Posted by Lieutenant Toveka Brine (Chief Science Officer) in From dances to dreams (Ten)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Charles Tenkiller (Chief of Security) in From dances to dreams (Ten)

Posted by Lieutenant Toveka Brine (Chief Science Officer) in From dances to dreams (Ten)
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Toveka had come in and programmed herself something to eat. Moving to her room to change, she stopped and glanced at the pic on the small ledge. It was obviously Ten’s doing, and it made her smile that he’d surprised her on purpose.

She just stood there, holding the pic, thinking of the talent he had and wondering if he had even the slightest idea.

Toveka
CSO

“Hello, Toveka.” came a soft male voice from somewhere behind her. Even though it was unexpected, something about it wasn’t startling.

Behind her against the far wall opposite her, leaning as he had been the first time she saw him, was Oswego. His hair was in the same long briad, but now he was in a set of buckskin trousers and shirt. Interestingly enough, he wore no shoes. He smiled at her and said “Please… don’t be scared. I’m here to help.”

Oswego

As the scientist turned, her eyes widened. The picture was still in her hand as she backed up a step and bumped into the wall. “What are you doing here? And who are you?”

She was fighting the urge to call Ten, or security. But something was telling her it was ok. Trouble was, she wasn’t sure which voice to listen to.

Toveka
CSO

He smiled and held his hands out to the side. “I am pretty sure ya know who I am. But if it helps… my name is Oswego Tenkiller. I’m Chuck’s older brother… and yes. I died years ago.” He pushed off the wall without a sound and said “And like I said… I’m here to help you.”

Oswego

Seeing him move without a sound was disconcerting enough. But heading him say he was there to help her made get bite back a nervous laugh. “Help me how?”

It wasn’t making any sense. Even in her culture, when there was one, had never recorded an Elder contacting a non Romulan. She had prayed and never heard or seen one. Toveka had chalked it up to being half Romulan. Then figured it was because her planet, the temples and the Speakers were all gone. “Why not go to Ten…I mean, Charles?”

Toveka
CSO

Oswego laughed. “Because Chuck doesn’t need any help. You do. I knew it when I saw you at the ceremony.” He looked around the room. “Its… odd… being back here. But they told me I’d get used to it. I haven’t come back often. Usually I just sit near my mom when she has bad nights. And those have become fewer and fewer, so my trips here have been less as well. I did go see Chuck in the Academy a few times.” and he chuckled.

Oswego

Toveka started to relax, but she was still very guarded. “What is it I need help with that you are here for?”

She wondered if Ten was aware of his brother watching over him.

Toveka
CSO

Oswego shrugged. “You are lost and need direction. So… ask your questions. I can’t tell you I know everything, but whatever I do know, I will share.” and he looked at her and smiled.

Oswego

“Lost?” The word came out a question so full of confusion it was almost comical because of the Romulan’s reaction. “I’m not lost. Alone maybe, with the exception of Ten, I mean Charles. But I can’t think of what I am ‘lost’ about or what question you are supposed to be able to answer.” When he had asked about her questions, the ones she had about her planet were all that sprung to mind. And spirit or not, she wouldn’t have expected her own ancestors to have the answers to that.

Toveka
CSO

Oswego smiled and took a seat on the back of a chair, balancing himself effortlessly on it. Then he laughed. “Seriously? You, a scientist, are standing there talking to a dead teenager, and you have nothing to ask me? Well, okay. Maybe I was wrong. I can go..” and he slid off the chair to land silently on the floor. “Tell Chuck I said hey, will ya?” and he started walking towards the wall he had been leaning on.

Oswego

Toveka frowned. No point in not asking, she thought to herself. As he went to stand back up, she took a step forward. “What happened to Romulus?” It was the only question on the top of her head that would come out.

Toveka
CSO

Oswego stopped and turned. He looked at her and said “I don’t know. Its… different… here. When I died, I didn’t go anywhere. I just became part of something else. Its like… its like I know everyone and everything that has ever been before this moment. And when someone or something else dies, I know them, too. Like I always have. There is no new… more like… a missing piece fits that you didn’t know was missing. So… I don’t know what happened. I just knew a lot more all of a sudden.”

