Secretum Testimonii - Part I

Posted on Fri Feb 5th, 2021 @ 5:14pm by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D

Mission: Character Development
Location: Cardassia IV; Eitarakan City
Timeline: During Shore Leave
752 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

"The time is 0500"

Silnan grunted.

"The time is 0500, and ten seconds".

Scratching an itch on his head, the Cardassian sat up in the narrow bed.

"The time is 0500, and twenty seconds"

Reaching an arm out behind him, the athletic young man pressed his thumb into the alarm panel, letting the computer know that it's incessant nagging had worked. He was up. Another day in the service of the glorious empire. He sighed with tiredness as his scaled feet found the warm, heated floor. Standing slowly, his automated protocols matched his speed in depolarising the forcefields over the windows, with a gradual warming of light filling the room as he neared the replicator in his single room dwelling overlooking Eitarakan City.

Without needing to request, the heuristic digital assistant saw to his needs and a steaming cup appeared in the replicator tray next to a small plate of sliced fruits. Picking the cup, he inhaled the pungent smell of the ocean and with his first sip felt the deep and powerful taste of the blended fish juices energise his body. He wondered why anyone would drink caffeinated drinks when a warm stomach full of liquified fish gave one such an infusion of vitamins and minerals. Wiping a few wayward scales from his lips, he noted that the replicator quality had certainly improved since the new Federation modules were installed the other day.

"Computer, news cycle" he ordered, stepping into the sonic shower. The computer responded with a chirp, and began relaying the current events; mostly the usual, economic statistics and political infighting, local crime was down and the new ship being constructed in the orbital docks was successfully launched.

"Andorian Ambassador Ghilhannan Prol to meet with Legate Tarsun over renewed commitment to shipping lanes protection".

"Federation Starship Athena returns from Badlands, confirms loss of Federation Starship Pico with all hands".

"Monument commissioned to honour Cardassian labourers who died at Utopia Planitia"

"Federation President to make announce-"

Having dressed, Silnan neared his door; "Computer stop news" he ordered, leaving his small but tidy home behind and joining several familiar faces on walkway leading to the turbolift. He smiled politely at a few of them, not that anyone spoke to anyone else but the same people got on the same lift at the same time every day; he often wondered what it would be like to have a passing chat of a morning, and yet was always disappointed.

As the turbolift reached street level, he stepped out and dispersed into the morning crowd. One military officer among hundreds of others, all proceeding to their day's duty assignment. He shrugged heavily, trying to move the oversized military uniform across his shoulders to a more comfortable position. It frustrated him to have to wear the cumbersome clothing when his work revolved around scientific analysis and careful study of biological samples. Far more often than he would like, the clothing simply got in the way.

Nearing the large entrance to the building he worked in, a tremendously sized eyesore which looked like a Terran pryramid that been stretched upwards and back over itself, whilst clinging on to the ground for dear life with two corners, his eye caught something. He looked down to be sure. Rapidly scolding himself for his momentary lapse, he resumed his brisk walk into the military sciences building. Had anyone been watching him, he had just risked giving away a tell and undermining the entire point of the discreet signal he had spotted.

A background nothingness to anyone else, but with Silnan's keen eye for gardens and flowers the sign was as blatant as a naked Klingon dancing the Bolian rumba. A flower that had no purpose being anywhere on Cardassia IV, the Andorian ice lily had sat nestled in amongst similarly white petals, and it had been placed there recently. The delicate flower would be nothing but a shrivelled husk within an hour of being placed in the Cardassian weather; another feature which made it an ideal signal lest there were any other avid gardeners who might happen upon the miraculous find of the ice lily in the blistering heat.

She was here, that much was certain. The signal that there was to be a meeting had been set, and he knew what he had to do. Silnan, the Cardassian orphan, would be at the right place, at the right time, to meet his childhood rescuer. The Starfleet doctor who went on to become his mentor and deepest connection; the Vulcan woman P'rel.