( a startrek fanfic to serve as writing practice ) ( wiil be continuously updated )

The night was just setting in and the torches were lit. They shone on the white sand and dimly glinted off the gently lapping sea. There were toned and athletic people in bathing wear just packing up to head inside Bright happy couples with no care in the world. The breeze was gentle and scented by the sea, and Captain Shoniqua Bezi was bored out of her mind, Her deep Mahogany features tense and mildly sour.

Well not bored really. More restless and dissatisfied. She had gotten an order to take some shore leave after averting a major diplomatic crisis over mining rights. There had been a minor exchange of phaser fire and some mild damage but her diplomatic skills had prevailed and she had diffused tensions. This heroic calm and aplomb coupled with 4 years of continued service had attracted attention to the fact that she hadn't left her ship in those 4 years for anything but assignments. The higher ups had decided she needed a break. But that break was just giving her time to mull over her life and realize that she wasn't as satisfied with starfleet life as she had thought. When she was in the thick of duty she didn't think about and now that she was not preoccupied with her routine she had her full mental resources to consider all the things that were missing in her life. This is not the first time by far she had contemplated this and she now knew why she kept herself so preoccupied with duty.

The fact that she was half Betzoid and could feel the joy and carefree bliss all around her only emphasized she didn't feel it herself. She wished she could just pick a guy and make with the casual romance and enjoy herself but she had a policy of not dating within starfleet and just her luck it seemed the entire planet had been invaded by starfleet vacationers. many of those smiling happy couples she had spied were Starfleet. The single men wandering the beach showing toned abs? Starfleet. Hell she even saw a few captains she recognized and wondered if they had brought their entire crews. Even the ones she didn't recongize had the clean trim trained good looks of a potential starfleet member. Frankly she was starved for options.

" Come join the summer banquet" a smiling Risian interrupts her morose reverie. She intentionally smoothed out the tension lines from he brows before turning to acknowledge the young eager Risians hostess. " thank you i could use something to eat." She grabbed the towel she had been sitting on and decides to focus on the routine of life to shut out the nagging dissatisfaction. She made her way across the the fine sand to the large circular structure with an open roof that served as a multipurpose entertainment facility. She had caught a play there earlier and now it was being set with small tables with a ring shaped food prep station in the middle people could watch as the chefs created exotic delights from hundreds of worlds.

" i am afraid seating is limited so you may have to share a table." The hostess says. The tables were spaced so there was plenty of room between them for servers to pass each other and there were lots of them but it was most likely that the hostess said this as an encouragement for single guests to mingle. Shoniqua had a look around. there were two tables with only a single male occupant. At one a muscular man with flowing blonde hair sat, his chiseled pecs visible because he wore no shirt over his tanned hairless muscular chest. He had a perfect cleft chin and a sensuous half smile as he caught Shoniqua's eyes. There was a horga'hn statue on his table promising a wonderful time. The other was a meaty man in an open overly colorful Risian shirt showing off the ginger chest hair and giving all his attention to a large plate of food. She made her decision.

" Mind if i sit here?" she asks. The meaty man looks up.

" sure go ahead " he gesture to the seat across from him. " this isn't a private affair"

" I don't know you looked like you were getting pretty intimate with that Andorian sushi" she joked bad.

" i will endevour to make my dinning experience more public appropriate " he responds.

Defiantly not starflleet and has a sense of humor, Shoniqua thinks to herself. Maybe this evening can be interesting after all.She pulled out the chair and sat and swiftly a waiter came and set down a plate of tropical fruits as a starter.

A strange prickle on her neck and a sense of anger had her glance over at the other table with the blonde Adonis who was looking over sulkily and just turning away from looking at her.

" That reaction seems a little over the top for choosing another table to sit at" The chubby red haired man says.

" I'll say." then she paused. " You felt it too?"

" uh yeah, i inherited some telepathic and empathetic abilities. Hard to say where from, i am from really mixed heritage. " he responds shyly.

Now that she thought about it he wasn't giving off much in the way of an empathic presence. Like someone who has habitually learned to shield their mind. At first glance he looked to be human, long red hair and goatee gracing a pleasant round light skinned face. he had no brow ridges or spot or anything really to make him appear other than human. This guy was defiantly interesting.

She deecide to splurge and ordered a Ktarian chocolate puff alone with her main course. They talked about various things, food, cultures of the alpha and beta quadrant which he seemed very curious about, various occurrences in the galaxy and finally he asked about starfleet.

" How do i know you aren't a Romulan spy?" she said playfully so she would not have to talk about her ship or starfleet on her vacation.

" Do i look like a spy?" he returns with a chuckle.

" The best spies don't look like spies." She retorts

" Or the best spies look like spies and have people over think it and dismiss them as spies because they think the best spies don't look like spies" he responds.

" that sounds like something a spy would say"

" Would a spy be caught dead in this shirt?" he retorts tugging at his loud open shirt.

