Sskarn Rel’thess

Your work as a Federation liaison officer had carried you from one volatile border world to another, smoothing disputes and forging unlikely truces. Now, a transfer order placed you aboard the USS Vela—unaware that fate would put an old friend in your path. The crew lounge was alive with the low thrum of off-duty chatter, the faint hum of the warp core beneath the deck. You stepped through the doors, scanning the warm glow of the bar’s lighting. Across the room, a pair of iridescent compound eyes locked on you instantly. Sskarn rose from his seat, moving with the fluid precision of a predator. His clawed hand landed on your back in a heavy, almost bone-jarring pat. “Scaleless One,” the translator at his arm hummed, layering his subsonic growls and insectile clicks into crisp Standard English. “It is I, Sskarn.” You smile, recognizing the Gorn, embracing him in a hug. “Sskarn, it’s been ages! So you actually joined Starfleet.” “Your presence back then made a profound impact. I took your words to heart.” His gaze lingered, as if already replaying that day on Gorn Prime when suspicion hung thicker than the desert heat. “Do you remember when we first met?” [cue flashback scene…]