Daniels had originally been glad when the new Exec appeared, for despite the newfound accord between himself and the Engineer, having to wait through his lengthier sagas to get to the invariably barbed points was boring. Soon after Grieg had arrived, however, Daniels began to wish that it was just he and Rell again. Rell knew how to be funny; and while Grieg was closer to his own age, it seemed to Daniels that he acted about thirty years older, and that was worse.
He could have left them to their own dreary world to go and find someone new to annoy, but he felt a strong sense of responsibility toward the Engineer, and couldn’t justify abandoning him just now. Rell was a happy, jolly kind of man, but he looked a bit out of place amongst these happy socializers. He was a man of machines and engine parts who didn’t seem to know how to make the first step in meeting people. Why, if it hadn’t been for Daniels himself and for Grieg, the friendly engineer would have been as isolated as that icicle on the other side of the room, Elek. And to have such a cheery person as Rell lumped together with a pole like her because he was a little shy when he didn’t have an immediately identifiable shared interest was unthinkable!
This being noted, Daniels was nonetheless grateful when the conversation turned to holidays and he could stop yawning!
"Have you been to the mountain resorts on Risa? Whoa!" Daniels shook himself (and the occasional droplet of liquid from his still wet hair) at the thought of the temptations one might find there. "Is it the best place or what?"
"To tell you the truth," Grieg returned with a slightly pained look. "I’ve never really liked Risa. I prefer Pacifica."
"Water sports?" The bearded man leered suggestively.
"Amongst other things." came the agreement. "I especially like the diving there."
"I haven’t been anywhere in years save Bolius." Rell admitted. "But I’ll tell you one place I used to go - maybe one of you has been there?" He looked questioningly at each companion. "It was on Proxima, I think. Or maybe Gelit II? Nerani IV…?"
"Tell us which it was, and maybe we can tell you?" Daniels urged. There weren’t too many places in Federation space he hadn’t been in or heard about, and it’d be interesting to know if it was somewhere he knew.
"It was a gaming house; kind of like a holodeck except that it was all in the mind. It worked on the dream state, but it was so real! Of course it was banned everywhere else in the Federation, but really there were more redundancies on it than a Galaxy class environmental system, so it was safe. Safer than a holodeck in the opinion of this technician…"
"And what could you do in this ‘mental holodeck’?" Daniels asked, his eyes gleaming with possibility. Beside him Grieg’s eyes were gleaming too, but with a different kind of thought.
"Anything you want to. Fly, be a fish, be with a million sex partners and not get tired; whatever you want!"
"Better Than Life!" Grieg suddenly announced, a smile playing about his face and with laughter in his voice.
"Yes!" Rell agreed. Of course, he wouldn’t understand Grieg’s reference to an item in his collection, instead taking it as heard. "It was! Your body rested while your mind enjoyed itself - it was absolute bliss! The perfect getaway!"
"Have you remembered where it was?" Daniels asked eagerly, taking a swig of his bubble juice.
"No." All frustration, Rell frowned… then held up a staying hand. "No… it was affiliated to a university campus! I remember because we spent at least two hours going over the circuitry making sure they weren’t using it to study us in some weird experiment! Maybe it was Melaner Prime?"
"Oh God knows!" Daniels snorted. "You’ve been so many places they’ve all blended in together! Now we’ll never find it!"
"I’m not entirely sure I want to." Grieg said slowly, though his eyes were dancing at some inner joke. "It would be very tempting to stay in there, wouldn’t it?"
"That was why the Federation wanted to ban it." Rell sighed. "But there was a redundancy for that, too. Once you were in there more than twenty minutes - remembering dreams can feel like they’ve gone for days when only seconds have passed - the computer began to wind down the program.
"But I’ve just thought of something! There’s one person here who should be able to help us!" he declared, raising a hand to attract someone’s attention. Daniels was eager - until he realised who it was.
"Commander! Commander Elek! A moment, if you would!" Rell bellowed, still more accustomed to an engineering section than a lounge party.
