JP: Lieutenant Is’Kah Xiron, Lieutenant (JG) Hana Wright, Ensign S'Rorr, PNPC T'Pa, and PNPC Is'Lath - Truths, Lies, and Mommy Issues Part V
Persephone J
(( Wright Quarters, USS Chin’toka, Docked Starbase 1 ))
Is’Kah: Hana, are you alright?
Wright: I’ll live. I’ve stopped freaking out.
Is’Kah: Do you mind if I bring T’Pa back in?
Wright: We can talk. Just…let me get myself situated.
Stoval helped her up and after attempting to wash away the evidence of her tears, Hana sat at her kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of her. Teela was on her shoulder and Stoval was at her side. She was going to need all of it to get through this.
Turning, Is’Kah opened the door again. T’Pa looked like she had cried, still, as her cheeks were still splotchy and her eyes were red.
Is’Kah: T’Pa, please, come inside.
T’Pa took one last deep breath and then opened her eyes. She nodded her head once and stepped inside. The sight of her child, her grown child, with tears streaks on her cheeks wrenched her heart, but she was determined to stay in control and not embarrass them all again.
T’Pa: Hello T…. Hello Hana.
Is’Lath: Greetings, Hana. Thank you for allowing us back into your home.
Wright: Yeah…uh hi? I guess…introductions? I’m Hana, Hana Wright. I’m a Lieutenant JG in Engineering and I’m twenty-four.
It felt a bit silly to introduce herself to a woman who she had spent her whole life kind of hating but here she was. She regretted all the things she said, especially the declarations she made about Vulcans as a whole. She didn’t mean them, she just wanted to hurt someone she thought had hurt her and let herself be blinded by that pain. Starting over seemed like the best move and she hoped Is’Kah would forgive her too.
The Vulcan tilted her head. It was an unusual way to restart, but she understood the advantage.
T’Pa: Hello, my name is T’Pa. I am an assistant ambassador with the Vulcan Diplomatic Corps. I currently work out of Vulcan as part of the rapid response teams. It is nice to meet you, Hana Wright.
Wright: That’s…uh…cool? I’m sorry I don’t know what to say. I don’t have a lot of experience talking to Vulcans…Stoval excepted of course.
She leaned against him a little further and he rubbed soothing circles into her back.
T’Pa: Is’Kah is Vulcan.
Wright: Half-Vulcan. She knows how much that sucks and…well, she knows how to smile and doesn’t treat me like a freak because I do too.
Is’Kah: Um, yeah, about that Vulcan thing… I display emotions.
Is’Lath: We will have a conversation about that later, Is’Kah. Don’t interrupt them.
Is’Kah: :: slightly lowers her head:: Yes, Mother.
Hana’s eyes narrowed at her friends mother.
Wright: What’s there to discuss?
Is’Kah gave Hana a look that said she’d tell her later.
T’Pa: Yes. I have heard from many that half Vulcans suffer from the control of Vulcan society. I regret that we did not have the opportunity to argue about that when you were an adolescent the way Is’Lath and Is’Kah did.
Wright: There’s nothing to discuss. I feel emotions and I wear them on my sleeve. That’s how it’s always been. My dad…well I realize he’s not the most reliable narrator so I had a lot of misunderstandings until I met Is’Kah and eventually Stoval. Well, re-met Stoval. And, I guess if I’m actually that baby Is’Kah met, I re-met them too. Either way, I’ve known for a bit now that a lot of what I was led to believe about Vulcans was inaccurate and…I guess, that a lot of what I thought I knew about you and my own past is…maybe not true either.
Hana couldn’t look the other woman in the eye, peering down at her cafe mocha like it contained the secrets to the universe.
T’Pa: Remet? That means you have a mating bond?
Wright: ::cheeks bright green:: Yeah. He uh, tells it better than I do because he was older when we first met, but we encountered each other in a terminal and apparently spontaneously formed some kind of bond? I still l don’t really get it, but, yeah. Actually it was just a few days before my birthday now that I think about it. Dad and I were going to get Teela in the days after Christmas when it happened. I got Teela on the first of the year.
T’Pa: I am confused. Your birthday is not near Christmas.
Wright: Yeah it is? January first. Five days after Christmas. I was supposed to be born later but I was premature. I never asked too much about it but I always suspected it was some kind of hybrid weirdness.
