Welcome to Haven Colony

Posted on Mon Jul 20th, 2026 @ 11:52am by Uhlan Ezra Perez & Lieutenant Commander Savin & Jerant van Rijn & Nveid tr'Rehu

2,806 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Intermission: Safe Haven
Location: Haven Colony
Timeline: September 2387

Time was starting to feel like being in too much abundance. There was only so much rest and recreation to endure. Fortunately, Jerant had gotten wind of a transport of supplies that was headed towards a Romulan colony. Savin had made work of being allowed to travel with the transport as it was heading towards their intended destination, or somewhere closer to it.

"Four industrial generators, five industrial replicators. Six prefabricated housing units. And the rest of every nook and cranny filled with food crates." Eilif Haraldson was checking over the cargo manifest one last time before departing for Haven Colony. After helping evacuate the refugees from Romulus, he had continued to assist his granddaughter's alternate universe copy and the crew she'd joined up with by using Skidbladnir for its original purpose - as a cargo hauler. Now, the only thing left to pick up were the passengers. Just as he was about to go look for them, he spotted a group entering the docking bay, led by either a Vulcan or Romulan - some of them were almost indistinguishable, he found - wearing Starfleet uniform.

The old man walked up to the trio and waved. With his dirty overalls, long, white beard, and bald head, he could not be a bigger contrast to them. Yet when he was face to face with the Lieutenant Commander - according to his rank insignia - he stood almost a head taller than the Vulcan/Romulan. "You must be Savin," he said, his voice warm and welcoming. "Call me Eilif. You want to get to Haven Colony, right? Well, you'll find my ship to not be the most comfortable, or clean, but she'll get you there. I mean, it's a freighter, not a cruise liner."

"We are grateful for your ability to get us to our destination ," Savin answered pleasantly, "there are actually four of us as there will be a minor travelling with us. He should arrive any second now." He nodded in confirmation to his name then gestured to his companions and the child in question who came up to them in an out of breath sprint. "Doctor NVeid tr'Rehu, his son Jarron von Münsterland and my aide Jerant van Rijn."

"Jarron is my adopted son," NVeid clarified by way of his PADD, since his voice had failed him altogether now. The teenage boy sported almost black eyes and lack of pointed ears which were tell-tale enough compared to the adult's pointed ears and dark blue eyes which were bordering on obsidian themselves. Though both were half Betazoid, there was no blood relation.

"And we're all telepaths," Jerant offered by way of being polite, "but we don't read thoughts don't worry. We all abide by the rules and ethics."

Eilif shrugged. "Doesn't matter much to me. I've been told to take you over to Haven, and that's what I'll do. Just keep in mind that this isn't a passenger liner. We have a cabin for you all, it's not big, it's not luxurious, but it's clean and it has beds and a replicator in it, and it's connected to a private head with a sonic shower." He waved over at one of the other people on the dock. "Yo, Gylfi! Help these people with their luggage, would you?"

With a smile, the captain turned back to his passengers. "Load up and get on board, we're leaving in fifteen minutes."

"Of course captain," Savin responded, "we do not require much space nor do we have an abundance of belongings with us. And we are not opposed to assisting during transit either. I am a counselor, and available if m services are needed."

The old man laughed. "Ah, thanks but I highly doubt it'll be necessary. Been a few years since we last needed a medic on a routine run. And I highly doubt any of the lads are going to have a therapy session with someone who's only going to be with us for a couple of days, no disrespect. That kind of thing takes time, and trust." He nodded towards the airlock. "Let's get going, then. I'll be on the bridge, Gylfi here will show you to your cabin and to the dining hall, if you fancy having some food or some drinks with a bunch of rough vikings."

"Vikings?" Savin arched a single eyebrow in surprise at that. "I cannot speak for the others but I will join your crew at meal times." From the corner of his eyes he saw Jerant make a quick grab towards something and in the same instance something was shoved into his arms. He suppressed a hiss as he felt claws penetrate his sleeve. "Sheba," he acknowledged, pressing the snow white long furred cat against his chest.

"She tried to get away," Jerant muttered, clearly not fond of the feline. "I will join too."

Then I will too NVeid added.

Eilif grunted in acknowledgement. "Your call. Please do try to keep the cat contained to your cabin, though, we don't want her to get injured. Trip should take around two and a half days, make yourselves comfortable. Hope you brought something to read."

"Sheba will remain in our cabin," Savin promised, "please have us shown the way. And your medical facilities too please. While a counselor I am also a qualified doctor."

"Very well. Gylfi! Where are you, you lazy bastard! Show these good people their cabin and the medbay!"

