Loss of a Symbiont - BACKPOST

Posted on 22 Jul 2016 @ 3:11am by Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Lieutenant Jarveth Adan & Jadzia Melcox

1,418 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Timeline: MD 1 : 1900

Sipping at her coffee and checking her morning messages and schedule, Jadzia saw something from home in her inbox. What did the Trill diplomatics offices want with her? Clicking it open, she read the first few lines. We regret to inform you, yadda yadda yadda... Then she saw the name... She didn't recognize the first name - that was normal for joined trill. But that last name... She knew it all too well. All Trill did. The Dion symbiont had been instrumental in negotiations with the Federation when Trillius Prime was applying to join the Federation as well as over a thousand years of Trillitarian work spanning the first host until this tragedy.

Tapping out a quick message, Jadzia looked up all the joined trill that were likely to remember those historic events on the ship and invited them to a remembrance social in... Where was available... Ah, observation lounge 2 seemed empty. She scheduled the meeting place for there in one hour and fired off the message.

Checking for any other important business, she stood and looked around the room. What would be good for the occasion? There was a replicator in the lounge but she needed something more. Grabbing a couple bottles of 2309 Blanko Trill wine, she headed out.

Bast got the message delivered to his Operations console on the Bridge. He could hardly believe his eyes. The Dion symbiont had died. He remembered learning about Dion first in his History books on Trill, and later again at the Academy. One of his previous Hosts, Anglil Dion, had been the chief negotiator for Trill's admission into the Federation. And later hosts had been just as crucial to Trill's role in the galactic community. He was one of the most revered figures on the Trill Homeworld.

He checked the chronometer, which indicated that the new Counselor had scheduled a memorial in one hour, which was twenty minutes after he finished his shift.

At the appointed time, he walked into the observation lounge, and got his first opportunity to meet the new ship's counselor.

"You must be Doctor Melcox," he said, walking up to her and extending a hand. "I'm Temerant Bast."

Shaking Bast's hand, she smiled politely. "It's a pleasure meeting you. And it's just Counselor. My third host was a doctor, not me."

Jayla had been shocked when the message came through. Dion, dead! It was unthinkably sad. She'd had sat at her desk in shock for a few moments. Dion, who had find so much for Trill thought the symbiont's many lives, was gone. As in no more.

Finally, though, she had shaken herself from her stupor to finish her shift. It would do no good to have the doctor depressed. Finally, at the appointed time, she made her way to observation lounge 2 and found Bast and Melcox already there. "Hi," she said, giving them one of her famous grins, though this one lacked some of its usual sparkle.

Jessa came it directly after her sister, almost on her heals in fact. "Is it true?" she asked. Though she didn't have as many memories of him as the rest of them likely did, she did, in fact, remember him.

"Afraid so," Jayla told her. "Oh, this is my sister, Jessa Meri. Newly joined."

Temerant looked at Jessa, and smiled as he extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you," he said.

When Jarveth Adan received the news about Dion, his heart practically lept into his throat. Dion... dead... It couldn't be.

At the appointed time, he arrived at the lounge tosee they were all there: Melcox, Bast and Kij. "Sorry I'm a little late," he said. "I can't believe. Dion gone just like that."

Jadzia smiled politely and greeted the other two. "Thank you for coming. It's hard to believe, isn't it? Even a couple hundred years ago, I figured Dion would have gone back to the pools and joined the Annuated like Sef." Sef was another name all Trill knew - it was the first symbiont joined to a host and though that was 23 thousand years ago, Sef was still alive deep underground and had grown to more than thirty meters long and eight meters across.

Shaking her head, Jadzia picked up one of the bottles of wine she had brought and popped it open, pouring a little in each glass. "Anyway, I just wanted to start this off with a toast, if that's ok." after handing out the glasses, she raised hers in a toast. "To Dion. May their legacy live on in the Trillitarian actions they'd worked on for nearly a thousand years."

"To Dion," Bast repeated, raising his glass. He took a sip, before speaking up again. "Have any of you ever met him?"

"I hear him speak once," said Jessa. "About a year ago. Didn't get a chance to meet him, though."

"Unfortunately, after eight lifetimes, I haven't. Too busy elsewhere, it seems." Jadzia replied, having taken a larger sip of her wine than most. "I came close once, being on the same starship for a few days. But nothing direct."

"I met him once," said Bast. "Around seventy years ago. Lamorra, my first Host, was a musician. She played the piano at a reception that Dion was hosting. He complimented her on her playing." He smiled. "I think that was one of the proudest days of her life."

Jayla grinned vaguely, thinking how she would feel if Dion had complimented her on her tennis skills. Her ego inflated just imagining it. "I'll bet it was," she said.

"I think Menara Dion was, what... Dion's sixteenth Host?" asked Bast. "And from what I remember reading, all but two died of old age. We should all be so lucky to have so many lifetimes."

Jayla nodded. "All of Kij's past hosts save one died of old age," she said.

"I'm on my first, so..." said Jessa, with a shrug. "Even so. Sixteen! Wow."

Temerant frowned. "I don't remember reading anything in the news release about a cause of death, do any of you know what happened?"

"I read that there was a pending investigation on one of the moons, but that's it. If there was foul play, I'm sure they'll keep it under wraps until it's all settled." Jadzia commented before downing the rest of her wine.

Jarveth took this all in. "My last host, Sahala, met him on a mission to Arcadia. He was quite handsome. That was 20 years ago now." He sipped from his wine glass.

"Some of his papers on diplomacy and intergalactic treaty negotiations were required reading when I was at the Academy," said Bast. "He had an exceptional mind. One of my teachers said there was only one person in all of Federation history that could even come close to being the monument that he was in the diplomatic field, and that was Ambassador Sarek. Weren't they at Khitomer together?"

"I... think so," said Jayla. "I always struggled with history. I feel like it's far more interesting than any of my professors managed to make it."

"I've seen enough history, I think." Jadzia replied. "And Dion was a part of most of it that I saw."

"Indeed, he was at Khitomer," said Jarveth. "So was Saarek." He finished off his wine.

"That's my trouble," answered Jayla. Even the stuff I remember, I don't really remember who was there. Just, this happened and I have no idea who did it. You know?"

"I know what you mean," said Jarveth. "Piloting is all I've ever been interested in. I know my mother wanted me to be an artist, but I just couldn't handle all the publicity."

There was a short silence. "I guess it's a reminder that even for symbionts, life is fleeting," said Jayla - or perhaps it was Kij talking this time. It was often difficult to tell with joined Trill; even the host was never quite sure. "No matter who we are, our time is limited."

Bast nodded. He was still young, by Trill standards - the Bast symbiont had only had two previous hosts before Temerant. But Wilem Bast, the second host, had died fairly young, before the age of sixty, in an ice climbing accident.

"You never know what might happen. And in our line of work, it's all the more likely," he said.

Jayla nodded. "Especially with what we're coming up against," she said, thinking of the nebula. She raised her glass. "To Dion!" she declared. "May our lives be even half as long!"

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