A family feast

Posted on Fri May 16th, 2025 @ 8:27pm by Lieutenant Xalanth & Lieutenant JG T'Para MD & Lieutenant JG Leilani & Lieutenant JG Fulvia & Lieutenant Ryan Keel

2,916 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Side Plots
Location: Xalanth Family quarters.
Timeline: Shortly after Certifiable

Xalanth was a happy lizard. The new lieutenant pin on his shoulder and promotion to head of security was another step in his career within the fleet. One he had earned and was proud to have earned.

But today was the one thing that could make him even happier. When all of his and his mate's schedules came together to give them a day when they could all sit down and have a meal together. Remembering his request to Ryan he had sent the diplomatic officer an invitation to join his family.

Now the lizard was hard at work making sure everything was ready for dinner. Hopefully, his new friend would be joining them.

Making his way around the corridors of the Astrea, Ryan held a pair of boxes delicately in his hands. He'd double-checked with the Dragonian, and he was fairly certain that there were no allergens in the desserts he had brought. One was a key lime pie made with sharp Rigelian limes, and the other a Risian chocolate cake. He was looking forward to seeing Xalanth again, and to meeting his family. Aside from his own academic interest in the situation, it was clear Xalanth was a family man, and loved his family dearly.

He found the doors to Xalanth's quarters, and rang the chime.

The door slid open letting out a slight blast of heat. In the doorway stood a Vulcan wearing one of the casual catsuits her people wore as casual. She gave a warm smile and her voice clearly showed she was half Vulcan. " Hello there you must be Ryan. Xalanth said you'd be coming. "

Feeling the heat wash over him, Keel was glad that he'd worn some smart fabrics to help him cope with it. 'Yes, that's me,' he replied with a smile. 'I come bearing gifts as well,' he said, indicating the boxes he had. 'I hope you all like key lime pie, or chocolate cake.'

" Sounds lovely." Xalanth called from inside his quarters. " We can lower the heat if it's to much. " T'para added as she offered to take one of the cakes.

The inside of the family quarters looked very different from the standard quarters. Many of the standard grey panels were gone and had been replaced with a warm and inviting desert golden colour. Many now held artwork from across the homelands of the strange family from claw paintings of Xalanths tribal people, betazoid, human and Vulcan paintings and even manga roman mosaic paintings.

The rather large quarters had been two with the central bulkhead now having a large oval-shaped table around which several of the family children were helping set the table. By her height, she was the eldest looked up and smiled. She had a faint trace of brown scales running along the sides of her forehead and what appeared to be tip points around her ear holes. " Hello there Mr Ryan." She said politely and friendly.

'Hi, how are you?' Keel asked with a smile. He looked around the quarters, marvelling at the amount of space they had carved out of the ship for the family. Particularly interested in the artwork, he spent a second or two looking at them, and wondering if he'd be able to get a closer look at them later on.

" Settling well." The young lizard replied with what felt like a happy chirp.

" Ryan glad you made it." Xalanth called as he stepped out of the kitchen area. He was followed by a betazoid as could be seen by her black irises wearing a dark pink bodysuit. " Is that chocolate cake i can smell," she asked. " Lelani my second, As you can tell she has her people's sweet tooth. " Xalanth said with a grin on his face as he placed her arm around her.

'A pleasure to meet you Lelani,' Keel replied with a smile. 'And yes, as it happens, I brought some Risian chocolate cake. I tried some during my shoreleave a few months back, and honestly, I can't get enough of it - I'm on a mission to get as many people as possible to try it, so I'm glad you have the Betazoid sweet-tooth.' He grinned at Xalanth, 'I'm glad I could make it!'

" Come set it on the table. " Xalanth said with a hearty smile on his lizard face. " Everything should be almost done."

" Someone did remember my Garum?" Came another voice. Emerging from another one of the rooms was the lizard's manga roman mate wearing a shortened toga with a warm smile on her face. Standing next to one of the mosaics it was clear most were of her.

" Of course my beloved I would never forget your fish sauce. " He replied with a chuckle. " Ryan this is Fulvia, my fourth former gladiatrix of manga Roma and one of the ship's intel girls."

'A pleasure to meet you,' Keel replied with a smile. 'Not often I get to share space with an ex-gladiator. Or a Magna Roman for that matter.' He pointed to the fish sauce, 'is the Garum the same sort of recipe they used on Earth?'

Fulvia nodded. "The very same. What is it the federation calls it first?" She asked T'para who smiled before replying with a " Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development" replied the hybrid.

Noticing the Vulcan's smile, Keel filed it away to ask about discreetly at some other time. He knew that some Vulcans permitted their emotions to show, but it was exceedingly rare. 'That's fascinating,' he replied, 'I tried garum once, at a reenactment of Ancient Rome, years ago now. The taste is certainly ... distinctive,' he concluded politely.

