[BACKSIMM][A-PQ] Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek & Aldek Desai: The Love of A Father, Part II
Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek
((Private Quarters, Transport Antioch))
{{The morning after Brell’s promotion party…}}
::She knew it wasn’t possible for him to read her thoughts through a comm call. The emotions must have been written clearly enough in her features, despite her best attempts to hide them.::
Rosek: ::murmurs:: You were right. I’ve entered my season. And so has he.
::Aldek arched both eyebrows at this news. Having endured several seasons in his lifetime, he knew how taxing they could be...how hard it was to resist the call. The fact that Lael was as composed as she was astounded him. It took a moment for that last statement to click and when it did, concern crossed his features.::
Desai: Did you and he--?
Rosek: ::blushes and blurts:: No! Of course not! He would be exiled. ::worries her lower lip:: It was close, though. If we hadn’t kept being interrupted--
Desai: ::pauses:: Your season...what will you do?
Rosek: ::sighs:: A colleague aboard the Veritas is working on a way to stall the process until I can figure out a more permanent solution.
::He gazed at his daughter, a cold trickle of fear running down his spine. Knowing little of the colleague of whom she spoke, he couldn’t be entirely confident of the solution. One thing he knew with absolute certainty was the consequences of not resolving one’s season. He’d lost friends to it and had even lost an uncle who had been too ill prior to his season to even contemplate mating.::
Desai: You must eventually mate with another of our kind or else it will consume you entirely.
Rosek: ::grimaces:: I know. But what full-blooded Al-Leyan in their right mind would be intimate with me knowing that they would be exiled as a result?
Desai: ::pauses:: There have been some who have already been exiled. A record is kept in the Council’s most private documents. I’ll see if I can gain access and locate the individuals. ::sombers:: I’m sorry, my daughter. I had hoped to spare you from the position you have been placed in.
::She’d considered the possibility, but hadn’t really known how to even begin her search. With her father’s considerable influence, maybe there was hope. But with that hope was great risk. It was highly likely if he was found to be helping her, it would be deemed treason and he’d lose everything. The fact that he was willing to take the risk again, even knowing that his attempt to pair her and Toryn up to save her life had her chest tightening again. Brushing the emotion aside, she turned her attention to the reason for her call.::
Rosek: ::arches an eyebrow:: That reminds me. I was doing a little research on the home you gifted me...come to find out they don’t have any record of a Lael Rosek owning any property on Leya-I.
Desai: ::grimaces and runs his hands through his hair:: That’s because Lael Rosek doesn’t. Lael Desai does.
Rosek: ::whispers:: Why didn’t you tell me?
Desai: ::closes his eyes:: Because you’re too smart for your own good and I couldn’t risk you finding out the truth. It was better that you didn’t know.
Rosek: ::brow furrows:: Know what?
Desai: ::opens his eyes and meets her gaze:: I have...connections. I--I knew that your Human heritage would mean you wouldn’t be accepted here. That you wouldn’t be welcomed. I--I worried about the exact circumstance that you are in now...that you’d enter your season and wouldn’t have a willing mate.
::She was shocked to see moisture at the corners of her father’s eyes, his features screwed up in a pained expression. It made the tears that had threatened earlier fill her eyes anew, so close to spilling over. An overwhelming tempest of emotion had every muscle in her body tense, almost to the point of locking up entirely.::
Desai: ::rasps:: I--I lied and said that you were a full-blooded Al-Leyan. That your mother had been killed in an attack on her vessel. ::in a rush:: Please don’t be angry with me. I did it to protect you. I love you, Lael, and I couldn’t stand to lose you...especially not to something like this.
Rosek: ::choked:: Oh, Dad. I love you, too. ::pauses:: But won’t the Council find out? Won’t they punish you?
Desai: ::exhales shakily:: When that happens, yes, I will likely face charges of treason and will most likely be exiled. ::shakes his head:: But it would be worth it if only to see you safe and happy. ::grimaces:: And yet...now you’re at risk despite my best efforts.
Rosek: ::murmurs:: Hey. I’ll find a way. Don’t worry about me. I’m more worried about you. Life on Leya-I is all you’ve ever known. What will you do?
Desai: ::smiles wanly:: I’ll find a way.
::A watery smile crossed her lips. She’d spent 20-something years fantasizing about the kind of man her father was. She’d always pictured him as being a soft-hearted, compassionate, giving man. Who else could have stolen her mother’s heart so easily? But the reality of him was far exceeding her expectations.::
::She had no delusions that he was perfect. He’d lied and manipulated, after all. He was capable of it. But the fact that he’d done so to keep her safe and happy...she couldn’t bring herself to see that as a bad thing. He’d sacrificed his own happiness...had risked losing the connection with his home and his family...for her.::
Rosek: ::murmurs:: You know you can always stay with me if you need to. I’d need to ask my Captain, but I’m sure she wouldn’t have an issue with it.
Desai: ::beams proudly:: ::in Esperanto:: I’m truly blessed to have you as a daughter.
::Silent tears poured freely down her cheeks, matching the ones her father hadn’t been able to contain. Maybe she was being too hard on her mother. Though they’d always butted heads and both had said any number of hurtful things over the years, her father’s admission had made her wonder: “That was your mother’s doing”.::
::Was that why her mother had fled all of those years ago without looking back? Was that why she had chosen to raise two children on her own rather than tell their father about them? Had her mother been trying to protect her father the same way he’d tried to protect his daughter? She offered a murmured goodnight and the screen became black again.::
::Her earlier problems seemed far away now, a new hope filling her. She wasn’t alone. No matter what, she’d find a way. No matter what, she’d get through this. She had every reason to fight...to live...and she’d be damned if she was going to give up that easily.::
---
Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek, Eng.D.
Engineering Officer
USS Veritas NCC-95035
I238110RH0
https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php/Lael_Rosek
&
PNPC Aldek Desai
Al-Leyan Ambassador
Leya-I
I238110RH0