A Peace from the Action

Posted on Sat Sep 12th, 2026 @ 3:25am by Lieutenant Zoren Valyus & Petty Officer 2nd Class Khlynt Medan

1,787 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Behind the Curtain
Location: Botanical Garden
Timeline: Mission Day 1

ON: [Botanical Garden]


Starships were not cities. Not even the colossal Galaxy class ships, which were often described as cities in space, could truly claim that title. If one were to measure a ship by its crew size, the massive Galaxy class starships would be a mere village. Even those cavernous vessels had a job to do. A job that required numerous power sources, fuel and equipment storage. Biomatter banks for the replicators to pull low-energy proteins from. Computer cores the size of houses. Deflector and sensor dishes the size of apartment buildings. Shuttlebays. Science Labs. Engineering Labs. Astrogation Centers. Cetacean Ops. Crew quarters for a thousand personnel. Guest quarters. VIP Lounges for diplomatic purposes. Gymnasiums. Dining halls. Holodecks.

With all these needs, it was notable that Starfleet still included botanical gardens aboard the fleet's largest Explorer.

It was doubly notable that Starfleet included botanical gardens on the much smaller and more cramped Norway class ship.

Why? Why invest precious space in such an endeavor as a handful of plants and trees? What use was a postage stamp of green among the hundreds' meters of duty-packed-duranium?

One did not need to be a Counselor to understand. One only needed to spend an hour on an open field on an actual planet. Plants were magic. Nature was a healer. And creatures who had evolved among dirt, plants, and trees couldn't be divorced from them forever without consequence.

Holodecks helped, of course. But the very knowledge that they weren't real undermined the psychological benefit. Here, in the ship's botanical garden, the plants were real. The grass was real. The trees were real. The humidity in the air was heavy with life. It spoke to the primal brain in a way nothing else could.

Here was a piece of Delta. Or the Earth. Or a Vulcan Oasis. Or a hundred thriving spots from a hundred thriving worlds. Here was home. Just a little bit. Just enough to reconnect you across the sea of stars to the place where you'd been born.

Zoren stepped into the bay and took a deep breath. The smell of actual plants was something that could be simulated but never truly duplicated. He'd been stressed, lately. New places were always a little bit stressful, even when they were welcoming and kind. But other things troubled him, too. Secrets he could share with the leaves.

Chlorophyl didn't judge.

The bay was not large. It didn't need to be. Some thoughtful engineer had installed a false window that displayed an imagined expanse beyond the bulkhead. The illusion was strong because the environment around the observer was absolutely authentic.

He found a spot on the grass and sat. He pretended that the nature of the place could reach right into him. Cleanse his worried soul.

He closed his eyes, and he communed...

Khlynt had been in the botanical garden for the better part of an hour, although there was little evidence of what he had actually been doing there. He had started with a cup of tea and eventually abandoned it on the grass beside him, forgotten as his attention moved to one of the flowering plants nearby. His mother had taught him young that a garden became considerably more interesting once you knew which parts of it could kill you, and several centuries had done very little to diminish the habit of inspecting unfamiliar plants. He had settled comfortably onto the grass beside it, one leg stretched out as he carefully turned one of the leaves between his fingers.

He had noticed Valyus arrive, of course. Khlynt knew the Assistant Chief Medical Officer by sight even if they had never properly met, and watched him briefly before returning his attention to the plant. There seemed little reason to interrupt whatever the Deltan was doing, so for several minutes he didn't. Eventually Khlynt reached for his tea, took a sip and immediately grimaced at how cold it had become. "I should warn you," he said quietly, glancing towards Valyus with the smallest smile. "...that if you are attempting to achieve enlightenment, you may have chosen a less than ideal location. I have been sitting here for almost an hour and so far all I have discovered is that I forget about my tea...and that the environmental controls have a pleasant breeze."

Self-absorbed was not a phrase that Zoren associated with himself. Yet, perhaps there was reason to revisit the appraisal. Not only had he missed spotting the presence of another person in the bay, but he'd overlooked the emotional being of another person within a few paces of him.

Of course, an Empath couldn't really relax unless they pushed the ever-present impressions of other people out of their mind. So perhaps he should be less hard on himself.

When a voice broke into his meditation, it momentarily seemed as though his skeleton tried to leap out of his flesh and go racing back out of the room. To an observer, the surprise probably manifested as just a slight tremble. To Zoren, he felt as though he'd narrowly avoided a cardiac event.

The Doctor was a master of external control, at least, and did little to betray his momentary fright. The words of the stranger helped to plaster over his feigned smile with a real one.

