Seagulls and Seashells

Posted on Thursday November 26th, 2020 @ 7:17am by Lieutenant Commander Olivia Lorrietta

Liv stared out at the Starbase, finally having received clearance. Her diplomatic shuttle had been held back at the previous port of call because of suspected piracy in the area, and she had to wait for an armed escort to bring her and some other crew to the base.

She had forgotten the enormity of some of the larger Starfleet outposts, and watching the station grow as the transport ship drew closer had been quite the experience.

She paused to frown at the heavily damaged passenger vessel being held at station-keeping tow.

"What's with the wreck?" She asked the Captain of the transport ship.

"According to the Starbase air control, it's a damaged civilian vessel hit by pirates. Must have been why we had to wait for armed escort." The Captain noted.

"Is that the Le Claire?" Liv asked, looking through the ships in orbit.

The transport Captain checked through the local air control logs, before nodding. "U.S.S. Le Claire. Assigned to Starfleet Intelligence. Classified above my clearance beyond it's call sign."

Liv took a moment.

So this was it, then. The station where her big sister had died.

That took a few moments for her to understand how it hit her.

Her family had grieved Kathleen's death when she was assimilated a long time ago, and the woman who came back barely recognized anyone as family. It did not hit nearly as hard to know this was where Kathleen's story finally came to an end, but it still struck hard enough for a stray tear to need brushing astray.

She checked her PADD, and paused as she looked through the crew roster of the base. There was a name that stood out. One of Kathleen's few living friends.

This was a puzzle piece in her mind. It explained a great deal. Why Kathleen's normally hyper-logical Borged brain would risk her life. It also meant that Kathleen had died in the company of one of very few people in the universe that she loved.

That was comforting, in a strange way.

Beaming onboard the station, Olivia quickly located the Engineer in Sickbay, and entirely discarded the notion of checking in.

She looked at the Lieutenant thoughtfully, before approaching her bed.

"'Ello?" Lyra asked, looking up. She paused. "Mrs. Commander Lady? Can I help you?'

"Miss." Olivia shook her head. "And don't call me that. It makes me feel old." She added with a slight chuckle. "I'm Commander..." She paused. "Lorrietta."

Lyra tilted her head, before her face went pale. "Kathy lady said her family didn't like her much."

"Well." Olivia winced. "We did. Once. And then she died. And we grieved. And we had a funeral. And she came back-"

Lyra nodded. "And she was Kathy Lady." She took a moment. "A lot of people remember me as I used to be, and they have a hard time dealing with me as I am, now. It's not easy for me, either, because people assume I'm stupid."

Olivia looked down. "She always... wrote very highly of you. In her letters. Before she stopped sending them. Her wife was quite the fan, too, as I understand."

"T'Yuna lady was a good lady." Lyra fidgeted a bit. "She helped people understand that just because I was damaged didn't mean I couldn't help fix things."

"I... would have liked to have met her." Olivia frowned. "I never did get the chance. Too much goes by in life, and you never quite get the chance to mend those bridges you think you'll get around to one day."

Lyra thought about that for a few seconds. "Unless you just do it?" She asked. "I just do things. I don't really know how to do anything else."

"Did... Was she at peace?" Olivia asked, feeling unexpectedly scolded by this explanation.

"She believed she was going to see her wife again." Lyra nodded. "I... After T'Yuna died, she wasn't the same." Lyra took a deep breath. "This isn't something people would normally accuse me of understanding, but I think that if it hadn't been here, it would be somewhere else. Like she was looking for an excuse."

Olivia nodded at that, feeling unexpectedly relieved. "I've... seen it before. The bad part about studying people for a living is that you see the things people don't want anyone to see. My old Captain had that with his son. I've seen a few Security Officers who just learned to live with the haunting." She took a glance at Lyra. "Like they're only still going on because they don't want to disappoint the people they lost."

Lyra gave her a sharp glance. "You?"

