Hecate Station lays at the passage of the Grim Wall. A natural phenomenon of a planet collision that formed a dense line of asteroids stretching downwards making a natural border between Federation and Klingon space. Its a strategic location both in trading, defense and border control.

The transition into the new station was anything but smooth. Both the crew of the Mariner and remnants of the Tokyo arrived at Hecate Station and be welcomed in a warm blanket of kindness. But nothing was further away from the truth than what they had to endure. Logistics were a disaster, from assignments of personnel to resources allocated to unknown places. The previous commander had a tight grip on Starfleet personnel and its resources after the events of Frontier Day made him, to say it lightly, paranoid.

Sazra and Silina, the two captains of the newly formed Hecate Squadron, have had a brief taste of the bitter working environment that they now have to call home. K’Nala and Domam are making their patrol to get familiar with the station, the two have only worked briefly with each other on the previous two missions at Mariner.

Taking a deep breath, K’ Nala looked around the shopping district and see led lights, advertisements and deals being made on the path. “It is much morrre worrrse then I presumed.”  She kept her voice a bit quiet, her newly assigned position as First Officer was the biggest honor one could receive. However the weight of this place was getting heavier on her shoulders by the second.

“Indeed it is…” Domam said seeing some sick people at some darker places where they would be left alone. “Captain Kobahl was not joking about the condition of this base. The previous Commanding Officer seemed to put his priories in micromanaging everything”  They continued walking down the path and while Domam instinct wanted to stop some open dealing, he knew he would be quickly outnumbered and a proper approach of this problem.

Shaking her head “No, the previous commanderrr was morrre focus on its own forces and resourrrces then carrre forrr the people around them. It is the whole reason that the station is even in this condition right now” K’Nala pointed out while they walked as her Caitian sense spiked and out of reflection she grabbed something at her side and looked at it seeing a child pulling.

“Let go of me!”

K’Nala blinked and noticed something in his hand and with a soft pinch of her hand she opens it seeing her lucky trinket in the childs hand “I believe that is mine”  She takes it back calmly and let’s go of the child “You know that stealing is not going to help you?”

The child rubbed his hand and took a step back, “Who will help us then? Starfleet? You only think what is in your own concerns and disregards anyone else needs” The child rushes away into the thick crowd, disappearing from the two officer’s view.

“Seems that the root of the problem is settled deeper then we thought” Domam spoke with a sigh while crossing his arms. “But the problem is more, where the heck do we even start? With the people here, or our own?” Domam resumed the walking as he noticed K’Nala standing there, he briefly stopped and looked at her “Lieutenant? We can’t help the child right now, not in the current condition that we are currently in” it might sound direct and harsh, but it was the grim reality of their situation right now.

K’Nala stood there looking into the crowd, wondering why a child of such a young age was forced to do these acts, to steal and from his eyes it was filled with hatred, resenting her presents. She blinked and shook her head knowing that the resentment was not to her, but to her uniform. What could she do to fix this problem, how many cases of these children are there on this station. When she heard Domam voice she broke off her focus and nodded slowly turning to Domam and starting to follow, “Captain Kobahl spoke about these childrrren being a part of the problem, we need to investigate these kids as well. But you arrre right, we need to prioritize and go layerrr by layerrr”

“That means we have to look internal first” Domam pointed out, “I will discuss it with Lieutenant Crim to divide the tasks. Crim is specialized in crowd control and noticing any dangers. I might have to face to music of dealing with the corruption within the departments” Domam kept walking and stopped briefly looking at the side seeing a merchant in panic as an Orion and two thugs try to intimidate him. “Give me a second”

A thug slams the metal frame “Come on its payday”

“I don’t have the money…” The merchant stated with a shaky voice.

” Olar, Olar my dear, dear Olar” The young well-dressed Orion spoke with a soft smile “You know how it works on Hecate, you want to do business, you pay us your license fee. We provide protection and beneficial support if you need it. But you got to pay your monthly due, or we can’t assure your safety on this base”

The merchant wanted to respond, but a voice interrupted “Last time I checked the security matter is handled by Starfleet” The group looked at the direction of the voice seeing Damem standing there “Additionally, I don’t believe Starfleet or the Federation requires shop owners or in this case pop-up merchants to have a license” He had his arms crossed over each other as the group looked a bit surprised at him.

