Meeting the Big Fat Lonian Family, Part 1

Posted on Tue Apr 21st, 2026 @ 9:06am by Major Addison 'Rico' Leyton & Civilian Teevs Dosivi & Civilian Kerilia Dosivi

Mission: Season 6: Episode 7: Crossroads of Destiny
Location: Spheia
Timeline: MD1
2877 words - 5.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Teevs had invited Addison to the Spheia to go down to the planet surface. She could show up at any time, but he was in no rush to break the hug with Kerilia. He gently rubbed Kerilia's back. "You'll be just fine, my love," he assured, giving her a caring smile.

Pulling back from the hug a little, Kerilia looked up at Teevs and sniffled. She reached up and wiped her tears, then glanced at the rings on the necklace.

Dressed in casual tan slacks, low heel sandals and a white v-neck long sleeve shirt with her hair worn back into a ponytail, Addison stepped into the shuttle bay, carrying a small duffel bag. To say she was nervous about meeting Teevs' family was an understatement. And still learning about Lonian Culture didn't help any. She paused, taking a deep breath as she looked at the Spheia. 'Come on, Addy,' she thought to herself. 'You got this.' after another deep breath, she approached the the entrance to the Spheia. "Anyone home?" she called out, smiling as she took a step into the ship.

Looking over his shoulder, Teevs heard Addison's voice. He silently checked in with Kerilia one more time to make sure she'd be alright, then kissed her forehead.

Kerilia gave her dad a nod to confirm that she was alright, and as he left to get Addison she wiped her eyes. It was supposed to be a happy day; she was going to see her family, and Addison was coming with. Taking in a deep breath, she finished packing the box of gifts.

Teevs entered the cargo hold and saw Addison with a bag on the ramp. "We sure are," he replied with a smile as he came up to her. "How are you?" He gave her a kiss before glancing at the bag and offering a hand. "May I?"

"Oh, sure," she said as she passed Teevs the bag "Thank you. So, you and Kerilla must be excited to go back home?"

Accepting the bag in one hand, he began to guide her through the cargo hold. "Several emotions... excited, nervous, perhaps a little scared of my mother." He chuckled, "our last visit home was about 5 Federation years ago, and she makes sure to remind me that I'm away from home for too long. Kerilia's looking forward to it, though, and she made a bunch of gifts for the cousins." He glanced at her as he asked, "how are you feeling about this?" He had told her about his family when they talked about introducing her: two sisters and a brother, two aunts and uncles from both sides, and many nieces and nephews. Specifically, he warned her about how… personal they could get with their questions, especially since she’d be the first one he’s brought home since Saphse passed.

"Well, let's see," she began with a breath before continuing. "I'm meeting your family, visiting a new world of a new species. So to be honest, I'm nervous to say the least," she joked as she followed Teevs.

That was understandable. Teevs was nervous about her meeting his family as well. This was such a huge step. What would they think of each other? While he didn't voice it, he knew that how this went could affect their relationship. He offered an assuring smile, "it must be a lot to take in at once. Will you let me know if it becomes too much?"

"Sure. But don't worry. I promise not to cause an intergalactic incident," she chuckled. "If I may ask, why haven't you been home in such a long time?"

Teevs drew in a breath as he formed his answer. "A lot of it is politics. The Bedia War... well, sucked, and Lonian society still hasn't fully recovered even after..." he paused to mentally count, "... 23 Earth years, I believe it's been. There's been a lot of propaganda over the last couple cycles seeking support for another war, but that would mean violating the treaty with the Kavai. They haven't shown aggression, so there is really no reason to escalate. Having lived through it the first time, I didn't want to raise Kerilia around it." He shrugged and added, "I think we also just got used to being in space. There's only so much you can discover on a planet. Certainly can't find aliens from other galac-uh-sies by sitting at home," he finished with a little smirk.

Addison returned the smile. "I suppose that's true," She gave him a kiss. "And I'm sorry to hear about the war. Maybe they've changed."

With a hum of agreement, Teevs gently squeezed her hand. "I hope so. Fortunately, the Fourth House, in charge of defense matters, cannot make such decisions without input from the other branches of government. And last I heard, Lady Sama is still very much the minority vote."

"Well, that's a good thing," she replied.

Hearing them come in, Kerilia turned around and smiled, the rings slightly clinking together as she moved. "Addison! Hi!" She lifted a hand from the box to wave. Her v-shaped forehead ridge was as pronounced as Teevs' now, perhaps only slightly puffy as the skin got used to its new shape.

Addison hugged Kerilla. She recalled what Teevs told her about Lonian physiology. "Your ridges have come in," she smiled as her eyes took in the necklace. "That's a beautiful necklace."

