Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Johann’s Quarters- Unexpected Messages

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Johann’s Quarters- Unexpected Messages

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Johann’s Quarters- Unexpected Messages

(snip)

I don’t know. With a sighed, she dropped the cloth and sat back down, exhaling. “I suppose I should finish reading the message. I’m sorry for the mess. Hopefully everything is okay.” Vora almost intoned it as a question but it either was or wasn’t and he’d tell her otherwise.

Ehh? he thought. Whatever the water spilled on, it wasn’t worth getting upset about.

Sitting back down, she read the message aloud.

Dear Imrei Zorell,

Vora snorted and looked up at Johann. “Imrei is an honourific used most commonly for someone with advanced education. Tenra handles graduate type studies differently, and if differentiates between medical doctors and those who study specific topics for a number of years. Which is a really long explanation to say I’m amused that he used it. I’ve never had anyone use it. It sounds strange to me.”

Johann smirked at that.

She continued, translating as she went.

“There has been quite a bit of talk recently about posts that were made on a forum from a woman who had grown up in The District. At first I thought nothing of it until some colleagues were discussing them and one read a passage discussing a yellow topaz ring. It was a random detail, it could mean anything. But in that passage the author mentions that after investigating the ring seems to have been custom made. I knew right then. See, I know about the ring because I had one made just like it for a Jaisa Hass, the love of my life. Jaisa, like the ring, were lost to me but that is a long story not fit for a message like this.

“That’s as far as I got before I dropped the glass, but there’s more.” Vora steadied herself and kept going.

“It took a bit of digging, but I already knew the answer to my question: Jaisa had a child not long after she disappeared. If she kept the ring and it is indeed the one that I gave her, then you must by all logic be her daughter. I don’t know for sure if that makes you my daughter, but I highly suspect it does. With this in mind, I read the posts on that forum for myself, desperate to know more about the author, and about Jaisa.

Jaisa Torya Hass, or Torya Zorell as I learned she had changed her name too, had had a rough life. A woman from privilege she had gotten into trouble through some friends of hers. We met during a good patch of hers. I had mistakenly thought I could save her, help her move past her addiction.” Tears carved paths over Vora’s cheeks and though her voice was shaky, she kept reading. “A few years after she disappeared, after every lead I followed dried up, I had this deep sinking suspicion one day that was she dead. I stopped looking, and it is a regret I’ve had ever since. That time coincides with you being five, of her dying.

I can’t change not being there, or the fact that I didn’t know about her child, but I know now. And what I’ve learned about you so far tells me that you have done incredible things with your life, feats unheard of for those raised in The District. I don’t want to force myself into your life if you don’t me there, but I think we owe it to ourselves to check to see if it is indeed possible that I am your father. I am happy to arrange that however you like. The simplest would be for me to send my medical record with DNA scan to compare to yours. All you have to do is ask.

Vora, I can’t change anything, except for this one thing: if I am indeed your father, then that means you are not an orphan anymore. You are not alone- you have family.

With deepest curiosity,
Kiero Roden”

“He sounds nice,” she said, her voice pitching upwards before she broke into sobs. Bracing her elbows on the desk, she buried her face in her pale yellow hands, utterly overwhelmed.

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

Johann made his way to the same side of the desk that Vora was sitting on. By simply touching her once, he silently offered himself as a surface to be cried upon if needed. It was going to be one of those moments where that would probably go on for quite a bit.

The touch helped but her mind was whirling and A part of Vora knew she just needed to let it whirl for a bit.

He had observations about the situation, all of which were too impolite to blurt out right at this moment. We can probably stalk this guy right back to see if he’s legit. I should probably do that. And probably expect to take a trip to Tenra soon. He must be loaded. I really should know more about this planet if I’m going to marry into it… it keeps butting in…

– Johann Dvorak, CO

After a bit, Vora wiped at her tears, and sat back in her seat, gazing up at him, the rims of her eyes red. “It’s not just the fact that this man might be my father that I’m overwhelmed with. There were so many other small things in that message Johann. Like the fact that my mother struggled with addiction too, which makes me far for Jerrin. Or the fact that I still don’t know what circumstances she left home in the first place. Was she addicted first, or did a bad home life force her to flee and then she became addicted. Or how about the fact that he’s right, I have family. Torno might be a jackass but that doesn’t mean the rest of the family is terrible. And what about this Kiero? What if he has family alive too? That might mean I have this huge extended family I never knew existed. And why the ring? Tenraith don’t exchange rings the way many Human traditions do. But is it a significant gift that clearly has intention behind it. There’s so much I want to know. But I’m terrified. Of being mislead. Of Serlatriza, of Cortallo. People who all want a piece of me but I know if they get any of me, I’m..” She shook her head. “Going back to Tenra during my relapse was so painful and yet, I have felt since then that I still have unfinished business there. At the time I thought it was because of Jerrin, but now? Im not so sure.”

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

“Well, now it’s not just a feeling,” he said rather plainly. “You know you have unfinished business there now, even if it is simple as politely declining this person’s request.”

“How much time do you have before shift? We could look into this guy to see if he’s on the level.” It actually wasn’t just a personal problem; someone claiming to be a relative of the crew could also be a type of security risk to Europa or Starfleet that Johann would have some obligation to have investigated.

– Johann Dvorak, CO