A burst of laughing came from the Orion as he snickers a tear away, “That is a real good joke Starfleet, but last time I checked you guys don’t care much about that.”  He turned his attention to Domam “But I don’t seem to recognize you, let me introduce myself, Razid is the name, we are the collectors of this region. Now I think you are new, seeing your fancy badge, clean clothing and confident smile”

Razid put his jacket straight and gets closer to Domam “So I will be kind and explain to you how things work here, we run this station promenade and cargo holds. We take care of the people that are not wearing…” He wipes a dust off from his uniform, “…this wonderful uniform. So I would advise you to talk with your chief or even your captain and know your playfield”

Something ticked off in Domam as if he was being belittled by this Orion, but before he could respond the merchant shuffled a bag to the thugs “Starfleet has nothing to do with my business, I am not linked to them Razid I swear….here is my payment and I put in some extra slips for your honest work” The merchant stated in fear and didn’t dare to look at Domam who just stood up for him.

“See, this is a man with some common sense and knows his place in this wonderful place. Welcome to Hecate station…” Razid looked at Domam collar and back with a smile “Lieutenant. Now don’t let the shadow monsters get you” He laughed as he moved away as Domam felt a hand on his shoulder that stopped him from reacting to the mockery.

The thugs laughed, following Razid as K’Nala gave a brief nod to the merchant who hurried back into his store complaining in a quiet voice. K’Nala pulled Domam away from the pop-up store and continued their walk “It is betterrr to rememberrr and strike a different day. Because this shows how rotten the corrre truly is” K’Nala was showing rather calm, but her inner feelings were ignited as a star that was about to explode. Yet thanks to the teaching of Sazra and Silina she was able to remain calm, showing a poker face and yet her claws slowly retracted as her body responded slightly to her inner fire.

Calmly breathing, “I know, Lieutenant, and I understand now what Captain Kobahl means to take this situation with a soft and delicate hand. People live in fear, pain and high criminality. While security is bribed to look the other way. I will cut out this ill rotted roots one by one” He whispers as he saw an acknowledgement nod of support from K’Nala. He needs to start with gathering intelligence and form allies to fight this corruption off.

Steal cracking, buzzing sounds and people rushing from one point to another. The engineering hub is the heart of Hecate station. But the scenery of a typical Starfleet engineer at a station should be clean, should be working, should be calm and well organized. Hecate Engineering Hub was anything but that. Stressed and overworked officers, patched work on older patchwork, wires exposed and supply boxes opened and stored in corners that should be clear.

Rubbing her template, Yozria reads the PADD that was in her hands and shrugs “Motherfuc….” a few flickering lights she tends to ignore in her eye corner.

“Language Commander, we need to set an example”  Varujan pointed out tapping on his PADD as he gave a nod to the petty officer and gave the PADD back to him. The petty officer walked away from them as Varujan sighed, “The previous engineering team said good luck, now I know why”

Yozria narrowed her eyes at her new assistant, “That is an understatement of the year, this base is barely holding itself together. The commanding officer was holding out on resources requests for over a year, with the stupid request to put priority on systems that are required to function and keep the non-essential systems low on the list”  Taking a deep breath “But basic 101 of engineering states that neglecting all systems for long period of time will neglect the main systems and a domino effect will occur”

Giving a soft nod at that observation, “We have only been here a week or so, but the dysfunctionality of this base is showing brightly on various sections on modules and decks. This will take months to get back in order”

“Months? If we don’t get the much-needed supplies from the USS Ukiah, it will take years and lots of creative fixing to get things back to where it should be” Yozria leans on a console seeing the latest report pass by “I need these resources, but this base request is growing by the minute, and we are still waiting for more personnel”

A few steps were heard behind them “Whats up gang, how is the hub doing?”

Rolling her eyes as Yozria looked over her shoulder at Tamaz “Wonderful, you being here Lieutenant is bad news for us. You only show your face when you need something”

Tamaz place a hand on his chest showing a playful yet teasing face of being hurt “Words cut deep Commander Deem, but you are right I am here to add some work to your busy schedule” He looked at Varujan and smiles “Lieutenant Tamaz Alavidze, Chief Operations Officer, pleasure to meet you” Reaching out a hand to Varujan.

