Princess Comes To Stay

Posted on Wed May 27th, 2026 @ 3:53pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Warrant Officer Iryna Voznyuk & Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz

Mission: Royal Mail
1756 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Beth had chosen the people in the transporter room purposely as a display of welcome but also to put the other woman at easy that there were plenty of women onboard and in power. The Atlantis was different than most Earth Starfleet vessels that there were nearly an equal amount of men and women on board. She knew all her NX program predecessors had more men onboard, Leah had purposely wanted to avoid that possibility when she had picked the crew. Beth took a deep breath as she looked around. “Are we all ready for this?” She demanded quietly. She hated using transporters but it was becoming more and more frequent to use.

For the umpteenth time, Calanthe checked the status of the translation database and sent a private negotiation to whatever deity wanted to take pity on her and just give her the next few days, incident-free. It had taken so much work to reintegrate the Relian's communication matrix into the existing infrastructure that Calanthe was pretty much sure she could just write the lexicon from scratch now if it was ever required. Communication issues were going to make diplomatic relations very strained and so there was a wry weariness to her smile as she dipped her head and then hunched a shoulder. "If we're not now, we never will be."

"Agreed," added Jenni, standing beside the transporter console. Normally, this unit required a specialized operator, but the circumstances of Atlantis' prolonged deployment had necessitated cross-training in every area. Jenni, just like every engineer, had become familiar enough with the transporter to operate it, even in sensitive moments like these. Hey hands hovered near the sliding controls, not because she was eager to get this over with (which was true), but because the entire apparatus made her damned uncomfortable. Breaking a person down into energy patterns, transmitting those to a new location, and reassembled... it was a hell of a way to travel and possibly even a brutal way to die. Under her hands was a machine capable of life or death, and it was her hand on the guillotine rope.

Iryna came in at a dead run and stopped instantly at the transporter console. She winced that it looked like everyone was waiting for her which made her feel embarrassed. “Apologises being, Commander Gerhard and myself is a lot harder than I thought it would be, Captain.” She said, looking and sounding tired.

“I do not expect you to be both Warrant Officer but I do appreciate you trying. Maybe we need consider bringing back MACOs that have flown the nest to other departments?” The Captain offered but Iryna shook her head.

“That will not be necessary. I will adjust.” She did not want to prise anyone away and back to being a full time MACO when she knew Nate at the very least was thriving. She could only imagine what everyone else was doing as well.

“As you wish, but I suppose we should bring our guest over,” Beth commented smoothing down her uniform best she could over the bump. “Matthews, if you do not mind?” She offered turning expectantly to the padd.

Jenni blinked, glancing over to the Captain just before she gave the pregnant woman an affirming nod. "Here we go," the engineer muttered under her breath. Both sets of fingers brushed over the top of the three sliders. Jenni inhaled, stared at the sliders for a moment, and before she could be paralyzed by fear or indecision, she announced, "Beginning transport."

The engineer would have quickly moved the sliders, motivated by her eagerness to finish this quickly. Her fingers instead were met with resistance, as if the designers had installed the means to provide enough tension to keep someone like the Chief Engineer from rushing the process. Jenni supposed she should be thankful, but instead one word kept repeating in her head. Please.

Please.

Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.

Before Jenni knew it, her fingers and the sliders had arrived at the bottom of the panel. Transport was complete. Jenni was about to release a sigh of relief, but she looked up and nearly recoiled. The person... the woman... on the transporter pad was green. Jenni's eyes widened, taken in surprise that new arrival looked malformed. Immediately, she wanted to run diagnostics, retry the transport, do anything to fix her mistake. It was only a fleeting thought, a gentle reminder from the briefing that the royal visitor was not human at all, but an entirely different species, with an entirely different color, and an entirely different anatomy. If her thoughts had been vocalized, Jenni was certain she would have embarrassed herself, the Captain, and the entire crew of the Atlantis. With what little remained of her composure, Jenni looked over to the Captain and offered a simple nod, confirming (or at least attempting to assure) that all was well.

The alien in the centre of the padd was tall, slender, and distinctly humanoid, but with clearly non-human features that Beth still thought were beautiful. Her skin was a smooth, luminous green, almost bioluminescent, giving her an ethereal glow that stood out against the darker surroundings. "Princess Hoynestra?" Beth asked softly, stepping forward towards the woman who was wearing what looked like a form-fitting, organic suit or grown armour rather than clothing, it was textured with intricate patterns that flowed along her torso and limbs.

She looked different compared to the other people along with her who had more flowing clothing compared to the tightness of Hoynestra's. "Hello, Captain." She said politely as she stepped down from the padd and looked at all the other women in the room.

Not for the first time in her career, Calanthe found herself stuck between impulse and protocol. A sideways glance at Beth sought permission to speak, whilst the Communications Chief scrambled to assemble what little information they'd been provided with to patch together a greeting that, hopefully, wouldn't offend. "Welcome to the Atlantis, First Voice." Cal held back a hesitant wince as she was left fervently hoping Vohra wasn't incorrect about the woman's official station amongst her people.

Hoynestra turned and looked at the communication chief and smiled. “Thank you…” She said indicating she would like to know the woman’s name as she had greeted her so formally. She had not been call the first voice in many turns of the sun of her homeworld since she had been taken

"Please, call me Calanthe." The response took a split second as Cal rapidly processed the need to add any further details. Her rank would likely be meaningless and what she'd been able to glean from the scant information provided, family names were a little more complex for the alien. It avoided misunderstanding to just give the name the woman would likely prefer to use herself.

“Beautiful name,” Hoynestra said as she looked at the other women in the room before glancing back at her handmaids and the security guard who was with her. They had all given up so much to try and get her to safety.

It was rare for Diaz to be lost for words, but there was an unmistakable fluster to her pause before she rallied, "Thank you, it's the name of my mother's favourite flower."

"And you?" Hoynestra asked, looking to the Engineer who was standing behind the console. It was not often she got to meet new people espeically in the endless war so she was enjoying the opportunity.

Jenni blinked, not expecting to be spoken to. Especially since that person speaking had been one that Jenni was so concerned with keeping alive. "Jenni," she said with a grateful smile that attempted to mask her stress and relief. "Jenni Matthews."

“Jenni?” The woman repeated rolling it around her tongue before she smiled more. “You all have such unusual names.” She decided thinking on them all. “Do all humans have names like this?” Their names flowed a lot longer than there’s but they rolled off the tongue better.

“Some. But others have longer names that they have shortened. My full name is Bethsabee.” Beth admitted quietly relising that there was no one onboard that called her Beth let alone Bethsabee.

"Naming conventions vary even amongst different human cultures," Cal tried to explain gently, whilst being acutely aware that Jen was one snigger away from calling her out for being a word-nerd next time they ate breakfast together. "Calanthe is my unique identifier, Diaz is a shared family name. In Jenni's case, Matthews takes that role. Humans are also notorious for shortening their first names." The brunette smiled as she indicated each of the three welcoming party in turn. "Beth, Jen, Cal. Typically a familiarity aligned with increased intimacy unless the person prefers the shorter version, in which case they may introduce themselves as such." The more she tried to explain it, the more Cal realised it was just another example of human language having more exceptions than rules.

Hoynestra narrowed her eyes slightly as she thought about what the woman said before she smiled which made Beth relax a little as she had been worried for a moment that they had offended the woman. "I believe I would like my name shortened to Nestra once we are more relaxed." She declared gently as the woman rolled her eyes.

Jenni offered a confirming nod and tried hard to not shoot Cal a sly look for her choice of words. And indeed she would poke fun at the linguist the next time they met in the mess hall. "Nestra is a beautiful name," she shared, clasping both hands behind her back while she still stood at the control console.

"Let us show you to your rooms whilst you are onboard," Beth said, indicating the door. They did not have much with them, so between them all it would easily be movable. Iryna had been silent the whole time and froze as Hoynestra turned her gaze on her.

“You are very quiet in that corner.” Hoynestra said with amusement.

“My apologises Princess.” Iryna said with a smile. If she was quiet and not seen she was doing her job correctly. “But I am happy to show you to your room so everyone can get back to their duties.” The woman offered and spotted the captain incline her head.

“That would be wonderful.” Hoynestra said. “Thank you for making me feel so welcome whilst you give me a lift to my home planet.”