Curiosities

Posted on Wed Mar 25th, 2026 @ 11:45am by Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari & Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte
Edited on on Wed Mar 25th, 2026 @ 10:23pm

2,715 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Officers' Mess Hallway
Timeline: Somewhere between DS9 and Tula

As had become her daily routine, Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte found herself in the Officers' Mess at breakfast time. Having already fuelled up with two cups of strong coffee, she had procured a third from the replicator, along with a plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, and buttered toast, before finding a free table in a corner. There, she sat with her back towards the wall, keeping a casual view of the other officers while enjoying her breakfast. She had also brought a PADD with any relevant reports from the night shift, to read once she had finished her food.

Just as she was putting some of the bacon and eggs on her toast, Sora noticed the ship's Trill Chief Science Officer enter the mess hall, retrieve his breakfast from the replicator, and make his way towards her.

"Good morning commander," Aidan greeted cheerfully, then gestured at the vacant seat opposite of her at the table. "May I join you?"

"Morning, Datari," Sora greeted casually, as she piled the last of the egg onto the toast and placed the second slice of bread on top, finishing her breakfast sandwich. "Free ship. isn't it?," she added with a chuckle and a shrug, before cutting the sandwich in half and taking a bite.

"Certainly ma'am, but some prefer solitude or are otherwise occupied." He smiled as he deposited the tray carefully onto the table's surface then sat himself down. "I'm finding I have a little time for myself. Saeri hasn't woken up yet so I'm having the holonanny watch her. And Sherlock's watching the hologram with a wary eye, I tell you." He had a liking towards bacon and eggs too and he heaped it all together. "Any plans for today? After taking my daughter to day care I was hoping to spend some time on the holodeck or perhaps the gym."

Sora had practically inhaled the first half of her sandwich, and was washing it down with some coffee. "Well, we may be at warp, but I'm still needed for my duty shift on the bridge of course," she replied after setting the mug down. "After duty, I tend to go to the holodeck for a little workout, usually either fencing or archery. After that, we'll see what I'm in the mood for. I've been reading some classic Earth literature, so I'll probably continue with that."

"Fencing?" The Trill's eyes lit up at the mention. "I'm not very skilled at fencing but I am a practiced swordsman. I'm always looking for something new to learn though... before Saeri was born I had started to combine sword and skates, which was rather fun. I haven't really practiced the combination since being a single father, her needs have come before mine."

"I'm sure that by now you would have noticed me carrying around a rapier at times, either when heading on an away mission or on my way to the holodeck?", Sora asked, slightly raising an eyebrow. "It was a gift from my grandfather when I graduated from the Academy, since my sister had already received the katana that's been in the family for a few hundred years now. I've always preferred sleeker blades anyway. And Myrtenaster is actually traditionally forged, too. Not a single component is replicated, including the raw materials. Well, apart from the synthleather tape I've wrapped around the handle, anyway. It's a shame that real craftsmanship is becoming ever rarer in our part of the galaxy."

"I have two ancient Maya swords, but I practice met replicas for safety reasons. I carry an Ushaan on away missions." Despite his perceptive nature, he actually hadn't noticed but he hadn't really been on that many away missions with her just yet. "The swords are a gift from my first partner, who was El-Aurian. I don't know how he acquired them though, he was over four hundred years old when we got together." A hint of sadness washed over the Trill's features as memories flashed before his eyes. He'd only been seventeen at the time, but it was his first love. "The ushaan is a gift from my foster father."

Sora slowly nodded as she remembered the mix of sadness and pride in her grandfather's eyes when he had handed her Myrtenaster at her graduation. "It's good to have reminders of your loved ones with you in battle," she mused. "A reminder of what you are fighting for. Not that many people in the Empire would have agreed with me on that, they were all in it for power and glory. I just wanted to make the galaxy a bit better. Probably why I ended up on Asha, to be honest."

"Asha?" Aidan queried carefully, lest it was something she didn't want to discuss. "I'm afraid I don't know much about the mirror universe, beyond that people tend to be opposites of ourselves. I've never had dealings with the mirror universe either, not that I remember anyway. But I'm not surprised that there are people like yourself, looking to better things rather than their own glory." He sipped his coffee carefully, glad it had gone cold for he wasn't a fan of warm beverages.