“Lieutenant Varujan Istrati, Assistant Chief Engineering Officer, pleasure to meet you as well Lieutenant.”  he shook Tamaz hand with a firm grip and smiled softly “Do you know the commander?”

“Know her? We served together on the Tokyo, side by side. When you get to know Yozria she can actually be a decent person”  Tamaz smirks a bit in Yozria direction

Rolling her eyes, Yozria just focus on the work on her console trying to get one task done after another, “Do not believe a word that the Lieutenant is saying. Thought we did serve on the same ship, it is a loaded topic, so let’s focus on what is ahead of us. What do you want Tamaz? Just spit it out”

“Oh right, the request. Runabout Platform five is out of commission, we are able to redirect traffic for now, but it seems that the people are getting annoyed for waiting so long. Operating systems state that the docking sensor system is not responding, and thus automatic docking is impossible. Now, I can say I trust the pilot skills of the merchant ships, but that would be an outrageous lie.” Tamaz shrugs a bit at that last sentence and crosses his arms, “We need you to prioritize that pad as soon as possible, and I know you got a lot on your plate”

Varujan taps his PADD that he took a few moments ago after he heard Tamaz talk. He shrugged a bit seeing the to-do list, “I can shuffle some items with the approval of the Commander. But it will most likely cause some frustration among the ones that were already waiting for their material to be fixed by us”

A shrug came from Yozria “You can say that they will be pissed and be yelling in my face about how Starfleet sucks and yadayada” She rolled her eyes “Change the list Lieutenant, we don’t want our guest to wait any longer in space than they have to”  She looked at the direction of Tamaz “Anything else you would like? Is your room functioning to your desire?”

Noticing the irritation in her voice, Tamaz smiles softly, “Come on Commander, you know who you are talking to.” Reminding her that they served together long enough to each that this kind of talk was not really needed. But in a way Tamaz could understand why she was this way, Tokyo last mission changed her, Starfleet choices changed everyone. He grins a bit, “But if you are on the subject”

Yozria looked at her console and only point her middle finger at him, “F*ck off Tamaz…”

“The Commander is experiecing quite some stress from the current workload, Lieutenant. She is not quite having a good day” Varujan pointing out “Oh Lieutenant, if you have served on the previous assignment together, how was the Tokyo?”

Before Tamaz could answer, a slap on the console was given with both hands by Yozria as she looked up from her console but not at them. “Let’s drop the subject of our past Lieutenant. What happened on that ship, stays on that ship, plus I do believe you have a pad to get fixed?” She looked back down on the console as Varujan shrugged and nod at them both leaving the hub.

“Was that really needed?”  Tamaz said with a shrug, seeing Varujan walk away. “What happened on the Tokyo left a scar on us all, but this new crew doesn’t have to pay our grievance” Tamaz knew how badly this had hit Yozria regarding her brother and such. Taking a deep breath, “Look, Yozzy…” Tamaz gets somewhat personal and sees her stiffening up hearing that name and focus on what is in front of her, “If you need to talk, let me know….I am always available, you know that….” With that, he taps gently her shoulder and walks off to resume his own duties.

“Breath, little star, this is natural and will happen eventually.” A bitter flashback.

Meanwhile, Yozria stood above the console frozen after hearing the personal touch of Tamaz, she wanted to run, she wanted to resign, she wanted to forget. But she is here doing the work her brother loved. Was she doing it for herself or for her brother….while saved, is a mere plant at Caelum Station, unknown if the brain damage done by the Borg could be undone? She blinked a tear away, taking a deep breath, and she resumed her work, for now she was doing what her brother wanted her to do.

The promenade was buzzing, yes it had its rotting apples among it, but it felt natural or more common to those that worked and lived there. Opening her shop, Hirni, a young Ferengi woman was eager to start her day, she has a passion for designing, repairing and selling clothing and Hecate was the crossroads she needed to exploit her creativity. She paid her taxes to the crooks, so there were no troubles there. Pushing the metal framework to the side that protected her shop from any robbery that might happen at closing, a small cozy shop appeared, warm red and orange lights that would reflect on her designs would capture the interest of potential customers.

“Good morning Hirni, opening shop?”

A familiar voice came from behind her as she looked and saw Torr and Pia standing there. They were part of the BMC or also known on the station as the Black Mining Cooperation that would perform mining operations out there in the Grim Wall. Hirni smiled at them “Good morning to both of you, I am indeed getting ready for another day of adventuring. You guys off to port 43?”

