I ever did.
Time for another lesson with T'Pol, perhaps. She really has been helping a lot, and she says I'm learning the techniques very rapidly (with "for a human" being the unspoken end to the sentence). It can't be soon enough for me, because I get the feeling it doesn't get easier from here on out.
Love,
Hoshi
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Oasis."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: Geez, if Hoshi doesn't get some screen time soon, I'm gonna have to give up on writing these! And it took me about a zillion times longer to write this letter than usual because my Hoshi muse thought the whole episode was fairly stupid. I'm grateful to Captain Average for the encouragement, the beta, and a good suggestion for this letter (which I pretty much stole verbatim). Um, and a quick note of apology to downinnewyork for T/S shippiness...Sorry, dear.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
Married only a little while and he's already cheating on me, can you believe it? Okay, I'm being melodramatic, considering Trip and I aren't really married, but you'd think the man would have learned his lesson from the time he got pregnant: Don't mess around with alien girls, they'll only break your heart.
I know you asked where Trip and I stand at the moment, and the answer is...heaven only knows. He seems to be taking the approach of pretending nothing strange ever happened, and if that's what he wants...well, there you are. I think you're right about why I find him appealing, though. The question remains, what do I *do* about it? I've never been one to chase a man, especially one who immediately went after another woman. I suppose I just read too much into a small incident.
I suppose it's not surprising that I was confused. Trip's relationships with women of *any* species are a bit odd. For instance, Trip and T'Pol have this strange not-quite-adversarial, not-quite-friendly, bickering thing going on.
In any case, Trip found himself an alien girl a few days ago, a pretty blonde thing and she was an engineer, too. No way for a simple linguist to compete with a woman who can talk engines with him.
And Malcolm managed to get himself shot, *again*. I know he's our security officer, but doesn't that mean he's supposed to know how to keep from getting shot in the first place? I'm starting to worry about him.
But it was a strange situation all around. We found this supposedly abandoned ship on an empty world. I say supposedly, because the merchant who told us about it also said it was supposed to be haunted. Yes, that's haunted as in ghosts, spectres, beings from the "other side." Color me skeptical.
But when the away team went down to scavenge some parts and material from this ship, they started seeing things the tricorders didn't register. Turns out there were these people living there, carefully hidden in a shielded part of the ship. They came out and scared the heck out of anyone who tried to loot the ship, thus creating the image of a haunted ship.
I'll skip the lies we were told originally and jump straight to the upshot: Liana (the aforementioned blonde) and her father, Ezral, were the only people actually living on the ship, all the other members of the crew were sophisticated *holograms*. They'd been living there for 20 years, since the ship crashed, with just the holograms for company. Kind of creepy, if you ask me.
So, instead of getting materials from the ship, the Captain ended up depleting our stores further, helping them to repair their ship so they could return home.
Somehow, this whole experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I've been trying to figure out why. (That is, *other* than Trip mooning over Liana. I'm fairly certain I'm not that petty. Am I?) I think it has to do with honesty and trust.
It bothers me that Liana and her father lied to us over and over, but somehow nobody ever took them to task for that. It bothers me that Liana trusted Ezral to take care of her, but he marooned her on that planet. Instead of asking one of the ships that passed in the last 20 years for help, it took Trip yelling at him to get him moving.
I suppose that I should admire the Captain, Trip, and Liana for their ability to forgive and forget, but somehow I can't quite manage it. It seems like forgiveness should be preceded by some sort of regret on the part of the party who erred. I did manage to forgive Eric, after all, but only after he apologized for his behavior.
I'm also concerned that the Captain and Trip seem inclined to trust everybody we encounter, and Malcolm and T'Pol are inclined to trust nobody. I can only hope that they'll manage to balance each other out. (I'd be fairly pleased if I thought the Captain was paying more attention to Malcolm's security suggestions. I thought after the female portion of the crew was nearly sold into slavery, he'd learned a lesson, but apparently I was wrong.)
Speaking of "trust," apparently we can't trust Mark out without a keeper. I'm assuming you've heard about his little escapade in Oaxaca, and have teased him suitably for me. All the high technology available to him, and he manages to get lost within a 20 minute walk of the site? Unbelievable. If you get a chance, send him one of those kiddie GPS units for me, would you? You know, the ones that talk to you if you stray too far from your parents.
As for me, other than feeling a little disgruntled about Trip's odd behavior, I'm feeling a little claustrophobic on the ship again. Unfortunately, I'm also afraid to go down to any of the planets we visit, as well. Really, it reminds me of Dr. Gi's story about being caught in that revolution in El Salvador. You know, where she was afraid to stay, but afraid to try and leave the country? Now I understand the concept of being caught between Scylla and Charybdis better than I ever did.
Time for another lesson with T'Pol, perhaps. She really has been helping a lot, and she says I'm learning the techniques very rapidly (with "for a human" being the unspoken end to the sentence). It can't be soon enough for me, because I get the feeling it doesn't get easier from here on out.
Love,
Hoshi