Anger surged through the Vulcan’s heart once more. It reminder her to say calm. She had lost hold of logic to often and would allow it to happen again.
T’Pa: My child, the pain of childbirth is something a mother could ever forget. You were not premature. I gave birth to you on March 1st.
Wright: What? But that would make me younger than I am by two whole months? And all the baby pictures I have show me as being really small for my age.
Of course, her dad really had been claiming she was two months older than she was, she would appear small for her age.
T’Pa: I do not think it is wise for me to speculate on what your father told you. I will simply accept that you were given the wrong date.
Wright: That…it would explain why he always wanted to do something on that day. I just…::shaking her head:: okay. Let’s go over what I was told so we can see if there was anything else he left out or changed.
T’Pa: A most logical suggestion. Shall we sit?
Wright: Yeah, uh sure.
Stoval: May I offer you some refreshments?
He stood and walked over to their cupboards.
Stoval: I find that the replicator never gets my tea quite right so I prefer to make it myself.
T’Pa nodded. This was a good sign.
T’Pa: You have helped my child. I owe you my gratitude. ::turning her head:: You as well Is’Kah.
She bowed her head slightly. Is’Kah returned the bow, her body coming to a sharp 45-degree angle.
Is’Kah: It was only logical to do so, ma’am.
T’Pa: Indeed.
The corner of Is’Lath’s mouth twitched, clearly pleased with Is’Kah and how she was presenting herself.
Stoval returned with several steaming cups of Vulcan tea that Hana didn’t care for and sat down beside her. Hana grabbed at her arm for comfort.
The Vulcan looked at her daughter’s cup, half full of mud water. Her diplomatic training told her that it would be best to think of T’Hana as a full human for now.
Wright: Okay. Um…let’s see. My dad used to work security on Starbase 230 where he met some travelling Vulcan woman. He didn’t tell me much about you, or anything at all really, just that you two were never married. He said you had me and…um…::her throat felt like it was closing up:: decided I wasn’t Vulcan enough and your career was more important, so you didn’t sign the birth certificate. He decided to be a single dad. He left his job and took me to the colony he raised me on because two of his friends were moving there at the same time and he needed the support because his parents weren’t in the picture. From there, I was raised like any other kid, besides the whole telepathy and no getting drunk in the woods thing.
She let go of the tea before she broke it. She took several deep breaths before speaking.
T’Pa: Please forgive my lack of self-control. I have struggled with control around the subject of since you were stolen from me. I will send you a copy of your birth certificate, signed by myself and your father.
She took another moment to smooth the anger from her voice.
T’Pa: David and I did meet on Starbase 230. We were in love and in a relationship for four years. Please confer with Stoval and Is’Kah on this next fact. It is very difficult for a Vulcan to have an accidental pregnancy. Is’Lath will confirm that I am not a foolish person and understand that I would have a half-human child and what that would mean. I refused you nothing during the short time we had before you were taken from me, and I would never have given you up. In fact, you being taken from me is the only thing that has made me lose control.
She had a tight grip on her control and looked up at Hana. The open emotion that Hana displayed reminded T’Pa to treat her like a human.
T’Pa: I love you, Hana. I did not think you were not enough of anything. I hope you allow me to prove that to you. Your father had many arguments over the years we were together, but only one was volatile. He always wanted me to show more emotion and was dismayed that I did not cry when you were born, or when you smiled, or when you crawled. He thought it meant that I did not love you or him enough, but that is not how I show my love. I see now that what he wanted was for me to be more human.
Tears started to creep down Hana’s cheeks and she wiped them away with a sleeve.
Lieutenant Is’Kah Xiron
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS Chin’toka
R240101I14
Pronouns:
She/Her (Player and Character)
Zha/Zhen (Character)
And
Ensign S'Rorr
Ship's Counselor
USS Chin'toka
A240206S04
And
PNPC Is’Lath as written by
Lieutenant Is’Kah Xiron
And
PNPC T’Pa as written by:
Lieutenant Commander Divya Tam
Chief of Operations
USS Thor
A240104DT4
She/Her (character and player)
And
Lieutenant JG Hana Wright
Engineering Officer
USS Chin’Toka
A240112HW4