Port 43, the docking port that was actually number 4, but due to a painting mistake in the past it holds the number 43. The older looking Bolian that was known as Torr Krara the foreman of BMC, smiled at Hirni “We will be meeting up the gang there, to get operations going again”

“Hirni, please get some sense into him, he wants us to fly to Asteroid 757-H!” The young blond human female spoke to Hirni, she is the BMC Astrometric Specialist known as Pia Brehm a vital key in BMC operations in the Grim Wall.

An awkward shrug was given by Hirni “You know that I have zero knowledge of astrometrics Pia…” She looked at Torr “But if my girl feels unsafe, she has the right to decline your dangers plans”

Rolling his eyes, Torr shook his head “She selected the asteroid herself you know. The asteroid is rich in minerals that are now mostly wanted by the Klingon Empire”  Torr pointed out “I am just picking targets that benefits our business…” He crosses his arms over each other “Plus we got starlight…”

Starlight, the nickname given to the Bajoran pilot of BMC, she might be young but if anyone could pilot through the dense asteroid belt of the Grim Wall, then Mogush Goalki was your gal. Hirni smiles softly and nodded “Then you are in perfect safe hands Pia, so the Klingons are gearing up for their internal struggles?” She looked back at Torr while giving some comfort to Pia who was still pouting.

Giving a brief nod “The misty road is getting more crowded with traders and merchants traveling to and from the empire. I have seen the mineral market sky rocked after Chancellor Toral took control. The talk goes around of an internal conflict and friction brewing up struggles of the direction that the Empire should be going”  He looked over his shoulder to make sure there were no Klingons hearing his talking.

After some comfort, Hirni nodded and resumed getting her store ready “I have seen an increase of Klingons on the station also, they seem to be visiting the red rocks often”  Hirni knew to stay clear from the lower decks that was in control of the Orions, but Red Rocks was another example of crafty and shady business. She only heard rumors about it, like auctions and black market dealing being done there.

Pia shrugs “Well that is one flip side of things, I mean I don’t mind seeing them here. But Starfleet has been acting strange as of late”

Looking over her shoulder as she folds a shirt, Hirni blinks for a second “Is Starfleet getting involved with their shady dealing? I mean would not surprise me” When she needed Starfleet help, they were nowhere to be found. Sure the station was under their control, but there was like a balance between black and white, good and evil, thought seeing how they were reacting was it not more neutral and evil?

Shaking her head “No, that is the weird path, Starfleet personnel is changing. The former command team was completely replaced, including all the chiefs. Which is weird, would it have something to do with the Klingons sudden changes?”  Pia tapped her chin “Would this be impacting us?” She was worried that Starfleet neutral stand to the current situation at Hecate was going to change and making it complicated for them all.

“I personally don’t think we have to worry about it” Torr shrugged “Starfleet will not just change overnight when it comes to the operations of this station. They honestly don’t care if we die or not” He looked at his side “There are many sick and poor people that found refuge here after the Dominion War, the Lost Fleet crisis and we even see more xBs after the whole Frontier Day incident. Starfleet is lacking personnel, resources and mostly the will to get something done”

Leaning against the metal framework “Truth to be told, I just wish that Starfleet would leave this base and let it be run by the Orions or even the Klingons. They are not adding anything of value to Hecate” Torr might sound bitter, but he was mostly a realist when it came to common sense of how things work.

Shaking her head as Hirni dust off a beautiful dress “Nah, Starfleet presence, while not significant, gives a feeling of security. They might not act on wrong doings, but it does give us unknowingly protection to what the Orions or the Klingons actually would do to this place” She looks at them both “In a way I am grateful for their presence and new officers means new business. Like my people would say, new opportunities brings new values of coin”

Blinking a bit, Pia looked at Hirni “What rule would that be?”

“I honestly wouldn’t know, men in my culture just keep adding them and its throwing me off to keep track of them. So I just remember the important ones” Hirni gave Pia a wink.

Tap on the shoulder of Pia, Torr smiles “With that said, we are needed at Port 43. Let’s get going” Pushing Pia away who was reaching out to Hirni to help her “We will see you later on at the bar Hirni”  Torr smiled at her and kept pushing Pia.

