I Wanna Rock

Posted on Sun Mar 9th, 2025 @ 1:37am by Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth & Lieutenant Zo

Mission: Outside the Box
Location: Aenardha's Quarters
Timeline: After "Way Under," 1600 hrs

ON

From the briefing at the arcade, Warp Nine had headed straight to Rachel Garrett Memorial Park and done a full sound check with more than two hours to spare. The "Last Night on Earth" concert--or so the band called it--had been booked for two weeks at the park's small amphitheater, the best venue they could book in that limited amount of time.

After signing autographs at the meet and greet, Zo headed to Ensign Aenardha Sh'vastarth's apartment. The apartment complex she was inhabiting was named "Chilly Spring" for good reason. Every unit had been modified with sharply low temperatures for people from various ice environments. Zo shivered as he beamed onto Gretzky Avenue in the public transporter pod in front of Aenardha's building. The whole neighborhood was covered by a transparent enviro-dome, putting the area in a nice cold bubble.

He entered the building and took the stairs up to Aenardha's door and pressed the chime, wishing again that he had put on a coat first.

"Enter," came Aenardha's voice from within.

Somehow, Zo also heard her voice as clear as day.

The door did not slide open and Aenardha's voice returned as more of a shout this time. "Enter!" But he heard her command without the exclamation. It was as though there were two voices, both were Aenardha's while one was registered by his ears with the other as though projected directly into his auditory cortex. The door obeyed and slid open invitingly. Aenardha appeared before him as the door slid open. However, Aenardha seemed to appear before him slightly before the opening door should have allowed. She stood there, a bit hazy with her form attempting to waft away as the air slowly moved about the place. She maintained form. Her eyes were a bright peridot."

"Zo," she said, surprised, but he knew otherwise. "Come in please."

Zo smiled a little. "I see you're working on your image projection," he said. It was an interesting ability. The Aenar were one of a few races who could do it, and the Warp Nine Task Force--code named W9TF on what few documentation there was regarding their exploits--had found some use for it more than once...

...okay, "twice, Zo reminded himself. She could only sustain the image for about a minute, and couldn't yet project anyone but herself.

Zo noticed she had gotten much better at it. He moved into the room and her image rotated with him. "It looks like you're still struggling with the all-around. I'm well in the room but you're still facing me."

"Like riding a bicycle, as the humans say," she said. "I haven't forgotten how. Only, after that game of Acquisitor's Might," and she left the ensuing brawl unspoken, "I need to get back into the practice of it. I'm in the latrine," she said finally as an explanation as to why she was projecting her image. "Finishing up."

About the room was a set of the Starfleet physical exercise uniform as well as the new Romulan concept uniform Aenardha had discovered. She had also laid out some casual wear for the gathering this night.

The image of Aenardha in the middle of the room wafted and went away as the door to the latrine slid open revealing Aenardha, the real Aenardha and not astral projection of her. She stepped out of the latrine wearing only a tight and snug silk body suit. It was snow white, almost matching her skin complexion.

"Oh!" Zo exclaimed upon first glance, and he started to look away when it registered in his head that the body suit was a slightly different color.

"Um," he said, blushing, "I thought you were naked for a second there."

"Zo," she said as she stepped to her laid out clothes, "I have been with you and the others for some time now. I am comfortable around you all but not that comfortable...to just..." She let the thought fade away. Aenardha grabbed at a dress and started working in on. "This," she regarded the silk bodysuit, "this is because we cannot replicate these new uniforms. I found that it causes me to overheat and break out in a rash. This silk bodysuit removes the irritation and uses micro-technology to give me something of a cooling system. Don't be surprised if I drop by Engineering for some maintenance."

"I guess I could take a look at it," Zo said, diverting his eyes while Aenardha dressed. "You know, the Chief--I mean, Commander Mindo--just finished assisting Ignatius with his fashion line. I think he'd know a lot more about that bodysuit."

"I hadn't thought of that," she said as she pulled on an oversized black and baggy shirt. It had, emblazoned upon it, the Clan of Xymox emblem. It matched her dress. The neck was wide open and the shirt immediately exposed a shoulder, though still covered up by the silk bodysuit. "Between Ignatius and the slew of engineers we have on the crew, I should not have any issues with this thing. Speaking of the Commander, Mindo seems to be...withdrawn...less unlike himself than usual." Aenardha then added, "Less than when we last served together before he went to Risa that is."

Zo's brow furrowed upon hearing this. He turned back to Aenardha. "Why do you think that?" he asked, trying to gauge his own thoughts of Mindo's recent behavior.

"It's just," she began. "For us Aenar, thoughts, emotions, and feelings are more tangible. Of course we don't read minds without permission but...take you for instance. If Mindo walks into Engineering and he is fart fire furious," she paused ever so briefly to ponder if she had the saying right, "you can tell just by looking at him, hearing him say something, or if he does not speak. For us, we feel it like a gust of hot wind, or maybe an explosion of a pungent smell." She started pacing a bit. "I hope that makes sense. But...I guess, if he had settled on leaving Starfleet, set up a life on Risa, only to re-commission and to be thrown into the Captain's chair...I suppose that would throw off his proverbial Qi." She stopped and used Zo's vision to look back at herself, ensuring she was looking him in the eye. "I like Mindo," she said, "and I want him to be comfortable in his position. I feel it is the crew's job to make him feel needed and appreciated. We don't need to stand behind him waiting for his command. Sometimes we need to stand before him, leading him to his command. I hope I can do my part." She took a whole step forward toward Zo. "Does any of this make sense?"


"I think so," Zo said.