He half-turned, looking over his shoulder at the... Petty Officer nearby.

"When I first came on board, I shared one of the great mysteries of the universe with the ship's XO. A mystery which follows me even here. It must have cosmic significance.

Have you ever had an iced tea, Mister...?" He trailed off, inviting the man to fill in his name.

Zoren had reviewed abbreviated files for the ship's nearly two-hundred personnel... but had not bothered to look at any pictures. The man seated nearby was what the humans called a 'silver fox' and what the Deltans called, 'a man of valuable experience.' Old enough to have lived. Young enough to still use his knowledge vigorously.

Khlynt chuckled softly, picking up his cold tea and sipping it, his eyes on the Deltan. "Khlynt Medan," he said, a quiet introduction. "And yes, I have had iced tea before. It is refreshing...and there are so many variations of it across different worlds." He inclined his head slightly. "A mystery of cosmic significance? How intriguing..."

Zoren nodded, "It seems the rule is the same for coffee or tea. It does not matter whether a consumer would gladly drink it either hot or cold. Once it has been hot, cold is no longer a palatable option."

He looked thoughtfully for a moment at the scene projected into the simulated window. "I wonder if Vulcans also have this phenomenon. And if they do... would they admit to something which is so illogical?"

Khlynt shifted slightly on the grass, drawing his bent knee a little closer as he turned the cup idly between his hands. "In my experience of Vulcans, they would argue that it is not illogical to drink a beverage even if it is best enjoyed hot. In fact, is not waste illogical?" He gave a sage nod, glancing down into the cold tea as though it might provide further philosophical insight. "Although with replicators, reclamation systems...matter is matter. Perhaps waste is no longer waste." His blue eyes warmed as he looked back towards Zoren, the smile that followed positively cheeky.

Zoren smirked slightly, but then his smile slipped to something somewhat more somber. "I suppose time is the most limited commodity, now. There's energy, of course. It's not free. Not quite yet. But it's cheaper than it ever has been, in terms of effort.

Time, though..."

He glanced at his unexpected botanical philosophy partner. "Time can still be wasted."

Then he turned his head, regarding the bounty of greenery in this space.

"I wonder how a logical mind would reckon the time I spend in rooms like this, breathing deep.

It's not productive. Not by any physical measure.

But neither has it ever felt wasted."

Khlynt considered that, his eyes moving over the plants before he gave a small smile. "I think that depends on what you believe time is for," he said, taking another sip of the tea despite its temperature. "I have wasted quite a lot of it by most sensible definitions. Sitting in gardens, listening to music, taking considerably longer routes because the shorter one was dull." His smile grew slightly as he looked back towards Zoren. "I have also spent years being terribly productive and wished afterwards that I had done something else entirely." He lifted the cup a little, almost in a salute. "So perhaps Vulcan logic is not the best authority on the matter. Maybe sometimes we need to brave enough to waste a little time."

Zoren smiled. "Well, I think I prefer your logic to the Vulcan model." So much of Zoren's medical training had required a rigid adherence to logical processes and diagnostic flow. It was possible to become overly centered on that way of thinking.

He took a deep breath, luxuriating in the environment. The simulated sunlight. The welcome lush dampness of the air.

"You know, I came here intending to sit quietly and have no interactions whatsoever. But you're easy to talk to, Mister Medan. And I find I'm glad I encountered you here, today."

Khlynt's smile softened, his attention settling fully on Zoren. "Then I am glad I failed to leave you entirely to your solitude, Doctor," he said, warmth sitting easily beneath the words. "In my experience, the conversations one doesn't intend to have are often the ones worth having." His smile deepened slightly. "Besides, there is something rather pleasant about meeting someone without either of you having planned for it..." he nodded and sat back a little bit, taking a slow breath.

A butterfly fluttered past the virtual window. A real butterfly. Real plants needed real insects, and there were enough here to facilitate a cultivated natural order. An electrostatic field by the entrance would gently encourage the few insects living in here to remain inside the space.

The black-and-yellow creature paused along one wall, resting and letting its wings gently open and close in a slow cycle. Zoren felt renewed in this company. Three beings doing nothing while sitting in a carefully engineered bubble of nature. It was not logical that these surrounds should have any special effect on him... but things didn't need to be logical.

They only needed to be true.

OFF:

PO2 Khlynt Medan
Counsellor
USS Fenrir
[PNPC Hanlon]

&

Lt. Zoren Valyus
Ast. Chief Medical Officer
USS Fenrir

 

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