" I know that feeling," Xalanth said with a grin. " Fish is a rarity on my world and the city-state that has the most of them and my clan hate each other. "

" Any dish you'd like to add Ryan? " Leilani asked as she began laying a few plates on the table. They were metal, yet highly decorated in the dragonian art styles. As she did that Yazar and one of the younger girls began placing some cutlery.

'I'm happy to try what you've prepared - always happy to try new foods. One of the advantages of being a diplomatic officer is the sheer amount of banquets you attend. There's always something new to try. So please, surprise me,' Keel replied.

All three of the women chuckled looking over at Xalanth. " Your in for a treat Ryan Xalanth will never admit it but he's a great cook." Fulvia added as T'para let out a " kids dinner."

A series of red blurs shot through the room from the various rooms which made up the kids bedrooms. The girls were clearly Xalanths with dragonian DNA clearly being the dominant DNA though each of the girls clearly had traits from their mother.

" Ryan you've met Yazar. This is Amrar her younger sister." Xalanth said to his two girl who both had faint points around their ear holes along with a brown streak in their scales.

" Travla and Antistia my dear girls from my beautiful betazoid. " he added moving his hands over the two girls with dark black eyes along with a faint streak of brown scales. The younger of the two gave a happy hello and a wave. Travla seemed more teemed giving him friendly wave.

" And my two girls with my forth yet no less beautiful Fulvia Lersi and Lwiari. " he said with the last two who both bore the manga Romans eyes with a flaming blond streak across their head scales. Lwiari was clearly the youngest yet she waved and gave her best hello.

As the family took their seats it was impossible to notice the two empty seats. Already guessing his guest's question Xalanth jumped in. " Seats for my Zola and Cemet. Hopefully, they'll be rejoining the family by the end of the year."

'I hope that it comes to pass,' Keel replied, taking his own place at the table. 'It's a terrible thing for your family to be so separated.' He appreciated the empty chairs. Rigelians had the same or similar traditions for family that had passed or were otherwise absent, particularly at major events.

" It's been far to long since I've seen Zola and I've only held Cemet via hologram." The lizard added slightly bitterly obviously controlling himself in front of his family.

" Still for the first course a warm bowl of Xarnatn blood broth. " Xalanth said opening the soup pod at the table centre and picking up a ladle.

" Trust me it's far better tasting than it sounds. " Fulvia mentioned to Ryan as a bowl was placed int front of his. It smelt rather sweet and was a dark red colour a well-cooked meat chunks bobbing and what looked like finely chopped mushroom chunks in the fluid.

Keel had certainly not expected this. It smelt delicious, reminding him slightly of an Earth tagine with the sweet scent, but the meat bobbing about looked utterly alien to him. 'Xarnatn is an animal from your own planet Xalanth?' he asked as he picked up a spoon to try some of the broth. 'I definitely haven't come across it before.'

The lizard nodded. " Giant beast that wanders the deep deserts of my homeworld. Their armoured shells catch lichen, algae and seeds in the wind which grows into a small forest upon their backs. I think T'para described them as a cross between a sauropod and a tortoise," he explained glancing over at his first who nodded in reply. " My clan has a cooperative relationship with them. We look after them, protect them from other dragonians and predators, clean wounds, keep them free from pests and tend to their gardens. In return when one dies the herd let's us harvest the remains. " he explained.

" Don't worry they taste just like wild turkey," Fulvia reassured Ryan.

Taking a ginger bite, Keel found it to be true that they tasted like wild turkey, and began eating it with more enthusiasm. 'This is delicious!' he exclaimed. 'So, your clan are the only ones that have this relationship with the Xarnatn? Like, that's a completely unique thing on your planet, so how did it come about for your people?'

" My people have a very unique background. Are tale begins in the city-state of izille. They are one of the richest city-states on the planet being located by one of the few oceans are world holds. Long ago in a war my people called the war of the three daughters Izille had ended up at war with two other cities and was losing badly. Facing the joint armies of the other two they were left with no choice but to raise their slaves to soldiers to defend the city. In return, they were promised freedom. The slaves did so and managed to defeat the attacking army. However, when they returned the queen and her council of matriarchs demanded they return to their masters. One of the queen's own slaves was the first to scream no, slaughtering the queen's personal guard sent to fetch him, we took their weapons sacked the royal stables and took every beast of burden there and he led my people into the desert. The journey was long as were hounded by Izille soldiers, the wildlife and the desert itself. Fortunately, we found shelter with a herd of Xarnatn who protected are people and allowed us to learn the ways of the desert. After many years we found a mountain deep in the desert and within it's hearts, we found an underground lake. Not big enough for permanent settlement but as a heart to guide are people. Are leader decreed that all in our territory the Xarnatn were to be treated like clan and it's been like that ever since. " Xalanth told his tale fondly having told it many times.