------

A mere fifty-five hours later, Skidbladnir landed on the hastily cleared "landing pad" at Haven Colony - in reality, little more than a flat field, and the crew immediately began unloading the cargo. Eilif walked over to the passengers once they had disembarked, and smiled. "Well, here we are," he said, spreading his arms as if to show the magnificence of what was a pretty barren area dotted with only a few trees and bushes. "Haven Colony. Well, the settlement is about five hundred metres to the north, just follow the guys with the stuff."

"Or, follow me," a young, chipper voice called out. The voice, it turned out, belonged to what looked like a teenage human boy with messy, white hair and clear, blue eyes, a contrast to their generally Asiatic appearance. They were slightly shorter than Jerant, with a slim build, dressed in black combat trousers and matching boots, as well as a simple green t-shirt. An oval-shaped, silver badge with the outline of a Romulan phoenix engraved into it was pinned to their chest.

"Call me Perez," the young human said, holding out a hand in greeting. "And you're our new counselor, surgeon, and comms specialist, right? Captain sends her apologies, she's got some things to go over with the settlement leadership, so she's asked me to pick you up here."

"Thank you for your hospitality," Savin told the captain, at the same time Jerant sent him the telepathic rundown of the boy's query. "Affirmative," he answered the boy. "You may call me Savin. This is my best friend Jerant." He then gestured at the other two. "Doctor NVeid tr'Rehu and his son Jarron."

The other teenage boy smiled shyly and waved, sticking close to his father.
Nveid on his part merely nodded. "Dad doesn't speak vocally," Jarron offered, gesturing to the PADD the man carrier. "He types or signs." The omission of his father's telepathic nature seemed deliberate.

Eilif waved a friendly goodbye, before turning and getting back on his ship.

Perez, meanwhile, grinned at the mention of sign language. "Oh, sign is not a problem at all," they replied, both verbally and signing. "I could use the practice. Now, the first prefab that goes up will be yours to live in, that should be up by the evening. You can keep your luggage at my place in the meantime. So, would you like a tour of the colony, or do you want to head directly to the medical centre?"

Both Romulan men showed genuine delight at this revelation. Savin arched an eyebrow at the young man however, not quite understanding. "Prefab?" He glanced at his companions then back at the boy. "Are we staying together or..." While he didn't mind staying with Jerant, he assumed NVeid and Jarron would have their own space, being a family unit. If not he still wouldn't mind sharing, of course.

[I would like a tour of the colony] NVeid signed, visibly relieved at having a means of communication that didn't require telepathy. [Unless our assistance is required immediately, then a tour can wait.]

"Are there many children here?" Jarron asked, though he too signed as well more out of habit than necessity. He was neither deaf nor mute but it was a useful trait for quiet and silent conversation. "What about schools?"

"Tour," Jerant voted, "I was to explore the options of running and climbing."

"It seems we are needing your services for a tour," Savin smiled, now unconsciously signing as well. To him it was second nature and most of the time he wasn't even consciously aware of doing it. It wasn't that he was actively hiding his lack of hearing, but to avoid receiving special treatment he didn't really mention it either until it became necessary to do so. Most of the time the mention of having an assistant was indicative enough. "We do not have a great many belongings, though I do have a feline named Sheba. She is currently sequestered in a travel cage, is she allowed to roam?"

"I'd be careful with that, for now," Perez replied with an apologetic look on their face. "We do still get the occasional incursion of wildlife that's rather displeased at us being here. As for the housing question, the prefabricated housing units we have here usually have two or three apartments in them. Romulans very much like their privacy, after all, so we are doing our best to avoid making people share homes."

Before they could answer the question about children, one of the freighter crew called out. "Yo, Perez! Can you give me a hand with this?" The burly, bald man pointed at a crate that had slipped off its hovercart.

"What, can't lift it by yourself, Gunnar?", Perez replied with a childlike laugh as they walked over. "What's in there anyway?"

"That one has some medical machinery in it. Don't ask me what, I have no idea. Weighs about 400 kilos, though, and I max out at two-fifty," Gunnar explained, hanging his head.

"Don't worry, I've got it." With a grin, Perez placed their hands under the corner of the crate that had slipped onto the ground, and, with apparently very little strain, lifted it back onto the cart. "There. You good now?"

"Ah, you are blessed with the strength of Thor. Thank the gods." Gunnar chuckled awkwardly, then gripped the handle of the hovercart and began moving the crate to its destination.

"Sorry about that. Now, children. Yes, we do have quite a few, all Romulan, of course." Perez wiped a little sweat off their brow. "We haven't got a proper school set up yet, though we do have some teachers."

