Coming Home [Jiseth/Persephone]

[Bridge - Turbolift]

Persephone stepped into the turbolift, waiting for Jiseth to join her before she called out for the lift to take them down to the shuttle bay. She took a deep breath, trying to smooth her fur from the toilet-brush aspect it had taken on ever since the ship had fallen into the conduit. It was hardly an experience she had ever had before.

"Sorrrrrry I didn't get a chance to say so beforrrrre, but welcome back," she said quietly, hoping that the Romulan wasn't going to bite her head off for speaking. Since Jiseth had left for the Romulan Empire after the incident on the Phoenix's bridge, romours had been rapidly circulating about her. Some called her a legend, some a danger to the Federation. No matter which stories you believed, they still added up to a terrifying figure.

[Turbolift]

There was a quiet nod from Jiseth in reply. Her arms were crossed and left index finger tapping at the back of her opposite arm. No one denied she was a swirling ball of negative emotions even in the best of times, but right now was especially so. Feelings began to freeze over. Preserved for a later time to be set loose on someone or something. Right now there could be little to distract her from the task at hand.

As they neared Deck 4, she changed the destination to Deck 9. An encounter with the other flight department members would be an enormously inefficient use of her time. Whatever power structure now existed could not be knocked over by a wrecking ball like her. Everyone had to be on point. Sheerhan was right about one thing, he did not have to take orders from her. At the moment no one did, but she was glad M'Rai was there.

"We're going to the forward airlock. When's the last time you did an EVA?"

Noting that her welcome seemed to have been brushed aside beyond a silent nod, Persephone took hold of her twitching tail, stroking the end of it nervously. It was an odd sensation for the young Caitian. She was normally so confident with the rest of the flight department, but this Romulan somehow made her rather afraid for her fur. That, and she could feel a furball threatening. Not a smart thing to hork up in front of Jiseth.

The change of destination, although somewhat strange, was understandable. The last thing they needed at that point in time was a showdown between the flight crew. There was already enough tension on the ship located on the bridge.

"Two days ago. We werrrrre in space dock, so we took advantage. What's the plan?"

[Turbolift]

"We take a pair of Manned Maneuvering Units down each side of the ship. Divide and conquer as it were. We'll look for any exterior damage, but our focus will be on the RCS thrusters, impulse engines, and warp nacelles."

She glanced over to see the Catian stroking her tail. It seemed a nervous habit more than a grooming one, but Jiseth decided against inquiring. Though there was the question of how such an appendage could even fit into an EVA suit or how well she could keep her claws from piecing the gloves, but she'd soon find out.

"I'll go down the starboard side, you go down the port. I suggest using the lavatory before we suit up."

"I've flown this kind of thing beforrrre," Persephone replied, her tone a little miffed. It generally got her hackles up when superior officers treated her as some kind of idiot just because she didn't have years of experience built up behind her.

The turbolift beeped quietly to signal their arrival before the doors slid open onto one of the ship's hangars. The young Caitian stepped out first, eager to get started on their task. She glanced back over her shoulder as she headed for the changing rooms. "Coming?"

Jiseth nodded and stepped off the turbolift. As she walked, she began removing the outer layers of clothing from her torso and draping them over her shoulder. Modesty was never a trait to be thought of when it came to this particular Romulan and in the locker area she dressed down to just her undergarments and socks before sitting on the bench.

One by one she got her legs into the leathery space suit. It felt as if she were slipping into someone else's skin. Someone larger. Hanging off her somewhat uncomfortably which would not be relieved until the suit was pressurized. Next came attaching the various hardware pieces to the chest and forearms. The display screen on her left wrist lit up and showed that the backpack was full of air and the CO2 filters clean. The latter of which was more important. How much she carried to breathe did not matter if the suit could not get rid of what she was breathing out.

Taking a helmet in hand, she tossed her uniform into the locker and closed the door. It was an ungainly walk to the airlock door where she peered out the small viewport. She could see the MMU's docked in their alcoves and the lights were green inside showing there was indeed atmosphere and it was safe to enter.

