Chapter 91
Stardate 48330.3 - May 1, 2371 - 13:25:00
"Are you sure this is okay?" Jaxa asked her hesitantly as they walked into the Defiant's ready room.
"I already cleared it with Commander Sisko." Raine reassured the Bajoran woman with a smile as she made her way over to the small desk. "And the Enterprise is currently traveling between systems, so barring some random anomaly you won't be interrupting anything important. And if they did encounter something it's not like we'd get priority anyways."
They were firmly in the 'lost year' between the end of The Next Generation and Generations too, so it wasn't like Raine had any more idea than anyone else what the Enterprise might be getting up to at this point either.
Jaxa took a moment to study the odd piece of industrial style art on the wall before letting out a nervous laugh. "It's not just that. What should I say to him? Sorry for taking a year to escape?"
"I don't know." Raine admitted truthfully. "I've never had a relationship with one of my captains like Picard fosters with his junior officers."
Not all Starfleet captains were created equal after all, and while the one's she'd served under hadn't been particularly bad, they hadn't been particularly impressive either. Of course, she wasn't exactly a model Starfleet officer either, so there had probably been more than enough blame to go around for that.
"Would you rather contact your parents first?" She floated, suspecting from the fact Jaxa hadn't even mentioned them, that the falling out had likely been rather extreme.
"No…" Jaxa said in a small voice as she hunched her shoulders slightly. "We stopped talking after I joined Starfleet instead of staying to help build up the
Valo II refugee colony."
There were probably several levels of issues to unpack there, but Raine would leave that to whichever future counsellor hopefully ended up helping Jaxa work through everything.
"What about friends?" Raine tried, figuring both Jaxa and Mariner could probably benefit from that particular talk.
"The only friends I really have are on the Enterprise." Jaxa admitted with a cringe as she finally took a seat across from Raine. "I used to have a lot more… But then the whole thing with
Nova Squadron happened and everyone started avoiding us."
Which wasn't much of a surprise, having a member of your squad die while attempting a banned maneuver had been bad, but then covering it up while pinning the blame for the accident on said dead member of your squad, that was the type of thing that led to most avoiding you out of sheer self preservation.
Raine sighed, resting her elbows on the desk and leaning forward slightly so she could meet the shorter woman eye to eye. "Have you ever heard of Diamond Squadron?"
Confusion flashed across Jaxa's face at what no doubt felt like a sudden non-sequitur. "No?"
"They were the Nova Squadron during my years in the Academy." Raine offered as she gave the Bajoran woman a melancholy smile. "Same general setup of preferential treatment you all had, and a slightly worse ending."
By which she meant out of the two dozen or so members, a good half of those had ended up dead when they attempted to handle a first contact situation they very much weren't qualified for.
"The specialist training squadron is the curse of Starfleet Academy that has repeated itself seventeen times since the Academy's founding." She told Jaxa grimly. "And is currently in the middle of its eighteenth attempt."
At this point a look somewhere between confusion and outrage seemed to have settled onto Jaxa's face, a far sight better than the uncertainty and self hatred from earlier in Raine's opinion, especially since it meant the other woman was finally getting out of her own head.
"I felt the same way when I dug that little tidbit up." She told the Bajoran. "So I asked my mom about it, and she said it was the best solution to a bad but unfortunately inevitable situation."
"How are Cadets getting other Cadets killed, something that's inevitable?" Jaxa inquired angrily.
Ironically almost word for word what Raine had asked Gemma, and the Asari let out a sigh over now being on the other side of that conversation.
"Because with the type of people who find themselves at the Academy, if the Instructors don't put such an organization in place, the students end up doing it themselves. And without at least some level of supervision, you go from part of the group dying when they inevitably get too full of themselves, to all of the group dying."
The unfortunate price of an organization that was mostly made up of what her original world might have considered
Type A personalities.
"Now, I'm telling you about this because it circles back to the big unasked question of what kind of Starfleet Officer do you want to be Sito Jaxa?"
With that said Raine leaned back and with a few taps on the LCAR brought up the desks communication system. "Computer, open a priority green communications channel to Captain Picard on the Enterprise D, tagged from Ensign Sito Jaxa, authorization code Brooks-0-4-7-Blue."
With that she spun the monitor around so it was facing Jaxa and leaned back to wait.
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The last time Kira had seen 'big sister Remara' was when she was thirteen, at which point the then twenty four year old had accused her family of collaborating with the Cardassians.
They hadn't been of course, but the accusation had been dangerous enough given their circumstances to force her father to pay off a number of others on the camp with a portion of their rations to keep things from deteriorating to the point where Kira and her younger brothers might have been at risk.
"I doubt she's going to be happy to see us." Kira offered as the three of them, and their annoyed security escort, walked up to the settlement house.
"If she remembers you at all." Nerys offered nervously as she fiddled with the loose over the shoulder braid she had ended up putting her longer hair in.