Graciously the thin Lieutenant Commander drew out of her isolation to cut across the room the quickest way possible. Yet before she reached them, Grieg had time to ask,
"Why Elek? I doubt a Vulcan would be interested in this kind of frivolity?"
Rell nodded wisely.
"Ah - you haven’t met our Operations Manager yet, have you? Otherwise you’d know that she’s the best source of general knowledge we have. She knows everything!"
"Or thinks she does." Daniels muttered darkly.
Upon joining them, emotionlessly as ever, Elek asked,
"You wished to see me, Commander?"
"Yes, but first I’d like you to meet Commander Grieg, our new Executive Officer."
Politely Elek nodded.
"Commander."
"Commander." The Grieg almost surprised her by putting his hand up in the Vulcan salute. She did the same.
"I come to serve." she said ritualistically.
"Your service honors us."
Daniels stood back and wished himself away from the entire scene.
"You honor me, sir." Elek told Grieg after it was over. "It isn’t often I get to practise the pleasantries with those not of the Vulcan race. How may I assist you?"
"Commander Rell has a question for you."
"Yes." Obligingly Elek turned towards the Bolian as he started to speak. "I was wondering if you knew which Federation planet the university trials of the Cyberdeck were being held on? The Commander, Daniels and I were talking about it, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember which planet I’d seen it on!"
"It was on Suram Prime, but I’m afraid it was discontinued three years ago."
"Bugger it!" The words were out before he could stop them, but Daniels was never one to show annoyance for too long. Almost as soon as the exclamation died in the air, he shrugged and pragmatically added, "It’s not as though we’d be near there anytime soon anyway, but the things I could have done there!"
"Yes." Elek sounded as though she could imagine but didn’t care to.
Daniels felt chilled to the bone at her casual disregard of what, for him, had been a serious comment. I hate Vulcans, he mentally grumbled.
"Oh well." Rell sighed, shrugging as well, though disappointment featured largely in his demeanor. "At least I saw it and can tell you all about it. The things I did, you wouldn’t believe!"
"It sounded pretty good, provided it was as safe as you said." Grieg added speculatively. "But there is the question of possible tampering. You’d be vulnerable in there, and in the wrong hands there could be no telling what could be done. You’d need an astronomical level of safety."
"That couldn’t be guaranteed to the satisfaction of the Federation reviewers." Elek chose to ignore the snort from the Engineer. "As it was intended as an educational tool as efficacious as the holodeck but needed less space, the problem of policing its usage coupled with the reported ‘totality’ of the experience - ‘more real than real’, I believe was the description given in the report - made it a thing easily abused."
Daniels wasn’t a man who could accept such a clinical explanation without feeling like his brain was freezing into solidity. Yet while pedantic - and, to him, arrogant; as though he needed all of the details spelt out for him! - ploddings normally left him cold, now he just wanted to prove to this up-jumped Vulcan that she wasn’t the only one who could be so dismissive. She’d made this last week a living hell with her high-handed comments and oh-so-right demeanor, when it should have been among the best in his life. Who cares if she was right nine-tenths of the time? At that moment, Daniels certainly didn’t.
His laughter was of pure derisive scorn; later, when he actually became aware of how he’d sounded, he’d surprised even himself.
"That’s what they said about the holodeck when it was being developed! And they were wrong about that, too!"
The small group fell into silence for a heartbeat. Daniels hadn’t said anything overly insulting, but the sneering tone was way over the line. Both Grieg and Rell waited, knowing the next move was Elek’s before either could or would intervene.
Cold, emotionless, Elek’s icy blue eyes seemed to pierce through the Security Chief as she turned them on him. Those eyes told him he was an idiot; fifteen kinds of fool; and deep inside himself he squirmed and writhed in the face of them.
Finally she looked away and softly said,
"You wanted this technology as a recreational facility." It wasn’t a question, and though she wasn’t precisely addressing it to Daniels. there was no mistaking who it was meant for. "I will never understand the human need to waste time ‘vacationing’ as a relaxation measure, nor that such advanced technology as the holo- or this ‘Cyberdeck’ would be utilized in such juvenile pursuits. Both were designed as teaching aids - why not use them as such?"
