[Okekai, Palace, Throne Room]
Just as the transporter began to take her apart, Jada glanced across the throne room to fix the faces of her foes in her mind. She would remember this. There was an account to be settled. She looked beyond the exultant Minister Hyploticus to the quiet Changeling lurking behind, and in the expected place beside it, a Jem'Hadar bodyguard – Kokos'ixun, his left eye gone from the socket she'd ruined. Well, at least he had something to remember her by too.
[USS Tempest, Ten Forward]
Some time later, with the Tempest speeding away from Okekai with its cargo of political exiles, leaving behind a world falling increasingly into the grip of Hyploticus's puppet despotism, when they'd had a chance to cool down and come to terms with what had happened, Jada had invited Minister Vish to Ten Forward. Remembering how they'd eaten together at the banquet, she treated him to her favourite Orion and Earthian dishes, such as wing-slugs and pizza. (Savoury wing-slugs went surprisingly well as a pizza topping, she'd found.) It was nothing like as fancy as a palace banquet, of course, but Jada didn't want it to be.
However, the meal became more of a wake. Jada could tell Vish was dreading he'd never see his beloved home and family again. Having gone through the same experience being forced to leave Thirat, Jada could well empathise with the sense of loss and disconnection. So she asked him questions about the Puhi Trench, the culture of the Falrios, and his own past as a pearl diver, fighting the clams that refused to give up their jewels, and later as an anti-Dominion revolutionary and political leader. It was all to fix his memories foremost in his mind, ensure they wouldn't be forgotten, just as the Nozama were already telling wild stories of their world they'd lost.
He was telling her about a Falrios sport, a cross between a ball-game and fishing with a three-dimensional court and a live sea-creature as the ball. Actually, it was like the bizarre Earthian game quidditch. '...Then, after missing catching the nautilus, I fell into the stinging corals. The team all laughed... Well, I didn't, I couldn't stop itching for a day.' But it was clear he saw the funny side now.
'And you won the point?' Jada asked fondly, munching on a cold slice of pizza.
'No, the nautilus squirted out of the field and we lost the match. It was well-played though.'
Jada swallowed her slug, replying 'Sometimes that's all we can do.' But the meaning of those words wasn't lost on either of them, and Vish cooled in remembrance of their loss of the kingdom, murmuring a defeated agreement. For such a flamboyant creature, he had a depressive streak. She reached over the table and grasped his hand in her strong green one, assuring him 'You'll get to play again though. You have all the evidence of the corruption and exploitation, we broadcast it to the media and the lawspeakers – Hyploticus hasn't taken over those yet. The people know now, and you and Aglytep can continue the fight from DS9.'
'Do you really think it will work though?' he asked, not so much seeking her opinion as her encouragement.
'It's what my clan are working on, so I have to.'
Vish fell quiet and contemplating this, his chromatophores cycling through various colours in keeping with his shifting mood. Thinking she was starting to learn to read these, Jada shifted her hand up his forearm, gently tracing her thumb around one of the rosette patterns. She was rewarded with a change to a vivacious pink, rich against his pale teal skin. Goddess, he was pretty. This was going to be fun.
The pizza was gone; Jada asked 'How about dessert?'
'Mmm, yes, what do you recommend?' He started curiously checking the tabletop computer menu, but Jada caught his hand.
'Chocolate something, but not here. Your quarters.' she said suggestively. But there were the mechanics to consider. 'The habitation team have probably finished pumping it full of water now. Besides, you probably need to return to the water to rehydrate, don't you? Maybe we can have a bath...'
[Guest Quarters]
Unfortunately, it would not be so swift or spontaneous as romance or an Orion woman's libido would like. First, there was the discreet stop-off at Sickbay for a meeting with a nurse and first-contact inter-species relations counselling: biological compatibility tests; protection; and reading, ticking off, and signing consent forms. Jada was impatient, but after dealing with a year of frustration (some of it Vulcan-shaped and not counting the occasional encounter with herself, one way or the other), she was bullheaded enough to plow through the paperwork. There were also physical differences to consider. The Falrios could resist the high pressures of the ocean, but could barely stand in air unaided, so Vish needed the exoskeleton out of the water. Even so, with her high-gravity strength, Jada was afraid of breaking him. She had breathing apparatus on standby. It put something of a dampener on the mood, but since they'd be half in water, getting damp was inevitable...
At the door, in between some increasing passionate kisses and technicolour rosette stroking, Jada helped Vish out of the exoskeleton, supporting him as she did. 'Okay, you lean on me there...'
'Ow!' Vish winched.
'Fins? Sorry... Hold on, this strap's stuck... Thousand Gods curse this gisjacheh... Ah, there we go.' She kissed him in triumph, then hooked her hands under his knees, hefting him up off the ground so he could hang off her powerful hips and shoulders, closing his beautiful fins around her. Fortunately, Jada was strong enough to carry him and do whatever else came to mind. 'Mm, you don't feel emasculated, do you? Never sure with men...'
'Trust me, I feel plenty masculated...'
'Oh, good!' Kissing on the way, she pushed them both through the tingling force-field that kept the water in his modified half-flooded guest quarters. Together, they sloshed through the waist-deep water, then finally Jada stumbled, and, laughing all the way, they both went down...