After finishing the rest of her sandwich, Sora leaned back in her chair, the PADD with the reports all but forgotten. "ISS Asha," she explained. "The ship I was on when I was transplanted to this universe. Commander Sora Svanirsdottir, Executive Officer, at your service." She chuckled. "We were part of a coup attempt. Captain Vermillion was not a fan of the Empire, for many reasons, and neither was I. My grandfather died a year after I finished the Academy, my sister was presumed dead, I had nothing tying me to it. And, having grown up on the fringes of the Terran Empire, I saw how bad it was."

She shrugged. "And then they caught up to us and blew the ship up. I was transporting to an allied ship, but an ion storm put me here instead, thirty years later. No idea what happened to the rest of the crew, and frankly, I don't really care. Never got close to any of them. Well, emotionally, anyway. It's not a Terran ship without the occasional orgy," Sora added, laughing.

"That sounds like interesting turn of events," Aidan mused, "how old were you when you were deposited in this universe? And what happened to your counterpart from this universe? Wouldn't that cause a whole lot of issues?"

"I arrived two years ago," the Terran explained. "Of course, that makes my counterpart here thirty years my senior. Which avoids any confusion between us. That, and I'm told that this universe's Sora Svanirsdottir has not taken a surname. From what my sister told me, she's in Starfleet as well, an engineer. Well, she was. Worked in project management at Utopia Planitia for a few years at the end, with the rank of Commander, but retired from Starfleet a year before I crossed over. Apparently she's involved in the planetary government of her, well, our homeworld now, something to do with infrastructure." She shrugged. "Never met her, or my sister's counterpart, and honestly, I don't think it'd be much of a good idea."

"Not taken a surname?" Aidan arched a single eyebrow at her in confusion. "How do you take a surname? Isn't it custom among humans to use one's family name?" He did agree that meeting one's counterpart probably wasn't a good idea, despite the age difference. "It seems to me that you were caught in a cross universe temporal rift of some kind. Temporal investigations probably had a field day with that?"

Sora chuckled. "Most humans have a family name, yes. But there are some cultures that do not, such as in Iceland on Earth, or generally among the old Scandinavian peoples. Which is where the settlers that established the colony where I was born are from. Instead, they take a patronymic, similar to how the Klingons do. And yes, Temporal really did have fun with it. So much so that they ended up recruiting me."

"Into Starfleet? If you've been here only two years, you did rise through the ranks very fast. It's not unheard of.,but certainly unusual. Was OPS your primary choice or did you get thrust into it?" The Trill leaned forward in genuine curiosity.

"As a Temporal Agent," Sora replied, shaking her head. "I spent over half a year being debriefed and retrained before they decided to offer me a commission. They decided to recognise my qualifications from the Imperial Academy, but I had to take a demotion to Lieutenant Commander. Even though I actually got to Commander on merit, unlike many other Terran officers." She shrugged. "I wanted to go into Engineering, but my test results weren't quite right for it. They were, however, very good for the Ops side of things, so that's what I went with instead. What about you, what drew you to Starfleet?"

"Initially, my foster sister. When she went to Starfleet medical, I followed her to serve as her interpreter because she's deaf. I sat with all her classes despite being a minor. In the end they gave me citations that I had attended the classes but obviously never sat the exams. I followed to her first assignment too but when I met someone, she encouraged me to follow my own path. My love interest had me enlist and serve as bridge assistant. He was a kind man and even encouraged me to get my officer's qualifications. I did so while serving on his vessel and I became a linguist."

Aidan paused, swallowing a few times. "During that time we had drifted apart, and I got involved with the chief medical officer. He accidentally bonded us, which in his culture was akin to marriage. I was just nineteen at the time, two years after I signed on. He was killed during a away mission and I was witness to it." Again a pause as he sipped his now certain cold coffee. "I transferred away and had various assignments and trainings over the last years. I've served as communications chief, intelligence chief and even as diplomatic chief for a little while, but I always come back to my first love, linguistics. I've taught myself that I can do anything as long as I consider it just another language. And these days I hope to do right by my daughter so she'll be proud of me some day "

Sora slowly nodded. She herself had come to know loss quite well - after all, she had had to leave behind an entire universe, a whole life she had built for herself. "I'm sorry," she finally said. "I know how loss feels. I mean, for years I was sure that my sister, the only family I had besides my grandfather, had been killed. It was quite overwhelming, learning that she, too, had crossed over, and meeting her again." She forced a smile. "Funnily enough, she also started off as a linguist and communications officer. But then they found that she was actually quite a good pilot, so whether she liked it or not, a pilot she was going to be. The Terran Empire doesn't care much for sciences that won't help them expand their power."

