Ethom: Part 2/3

Posted on Mon May 11th, 2026 @ 11:53am by Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Moriarty & Tavrek Harland

2,313 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Tavrek's Quarters
Timeline: Early 2389

Previously in Part 1:

Tavrek chuckled softly, watching him before he nodded. "I got a good ear. Lately...I've tried my hand at the Creole languages of colonies...especially outside of the Federation, where once Standard was the main language but time and distance has changed the language."

Continued:


"Is there really such a big difference?" Jesse asked with genuine curiosity. It was strange, how different they could all become with a bit of distance and a different horizon.

"Oh, it can be, especially with human colonies," Tavrek said and a hint of excitement came to him. "Where you grew up, you had words that were...never used anywhere else. You might not even remember half of them, but...Earth has so many languages, when you use something like Standard, even then eventually people...slip in their native words. And then those gets twisted and changed and people...just speak different."

Jesse chuckled softly at the way he came alive talking about it. He wondered if he'd ever find anything so absorbing. "Is it the mechanics you enjoy? Or the story it tells?"

"Both," he said and smiled as he looked at Jesse, motioning to him. "It tells the story of a people. The challenges. It is not like the languages spoken on core planets...it's a language of necessity."

Jesse didn't doubt it. But he wasn't sure if he was ready to give too much of the story away himself. "Have you heard that new pilot? He's from a colony too, he speaks like the cowboys in those holonovels..."

"Not had the chance to meet him yet," Tavrek said as he considered it. He didnt..often interact with the crew. But a pilot with such an accent...it was curious. He met his eyes before he chuckled softly. "I overhear some though. I look forward to hearing him. So far, most of the colony accents I've heard are...Mars. The Moon. You know...standard Sol system."

"But....you're into the more exotic....?" Jesse arched an eyebrow, relaxing a notch as he smiled wryly at the observation.

"The linguist in me enjoys the more exotic...to analyse," Tavrek said with a bashful smile as he finished the soup. "And the Creole and Pigdin...is more exciting when it has had longer away from the Federation. But the truth is...there aren't many." He gave him a small smile, studying his face. "Apart from those in the DMZ, the...colonies that broke with the Federation are few and far between...and even then, Standard is still mostly spoken."

"Most of it got corrupted somewhere along the way," Jesse agreed, shaking his head lightly as he thought on it. "New mixes of accent and dialect, from having people from different countries colonising together."

Tavrek smiled gently as he looked at him, seeing how he was thinking about it. "Any words you miss using? That you know isn't...standard?"

Jesse's breath caught for half a second, barely enough to notice. He glanced away, jaw tight, and when he finally spoke, his voice was softer. "Yeah...we had a word. Ethom. It meant…home but not home. The place you were born, but didn't stay. I...haven't said it in years."

Tavrek looked at him, his eyes gentle. "Ethom," he whispered, nodding. "It's...a good word. It makes sense," he added, his voice quiet.

"A corruption of Earth and home, I think," Jesse shrugged lightly, finally looking back to him. "We also called storms sky-breakers, but...." he shrugged, a small smile returning at the slightly safer offering.

Tavrek chuckled at that, nodding at the idea of it. "There's a colony, in the Beta quadrant, who call storms skycrashes..." he said, fascinated how close it was...yet different. Crash and break, two very different connotations.

"There will always be something primal about a storm. No matter how good your tech gets. That's probably why we have to give it our own language..." Jesse smiled softly, shaking his head as he thought back to how the storms could shake the house.

Tavrek smiled gently, his eyes on him before he nodded. "The station I grew up on, we were in orbit over a planet. Uninhabited, the sort of...deadly place. But their storms would create swirls of oranges and purples and blues in the atmosphere. I loved watching it as a child, nose pressed to the viewscreen."

"No wonder you wanted to come back out here," Jesse replied, finally understanding the appeal of it to a man who could have had two homes.

Tavrek smiled as he met his eyes, nodding as he watched him. "I like looking at beautiful, dangerous things," he said in a dramatic tone, before he winked and sipped his beer.

"So that's why you invited me to dinner..." Jesse replied lightly, but grinned and laughed softly after.

Tavrek laughed warmly, nodding as he watched him. "That and I have not made many...friends here," he said, using the world deliberately. But he had been here long enough to see the slight seperation between regular Starfleet and the Ground Forces.

Jesse nodded, letting out a soft breath as he took a moment to just accept the words rather than debate or dismiss them. "Same," he replied quietly, but he was certain the other man would already known that.

Tavrek nodded before he stood, to get them another beer. He smiled, more to himself than anyone else. "You're the Ground Forces CO. Puts you up there with the Captain and all that. Leadership can be a lonely place."

"I...don't believe in that keeping a cold distance thing," Jesse admitted with a weak smile, shaking his head at the idea. "But...the authority definitely gets between us."

"Good. That you don't believe in the cold distance," he carried the beers over, putting one in front of Jesse before he smiled to him. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm just a little civilian."

He nodded in agreement, letting out a long breath. It made it easier at least, less to worry about. "I wouldn't say little, but I get your meaning..." he chuckled softly.

Tavrek chuckled as he sat down, shaking his head. "Ah, being a civilian on a Starfleet vessel...is sort of like being invisible. And yet...also very public."

"You're not in the chain of command. I guess that would change how some people see you...for better or worse," he admitted with a weak, half smile.

"And how do you see me, Jesse?" he asked before he sipped his beer, watching the other man with curiosity at how he was reading him.

Jesse shook his head lightly, giving a weak, half smile at being led into this trap. "Intelligent, tenacious...you see and know far more than you let on. Language is just one weapon in your arsenal. And you're fed up of being alone out here, so you've found a place where you can belong."

