Post 259: The Prophets Have Spoken Part One

Stardate:70626.20
Title: The Prophets Have Spoken, Part One
Author: Jariel Camen
Scene: Arboretum/Deck 12
Time: After Empty Garden One/Two by Zanh Liis

*Help people* Camen thought to himself. It had been what he done since he was a child, sneaking scraps of food to a young Zanh Liis, who might have starved to death without someone to take care of her.

Everywhere he went, he was always the champion of the downtrodden. As a Vedek he had been the first one to provide a bowl of soup and a bed to the less fortunate, before offering word one about the Prophets.

[[Like a Counselor?]]

"Call it. . . spiritual advisor. People need a place to turn to when a family member or a fellow officer just doesn't feel right. Come on. I have to show you something else."

Liis led the way out of the arboretum and to the turbolift. "Deck 12." Camen began to sign to her but she cut him off.

"Don't even ask."

[[But can you...]]

"Shush." She said playfully. "I pulled a lot of strings for this. A LOT. This is a big ship but space is at a premium and I've already gotten you a whole deck so anything else doesn't come easy."

Camen stepped out of the turbolift to familiar surroundings. Sickbay was on his immediate left and various medical labs on the right. She lead him around the corner away from the labs towards the private offices on the deck.

On the right was a room with a familiar label on the door; one that he knew very well. But the room was silent now. "Ship's Counselor" the label read. Camen felt a pang of sorrow in his heart and he ran his fingers over the name on the door. Tues K'Raye.

Zanh Liis, hearing his footfalls cease, stopped to see what was the matter. "Oh, I know." She waited a moment before going on. "Come, its right next door."

She took him to the very next office. This door was labeled "Ship's Chaplain."

"This used to be the assistant Counselor's office, but seeing as we don't even have a primary Counselor at the moment, I was able to swing the space for you."

[[No. I can't. There must be a smaller space, down near the cargo bays.]]

"Yes, but you are getting THIS. Go on. Take a look."

Camen stepped forth and the doors slid apart. The light from the Bajoran sun shone in from the windows and lit the room before him. Leather furniture, a hand carved wooden desk from Bajor, a personal desktop computer terminal, and several of Camen's personal favorite plants from the arboretum adorned the space.

Across the room from his desk was a round-table area with several chairs and couches where Camen could speak one on one with members of the crew, or in groups.

He sat down at the desk. The Bajoran symbol was carved into the top and protected by a laminated cover that his computer sat on. He ran his fingers across the screen and it lit up. The background featured the blue and white flag of the Federation and read "Greetings, Vedek Jariel." It offered several options for scheduling appointments.

Behind the desk against the wall was a bookcase full of texts.

"I downloaded all those texts to an old fashioned printer on Bajor. I wanted you to have something tangible to read rather then a PADD. Real leather bound books with real paper and real ink. The Bajoran volumes are of course from your personal collection, which I um, borrowed from your belongings."

Behind him were volume upon volume of works of philosophy and religion from across the galaxy. Camen's personal Bajoran texts from the Vedek Assembly as well as writings from Vulcan, Trill, Earth, Andor, Qo'noS... there were hundreds of books.

Camen could not imagine the work Liis put into getting all these printed and bound for him. He pulled the volume from Trill, and smelled the fresh ink upon the pages. As he held the book, he felt inside that he would be holding it again soon. . .

"Well, do we have an accord? What say you, Vedek?"

***FLASH, Sound of a heart beating.***

Camen found himself once again in the arboretum. Before him stood the hazy visage of February Grace, beside the angel statue that her humanoid counterpart had left in the garden. Camen recognized this vision as the realm of the Prophets from his many experiences with them.

He knew it was they who spoke to him now, through images of those familiar to him.

[[Why have you brought me here?]]

Grace:"You may speak here, Camen, with us."

Camen cleared his throat. He began speaking slowly, the sound of his own voice was foreign to him after so long in silence. "Why have you brought me here?"

Vedek Jariel Camen
USS Independence