"What music do you listen to?"

Although she didn't start stripping off until she reached the changing room, it didn't take long for Persephone to disrobe. She had never been one for modesty, especially since she was more or less covered in fur. She did cast a discreet look at Jiseth, noting that she seemed to only have one pair of nipples rather than the several pairs that the young Caitian had grown up to think of as normal.

Returning to the task at hand, she grimaced as she pulled on the flight suit. It had been designed to accommodate the strange shape of Caitian legs, but that didn't make it any more comfortable for her. The boots were even worse since she didn't normally wear them.

After checking her systems, she stepped up alongside Jiseth, trying to shake off the uncomfortable feeling of her tail being tucked down one leg of her suit.

"I'll listen to anything going, but I do have a cerrrrtain fondness for the old Earrrrrrth group 'AC/DC'."

"Tch. You and Commander Arthur have similar taste I think. Fornell certainly liked them..."

Her voice trailed off for a moment as her heart sank. There was a fixed point in time that she wished she could go back to. A simple question that had been asked of her. She should have said "yes" and gone down a different path, she thought. Something, anything, better than the last year. Quietly she put her helmet on and locked the seal as she managed to fight away tears. The last thing she wanted was them floating around her helmet and breathing them in.

"Mic check."

There was a gentle hiss as her suit inflated and pressurized. A tiny chirp went off to let her know the system was stable. A pull of the handle unlocked the door and she stepped through amid the warning klaxons that it was open. She waited for M'Rai to come along before shutting it and quiet returned. Next she moved to her own MMU on the right, strapping herself in and poking at the display at the end of the left armrest.

"What's your favorite song by them? We used to play Shoot to Thrill in the simulators during mock dogfights."

"Mike check verrrrrified," Persephone replied after fitting her helmet over her impressive mane of hair and sealed it, activating the pressurising protocol. Once the light flashed green to tell her that it was active and safe to venture out, she made her way to her assigned MMU.

Once strapped in, she grinned at the question about her favourite song. "Highway to Hell," she replied through the comm channels as she began the start up procedures and checked the readouts. "The captain of my flight team back at the Academy used to play it everrrrrry time we went out forrrrr prrrrractise."

"Seems fitting considering how we got to this end of the galaxy. Speaking of, I'm rather fond of the adventures of Ziggy Stardust from the same era I believe."

Rather encumbered by the weight of the MMU when undocked from its alcove, Jiseth reached out to the wall panel to shut the airlock hatch. Once sealed she made sure to deactivate the gravity plating beneath them. A moment later came the sudden uneasiness in her stomach that came with zero G, but luckily it had been quite some time since she last ate.

A klaxon alarm went off as she poked at the panel again to depressurize the airlock. The lighting around them turned red and when without atmosphere the lights on the egress hatch flickered green to show it was safe to proceed. Even with the MMU's, the force of getting blown out could end in a fatal injury. Slowly she pushed herself toward the far hatch with her feet, pressing the console pad for that one and waiting for it to fully open.

Her visor polarized as the light from three suns burst in, obscuring her face. Moving to the edge of the hatch, she looked around like a swimmer about to dive into an unimaginably large swimming pool. The first step was always the worst. With a gentle push, she moved out into the gulf of space. After her proximity rangefinder showed several meters from the hull, she gave a short burst from the MMU's thrusters to turn around and stop, facing M'Rai.

"...I'm afraid of heights. You?"

The weightlessness of a zero gravity environment was a sensation that Persephone disliked, but rare were the officers who actually enjoyed it. It had always been something that cadets at the Academy had simply suffered through, a means to an end. Waiting for Jiseth to go first, the young Caitian then followed her superior officer's lead, manipulating the thrusters with careful precision in order to ensure that she didn't drift off too far.

