Siana

Posted on Monday, 27 July 2020 - 12:53pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Siana Ilian

Mission: Operation: Jabberwocky
Location: Starbase 118
Timeline: MD3 1130 hours

Welcome to Starbase 118.

Adjusting her backpack which was all but bursting at the seams, Siana Deeson stood on the upper level of the promenade and just… watched. The lights, the people, the cacophony of voices which seemed to rise up to meet her. After days in a shuttle with only herself for company, it was quite a change.

And – as someone bumped into her they hurried past with a barely audible apology – perhaps not a change for the better. Then again, she was standing in the middle of the walkway.

Taking a deep breath, she ventured on. Following her nose as she sought out some real food. A replicator was okay but she much preferred food made with real ingredients, ideally at the hands of a chef although she wasn’t too bad a chef. It was just nicer if someone else did all of the hard work and all you had to do was enjoy.

Klingon food? No… she had never quite gotten accustomed to the idea of your food still being alive as you ate it. It just had zero appeal to her. What she actually wanted was –

Perfect!

She felt her spirits lift as she rounded the corner and saw a restaurant kitted out like a dinner in some of those old Earth television shows. White tiles and red upholstery, every work surface silver and (thankfully) spotlessly clean. She slid up on one of the stools at the counter and snagged a menu, her eyes widening in delight.

Ordering a double cheeseburger and fries along with a cola, she passed the time watching a news report playing on a monitor mounted on the wall nearby. Apparently someone had brought Tribbles to a farming colony near Betazed and they were now battling with a population explosion which was decimating the harvests. Few people stopped to consider the blight a single Tribble could cause. Because they were cute and adorable. So was her last boyfriend, it didn’t make him a good idea though.

When it arrived, the food was even more delicious than she had imagined. All too soon her plate was cleared, her glass empty and she was fairly sure she would need some form of resuscitation in about thirty seconds due to over indulgence. Of all the places she had visited, a really good burger and fries still topped her list of favourite meals. She was a simple girl at heart.

Sitting for a while, enjoying the atmosphere and sharing some small talk with the waitress, she eventually felt able to move. After a quick consultation with said waitress, she headed off to the far side of the promenade where there was a small store selling all kinds of souvenirs for those passing through. She wasn’t sure why you would especially want a sweatshirt with 118 printed on the back - or the matching baseball cap - but she did find a tiny bear who was wearing a tiny replica of said sweatshirt. Now this was truly cute.

Purchase made, she happily made her way eastward, to where her new assignment was docked. The USS Standing Bear - formally the USS Fontana. Technically she was early. About two days early but she would much rather be getting familiar with the ship and its systems than sightseeing.

Besides, she’d rather know now if she was sharing a room. A ship so small, the odds were against her. She didn’t mind, so long as whoever it was would leave her in peace to just do her own thing. Siana did not think that was too much to ask for but so far, it had never quite worked out that way. In fact the only time she had her own space was during her temporary assignment on Risa. Now that was an experience.

It had been the beginning of her move away from engineering and into Ops. The two were so intertwined that it was a logical move if she were going to challenge herself. And her first ever job had involved as much system management and budgeting as it had nut and bolt repairs. Of course her new ship was nothing like an aging cargo ship long past its time to be decommissioned.

And she had yet to see a Starfleet crew quite as unique as the crew Captain Smythe had assembled. Indeed, most of them would probably have marched straight into a holding cell. Yet they were good people and she often wondered where they were now. Hopefully staying out of trouble.

As for Siana, she had moved on a lot since those early days. Leaving Smythe & Co behind to do what she had always wanted to do, travel. She had been a happy and free spirit for the most part, going wherever she wanted, staying for as long as she wanted. Going from place to place with the odd job here and there to make sure she never ran out of credits. Being sure to send messages home to make sure her parents knew how much she was enjoying the freedom of being away from Trill and their precious hopes of another child in the Initiate Programme.

Siana Deeson, Petty Officer, was not even on the top ten list of careers they had envisioned for their daughter. Especially graduating with honours in engineering, computer systems her field of expertise. They had secretly hoped she would suddenly decide to stay on Trill, to settle down. But no. She had already made plans to leave before stepping onto that podium on graduation day and she had never looked back.

Now she was ready to begin the next chapter.

 

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