The Nekomi Inquisiton
Posted on 29 Aug 2024 @ 12:39pm by Ensign Mimi & Lieutenant JG Hovar Kov
Edited on on 02 Sep 2024 @ 7:02pm
2,429 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Various
Timeline: MD 02, 2000hrs
[ON]
The words of Captain Tarin rang through his head as he found himself in the Counselor's Office doing more administrative tasks than he had ever thought possible. Of course, there was the in-processing tasks as an officer, up to and including processing his PT schedule, getting his name into the Counseling rotation, and finding out that he is, indeed, on Team 3, which depending on the rotation put him on overnights right away. And then, there was the tasks that as a Chaplain he was required to do. For now, all he wanted to do was to process what his predecessors did and see if he could either continue, improve, or discontinue them because of lack of interests. Since the ship wasn't going anywhere as they were being resupplied and with new crew (such as himself), he figured that he could figure it out at some point.
However, a Chaplain was not obliged to stay in the office all the time. No, a Chaplain was supposed to be visible to the crew. He also, as a Klingon warrior, wanted to know every single square meter on the ship and how to get from that point to another quickly. The duality of Hovar's soul required it. Therefore, he grabbed a small PADD and he used that as a to tour the deck, going into a gentle stride, stopping every so often to take it all in.
Several sections further down deck 3 Mimi slipped out of the doorway of her bosses office heading for the turbolift. Her nose and ears constantly twitched as she walked, the whole ship was littered with new scent trails and noises as 28 new crew milled about the ship finding their new duty stations and generally exploring the small quaint ship that was now their home. The scent of the Tellarite woman that was allergic to her was quite strong and definitely stood out compared to the many more humans that had come onboard but the one scent that stood out the most was the Klingon, everywhere the man had walked his scent lingered the longest. He was somewhere nearby but she couldn't narrow it down to more than a deck either way of her.
The Klingon, who was still ignorant of the crew on a personal natures, made a few turns which unknowingly found himself on an intercept course with another member of the crew. The Warrior within him wanted him to walk around with his head on a swivel, to walk with suspicion and to understand everything that is going on, to be prepared for any encounter. The Priest within him wanted the Warrior to join him in the longing for a clam chowder bowl and a curious human drink called "sweet tea." Of course, the Priest had the right idea. Therefore, Hovar was headed to the turbolift with a slightly-faster than normal gait as his hunger fueled his legs.
Continuing at a leisurely pace Mimi started to realise the Klingons scent was getting fresher and stronger, he was closer than she originally suspected. Her ears twitched as they listened for signs of where he was.
The stride of Hovar never changed as his eyes focused on his PADD as he looked up information when suddenly, he pushed the wrong button and he found himself in a menu that he had no idea how he got there! His breathing became elongated as he encountered his number one failing: technical support and repairs. He resolved to figure out this problem on his own, which made his feet move ever so slightly faster, kissing his cheek like a true son of Iscariot.
Only a few steps away from the turbolift Mimi slowed down her pace till she was practically motionless, her ears and nose twitching intently. She waved off one of the new crew who tried to talk to her as she scented around.
By the time that the turbolift was nigh, Hovar had finally had enough. He truly believed that whoever designed the user-interface of the latest PADD software was birthed from the unrepentant womb of Delilah after being conceived by Absalom. He harshly whispered as he thought he was on the right track.
"By the breath of God..."
The fury of the Warrior overrode the strength of the Priest when he hit another wrong button and it restarted the whole system. He spoke rather loudly, and tragically rather viciously,
"QI'yaH! I will cut you into pieces!"
Mimi's ears twitched at the sudden loud shout, barely half of the sentence was out of Hovar's mouth before she was turning around and saw the Klingon only a few steps behind her, instinct kicked in and within milliseconds her body coiled up for combat. Her ears slicked back against her head, tail tucked in tight against her leg, knees bent ready to dodge and claws fully unsheathed. "Zada yaa Klingon." she called out, hissing at him.
Hovar's body also reacted on instinct, remembering his years of training as a warrior. His eyes opened up fully, his eyebrows dropped to his nose, making his eyes wider and alert. His nostrils flared, and left foot shot back behind his body, adding distance to the threat in front of him. His PADD immediately dropped to the ground as his hands became free. At first glance, Hovar was ready to kill whoever or whatever was in front of him.
Her body slowly moving side to side Mimi bared her large canine teeth as she sized Hovar up. He was tall and thick but that hadn't stopped her in the past.
The Warrior also sized his target. The claws looked sharp, and most likely her teeth. Not that it would stop him. He was not afraid of doing unthinkable damage to her to break her. His feet joined her in the ritual of death, a dance of which only one would survive. Hovar had already accepted the fact that it sure was not going to be her. His eyes did its own dance with hers, ready to have them fall asleep into eternity.
"Domine Iesu Christi, Fili Dei, miserere mei."
Those words echoed in his head as the Priest slowly pulled the Warrior back. His face softened, but remained focused on her. Slowly, his hands moved up to show his palms to the individual. Still crouched slightly, the forward foot slowly dragged back, moving his frame back to increase the distance, yet still ready to strike if he had to defend himself.
"I believe a misunderstanding has just taken place."
As Hovar stood down Mimi's eyes sharpened expecting a trick of some sort, it took several more seconds before her adrenaline levels began to drop and she slowly relaxed her combat stance. She eventually took a deep breath and realised she had just threatened a fellow and superior officer. "I apologise, Sir. You took me by surprise."