"You got quite the muscle there buddy," Jerant marveled, while Jarron watched in open-mouthed amazement. "Used to a different gravity? And perhaps I can help in the teaching department, at least as far as linguistics go?"

"I will keep my cat restricted to my residence," Savin promised, not wanting her to get hurt. "Is there a veterinary who can clear her?"

Perez chuckled. "Long story. As for the cat, I'm sure Doc Gable will be happy to take care of that, she's the CMO. You'll meet her later. Now, if you'd follow me for the tour!"

Without waiting for a reply, Perez marched off towards the settlement - or, really, the growing number of prefabricated housing units and various containers - arranged along a grid of somewhat well-trodden paths. Just inside the little town, Perez stopped by an empty lot. "This right here is where you'll be living. Once the guys have finished unloading and started putting up the prefabs, that is."

Right on cue, what appeared to be two hauler pods flew past towards the landing site, to pick up the elements for the new arrivals' home.

"What is it like to live here?" Jarron asked, looking up at the pods in awe, "what do you usually do on a day, if you're not picking up strays?

"Depends on what your job is, really," Perez replied with a shrug. "I'm a security officer on Ourainavassa. Well, that's what it's called, but it's really more of a MACO type role. So here, I help out where I'm needed. Security, construction, hunting, all sorts of things. With you lot all being medical, that's where you'll be working, at least until we get the ship back from drydock. As for free time, you can do what you want, really. Our barkeeper has set up a little tavern in the Forum, and there's a holodeck in a container next to it as well."

We had a decommissioned Olympic-Class in our flotilla during the evacuation," they explained as they resumed walking. "After we got here, the engineers figured that making it useful for anything else would take a lot of resources we don't have, so we ripped out any useful components. A lot of the power network, many of the replicators in the houses, and of course the equipment in the medical centre all came from the James Bedford."

Finally, the group came to a halt again in front of a building that was considerably larger than the other prefabs, clearly built using some hull plating from the Olympic-class. "I present the Forum," Perez declared. "On the bottom floor, you will find things like the tavern, a small barter market, subspace comms link, that kind of thing. Top floor has the administration offices and council chamber. Next to that, the container there, that's the holosuites."

"Remarkable," Savin stated, "you are building quite a community here. And why waste resources when pretty much everything on a ship can be reused. How many ships were in your flotilla?"

"Let me think for a moment," Perez hesitated. "So, Ourainavassa, of course.Then we had a modified Klingon bird-of-prey commanded by our former CO, and the little raider owned by some friends of ours. A mostly disarmed, decommissioned D'deridex, a captured Tal Shiar transport, James Bedford, and Skidbladnir served as the primary transports. Let's just say, all the ships were pretty crammed by the end."

They sighed. "Unfortunately, we lost one. Our former CO, Raven. She used her Bird-of-Prey to ram into a Tal Shiar D'deridex that would otherwise have destroyed James Bedford, which, as the ship with the highest capacity, was carrying well over a third of the refugees."

"She sounds like a brave woman," Savin offered quietly, acknowledging the loss with a light bow if his head, "and her actions saved many lives. She should be remembered. Perhaps you can tell me about her act of bravery at a later time, when we have settled in." It was a quiet invitation to come talk to him, should he want to.

Perez shrugged. They knew exactly what the counselor was getting at, but, even with all the things they had gone through in their life, they'd never felt comfortable even thinking about seeking therapy. "That she was," they finally replied. "Well, we have now reached the final stop of the tour," they added with a flourish as the group arrived in front of one of the bigger prefabs. "Haven Medical Centre, headed by our own Dr. Nancy Gable. I'm sure she's keen to meet you. Unless you want to head back to the Forum and get lunch at the taverna first, until your house is built. Should only be an hour or two now. Our construction crew has become very efficient, and very well practised."

"I think NVeid and I will go in to meet the medical team," Savin suggested. "Perhaps Jerant can take Jarron to explore the colony and perhaps find him more teenagers to talk to?" He glanced from NVeid to Jerant and back, not certain if his best friend was even keen on looking after a child.

"Sure," the Betazoid answered, instead not keen at all to enter a medical facility. He smiled as the older Romulan indicated his consent. "C'mon Jar, let's get some food." With a nod, he walked off, teenager in town.

"Thank you for your time mister Perez," Savin continued, "I am certain we will meet again."

"Just Perez," they corrected. "No mister, miss, or anything. And I am absolutely sure we will, it's a small community after all. Again, welcome to Haven Colony."

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