She finally looked at his shirt. It was red and it was covered in what looked like Gorn wearing hula skirt and flowery leis. They were dancing. It was the most preposterous garment she had ever seen.

" Alright you got me. The shirt proves you are not a spy." She paused " where did you get that shirt any way?"

" i got it here on Risa, most of my clothing was not suitable for this warm environment so i just got what i needed here."

" You didn't pack any tropical climate clothing? To come to Risa?" she asks.

" Well i didn't have any, in my culture we don't wear any clothes in this type of environment." He says with a shrug.

Now isn't this interesting. That ruled out many of the humanoid cultures in the alpha and beta quadrant as most had clothing of some sort even just for sun protection even if they had different standards of modesty. Coupled with his interest in and apparent lack of knowledge of local cultures he must have been from somewhere pretty far off.

" Tell me about your culture. You have been asking about others a lot but you haven't talked about yours till now."

" not much to tell really. We don't have much bearing on the galaxy at large, we kinda keep to our selves usually." he responds a little nervously.

" but you mentioned you were of mixed heritage, so they must mingle some."

He paused for a moment " I am not a usual case. " the paused made her wonder if he was spinning the truth or thinking of an ackward truth. With his mind as shielded as it was she couldn't tell from empathic impression which it was.

Instead of pressing the subject they went to other topics like science. This though raised her curiosity even more. The large man mentioned he didn't like transporters much because they were uncomfortable and that he preffered Trajectors or portal spawners for place to place transport tech. Shoniqua searched her memory, she had heard of Trajectors from studying the logs of the USS.Voyager after it returned from the delta quadrant. A race called the Sikarians who looked completely humanoid used Trajectors but there was no indication that they were empaths. She really wanted a Tricorder to scan this man. She had no equipment on her at the moment so she would have to settle for just conversation. She tried to figure out what he was doing in this part of space. Not that she thought he was up to no good but he wasn't from around here but clearly not a part of any official diplomatic envoy.

" So what brings you to Risa?" That sounded nicely conversational.

He paused again " A friend from here asked me to come do something for him."

" like pick up some souvenirs "

She didn't need empathic powers to see the somber sadness in his eyes when he responded.

" No. i wish it were that simple." He looked so suddenly downcast that his obnoxious shirt with dancing Gorn and nearly finished plate of tropical delights served only to amplify the melancholy he suddenly put off.

Their meal was pretty much finished and they had been conversing for a while. It was getting late and all the food was making her sleepy. She reached over and lightly touched his hand in a comforting gesture.

" Well if you ever feel the need to talk about it here is my contact number." She wrote her personal contact info on the disposable napkin that came with dessert. " It doesn;t have to be tonight if you don't want."

"Uhh, thanks maybe tomorrow some time. I should be done with it by then"

They both stood then. and said their good nights then parted ways. She took a small skiff to the cliff side rooms she had secured. And showered before bed. She dressed in sensible sleep wear. Partially from long habit of serving on a starship and partly because she had an uneasy feeling. Partly that she was being watched or that someone was lurking near by. It was a similar to the mild uneasy feeling when she looked at the blonde Adonis who was at the other vacant table. She half wished she had a phaser, and half wondered if being in starfleet so long had made her paranoid.

Puting the unease aside she lay down and was asleep in no time. She vaguely remembered a weird dream where she was commanding a ship made out of Caramel and standing down a chocolate borg cube, that had a squirrel nibbling on one of the corners , when a sound stired her from her slumber. she came awake swiftly ready to face any danger but a moment of listening she realized it was someone standing out on the cliff singing.

She sat up to listen. The song was not the kind you expected on Risa. It was moving but mournful. There was a slight quaver in it but one that sounded more like a practiced technique then that off an amateur faltering. There was nothing but a gentle breeze so the words were coming in clearly, but the universal translator wasn't rendering them into anything she could understand. She popped open a tricolor and began recording the sound. It was comming from a lone voice. one that sounded male but would seamlessly hit higher registers. The only parts that were being picked up were being translated were the risian names Teeranf TuYurra and Sindal TuYurra. She lookd at the padd she had linked to the tricorder and it was trying to render the sounds phonetically but was having little luck.

If technology wasn't working she reached out with her other senses and felt a dim sense of greif but also...release. The song though was full of greif and respect even if the words were completely incomprehensible. Her eyes began to tear up a little. The words what ever they meant were so mournful.