Zo and Mindo were not just fellow officers, they were good friends. Zo had met Mindo on the USS Tornado a number of years ago. Mindo was not often one to talk much about himself. Over time, Zo had picked up some information about him and his past. Zo was no expert, but he'd picked up on one fact about Mindo. Something no one else seemed to notice.

Mindo, Zo believed, suffered from chronic depression. Zo couldn't think of anyone who could go through what Mindo did early in life and not come out the chipper, animated person Mindo liked to project.

Years ago at the Academy, Zo took several psychology classes. Granted, it was only because his girlfriend was going the Counselor route, but Zo did very well in the subject. He learned a lot about people, and also himself. Zo did not have any mental illness at all, so it fascinated him how a simple chemical imbalance could do so much damage to not just a mind, but a whole person.

"I'm pretty good at reading people," Zo continued. "And yeah, the Chief's been a little strange lately. May I ask a personal question?"

Aenardha smiled reassuringly. "That, I am comfortable with," she said.

"Well, Fesarians have a very limited and unique empathic ability," Zo said. "So unique, other empaths can't 'read' them, unless they can do it by physical contact like Vulcans or, obviously, Aenar."

Zo hesitated for a second, not knowing how personal this question was. "When you melded with him three months ago, was there anything peculiar? I obviously have no experience, so I have no idea how it works, and I never asked Mindo about it."

"I am bound by Aenar law not to disclose what I saw...or felt," she started. But there were plenty of times recently she had disregarded the law of her people for her own gain or the gain of her comrades. "That being said..." she continued, "It started as all connections do; random unconstructed thoughts. There was a box...Pandora's box I presume, which morphed into a Tornado. There came a vision of one child named Chase, chasing a smaller child whom I knew was Mindo. The scene morphed into a Changeling whom I saw with..." and Aenardha stopped herself before divulging too much and moving away from the topic at hand.

"All those thoughts were in a flash of less than a second. Once I helped him calm the storm of his mind, he had another thought. This was no memory and no freeforming past experience manifesting itself as a thought. No, this was self-constructing dreaming. He dwelt upon a cabin." Aenardha stopped herself momentarily, recalling her own feelings of what she saw. "His thoughts centered on he and I being inside that cabin...together. I think he..." She did not want to get into what she saw and felt then. Aenardha figured Zo knew Mindo well enough to piece together what she was already thinking; that Mindo may have had an attraction to her.

"His mind opened up and I was able to give him what I got from Poark. In the end, I felt a sense of cold before I severed the telepathic link. I know for an Aenar to admit to being cold must be unheard of for you, but this cold was mental...cosmic. I don't know if it is how he feels, if I had inadvertently unlocked something within him or if I left something behind."

Zo listened intently to Aenardha's words, trying to match up anything based on what he knew of Mindo. He'd been looking for some kind of symbolism. The cabin and Changeling came very close, but Aenardha seemed to think they were separate. Zo considered Mindo might be attracted to Aenardha, but Mindo could be attracted to just about anything. Then again, Zo had never seen Mindo flirt with Aenardha, and lord knows he would have by now. Mindo's interest could be entirely professional, Zo supposed. Zo also knew Aenardha to be a very likable person, and he'd grown to think of her as a close friend. The two were very casual with each other. Honest, even. Zo liked that.

After a few seconds of consideration, Zo said, "I know Mindo likes and respects you as an officer. More than that, I think he trusts you. He doesn't trust very many people. So, whatever it is, you have a connection with him. If your trust is mutual, I think you owe it to him to voice your concern. Sooner rather than later."

Aenardha's antennae had been drooping a bit. Zo's words brought some confidence back. Her antennae did not stand erect but they were drooping less at least. "I think I will do that. No...I will do that. The next time I can be alone with him; my next Intelligence report..." she nodded. "If you can't trust your Intelligence officer..." she started with something of a smile then let the thought drift off knowing Zo knew the rest.

"...you don't have any intelligence!" Zo finished with a grin. "Speaking of bad segues," he continued jokingly, "the band has completed sound check and the meet and greet. Show starts in a little under four hours. I don't know if you're planning on attending, but I was thinking we could do the number where I serenade you with 'Break Your Heart,' the one by Barenaked Ladies. That number went over really well back on Aramis III. We haven't done it since and I kinda want to make this performance a memorable one. The band's really hoping you'll say yes."

Aenardha started with a nod, then, "Yes. I'll do it." She spread her arms out as though displaying herself to Zo and gave a spin. "I wasn't going to dress like this if I weren't attending." She used his vision to get a closer look at her Clan of Xymox shirt. "I didn't exactly know which shirt I had picked until you saw me in it. It's the Last Night on Earth and the last time people get to see Warp 9 in person for a while. I wouldn't miss this."

Zo grinned. "You look like you're ready for a rock concert!" he said. "Ann, I gotta say, you're really fun to have on tour. I don't know if you've noticed, but you have really changed, grown even, in the last three years. You're not the shy, awkward Ensign looking to impress. You have a lot more confidence and, obviously, you're not afraid to let yourself go a little. The band sees it too. Maybe Mindo has."

"No," she said with a smile, "I am not afraid to let myself go." Her smile was short-lived however and only reduced itself to half of how it first appeared as she dwelt briefly on her own past; the order by her elders to head out and be herself and to rid herself of her impulses before they saw fit to call her back for her planned marriage. When that call would come, she had no idea. In the meantime, "I want to live life to the fullest Zo. No limits. I am glad to be a part of this crew."

"Me too," Zo said. "Ready to rock?"

Aenardha said, "Like it is the last night on Earth."

OFF