Posted by Ensign Tabris Asam (Engineering Officer) in A Very Special Christmas Delivery

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Shuttle Trip
The last time the children had been on a shuttle was on the old beat up Valkyrja. And when Zanya had brought them to Delotha. It was a bitter sweet trip for Zanya knowing that she had brought them to the orphanage and would now be taking them home. They were all very excited to see how the shuttle worked and watch the stars out the windows. That night however was a different matter. Vedi and Neltus took the top bunks but the other beds were still high and Julin and Mecona were scared they would fall off. Zanya also knew that the excitement had died down and now nervousness and a little fear had set in. She told them stories until they fell asleep. But later when she checked on them, Vedi and Neltus had both moved down onto the lower bunks with Julin and Mecona. It was a long trip though and the children were cooped up in a small space.

Vedi groaned watching Neltus, “Dude, really? Even if we were on Delotha we’d still be on break from school. Knock it off.” Neltus looked up from the PaDD Zanya had given him confused. “Why? I like this stuff.” Vedi huffed, “Well I don’t want ta…Dad thinking I’m not as studious as you.” Neltus shrugged and went back to his PaDD he wasn’t studying, he was just reading. “You know I like to read, Vedi.” Vedi did know it and rolled his eyes and he knew Neltus wasn’t studying because Mecona was in his lap and he was reading stories to her. Julin ran over holding his robot, which was dangerous in the small shuttle, almost knocking Vedi over. He picked him up, which was interesting because Julin had had a growth spurt and wasn’t a baby anymore compared to Vedi’s 8 year old size. “Bedi?” Vedi laughed, sat down on a bench with Julin, “Yeah munchkin?” Julin giggled and wiggled on the bench. “Abis our daddy now?” Vedi grinned and nodded. Julin didn’t quite understand the concept yet. Mecona herself barely understood that they had parents but they were gone and now they had a new one. “Bedi? If Abis our daddy where was he?” Vedi looked at Neltus as his brother glanced up at the question. They didn’t know how to answer the question. Zanya put the shuttle on auto-pilot and walked to the back having heard the conversation. “Come here, Julin.” Julin giggled and wiggled closer to Vedi and took Vedi’s face into his hands, “Hugs kisses nosies!” and he wrapped his little arms around Vedi with all the strength in his little body and then planted a kiss on Vedi’s cheek as Vedi sighed, resigned to the antics of his 3 year old brother. But then, wrinkled Bajorin nose to center ridged Cardassian nose Julin proceeded to shake his head back and forth touching the tip of Vedi’s nose with his. Then happy with the results he hoped down and climbed into Zanya’s lap. Zanya did her best to help Julin understand. “See Julin, Tabris hasn’t always been your daddy. He is NOW but he wasn’t before. And he spent a LONG time looking for you. He searched and searched until he found you, and when he did he KNEW you were supposed to be his. It happens like that sometimes. Children are not always born to their parents. They are born somewhere else and their parents have to search and search for their children. But this is very special because that means that Tabris CHOSE you.” The explanation wasn’t just for Julin, but all of them. Julin however just nodded. “Like when I lose Bot. I have to look and look.” Zanya smiled, “Yes Julin, like that.”

The next day there was a lot of talk about what Ark Angel would be like. Zanya keyed a few things on the console. “Alfred, do you think you could make a 3D model of Ark Angel and show the children all about it?” And with that order the HUEY had a HUGE amount of information to give the children and it kept them occupied for hours. They learned where the shuttle bay was, where the schools and nurseries were. The lounge and arboretums and the gym and the holodecks. “Where is our room?” Alfred pointed out several places. “Mr Asam has not communicated that information, but it will be in one of these 3 places.”

