April System Mingle

[thespaceopera]

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: Possibly!
Action: April System
When: Month of April!


[Welcome to the Belt, a huge asteroid belt that's been terraformed for life. Here you can explore the different asteroids, become a rock star, race on some ATVs, enjoy not being underwater.

In other words, it's a mingle! Get in everyone!

> System Info ]

Comments

[universal_charm]

Oh, you have no idea - I am already a headache. Bones and I have bets on which one of the admiralty I make have an aneurism first, or if I get a protocol named after me.

[musicalhost]

Not named after you, sorry, but there is the Temporal Prime Directive!

[Congrats, Jim.] I remember you were eventually made an admiral though. To keep you out of trouble.

[Can you guess how well that worked?]

[universal_charm]

_{[ He wrinkled his nose and rubbed the back of his head as they walked. ]}

Actually, I had just applied for a promotion not that long ago - a Rear Admiral. But I ended up turning it down when it was offered. Admirals don't fly, after all. But maybe I change my mind a bit, when I get a bit older.

[musicalhost]

They probably didn't give you much choice, I can't imagine you liked being behind a desk either.

[universal_charm]

If I'm honest, I want to die out there in the stars, not chained down on a planet.

[musicalhost]

I know that feeling. I want to be out there, my life meaning something, than playing it safe on New Sydney or Trill.

[universal_charm]

Heh, it's not that our lives don't mean anything if we're not out there, I think. Our lives will have meant something, no matter where we are. But having died once, I can say for sure that when I go again I want to die fulfilled in that moment.

The dark is a lot less terrifying that way.

[musicalhost]

All that I would have going for me by staying on my home planet would be helping run a mining consortium. And joined trill... we live to experience new things.

[universal_charm]

Because part of you lives on with Dax, or am I missing some cultural meaning there?

[musicalhost]

You've got it, actually. You got it exactly. Maybe the next Dax will be a Starfleet captain, who knows. We haven't done that yet.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He smiled at that, as if he found the thought amusing or pleasing in some way. But then a thought occurred - ]}

Is there a finite number of Daxes? Not as in there is more than one Dax, but more of his species, I should say. Given their need for a host, their population can't possibly outpace yours. How young do Trill tend to join?

[musicalhost]

No, there are plenty of symbionts, there are the Annuated who lay eggs that hatch into symbionts and the Guardians care for them. They don't really need hosts though, they can live in the pools in the Caves of Mak'ala.

As for us joining, typically, we're joined in our mid to late twenties. And about three hundred symbionts are eligible for joining per year compared to the thousand trill humanoids. On average.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He seemed to consider this, and then it occurred to him, the question he had not asked all this time - ]}

Why a symbiotic relationship? What do you each get out of it that you couldn't provide on your own?

[musicalhost]

We live on after we die plus we get the memories and experiences of previous hosts. The symbiont gets to experience life, they can't survive outside the pools without a host.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He chuckled. ]}

Well, if it works for you. I have enough in my head as it is I don't need more memories myself.

So, Ezri, I do think I still owe you lunch. What would you like?

_{[ Seeing as they were in a food court now. His treat, Ezri. ]}

[musicalhost]

It definitely takes some getting used to. And, luckily for you, they symbiont could only join with a human for a short time.

[She gives a glance around.]

I'm not too picky. So long as it isn't gagh or bloodwine. Or still alive.

[universal_charm]

I don't think I know what either of those things are, so you're safe. I was really just thinking their version of a burger.

[musicalhost]

Gagh is klingon food, like worms. A burger will definitely be okay though. Although, places like this make me miss replicators.

[universal_charm]

Really? Places like this, I think, are bit better - they have a touch more taste to them, more feeling. Even the fast food places like this. I guess I like that personal touch, you know?

[musicalhost]

They do, and it is nice. I can't deny that, I've always enjoyed Ben's cooking when he treated us but having anything you want right at your fingertips, and you can't even taste a difference really? I can enjoy that.

[universal_charm]

Oh it's convenient, I won't deny that. Absolutely, it's a necessity for the ships. But it can't replicate the feeling in a really good meal, is all I mean. I'll take something cooked by a person any day over the replicator.

[musicalhost]

I guess not but I suppose spending a few years at the academy and the going right to a starship and then the station, I got numb to the difference.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He snirks. ]}

Yeah, even in my time the Academy needed a better cafeteria. I went off campus to eat as much as I could.

[musicalhost]

I mostly just toughed it out in the cafeteria. It didn't seem so bad to me.