Stargazing

Posted on Tue Dec 3rd, 2024 @ 2:49pm by Lieutenant Commander Razka Kas & Lieutenant Phaedrae Cyn

1,586 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Menagerie: side stories & mischief making
Location: Ten forward

Kas walked into Ten-Forward wearing an open-neck tunic and loose-fitting trousers. His hair was secured with a scarf instead of the neat rope braids he normally wore. He had awoken from a vivid dream and thrown on clothes. Keena was at a sleepover with a friend and he knew he wasn’t going to get any more sleep so he’d walked down to the bar. He’d ordered a spiced wine and sat by the window. He looked out at the stars and found himself thinking of those who’d return to the stars. He took a small circular device out of his pocket raised it to his lips and began to blow into it. A purring humming sound came from the instrument. Kas began to play a tune of his people, the Hybrid closed his eyes and lost himself in the music.

At the next table, a small gathering broke up with one person headed towards the exit, a second wandered toward the bar. Phaedrae remained at the table with her thoughts and exhaustion settling in. She wanted to head to bed, but her feet could not find the motivation to move. And the music embracing her from behind was quickly achieving lullaby status. She turned in her seat to see where it was coming from.

Kas was barely aware of being watched as he finished the tune and made a reverent gesture toward the stars, he looked and saw a woman looking in his direction. "Greetings."

"Hello," Phaedrae returned. "Did that tune have a name?" In one respect, it sounded familiar. In another, she couldn't quite recognize it.

"Name doesn't translate well 'Star Voyage,' is the closest translation," Kas explained. "It's a song of my people a tribute to those who've returned to the stars."

"I think I've heard it before, but..." the words wouldn't come to her as to why it also sounded wrong. Perhaps it was the instrument, or maybe the tune went on a tangent in her memories. She shrugged while she considered the alien's features, trying to place his lineage. "I could be a little too tired to figure it out at the moment?"

“Your confusion is understandable,” Kas smiled. “As with most of the culture of my people, the tune was  borrowed from another culture,  I'm not sure which. The Lyrics differ from clan to clan. There are experts that devote their lives to answering such questions about Quath’Mar culture and I'm far from being one of them.”

The sound of the clicking puzzle pieces within Phaedrae's head was nearly audible. "You're Kas." She introduced him to herself.

"I am Commander Razka Kas," Kas spoke in a guarded tone. Then he switched languages and accompanied his words with hand gestures.. "We're who have scattered..."

"We gather in the light," she answered, her hands returned the greeting through muscle memory, if not a little rusty in movement.

With whom did you voyage and what shall I call you," Kas smiled.

"I was under the protection of the Vith'hee clan a long time ago. My name is Phaedrae Cyn. I don't mind if it's shortened to Phae," she answered.

"I have many I call kin in the Vith'hee clan, I've voyaged with briefly as well." Kas smiled. If he hadn't been sent away as a teen there was a good chance he'd have inducted into the Vith'hee.

"So were you playing the song for someone in particular?" Phaedrae asked.

“My daughter's mother, Meressa Rahl,” Kas said looking out the window. “We grew up together in the Yohee clan. Rahl returned to the stars four years ago. I've had custody of Keena for the last three years. She looks so much like her mother.”

Phaedrae nodded slowly, "You weren't married?" she asked.

Kas took a moment to think before answering the woman’s question, he remembered seeing her name on the duty roster in the intelligence department. Her manner and inquiries were so organic… ‘Perhaps she’s looking for a friend… Or she could be probing him for information that wasn’t in his file.’ The hybrid smiled; either way he didn’t mind, few things could get him in trouble with command. His convoluted love wasn’t one of them.

“Due to the diversity of the clans, relationships are often complicated.” Kas sighed. “There were political obstacles to us having an official ceremony, I think she used that to put off angering her Mother. That woman always hated me. When their convoy decided to go on a wander, she made things difficult. I stayed behind and returned to Starfleet. I didn't know she was with the child.”

"When did you find out - that you had a child?" Briefly, Phaedrae thought of her own parents. They had both played a significant role in her development throughout childhood. It was difficult for her to imagine growing up without one of them there. Cyn also reflected on past parents with some nostalgia and confirmation that single parenting was less than ideal and surprise parenting was even more difficult.

Kas kept his face neutral as he thought about the call he'd gotten from his mother. 

“I didn't know my little girl existed until she was three, this is and I didn't meet her until she was four.” He stared out the window. “The convoy was out of subspace communication for over two years. Rahls's vessel was infected with a rare virus and she fell deathly ill, thankfully they quarantined the sick so the children didn't get infected. My mother got a message to me as soon as she was able. By time I got the message, Rahl had passed. I got to my Keena as soon as I could.”

"I'm sorry for the loss you and your daughter are enduring. Losing a parent at three years old must have been traumatic," Phaedrae adjusted her seat so that she joined Kas' table.

“We've bonded over our loss,” Kas said simply. “Life in space is difficult. So how did you come to Voyage with my people?”

Phaedrae traced her finger over the tabletop, following an invisible pattern, "It's a complicated story, but the short version is that the abduction of my mother went poorly. In trying to get back to my family, I was discovered by the Vith'hee clan and stayed under their protection for a time - until they came close enough to Federation space."

"What vessel were you on?" Kas asked.

"The Mo'toko," Phaedrae answered.

“The Mo'toko.” He just looked at the woman and tried to do the math. “Was Til'Tedre voyaging with you? I know the Mo'toko got caught up in the feud with the Klingons. I hear they're almost civil with each other now.”

The majority of the federation was unaware that the feud between the Quath’Mar and the Klingon house of D'Gor had begun years before the brief conflict between the Federation and the Klingons. It had caused him problems and deepened his resentment for his father. He was trying to shield his daughter and prepare her for the prejudice she would experience as a hybrid.

"It was a long time ago, I need a smidge more than a name to remember them by," Phaedrae said with sheepish embarrassment.

Kas chuckled, "Tedre was a tall ornery Tarlac, in charge of ship defense. He broke my arm during a training exercise. He still made me climb a ladder with my full kit before sending me to medical."

"Well, that's less than an ideal training situation, isn't it? How did you manage to work through that pain?" Phaedrae asked.

"I've been trained to work through the pain since I was a child," Kas said. "You also have to factor in my Klingon constitution and Bajoran resilience. There is little I can't get through. We were doing a warp core breech drill, anyone who didn't climb that ladder would have perished."

Kas sighed and dropped his eyes, he'd said too much. "So what did you learn in your time among my people?"

"Honestly," she said after some hesitation and thought, "I had developed some rather strong - negative - feelings for a number of alien races prior to my stay with the Vith'hee clan. I needed time and healing, and being among such a diverse group of individuals helped me focus my hatred appropriately. It wasn't a race of people I hated - it was individual bad players in those races."

“Our people are too focused on our survival to hold grudges.” Kas sighed. “Not that it stops all of us, it was an number of years before I let go of my hate toward the Klingon House of D'Gor for the battle the took my stepbrother.”

"Sorry for your loss," Phae said. "The number of people who say they don't hold grudges... I don't believe them. Grudges are important. You're sure your hatred is gone?" she asked.

Kas paused at the question, “The raging young man who yearns for vengeance is still a part of me. When he speaks, I listen. I also remember the noble Klingon warriors who saved my mother's ship from the Cardassians. They were from the house of D'Gor as well. When the Cosmos gave breath to the Light in the Void. All life has a choice between light and void, I've come to understand the void in me. I look for the light in others… Forget Nothing."

"You are a good man," she replied.

"I try," Kas smiled.

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