| Date & Time: | Day 01, 1119 |
| Location: | Promenade |
| Written By: | Lieutenant Nuri Varrom Ensign Narvo Tohl |
| Post Date: | 02/16/2026 |
| Episode: | Ep. 1 – Fool’s Errand |
Narvo Tohl had his hands interlocked behind his back as he wandered through the promenade. The area was still being worked on, the Ensign had noticed that as the unjoined Trill made his way between the groups of engineering and operations personnel. There were even some science officers, or at least what Narvo assumed to be science officers, working too.
“Shouldn’t you be helping them or something?” Lieutenant Nuri Varrom asked the Trill officer from behind him. There was a smile on her face as she waited for him to recognize her voice and turn to face her. She crossed her arms over her chest, “Unless of course you’re too good for that?” She was trying to be playful.
Narvo spun around to see her standing behind him and a small, warm grin appeared on his face. “Well, if you really must know I just got here. And, how exactly did you get here? I thought you were clear on the other side of the quadrant or something.” He took a step toward her and pretended to act disgusted, “Joined Trill are the worst.”
Nuri took him by the hands before kissing it and then she pulled on him. She started to walk forward through the promenade, “I told you, I was going to be on board the USS Iowa for that trip and it docked here to drop off supplies and some personnel.” She knew he was joking because he always joked with her, ever since they’d met and started dating.
“If joined Trill are so horrible why are you dating one?” Nuri asked with a slight laugh. She was curious as to his response though.
Narvo continued to hold her hand, “I’m glad you’re here. Long distance relationships are a bit rough,” He knew she wasn’t going to be stationed where he was at, not anytime soon. He considered her question and knew she was teasing, but he gripped her hand slightly. “Okay so joined Trill aren’t the worst, but I don’t get the appeal.”
Narvo was perhaps one of a small few Trill that had no desire to become joined. He just couldn’t get the idea of letting a worm inside his body. Even if his parents didn’t quite understand that sentiment, and the woman he was dating was joined, that was enough wasn’t it? He let the thought pass, “When is the ship leaving?”
Nuri shrugged, “Not for several hours. I figured we could walk around the promenade.” The Lieutenant replied to him. She continued to hold his hand, “Your first assignment after the Academy,” She said with a grin on her face. The woman looked over at him, “And you get a space station, if only I’d been so lucky.”
==The entity had been in the promenade still watching as these strange beings continued their work. It was uncertain what to make of them as it slithered in a well hidden place on board the station. It was still completely masked from them so long as it maintained the distance it had. Then it heard the voices and its attention was drawn to the two holding hands.
The entity slipped as close as it could and sensed the affection between the two of them. It also discovered that the young female humanoid had some extra entity within her. The entity found it to be curious, it also found the affection the two of them shared to be intriguing. It would have to explore this further at some point.
For now, it continued to monitor their conversation, the way they held hands, and slipped so close it could feel the warmth the two were sharing. The entity was intrigued, but it was also aware that if it got too close they may figure it out. So after a time the gelatinous creature used its tendrils to pull itself backwards once more. Then it slowly faded with a strange shimmering light.==
Nuri paused for a moment and when she stopped it was enough to stop Narvo as well. She looked around and saw nothing but the workers still trying to finish up some task inside one of the future shops, probably a bar area or something? “Do you hear that?”
Narvo hadn’t heard anything as he was pulled to a sudden halt, “I didn’t hear anything,” He said and also began to look around him. The Ensign was somewhat confused by her sudden behavior and he eventually managed to convince her there was nothing there, or at least he hoped that was the case. “I think you’re hearing the workers?”
Nuri shrugged as she started to walk forward again, “Maybe that’s what I heard.” She came to a stop at one of the tables and sat down at it. Nuri looked up toward Narvo, watching him as he sat down across from her. “Long distance won’t be so bad,” She told him with a smile. “Once communications are working we can call as much as we can, and I could always end up on temporary assignment nearby.”
Nuri remembered when she first met Narvo while she was on assignment his senior year at the Academy. The two of them had started dating not long after that, this was just a few months ago. She found herself smiling like an idiot as she watched him.
Narvo reached across the table, “I know,” He said, “And we both did talk about it after I asked you out the first time.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Narvo liked her a lot despite questioning if it was her, or the worm inside her. He kept that part to himself and looked around for a second to see if maybe the mystery sound’s source would present itself.
Narvo looked back towards her once more, “What is your next assignment?”
“Well for now,” Nuri started to explain, “Starfleet has assigned me to mediate a trade agreement between the Federation and the Ferengi,” She replied. Nuri rarely dealt with Federation talks, rather she’d specialized to help mediate as more of a neutral party. “It’s a little outside my wheelhouse if I’m being honest, but I think I can handle it.”
“I know you can,” Narvo told her now that he understood what she’d meant by other side of the quadrant during their last conversation. He squeezed her hand one more time before withdrawing his hand and leaning forward across the table.
==The entity hadn’t realized it had gotten too close to the two strange humanoid aliens until the female alien came to a stop and began looking for answers. The entity notating that it wouldn’t make that mistake again, and also that it needed to be more cautious. It was slowly learning, growing, developing… The mortal humanoids seemed to possession emotions that the entity couldn’t quite place.
It managed to worm itself a little deeper into the separation that kept anyone from being able to detect its presence. As long as it continued to watch and learn, the entity was safe. It couldn’t allow these beings to know it existed, not yet. Not until it found some use for them at least. The entity had been in the planetary system for a long time and this was the first it had come across such mortal beings as this.
Satisfied, however, it slowly faded away. The entity found itself wondering if it could find a wide range of emotional states from these strange creatures. There were both smaller copies of the larger mortals, and the larger mortals themselves. These two for example even seemed to be of a completely different race than some of the others. It liked this… It could use this.==
Nuri felt her cheeks flush slightly when Narvo had complimented her like that. Despite living through three other lifetimes, the Varrom symbiont was still young enough to feel that level of affection. However, she was distracted once again when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up for the second time. This time, however, Nuri ignored it.
Surely she was imagining things right? The thought passed without further consideration, “I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.” She told him with a shy smile on her face. Nuri leaned back and stood up, “Care to walk me to the ship?”
Narvo stood up and helped her to her feet, “Sure,” He said and took her by the hand. Narvo wondered how he’d gotten so lucky to have her in his life. He didn’t think about it for very long as they started through the promenade once more. He wasn’t looking forward to this part, but any amount of time they got together was worth it in the end.