Disclaimer: I don't own any Starfleet characters. Except maybe one or two crewmen that I may create as the story goes. I do own the Salindais, however, and the planet Salinda.

Note: Work in progress. Don't expect updates to be quick.

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Tucking the translator under her arm, Hoshi picked up the alien choker by its soft black chord and looked at the symbol that twirled slowly in the air. It reminded her of an old Chinese yin-yang, though the alien symbol was different. It was a circle that was split into three curved parts instead of two. The piece was one colour, violet, but the sections on it were different shades. One was pale, like lavender, another deep and dark. The last was a mixture of both. Not dark, not light, and pleasing to the eye.

"It's the symbol of the Salindais." Said a voice behind the table. Hoshi turned her gaze away to look at the store owner. She was shorter than the average human, and with skin as black as a moonless midnight. Shoulder length chocolate hair dangled smoothly in intricately shaped braids. Pale green eyes peeked curiously out at the Ensign. A tattoo that was the same colour as her eyes ran around her neck in a dance of alien script and florals. "It means one thing, but different people interpret it differently." She stretched out a thick arm with four short fingers to point out the different parts on the necklace. "The bright part is Good. It represents people, emotions, actions, events, and dates that helped build the good in our race. The dark part is Evil. It represents the same things, the only difference being they are what helped build the bad in the Salindais. The last part, of medium hue, shows that the Salindais need a mixture of both good and bad to show us a clear view of life. You can't learn anything about life if you never make bad mistakes." The store owner flashed Hoshi a grin, and she grinned back.

These people never stopped surprising her, from the moment they made contact. She, Archer and T'pol were on Salinda at the moment, and they had wandered off in different directions to learn about their culture. Hoshi had found this shop, who's strict rules clearly dictated that this was a store for alien visitors only, so that they would have souvenirs and other things to remember the Salindais by.

Hoshi nodded slightly. "My people used to have a similar symbol, with only two sections. Good and evil, Yin and Yang." Hoshi placed the choker back on the wooden table, and the alien's grin shrank for a moment.

Something caught Hoshi's eye, a plump, circular object, like a small container. It had the same Salinda symbol on the top, though the sections were in black and white and grey. There was only one of these little objects, whereas there were quite a few chokers. Waving that fact away, Hoshi picked up the object, feeling for something along the side to open it up. Again, the woman reached out a hand, pressed two little buttons, and the object split along the length of the curved side in two places. The container – if it was a container – opened up until the top and bottom had stretched back to face downward, and the remaining middle part stood straight. Decorated with a fine line of script, the dark wood shone under the sunlight that poured in the store windows. Suddenly, a green projection of light burst out of each new section of the device, shooting a meter upwards, and merging in a 3D ring of light. Moving script, and text. Alien text. Captain Archer had described something similar in his report about the Vulcan Kir'Shara.

"It is a device which allows alien visitors to learn our language. On one side, you use the little control panel to tell it your mother tongue, and it will help you translate your language to ours and our language to yours."

Hoshi grinned to herself. Normally, she would rather learn languages the hard way, but she didn't want to pass up the opportunity to make a connection with an alien and gain a quick way to learn a language. Because she didn't always have to learn the hard way, right?

Pushing the two ends back together, and ending the projection of light, Hoshi smiled at the store owner. "How much do you want for it?"

The store owner smiled happily for a moment, but then hesitated in reconsideration. "Honey, you can have it free. You deserve it."

Hoshi nodded. "Thank you! I wish I had something to give you back in return."

The store owner shook her head. "You enjoy it. Now go and travel the globe. See places, meet people, enjoy yourself." She gave Hoshi a friendly push on the arm.

"All right. Thank you again!" Hoshi said as she turned and left the store.

- - -

Retula, the store owner, whispered words of thanks as the alien woman left her store. Nothing personal against her, or her species, but what she had bought. The translator had been forced upon her by some men from the Adili, which was a sort of Salindais military that patrolled the system, protecting the system. The Salindais were a peaceful species, and they had been taken advantage of by other species. The Adili had saved the Salindais from many attacks, rescued the lives of countless, picked up the world when war struck it down. They were heroes.

Retula paced from behind the table, keeping her eyes on the other customers in the store. A Vulcan skimming a book about Salinda. A Klingon inspecting an antique weapon.

She didn't know why they had forced her to sell the translator. The Adili never forced people to do anything so… random. It's just a translator. And a very nice one, at that. Though she didn't want to keep something that the Adili were so eager to get rid of. She also didn't want to spend all her time thinking on it. What's done is done, she'd just have to live with what happens, and learn from her mistakes. That is, if it was more than just a translator.

Retula chuckled under her breath. She was being a fool. It was just a translator, nothing more. As the Klingon approached her table to buy the antique dagger, she cleared the translator from her head and moved on with the day.

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Well, that's chapter one! Can I have some reviews for Christmas? :-P