New Arrival [ Open ]

[Deryn Kell]

[ USS Discovery - Mess Hall ]

" Too many indeed . It's safe to say Cardassia hasn't fully recovered , even to this day . As brutal as the Dominion might have been , it was only a part of our problem though ... The Klingon Empire wasn't any better . The glorious liberators perpetrated countless murders of their own , for " Honour " no doubt ... But they were with the Federation , so they got away with it , unlike the Dominion . My Mother was one of those " forgotten casualties " of the Klingons . "

Brainless savages , the whole lot of them , Deryn almost thought out loud . She remained calm , and her expression unchanged , but she knew she better not delve on the subject too much . She was a cool and composed person , but she had her sensible nerves like everybody else . It used to sadden her a lot when she was young , and got her eyes to well up with tears . Nowadays , it angered her .

Chief Ozu broke her silence at the mention of the Dominion War , and how everyone's family had been impacted by it one way or the other . But it was obvious enough that the subject made her uncomfortable . Either the Dominion War itself , or the subject of her parents . Deryn understood that . Over the years , Deryn had learned to talk about her parents more openly , but it never really made their deaths less painful .

" My Mother was in the Liberation Front , she helped hide Agents of the Resistance from the Jem'Hadar . And her Father was a cell Leader , until somebody sold them out , but he managed to escape with a handful of men . "

She raised her cup of tea in one hand .

" To Resistance fighters , and family Heroes ! "

She downed what was left of her red leaf tea and gently put down her cup on the table in front of her before crossing her arms to match her legs . Hebrin changed subjects to loosen the atmosphere .

" That's fascinating ! Any culture in particular you are quite fond of ? I studied some xenolinguistics myself at the Academy . " She pointed vaguely towards her head . " That Cardassian eidetic memory makes it ridiculously easy to learn new languages , speaking takes the most practice . And i thought it would complement my Security training well , especially for Away Missions and so on .

Any bit of History you prefer ? "

[Ozu Saya]

[Mess Hall]

Saya dipped her head at Hebrin's comment about her father, grateful that her colleagues not only seemed to understand her feelings, but shared in them.

When Kell offered the toast, both Saya and Kyo lifted their glasses and sipped.

Saya listened intently to Hebrin and Kell's conversation about xenoanthropology. As a hybrid, she sometimes felt out of place in both of her cultures and found it interesting to learn how others viewed the topic. While she didn't practice the Bajoran faith, other than the occasional quick prayer to the Prophets in crisis, Kyo did. Saya sometimes just watched him when he knelt in front of his prayer mandala each morning, wondering if she should join him. She'd been on the verge of asking a couple of times, but hadn't quite brought herself to it.

[Hebrin Relar]

[ Mess Hall ]

He, too, raised his drink.  "To those who fought, and those who continue to fight, for our freedom," he said.  Their glasses clinked against one-another's.

It was a good idea, changing the subject from lost loved ones and terrifying occupations and wars, to something more positive.  It wasn't the best thing to talk about; the Dominion War was before his time but there were people here who had lost loved ones in it.

He liked talking about cultures.  "Humans, of course, are interesting.  Vulcans.  Romulans.  Klingons.  Andorians.  There are so many cultures out there to learn about.  I did a presentation, once, about Allasomorphs.  And I got an excuse to go to Risa for the first time, to get pictures of the Holg'ahn for a project.  You get to do all kinds of things, meet all kinds of people.  And having been raised on Deep Space 9, I'm used to being around all kinds of people.  I enjoy it."

[Deryn Kell]

[ USS Discovery - Mess Hall ]

Deryn listened to the Cadet talking about the cultures he found most interesting . She hadn't personally met any Andorian so far , and only knew the most basic stuff about them . Allasomorphs on the other , she had no idea who or what they were .

" What are Allasomorphs exactly ? I do not think i have ever heard about them . "

He then mentioned a field trip to Risa for an Academy project . She smiled .

" Nice move ! It beats most of the usual project destinations . I have yet to go Risa myself , i hear the Summer Festival is quite the place to be ! "

Binary sunset on the beach and fireworks ...

[Hebrin Relar]

[ USS Discovery - Mess Hall ]

Kell wanted to know what Allasomorphs were; he knew a lot about them from his project, so he'd tell her.  "Allasmorphs are humanoids capable of shapeshifting," he said.  "They come from a tidally-locked planet that is harsh to most other humanoids, using their shapeshifting to help them survive."

He grinned about Risa.  "That had been my summer project, actually.  So I got to see the festival first-hand.  It was very fun."