Perhaps Love is Holding On - Part One

Posted on Sat Mar 21st, 2020 @ 8:24am by Commander Tienn Iteela & Post Captain Heris Dvald

Mission: Mission 98: Building Our New Home
Location: Hospital Complex - Starbase Vanguard
Timeline: 0800Hrs - September 14th, 2393

Commander Tienn Iteela was sitting at the desk of her boss, the Chief Medical Officer that had been assigned to Starbase Vanguard. Tienn had just gone off of watch not ten minutes earlier but Heris Dvald had sent her a note the previous evening asking her to come to meet with the Doctor first thing in the morning before she went off watch, so now here Tienn sat at the desk before the tall Bolian female as she slid into her chair. "Good Morning Tienn. I hope your shift was at least decent to you, do not be troubled, you're not in hot water with me or anyone else... I did want to discuss a few things before you departed on the 20th of this month..." as the Bolian smiled. "I am told that congratulations are in order Commander... Second officer on the USS Cassini." she paused as Dvald regarded the handsome Bajoran female before her. "For what it is worth to you Iteela. You will be missed around here."

"I do what I can... Some of you will miss me and others won't." Tienn responded. "I decided it was time for a change... "

"I know," Dvald answered with a nod. "That's why I approved it. Your reasoning was sound and you wanted to move out of medical and into command. But you know one final test awaits. Elizabeth."

"I have tried and failed, she cannot be reasoned with," Tienn answered evenly. "She won't let go of what happened to her two years ago at my hands."

"The article thirty-two hearing cleared you and so did the medical personel present," Dvald answered with a nod. "You were not responsible for the matter at hand."

"Perhaps," Tienn answered quietly before she let out a soft sigh. "I wish things had happened differently..."

"Elizabeth still won't resolve the issues at hand with you?" Dvald inquired before she nodded softly. "I can understand why not, in her eyes, you were of sound mind and judgment."

"I know," Tienn answered. "The drugs I was slipped were designed specifically to heighten my rage and aggression." she sighed. "It was perfect to discredit me forever... and it changed the course of my life and forever altered who and what I was..."

"I think you're being unfair Tienn... To yourself mostly." Dvald answered with a smile. "Your service here has been exemplary. Some of your medics call you an inspiration. I knew what you wanted when you came to me four months ago and stuck in the request, I knew what you were saying without saying it." Dvald continued. "What you seek is out there and maybe you'll find it on the Cassini." the tall Bolian sighed ever so softly. "What you seek, isn't here. Otherwise, you'd have found it by now." the tall Bolian female smiled as she regarded the Bajoran sitting across from her. "Will you take your children?"

"No. They deserve a home and a family. My mother has already said that she would take them in and give them what I can't..." Tienn explained herself as she uncrossed and then recrossed her legs. "My relationship with my children has been an unequivocal disaster. From start to finish." she shook her head. "I knew Nebris was sitting on the fence about going back to being female... I thought... I don't know what the Khost I was thinking." Tienn sighed angrily. "I tried and it blew up in my face, I tried to make him see what it meant to be male... That also blew up... I tried to.... Fuck... All of my efforts were doomed right from the start."

"No, they weren't," Dvald answered. "You loved him... Didn't you?" she asked in a soft tone of voice.

"I did," Tienn answered. "The sex was utterly amazing... He made me feel something I thought had died long before... But I couldn't make it work... He was accused of not having a brain and I was accused of being heartless. Rachael Yamaguchi-Cullen told me so."

Dvald waved her hand, dismissing the comment as if she was dismissing a pest who had neither her self respect or her pity. "Rachael Yamaguchi-Cullen, for all of her experience is still just a child. She's only able to run her mouth only because she has kids of her own." Dvald snorted in disgust. "What Siaxx sees in her, is at times, a great mystery to me."

"Well, mom took in T'Ree and Hysre, I will be allowed to spend time with them and maybe, someday... I will raise them as my own..." Tienn explained evenly. "For now, mom will look after them among her other children. Nebris went back to being Lasarra and gave up any semblance of a claim to them so Gyce and I are raising them, Gyce moved in with mom and her kin, it's been a great help with her various issues..."

"That's great news... You have a week to go before the USS Cassini puts in for resupply here. You'll be taking over as their new second officer so you'll be wearing Command red rather than medical teal. You'll have until zero eight hundred hours on the twentieth of this month to sort out your affairs. Make your goodbyes and resolve any last issues you care to deal with..."

"Sounds good sir." Tienn paused. "I will, however, request the last two days off for personal reasons," Tienn asked.

"Done," Dvald answered in a gentle tone of voice. "You'll want to reset your sleeping pattern back to days and get your paperwork in order," Dvald added. "I will more than likely ask Sokanon to take over as your replacement. If not then I'll see who else I have... Maybe Gail could do it, she has no children and she's also not got the issues of family in the way."

"Alright," Tienn answered. "I will begin passing off my workload onto some of the other doctors who have light dockets and I'll make sure my replacement is up to par before I leave Vanguard."

"Okay then. That's all I wanted." Dvald paused. "Thanks, Tienn... You'd best head on out, you got a lot to do and not a lot of time to get it finished."

Tienn rose to her feet before she made her farewells and departed.