Author's Note: This is probably going to be my active Star Trek work for 2021, unless the muse gets going on one of the ideas that Star Trek Picard, Star Trek Lower Decks, or the third season of Star Trek Discovery inspired. This story does contain a bit of a cross with my Marrissa Stories as well as the aforementioned Lower Decks. There are a couple other Marrissa Stories that might get a revival, now that new trek has revived my Trek muse. I am not, however abandoning any work at this time.

As mentioned elsewhere, I am prioritizing works this year based on how many views they get in the prior month on fanfiction dot net.

Chapter Two

[Tivan, T'Nara, and Dr. Osanna: Hybrids and Talen on Vulcan]

Counselor Tivan was looking for his sister. She was attending the Botany conference on the Starbase. Up ahead he heard a voice that sounded very similar to his Captain's. "By the use of infusions of nitrous rich soil into the natural turf, you can usually increase growth five-fold."

As he came around the corner he saw his sister along with a scientist who looked a lot like his Captain. The scientist was almost exactly the same height and had the exact same hair color. She was dressed in a well cut ladies business suit, black jacket, over a red blouse with black ties. Her skirt was a charcoal grey. Every bit her demeanor said professional.

"What about with the aqua environmental variants?" his sister asked. T'Nara hadn't changed a bit. She still was a statuesque lady, ever bit the image of the logical Vulcan, classical straight cut hair, brown form fitting jumpsuit . . . his younger sister had definitely never been one to break the mold, publically.

"Surprisingly carbonated water seems to cause them to perk up, if used judiciously, especially when infused with a sugar syrup of the fructose variety," the scientist said. "I wish I had more time to talk, but I must get to the seminar on rutabaga propagation in hostile environments."

"Good day then, Doctor Osanna, I shall see you after the Tradescantia Pallida Seminar," T'Nara said, as Doctor Osanna began to hurry off. T'Nara then turned towards her brother. "Live Long and Prosper, my brother. I did not expect to see thou today."

"Peace and Long Life, my sister," Tivan replied, bowing his head slightly. "I managed to tie up my duties early, today, so I sought you out in order to inquire about my son's behavior while in your care."

"Your youngest was quite well behaved, if a little sedentary," T'Nara said. "He kept up with his studies quite well, and seems to be quite knowledgeable. I was able to direct his learning towards some particular studies which I feel can only help him, given your tendency to be posted on human crewed Starships."

"T'Hana mentioned that you had been exposing Talen to Shakespeare," Tivan said, as they began to walk down the corridor towards the main concourse of the Starbase.

"Yes," T'Nara said. "It is most irregular how that Terran English Playwright has permeated so many cultures. I am to attend an conference on Qo'nos next month, where I'm told I should not miss the performance of Hamlet in the 'original Klingon.'"

"If Targon is still playing Hamlet, you shouldn't," Tivan said. "His emotional range in the role is quite above the expected. Usually the Klingons have some trouble with the necessary angst for the role. T'Nara and I managed to see his first performance three point two years ago while accompanying her mother."

"I will be staying with Ambassador T'Ril while I am on Qo'nos," T'Nara said. "She offered me the hospitality of the Embassy's Ambassador's Residence."

"Please convey my greetings to my honored mother-in-law for me on your arrival," Tivan said. "T'Hana will most likely have a message for you to convey for her."

"I shall be sure to talk to your honored wife before you leave," T'Nara said. "I expect that she will have some words for me about the installation of the pool in our family's estates."

"It is quite unexpected, given the estate's presence on the edge of the Forge," Tivan said.

"The South Underground Chamber had not been used in centuries," T'Nara said, with just a slight bit of a defensive tone. "It is plenty high for Talen's diving platform, though I did insist that he do some laps before he worked on his diving. I was unable to find out what inspired him to try that unusual sport for a Vulcan."

"I'm afraid that he's had a few bad influences on the Oklahoma."

[Dr. Osanna & Captain Osanna]

Captain Shawneela Osanna was walking to Admiral Evallyn's Office with her formal report on her patrol. It was traditional for the Captain to deliver a formal report after a border patrol in person. This would be Osanna's first such report. She'd yet to pass a year in command, and like most new Captains, had worked really hard on her report. Her dress uniform was perfectly starched and in perfect order.

As she turned the corner, she spotted the one person that she didn't want to see. Shawneela quickened her pace, hoping that her mother would not spot her. It was a vain hope. As she took her second step around the corner, she could already feel the tendrils of her mother's inquiring thought.

