Chapter Eleven: Arrivals
Rilar sat by himself at his tactical post running long range scans beyond the Jetallan system to see if anything unusual was happening. He sighed and leaned back in his chair after another thorough scan came back to him revealing nothing of interest. He was feeling very frustrated at this point. Not a single security issue had popped up for him to handle. It seemed life on the station was going to be quiet for a while until all the upgrades were made for the station to handle the heavy trading route ships.
He glanced around the Command Center, not looking at anything in particular. Rilar noticed the engineers seemed much more relaxed since they had finished the last of the refits the night before, six hours ahead of schedule. It was good timing for them so they could relax for a while before the USS Victoria docked sometime that day. Rilar knew Michael had gone to his quarters and passed out in order to catch up on the sleep he had missed over the past couple nights. Naetharr, however, was still trying to be hard at work despite there not being any work available. Rilar noticed her idling around running diagnostics and he assumed she must be the type who needed something to do all the time.
He had attempted once to have a chat with her but she appeared uninterested and eyed him suspiciously as if he had some trick or plan hidden behind a façade of friendliness. Rilar did not blame her for being somewhat paranoid of his intentions since she barely knew him. He hoped she would lighten up with him and Michael eventually.
L'Nara's station was empty because she was away on a trip down to Jetal collecting more samples and starting new studies for her to research. Vedrann was off for the first shift and would be coming on duty in a few hours. That left Rilar alone in the lower portion of the Command Center deck to do as he pleased. Rilar's only other choice for a talking buddy who was posted in or near the Command Center was Commander Serea and she was not exactly the talking type. He eyed her office where she was obviously reading and scanning through several padds full of reports and other paperwork that needed to be done for the arrival of the new officers and crew.
One of the side doors opened to the Command Center from the hallway that circulated around the outer edges of the structure releasing Senecal into the large room. Rilar smiled in her direction when he noticed her appear and glance around the empty center. She looked his way and her thin lips smiled back to him as she made her way to his station.
"Hello, Rilar," she said approaching his station. "How is your day going?"
"Slow," he sighed heavily. "Not so much of a peep out there."
"Well, that's good for us, isn't it?" she replied with a light-hearted laugh as she took a seat at a console on the upper level slightly higher and next to his station. "We're done with wars and battles for a while I hope."
"True," he conceded. "But without anything to be worried about, what use is a tactical officer?"
"It's always good to have some sense of security," she shrugged, crossing her arms over the console and resting her head on them so she could look watch him. "Plus, you get to stay here."
He chuckled at the comment after giving her a curious look. He was glad to see she was becoming more comfortable with being in a new environment as well as gain confidence in her decision to come to the far away post. He noticed the more she smiled, the brighter her eyes seemed to twinkle. He made a note to himself to make sure he made her smiled more often.
"How is the decorating coming along?" he asked, referring to her quarters. She had told him the day before that she had taken all the belongings she had brought with her and was having a tough time trying to decide how to decorate the rooms.
"Well, Katja's room was easy. She wanted it exactly the way she had it set up on the Coolidge," Senecal said referring to her last posting on a starship. "Though, I think the living room will be the hardest and knowing how Lorias is…"
Rilar waited for a moment as she trailed off, "Lorias…?"
"Oh, my husband," she said quickly and then seemed thoughtful for a moment. "He's normally very picky about how we organize our living quarters."
He eyed her funny for a moment, "But you act as if he might not?"
Senecal leaned back in her chair and removed her crossed arms from the console she had been leaning on. She lowered her eyes from his searching gaze and appeared to study her fingers and hands for a few seconds.
"I'm not sure," she said finally. "You see… he might be going through a 'joining'. I have yet to receive word that it is definitive."
Rilar's eyes lit up with understanding as he realized that she was referring to the Trill process of joining a humanoid host with a symbiont. He had met a number of joined Trills while he was in Starfleet but never had known one before and after he or she was joined. He understood that great differences in personalities may occur to the host due to the memories of the symbiont.
"I guess you will just have to wait and see then," Rilar said with a shrug. "He might not change that much at all."
"I'm worried about that too," she said softly, almost too quiet for him to catch. "Never mind, enough of my problems." She waved her hand as if to shoo away the tense air she had created with her pondering and worries and then turned to him again. "So tell me some more about yourself, we haven't really talked much about you."
"You don't want to hear about my boring life," he laughed out loud.
"Of course I do!" she said, a smile spreading across her face. "You've listened to me a lot the past few days, it's now my time to be the listener."
"Are you becoming a counselor now?" he said with a raised eyebrow.
She shook her head with a soft laugh, "No, I just want to know about you some more. Like your family and friends."
"Well, there's not much to tell about family," Rilar began. "I lost most of my family during the Occupation and the few still around who survived went and joined the Maquis. And as you know, they were practically wiped out by the Dominion."
"I'm sorry," she said, she lowered her voice to a somber tone as she felt like she had come to a bad subject.
