Farewell to Certainty

Posted on 31 Aug 2018 @ 1:54pm by Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater

1,299 words; about a 6 minute read

Deck 3, Section 16, Room 11 - Junior Officer Quarters, USS Galileo-A

Having recently concluded her tour of the ship (wonderfully orchestrated by Commander Wyatt) Sofie took a moment to sit down and relax in her quarters. Wyatt had mentioned this Lieutenant Rice who would probably be joining her any day now so she tried to enjoy the fleeting moments of privacy she would have before this became a shared room.

Her bag was still where Sofie had left it in the middle of the room - she'd unpack it later, right now she directed her attention to the computer console. She'd been writing letters (or rather recording messages) to Farla ever since Farla had graduated from the Academy. They'd done a good job of keeping in touch which was good because Farla was the sort of person that Sofie might consider a best friend.

Sofie thumbed up the recorder "Computer, begin recording message addressed for Lieutenant Farla, Maybury Hill, Woking, Earth."

She made herself comfortable in the seat and smiled for the camera "Farla, I just got your last message yesterday. Its been great to hear from you again. I'm keeping well here, its all very exciting - I boarded the ship today. Got a tour from the Chief of Security - he seems nice, very tall though and that's not just me being short.

"You said that Seliera was going out on another deep space mission, any idea how long that will take?" Sofie continued, looking off wistfully into her window. "From what I understand of Galileo's mission I might not be back home for some time either. So if you get a chance to speak to her before she ships out please send my best."

She paused for a moment, obviously trying to work out if she wanted to say something or not then she turned to look directly into the camera, the look of composure leaving her face. "Really Farla I'm not sure what I'm doing here. The captain is some maverick ex-con and I have no real idea what our actual mission is. I'm unbelievably out of my depth and I wouldn't be surprised if everyone else on this ship worked that out sooner or later.

"I'm trying to latch onto some sense of duty or grounding but all I'm left with is this distinct feeling that I'm just falling endlessly with no way to slow down. I'm not a good scientist and I really doubt I'm ever going to make a good officer. I keep trying to remember why I'm doing this and I keep drawing blanks - I've long ago now said my farewells to certainty.

"That night keeps coming back to my mind, when you and the others managed to convince me to apply to the Academy. I'm trying to see again what I saw back then..."


Scesada IV, The Cardassian Union
A Summer Evening, 4 Years Ago

The Kanar was delicious, a local variety that Arthur had come to love in these last couple of weeks. They sat around a table illuminated by a dim lamp whose light was low enough that the moonlight shone bright across the gathering.

The four of them were here, Saleira was huddled up next to him, his arm around her shoulders. She looked beautiful in the pale green moonlight. Arthur was glad she'd decided to come. On the other side of the table were Farla a Wadi, looking as bouncy as ever, and Teyal his old roommate an Arboreal Xindi, who's attention was mostly hooked by a PADD he was reading.

Also on the other side was the girl who had tagged along with them for this last week. She was a human like Arthur and he hadn't got to know her that well yet. He knew she was called Sophie and that she didn't come from the Federation but he didn't know much more than that yet. Farla had clearly become thick and fast friends with her already. All that mattered to Arthur was her amazing voice, which was good because looking through the libretto they'd all be given it appeared the two of them would be singing together a number of times.

Saleira nuzzled into him a bit, he could see she was getting close to falling asleep. He didn't want to get up yet though so he took another sip of Kanar and half listened to the conversation progressing on the other side of the table.

"So where are you from?" Teyal asked the girl.

"New Sydney," she replied. To Arthur she looked awfully young in the flickering lamplight, she sounded young too but perhaps it was just that she didn't fully feel at ease with them yet. "Its in the Sappora system, near Farius. Outside the Federation."

Teyal face lit up with excitement. "Oh you know I was just reading about someone from there!" Arthur grinned, if you got Teyal excited about something then he would likely go on and on about it for hours, perhaps he should wake up Saleira and make a hasty exist.

The new girl seemed curious at this but a little guarded. "A geologist or a criminal?" she asked "We don't seem to make anything else."

"A war hero!" the Xindi said triumphantly.

She scoffed "I've never heard of a New Sydney War Hero."

Farla spoke up in her normal tone of voice that seemed to mix unnerving precision with light friendliness in a combination that could transition from compassionate to intimidating in an instant. "If Teyal says something is true it probably is. You can never get him out of his books."

Teyal nodded "Thank you Farla." he responded with facetious courtesy. He turned back to the girl again "Well there was one - A Trill called Dax, she fought during the Dominion War, she was from New Sydney."

"Never heard of her." the girl shook her head.

"Wait," Farla butted in again "Was she joined? Perhaps she had a different name beforehand."

Arthur shifted in his seat slightly and Saleira opened her eyes and sat up a bit - yawning. Teyal was scrolling through his PADD looking for the details "I think... Yes, here it is. Tigan?"

"Oh, yes I've heard of the Tigans." the new girl's face turned from a look of incredulity to excitement "They were involved in pergium mining too - they were one of our rivals. Now that you mention it I do remember hearing that one of them was in Starfleet."

"Not just in Starfleet, but in the war." Teyal said. Arthur had lived with Teyal for a couple of years now and knew he had a real fixation with the history of the war. No doubt within the next few minutes he would be regaling them all with facts about this Trill's life.

Saliera rubber her eyes and pulled herself up, standing next to the table "I think I might head off to bed now," she said - half asleep.

Arthur smiled up at her and patted her back "I won't be too long." he said.

Across the table the conversation was devolving again into Farla trying to recruit this poor girl into Starfleet. He and Saleira had joined in earlier and it had been a fun game. Maybe one day she would apply to the Academy, bit whether or not she did, it was too enjoyable to stop now. He finished off his glass of Kanar and poured himself another one, noticing the new girl's glass was also empty he offered the bottle to her.

As she took it up he said "See, we told you Starfleet recruits from a across the whole galaxy - your own system has already produced a war hero. Think of what you could do..."

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