Kerilia embraced the hug, pleased to see that Addison was joining them. "A lot has changed since we had pancakes," she commented. Neither of them could have known that a headache would turn into puberty, but Kerilia's mind still tried to find rationale in the hindsight. At the mention of the necklace, she looked down and lifted them up with the palm of her hand for Addison to see. "Thanks! Dad made them for my mom out of her favourite stone."

"Well it looks wonderful on you," she smiled at Kerilla before turning to look at Teevs. "Are we ready to go? Is there anything I can help with?"

While the two embraced, Teevs put Addison's bag into storage and returned. "I think we're ready. Just pre-flight checks then we can depart." By some miracle, the Spheia had only gotten some paint scratches from debris during the Galtonian attacks. He had done a walk around to be sure and was admittedly surprised. He gave her a smile and extended his hand toward the front. "Copilot?"

Kerilia had no objection to Addison sitting up front, as she was actually about to suggest it. It gave her the best view to see the planet from space. Kerilia had seen it plenty of times before, so she wanted to give Addison that experience. Closing up the box of gifts, she stashed it before moving to one of the long-decommissioned crew seats that were behind the flight controls.

Addison hadn't expected to be copilot but nodded. "Um, sure," she replied as she made her way to the copilot seat. As she sat down, she remembered when Teevs had taught her how to fly the Spheia.

Picking up on the slight hesitation, Teevs followed her to sit across from her in the pilot's seat. "Don't worry, I'll guide us in. I wouldn’t ask you to navigate unfamiliar terrain," he assured.

"He wants you to see the view!" Kerilia called out.

Glancing briefly behind him, Teevs chuckled. "That, and to assist with checks, if you want. Otherwise, just enjoy the view."

"Good. I would hate to crash the ship on your doorstep," she joked as she began to help with the preflight.

Teevs chuckled at her joke before going through the preflight checks with her. Since they had flown together before, he knew she had seen it at least once before and was comfortable passing off some of the checks to her.

Soon enough, they got clearance to depart from the Elysium. The Spheia cleared the shuttlebay and traveled a bit away before banking, bringing the ship back into view. From there, they could see the damage across the ship, from scorch marks to missing hull plating. Just behind the ship was the planet, which was obscuring the red sun from their view. "I hope all that can get repaired," Teevs commented, inspecting the damage.

Addison looked over at the Elysium as they passed by. She knew such damage would best be done at a starbase or shipyard. With the reduced crew, limited resources, constantly on the move, the repairs would be difficult at best. "Yeah," she sighed. "Me too.". She turned from the sight as the Spheia banked towards the planet. She only hoped that Teevs' family would accept her.

As they moved past the Elysium, Teevs touched the console to open communications. “Niea Orbital Control, vessel Spheia-1187, inbound from vessel Elysium, requesting entry and approach to Jekasp, with Entry Advisory.”

There was a brief pause before a voice came over comms. ”Spheia, N.O.C., EA verified. Adjust course to 112 mark 7 to enter transfer orbit from the civilian corridor. Maintain altitude one two-hundred kilometers until descent clearance.”

With a nod, Teevs entered in the adjustment. “Enter transfer orbit via civilian corridor at 112 mark 7, maintain 1200 kilometers altitude, Spheia.” The hand on the orb shifted slightly to move the ship into the transfer orbit, where several other small vessels were waiting, then he put the ship into autopilot while they waited for clearance to continue. From there, large features of the planet could be identified, such as the mountains, cliffs, and biome changes. The mountains casted a golden glow with long shadows across the land as the red sun crept out from behind the planet.

Addison leaned forward a bit in her chair as she took in the view of the planet. "Wow, your planet is beautiful," she commented as she spotted some larger islands in the ocean through breaks in the clouds.

Teevs watched the planet for a few seconds before glancing toward Addison, just appreciating her reaction. He had seen the view plenty of times, but seeing it with her was a first. "It truly is..." The sunlight came through the windows, bringing out a depth to her eyes that Elysium's lights couldn't quite capture.

Addison was still admiring the planet, shooting a craft flying here and there below when she caught Teevs looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She turned to him. "What?"she laughed nervously.

He realised he was staring. Blinking to try and recover from the rather obvious fluster, Teevs offered a little embarrassed chuckle before his expression softened again. It was as if looking away would make the moment end. He opened his mouth to say something, to comment on just how beautiful she was, then the console beeped before he got a chance to speak. He glanced at the controls before taking in a nervous breath. "We got clearance to descend."