If there was no other evidence they were different people it was that, as even though her father had always said it made her look like her mother, Kira had hated having long hair while she was growing up, and probably would have cut her's short if it wasn't for the smile that way of wearing it had always brought to his face.
"Is something wrong Major?" Bashir inquired, the reminder enough to cause her to let out a long exhale before steeling her shoulders and walking up to ring the mid-sized single story building's bell.
Kira put on a faux smile as the door opened quickly to reveal a woman a good deal older then Tir Remara would have been.
"Hello." She offered Kira with a smile as her eyes flicked to each of the others with the wary caution of someone who had lived through the entire length of the occupation. "Can I help you officers with something?"
"Does Tir Remara still work here?" Kira inquired hopefully as she once more bemoaned the systematic destruction of Bajor's data and communications infrastructure that the Cardassian's had carried out as one of their parting gifts.
"She's currently working with someone." The older woman offered with an apologetic smile that didn't entirely reach her eyes. "If you'd like to leave your name and wait however, I can see if she'd be willing to see you after."
Given her families parting with the other woman there were equal odds Remara would try and run if provided with warning. Not that Kira could blame her with the way retribution for things done during the occupation was a continuing problem.
Bashir stepped up next to her and put on one of his roguish grins. "I'm Doctor Bashir, with Starfleet. And we were hoping Miss Tir could assist us in documenting the war crimes of certain Cardassian's during the occupation."
A good story Kira would admit, though mainly because it was something Starfleet should have been doing from the moment they arrived instead of spending so much of their time studying anomalies in the gamma quadrant.
"Finally getting around to going after those bastards that got away are you." The other woman all but spat as she gave Bashir an approving look.
"As much as we can, at least." He agreed with a nod.
"You just wait here then." The woman said as she turned back. "I'll get Remera out here as quickly as possible."
With that she closed the door, a tad bit suspicious given the circumstances, but Kira was willing to give it a pass since she knew this particular settlement house specialized in helping women on the run from various problematic circumstances.
"How serious were you about all that?" Kira asked Bashir idly as they waited.
"Oh, completely." Bashir offered with a wry grin. "If even half the things Nerys told me about Moset on our trip turn out to be verifiable, I expect he will be in for a rather unwelcome surprise at the next Federation medical conference he travels to."
"Couldn't happen to a nicer Cardassian." Kira muttered as the door reopened to reveal a familiar face who's eyes slid over her and Nerys without a hint of recognition to settle on Bashir.
"Mihan said you're investigating Cardassian war crimes." Remara asked with naked hope in her voice.
"We are." Bashir confirmed, seamlessly taking the lead. "Do you recall the Kira family?"
A look of confused disappointment crossed Remara's face. "The Kira family? Then this isn't about the destruction of the Taklan?"
"No." Bashir returned apologetically. "But we can certainly add that to the list we're compiling."
"Good." Remara muttered as for the briefest of moments a dark look flashed across her features. "Because it's long past time that Elim Garak paid for his crimes."
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"Ensign Sito." The instantly recognizable voice of Captain Picard finally echoed out from the monitor. "It's good to see you're all right."
"Sir… I…" Jaxa began, only to sniffle slightly before banishing it with a rapid shake of her head. "I'm sorry for letting you down."
Raine nearly cringed at that, but seeing that kind of expression on her face was probably the last thing Jaxa needed to see right now given how long it had taken her to build herself up for this.
"You didn't let me down Ensign." Picard told her, and Raine could all but imagine the melancholy look on his face even though she wasn't positioned to actually see it. "If anything it was I who let you."
He sighed. "In my haste I fear I sent you on a mission even veteran intelligence officers would likely have balked at, and for that you have my profound apology."
A somewhat brittle smile made its way onto Jaxa's face. "It's all right sir I… I knew what the risks were when I agreed to take the mission."
Picard sighed again, the sound holding a tinge of familiar regret to it that brought to mind the tiredness Raine vaguely remembered the man coming to possess later in his life. And the Asari got the distinct sense that he was coming to realize the trusted mentor position the young Bajoran woman had mentally placed him in.
"I assume you wish to return to the Enterprise after you're cleared to return to duty then, Ensign?"
"Of course sir." Jaxa quickly responded, her head bobbing so fast Raine was surprised she didn't break the warp barrier.
"I looked forward to your return then." Picard said simply
"Is Commander Brooks there with you?" He continued, the question enough to leave Raine blinking in surprise.
Jaxa's eyes momentarily flicked over to Raine before returning to the display. "She is, sir."
"Very well." Picard said as a little ball of anxiety began to form in the pit of Raine's stomach. "Put her on before you leave, Ensign."
That was a clear dismissal if Raine had ever heard it, and Jaxa shot her an awkward look before turning the monitor back around and quickly exiting the room.
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Author's Notes: Double cliffhanger!
An internet cookie for anyone who recognized the Tir Remara name drop last chapter, because Garak certainly did.
