Chapter Nine: Stories
"Are you enjoying your dinner?" Rilar asked from the head of the table.
"Yes," Katja answered with a huge grin. "It's delicious."
Rilar watched as the little five year old sitting to his right carefully cut the hasperat on her plate into smaller pieces for her tiny mouth. He was pleasantly amused by how carefully Katja tried to mimic her mother by doing little things like sitting straight in her chair and placing her napkin almost perfectly the same way: folded into a triangle shape, one point hanging off each side and one between the knees.
The evening started off great in Rilar's opinion and the five of them appeared to be having a great time. Even L'Nara seemed to appreciate the company. Michael had kept the conversation light and comedic as usual and Rilar played the happy host to everyone. Senecal seemed to relax he noticed for the first time since he met her. Rilar was glad to see her and Katja there at his dinner considering how hesitant Senecal had been earlier.
"It's a special recipe of hasperat passed on through my family," he told her. "I made sure to input it into the replicator so I could always have it here."
"My mom has old recipes, too," Katja replied after taking a bite and swallowing. "My favorite is the one for Cream Cheese Brownies."
"That sounds rich," Michael said from across the table. He had a sweet tooth and the mere mentioning of some sort of chocolate always stole his attention.
"I'll make some for everyone sometime," Senecal laughed.
"My dad really likes them, too," Katja quipped in. "We will save some for him right?"
"Yes, we will," Senecal answered her daughter after taking a deep breath she hoped no one else noticed.
"When is your husband arriving?" L'Nara asked Senecal, not catching the hint that something bothered the doctor. She stabbed a piece of her indescribable and unrecognizable Vulcan food as she waited for an answer.
"He'll be here next month," Senecal answered, her uneasiness growing. She lowered her eyes, feeling the heat of her face and ears turning red.
"James, how's that Chief Naetharr treating you?" Rilar asked Michael. He attempted to divert the attention away from Senecal because he noticed her suddenly grip the napkin on her lap very tightly.
"Huh? Oh, she's a spit fire if I've ever seen one," he said, at first being caught off guard with the questions then shook his head as he cut a piece of hasperat. "Bad temper too."
"I've noticed a few young Jetallans who seem to have a chip on their shoulders," Senecal commented. "Bithar Keddan, the nurse I work with, he seems pretty level headed to me though."
"And Vedrann is a fairly calm and patient person, too," Rilar added in. "He seems to be the one who keeps the hot heads in check."
"What are your opinions on the new officers arriving?" L'Nara asked to everyone at the table.
"I don't know," Michael spoke up. "But I definitely would like to get a good look at what the engineers from Utopia decided to put in those new pods along with the warp drive."
"Always the engineer," Senecal teased, losing some of the self-conscious feelings that had crept up in the early portion of the conversation.
Michael grinned as he leaned back with his arms behind his head in his chair; he wanted to find a way and opportunity to get back at Rilar for giving him a hard time about Naetharr. "What about that new tactical officer? You know anything about her yet?"
"A little," Rilar said nodding his head. "A few hours after the briefing, Commander Serea called me into her office and went over the changes that are going to be happening on the station. She filled me in a little bit on the new lieutenant."
"So? Tell us!" Michael said comically.
"To start off with, she's Betazoid," Rilar began, catching some perked interest from his dinner companions. "She also had a fairly thick record of some incidents in the Academy including some problems with authority."
Rilar could feel the sharp intake of breath in the room as his friends realized he might have a lot to handle soon. Only L'Nara seemed unfazed with the comment, she watched him as she waited for him to continue.
Rilar went on, "However, she has been highly decorated in the field once out of the Academy. She's a highly rated and skilled pilot as well as an expert in hand-to-hand combat."
"So no bar fights because she'll know what we're thinking while at the same time kicking all of our as-… er butts," Michael said, catching himself from using colorful language after remembering Katja was at the table.
"Why would you be fighting in the first place?" Senecal scolded him, not completely serious.
"What fun is a bar unless you get a couple of fights every now and then?" Michael grinned again.
"Depends on how our new Security Chief will conduct things," Rilar reminded him. "Commander Serea spoke of him to some extent and very highly of him I might add. She seemed awfully familiar with his record in Starfleet."
"It would seem logical that she would do so since she knows him personally," L'Nara said out of nowhere, having been quiet for most of the conversation.
"How do you know that?" Michael said, turning in his seat to face the dark haired Vulcan next to him.
"I was reading his service record when I recognized a former ship he had served on was the same as one Commander Serea had concurrently served on," L'Nara answered simply.
The room remained silent after she spoke, all eyes on her except for Katja's, who had lost interest in the conversation long before this point and was spending her time tracing the patterns in the placemats with her tiny fingers.
"Are you going to elaborate?" Michael urged her.
L'Nara placed her fork down after finishing the bite she had just taken, biding her time before answering. She folded her hands in her lap as she prepared to continue.
"Lt. Commander Raleigh was a security officer on the USS Callahan, the same vessel Commander Serea was first officer on," L'Nara began. "They served together for approximately five years until an incident on Teprem III where their commanding officer, security chief, and counselor were killed on a diplomatic away mission. Lt. Commander Raleigh was the only one to survive from the away team."