From the back, Kerilia watched them and smirked but said nothing. She was glad that Dad was happy again, and wanted him to have the moment. He was starting to look how he did in their photo album, back when Kerilia was much younger. She had leaned forward slightly when he opened his mouth, having seen enough sappy romance holomovies to know what was next, then pouted when the console rudely interrupted.

Addison let out a discontented sigh at being interrupted as she sat back in her seat, checking the sensor display as she did so. Traffic controllers' timing were impeccable, no matter the galaxy it seems. "Path is clear."

"Confirmed," Teevs responded as he programmed in the path down. He checked the Spheia's systems and saw they were all functional. For a moment, he considered saying what he was thinking, but sudden nerves kept three specific words stuck in his throat. "Course laid in for descent. I'll switch to manual control when we reach the atmosphere." He paused, then glanced back toward her. "I was going to mention how the sun brings out your eyes," he offered with a little smile.

Addison looked at him, returning the smile. "Really? Thank you, Always the charmer," she replied as the ship entered the atmosphere.

With a wink, Teevs returned his attention to the console to take control of the ship. He couldn't help the nerves as they got closer to the surface. He had no idea how the introductions were going to go, but he could only hope it would go well.

It didn't take long for them to descend. A few minutes later, the Spheia passed in front of a colourful mountain range, the morning sun bathing the peaks in a warm glow. The ship circled, then landed on a landing pad adjacent to a town. A holosign displayed text that cycled between alien languages but looked very much like a welcome sign.

Kerilia was unbuckled the instant they touched down, practically scrambling to be the first out the door. "We're heeerreee!" She said in an almost singsong tone.

Teevs looked outside for a couple seconds, his heart already racing. He couldn't quite believe he was home again, it had been too long. "Welcome to Jekasp," he breathed. He glanced to Addison as he unbuckled, "this is where I grew up."

"The setting is beautiful," she commented as she looked out the forward viewports. She broke away from the scene and turned in the seat and stood. She moved to follow Kerilla.

Teevs let Addison get out first, then followed. They'd get their bags and things later, because he knew Kerilia was itching to see the family again. "It's one of the more scenic towns, but I might be a little biased if I call it my favourite place." He watched Kerilia lift her box of gifts and went to help.

Seeing Teevs approach, Kerilia put up a hand to stop him. "No! I got it!"

With an amused smile, Teevs took a step back and raised his hands. "Alright, alright." Even though she was growing up, he still saw that little girl that he swore to protect, but he needed to let her grow. Even if that meant watching her figure out the best way to carry a box she stuffed full of gifts.

"Are you sure you got it, Kerilla. "I can give you a hand if you'd like," Addison offered as she watched Kerilla struggle with the box.

"Nope! I am... an adult now!" Maybe she shouldn't have packed so many things. Eventually, Kerilia found a way to hold the box, which had her leaning backwards enough that it seemed like a gust of wind would knock her over.

"I was going to suggest the handheld antigrav in the supply closet," Teevs commented to Addison with a smirk, knowing it was loud enough for Kerilia to hear. He gave a shrug, "but if that's how the adult wants to do it..."

Addison chuckled. "She's just wanting to be independent."

That would make it easier. Kerilia tried taking a step with the box, then realised that it would take a while to get to the house this way. With the huff of someone realising the more experienced adults in the room were right, she set down the box and went to the closet to grab the antigrav, a device that looked like a handle for a lead or a suitcase. She attached it to the box, which allowed her to lift it much more easily.

Addison went to grab her duffle bag from storage before moving to follow Kerilla.

Eventually, Teevs would have stepped in before she hurt herself, but at some point he had to let her figure things out for herself. Glad to see that Kerilia went for the easier option, he brought up the rear to close the door to the Spheia.

It didn't take long for them to reach the right neighbourhood, and eventually they came to a stop. The house before them was modest, a muted green exterior with a low-angle roof. It had two levels above the ground level, with some personal balconies visible in several places. The front had a variety of landscaping plants, and as they approached some small pollinators could be seen roaming from flower to flower. In the distance, mountains stood over the morning mist, their multiple colours pronounced in the morning light.

Kerilia lit up when she saw the family home and ran ahead to go press the chime, leaving the box of gifts behind. She’d get the gifts later, the priority was getting hugs from everyone!

"Someone's excited," Addison joked as she watched Kerilla run towards the house.

Teevs chuckled as his daughter ran ahead. "Believe me when I say that she has been talking about this for the last two weeks, especially once her ridge came in." He offered his hand to her, hopefully to provide an anchor for her nerves. "Ready?"

Taking a deep breath, Addison took Teevs' hand. "Yeah, ready.". They continued their walk towards the house. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought.