League Night, Part III
Posted on Thu Feb 19th, 2026 @ 2:08am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Zal Rixi & Lieutenant Commander Xalanth & Lieutenant JG T'Para MD & Lieutenant JG Leilani & Lieutenant JG Fulvia
Edited on on Sun Mar 15th, 2026 @ 3:42pm
1,229 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
The Menagerie II
Location: Holodeck 4, Deck 7
Timeline: 1800 Hours
~Previously: League Night, Part II~
The bowling ball rolled true. Straighter, even. It struck closer to the lane's center, only veering slightly toward the end and scattering several pines in a very satisfying crash. Five went down. That left the two most extreme pins remaining on the far left.
"That felt different," Rixi laughed, glancing back at Xalanth.
"It always does at first. Keep practising, and you'll be hitting strikes in no time." Xalanth grinned warmly as he picked up the ball himself.
As Rixi made her way back to the seats, the three women sitting there all had the same look on their faces, one that only a group of deeply connected people could share. "I know that look," T'para said in a friendly tone, a grin of recognition on her face.
She took a seat between T'Para and Fulvia, noticing smiles and unspoken words.
"Did I miss something?" Rixi asked, oblivious.
"Just us three seeing a look we all had once upon a time," Leilani responded with a warm smile of her own.
Rixi blinked, then laughed softly, the sound seemingly caught between embarrassment and relief. "Then I hope it passes quickly," she said, glancing back to Xalanth as he prepared his throw.
"I doubt that it will," Fulvia added with a grin of her own. In the background, Xalanth had sent his ball down the lane, knocking over six of the pins.
"How's the fleet been treating you Rixi?" Leilani asked.
Rixi was surprised at the force which the Dragonian had propelled the ball--he had cleared those six pins as though they weren't even obstacles. Though, his accuracy wasn't much better than hers, she thought.
She turned to Leilani and offered a smile. "Life in the fleet is easy," she said, crossing her legs. "My shifts are spent working with people who know exactly what they're doing--or at least they look like they do." She smirked and watched as Xalanth picked up his second ball.
"Vashti's running engineering now with Winters having left, and with her promotion, I'm about to lose my roommate."
"We haven't had to worry about roommates since the academy," Leilani said with a grin, glancing over at T'para, who quietly smirked at that.
Rixi felt like she'd caught a virus from Xalanth's wives and shared the grin.
"Sounds like you guys had some shitty roommates," Rixi chuckled.
"We did, but then we ended up being each other's roommates..." Leilani began before a loud crash from Xalanth indicated he got all but one of the remaining pins. Smiling the lizard walked back over to the seats.
"Then these seductresses seduced a helpless Dragonian cadet all on his own and moved all their stuff into his quarters." He jokingly added, wrapping his arms around the two and hugging them both.
Rixi laughed as she leaned back against the scorekeeper's seat, watching Xalanth ruffle his wives' hair like he was collecting some sort of energy from them. The bowling balls clattered down the nearby lanes, each strike or near miss punctuated by a cheer or groan.
"So," she said, tipping her head to watch the marbled blue-black sphere spin in the next lane, "you all just... moved in and stayed?" Her voice had that faint edge of disbelief that always appeared when someone else's life looked smooth and easy.
Three heads nodded almost in a rather scary unison. "Correct. Me, Leilani and Zola all moved in... We did get roommates transfers, not like the academy could say no, given our grades had gone through the roof. When we graduate Xalanth proposed to use which we accepted." T'para responded.
Rixi found it all so fascinating--the Dragonian security chief and his multiple wives. She remembered reading about some Bajoran religious sects where polygamy was the norm, though these were frequently looked down upon by the more mainstream religious element on Bajor.
What intrigued her the most was the diversity in Xalanth's wives: a Vulcan raised on Earth with no adherence to logic, a Betazoid, a Magna Roman, and still another named Zola she had yet to meet. She felt compelled to ask a more personal question but thought better of it, returning her attention to the bowling lane. The pins waited, like tiny sentinels, and she felt the pulse of the game in her fingertips.
"Who's next?" she asked cheerfully.
Leilani playfully waved as she stood up and headed for the bowling lane. "So Rixi, you know about our situation, anyone special in your life?" Fulvia inquired.
Rixi cackled and there was more than just a hint of irony in it. "I dated a guy for over a year at engineering school back on Bajor," she explained, watching one of the holograms line up their throw a few lanes over. "That was a long time ago now. I live vicariously through Vashti--she has such a crush on the transporter officer, Garo Hakobyan."
She cocked her head to the side and fixed them all with an interested expression. "Have you always gotten along? No competition between the you all?"
T'para and Fulvia looked at each other before replying with a warm smile. "Oddly, no none of us have felt any need for competition. Xalanth makes it clear he loves all of us equally. T'para, Lelani and Zola were all at the academy with our knight in red armour. Compared to the future I thought I'd have growing up, this is paradise," Fulvia replied.
Suddenly, the comm opened, interrupting their bowling excursion.
[Hakobyan to Petty Officer Zal.]
Rixi grimaced uncomfortably. She was off-duty after nearly pulling a double-shift the day before--there was absolutely no reason to inconvenience her as they had yet to arrive at Barisa Prime. She shared a weary look with Leilani.
"Go ahead, Garo," she muttered, sighing with annoyance.
[Analysis of the alien device from the cargo bay is complete. The Captain is calling for a status update in Observation Lounge. Twenty minutes.]
"Understood. I'm on my way." The comm closed and she turned to the Dragonian with a knowing look. "I guess that means you too, big guy."
A disappointed moan came from the three women as Xalanth stood up. "Sorry, my dears, duty calls." He said receiving a kiss on the side of his head from his three wives. "Lead on Rixi." He said, heading over to join the Bajorian. "Time to go to work."
Lt. Commander Xalanth
Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant JG T'Para, MD
Medical Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Xalanth)
Lieutenant JG Fulvia
Intelligence Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Xalanth)
Lieutenant JG Leilani
Counselor
USS Astrea
(NPC of Xalanth)
Petty Officer 2nd Class Zal Rixi
Engineering Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of JB Dorsainvil)
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