Chasing Dragons

Posted on 10 Apr 2018 @ 5:45pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lily Blake
Edited on on 11 Apr 2018 @ 8:03pm

2,556 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Rigel II - Avondale Production Facility Administrative Complex
Timeline: MD 101, 0910 hrs

[ON]

Coming to a standstill in front of the door, Scarlet Blake let out a soft breath and tugged gently at the cuffs of her uniform jacket to make sure they were straight. Having been a counsellor in her time, talking to other people wasn't something that made her overly nervous. And at the end of the day, that was all an interview was.

Her slight concern was the subject of her daughter. She knew having a young daughter wasn't exactly an asset as far as officers went, especially those higher in the command chain. And she was applying for the Second Officer position. Despite the seriousness of the situation, a small, fond smile came back to her when she remembered how Jonathan Holliday had reacted to finding out about Lily.

She missed him, more than she had thought she would.

Clearing her throat, Scarlet pressed the chime, her body and mind calm and focused as she waited for a response.

Almost immediately the door swished open and out rushed a busy yeoman with several PADDs clutched in his hands. He hurried by Blake and gave a rushed "sir" to the senior officer before disappearing down the corridor.

Inside the room, Lirha Saalm was seated in a large office chair and her desk was littered with various-sized PADDs containing schematics, personnel files, and maintenance reports. She looked up when she heard the door close and looked upon the commander. "Well. Hello again, Scarlet."

A moment of surprise showed on Scarlet's features before she schooled them back to their more usual neutral expression...although a small smile remained. "It's good to see you looking more...like yourself."

Indeed the Orion was dressed in a more familiar attire, complete with a snug-fitting Starfleet uniform and a new set of four brass rank pips on her collar. "It feels good," she admitted, referring to her apparent reinstatement. "Can you believe they gave me another starship?" she almost chuckled.

Scarlet's smile widened as the words answered her unspoken question. She moved to her, quirking an eyebrow with humour as she took a breath. "Is it a full size one and everything?" she teased lightly.

"It's not a runabout, I can promise that much," Saalm replied. The operational secrecy of the vessel's starship design was still being enforced, and as such, little if any information had been disseminated about the particular details. "What brings you back to this new Galileo?" she asked, not hesitating to dive right into the plethora of questions she had for the potential new senior officer.

"I imagined a number of the old Galileo crew would also be applying," Scarlet admitted freely as she settled into a chair, crossing her legs neatly. "It would be a natural reaction, after all. I would like to serve with the crew again, if possible. I've instructed at the Academy long enough for now. I...also think Lily would appreciate it," she added honestly.

Academy life was certainly more sedentary and monotonous than life in space, that much Saalm could agree with. Her own brief assignment as an instructor had been one of the duller points in her career and she could relate to Blake's desire to return to active duty. As for reuniting with the crew? That was a bit tougher to gauge.

"Some former officers and NCOs have applied," Saalm confirmed, "but I will warn that the majority of them come from different starships and assignments." As far as she could recall, only a third of the crew applicants were former Galileans. And then there was the issue of Blake's daughter, but the captain decided she'd approach that subject a bit later into the interview.

Saalm crossed her legs beneath the table and studied Blake's features. "What's the real reason you want to be on board?" she continued, trying to dig further. "I have a hard time believing you requested a three-year assignment to the edge of known space simply because of nostalgia..."

"Wanting to work with members of my old crew is more than just nostalgia," Scarlet replied quickly, shaking her head as she watched her intently. "I know I can work well with them. Know their capability. We were a capable team, and I like that," she said openly, never having hidden her ambition to achieve from Lirha. "I know there were people there I could depend on. And I hope they knew that they could depend on me too..."

Scarlet eased back a little, but her back remained straight and rigid against the chair as she took a breath to consider whether to add to what she had said, and how it would make her sound. She opted for honesty in the end. "And I want a challenge. I don't want to be sat on the sidelines."