"I remember reading about that in the war updates," Senecal said with shocked remembrance. "Their ship was lucky another Federation starship and a Klingon warbird were nearby to assist them in the surprise attacks. It could have turned into a massacre."
L'Nara nodded in agreement with her and then finished the story, "Lt. Commander Raleigh was hurt fairly extensively and had to be taken to a Starfleet medical facility immediately. He did not return to duty during the war due to his injuries while Commander Serea continued on as the new commanding officer of the USS Callahan until the ship was destroyed in the final battle with the Dominion."
"Next time I'll just come to you for all the gossip," Michael joked.
"Vulcans do not gossip," L'Nara reminded Michael, not realizing he relished giving her a hard time. "It is factual information kept by Starfleet."
Rilar and Senecal chuckled at their companions' banter which won them another smile from Michael who felt some reward for his jokes from their response since he received none from L'Nara's stoic personality. Rilar stood as he realized everyone was done with dinner and began to take the plates back to the replicator.
"Oh, let me help you with that," Senecal said as she stood with him and collected her own plate.
"Don't worry, I can get it," Rilar said with a warm smile. "But I appreciate your offer."
She nodded as she hesitantly sat back down in her seat, letting him clean the table. Senecal turned to Katja and noticed her daughter's eyelids drooping from sleepiness. Katja rubbed her eyes attempting to stay awake.
"Well, I hate to eat and run," Michael began. "But I have another shift I have to get started on to meet the schedule for the retrofits that are coming."
"You're not going to stay for dessert?" Rilar asked in fake astonishment.
"Sorry, but the devil of a chief engineer is probably waiting for me," he grumbled.
"I must also return to my experiments," L'Nara said standing and gave a respectful nod to Rilar. "Thank you for dinner."
"I'll see you in the morning," Michael said motioning to Rilar. "We've got to plan another time for our ping pong tournament."
L'Nara ignored the reference to their interrupted match and walked out the door with Michael in tow.
"They aren't a couple, are they?" Senecal inquired.
"Why do you say that?" Rilar asked with a laugh.
"No reason," Senecal grinned at him.
He laughed at her humorous comments and placed the last of the plates into the replicator. Senecal glanced over and noticed Katja's head draped over her arm as she rested upon the table.
"She was worn out tonight," Senecal sighed as she eyed her daughter. "But she sure enjoyed herself."
"It was a great dinner party," Rilar agreed. "I'm glad you two ended up coming. It wouldn't have been the same night without you two."
Senecal shyly laughed and lowered her head to avoid his dark brown eyes watching her. She always felt funny when feeling his eyes focused on her but felt the warmth and friendliness they emanated toward her when they talked.
"I should be getting her home," Senecal said, referring to Katja who lay asleep still at the table.
"I'll help," Rilar said and before Senecal could stop him, he had swept Katja's sleeping form into his arms and she groggily moved her arms around his neck to hold on as she laid her head on his shoulder. "I'll walk you home."
She appreciated the kind gesture and relented in attempting to stop him. They walked out the door of his quarters and made their way down the corridor. Her quarters were on the same deck but much further down the curved hallway in another section. He let her show the way as they slowly walked down the hallways as to not disturb Katja's rest.
"Is everything ok with you and Katja?" he quietly said suddenly as they were walking.
Senecal looked at him in a mixture of surprise, shock, and a little panic. Had he noticed that easily?
"Wh... what do you mean?" she tried to ask innocently.
"You seemed a little bothered during dinner," he commented.
"Oh," she said, feeling herself blushing again. "It's nothing really… I just… we… we've been having some problems."
"I see," Rilar replied, it was not his place to push the issue with her since they barely had just met the day before but he wanted to somehow console her or let her be able to get out whatever she was holding up inside.
"He's away a lot," she spit out quickly as if trying to explain herself. "He's an exo-archaeologist and exo-biologist so he's always somewhere looking or testing things."
Rilar remained quiet after she spoke, he knew that was not the complete story or the main reason she was upset over whatever problems she and her husband were having.
"Katja doesn't even get to see him that much," she sighed with disdain, channeling her usual upset feelings into annoyance and a little anger. "And now what he's doing is going to make it even worse for her. She doesn't even know her dad well enough yet and he's going to go change on her."
"Do you know for sure it will be a problem when he gets here?" Rilar asked her, he did not know what it was her husband was going to do but he did not ask.
"I just know it will be," she shook her head. "He hasn't thought about the consequences for his family in a long time."
They approached the door to her quarters and she led him inside to where Katja's room was. Rilar carefully placed her down on the sheets and instinctively, Katja reached out for her teddy bear next to her on the pillow.
After pulling the covers over her and leaving the door slightly open, the two of them walked back to the front room. Senecal walked with him to the door to see him out.
"Thank you for carrying her here," she said.
"It was no problem," Rilar said sincerely. He paused for a moment and then took a deep breath. He placed a hand on the side of her shoulder. "If you ever need anything, I'd be happy to help."
She could sense the comfort in his eyes with his good intentions. He had a good heart and she hoped it would be enough to help her through the hard time she was having.
"Thank you," she said with a slightly sad smile.
They stood for a moment caught between each others' gazes until he broke it.
"I better get going," he said. "I've got a lot of work waiting for me tomorrow so I should get some sleep."
"Of course," she said. "Good night."
"Good night," he said as he stepped out the door.