Olivia shook her head. "No." She laughed a bit. "That... would require having ever invested in loving someone."

Lyra tilted her head. "I know someone who simply did not fall in love until they found the right person. There is nothing wrong with that."

"There was this S.C.I.S. Agent I met, when their ship came to rescue us at Elva six." Olivia looked off into the distance. "She... Her husband had been dead almost a decade, and she just kept on keeping on. She said that he still needed her to do her job."

"There is so much out there." Lyra nodded. "So much will to break things. So many angry people. Sirgei would be disappointed if I just stopped doing it." She paused. "T'val would be devastated." She added.

"You are very lucky" Olivia gave the other woman a smile. "I'm glad to have met you."

"Did you come here just to pay your respects?" Lyra looked confused. "This station is kind of out of the way."

"Ah. No." Olivia paused. "That's... sort of complicated. Apparently the Station's executive officer was reassigned. A ship in the area apparently needed his scientific expertise for something, and he was transferred..." Olivia checked her PADD. "Wrong tenses. He will be transferred in 7 minutes."

"So... you're here to be the new executive officer?" Lyra frowned. "You are a diplomatic officer."

Olivia laughed at that. "Trust me, I get that a lot. I don't even take offense to that before."

"Do you think you're up for the job?" Lyra looked concerned.

"Of that, I am." Olivia nodded. "There are two ways to end up in the Command Chain. Either you're born for it-"

"Or you're reborn into it." Lyra interjected. "That's what your sister said when she transferred into Intelligence."

"Really?" Olivia brightened noticeably. "I had always wondered if that was entirely of her own free will."

"It wasn't, but then she'd hardly have been reborn into it if she chose it." Lyra pointed out.

Olivia paused, and thought about that. "That's... fair. Being thrown into commanding half a starship during two separate yet simultaneous combat scenarios certainly qualifies."

"What happened?" Lyra asked.

"Understanding how people think means understanding how they fight. The Orion pirates attacking the section of the ship I was on were doing it because the planet was profitable to them. I ordered attacks on their strongholds on the planet." Olivia took a moment. "There were some... civilian casualties, but that caused them to reconsider their attack, and we were able to talk them down. The Romulan vessel ending up disabled helped, but realizing I wasn't above scorching their entire capacity to control the planet was what unnerved them. I found a recklessness that even I wasn't sure what to make of."

"If you couldn't save them, you were going to make sure they weren't going to live under the pirate's rule?" Lyra asked.

"It was... different. The Captain was a bit surprised when I was the one who suggested we should go after them, and dismantle their operation by force." Olivia agreed.

"When you get a moment, you should talk to a civilian ship Captain by the name of Daniels." Lyra laughed. "His wife would like you. Him, too."

"Good to know. Any pointers about the base commander?" Olivia asked.

"Do you want to make him mad or do you want to get along with him?" Lyra asked for clarification.

"Preferably a harmonious working environment. I only fight when I can't find another recourse." Olivia chuckled at the question.

"Or when you need to make sure people understand you won't tolerate something." Lyra paused. "He is a soldier. He likes order and structure and things going well and paperwork."

"Got it. That's enough for me to work off. Thanks." Olivia nodded.

"Or make him mad." Lyra added.

Olivia gave her a suspicious glance.

"Look, he deserved it." Lyra shrugged, and held out her hands in a helpless expression.

Olivia gave a slight smirk at that. "I see." She chuckled. "Well, I'll leave you to your healing."

"I is almost done." Lyra frowned.

"Well, I won't keep you, then." Olivia shook her head. "I've got to go meet Colonel Soldier Man, anyway." She added, trying to mimic Lyra's way of naming people.

"Bishop." Lyra corrected.

"Hmmm?" Olivia asked.

"Colonel Bishop Man."

"Ah."

---

Lieutenant Lyra Bogdonovich
Chief Engineer
Deep Space 3

And introducing

Commander Olivia Lorrietta
Executive Officer
Deep Space 3