Shairo always much preferred a simple site-to-site transport over physically getting into a shuttlepod and riding down into a planet’s atmosphere. It also would’ve given her more time on Kaldial to make more repairs and improvements to the research station. The XO and herself had been called back shortly after the exchange between the Kalvade forces and the Fighter Squadron. They’d been given an hour and a half to do the most urgent repairs. They then were expected to beam back to immediately get on a shuttle in the direction of Kalmose.

 

The shuttle ride had been an opportunity for her to go over the list of the Kalmose council. It had been rather extensive, and looking at the containers in the shuttle, they had not been able to provide even ten per cent of it. The industrial-grade replicator that had been rattling in its straps on the way down was supposed to help close some of that gap.

 

Even though they had touched down in a remote area, it was clear that word had gotten around to the people living close by. The perimeter was set by a cordon of armed guards, thick and heavy protective gear, large weapons in hand. Shairo hunched over a bit, averted her gaze, avoiding eye contact with any of the hundreds of faces in the crowd looking at them in awe, “let’s unload everything.” She quietly told the rest of the team as she undid the security straps on the industrial replicator.

 

The murmurs and unrest in the civilian audience died down, which made Shairo look up. The four representatives of the council and their security escort was approaching the landing zone. The Orion immediately turned towards the shuttle to try and locate the XO and let out a sigh of relief when seeing them standing in the shuttle’s hatch.

 

There was an awkward moment where the XO looked up at the sky. They approached the council, who had come to a halt and were now also looking up. “Good afternoon, I’m Commander de la Cruz.” They turned to point at Shairo. “This is Lieutenant Shairo, our Chief Engineer. She was tasked with providing some relief and aid.”

 

The man that was leading the group of councilmembers stepped forward. “We appreciate your aid, Lieutenant, Commander.” He crossed his arms in front of him and raised them up so that his hands were at opposite sides of his head. “We understand the Kaldial scientists were able to draw your eyes by exceeding the speed of light.”

 

The XO simply nodded at that; they then stepped aside and motioned for the shuttlepod, “we can take you to them so you can get the details straight from the source.”

 

“Do you also travel faster than light can?” The woman that had spoken up in the council meeting was also one of the four.

 

“I understand that you may have a lot of questions about us.” A small smile appeared on their features. “I hope you can appreciate that I can’t discuss the capabilities of our vessel, ma’am.” 

 

“Our scientists have assured us that in exceeding light speed, they have broken a fundamental law of existence. I just want to make sure we won’t perish.”

 

The XO nodded a bit at that; they could understand that everything might concern them. “I can assure you that we will not be exceeding the speed of light on our travel to Kaldial.” warp speeds weren’t really appreciated near worlds in the Federation, and it was always better to be safe than sorry, besides travelling there at warp would be overkill in this situation.

 

Shairo had been unloading the containers with aid supplies and was distracted from the interaction between the council and the XO, or indeed her surroundings. She was double-checking her list to make sure they had gotten everything they needed off the shuttle when suddenly she heard a soft young voice speak from behind her.

 

“Are you divine?”

 

The Orion slowly turned around so as to not startle whoever had approached her. She saw a small girl in raggedy clothes. She was clutching a doll that was fashioned out of scraps of fabric. She gave her warmest smile possible at the child, “Hi there,” the weight of the question didn’t really settle in when she replied, “why do you ask?”

 

“My brother says you came from the stars.” Her large eyes were glistening with tears.

 

Squatting down to come face to face with the child, Shairo considered what to answer, “I do come from the stars, but I’m not divine. I’m just like you or your brother, just not from around here.”

 

The small girl’s face turned sad, and she lowered her head. “Oh.”

 

She looked around to see if anyone wanted to come and get her, but there was nobody. She wasn’t quite sure how to go from there when the girl let out a little sob. “Oh, hey, why are you crying?”

 

“I was hoping you knew my mommy and daddy,” the child looked up, and her welled up eyes stared right into the soul of the Orion engineer, “they also live in the stars now.”

 

A lump jumped into Shairo’s throat, “I’m so sorry,” she could barely speak the words out loud. Her mind was running overtime, trying to figure out what to tell the girl.

 

They were interrupted by a commotion at the perimeter, shouting of people and the guards telling them to stand back. Shairo immediately got up and turned to face the noise. A young man was trying to get past the armed guards, “Hey, let him through. His sister is here!” It was the first time she actually looked around the area. It was an arid location. The people that had gathered seemed very similar to the little child. Malnourished and dressed in scraps. A generation-long battle between two warring planets clearly cut a scar across the population, hitting those most vulnerable first.

 

[Liliah Galin’s personal quarters, USS Isoroku]

The Trill Flight Commander sat in the armchair staring at the glass on the table in front of her. Eyes narrowed, jaw clenched, hands clenched tightly around the armrests. She knew she was going to drink it; it wasn’t a matter of if. It was a matter of when. She wanted to calm down. She didn’t want to drink angry or upset. It shouldn’t be a crutch. There was just a panic that had overcome her in the cockpit. 

 

The darkness that had once been her home, her comfort, was now a suffocating black blanket weighing down on her. She had even switched the windows in her quarters to display a comforting meadow. She hadn’t looked at it for a second, though. She was still staring at the glass of strong liquor on the table.

 

It was straining her back, and she shifted to try and find a more comfortable position. As she moved, she leaned forward and grabbed the tumbler. The liquid sloshing inside the glass container. She sat back in the seat, making a circling motion with her hand, giving the liquid inside some momentum. The words of the Chief Engineer rang in her head, ‘the biological component’. She hadn’t been deemed worthy of a Symbiont. Perhaps this is what the commission had seen in her. A weakness that she had been too young and too naive to see in herself. Today it had finally caught up with her.

 

She looked at the glass, the brown liquid swirling around inside creating a small whirlpool. Despite herself, she let out a bit of chuckle. “Come so far only to end up back here.” She took a long, hard swig of the drink and gulped it all down in one go.