Girha Nesh had been out of the Betazoid Public Heath Academy for only six weeks. She wasn't top of her class but still, she could have had her picks of assignments. Her Mother had pressed for her to join the Federation fleet, but her Father begged for her to get a local position in their home city.
But Girha had always been inquisitive and yearned for something a little more off the beaten trail. She had spent her whole life on Betazed and never travelled 'off world'.
Now she had her chance. Much to her parent's grief she had applied for a job aboard a freighter stationed in a star system known locally as The Seven Sisters. Her Mother said that joining the Federation would allow her to see the universe much more than some privately run ship in a god forsaken part of the Alpha Quadrant located around the back end of Federation territory. But for Girha she had fallen in love with the idea of the Seven Sisters. A long-forgotten part of space with a wealth of races.
It had been a three-week journey so far and it had been spread over three transport vessels since no one flew direct to her new home. She was only hours away from her rendezvous with an old Federation ship now in private hands. Her new employer. She sat in her cabin watching a video documentary about the Seven Sisters for what felt like the eighth time. It was shot and recorded by an adventurer from the home planet as he roughed it around the Sisters taking in all its cultures. It was a level of adventure she had always dreamed of, to be out on her own surrounded by new experiences. The Narrator on the documentary began his section regarding the history of the Sisters.
"Taking its name from the twenty planets of which seven are habited, shared over the three solar systems, the Seven Sisters is stretched out along the border of Federation Space. The three main races of The Mau, The Direnosian and The Berlenghast each have a prime planet from which they have evolved. All three have protocols that stop none indigenise species form settling on their home planets but are more giving on their settlement planets."
The other four planets were what Girha looked forward to seeing most. Each would be a micro environment of varied species from across the Alpha Quadrant and all left to govern themselves.
"Even though the economy within this system is tougher nowadays, back only a centaury years ago the Sisters was a rich and up and coming system due to its extensive Dilithium crystal mines on each home planet. It was once even an option for each race to join the Federation."
It was the next part of the Documentary that would give the new doctor her only concerns about moving here.
"It was in that last hundred years when the fortunes changed within the Sisters with some would say, unfair trade embargos from the Federation after the Dilithium Consortiums refusing to cease trading with both the Klingon and Romulain Empires. This had a terrible effect on the system but did bring the three races closer together in defiance. Then of course came the natural disaster that almost wiped the planet Mau T'prek off the map..."
Things were tuff in the Seven Sisters if you belonged to a race that was in the Federation. There had been stories of public beatings by locals and murders. Of course, that was a long time ago and hopefully the stories where more scare tactics by media as opposed to the total truth. The show then moved into a segment regarding the Mau T'Prek disaster but it was interrupted by the ping of the intercom in her room. It was the passenger ship's AI letting everyone know they were to get ready to leave.
"Attention all passengers we are one hour away from the Direnos IV station and will dock thereafter for all of your adjoining transport"
Fifty minutes later and Girha was ready and waiting at the airlock. Out of the window she saw the colony planet beneath her and the space station coming up quickly for them to dock. Within no time there was a shunt and a click as they attached. By this point all the other passengers had joined her but everyone was relatively quiet. The hiss of the atmospheres levelling out filled her ears as the ten-foot airlock doors opened to show the inside of the massive station. In front of her was hundreds of aliens all scurrying about looking for their connecting flights or on station entertainments. She lugged her bags off the ship and checked the details she had been sent. She was to meet her new ship, The Tiberius at Gate 87.
She couldn't help but smile.