They were all looking at her in anticipation. She could think of the past but didn't even know how to start!

"Make it happen!" Yomaira declared with real bravado and they all laughed at her enthusiasm.

Selma began to have the ghost of a smile. "When I got to this station, it was about 3 years ago. And I came with some serious baggage."

Sue asked, "Do you mean like trauma from the past or-"

"Oh no, girl!" Selma laughed as she put aside her slice of cake to get into her tale. "No, I literally showed up with a whole bunch of damn luggage!"

##

Thevaar

Thevaar of Vulcan was head of Scheduling and Operations for the mining station that orbited the planet. The station itself was fairly new, though mining operations on the planet had been in full effect for nearly a decade. The station was an effort launched by the corporate entity that had recently bought a large share of the mines from the original owners who had mishandled their finances and left an opening for somewhat of a semi-hostile takeover. The new entity felt that if the miners had access to luxuries, living spaces, and they were able to bring their families, they would become better workers.

Along with the new station that had been launched less than a year ago came a call for experienced space station personnel from any background at all. The bad news was, no one was willing to work on the station that was 'experienced' in such matters, because although it was brand spanking new, the station was so far away from Federation lines the average citizen would not feel safe. The planet below was also not friendly or habitable for anything long-term. The space station itself would literally be the life of whatever families decided to join their working family members.

No attacks had happened in that area of space (lately), but that still did not stop people from deciding they didn't want to take their chances. So the corporate interest had to, humbly, accept applicants from a less experienced ilk and add more credits and incentives to whatever workers fell into their relative positions.

Thevaar of Vulcan had obtained his job because he had the credentials to back it up. He had been director of Vulcan High Command intake station for a time, and he had also been a director of the space station orbiting Earth for a few years. A particularly bad situation from his past had come back to nearly eat him alive, so he had escaped out here, to the knife's edge of the Klingon Empire. Some part of him still felt the illogical emotion of cowardice for the way he had not protested the false accusations levied against him. He had simply packed his things and left quietly. It had been nearly a year now in his self-imposed exile.

He and the station director, an Andorian by the name of Routh, were the only two people who had remained in their administrative positions since the working launch of this station. Everyone else had come, reported for duty, realized the scope of the work ahead of them, and then they left almost as quickly as they'd come.

The latest Station Recreation Facilitator was scheduled to be arriving on the latest shuttle. He was already annoyed. According to the intake sheet, she was arriving with an unprecedented amount of take-along luggage. It was worse than 'excessive'.

That quickly, he had formed a less than ideal opinion of Selma Tillerson-Parker.

##

Selma

It felt like she had been on the large passenger shuttle for weeks. Then she reminded herself, she HAD been on it for weeks. She was tired of it, already.

Selma was ready to just get off of the vessel and get onto the station. She knew her quarters were not going to be large or anything to rave over, but she wanted to just have a permanent place to lay her head. Her room on the shuttle had been more like the size of four single closets placed next to one another. She had packed up all of her boxes into her quarters and they, frankly, took up half of her cabin space. She didn't really mind, though. They were a vital part of the job she was practically running toward.

This position was the first of its kind for her, and she was determined to do it well. She wanted to be the best Recreation Facilitator they had ever seen. Once she had read over all of the materials and was able to take stock of everything the station had on hand for her position, she realized they were woefully unprepared for what it was they wanted her to accomplish. She had ordered some things that needed to be delivered to the station. More than half of them had been turned down, the budget for them refused. Selma decided she would not take no for an answer. She had gone and ordered some things on her own dime to be delivered after she got to the station. The rest of it she had gotten a friend to deliver on an old promise and taken all of the things with her on the shuttle to the station. This way, at least, she would be getting everything she needed within a short span of time.

Selma had also undertaken the latest leg of her education before departing for the part of space so near Klingon territory. The school had been very understanding of the fact that she would be doing her courses by correspondence so far away, and they had made some allowances for her handing in assignments and keeping up to date. She had a life goal, and the credits she would gain from this job as well as the degree she was trying to obtain all had a place in her life.

By the time the passenger shuttle arrived at the station, Selma was ready to move on with this next stage of adventure in her life. She had taken all of her boxes and put them on a hover lift loaned to her by the engineer of the ship. As usual, her gregarious nature had endeared her to the crew. At the start of the trip, everyone thought she was crazy because of all of the boxes. Once she explained their function, the engineer and crew were all on board with helping her get her things to her new permanent quarters.

##

Thevaar

He watched the tall human woman emerge from the passenger shuttle. She wasn't dressed as if she found herself to be overly important, so how was it that half the members of the shuttle's crew happened to be carting her excessive luggage off of the ship? If it were himself, he would not even bother helping with such a vain endeavor.

Having been forewarned about the amount of things she was arriving with let him know who she happened to be. There had been a photograph with her file, but he realized she had cut a great deal of her hair since she had last taken that photo.

"Selma Tillerson?" asked Thevaar as he approached her position. As he drew closer to her position, he saw her haircut could only be described as almost utilitarian in nature. So was her clothing. He felt the first internal tremors of confusion about the contradiction in her appearance and her behavior. She did not appear to be what he had heard of as a 'fashion plate', though she was quite physically and aesthetically attractive. The excessive luggage told him she was a being of drama and negative emotion, the type of people he wished to avoid at all costs.