Shaking his head in wonderment, Keel's eyes were as round as saucers as he listened to Xalanth's clan's history. 'That's incredible. Almost unbelievable.' He looked to Xalanth and asked, 'do the other clans have such dramatic histories?' Privately he wondered if it was part-legend what he had heard, and resolved to read more about Dragonian history.

" I'm sure they do." Xalanth said letting out a chuckle. " I'll get you a copy of my people's digitised historical record but much of it may be rather hard to read as it's not been translated into federation basic yet. "

With most of the family having finished T'para collected the bowls and placed them on the padd to be dereplicated. As they vanished the rest of the dinner appeared. A vast mix of food from across the family culture appeared. " Feel free to dig in Ryan there plenty to go around." The hybrid replied with a smile.

Keel instantly reached out and helped himself to some plomeek soup, one of his favourite dishes. Ladling himself a portion he held the spoon out to the table, 'anyone else want some?'

One of the children with pitch black betazoid eyes smiled as held out a bowl. " I'll try some Mr Ryan." Words echoed inside Ryan head indicating the girl was telepathic. As she did so her mouth seemed to open but no words came out.

Momentarily taken aback, Keel smiled after a moment, and nodded, 'of course.' He gently took her bowl and ladled a healthy portion into it, before delicately handing the bowl back, and smiling again. 'There we go, should be plenty for you there to start with,' he said.

The young lizard smiled as she took the bowl. " My second-born suffers from Kazanta Syndrome." Xalanth explained. " It's a condition that can affect betazoid hybrids. She's a very powerful telepath, but it affects her ability to speak. We should be able to clear it up when she's older." He said, beaming over at his second born.

Ryan looked at Xalanth, and nodded, 'I suppose it makes sense that telepathy can affect the way you interact with the world around you.' As he ate some of his soup, he asked, almost apologetic, 'forgive me for my ignorance, though, I thought only a betazoid with two betazoid would be telepathic, and any other pairing would be empathic only?'

" Not with my knight in red armour. " Lelani explained. " Turns out Xalanth carries an inactive gene from his egg mother's side. When it melds with my own betazoid DNA, it copies thus allowing a full telepath. "

'No way,' Keel replied, mind blown. 'I never thought such a thing was possible.' He looked around the family, then asked, 'I'm not sure if it's too forward ... but did you have trouble conceiving? It seems hard to fathom such compatibility.'

The three women around the table grinned like they were a pack of Cheshire cats. Xalanth would have blushed if his species were capable, as did the two eldest of the girls. " Daddy, what's conceiving? Lwiari, the youngest, asked in the tone all children did when their minds heard a new word. " I'll tell you later, honey," the lizard said with a smile to his youngest. " Can i tell you later when there aren't so many inquisitive ears around? " he asked his guest.

He blushed himself, realising how the question must have sounded. 'Sure ... that's not what I meant, though, I was talking more in the need for medical interventions and such but, nevermind,' he concluded hastily. 'As you can tell, I don't really spend much time around younger people,' he chuckled awkwardly.

" I refer to the medical side of the family." Xlanth said with a grin as he gestured to his half-Vulcan mate. Said hybrid smiled as she finished her food. " No, no need for medical intervention. Dragonian DNA is very eager to bond with other lifeforms when it adjusts. Other than some fainting caused by a chemical imbalance, when I found out I was pregnant with Yazar, all the pregnancies have turned out fine. "

'Absolutely incredible - I'm sure there are people up and down the Quadrants that would be envious of what you've all built here,' Keel replied sincerely, happy to hear that despite their different biology there had been little serious complications in their pregnancies. Several of his close friends who had partnered with partners not of their own species had had trouble conceiving.

" I know I'm a lucky lizard, " Xalanth said with a warm smile spreading over his reptilian face as he looked around his family. " I have no idea why my soul decides to form in none dragonians, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the universe."

Smiling and nodding in return, Keel affirmed the Dragonian's feelings. 'I can't imagine there would be many who would trade this kind of family for any other. What you have is ... highly unusual, in my experience, and to be treasured because of it.'

" That we can agree on." The lizard said, reaching out his hands for his daughters and mates, taking the two on either side of him. " And I wouldn't change it for anything." he said the warmth of his family flowing into his reptilian blood.

Lieutenant Ryan Keel
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Astrea

Lieutenant Xalanth
Assistant Chief Tactical Officer
USS Astrea

Lieutenant JG T'Para MD
Medical Officer
USS Astrea

Lieutenant JG Leilani
Counselor
USS Astrea

Lieutenant JG Fulvia
Intelligence Officer
USS Astrea

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