While she continued to regard Blake, Saalm typed a few notes into her PADD based on the woman's responses. "It will be a challenge, yes," she murmured to herself before looking back up at Scarlet. "And a dangerous one, very far away from family and friends. You...are sure you want to leave Earth and all the worlds you know for the next three years?"

"I don't have any other family," Scarlet replied bluntly but softly, shaking her head as she looked to the PADD that Lirha held rather than the other woman. "And my friends...they all serve too. We all know what this kind of life means," she added quietly, but with a small, knowing smile, seeing as Lirha would know it as well, if not better, than anyone.

It was the answer the captain was looking for. In their line of work -- in Starfleet -- the family that everyone embraced the fullest was often that of their peers and the fleet. It took a certain type of person who'd been raised under unique circumstances to fit the bill of a fleet officer. "I understand," she said with a nod before setting the PADD down and adopting a more casual demeanor.

"And you think this is best for Lily too?" Saalm continued, delving deeper into the interview.

"Lily has been chivvying me to be back on a ship again since about....oh, I'd say a month after arriving on Earth," Scarlet replied honestly but with a soft chuckle, shaking her head lightly. "I know she's young, but I think she's already a spacer at heart."

Setting her PADD down with a soft click, the Orion captain loosened her posture and leaned forward in an attempt to turn the conversation into something more intimate and honest. "Look, Scarlet," she candidly began in a soft voice, "I know you want this deployment and you think it will be good for Lily but," her eyes snapped up from the desk to Blake's, "this is a dangerous assignment. We will be hundreds of light years from Earth and there will be minimal support for us." Her light green eyes seemingly darkened with her emotional sentiment. "There is no help for us out there if something goes wrong. The nearest starbase is over a week away at maximum warp. Are you sure this is what you want...for both of you?"

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't," Scarlet assured honestly, shaking her head lightly as she leant forward to her in the same way Lirha had. "There is danger in everything in life. Even the so called safe postings can end up badly. We've both seen the results of research ships caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'd rather face the reality of life on a ship, and have it mean something."

Saalm looked at Scarlet closely and intimately. She studied her eyes, the dilation of her pupils, her body language, and her inflections to try her best to read the commander she once knew so well. "Is Lily here with you?" she then asked. "May I speak with her?"

"I....of course, I'll go and get her..." Scarlet blinked with surprise, but moved quickly to go back out to the waiting room to find her. She nodded in gratitude to the woman who had been playing with her before leading her to Lirha's office, leaning down to her to speak softly, reminding her that the offices weren't playgrounds....which received a serious if slow nod.

As soon as they walked in, a smile appeared on Lily's face, her eyes lighting up at seeing Lirha. She almost called out the pet name she used for her, but remembered what Aria said about it being bad luck to say it out loud. She contented herself with a wave instead as she trotted in faster to get to her.

"Hello, Lily," the captain said to the young child whose dark and wavy long hair contrasted blue eyes that could have come only from her mother. "It's good to see you again. And thank you for your picture," she added with a warm smile.

"You got it?" Lily grinned at the news, pleased for it. Her mother had assured her she'd taken it with her, but she had still worried over it. She completely bypassed the chair, making a beeline for Lirha, clambering up into her lap before Scarlet could stop her.

"Yes. It seems you have a talent for artistic interpretation," the captain answered with a light-hearted glance back to the child's mother. "How have you been? Did you finish any quests while I was gone?"

"Well," the girl's features turned more serious as she gave the question thorough consideration. "I tried to find the secret dragon eggs in the 'cadmey gardens, but Mummy said the garden keeper would chase me with a big old fork if I kept digging..."

Shaking her head, the captain's dark hair bobbed across the tops of her shoulders. "No, no. Don't you know, Miss Lily?" She looked mischievously up at Scarlet before turning back down to the child. "Dragon eggs aren't hidden in the ground...they're hidden in subspace."

"Sub-space?" the girl tilted her head to her, lips pursed in a mixture of thoughtfulness and awe. "Can we go there? Please? Can we?" she asked, eyes full of hope as she smiled brightly to her.