Despite the polarisation of the helmet's visor, she still found that she had to squint a little in the face of the bright light coming off the system's trinary stars. It was something of a relief when she could turn her back on the suns and look toward Jiseth.

It came as something of a surprise to Persephone that the Romulan was afraid of heights. It seemed like such a strange fear for a pilot to have. However, she knew better than to say anything negative about it.

"Heights? That's neverrrrr rrrrreally botherrrrred me," she replied, starting to inspect some of the damage that had been done to the hull. It occurred to her that a revelation like that deserved something similar in return. "Trrrrransporrrrterrrrs. I'm afrrrraid of trrrransporrrrrterrrrs."

"I can see why... Taking up a whole room and just sitting there. Judging and such."

With a slight burst Jiseth moved forward and a second pushed her up to inspect the RCS modules above the airlock. There were no external signs of damage or fatigue. No propellant gases venting into space. She did a scan with the MMU's built-in tricorder and the results showed nothing out of the ordinary.

"...To be pulled apart, every bit of you going through a computer, and then sent to another to be put back together it's an intimacy down to the atomic level. I guess felines do tend to have commitment issues."

There was a slight chuckle from her, more relieved that she still had a sense of humor than her own joke actually being funny. Perhaps a little bit. A burst downward lowered her to the bottom of the saucer's edge and another scan followed. Same results as the first aside from the components being upside down.

"...Not that I'm one to talk. Being a mother is only slightly less scary than high places. Third on my personal list."

Following Jiseth's lead, Persephone manipulated her thruster controls so that she could start inspecting a section of the RCS module a little further down from the Romulan. She could feel her fur bristling at the description of the transporter's mechanics. It felt strange in the confined space of the suit, which already rubbed her fur the wrong way in some places.

It was almost a relief when the conversation turned back to Jiseth's own fears. She didn't really know what to say about the fear of motherhood. Rumours had flown around the crew about the relationship between Jiseth and the strange doctor in sickbay, especially in recent days when the doctor had been seen leaving sickbay with a pale, pointed eared baby. The young Caitian wondered if Jiseth was aware of that rumour yet.

"Motherrrrhood? Why would you be afrrrrraid of that?"

"...You're joking right? Me? Motherly?"

It was a poor attempt at deflection as she looked over to the Catian before returning her attention to the display screen on the MMU. The forward cluster seemed to be in working order and she set off a few bursts of propellant to move her slowly toward the larger starboard bow module. Her discomfort with floating around was beginning to subside at least.

"I didn't see myself having a child for another five to ten years. I don't think I'm ready. Leading a squadron, that's not as hard as it looks. People volunteer and do their duty. You don't volunteer to be someone's kid... I think by age six she'll conclude I'm obsolete and ineffective as a parent. I won't be able to keep up with her intellect, her needs. I'll just hold her back. Then one day she'll be gone."

It was clear that Persephone had just stepped onto a subject best handled by either another mother or, quite possibly, someone with training as a counsellor. She was in no way prepared to try to talk to one of her superior officers, who was a member of a different species, about her potential as a mother.

"I don't think anyone rrrreally declarrrrres their parrrrrents obselete," she replied carefully, knowing that she was likely treading a very dangerous path. She scanned the readouts on the MMU's display, shifting a panel aside to take a look before shifting it back again. "Therrrrre's a human saying: A son's yourrrrr son until he takes a mate, but yourrrrr daughterrrrr stays yourrrr daughterrrr forrrrr life."

"What do you think of your own family, M'Rai? What are they like?"

Looking over to the other spacewalking pilot, Jiseth noted how big the ship actually was when the Catian looked so tiny. The Phoenix seemed dainty compared to the Genorex, but the warbird was altogether a different beast. The size alone of a single one decloaking, a simple manifestation of the Empire's might, could intimidate a much larger force into withdrawing.