The question was plainly rhetorical, for she added with only the slightest pause to nod her pinched face at the two Commanders. Daniels need not have been there at all.
"Now, if you’ll excuse me gentlemen; Commander. I have not yet paid my respects to the Captain. I hope I have been of some help to you."
"Quite." Grieg replied as Rell smiled. "But I think I’ll join you; I haven’t spoken to the Captain either." Inclining his head towards the other two, he continued, "Have a good evening, and I’ll see you in my office before duty calls tomorrow, Mister Daniels." His voice hadn’t changed from the casual tone of a party conversation, but there was something about him that would brook no argument. Even Daniels in his current frustrated mood couldn’t find it in himself to disagree.
"Yes, sir." he petulantly replied.
"Perhaps we’ll see you later?" Rell asked mildly, his first words in a while. Grieg quickly agreed.
"Maybe - there are a lot of others I still have to meet, but that would be good."
Then, as Grieg and Elek walked out into the crowd, Rell turned to Daniels. The Bolian had been gazing thoughtfully after the departing duo, but as he fixed his eyes back on Daniels, his displeasure became apparent.
"What?" the Chief demanded as Rell glared. "You agreed with what I said, didn’t you?"
"Yes I did, but that’s not the point!" Then a tired, resigned chuckle. "Haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve said tonight?"
"Have I had a bloody choice?"
A blue fist shot out and began rapping smartly upon Daniels’ skull; not hard, but annoyingly enough so that he tried to knock it away.
"I’m talking ‘listen’, as in ‘remembering and understanding what’s being said’, not ‘have the air vibrate the tympanic membranes in the ears’!" Rell urged. "You went too far!"
"I didn’t say all that much." Daniels protested.
"It wasn’t what you said, but the way you said it, and you know it. You’ve been trained when to use a phaser and when not - use the same principle with your mouth, and you’ll get a lot further in life."
"She deserved whatever you think I did to her."
"Maybe you thought so, but it wasn’t your place to act, Lieutenant." Emphasis on the rank reminded Daniels just who he was talking to - whether or not be believed in rank, if he was to stay aboard the Fairburn, he was going to have to remember Rell was a Lieutenant Commander as well as a fun guy to talk to, and that was going to be hard.
A pause. Then Rell grabbed Daniels’ arm. Painfully aware of the tension in the air surrounding them, he said darkly,
"Let’s go and get another drink."
"I’m not going to bore you by repeating my words from when I came aboard, so those of you who missed them will have to hear them from someone who was there…"
Caught between the twin beams of golden light coming from the ceiling and with the huge sphere of Earth visible behind her, Susan Randall was every centimeter a Starfleet Captain. She stood proudly before the gathering again, yet this time something was subtly different. Perhaps it was the softer lighting, or the deliberate choice of an informal uniform, of even that the heartfelt smile never left her face as she warmly addressed them; but all there were impressed by how close she seemed to be to them.
She was still the Captain, of course, but she was recognized as human as well by the time she’d finished her short speech.
"…in fact, I want to keep this as short as possible - there’s a whole planet down there, and I know some of you haven’t seen planetside in a good long time. I don’t want to be the instigator of a mutiny against me!"
A titter ran through the crowd.
"But I want you to enjoy this party, and to feel sorry for those poor souls who’ve pulled duty in the morning - and that includes me…" A sorrowful sigh and rolled her eyes ceilingward. She saw she’d had the desired affect on at least one person in the group when she noticed Grieg, standing beside Elek where she’d left him, distinctly grinning. There was definitely hope for him!
"…And most of all, I want to welcome you all to the Fairburn, and to thank you all for the welcome you’ve given me. Now unless anyone has more to add, we’ll continue with the party. Thank-you."