"Little one, you should know better than to try to avoid your mother," her mother's thought reached her, as their eyes met. Shawneela ignored it, continuing her course at an increased pace. "Still not willing to talk, Little One? It is getting old."

"I have my duty Mother," Shawneela set back sharply. "You would be advised not to interfere with it or my life again. Good bye." Then she snapped up her shields sharply, using the additional training that she had gotten from Doctor T'Hana recently to wall off her mother specifically from her. She closed the backdoor which every Betazoid parent installed in their offspring with such a snap that she saw her mother physically flinch.

Shut out of her daughter's mind, her mother was undeterred. "Shawneela!" she shouted as she proceeded across the wide promenade towards Captain Osanna. She was not quick enough, as Captain Ossana slipped through a door for Star Fleet Personnel only, and it closed behind her. The smile that filled the Captain's face, as a result of hearing her mother run into the door was entirely unexpected by Admiral Evallyn.

[Tivan & Talen: Chantilly's case]

Counselor Tivan looked up when his son entered the room. Talen had obviously just come from swimming in the ship's pool. The pool was probably the only one on a starship with a 5 meter diving platform. The alteration had been done some years before when the pool had served as temporary quarters for one of then Captain Necheyev's diplomatic missions. It had been kept that way due to a succession of avid divers and the fact that the large chamber between the computer cores made it easier for them to swap out large sections from both at the same time. The logic of placing a pool itself, between sensitive electronics, otherwise, had not made sense to Tivan.

T'Hana had informed Tivan that their son had managed to finally put a little muscle on during his month on Vulcan. He'd apparently also managed to get a bit of a tan, his skin being more of a golden brown hue than it had previously. Talen had combed his hair back, probably with just his hands, letting his dark brown hair with reddish highlights slightly cover his pointed ears. He wore only a pair of yellow swimming trunks, and had a white towel slung around his shoulder. He wasn't entirely dry.

"My son, it pleases me to see that you are exercising," Tivan stated. Talen came to a stop in front of his father. "May I hope that this is the beginning of a trend, and that you have given up those corn chips."

"You may hope, as I do find swimming to be most agreeable," Talen replied, with an grin that was not Vulcan. "As for the corn chips, Mother informs me that I can no longer order them, and any friends who order them for me will find their next physical most disagreeable. Therefore, I have switched to carrots. My friend Samuel has given me a line that I wish to see Mother's reaction to."

Adolescents, as Tivan often noted to other parents on the Oklahoma, were a universal constant. It mattered not that Talen was Vulcan, he still tested his boundaries with his parents, at present it seemed a little milder than usual, but Tivan was going to make sure the camera was at hand when his wife came home. Talen was more of his father's son than his mother's. They shared more interests than Talen did with T'Hana. Talen's older twin siblings, seven years older than he, had been more T'Hana's, but they were no longer spoken of.

"I shall have to make sure I am there for it, Talen, especially if Mister Yosemite is involved," Tivan replied. "Your aunt has already delivered your possessions. Your trunk is in your room. Before you go rearrange your room, however, I have some questions that you may be able to help me with about the Captain's Daughters."

"What has Habiba done?" Talen said, sitting down in the chair across from Tivan.

"Aside from her sudden interest in kisses and baby care, nothing," Tivan replied. "As we were without boys her age, the former has not been a concern."

"Then Chant must be focusing on something too much," Talen said. He shrugged his shoulders at Tivan's raised left eyebrow. "She does that. Chant finds something she likes and it's hard to get her on to something else for very long without her going back to it as soon as she feels she can. She used to be really quiet, too, but that changed when she came back to class after her father was convicted. I had to ask Mother if verbal diarrhea was a symptom of human pregnancy."

"It seems you know Chantilly rather well," Tivan said. Tivan wasn't surprised at that. His son had been known as the ringleader among his classmates. Being the sole Vulcan child aboard the ships his parents had been assigned since he was six had resulted in a child who wasn't quite as perfectly Vulcan. Spending the last month on Vulcan, he'd hoped, had countered some of that.

"As well as any boy on the Oklahoma," Talen replied. "She doesn't let many of us get close to her. When it comes to males, she's got a very wide personal space she protects."

"That is not unexpected." Since her father had beaten and raped her, such a response was perfectly within established parameters.

Talen replied, with a un-vulcan-like grin, "For some reason she doesn't see me as much of a threat though."

"You look like your mother," Tivan noted. "Now go get dressed. I'm going to need your help later.