Heart Longing

Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 9:00pm by Lieutenant Commander Xalanth
Edited on on Tue Jun 30th, 2026 @ 12:09pm

533 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: The Menagerie II
Location: Xalanth's Quarters

Xalanth let out a sigh as he lowered himself into his chair. Another day, another load of paperwork he'd finished off. How on earth did the security chief keep up with it?

A sound coming from his computer made his eyes shoot open. It was very familiar to him. An extract from a song sung by someone very close to him. A native American song from the home of his third. He should know she was the one singing it.

His fingers shot to the answer button.

Zola, his Mestizo mate and honor part of his soul, smiled as she appeared on the screen. Her light brownish skin was the same as the first day she had confessed to loving him the same as her charcoal black hair.

The black eye she had was new, though. The sight sickened him. He wanted to reach through the screen and hug her tightly before finding who did that to his beloved and making them regret it.

"Hey X." She said softly, her eyes beaming with relief.

"Zola what happened?" came from his mouth his eyes fixed on her eyes.

"This?? This is nothing, you should see what happened to Dark Sun cultist. He's going to be very itchy down below for the rest of his life," His third said, her normal confident voice showing, gesturing to her swollen eye.

Dark sun? Xalanth thought. They were a racial supremacist religious group that had left the Federation even before Kirk joined the fleet. Almost every twenty years, a report claiming they had died out came across the Starfleet Intelligence desk, yet they always seemed to crawl back like cockroaches.

If they were back again and striking this deep into federation space....... Someone in the higher-ups needed to pull their head out of their behind.

"Is..." He began, but Zola cut him off. "She's fine. One of them tried to grab her, but she kicked him so hard he lost his front teeth."

Xalanth was relieved to hear that, though the worry for his daughter was still hitting heavily on him. "I'm lucky my daughter was born with her mother's courage and bravery.

"And her father's fearlessness." Added his third.

Xalanth chuckled at that. If anyone was fearless, it was his third. From the numerous things they'd done at the academy that weren't exactly by the book to her willing to take on a mission that she thought could prove fatal. Fortunately for her, it was just the mad ideas of a lunatic. one who seemed determined to keep them apart.

The screen began to flicker slightly. "The signal is dropping. I'll tell Cemet you called," Zola said with a warm smile as she pressed her hand to the screen. Xalanth did the same, wishing he could feel the heat of her hand through the screen.

With a flicker, it faded, and the red lizard was left all alone with just his thoughts. Ancestors, guide them back to me safely, he thought to himself as he let out another sigh.

---

Lt. Commander Xalanth
Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea

 

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