Tavrek chuckled, nodding as he looked at him before he took a deeper breath. "I never see it as weapons," he admitted after a moment. "I have never had to defend myself in a way that needed weapons."

"My language, not yours," Jesse conceded with a slight nod. It wasn't unusual for him to see most things in the context of conflict.

"Still...I know it's a compliment from you," Tavrek said and there was a hint of something there...not sadness, but a gentleness that sat close. "So thank you.2

"It was," he confirmed, but chuckled softly at being so predictable. "Should I say tool? I feel like that would be a more counsellor thing to say....”

"Ah...see, good thing about being a civilian...I don't need to go and see one," Tavrek said with a playful smile before he gave a small shrug. "I still do."

Jesse looked to him with surprise at that, not having thought about therapy outside of the context of duty. "Is it...good...?"

"I like being offered another perspective," Tavrek admitted as he gave Jesse a small smile, nodding. "On what I am feeling, or think I should be feeling. Or just on my day, my mood...my family dynamic. When my human mother died, I did some therapy. Because I knew that it was one of those things that got brushed aside in Vulcan culture. She was human, of course she would die first."

"I...suppose they'd have expected someone to master their emotions?" Jesse gave a guess...but he didn't know enough about them to be sure.

"Yes," Tavrek said and nodded, watching Jesse for a long moment. "And the truth is...I never did. Not...like that. I keep them...close, more often than not. Because they can feel...a bit too much."

"Is that your way of saying you can have a bit of a temper on you?" he teased with a soft chuckle, reaching for his beer.

"Why do you think I went running?" Tavrek smiled as he looked at him, sitting back. "I have a temper. I sometimes have to hold it back...it's easier when I am not close to people in day to day work. Because most frustration happens there."

"You seem so laid back though...I think I'd like to see you pissed off, just once," Jesse chuckled softly as he rested back in his chair, almost half slumped in it, aware he was now straight up teasing him.

Tavrek laughed, his eyes shining as he took his beer. "Would you?" he asked, eyes shining. "It might be dangerous, you know...how many angry Vulcans have you seen?"

"Exactly one," Jesse had to admit, shaking his head at his lack of experience with them. "And...I'm not sure it entirely counts. It was in the middle of a battle, we were all stressed."

Tavrek looked at him with clear interest, leaning closer at the words. Curious. "Can you...tell me?" he asked, his eyes gentle as he watched him.

Jesse looked to him with surprise but nodded gently with a small, half smile, sipping his bear as he thought back. "So, to be fair to him....everything had been going wrong in this mission. It was meant to be a straight forward ground skirmish and he was the tactical specialist, but the place was cursed. The tricorders malfunctioned, the comms gave up, the bridge collapsed, one of the guys almost drowned because he didn't tell us he couldn't swim, and I ended up doing something pretty reckless to help out a medic who got caught in a hunter's trap. At some point, the Vulcan trooper had enough, and I just remember him shouting 'this is illogical!'. I mean, he said he didn't shout, but he definitely did. Anyway, there was this private, it was his first mission, he was completely green....and he got cornered by hostiles. The Vulcan just...broke. He launched himself at them like a storm. I mean, it was focused and efficient, but it was rage....he saved him though. And....I'm pretty convinced he didn't just lose it because of the anger, but because he actually cared about the kid. Which is kind of cute."

Tavrek smiled at that, nodding as he leant closer to him. "How frustrating it must have been..." he said before he nodded. "I think you're right. I think that...it was the last thing that pushed him over the edge. Someone he cared about about to get hurt."

"There are worse things to lose your shit over," Jesse agreed with a soft chuckle, shaking his head lightly. "We never let him hear the end of it though..."

"Did he raise an eyebrow? Did he said 'fascinating'? Did he say it was just logical..." he teased, watching Jesse with warmth. The chuckle, the smile...it showed off how handsome the human was.

Jesse laughed softly at the stereotypes listed off by a vulcanoid. He had witnessed all of them, of course. "He called us barbarians and walked away dramatically..."

"Oh," Tavrek laughed, eyes narrowing at the words. "Oh, you got under his skin. A telling off and exiting the situation? Yes...you got under his skin now and then...it was that or he'd shout at you."

"Do you ever shout, Tavrek?" he asked with curiosity, trying to figure out just how close he kept those emotions.

"Yes," Tavrek said softly before he looked down, his finger tracing a pattern on the table for a moment. "Not in public. A lot of people think that a Vulcanoid who shows...emotions like that...the shouting will lead to violence. It doesn't."

"It....vents it, then?" he asked, trying to understand better, not sure how it might be different for a Vulcan, but wanting to know.

"It does for me," he said and chuckled, shaking his head as he remembered times he had lost it. "Shouting into a pillow helps too. I am too old to punch a wall."

"I'd imagine you'd do some serious damage too...both to your hand and the wall," Jesse chuckled, arching an eyebrow to him with a small smile.

Tavrek laughed, nodding as he gestured to him. "As I am sure a Ground Forces Officer would know....I suspect your temper is under straight control too...."

"I try not to let my anger get the better of me anymore," Jesse admitted with a half shrug, smiling weakly with it. "It was...closer to the surface when I was younger."

"Bet you are beautiful when angry," Tavrek said with a smile, sipping his beer. Because he imaged the flush of anger, the narrowing of the eyes...yes. Jesse Moriarty would be beautiful when he was angry.


TBC in part 3...


Tavrek Harland
Translation Specialist
USS Guinevere

&

Lt. Colonel Jesse Moriarty
CO Ground Forces
USS Guinevere

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