She stepped down from the podium to rejoin her First and Second Officers as Admiral Grainger took it, touching her arm in a silent congratulations as they passed. She was a smaller woman than the Captain, but looked over the gathering with a poise that made up for it.
"I too would like to thank you all for your welcome." she said. "It isn’t often I get to come aboard a ship in its crew’s formative days, but it is heartening for me to see how quickly you’re all coming together to form a cohesive team. I am greatly looking forward to following the exploits of the Fairburn over the years to come.
"Starfleet is in a time of change, and the Fairburn stands at the forefront of that change. After the battle at Wolf 359 we were left with our forces depleted and our forces demoralized. No longer were we unbeatable. Though we won, it was a close thing, and we have determined we will never be caught like that again.
"You on the Fairburn are a symbol of the Fleet rising from the ashes, our metaphorical phoenix. You are the best of the new Fleet, with the latest in Federation technology at your fingertips. I wish you all the greatest of luck in your coming endeavors.
"Thank-you."
She stepped down from the podium and made as if to head for the small group of Fleet Brass clustered by the buffet table, then stopped and headed for the Captain and her group. Unconsciously Grieg and Elek came to attention before her, but the Captain just smiled and said,
"Nice speech. Anyone would think the Press Corps were here."
"Susan, you know as well as I the benefits of a few rousing words. The Fleet has to pick up, you know.
"So this is your First and Ops Officers?" She turned and smiled at them.
"Yes." the Captain replied. "Commander James Grieg and Lieutenant Commander Elek, this is Admiral Grainger."
"Sir." they both replied in greeting. The Admiral laughed.
"At ease, you two. It’s a party, after all. It’s nice to meet you both."
"And you, Admiral." Grieg said with a smile.
"It is an honor." Elek intoned.
Susan simply smiled.
"You aren’t going to say a few words to the group, Commander?" Grainger asked Grieg curiously.
"No sir. I’d rather meet them tonight and talk at them tomorrow."
The Admiral frowned slightly, as though she thought he was being impudent but couldn’t for the life of her place where she’d got that idea from.
"I see. And fair enough. An XO has that kind of luxury, I suppose."
Grieg blinked.
"That’s almost exactly what the Captain said, sir." he replied.
"Really?" The Admiral smiled broadly, nudging the Captain in the ribs. "It’s good to know you’ve been listening to me!"
"More like we listened in the same lectures." Susan countered with a laugh. "So what do you think of my ship?"
"She’s a beauty." Grainger marveled. "Absolutely gorgeous and no less than what you deserve."
"How much of her have you seen? I can arrange for a tour if you’d like…?"
"That won’t be necessary tonight, Sue." Grainger laughed. "Tonight I’m going to stay here, eat your glorious food and chat about old times with Condell and Smarché. In fact, they’ve been waiting to chat with you, they tell me…?"
"I know." she replied, looking over to where the two Admirals were looking at her expectantly. "I’ll go over there shortly, ok?"
"I’ll hold you to that." Grainger lightly warned, raising a teasing finger. "But I’d better get back over there to soothe them in the meantime.
"It was nice to meet the both of you." she added to the other officers, who nodded in return. "See you soon, Sue." And she stepped back out into the crowd, the people parting to make a path for her as she moved.
In the group she left, there was a beat of silence as they adjusted themselves to the change. Then the Captain said,
"Well; what was it you were saying, Elek?"
Viana watched Lieutenant Jedera slip away from his group and out into the crowd. It hadn’t been her intention to avoid the little Ralexim man; it was just bad timing which caused her to approach as he was leaving, but that didn’t stop a touch of guilt from entering into her thoughts. Disregarding this, she bounced into the remainder of the gathering with all her customary verve and heartily greeted them with,
"Hi, all!"
At least one here knew her, but most didn’t. However, she’d seen them throughout the night and had decided early on that this small group would prove the best bet for on-going entertainment when the rest of the party wound down. Other distractions had kept her away until now, but from a distance they seemed to be a friendly bunch, and she guessed that if she stayed her own vibrant self, she’d be accepted with a minimum of fuss. It’d always worked with those of similar age and rank before; it seemed that the common bond of Starfleet training got the preliminaries out of the way so that she could get on down to being friends.
