Friends in Strange Places

Posted on 12 Jan 2014 @ 12:52am by Lieutenant Teth Miir & Lieutenant Min Zhao

2,197 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Starfleet Medical, SFO
Timeline: MD 06

ON:

Teth straightening a plant on his desk as he waited for his next appointment. He was always a meticulous man with a strong desire for cleanliness and order. His hair was neatly combed back into a ponytail, his uniform was perfectly pressed and lint free, in the exact same condition as when he had replicated it four years before. The drawers of clothing in his quarters were organized by season and color. And the small Vulcan fern on his desk was exactly three centimeters away from each side of the corner it sat near.

Feeling at peace, the counselor sat back with a satisfied smirk on his face and simply enjoyed the serenity of his surroundings. And even though the office was just a temporary one, he did his best to make himself at home. Just as he was becoming fully immersed in his mint green, tranquil office, the door chimed. He straightened at once.

"Enter."

Min, somewhat nervously, stepped inside the room. She'd already undergone several evaluations during her reintegration into Starfleet and while this one was supposed to be routine, she wasn't the most fond of the evaluations. She knew why they were performed but rehashing her past wasn't exactly the best part of her day.

She noticed the counselor sitting at the desk was a Caitian, almost black from what she could see. She knew a bit about the species, having had a roommate aboard the Orion who was Caitian.

"Lt Miir? Min Zhao. Starfleet asked me to report to you for my transfer psych evaluation."

Teth stood to greet the human woman and offered her a seat before returning to his own. He glanced at her profile on his monitor before giving her a cursory once over.

"It's good to meet you, Lt. Min Li Zhao. I am counselor Ziir and also new to the Galileo." He said warmly and then frowned as he glanced over to his monitor.

"I understand you took a bit of a hiatus from Starfleet." he said dryly "What lead you to leave us to begin with?"

Min inwardly rolled her eyes but smiled sweetly at Teth. She'd told the story enough times to enough people it was getting old.

"Short answer. Cowardice. I resigned from Starfleet rather then face a courts-marshal because I let my fear, rather then duty, dictate my actions. The root cause of the courtsmarshal was a relationship I let get out of hand. I let my passion dictate my actions, rather then my intellect."

Teth listened quietly, Min's story seemed almost rehearsed and she seemed bored with the topic. None the less, it was all too relevant to her psychiatric evaluation.

"So you took a break from everything. What have you been doing for the past two years?"

"The best way to describe my hiatus is as one big misadventure driven by the wrong motives and pride. I struck out on my own, abandoning Starfleet, friends and family to 'find myself' out in the galaxy. What I found was, in retrospect, not what I was looking for." She paused. "The culmination of this misadventure was another bad relationship that ended with me carrying his baby, and him running back to his wife."

Min instinctively placed her hands by her stomach as she felt the baby kick a bit. Gently rubbing the area where the baby was kicking eased some of the soreness.

Teth noted the placement of her hands on her gravid abdomen. The instinctive, protective nature exhibited by mothers everywhere.

"So how did the father take the news?" he said, motioning in the direction of her stomach, "You say he is back with his wife. Is he acknowledging the pregnancy at all?"

"I doubt he is. He pretty much cut me loose when he found out and scurried back to whatever planet he calls home." She paused. "Good luck figuring out who he is tho. Like I said, not the smartest of relationships."

The Caitian responded with a well practiced nod, "So how do you feel about the pregnancy? It must be quite an adjustment to make."

Min thought about the question. "I'm not really sure what I feel. Mixed up is perhaps the best. I feel some anger and pain towards the father. I'm excited but nervous about giving birth. A bit overwhelmed and lonely by the idea of being a single parent but also love towards the child. It's not her fault she was conceived was under less then perfect circumstances."

Teth listened intently as the operations officer responded. Though he had never been through the situation himself, he had seen it many times both personally and in his professional life. He found it concerning as pregnancy was a source of great stress and anxiety even under the best of circumstances.

"Do you have anyone to help support you at all? A friend or family member?"

"Right now I have my mother and my sister-in-law who've sorta taken me under their wings. Aside from that, I'm still slowly meeting others from aboard the Galileo. Don't really yet know anyone I might call a friend, or at least someone who's been through my situation."

Teth nodded thoughtfully.

"Well do know that this office is always open. Even if you ever just need someone to talk. That's what we're here for. How often do you see your mother and sister in law?"

"Regularly enough. Fleet has me busy enough with 'make work' projects but I see them at least once a week, often times more."

"So do you know what you're having? and how many?" the counselor's tone was suddenly less serious and more like that of a friend gushing over the news of a new baby.

Min's face brightened as the conversation changed from the baby's father to the baby. "Just the one. A little girl." She smiled. "I suppose for Caitian's multiples are the norm?"

"They're more common for us than in most races. Anywhere from one to three is the norm, but usually we have twins. In fact, I have a twin sister. Have you decided what you would like to name her? Bought supplies for her?"