Various things started to flow through his head as he quickly took stock of the situation, specifically by the voice she gave him. There was venom behind her voice, there was power behind her actions. On a Federation starship, there was no reason why anyone would feel so threatened that they should feel it necessary to prepare to fight to kill. His body relaxed as well, and her responses only added more questions.
Hovar guessed that such answers to his questions would be known only but to God.
"Please, call me Chaplain. I feel like it is I who needs to apologize."
Hovar glanced down at the thrown PADD on the floor, which he picked up and saw that it rebooted back to the default menu.
"This thing was acting up and I got frustrated. I hope you will accept my apology."
"They can be very complicated at times," Mimi said, she looked at Hovar then down at the Padd. "If you will excuse me Sir." She turned and began to head towards the turbolift again.
Hovar noticed the rather...profound sense of avoidance from the Ensign. Sadly, he had no recollection of being properly introduced to her. Granted, there were too many red flags coming from this individual. Therefore, Hovar could not help himself.
"Should I alert my presence, or have you be alert to my presence first, before you resolve your soul to murder who you would rather see as a stranger?"
Mimi stopped then rounded on Hovar again. "Klingons murdered an entire world of my people, including my family and cut their tails off to keep as trophies. All because we wanted them to pay for resources we had and they wouldn't." She told him, her voice quite agitated. "That uniform does not disguise what you are."
A small number of things crossed his mind as he took in the rather tragically horrific declaration. He internally thanked her for her honestly, regardless of how harsh it would be received. At the same time, he resented her from placing the knife in his hand when his hands are clean from that massacre. Did he blame her? No. A Bajoran would find the Ensign to be a kindred spirit if addressing a Cardassian.
"Just the opposite, Ensign. This uniform represents exactly what I am."
The Chaplain's voice was not raised, but very much still like a caring individual who was genuinely worried for someone. He suspected that her name would not want to be uttered by a Klingon for some time, and once he earned the right, he would be most grateful. However, that level of intimacy would probably never be seen.
"What I am is a Klingon who acknowledges the sins of those who share my blood, who became a priest to beg forgiveness from God when I shall not find it here."
Hovar's gentle gaze remained on the Ensigns eyes. There was one harsh comparison between her actions and a Klingon that crossed her mind, but that was not necessary.
"And, most importantly, a Chaplain and a shipmate who wants to know, for your sake, what I can do to help ease your wrath against me."
Mimi cocked her head to the side a little unsure if she'd heard the word 'wrath' before. "I have no 'wrath' against you personally. I just do not trust Klingons and I do not think I ever will."
Hovar nodded in understanding.
"For the massacre that was inflicted upon you and your people, I do not blame you in the slightest. What should I do to help you make my presence aboard this ship more bearable? I am not suggesting that the outcome would be as best friends or what have you. I more than respect your conclusions and I do not want to imply otherwise."
Mimi thought for a few moments, she wanted to say 'stay the hell away from me' but knew that wouldn't be appropriate or even possible on a ship this size. "Just do not surprise me like that again." She eventually said. "Shouting in Klingon like that too."
"Ahh, about that."
Hovar mentioned his greatest weakness, which was resting in his hand.
"I was trying to access the ship information to give myself a tour, but I pressed too many buttons and I somehow found myself in some technical menu and then the whole PADD restarted. Could you, either show me or tell me, how to get out of that?"
Mimi let out the slightest of sighs then closed the distance between them again, she looked at the Padd Hovar had; a J series small format Padd. "Press and hold down the button in the bottom corner of the screen for a second, that will clear any screens you have opened. Then you can reopen the ship diagrams in 'technical'"
Hovar nodded as he sighed in understanding. He was hitting every button except that one! He cursed his technical ineptitude as it was a very simple fix.
"I thank you, Ensign. I believe I was holding you up. My apologies for taking up your time."
"Sir." Mimi simply said and turned to leave, her shift should have ended several hours ago but with the computer diagnostic then having to help onboard 28 new crew she was most definitely ready for a break.
Hovar watched her leave, recalling their very first reactions to each other, which was a disaster. He saw absolute hatred in her eyes, as well as complete indifference to the fact that they were shipmates. It wasn't because of anything he did or said per say, but just because he was a Klingon. With what she told him, he did not blame her one bit; with the shoe on the other foot, he would have behaved the same way.
He would have held onto the pain the exact same way.
This made the Klingon frown. He was being judged for a crime that he had nothing to do with. Not even those of his house had anything to do with that bloodbath. The Warrior within him wanted to confront her, to condemn her, to slap her across the face and solve this issue once and forever. He wanted to condemn her with hypocrisy, with vanity, with wrath, or any number of sins that he could think of. He wanted to excommunicate her for the sin of placing the sins of others onto someone else! She didn't want a shipmate in Hovar, she wanted a stranger! He wanted to judge her with the sin of...
No, he could not judge her.
He was not her judge, jury, or executioner, the Priest reminded him. He was there to nurture and care for her like any other member of the crew. He was there to be available to her if she called for him. He was there to tend to her wounds: physically, mentally, and spiritually, should the situation call for it. Father Hovar is supposed to bring the light of Christ to the crew, not to withhold it because someone wants nothing to do with him. Father Hovar is supposed to be like the father of the Prodigal Son, to welcome her with open arms and a feast because it is a joyous occasion. Hovar turned away from where the Ensign was going. Yes, that was all he knew about her. No name, just Ensign.
The Klingon then remembered that he wanted to go to the Mess Hall to get a bite to eat a deck above him.
The Klingon then realized he was not hungry anymore.
[OFF]
--
Ensign Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A
Chap (LTJG) Hovar Kor
Chaplain
USS Galileo-A