Selma was no fool. She saw the look the Vulcan was giving her and knew right on the spot, 'oh, he doesn't like me. Hmm… oh well, that's not what I'm here for'. "That's almost my name!" she smiled almost as if she had not a care in the world, unfazed by the more than obvious side-eye he seemed to be delivering toward her. "It's Parker. Tillerson-Parker but I go by Parker."

"And where do you suppose-" he was cut off by one of the crew of the passenger shuttle she had arrived on.

"Hey, Selma!" the quartermaster ran up and asked, "where's your quarters? The pit crew wants to bring your stuff so we can get you set up right."

She turned to him and smiled. "I don't want y'all lifting those boxes high or anything!" she chastised, a slight dialect shift in her Fed standard English. "I can do that myself once I get settled."

"It's not a problem, doll! Anything for you! We haven't had gourmet coffee aboard ship in-" he thought about it and couldn't remember. "It's been a while! We want to thank you for that."

"That is so awesome of you all," she said sincerely. "Well, I'm here now trying to find that out."

Thevaar stood there fascinated as he watched the exchange. Apparently the quartermaster didn't have an issue with the extra work. He knew it was easier for beautiful humans to pull the wool over the eyes of other humans. He would not be fooled. "Here," he said as he pointed to a point on his PADD and forwarded her quarter's location directly to her PADD.

Her PADD lit up and she accessed it. "Thanks!" she said to Thevaar and went on about her business. "Come on, guys. I got supplies to settle for this station."

And just like that, a bunch of members of the crew followed her like she was some kind of pied piper leading them to the ocean. He supposed she probably had excessive outfits, cosmetics, and footwear in those bags. And here she had professionals at her beck and call.

He simply shook his head, his mind made up about the kind of person she was.

##

The crew of the passenger shuttle that brought her in set her up in her quarters quite nicely. They also went to the cargo area of the space station and linked up with the intake cargo crew to find the things she had ordered to use in her duties for station personnel and miners alike. It was all there. She knew her last shipments would come in in about three weeks, and she was perfectly fine with being patient in the meantime.

After they all left to go and find something to do at the station's bar before having to re-board their ship, Selma looked around at her quarters. The boxes only took up a 10th of her space. The room was not large, but it was bigger than the four-closet size place she had used on her way there.

She set about moving the bed across the room where she would find it more comfortable. She also reassembled her traveling desk so she could get her schoolwork done after her shifts.

After unpacking her own personal luggage, she decided to take a tour of the station and figure out where her office happened to be.

##

Routh

He was surprised to see the human who had applied for the position of Recreation Facilitator. The average height Andorian stood with a smile as she entered his office. "Hello, I'm Station Director Routh," he introduced himself as he pointed her toward a chair right in front of his desk. "Please, sit and let me know if you're in need of anything."

Selma smiled as she sat down in the chair offered to her. "I'm Selma Tillerson-Parker… I should just say Selma Parker. I'm sure you know that already. I just wanted to come by today and find out where my office is located?" She was a bit tired, but trying her best to ignore it.

"You know you're not due to start your duties until the day after tomorrow?"

"I know."

"The journey here was long and probably rough on your system."

"Yes, it was," she admitted. "But I'm sure you know I ordered a lot of stuff to implement some programs and just bits of comfort for the miners and the station dwellers. I'd like to get everything set up before my first day."

"Well I'd like for my recreation person to actually stick around this time," he admitted on a huff as his antennae slumped a bit as he sat back and studied her face. She was understated in beauty but it was certainly there. He also noticed she seemed serious about her job already. "So you ordered some things that showed up before you, and came along with you from the cargo section of the ship you came here on… can I assume the excessive amount of boxes you showed up with are also part of your job?"

She saw the twinkle in his eye and couldn't help but smile at the friendly man. "You guessed right. The corporate entity that administers the station turned down half of the things I wanted to get and I just went and cashed in a favor and brought some of the stuff with me along with the things they'd approved. I have some more stuff coming in in about three weeks? I don't know, but I plan on keeping this job to the best of my abilities."

"They can be a rough lot," he admitted in an almost offhand way about the miners.

She sighed deeply. "Well hopefully I can make the station someplace that at least feels a bit more like home by having various types of entertainment for them to look forward to."

"I've seen some of your plans," he said as he nodded. "I look forward to Saturday Night Cinema and Sunday Soaps… or was it Sunday Serials?"

She couldn't help but laugh. He even remembered the names of some of her programs! "I've also been trained in mediation and conflict resolution, so if people have problems with each other, you can send them to me and we can work things out."

That quickly, Routh felt a weight easing off of his shoulders. "I was getting tired of the bickering that happens aboard-station."

"Well, that's what I'm here for!" she smiled.

"Your office is…" he pulled up his PADD and sent the location to hers, "right there. Get set up. But please, do remember to get adequate rest over the next two days before you officially start. I didn't expect you to come aboard and throw yourself into things this way. I knew once you began it was going to take a few days to get things set up, so don't feel discouraged if you go to bed tonight and wake up tomorrow and realize you're too exhausted to do a thing."

She looked at him almost playfully and gave him a knowing smile. "That happened to you when you got here, didn't it?"

He found himself completely disarmed by her charms and laughed as he confessed, "It did, yes."

She stood and smiled. "I'll make sure I get some rest, I promise. I'm just going to set some things up in my office and take a look around."