Neltus studied the diagrams of the Ark Angel over and over when he called his siblings over, “Look at this, we’ll probably live here or maybe here!” He pointed to a few areas with excitement. “Dad works here in Engineering, and school is here” Neltus enthusiastically said as he looked at his brother’s and sister, seeing their faces and stopping. “What’s up?” Mecona looked up at Neltus and said “I miss Ms Karra….” Mecona snuggled up to Vedi as Julin kicked his little feet back and forth on the bulkhed bench “I want to play with Karriff. Where Karriff?” He asked looking around, still not fully grasping that he had been adopted. “Vedi looked at him and said, “Karrith is back on Delotha munchkin. You can’t play with him anymore.” Julin looked at Vedi as though he had broken Bot in half and got up and yelled “I WANT TO PLAY WITH KARRIFF” He stormed off as far as he could, which was only about 6 feet but he was still mad. Neltus looked at everyone and said, “I’m… I thought… I thought this was a good thing. I thought we wanted to stay together…” Mecona looked at him and scooted over and wrapped her little arms around him and said, “It is good. I just miss Ms Karra” Later on that day, after the tensions died down and the mood lightened up Vedi said, “Hey Neltus, you mind showing us more of what you found out about the ship?” Neltus zoomed in on the rec areas and explained what was available and the others were excited for all the possibilities

When Ark Angel finally appeared the children were ready to get out of the shuttle. “Alright have a seat okay. We’ll be done quick,” Zanya told them. They’d never used a transporter before and so she had opted to dock the shuttle. =^=Shuttle Valkyrja to USS Ark Angel. Requesting permission to dock. Transmitting orders, authorization and cargo. Also could you please notify En Tabris Asam that he has a special delivery.=^= Zanya looked back and grinned at the kids. =^=This is USS Ark Angel, stand by Valkyrja=^=

On the Ark Angel the shuttle bay control officer read over the orders. She sent them to the bridge for confirmation and then when she received confirmation she read over the specifics. She smiled, children arriving that had been adopted. That was surely a worthy reason to report for duty today. =^=Shuttle bay Control to En Asam. You have a special delivery arriving in Shuttle Bay 2.=^=

Zanya, Vedi, Neltus, Mecona, Julin

Tabris heard the hail and imagined it could only be one thing. His heart leapt for joy as he knew his son was finally onboard! He looked to his supervisor who knew what was going on and his shift boss gave a knowing smile, permission to head home for the day and off to gather his son and start their little family. “Thank you” He said as he put his tools away, the shift supervisor saying, “Tabris, go. The tools will get put away, don’t worry about it. You have more important stuff to do!”

=^=Valkyrja this is Ark Angel, slow to one quarter impulse and approach aft starboard. The tractor beams will do the rest.=^= Zanya grinned as the children ran to the windows to watch. =^=Acknowledged Ark Angel, slowing to 1 quarter impulse and approaching.” When the tractor beams engaged, “Cutting power to impulse engines, now, Ark Angel=^=

The children gawked at the massive vessel. “It’s HUGE!” that was Vedi. “Huge…that’s bigger than our village! It’s monstrous!” was Neltus’s reply. Mecona grabbed both her big brother’s hands. “Will I get lost?” Vedi shook his head, “No Mecona. Dad won’t let us get lost.” “I wanna see too!” Julin was too short to see out the window so Neltus picked him up and they all watched the ship come closer and closer until the tractor beams pulled the shuttle into the shuttle bay and it landed.

Arrival-Finally

Zanya set about powering the systems down to stand by. She and her companion wouldn’t be staying longer than dropping the children off. They had their own ship to get back to. “Alright so you are still agreed, Neltus first and then the rest will surprise him?” They all nodded in agreement, and Zanya released the lock and the hatch opened. Vedi kept the littles back to hide them with him and Zanya walked Neltus to the door. “Do you see him?”