Focusing back at the RCS module, she moved closed and took hold of a handrail with one hand while the other began poking at a small panel's corners. It opened slowly and revealed a large, but simple, screen which controlled the maintenance protocols. The size of the LCARS buttons made use with her EVA gloves easy which were like oven mitts.

Persephone thought back to her family as she checked over another panel. She was the only one of her siblings to have joined Starfleet, but on the other hand, she was the only one out of them who had taken any particular delight in piloting their small shuttlecraft. There were times when she missed them dearly, a little homesick for the large reserve they had lived on on Earth, wanting to hear her mother sing while she worked, go out hunting with her brothers, but there was adventure to be had here. Family could wait for shore leave.

"I come frrrrom a larrrrge family, by human standarrrrrds," she replied thoughtfully. "My parrrrents live back on Earrrth with my fourrrr brrrrel'marrr, my siblings. They all worrrrk on a rrreserve, a conserrrvation prrrroject for Earrrth's larrrge felines. It was a good place to grrrow up." She glanced at Jiseth, curiosity mounting in her mind. "What about yourrr family?"

"They think I was executed. A harmless disruptor blast initiated a transporter beam."

Her reply was curt and rather matter of fact. Indeed it is exactly what happened, but she hated being reminded of it. Three times now she had left the Empire. Or was it four? Her memories were still an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. Jiseth was just glad she knew where to find the release mechanism, which she grabbed on to and pulled into its fully extended position. She gave it a 90 degree turn counterclockwise before pushing, with considerable effort, back down until she could feel it lock into the retracted position.

The console began to flash white and red and she pushed off the hull a few seconds before the whole RCS module casing split in half with one side extending upward and the other downward. Now she could see all the piping and propellant tanks. The guts of a fairly rudimentary device that was absolutely vital for controlling the ship. Flicking on her lights, she began to look around for any obvious leaks or venting gases.

"I grew up on Romulus. It has large oceans like Earth. We share some of the same stars in our night skies. From Romulus, Betelgeuse and Rigel don't look like they're close together at all. In completely different constellations, actually."

Persephone found herself at a loss for words, which was quite an achievement for her. There were definitely skeletons in the Romulan's closet and, having now opened the door with a question, wasn't sure how to either shut the door or rummage through the clothing in the hopes of finding a magical land.

Finding nothing wrong in her section, she moved on to the next one, opening up the panel and peering inside with her wrist lamp. How did she respond to Jiseth? Part of her was insanely curious about the other pilot, but the other part was telling her to leave it well enough alone.

"Sounds like you liked it therrrre. What made you come back?"

Jiseth stopped her inspection for a moment to give a rather stern frown toward the Ensign, though she knew her expression was hidden behind the polarized helmet visor.

"...I did say they executed me, didn't I."

Looking back over the exposed nozzles and metal entrails, the Romulan began scanning for smaller fissures on the top side. It was an immensely tedious process as the emitter had a very narrow beam angle. Worse, there was still a margin for not picking anything up that could prove problematic. She had to rack her brain for all the memories she had of every potential fail point. It was one way to pass the time even if it were a grim one.

"Gal Gath'thong. It's a volcanic mountain range. Active, but stable. Rivers of lava go off cliff faces in giant fiery falls. I wanted to go there if I ever had a honeymoon... Any place like that on Earth?"

Persephone very quickly realised that she had just stuck a paw in her mouth in terms of dealing with the Romulan. It was just as well that the polarised shields of their helmets hid their facial expressions or she suspected that she may have felt a very definite and irresistible urge to run for cover.

"Just because something bad happened somewherrrre doesn't mean that we won't miss it," she pointed out quietly, unsure of just how thin the ice she was walking on was. She turned her mind to the question about volcanoes, taking a moment to search her memory of Earth only to find that she had surprisingly little information to give.

"Not that I know of, but I didn't see much beyond the rrreserrrrve I lived on," she replied apologetically. She still had dozens of questions burning in her mind for Jiseth, but she was also very aware of the Romulan's reputation and of the old Earth saying about what happened to curious cats.