The response she now got was warm enough, but the quick-witted security officer caught the whiff of something mischievous in the air. Some of the faces before her were full of glee, though on most that was tempered with apprehension. One, belonging to a darker haired woman from sciences he didn’t know, seemed downright angry, and half-faced away from the others in a sullen pout.
Viana’s curiosity caught hold of her, and she sat, her agate eyes sparkling.
"I think I’ve missed the good stuff!" she commented. Jerking her head in the direction Jedera had taken, she added, "Did it have anything to do with the Lieutenant?"
Jondalar was the owner of one of the apprehensive ones; in a voice full of doubt he replied,
"We’re playing a joke on him. That’s why he’s gone to the bar."
"I think you’re all children!" the angry woman snapped, as though the Mantanan’s words were the code which accessed her displeasure.
"Oh, Lisa," a blonde scientist - the most gleeful of the lot - soothed. "You know Jedera about as well as I do; he’ll think it’s funny!"
"Would you?" Jondalar sighed. ‘Lisa’ simply ignored her.
In reply, the blonde straightened up defiantly.
"Yes." Then she looked at Lisa and smirked, "I’m not as touchy as some."
"Isn’t the question about Jedera?" Viana chipped in, accidentally cutting off the human woman in cranberry who nodded after Viana’s words, making the Trill believe she was about to point out the same thing.
A snort, and then the smoothing tone came again.
"He isn’t. Trust me. he’ll see the joke and enjoy it as much as we do. You’re all just getting the guilts while waiting for the fun to start!"
"I just hope you’re right." Jondalar didn’t look like he believed her, however.
"I can’t see how any of this happened when you obviously aren’t agreed on it." Viana noted. "I’ve pulled a fair few jokes in my time, but at least everyone involved were agreed on it! But there’s one thing I hope for all of you…"
"And what’s that?" came the blonde’s calm question.
Viana pointed one shapely finger in the direction of Jedera, whom she’d spotted on the far side of the bar as he expectantly waited for his order to arrive. As the others, even the sullen Lisa, looked towards him, a shock poured into their faces. Calmly Viana said into the silence,
"I hope the Counsellor thinks it’s funny."
Joenn had been guided past her outer defenses now, and as K’Teira had thought, the little scientist was desperate to talk. Most of her problem her was a lack of community sense such as she’d had on her homeworld, K’Teira surmised. The lives of everyone in her village were intertwined, and all roles were predetermined for them, right down to the genetic type of the one they would ultimately marry. It would be a very comfortable and secure life to lead, knowing everyone in the village and how their existence was going to affect yours.
However, for the first time Joenn was being thrown into a huge group of strangers with no ties or links to anyone save their common bond of Starfleet. She would have experienced a little of this when she first got to the Academy, but even there friends were relatively easy to come by, for in the first few weeks there everyone was feeling naïve and a little out of place, and K’Teira knew well how non-humans tended to stick together in the face of all that humanity. Now Joenn was the only fresh graduate here, her friends having been assigned elsewhere, and she was alone in a vast expanse of people who all had more experience than her.
It was understandable then that Joenn would suddenly be overcome by the intense desire to go back to that which was completely familiar and known as being safe.
Joenn didn’t really need a counsellor now, K’Teira decided, it was a friend. Better, a whole group of friends; a group to prove to her that Starfleet was as much a community of explorers as her original research had led her to believe.
Some time before a small group had caught her eye, a group that would be perfect for her needs. By good luck, they had managed to attract a nice selection of younger officers, and there were enough non-humans amongst them, too. She had been surreptitiously watching them, and she could see now that her chance was almost upon her in the form of a slender Ralexim man in teal. She only wondered how they’d managed to cajole him into going to the bar.
"Time for a refill." she sighed, looking sorrowfully into her glass. "Can I get you another sundae?"