Tabris was standing with a tissue in his hand, always a bit old fashioned and he was aware that he might cry. It had been a while since he was Neltus last, and he had no clue about Vedi, Mecona, and Julin as he had never heard back. He figured they had stayed, but was ready to start his new life. As Zanya and Neltus walked to the door Tabris saw him, a young 8 year old boy of El-Aurian heritage, and said, “Welcome home son!” Tabris approached at a walk then decided to stop caring and ran towards the shuttle, Neltus staying on the ship, he wanted to run but he knew the surprise would be best if Tabris was closer. He smiled wide as he said, “Hi Dad! It’s good to see you!” As Tabris reached the ramp, Neltus couldn’t stop himself and ran towards his new father, wrapping his arms around the man tightly. Tabris looked past Neltus briefly, a little pang of sadness that the other three had chosen not to join him, but he understood that it was a hard decision to make. He hugged Neltus tightly as he said, “It’s good to have you kiddo”.

Vedi saw this and signaled his siblings that this was the time as the littles ran out and tackled Tabris and Neltus. Julin was yelling, “ABIS! ABIS! You my daddy now!” and running as fast as his little 3 year old legs would take him. His wrinkled nose identifying him as Bajorin, but lacking the earring. But his head long rush meant he tripped off the edge of the ramp and stumbled/fell right into his father’s arms. “I know where the school is and this is SO big! Will I get lost? Where is home? Where are the trees? Where do we get to play? Do I get to go to school now, like Tus and Bedi? Can we have a dog? I left BOT! I need BOT!” and he ran off back into the shuttle, totally oblivious to all the people watching the events unfold. And then he was back, jumping over the ramp ending this time and tugging and pulling on Tabris until he had him on the floor and was crawling all over him and jumping and wiggling and telling him all about riding in the shuttle. “I miss Kerriff. Will I have someone to play wif?”

Zanya shook her head, “Mr. Asam was right. If it wasn’t for gravity, Julin would take off like a rocket into the atmosphere.” Mecona, a young Cardassian girl of 4, ran out of the shuttle next to Julin, but she stopped looking around. This wasn’t like Delotha, like home. They weren’t outside, but inside the massive star ship. She’d never seen one before. There were no plants and no trees, no houses. Just deck plating and bulkheads, and strangers. She stood at the end of the ramp, her eyes darting from stranger to stranger, wringing her little hands. They were all in uniforms like Daddy’s but she didn’t know them and they were all watching them. Vedi himself, a Cardassian boy of 8, walked down the ramp and approached the man who was now laid out on the shuttlebay floor laughing. He put a hand on Mecona’s shoulder and kneeled down next to her, “Hey kiddo what’s wrong?” Vedi, always the big brother, was more concerned for Mecona who he knew, with the experience of a big brother, that she was scared but excited and didn’t know which way to be. Mecona shook her head, and then ran the rest of the way to Tabris, and tucking herself against him. “Daddy, I’m scared,” she whispered, staring at all the people. It was a testament to their love and trust in Tabris that she didn’t run back to Zanya, a woman she’d known most of her young life. “Hi dad” Vedi said with a tear forming in the corner of his eye “We all get to stay together…” Tabris offered him the handkerchief and said, “That’s the idea son, I’m glad you are all here.”

Zanya watched quietly with a smile. Then she began to unload their bags. The children didn’t have much, a bag or two each. She set them outside the hatch door and an officer came to retrieve them and scan them before sending them off to the quarters of the very large Asam family. In the front pocket of Neltus’ bag was a PaDD. It included a large amount of credits for the family, to give the children whatever they needed to start their new life, as well as all their records: medical, school, family history, etc., and copies of the court rulings and all other legal documentation that Tabris would need.She turned to her companion as she took one last look at the new family. “Every once in a while we are offered the opportunity to counterbalance the shadows we have created. Today,” she bumped shoulders with him as she closed the hatch, “we did a lot of good in the world. Today makes it all worth it.” Minutes later Valkyrja had disembarked and was already at warp back to wherever she came from.
Zanya, Tabris, Neltus, Vedi, Mecona, Julin