"Don't be," he said as he walked up to the upper level where she sat at the console. He leaned against the console next to her chair. "They were awfully distant to begin with and I had made my peace with them and put it behind me when I escaped to the Federation just before the end of the Occupation."
She considered him a moment, watching his warm brown eyes for a give-away of some sort. He had gone through a lot in his life but it had made him a better person instead of letting it eat him up on the inside.
"How did you manage to escape from Bajor?" she asked him.
"That's a long story," he said sighing. "But I promise to tell you sometime. Perhaps over dinner again?"
"Why not?" she grinned in return, seeing as they could have a friendly dinner getting to know each other. She truly wanted to make new friends at her new assignment and it would not work if she hid away in her quarters during all her free time.
A beep resonated from Rilar's console and he walked back over to his station. He checked the display to see what sounded the alert.
"It's the Victoria," he said checking his scans. "Rilar to Commander Serea. Sir, the USS Victoria has just entered the system."
"Hail them and give them permission to approach and dock," Serea ordered over the comm link.
"Yes, sir," Rilar answered. "Rilar out."
* * *
Rilar and Senecal glanced away from their conversation when they heard the lift arrive. They found two Starfleet officers, both in yellow, grey, and black uniforms, step off the lift onto the upper level and look in the direction of where they stood. The first, a Terran male, stepped off with a young woman following behind him.
The man of his late thirties was tall, possibly matching Vedrann's height, with short, light brown hair and a clean shaven face. He walked with a slight limp when he came onto the platform, a lasting injury from the ill-fated away mission. His eyes were a dark blue of almost a midnight sky shade with a sense of loss but also had an essence of strength from within.
The young woman's appearance contrasted her companion's darkness with fire and heat. Her slick red hair and green eyes emanated defiance and haughtiness. She held herself in a manner that expressed her roughness and displayed a learned ability of showing dominance simply with her posture. She was at more than a head shorter than Rilar but had a presence to intimidate the tallest and strongest of men.
Must be our new officers, Rilar thought to himself.
"You are correct, Lt. Commander Rilar," the woman said, answering his thought.
"Excuse me?" he sputtered for a moment, completely taken by surprise.
"You were wondering if we were the new officers," she explained, her voice smooth without a hint of weakness or emotion. "We are your new second officer and assistant tactical officer."
Rilar remained silent for a few seconds while still surprised by her remarks. He had not expected her to read his mind so easily. It somewhat unnerved him and he realized he better be careful of what he was thinking.
"I am Lt. Commander Christopher Raleigh," the man introduced himself to Rilar and Senecal, shaking both their hands and then motioning to the woman. "And this is Lieutenant Shannal Haldia."
The woman shook Rilar's hand with a firm grip and then turned to Senecal, "Dr. Anja Senecal I presume."
"Nice to meet you, Lieutenant," Senecal smiled softly as she shook hands with the new officer.
"Commander, I have everything you need ready for you in the Security Office on the Promenade," Rilar said. "If any other changes in shifts and personnel are needed, let me know and I'll get them updated."
"Thank you," Raleigh answered. "I appreciate it that the crew prepared well for our arrival and the new changes being implemented."
"You can thank Commander Serea for that," Senecal added in. "She had a set schedule in order to be ready on time and we even finished early."
"Speaking of which," Haldia said as she eyed the doors to the office, watching them open a second after she spoke, almost on cue, and Serea walking over to meet them.
"Commander Raleigh, Lieutenant Haldia," she addressed them as she approached, a polite head nod to each in greeting. "Welcome to Deep Space 13."
"Thank you, sir," Haldia replied.
"It has been a while, Jeanne," Raleigh said to Serea.
"Nearly a year," she confirmed, not reacting at all. "I see you are in better health."
"Yes," he said, watching her carefully.
Rilar noticed a quick, amused smile flash across Haldia's face as if she knew something the rest of them did not, which was most likely the case. He also noticed Senecal shift uncomfortably around the tense conversation going on. He cleared his throat as he turned.
"I should be getting back to work," Rilar said as he turned and lightly took Haldia's arm. "I should go over all the Tactical information with Lt. Haldia."
Haldia caught the hint and let herself be led away from the group, another amused smile on her face. This one she let linger.
"I should be getting back to the Infirmary," Senecal coughed out as she quickly walked to the lift. "There might be patients there needing to be tended to."
Raleigh and Serea remained standing on the upper level together, finding themselves suddenly left alone. The two held each other's gaze.
"Would you like me to come back another time?" Raleigh asked.
"Whenever you wish," she replied, not letting down her stare.
Raleigh took a deep breath and released it as he blinked away their gazes.
"I'll be by later," he said and turned on his heel as he went to meet Rilar and Haldia to discuss security and tactical information.
Serea watched him go and then turned back to go to her office. Haldia glanced up at Serea as she left, keeping a steady eye on her commander. Serea stopped halfway up the steps and turned her head to the side slightly catching Haldia's gaze.
I'd suggest not looking into people's minds without consideration for their privacy.
Haldia gave a slight nod and lowered her eyes to pay attention to what Rilar had been telling her. Serea turned back to her office and entered without another thought.