"No thank-you, Counsellor - maybe in another three scoops, though!" Joenn’s bright eyes danced as they had when she’d first been beamed aboard and everything was new. Changeable…
K’Teira got to her feet.
"All right - I won’t be long."
It was easy to slide in beside the luckless Jedera as he cheerily placed his order with Chianeé. Being unaccustomed to beverages and foodstuffs owing to his metabolism, he probably didn’t realize he was going to need either three Vulcans or an anti-grav gurney to be able to deliver it all to the table. His friends presumably did, though - looking back over her shoulder she could definitely see smug pouts of anticipation on at least one of the faces there.
Better and better.
"Jederrrrra." Chianeé was saying doubtfully as K’Teira properly tuned in to what was happening. "This cannot all be for your one little table, surely?"
"All I know is what they told me." Jedera replied, shrugging.
"All rrrrrrright." Stroking his face with caring fingers, she purred, "But I will need extra waiters for this!"
"Lieutenant -" K’Teira began in greeting as Chianeé murmured her way away, musing on the humungous order that had been placed.
"Counsellor!" the scientist enthused in that silken whisper of his, plainly glad to see her. "How are you enjoying the party?"
"I’m having a good time." And she was, believe it or not! A challenge is a challenge, be it mental or physical; and when Joenn got going, she was an entertaining conversationalist. "But something tells me you’re about to stop having one - shall I give you a hand with all that you’re ordering? I doubt you’ll be able to move it by yourself, let alone get it all to your table intact! I take it this isn’t all for you."
"No; I don’t need to eat." His eyes widened as two huge trays were placed on the bar in front of him and a group of waiters began putting steaming platters of food and huge tumblers of drink upon them. "Oh!" he exclaimed heatedly, almost laughing hysterically as he looked from the feast he was supposed to carry to them, and back to K’Teira. "I guessed they were up to something, but I didn’t know what!"
"Phew!" The Prarrian hostess heaved another huge platter on to the tray and regarded the Ralexim questioningly. "This is everrrrything." she told him. "We’ll take it all over therrrre forrr you in a moment, but I just wanted you to make surrrre that this is rrreally what you wanted. Should we starrrt moving it over therrrre now?"
"Wait a minute, Chianeé." K’Teira instructed. "I have a better idea, if Jedera is interested."
"All rrright, K’Teirrra. I thought I smelled a joke herre anyway." Chianeé replied amiably.
"An interesting one, at that." K’Teira noted this coolly, appearing faintly amused. On the inside she was rolling around on the floor, not laughing at Jedera, but at her own interesting solution. "Do you feel like getting some of your own back, Jedera"
"Do I? Yes!"
"Then wait here - better yet, make it seem as though I’ve left for good. I’ll just go and gather our accomplices."
"On the prrrowl again?" Chianeé purred as the Counsellor swept away.
"When am I not?" was the comeback.
Those on the center table never knew what hit them when the two huge trays arrived. They’d all seen K’Teira leave Jedera to return to the party; they’d all seen Jedera happily resume his conversation with Chianeé; they’d kept going with their little plans; and they’d even forgotten that the Klingon had ever been seen near him, until…
It had taken a little talking and more than a little hope on the Klingon’s part to enlist the aid of Commanders Grieg and Elek - one she didn’t know the humour threshold of and the other of a humorless background - but it would have been too much to draw in Captain Randall, no matter how approving she was when the situation had been explained to her.
It had taken a little more talking to get Joenn to help, but once her moral code came into play, and the basic injustice was realized, she became the fourth participant, allowing Jedera his planned position as supervisor.
It was strangely quiet at that central table as First Officer, Ops Manager, Counsellor and Joenn converged upon them, bearing their heavy load.
"Just on that table over there sirs, Joenn." Jedera said gratefully, directing Grieg to move over a little to allow enough room for both trays. "There!" Both were safe and soundly down, and not a drop was spilled. "Thank-you!" he beamed.
