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Re:ST: Pandora "Pandora's Light", Pt II

June 07 2010

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"Up ahead, we're almost there," whispered Hikaro as he and Talona turned a corner in the caves. Talona had long since lost track of how many turns they had taken and how far they had walked. However, they had also successfully evaded any of... whoever it was... that had ambushed the away teams. She looked ahead and saw a bright light a short distance away. Hikaro motioned for them to stop a few steps short of the exist.

"Do a scan for any nearby lifesigns."

Talona nodded and pulled out the device. After a moment, she frowned. "There's a cluster of 9 lifesigns to the north. Other than that, nothing in the vicinity."

"Good. Those 9 lifesigns should be the other members of the Cosmos crew that escaped with me. We're heading to their location."

The pair stepped out into the light. They allowed a minute for their eyes to adjust to the light, during which Talona looked around at her surroundings. The area, like much of the planet, was full of agrarian plant life that was low to the ground. The land was dry and rocky, and it reminded Talona of the time she had visited Vulcan as a teenager. This planet, however, had one key advantage over Vulcan.

It isn't full of judgmental assholes, thought the half-Romulan to herself with a rare smirk. The memories of Vulcan also reminded her of her companion's ears. She turned to him, and suddenly noticed something she hadn't noticed before.

"Your hair is... blue!?"

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aro looked at Talona with an amused grin. "Took you this long to notice, eh?"

"Well, this is the first time I've gotten to see you in the light," she said, suddenly feeling stupid. "Sorry, I guess I just assumed that you were..."

"Vulcan?" he asked, his grin increasing. Talona rolled his eyes.

"Well, yes... until you opened your mouth. After that I... thought you were part Romulan."

"Like you?" he said, his eyebrows raising with even more humor.

"Yes, like me," replied Talona curtly, her irritation increasing. The man may have saved her from the ambush, but he was certainly not afraid of being an ass. She looked toward the north and began walking away from the cave and Hikaro. Hikaro suddenly looked confused and followed her. "That's it?"

"What's it?"

"That's it? You're just going to say my hair is blue and then walk off?"

"If I might remind you, Commander", responded Talona, her stress on the rank immediately throwing the conversation back into formal territory, "you said we are heading toward the north to meet up with your comrades. This way is north. I'd like to suggest that we meet up with your crew and then contact the Pandora. Hopefully this new location will allow them to transport us all out of here."

Hikaro frowned, but simply nodded. "Acknowledged."

For twenty minutes, the pair made their way through the open, rocky terrain. Talona walked at a fast clip, eager to find the other members of the Cosmos crew and get back to the Pandora. The silence between her and Tabashi had become uncomfortable and she wanted to be among people other than him. It was Tabashi who finally broke it.

"So, Lieutenant, what's your story? I realized I don't even know your name."

Talona let out a small sigh. "My name is Talona Roberts. As you've guessed, I'm half Romulan. The other half is Human. I was raised on Earth. I serve as the main Ops officer on the Pandora, a Phoenix-class starship," she said, keeping the description short. She hoped Tabashi wouldn't talk again, but a second later those hopes were dashed.

"So your father is Human?"

"No, my father is Romulan. My mother is Human."

"But your last name..."

"... is Human, because I married a Human," she said with a grin. She received some small pleasure now that it was Tabashi's turn to make a social faux pas. Hikaro didn't seem to mind as much as Talona though, or at least he didn't show it.

"So does your husband also serve on the Pandora?"

Talona didn't answer immediately, and her hand drifted unconsciously toward her tricorder. Tabashi noticed that, for the smallest fraction of a second, she hesitated in her steps.

"He did," she said quietly, "before he was assimilated by the Borg a few months ago, during the attack on Vega Colony."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Talona said nothing, allowing for yet another awkward silence. After a few minutes, it was Talona's turn to break it. Her voice was suddenly happier, though it had a forced quality to it. "So. I'll bite. That blue hair of yours. Assuming it's natural, it means that you're not Vulcan or Romulan, so what are you?"

Hikaro smiled at what he saw as Talona's effort to reach out to him. "I'm a Nevovan. And, before you ask and we both have to apologize awkwardly again, I don't know what Nevova is like, because I've never lived there. I was taken from the planet when I was an infant by my adoptive father and mother when they were Starfleet officers."

Talona stopped in her tracks and looked at Hikaro in shock. "They took you!? Why?"

"They were on the planet to study an herb there. The Federation suspected it had medicinal properties. They found me chained there in a bed of the stuff, alone, malnurished, and abandoned. So my parents, in a flagrant violation of the Prime Directive, took me back to the ship they served on."

"What happened to them?"

Hikaro resumed walking with Talona alongside him. It was a story he had told many times, and he found it simpler if he didn't have to look at the shocked faces he got. It wasn't that he didn't understand it, as he knew exactly what his presence represented to many Starfleet officers, but it still made telling the story easier if he didn't have to look at a jaw hanging open.

"My father was practically given a dishonorable discharge on the spot, though he was somehow able to get custody of me. My mother resigned from Starfleet to help raise me. Soon after they married, and we had a very happy life on Earth." Hikaro flashed her a smile and quickly changed the subject. "Say... didn't you say you grew up on Earth too? Care to tell me where?"

The two continued talking as they made their small trek through the barren land of Zaroth III. As they neared their destination, Hikaro motioned for Talona to stop.

"Hold here. I'm going to tell the others it's alright to come out."

Talona nodded, then grew curious as Hikaro just seemed to stand still. She looked around, when he was going to either call out or use his combadge, when suddenly nine people started emerging from the ground in the distance. Talona looked back at Hikaro quizzically. "How... when did you...?"

Hikaro, who was once again amused at Talona's reaction, grinned. "The ore in this area blocks the kind of transmissions required for scanners and communications, which is why they were hiding in small foxholes we up there. However, surprisingly it doesn't block good old fashioned telepathy."

"You're a telepath? Wait, ha--"

"No, I haven't been reading your mind. Not even this time. That's just a really predictable question."

Talona gave him an annoyed look, then looked back at the nine beleaguered Starfleet officers that were approaching them. "Well... I'll contact the Pandora. Hopefully they can beam us up from here."

"They should. The reason they couldn't beam you out back there is because there were transporter interference devices set up in a wide perimeter along the ship. I stumbled across one while I was moving toward your location, right before they ambushed you."

"Wait. Who were they, anyway? With all the talk about our backgrounds, I completely forgot to ask you."

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