||Location: Sol System

||Time: Unknown

 

“Well, I guess it could be worse,” Kir sighed, pushing her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t exactly ‘land’ on Earth – it was more of a forced descent.” She chuckled to herself. “I can tell they put at least some of it back together while they were pulling her apart for research.”

 

She installed the broken canister and locked it into place for the time being. She didn’t know what else to do with it. Once they had replacements, the dead cells could be recycled at the outpost. When Harrison asked about the Kuiper Belt, it dawned on her he didn’t have any experience out here.

 

“Of course,” Kir’ion mumbled to herself, surprised by her own forgetfulness. “I owe you a lot of answers. For the sake of time, I only shared what was strictly necessary with you when our minds first touched. Come, let me share the rest with you.”

 

She led him back out to the lounge, finding a comfortable seat and patting a spot next to her. Kir turned to face him once he seemed settled, “I think the best way to do this is a X’honnar. It’s a ritual that’s like what the Vulcans can do in your Star Trek, but much deeper. I can share everything I’ve seen and experienced, quite literally I can share everything I know. It’s…intimate. It’s like reliving my life through my eyes within a matter of hours.” She crossed her legs and reached out both hands to take his before starting again, “Without your bracelet’s connection to the imperial center, you lack access to the network of information most enforcers would have. Even with our connection earlier, you’re missing about 100 years of my life. By now, most of my knowledge is outdated, but it’s certainly better than nothing. I have no idea what to expect when we get to Kuiper Outpost, but it was independent when I passed through before I hit Earth. At the very least, we can get what we need and move on.”

 

Taking his hands, she rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath, “It’s okay if you feel strange after this. I’ve only done this twice, and never with another species.” Kir gave his hands a gentle squeeze and leaned her forehead against his.

 

She let their minds settle together first, quieting them both so that it would be easier to share her essence with him. It started with her childhood – a happy time for her on her homeworld surrounded by loved ones. Kir showed him the glittering white sands and deep blue oceans, the glass spires and vast libraries of an intellectual society. There was art, music, science, history, architecture, politics, language… They were a peaceful people content to exchange knowledge with the universe at large and stay out of conflicts entirely. She was only 10 years old by Earth’s standards when the Imperial warships came. It wasn’t even a fight – X’hondria didn’t have a military. The only weapons were long defunct and only existed as museum pieces. Her homeworld faded away as she was taken from it, instead forced into a life of servitude and passed between owners for nearly half a century before an attack on the vessel she was on presented an opportunity for escape. She stole the ship they were currently sailing the stars in and set off for an independent outpost in the Kuiper Belt. She’d thought to settle on the nearby planet of Earth. The long arm of the empire didn’t reach out that far and she looked human enough to pass as one. The promise of freedom was enough to cloud her judgement, and when she was shot down over the planet, she’d been dragged from the crash and kept buried under a mountain until she met Harrison. Kir let it stop there, knowing he didn’t need a replay of the events that had just transpired.

 

She pulled away, letting the connection end as she rubbed her temple gently. Her first concern was Harrison, watching him carefully to make sure he came out of it okay. She feared the effect reliving a longer-than-human life as tumultuous as hers might have.

 

“Are you okay?” Kir asked gently.