Oswego

She didn’t realize it, but she was moving closer to him as they spoke. “Wait… you’re telling me everyone ends up in the same place? Everyone.” She swallowed as she fought the urge to ask. But she lost as the words tumbled out with a hitch to her breath. “So you know my parents?” Her hands pressed hard to the sides of her pants as she struggled to keep from clenching them. The idea that everything she had been taught to believe was wrong, or at least, skewed, didn’t cross her mind. What did was the fact the man standing before her might actually know her folks and be able to bring them here.

Toveka
CSO

His eyes went dark… black. After a moment, they returned to normal. “I know your mother. She is a very nice person.” and he chuckled. “She is pissed her garden is gone.”

Oswego

Toveka smiled a moment. That sounded like her mom. “If I know her, she’ll find a way to get another.” It sound ridiculous when she said it. Her parents were dead. What need did they have for gardens?

“And my father? Upset because his work was interrupted?” He had been a member of the local Council and had been working to get the High Council to divulge what they had been working on that had taken so many scholars and scientists from the outlying areas.

Toveka
CSO

Oswego looked at her with a confused expression.

“I don’t know your father. He’s not here.” he said matter-of-factly.

Oswego

She frowned. “What do you mean not there? I mean, you just said everyone dead was there. He was with my mother… on Romulus… it blew up! He’s got to be there!” There was a slight edge of emotion rising in her voice. If asked though, she wasn’t sure if it was panic, fear or anger. How could he claim everyone was there, even her mother, but not her father? It made no sense.

Toveka
CSO

Oswego looked at her and said “Ooohhhh… that’s why I saw you like that. Yes, everyone who has died is here. No, your father isn’t. So…?”

Oswego

“Wait… saw me like what? And if he’s dead he’s got to be there. I mean maybe you just haven’t seen him. There’s, I mean, a lot of dead, right? Cause, otherwise, you’re saying he isn’t dead. And no one survived the explosion. Everyone on the planet is dead.” She moved to her office chair and sat down hard. It was all too much. She kept shaking her head. Partially in not understanding what was happening. Partially because she was sure this had to be some kind of delusion.

Toveka
CSO

Oswego visibly sighed and then sat on the floor in front of her. “It doesn’t work like that. I don’t have to see or meet someone to know they are here. They come, I know them. As well as I know myself. We all exist together. All of our lives intertwined. So if you father isn’t here, it means he’s not part of here. So he’s still alive there.” His eyes went black again for a long moment. “Your mother said he wasn’t home. He left a few days before ‘it’ happened.”

Oswego

If she hadn’t been sitting down, her legs would have put her on the floor. “He… he wasn’t there? That doesn’t make sense. He’d have told me. Reached out. Something!”

Now she did let her emotions get the best of her and she clouded with tears. Her voice cracked and eased barely audible. “He’s alive?” Looking down at him, she cocked her head. “Is that what you were sent to tell me? Why you came to the picnic and here?”

Toveka
CSO

Oswego shook his head. “No one sent me. We still have free will. We just have a… different perspective. We see things… threads… connecting people. All different sizes, shapes, colors… all woven together to form, well, everything. And every now and then we see a thread that is broken, or out of place. And we can guide you to try and mend it. I was there to see my family… not you. But I saw a thread that was just… floating. No direction, no anchor point. So I came to you… see if I could help.”

Oswego

She closed her eyes a moment. Is that was she was? A floating thread with no anchor or direction? She hadn’t thought so.

Opening her eyes, Toveka looked at the teen sitting at her feet. ” I would have told you you were wrong, even yesterday. I’m anchored to my work. I’m looking for why Romulus exploded. There aren’t the usual signs of it being because of the cosmic event they claim. There’s a radiation signature, more concentrated in the center. That’s not possible had it exploded the way they said.”

Ten’s picture was still clutched in her hand. “And I have direction in that pursuit. So why would you think I didn’t?”

Toveka
CSO

Oswego smiled in a way that indicated wisdom far beyond his apparent age. “I never said this was about your work. I just see the thread…”

Oswego