There was a pause. It was silent. Then came the sound of a lone drum, with a slow beat. But something was weird. the drum sounded like it was in her heart, in her head, a strong slow beat that flooded her with strength. Her mind also started to perceive images, pulses of light over images of amzing landscapes. She saw an icy mountain gleaming in the sun, a vibrant jungle swating in the wind, a snow covered forest on a platue that suddenly gave way to the rolling seas, she saw flowers grow in a simple back garden that over looked this forest, a sun moving through the sky, scenes of a small log cottage that faded between a Risian style building and some other more simplistic style. The images flowed and changed and the voice sounded like it was coming from inside her. The images rolled on. The fogblanketed forest gave way to a beach with deep blue water lapping the rocks then suddenly to a night sky with alien constellations. She had a vague memory that she was learning those constellations and looking for home. The pulshing lights and words rolled on spurred on by the drum, the forest gave way to a vast city out on the sea, large towering buildings glinting in the clean sunlight. The city smeared then she saw a large shpere encompasing 3 fourths of a star with a blue marble of a planet in the middle of the gap, clouds of gleaming space habitats. A sense of speed, a sense of going home. The Drum pulsed on. There seemed to be other sounds all in her head. like music of the universe and like songs that came from no throat. And she had an impression that contrasted with the strenghth from the pulsing drum of being old and frail and carried in strong fuzzy arms. There was nothing romantic about it but it felt tender and kind. it felt like someone strong was finally carrying her home. A darkness then a rushing through indistinct space. The sense of being mingled among the love of your life, then the sense of the both of you being cast into the wind and settling in the sea of home. There was the sensation of lapping waves and of a gratitude. A very clear thought entered her mind " Thank you for bringing me and my love home from so far away."

Then Shoniqua Bezi came back to herself. Her throat was a little horse. Had she been singing? She could still hear the drum. it was winding down and was accompanied by the soft crooning of the lone voice, bringing the experience to a close. Released from the strange embrace she was overcome by curiosity. She still felt a distant singing in the back of her mind but instead of letting it lull her she rushed out of the little room and out onto the cliff trail. the trail was well maintained so she had no troubles traversing it even in her bare feet. she neared the cliff but slowed when she saw a large figure. It was the size of a man and stout of build. it was wreathed in shadow but she could see that the head was somewhat animal. The shadow turned toward her and moved slightly. Unafraid from long training and a driving curiosity she drew near. she closed the distance and came face to face with the singer.

It was the fat redhaired tourist guy from dinner. he was dressed now in nothing but a kilt or skirt made of section of leather that were embellished and worked with complicated patterns and pigments. Around his neck he had a necklace that seemed to be made of leather and copper triangular pieces with blue inlays. He also seemed to have metal coils in his hair. He was completely shirtless showing off his obvious bulk. In his hands was a decortated runedrum and what looked like a container resembling a horga'hn.

As she drew near he was replacing the lid to the horga'hn shaped container. it clacked like it was made fired of clay. It was also decorated like no horga'hn she had ever seen on Risa. It was covered in colored dots and geometric shapes of colored glaze in a vaguely artdeco pattern.

" Was that you?" she asks breathlessly.

" was what me?" he asks looking like he was caught doing something he shouldn't.

" that singing or chanting or whatever, it was beautiful, what was it?"

" Umm yeah that was me, sorry if i woke you"

" but what was it?"

He hesitated " oh just fulfilling someone's wish"

she looked and him squarely in the face and gave voice to the empathic hunch she had formed seeing all those images. " Laying someone to rest on their home after they passed on yours?"

He grimaced a little " Yeah, I take it you felt some of their memories?"

" Felt!? i freakin saw them! Where was that dyson sphere?"

He look startled by that. " Ummm.... my home."

" Come to think of it how did i see all that so clearly i am only half Betazoid i have not been able to do more that pick up what people are feeling."

The large barley dressed guy shrugs. " No idea, maybe you are more sensitive then you think and i dropped my guard while performing the rite"

" anyway this is getting awkward so catch." He says suddenly before he tosses the horga'hn shaped container at her.

She deftly catches it but as soon as she looks back to ask him what the hell that was for she sees only empty air.

after coming back with a light and a sensor kit with a camera she clearly takes pics of his footprints and does a scan of the area. She can't detect any signs of transporter activity and yet no life signs. She had the odd horga'hn in the room and pictures of his foot prints to prove she was not imagining it. She expanded her search area and found another pair of prints.

They were far larger then the others and shaped more like and animals with hints of claw marks. They formed two small circles. wait not circles. It looked like a figure 8. Wait not a figure 8. It was an earth symbol called a lemniscate which was used to denote the infinite. In one lobe was a triangle pointing toward the cliff and in the other was a triangle pointing the opposite way. Looking at the symbol made by these odd footprints she felt a sudden echoe of the singing and the flowing she felt when she had seen all the images.

She rubbed her face and decided that she would ask her father about this to see if other half Betazoids experienced such weird things visions. Maybe she would have her CMO give her a full scan when she got back from vacations as well. She finished documenting everthing then went back to the room. In the morning she decided to take the horga'hn do one of the shops and see if she could determine the style and source of it.

As she fell asleep the thought came to her that this was far more interesting then a beach vacation. Even with all the weird stuff going on she was having fun.