"I love language," Aidan confessed, "and no matter what I do now, it'll always have a special place and I'll never stop making an effort to learn. I grew up with Trill and Andorian since my foster father is Andorian. Along the way I learned Federation Standard and later Reman. From there, I expanded. Right now, I'm leaning the Dominion language. We'll see if Saeri shares my aptitude, she's only four. Though, I started to learn Andorian when I was about five or so. When they took me in after my family was killed." Interestingly, that didn't give any cause for sadness, as he had no recollection of his parents or baby sister.

"I lost my parents and my older brother when I was very young," Sora replied. "Killed in a pirate attack on our cargo ship. My sister lost her leg when an emergency force field cut right through it as we were stumbling to the escape pod. So our grandfather raised us." She sighed. "It wasn't easy, but we we somehow got through." She took another sip from her coffee, emptying the cup. "Hang on, I need another one," she remarked with a chuckle, and headed to the replicator.

Once she returned with a fresh coffee, she continued. "As for language, what you call Federation Standard, I learned as Terran. Even though there are far more languages on Terra, so the name doesn't really make sense. Still, it was my second language, actually. The people on my homeworld, Nygard, normally converse in Norse."

"I'm sorry for your loss ma'am," Aidan murmured, briefly lowering his eyes in the respect the response was due. "Sounds like your grandfather was an honourable man and yes I suppose Terran is the same or similar to Standard." He listened to her speak, tilting his head ever so slightly as if to listen better. "I'm not all that familiar with Earth languages, I'll admit. I know a small number but Norse isn't one of them." A small smile touched the corner of his mouth, his eyes now sparkling a little. "Yet," he added. "One can never know enough languages, never know when it might be useful. Right?"

"He very much was," Sora replied with a tint of nostalgia to her voice. "As was his counterpart in this universe. When my sister called, even though he knew it wasn't his own granddaughter, he still treated her like family and came to aid in the evacuation of Romulus. Where Freya's command of Rihannsu really came in handy, I suppose." She laughed. "I mean, could you imagine, commanding a Romulan ship without speaking their language? Sure, the UT helps, and most of the crew spoke Standard, but still. I've not had the opportunity to pick up many languages, unfortunately. Not my particular strength."

"Well if you ever need help, I'm your man," Aidan smiled, "and no I can't imagine commanding a Rihannsu vessel without speaking the language. How did your sister get to command a Rihannsu vessel, being human?"

"Now that is a very, very long story," Sora replied with a chuckle. "She was part of a joint task force between the Federation and the Terran Empire to investigate a major temporal incursion that turned out to have been an accelerating force to the Romulan supernova," she explained, shaking her head. "Of course, the cooperation failed and the Terrans wanted to just blow everything up, no matter the consequences. Freya objected, and defected to a rag-tag crew of mercenaries and Romulans that she had been working with. And destroyed her own ship in battle. After that, she kept working with them, and eventually they trusted her enough to put her in charge. You'd have to ask her for more details, but from what I know she's busy explaining what just happened at DS9 to the Republic's higher-ups."

"That sounds like a very interesting story which I'd love to hear some time." Finishing his sandwich, he cast her a long look, almost as if he were assessing her. "I have the holodeck booked for a sword training session, using my replica's. Would you like to join me?"

"Name the time," Sora replied with a smile, a slight competitive glint in her eyes. "I promise I'll go easy on you."

"I've been wielding a blade since I was five ma'am," Aidan chuckled, "perhaps it is I who should go easy on you? Meet me at the holodeck in ten minutes, I have to go get my replica's."

The Terran's smile turned into a smirk. "Give me ten, I need to change into my workout gear. Should I replicate dulled versions of my weapons, just in case? Wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"I never train with my live swords, always with blunted replica's," Aidan answered, "they still bruise, but they won't cut a prospect training opponent. While I trust my own capability, safety does come first so blunted would be preferable." He stood and picked up his tray. "See you in ten ma'am."

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