[USS Juno] Encountering the Heart

Posted on Fri Aug 3rd, 2018 @ 3:09am by Captain Harrold Anderson

2,371 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: [USS Shanghai] S1E2: Encounter in the Abyss
Location: T'San's Quarters
Timeline: 01/04/2395 @ 1830 Hours

Harry and Dan had been talking for a while, still sipping on wine, when he realized that poor Kerja most be all alone in the quarters. Harry tapped on his combadge. "Kerja Aanyo, can you please stop by Lieutenant T'San quarters." Asked Harry. He hoped he was not disturbing her.

"Right away sir." She normally wouldn't have called him that but it seemed like the thing to do. He was a Commander in Starfleet and what if other people were listening to the comms. She didn't want to embarrass him after all.

"I hope you do not mind, Dan. I am really enjoying our time together, and I have enjoyed our discussions. I still have on major topic to discuss, if you are willing, to indulge me some more?" Asked Harry.

Dan shrugged as she shook his head. "No problem."

The doors to the quarters slid open and T'Meela walked in. She walked in, in a calm pase. She looked to her father and the captain. "Father, captain." She then walked to her room.

After T'Meela left the the living room area, Harry decided to bring up the topic on his mind. "I envy you, Dan." He said. Harry took a break and continued on. "Wife, kids the family life. I have made to many personal sacrifices, I am grateful to have a daughter, grateful to have my command, but I have no one to share it with. No one to talk about the type of conversations, you can not have with your daughter, you know what I mean?" Asked Harry, hoping he was not rambling to much.

"I may not understand, but I think I can imagine some what. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have T'San and my children. With T'San in Starfleet, having a family may be hard. But T'San and I made it work somehow. Maybe you can make it work too." Said Dan.

"I am not sure I can forgive Tera, the mother of Kerja, plus that was almost 15 years ago, no doubt we are different people now. But I will only admit this to you, but you know what's really bad, being captain of a starship with so many beautiful woman onboard. One in particular has caught my eye, even though she sort of shot me down." Said Harry, pausing for a moment, debating what to say.

She has every right too, I am her Captain, and she is a member of the crew. Starfleet does not necessarily punish officers from dating, but it frowned on. But given our circumstances, being alone in a remote sector of space, we do not have the luxury of being single, do we?" Asked Harry.

"Harry, well, I think your position is probably the hardest, I imagine. You're the captain, and you give the orders and make the decisions. I am not sure what the position of this crew member is, but on a ship that you command it must be hard to keep your personal life and your working life apart, especially when it involves someone from your crew as well." Dan paused a moment before continueing. I know that my wife is going to be in dangerous missions, like maybe the one she is on now, down on new Bajor. I know it is the risk of being a Star fleet officer or being married to one. How hard will it be for you, when you loose your spousse and also knowing that you ordered her in to that situation. If you do decide to persue it, remember that. I don't want to discourage you from finding someone to share your life with, just don't forget your position in regards to this crew member."

"Trust me, its foremost on my mind. The lines get grey, anyone I choose to seek out a relationship with, will have to cope with the fact I am the captain. I Captain first, friend or partner second. In some ways I am also committed to the Juno." He said as he looked around. "It would be nice to have someone to talk to on a personal level, a partner, to share my feelings with, some one not married to my doctor." Said Harry with a smile. He was trying to make a joke.

Dan laughed. "Well, that certain someone, if she understands, wil be a lucky woman." He said. "And as a friend who is married to your doctor, I do understand. But if something happens down there to my wife, I kill you." Dan joked. "My wife is a trained officer, I have every confidence in her."

"Not sure how to approach her, first time she rejected me. Not use to being rejected, but I suppose since I am now a captain, it will be harder for the crew to want to flirt back, that line of professionalism needs to be established. But how to convince someone to give me a chance, not sure, but when I saw Kimoni Jexen, I felt a spark, and maybe cause she shot me down, it makes her more desirable, not sure. But I would like to get to know her." Said Harry, being open about his feelings. He wondered if Dan noticed the rejection at the party.

"Ah yea, haven't had the pleasure of meeting her personally. Trill girl right? If you want to get on mutual grounds with her, I'd suggest you take it slow. invite her for dinner. Food and drinks are always a success to get people to discuss more personal things." Said Dan. "If you want I can set you up with a romantic dinner for two in your personal mess."

"I rather open that personal mess to a private dinning hall for all occasions, romantic dinners, small parties, any occasion. But I like your idea, speaking of parties, we are going to have another one, after this mission is over. Starfleet finally approved my request. I submitted for T'San's promotion, its way overdue." Harry said, thinking it would be a nice way to end the first mission. Start the mission with his promotion, end with hers.

Kerja hit the chime outside the door and waited for someone to let her in. She shifted weight from one foot to the other and tried not to look as if she were nervous. The door parted and she glanced around. "Hello. My father asked me to meet him here?"

Dan had opened the door. "Ah, miss Aanyo, your father is on the couch, come in, have a seat. Would you like something to drink."

"Umm, just some Kava juice? If it's not too much trouble." Kerja glanced around, cautiously coming into the quarters where she'd been summoned.

Harry watched Kerja walk into the room. "Sir..." he stated in a playful manner. "What's next Captain?" He asked teasing her a little.

"Well I didn't know who you were with. I thought I was being respectful," Kerja answered honestly.

