Ensign Trovek: A Good Death - Arys to Ohara

[Arys Trova]

((Deck 6, Arys’ and Tito’s Quarters))

Arys entered her quarters and took a deep breath for the first time in what felt like hours. She had just finished her work for the day, and all this time she had felt this tightness in her chest that made her unable to breathe. The Counselor glanced around the room, making sure that her roommate, Tito, wasn’t present, and once her paranoia was satisfied she walked over to her closet, dressed down into her pyjamas, and folded the uniform in a neat, and almost reverent fashion. 

She liked Tito, but she would never admit that. Below the surface of bitterness and spite, he was actually quite caring. The only problem was that he cared about her and that meant him asking whether she had slept, eaten, or wanted to talk. She didn’t really feel like doing any of those things. 

Beyond tired, and yet unable to sleep, the Counselor decided that this was a good time to take care of her weekly correspondence with friends and family. She stayed in touch with only a few people. There was Ohara, the Klingon security officer on the USS Saint Raphael who Arys considered her best friend, and to whom she tried to remain as honest as possible about her thoughts and feelings. Then there was her father, who regularly received a few lines of text, even though Arys was unsure if he actually read it, or if he had his secretary take care of the replies. He had always been busy. 

Arys wrote to her grandfather too, and knowing that he was in poor health, it was his replies that she treasured most, even if they sometimes didn’t really sound like him at all. He was on a new kind of medication, she knew, and she wanted to believe that his condition was getting better. 

And lastly, there was Lukin Zorkal, the Cardassian Ambassador Arys had met shortly before her assignment to the Juneau. They wrote to each other regularly, though there was less honesty and more subtle, or not so subtle, jabs at each other. It was Lukin who Arys decided to write first - after all, it would be the easiest letter. 

After that was done, Arys sighed and got up, making her way to the replicator. Mid-way, she hesitated. Despite what Tito (and a lot of other people) seemed to belief she wasn’t entirely unreasonable, and she knew that she couldn’t expect to sleep if she had another cup of coffee now. Then again, perhaps it would at least make her productive. After weighing pro and cons, and eventually deciding that it was in fact a stupid idea, she settled on a cup of tea instead. 

The woman wrapped her freezing fingers around the warm mug, sat down at the desk once more, and inhaled the soothing scent of valerian root. She closed her eyes for a moment, and let it remind her of the terran cat she had owned many years ago, and a smirk spread over her lips as she remembered the very opposite effect valerian root had on felines. 

After briefly considering writing to her father as well, Arys decided that she simply did not have the energy for it. He wouldn’t mind waiting a day or a few more, and she had written to her grandfather just the day prior. 

As a matter of fact she wasn’t at all in the mood for another version of how okay everything was, when clearly it was not. So instead, she opted to do her weekly recording for Ohara. The Klingon had called her out on her ‘I’m fine’-statements before, and ever since that time, they had taken to exchanging audio and video, rather than written content. 

And so, after a sip from the calming brew, she started the recording. 

Trovek: Hey Ohara ::she stifled a yawn:: I’m sorry for not replying earlier, I am… let’s say, stressed. No seriously, everything went to hell in the past days. I am sitting here, really impressed with myself and with how I gave up a pretty decent career as a doctor.

The Counsellor positioned herself to sit cross-legged on the chair, almost spilling the tea in the process. 

Trovek: So, where do I even start. Aavaro Wilds. I hate this place. Really, not even the Cardassians wanted it, and now I know why. We ended up in a nebula, which looked pretty for about twenty seconds, and then was… well. It’s a nebula. It nebulas. Anyway, something caused some kind of subspace rifts to open, which in turn caused the crew to hallucinate. And guess what my dumb brain was hallucinating? Kaala. 

She paused and grimaced at the thought of reliving those very unpleasant memories. She had told Ohara about Kaala before - the pregnant Klingon she had handed over to someone else’s care when she had started her assignment here. There had been unforeseen complications, something she would most likely not have caught either, and mother and child had died.  

Trovek: ::sighing:: So yes, great start, explaining to my colleagues why there is a pregnant Klingon with a knife trying to kill me. Then some weirdo told us the Borg had boarded the ship. Not very likely, like we went to investigate and ended up in Engineering. We, that is the Vulcan I told you about, plus another, more normal, Vulcan, a Human, and myself.  

Her expression darkened and she once more sipped from her tea. 

Trovek: So… Engineering was largely empty, aside from someone hallucinating spiders. Fine, I can deal with that. That was until one of the Ensigns, a patient of mine, threw himself into the warp core and evaporated. Yes, you heard that right. Had to shut the reactor down, and clean the ‘material’ out manually. And that was when mom decided to appear. 

Arys snarled. That part in particular still made her upset. 

Trovek: In front of the XO, and some colleagues, mind you. She goes on being all angelic and pretends to be the deity of the nebula or something like that. I really just wanted to strangle the woman. I had to come clean with who she is, so now people also know about my mommy issues too. Great. But wait, it gets better. She disappears, and me and the Commander went to repair an ODN conduit. We reach the destination and find ourselves in a room in pastel colors, where a tiny version of me, and a tiny version of the Commander, are wanting to play with us. And I mean tiny, as in, children. 

She emptied her mug of tea and grimaced once more. 

Trovek: Of course our younger selves were more than eager to share our darkest secrets, so yes, I know a lot more about the Commander than I ever wanted to, and so she does about me. We repaired the conduit eventually, returned, and just when some clever person on the bridge figured out a solution, we were haunted by French spiders. Of the size of… dogs. Horses. Shuttles. But no. Still not the worst part. No, the worst part was when the same Ensign who had thrown himself into the warp core reappeared. Turns out I hallucinated that too. Yes. I hallucinated someone throwing himself into the warp core, caused it to be shut down, and... ugh. Yeah. 

Behind her, the door hissed open and Tito stepped inside. Her demeanour changed from one moment to the other. She didn’t like showing weakness. Even if it was Tito.

Trovek: Sorry, that’s my roommate. Where was I… oh on the bright side I think I have a crush on my XO. I mean she’s attractive, intelligent and snarky. And she’s twisted. I find that appealing in people. ::she glanced over her shoulder at Tito, who looked a little confused, and smirked:: So… looks like Grumpy wants to get some rest. It’s pretty late.  

That comment caused Tito to pick up the plush mugatu and throw it at her. Arys grinned as she caught it. Then she returned her attention to the recording.

Trovek: Enjoy your week. And say hi to Doctor Rikja from me. 

She ended the recording and tossed the plush mugatu back onto her bed, talking to Tito as she sent the recording to its destination. He was, of course, urging her for more information about the things he had just heard. 

Arys, tired and distracted as she was, did not notice that she had sent the recording to Lukin instead of Ohara.

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Ensign Trovek Arys 

Counsellor 

USS Juneau 

J239809TA4