An unexpected Journey
Chapter One
Tarya walked through the business-like beige corridors of the NCC-1701 D. She'd never been on a ship like this before. Everything was man-made and extremely fit for purpose. Trepidation hit her soul at the thought of meeting her first ever commanding officer. Fresh out of the academy, this was her first posting within Starfleet.
"Ensign Tarya!" Tarya stared into the deep blackness of the eyes that should have bored into her Soul, yet somehow, were warm, friendly, and unassuming. The woman stretched her hand towards her, "I'm Deanna Troi, official ships counsellor. Welcome abroad! I've been looking forward to your arrival for several months now. Did they brief you as to why you were given this posting?"
"In a manner of speaking. I had a very open application and, I'll be honest, I was surprised when I was offered the position of assistant Counsellor. I'd only really taken counselling to"… she quickly checked herself and stopped herself from continuing…"fill my time. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, in fact, I learnt far more than I thought possible." She paused to smile briefly, hoping she was keeping it coy before continuing. "I thought it was usual for ships to have one counsellor. It did confuse me somewhat when they posted me to a counselling role." Deanna gave a very warm smile in response before gesturing her to take a seat on the sofa in her office.
"Would you like a drink? I like to indulge in the occasional hot chocolate. I'm afraid I only have a replicator here though; nothing beats the real thing."
"An English tea would be most appreciated. Thank you, Counsellor."
"Please, you must call me Deanna when not needing to use formalities. We will be working closely together and hopefully; we will become friends."
"Thank you… Deanna." She emphasised, taking the tea.
"You are right, normally ships do only have one Counsellor, but on the flag ship of the federation I often find myself being torn between too many responsibilities and when you are on a ship with over a thousand beings it can be hard to juggle them. I'm often away for days on end with one mission or another and end up leaving patients hanging. I requested assistance about a year ago now and it seems they finally agreed. You do come with a proviso though. As you are so well rounded, you are to be 'loaned' for want of a better word to other departments in times of need. I hope that meets with your approval?" Tarya inwardly winced. She didn't mind what she did really, but now she was regretting taking so many courses whilst at the academy. She wished she'd done more research into humanity beforehand, especially the academy. She hoped she wasn't in over her head.
"That's absolutely fine Coun… Deanna. I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do when I joined the academy, I wanted my path to be as open as possible." Deanna smiled at her answer but was also intrigued. She didn't really pick up anything from her new underling which slightly unnerved her. It was rare for someone to be unreadable. She'd read her file beforehand and wanted to delve a little further.
"Tell me more about yourself? If I'm honest, your file is rather, unusual, for want of a better word and vague." This is the moment Tarya was dreading. She tried to keep her composure. She'd purposely devised a skeletal backstory to just get by and hopefully not get caught out – or discovered. Deanna could see she was musing on something, possibly where to start.
"I note here you only have one name?"
"Yes. I know little of my early childhood life (this wasn't a lie). My name was one I chose myself. I'm afraid I cannot give you anymore. I was raised in Wales by adoptive parents (this was literally a place she'd observed on Earth when studying the species and found the rolling hills and valleys to be much like home). I cannot give a birth date either (also not another lie). All the medicals I have had completed confirm my age to be around 25 years. So that is what I wrote. I chose to join Starfleet in order to learn more about anything and everything. I've always loved the voyage of discovery". For the first time Deanna had the sense she was admitting to something she genuinely desired. She was even a bit animated.
"So is that why you decided to study so much at the academy and stay on the extra few years to finalise some of the courses?"
"Yes, I can't help but see the vastness in pretty much anything and everything and have a very holistic view of things. I just couldn't pinpoint one thing I wanted to study."
"No doubt that will come in extremely handy." Deanna said sincerely. "Have you settled into your quarters yet? I notice you are sharing with three other new ensigns. Ensigns Williams, Torres and Lee." Tarya's face dropped slightly at this revelation, she really should pay more attention to such things. She hadn't really thought about what her living situation would be once she was aboard a ship. Having to be that close to people was not something she'd considered. She tried to bring some light back into her face, but it was too late for Deanna not to have noticed. She pressed on.
"Not yet, I will go and, I guess, meet my roommates after this meeting." Deanna toyed with the idea of delving further but thought better of it. Instead, she smiled and rose which prompted Tarya too also.
"It was very nice to meet you. I'm sure we will work together well. You have the rest of the day to settle in before ship orientation tomorrow. Then the real fun begins." She continued to smile as she escorted Tarya to the door and they cheerfully said goodbye.
Deanna watched her walk off for a moment before thoughtfully returning to her office. She sat down and re-read her academy mentors remarks on her character.
'Tarya is a very well-rounded individual who adapts to any situation seamlessly. She gives her all to her studies and is within the top twenty percent of students in her classes, except botany, of which she passed. In astrophysics and Engineering she excelled within the top two percent…' Deanna skimmed through to find the personal remarks. 'Whilst always polite and professional, Tarya can be extremely quiet and seemingly shy. She gives very little away and does not seem to interact with her fellow students as one would normally expect. She doesn't appear to have made any real friends, though in her longer classes, she has developed a few friendly acquaintances and has, on occasion, been there to provide a listening ear. I have noted her to have an extremely motherly instinct in such situations. On the few social occasions that require attendance she often remains in her own company or gravitates more to speaking with faculty than she does students, seemingly preferring the company of more mature individuals. All in all, a very capable, pleasant but shy individual.'
Deanna sat thoughtfully pondering. As lovely as Tarya seemed to be and impressed as her tutors were, everything remained vague, she just couldn't put her finger on what seemed slightly off about her new Ensign. Time would tell she mused to herself.