ILLUMINARRPG: (1-0800)- Dr. Riven Mias

[Charles Gatling]

Mission:  An Ending and A Beginning
Day: 1
Stardate:  2446.03.16

   (USS Illuminar- Deck 1- Main Conference Room- Dr. Riven Mias  - 0800)

The Betazoid didn't need to see a face or hear a syllable to know that he
was stepping into a volatile situation, he had sensed the tension long
before entering the room owing to his empathic sense.

 The door opened before him and he moved through it scanning faces as he
did so. Surprise of all surprises! Commander Gregory was here in what
amounted to a hospital gown and his glower was evident, the CO was stony
faced, Sienna glaring and Quinna was looking at Michael Weston like she
wanted to divest him of his skin while using a dull instrument. Weston in
turn had haunted eyes.

 Steven Hammons had a concerned look on his face, the reason for it wasn't
immediately evident but Alaya was furious, it was the way her eyelids
narrowed and he had seen it a thousand times before during her training
when he had tripped her up on some nuance of esoteric interspecies contact
scenarios.

Riven however was a ray of sunshine in the storm and sending out a gentle
empathic nudge toward calm. Truth be told it was on such a low level as to
be nearly undetectable. And there was a reason for that, there were beings
here who would detect it and weren't in the mood to be trifled with no
matter the good intentions.

The charms and chimes about his person sounded merrily as he moved to an
unoccupied chair beyond the Hammons'.

 "Captain." His head bobbed. "Commander Gregory it's good to see you up and
around finally. Commander Verin you aren't eating enough." He winked at
Sienna. "Doctor Solice, lovely as ever." He smiled at Michael. "Lieutenant
Weston you are looking well." ~More than a little depressed but physically
fit certainly.~

"Steven, Alaya it's good to see the two of you, we need to all get together
tonight and play a game of cards or something. I promise I won't cheat by
peeking into your thoughts."

Hammons gave an amused snort but he got little reaction from Alaya and knew
that whatever the conundrum here she was involved deeply in it.

~Oh boy, what do we have going on here?~

Taking the seat the clasped his hands before him on the table and beamed
beatifically. "Please feel free to enlighten me on what has all of you so
concerned."

It was Sienna who took him up on his offer.

 "Right before you were called, Dr. Mias, there was a question about what
the medical issues are for a trill child who was joined before she was an
adult. As some of you know, I was involved with Trill during the symbiosis
virus, that paved the way  for Trill to rejoin the Federation.  I got a lot
of data out of the symbiosis commission on the  physiological effects of
joining."  She passed something over to Quinna.

"What? What does this have to do with the current discussion?"

"The data on that chip can't be copied, or altered and if the Symbiosis
Commission found out, they would be displeased that I am sharing it. But in
the interests of keeping a child living, I am sharing it. Please keep it
confidential." She nodded at the Doctor.

She hadn't addressed him directly but he was getting the point and it was
starting to add up. He kept the shock off his face as he glanced over at
Alaya and Steven. This was about Leeza and the more that was said the worse
it got

"Dr. Solice can speak more expertly on this subject than I can - but a
child's body, especially a toddler's body, is not a suitable long-term
host. There have been incidents in Trill's history due to this. A host
Trill's number one duty, at all times, is to keep the symbiont alive, and
to keep it alive it needs the pools on Trill with their keepers, or a
host's body.  There have been several notable examples of what happens when
a child too young is joined. For the Trill, culturally, they insist that
the host be of age, with their own personality firmly in place before the
bonding and blending where two become one.  But practically, the youngest
trill in records to survive was 14 years old. Trill parents who have had no
choice will put the symbiont in a child if necessary, knowing that the
result will ultimately be the death of their child. If there is ever a
choice, the answer the Symbiosis Commission will unilaterally give is that
the Symbiont is what matters."

Yes, to a Trill the symbiont was god, to be protected and nurtured at all
costs, even to the sacrifice of a child. What parent would do such a thing
to their offspring? But then again left with no other choice a parent
driven to that, knowing it was a death sentence for that child would do it
anyway.

Riven shook his head sadly, this was bad, very bad.

"We have to inform Trill that we have the Pel symbiont.  We will ultimately
have to admit that the symbiont is in a child host.  And I can guarantee
what the answer will be- return Miss Pel to Trill immediately, where she
will die as the symbiont is moved to a more suitable host. And that, is not
acceptable. We need to figure out a plan to keep Miss Pel alive, and we
need to be able to present it to the symbiosis commission. As Dr. Mias can
tell you, the political situation on Trill is solid but shaky."

"Solid but shaky?" He gave a smile and a wink at that as he leaned forward.
"I have received some updates since we returned to our space/time. Trill
has indeed rejoined and the merge back into the Federation is happening
pretty much seamlessly." He dropped back into the chair. "There is no doubt
there will be screams from them about this."

His eyes cut over to Steven and Alaya who were horrified by the news, he
sighed. They had never had an inkling of what they were stepping into and
his heart went out to them. Returning his attention to the head of the room.

"I will inform the Diplomatic Corps about this along with the current
situation. I can guarantee the reply will be nearly instantaneous and it
will be along the lines of get her to Sector 001 with all speed. Since we
are only going to be on Vulcan for a short while and have a fast ship I
don't think there will be a problem taking care of business here and
there's no ship in the area that could beat Illuminar to Earth, even with a
three day head start."

He took a deep breath and let it out explosively. "The question then is
this and I have to ask it just to cover all bases. What is the desired
outcome? What do all of you want to do?" He stood to his feet and looked
about the group gravely, that wasn't like Riven at all, he was gregarious,
friendly, outgoing. He never got deadly serious. Not at least that most had
seen but Alaya would know why the change had come over him. This dealt with
an intercultural clash and a delicate Diplomatic incident.

"And let me explicitly explain the odds." He met Sienna's gaze levelly.
"Whatever recommendation you make concerning her care had best be ironclad,
airtight and demonstrably effective or the Symbiosis Commission will do
everything in their power to have her returned to Trill, even to the point
of threatening to leave the Federation or military action. This goes far
beyond diplomacy into fanaticism. The symbionts are of more value to them
than their own lives.... obviously. So if keeping Leeza Pel here is the
desired outcome then you have your work cut out for you."

His gaze scanned the roomful of faces again. "And now my pledge to you. I
will pull every string, exhaust every contact and do everything in my power
to give you the time you need to get this done. I will also see if there
are alternate avenues to explore just in case but everyone here needs to
understand something. If Leeza cannot physically survive carrying a
symbiont holding onto her will be an ultimately doomed gesture and you need
to be prepared for that."

(Reply: Any)

Posted by Charles G
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