(snip)

She took another sip and nodded. “Yes, I grew up in a little village in Tanzania, in East Africa. No ballet there, but I left when I was twelve and went to boarding school in Dar Es Salaam, the capital, and I learned there.” Ghubari wasn’t entirely sure about the rehab, but she was also quite determined to get back to duty one way or another, and she certainly didn’t plan on doing administrative work!

“What about you? Any dancing or other activities you enjoy?”

~Commander Koraia

He lowered his head, looked at his drink and gave a secretive smile. “Oh many. Dangerous stuff, flying a fighter, playing the Saxophone, women, booze and holo games…” he said and looked up into her eyes again, mischief sparkling in them for a few seconds. “I normally do enjoy being alive, even more so since I lost the right half of my body.” he lost his smile suddenly. “Ever since I failed to rescue Damien though and lost so many of my men, it’s all… different. All I can think about is to bring the one down who was responsible for supplying the weapons to the Klingons… ” he shook his head. “I was so arrogant to think I could fix it all, just because of the added power my android implants give me.!”

More of the drink went through her leaving a path of warmness through her body. Such deep pain was sitting there hovering on the surface, tangible enough for her to almost reach out and touch it. Not that she would invade his mind like that, or that he’d necessarily be able to understand that she was even reaching out. But the swirl of emotions and the deep pit they hovered over was greatly familiar to her.

He looked up at her again. “Sorry, ranting.”

• Julien

Propping her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her hand, Ghubari simply shook her head thoughtfully. “No, no , don’t apologize. I understand,” she said quietly, her eyes gazing at him thoughtfully. “But here we are and we can’t change any of what happened. I don’t know about you, but after the initial shock of it all, I’m just trying to figure out what’s left and what needs to be recreated. I’m different now, and so are you. It’s jut a fact.” Even as she said that though she knew that she was still going through a grieving process for all that had been and might have been. Her path had split, and even though her goal was the same, the way there would be vastly different than before.

~Commander Koraia

Those eyes were mezmerizing, with an eerie beauty in that dark face. He felt attracted to those eyes and to the strength of her character, but the feeling didn’t fully establish itself, they were too much alike in too many different ways and the women in his life never lasted. He realised he wanted her to last, as a friend. It had been a very long time since he felt so at ease talking about his innermost thoughts like this. Given that he just met her it was somewhat of a miracle.

He nodded. “That we are. It’s the second time I have to piece myself back together.” he shook his head “I hope it’s the last.”
He looked back at her “How do you vent the anger and the frustration?” he asked. He knew she would know what he meant.

• Julien

Ghubari gave him a lopsided grin. “Well… before I went into command, I was a security officer and I always felt a good round with a kick bag to do the trick. However”-she glanced briefly towards her legs -“that doesn’t work so well right now. But I’ve found chucking ill-fitting prosthesis across rooms to be quite therapeutic,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Other than that, still working on it. I’m sure the counsellor I’m supposed to be seeing later this week will have a bunch of ideas I will hate,” Koraia added.

~Commander Koraia

Julien waved his hand flinching. “Ahch, counselors. I’ve had enough sessions for three lives already!” he continued in a high pitched voice
“Do you still feel human, or more android?” he mimicked and then facepalmed himself.
“I feel like a very crappy human, thank you. Fyi, androids don’t have feelings.” he said in his own voice and gave a laugh, then taking another deep sip. He was quite drunk by now one part of him noted.

Ghubari couldn’t help but chuckle as well, which made her whole body shake given her head was still braced on her hand.

“They never got to the bottom of me so far, no sir!” he shook his head. “If they knew just how much anger is buried down there, they would never let me back on active duty.” he looked at her, his eyes were on fire now, but she could feel the fire in him, the rage and the anger was not at all directed at her.
His right hand fisted on the table next to his glass.

She blinked in slight surprise, but just smirked and downed the rest of her drink. “Control is a part of the game. Fer anyone, really,” she said, feeling incredibly mellow.

“I will find that bastard Balkan, the weapon’s dealer, who gave the weapons to the Klingon rogues and then I will find this Conclave who introduced Balkan to the Klingon rogue group and who told those Klingon’s that there was a planet just waiting for them to make their home on and call theirs. A few human settlers? Oh, yeah, that would be their problem. They have to pay for all those lives Ghubari, people who think of a deal as a business transaction, without thinking about thousands of lives that would be mercilessly eradicated have to be brought to justice.” he took a deep, somewhat shaky breath and calmed himself down, which he was amazingly able to do really fast, which spoke of a lot of self-discipline. Then he looked down at the table.

His fist had made a considerable dent into the metallic surface. He pulled it back and chuckled. “Ups! Ah shit!”

• Julien

“Hey now, whatever did that table do to you?” she said with a grin, before she outright laughed. She wasn’t laughing at him though, she her expression made that clear.

Leaning forward and bracing her body slightly on her other arm, the tall half-Napean gazed directly into the eyes of man before her, whose own weaknesses and strengths seemed to mirror her own. “I have my own beef with those people. My leg is my own damn fault, though I wouldn’t change a thing there. But the mess during the War? I want answers, answers I don’t seem to be able to to find. But, mark my words… one day I will.”

“I’ll drink to that!” he said and downed his own drink, then he looked at their emptly glasses. “I’ll get some more.” he said. This time when he got up it took him longer to find his balance and the limp was more pronounced, but he still made it back fairly quickly with two full glasses that he sat down and looked at her again.

In closer proximity to him, and feeling less control over her limbs, Ghubari folded both arms on the table and resorted to using both hands to prop up her chin. “Gods I’d love to see you on ibogo. That would make my day. And probably lead you down the rabbit hole in’t places in your mind you all but fe’gotten about.” Even the thought of him drinking the mildly hallucinogenic tea made her smirk.

~Commander Koraia

He held her amber eyes without blinking, but with a smirk, and quickly ran the name of the substance through his medical knowledge data chip.
“Ibogo an herbal plant growing naturally in Tanzania, used for healing and pain relief as well as a hallucinogenic compound.” he recited and his grin widened.
“You got some?” he asked. “I like rabbit holes”

• Julien