"You could always try Father or Dad. I prefer we keep rank out of it, I do not want to call you Cadet Kerja." He suggested in a semi serious tone, wondering when Dan was going to return?

"About that . . . . I don't want to be in Starfleet." He couldn't yell here in front of his friends, not that she thought he would but it seemed to be a safe place to bring up the subject.

"Cadet uniform is not optional on the Juno, this is a Starfleet vessel, while your aboard you will be required to wear uniform, while at school and on duty. But your also my daughter, I am willing to cut the sirs, ma'am, captains and cadet's, if you are?" He asked, hoping she was not going to fight him on this. He needed to hold his ground. This might be a family friendly ship, but it was still a Starfleet vessel.

Kerja had no choice about coming aboard though. Starfleet wasn't just going to let her be by herself, she wasn't of age yet. She frowned and bit her tongue to keep from arguing. It seemed wrong to force her to wear something, especially when she didn't necessarily agree with the ideals the uniform stood for.

Dan walked in with the juice. "I couldn't help but hear you two converse over here, cause, well the kitchen is right over there. So is the replicator. And T'Meela wears the same uniforms, just see it as a school uniform. Besides its how we keep everyone apart. I wear a uniform in the kitchen. And besides, once you reach eighteen, you can do what ever you want, just because he is the captain, doesn't mean he can order you in to be in Starfleet." He then pointed to the snacks on the table. "Please help yourself." He then seated himself again. "Oh, but remember, just because your eighteen, doesn't mean there aren't any rules, but I am sure you know that."

"Kerja, it's not suppose to be a punishment, a lot of people enjoying being a part of Starfleet." Suggested Harry, hoping to de-escalate his daughter. "Give it a little time, I think you will find life enjoyable on the Juno."

She still didn't look happy but she wasn't going to discuss it here. She'd never had to wear a uniform on any of the other ships she'd been on. She wore what she considered comfortable. "Thanks," she said to Dan. "So why did you want me to meet you here?"

"Thought you might enjoy the company, back home growing up, my parents always took me with them. I guess habits die hard." He said, hoping she would not mind. It was a human custom, she was not sure if Bajoran's had similar customs when raising their young.

It wasn't that Tera hadn't ever taken Kerja anywhere but there were a lot of times when she'd been working that Kerja had been on her own, at least when she'd gotten old enough to be. "Okay," she said. Kerja didn't know these people very well but she could try to be friendly.

"Do you want to hang out with T'Meela, she is in her room. We going to be talking about adult stuff, things you probably don't want to hear about your old man." Suggested Harry with a nervous and yet adorable smile.

"Do I have to? I like listenint to adult conversations. I promise if I get traumatized I won't wake you up in the middle of the night." She didn't imagine anything could traumatize her more than the attack down on the planet and the subsequent kidnapping of her mother.

"You don't have too, thought it would be nice for you to meet a new friend, but if you want to stay, that's fine. I am going to tell you something you probably already figured out, I'm lonely, made a lot of sacrifices to get to my position as Captain." Said Harry as he took a breath.

"We were discussing my personal romantic life or lack of one, are you sure you want to stick around?" Asked Harry, giving her another chance to head to T'Meela's room.

This sounded far more interesting than anything going on in T'Meela's room. "Yes," she said, perking up at once.

"I froze up, normally have no issues talking to the ladies, but she sort of rejected me. I should be devastated, but maybe its my way seeking redemption or did I reject myself? This is very confusing. The more I think about it Dan, I think I froze up and blamed it on her rejecting me, but honestly, we barely spoke. I think I am gonna try again, I can not believe I am saying this, Dan do you have any advise on how to talk to a lady that makes you nervous, because you feel a spark with her?" Asked Harry. Trying to ignore the fact his daughter was listening in.

"Well, as you know Vulcans are in the advantage that our marriages are prearranged. But that didn't make things easier for me. The first time I met T'San, I was very nervous, cause she is fully Vulcan, and how she acted was as Vulcan as they can get. And I was more human. But I learned, its best to be yourself, because that is the person the other party is going to have to like." He sighed and paused a moment, "But if it feels right, then you could try again, but maybe you could let her lead the conversation. Let her decide how far she wants to go. I don't know much about relations in trill society, but maybe she has a great deal of experience from her previous hosts and she can help you there. And that's all I can give you. This is your show, you two have to figure this out for yourselves."

"I think that is the hard part, for so long, I have been in control and in charge. Trusting someone to share that control is a little nerve racking. I appreciate your advise, thinking I should walk Kerja home, and maybe have a little time to adsorb this down in Nemo's." Said Harry as he looked to Kerja.

"Not to get drunk, just be in an environment, I feel comfortable enough to think. Later on, I want to talk to you, but I need a little time to process this all," he said as he focused his attention towards Dan.

Dan nodded. "I understand that."

"I appreciate the advise," said Harry, he had a lot to think about. He had a daughter too, and he felt bad for placing his own needs first. But he just met her.

"Anytime, mate, our door is always open," Said Dan.

"Kerja, I should not be more than an hour." Said Harry, as he got up to leave the residence of Dan.

"Okay. I'll just go back to our quarters then." She stood up as well. "Thank you for the snacks."

"Again, I appreciate the advise and your hospitality." Said Harry, as he shook the hand of Dan.

Dan accepted the hand and he smiled to Harry as he left the room.

 

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