"I have some names in mind but our tradition is to wait until the child's birth. It is believed that the mother, upon holding her child for the first time, will know what the child's name should be."

Teth smiled warmly and nodded, "What a lovely tradition. If it's not too much for me to say, I am envious of you. You're on your way to one of life's greatest adventures."

Min just nodded. Great adventure or not, the whole idea of being a parent scared Min. It wasn't that she didn't want to be a parent, she'd just wanted to become a parent under different circumstances.

The dream growing up was to find a nice young man, settle down, and make babies. As she'd grown up, the desire was still there but the idea of being a baby factory had settled out. She still wanted 3-4 as that's what she'd grown up with but the desire for a career had joined her dreams and balance was the word.

She'd never wanted her journey into parenthood to have started like this. Knocked up by some chickenshit who couldn't own up to his mistake, and cut adrift with no support. Thankfully Starfleet had been willing to accept her back but even that would have it's challenges.

She'd read up on the Nova class and they were not family oriented ships. Most crew except the Senior Staff slept in quads, so Min would end up having three randomly chosen roommates, not a problem except that Min's delivery date was a month or so into their next voyage. That would mean her roommates would have to put up with a screaming kid at various hours of the day or night. Min was also unsure how she could manage duty shifts if she had a child to look after. Who would look after the little one while she was on duty? There was no nursery or daycare available and she wasn't comfortable asking members of the crew to look after the kid.

Min quietly placed her hand on her stomach. "Can I speak freely Lieutenant?"

"Absolutely." he replied.

"I can handle knowing that the father is a coward for not owning up to his mistake, I'm just not sure if I can handle being a parent. Don't get me wrong, being a mother has been a dream of mine since childhood, it just wasn't supposed to go down this way."

"How am I supposed to take care of the child on a Nova class? The ship is not not a family friendly design. I'll have quad mates who I am sure don't want to have to sleep through a screaming baby all night. I don't want my own quarters as that's unfair to the rest of the crew. Even if I was assigned a doubles bunk, there's maybe one person aboard ship I'd even be comfortable asking to bunk with me, and only because we've been intimate and started dating, kinda."

"So you're "dating kinda'. Do you think it could become more serious?"

Teth knew the implications of a single person raising a child on a starship were less than ideal. He wondered how the captain was planning to handle it and if there was any way at all to keep Min at her post and with her child. Assigning her to two person quarters would certainly be a viable way to keep everyone happy- provided she could find a room mate.

"It has the potential. Jared is a nice enough guy and he seems interested." She paused. "It's too early to really tell tho. What little I know of his past there's been some hurts there, and, that kind of hurt can scar one's heart and mess up one's view of relationships."

Min looked at Teth. It was strange talking this freely to a counselor. Most of them felt like they were trying to pick her brains and examine her for any emotional or mental flaw that could keep her out of the fleet. This one was different somehow.

She continued. "So I'm just playing it easy and letting things happen as they do. I mean I'm trying not to come across as overeager or anything. Don't want to scare him off by making him think that I'm chasing after a father for my baby or anything."

"I'd be lying tho if that wasn't in the back of my mind but the bump is obvious enough to any guy I meet that if they want to hang around long term, being a daddy is in the cards."

"Maybe you could stay with me?" Teth blurted out without really thinking. His people were very hospitable ones and he only wanted to be helpful. If he was on his home world, it would hardly be unheard of to bring a stranger in need into one's clan, especially if children were involved.

"I'm sorry," Teth corrected himself, "I wasn't trying to be inappropriate. I just really want to help you find a way through this."

Min was a bit taken aback by the statement but quickly recovered her composure. "I appreciate even just having someone to talk to Lieutenant. You are the first counselor in the past six months that I've felt comfortable around."

He responded with a warm smile, he felt quite flattered by her statement, "And I am always here to help if you ever need anything. And my offer does stand if a better arrangement isn't made first. In the meantime, You need to speak with the quartermaster and the captain to see if there is any way to set up better living quarters once your daughter arrives. Space is at a premium on a ship of that size, but perhaps there is a way for you to have your own quarters with her?"

"I still haven't formally met with the command staff so there's a lot up in the air right now, not the least of which is my bunking arrangement. But, if the offer is still on the table when we depart, I may take you up on it."

"I will be more than happy to act as your advocate to the command staff." Miir added, "I am here for more than head shrinking, as the humans might phrase it."

"I managed to survive a hearing front of three rather imposing Admiral's, including a Vulcan who made excellent work of dissecting my position so the command staff can't be all that bad."

She stopped when she saw Teth's expression change a little towards disappointment. He honestly did want to help.

"Tell you what Teth. Let me tackle the first meeting with our bosses and see how things go. Either way, I'd be delighted if you wanted to hang out with me outside of work."

Teth's expression brightened a little.

"Fair enough, Lieutenant." he agreed. "But my door is always open."

OFF:


Lt. JG Min Zhao
Assistant Chief of Operations
USS Galileo

&

Lt. JG Teth Miir
Counselor
USS Galileo

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