"Go there? Oh.. Well..." the captain's voice slowly trailed off in thought while she cast a wondering glance at the girl's mother, "subspace is a magical land, one that we don't fully understand. It's hard for us to get there and it can be a dangerous journey to leave the land." Her voice lowered a bit and she leaned closer. "And there are dangerous monsters there, too," she revealed. "Do you want to see one?"

"Oh, yes please," Lily replied with a wide grin that seemed to match the kind of excitement that should be reserved for the nicer things in life, rather than those connected with words like 'dangerous' and 'monsters'.

Scarlet pressed her lips together with amusement, looking to Lirha with an expression that seemed to say 'you got yourself into this....'

Saalm fetched a PADD and quickly queued up several enlarged pictures of reported life forms that were native to subspace. The first one she showed to the little girl was of a dark-skinned humanoid creature with scaly skin, bulbous black eyes, and clawed hands. Its body was clad in a shimmering hooded robe of some sort, which helped to conceal the sharp beak on its face.

"These are known as Solanogen-based lifeforms. They can be very dangerous, and we don't know much about them."

Lily watched with wide eyes before lifting her hands to half cover them...but she was still looking between her fingers. "Oooo! Um....maybe we don't go there?" she tilted her head up to her, but she was laughing softly. "We just have our own adventures, yeah?"

The Orion chuckled lightly and put a green hand on Lily's head to ruffle her hair. "I suppose we can leave them alone for now," she agreed. "So...after seeing those creatures, do you still want to be on the ship with your mother and I?"

Lily nodded quickly, her eyes lighting up at the idea of it and her shoulders lifting slightly. "We meet lots of nice people too. And see so many things. And flying is so much better than just boring walking. And being in the stars is so much prettier than just looking up at them. And the ship hums..." she made a long, soft humming sound before shaking her head. "Earth doesn't."

Stealing a glance back to Scarlet, the only thing Lirha could really do was shrug and smile. "She's got the heart of an explorer," she told the little one's mother. "And I can't blame her for wanting to come along." The captain began to recall her own childhood and the many years she'd spent living aboard her family's trade vessel. Life aboard a starship was all she'd known her entire life until age 13, and she candidly remembered the shock of planetside living for the first time on Earth. Lily didn't seem much different from her young self, in many respects.

"Same," Scarlet admitted with a weak smile, shaking her head. Much like Lirha, she had been born and raised a spacer. Perhaps it was why she wasn't so reluctant to take Lily back out.

"So can we come?" Lily smiled warmly to the Orion officer, reaching to hold onto her arms with a mixture of hope and excitement. "Can we, can we, can we?!"

"Yes, I think we can allow that," the captain mused to the two of them with a crooked grin. "I just had to be sure it was something you wanted. Really wanted," she tried to explain to the child. "But it seems you and your mother think alike." Her attention then turned to Blake. "Any questions for me about this assignment before I make it official?"

A warm smile came to Blake's usually calm features and she shook her head quickly, as if to close the deal before Lirha could change her mind. "No, Captain. Just tell me when and where to be, and I'll be there."

Saalm procured two small silver keycards from the bottom drawer of her desk and handed them out to the commander. "The ship is docked at the outer moorings, Bay 18. You and Lily will need these two passes for security clearance aboard the vessel while we're still in drydock," she explained. "And in the meantime, I have yet to find an Operations Manager. So...you're it, for now. Welcome aboard Galileo-A," she smiled.

Scarlet arched an eyebrow at that, holding her breath. Operations Manager? Her tongue touched the inside of her cheek for a moment. She wondered just how quickly she'd end up breaking the ship. "That's...an interesting turn of events..." she said lightly, tilting her head. She finally cleared her throat, nodding before taking the tags in one hand and Lily's hand in the other. "We'll see you there, Captain..." she said softly with a small smile, leading Lily out, the young girl waving over her shoulder to Lirha with a grin.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Scarlet Blake
Second Officer
USS Galileo

Lily Blake
Child
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

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