"A pleasure to help someone in such obvious distress." Grieg smiled politely and walked away.
"I too was pleased to assist." Elek informed him with a nod. "It wasn’t feasible that one could carry so much by himself." A withering look at the rest of the table’s occupants, then she followed Grieg.
A beat of silence as cringingly they awaited the towering Klingon’s wrath. She just continued to bear witness, mildly.
"That really wasn’t fair!"
Joenn wasn’t quite so mild as she announced this, stepping out to lean across the table. "He could have hurt himself!"
"I know." Jondalar looked regretful, as they all did.
"It was just a joke!" Carmen protested. "I guess we let it get out of hand."
"We!?!" Lisa scoffed. "Don’t count me in on this!"
"You shouldn’t have suggested it in the first place." Carmen retorted. Lisa stuck out her tongue and glowered.
"It was stupid." Under the untamed mane of blonde, Viana’s sea-green eyes were just visible, for she’d sunk her head to the level of the tabletop. "And worse, it wasn’t all that funny. I feel bad just being here."
"No one asked you to join us." Carmen snapped, but it wasn’t serious - the smirk gave her away. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Viana Jancris. And you are, sir?"
"Lieutenant Carmen Quellon." Then she turned to Jedera with true regret softening her expressive face. "I really am sorry, Jedera."
This sentiment swept around the table like a barium scan, save Viana; but of course, she hadn’t been involved. Then silence descended again, for they were aware that K’Teira hadn’t given her opinion yet, and they were reluctantly waiting to hear her verdict as she hung over them like Threat personified.
Knowing that her turn had come, the dark statue of justice solemnly took a breath, gazing down on them with hooded eyes.
Dramatic pause; disparate heartbeats made their own drum roll.
"You…"
Sunshine broke the clouds as the Klingon Grim Reaper visage became deliberately broad grin.
"… really should have seen your faces!" she chortled, Jedera helping to fuel her laughter with his own. A moment later, Joenn joined in.
Slowly the others were taken in by the absurdity of it all; even Lisa’s residual rage was washed away in the flood of relieving amusement.
"I’ll forgive you all this time," Jedera chuckled, hands holding the sides of his neck as he fell back into his chair. "If you don’t do it again, please!"
"They can’t!" Viana told them. "Your friends are far too influential - I wouldn’t want the seniors hounding me for the rest of the mission!"
"And it’s not fair, anyway! I hate practical jokes." Joenn fumed. "If I want to look like a fool, I can do it just fine myself without having others trying to do it for me."
Lisa looked at her in frank admiration.
"Exactly right!" she agreed. "Say - do you and the Counsellor want to join us? There’s plenty of room here, and I need all the support I can get against them!"
The clamor of ‘yeah, come on!’ and its variants were beguiling to even the hardest of hearts, and with an uncertain look at K’Teira (who nodded with the faintest of smiles), Joenn replied,
"Uhhh… Okay!" and sat upon a chair Jondalar quickly fetched for her.
"I can’t stay very long," was K’Teira’s half-hearted response, "but I’ll stay as long as I can. I’m looking forward to seeing you eat everything you ordered!"
Silence descended for a beat. K’Teira smiled as they tried to decide whether this was a joke or not.
"This might be fun." she said softly. "But I will ask one thing of you."
"What?" Jondalar asked diffidently.
"I’d like you to remember I have a name as well as a rank while I’m here. It’s K’Teira, in case you’ve forgotten."
"Sure." The Mantanan shrugged.
"Okay."
"Yeah!"
"Sure!"
"Nah."
Why is there always a discord in an attempt at humour? K’Teira thought, awaiting the rest of the still lolling Viana’s joke. The Trill lifted her barely visible eyebrows cheekily and added,
"I like ‘Counsellor’!"
"Shut up, Tribble!"
Everyone laughed save Viana, who demanded,
"What?!"
"Well, that’s what you look like there," Carmen continued benignly. "Sit up, for goodness’ sake!"
The argument began, and as it was light hearted, K’Teira was well pleased.