Waving her hand at the two who were leaving as Hirni lowered her hand. She looked into the crowd of people as the promenade was already starting to get more lively. Hirni wondered if live would be better with this change or if this station would become a battleground between Starfleet and the criminals that had Hecate in a chokehold. She saw a customer coming to her shop and took a deep breath “Good day, we got many wears, I got some perfect fabrics that would compliment your skin”

If you portrayed the Engineering Hub as the beating heart of Hecate Station, then the Medical Hub would be the breathing lungs, bringing in enough oxygen to help in healing the body. However, the state of the Medical Hub was anything but perfect. Many sick people, outdated machinery and low on medical supplies. Flickering panels that barely work, trashcans of used gloves and mask being full, and a dirty floor with dried fluids you just don’t want to know where to come from. Metal smells and old bandages add the vivid view of this rundown Medical Hub.

Yet in the mid of it all both Doctor Kossaal Th’shrithel and Nurse Chief Petty officer Theetika Kwaigno were busy with their works. The two former Mariner medical staff members had been reassigned at Hecate Station to begin their heavy duties of restoring the medical level back to normal. “Scalpel” Kossaal reach out as Theetika gave him the scalpel, and he resumes his medical practice on the patient. “Cloth”  Theetika gave the doctor some cloth so he could pressure some of the blood. “Tri-laser” another handy tool to reconnect nerves as he carefully continues his work and smiles “That will do, let him rest, and he is ready to resume work in an hour or two”

With that said, Kossaal removes his mask and gloves and puts it on the trash pile, shaking his head while walking back to his office. “Nurse, get me a list of patients for today” Entering his office, he had to step over various items of bags, supplies and PADDs that the previous doctor just left like it.

“Might be a good idea of the medical misconduct that the previous chief let happen on this station. Medical treatments were overlooked, forgotten or just not prioritize” Theetika complained while getting the list for her doctor.

Sitting down in his chair, Kossaal shrugs a bit looking back at his nurse, “While there might be medical misconduct, and we are very aware of them. We do not know what made the former chief do such acts and can’t point fingers at him for doing so.” He leans back in his chair “However, it seems that medical is not the only effected area, Operations, Security, Engineering are all reporting similar problems. Work that is left behind shows a certain patron”

“You mean there is a reason behind it?” Theetika tapped on her PADD

Giving a brief nod “Yes, if I look at the medical point of view of what I have seen so far, is that civilian medical care have been put on a lower priority than Starfleet personnel care. Which is strange”  He taps the desk “Such a decree is only done in the highest priority if Starfleet personnel are needed to function and operate a station in danger, but Hecate is not in danger, nor does it show in any report. It feels like this decree is being used in such a way…to divide Starfleet from the civilians that are on this station”

Theetika lowered her PADD, looking at the doctor, “Would the low supplies be the reason for that? Starfleet have been struggling to provide this station with that”

“No quite…” Kossaal shook his head, “Medical supplies are always a priority above other material. It is logical, and hopefully USS Ukiah will return soon with those supplies. But…” He looked at his desk where a report was, “The previous Chief never made a request for these supplies and stated that we are fully supplied. If it was only Starfleet personnel, that would be true”

“But the civilians were not included in those calculations and the list only seems to be growing” Theetika gives the PADD to Kossaal “Some are serious cases that have been neglected for way to long, they need medical attention and from the reports I saw, we might have a plague at our hands in the lower decks.”

Looking at the PADD, Kossaal hums a bit, “What makes you say that?”

Theetika leans a bit forward tapping on the PADD “The symptoms of certain people in the lower decks are very similar, fever, cough, weakness in muscles and such” She leans back “But I can’t put my finger on it as the people that are infected…have not been reporting back”

Narrowing his eyes “Meaning something is holding the sick people away from us” Kossaal shrugs “Theetika could you ask security to do a patrol on the lower decks and if possible you can hitch a ride with them to see if the symptoms are truly there. We might have a different problem at our hands if this might be the case”  Kossaal took the suspicion of his nurse quite serious.

A soft nod in Kossaal direction, “I will ask…” Looking over her shoulder, seeing another patient enter the Medical Hub “…but after it has calmed down a bit”

Getting up from his chair “Let’s get this list cleared so we can get things going how they should Chief”  Kossaal gave a smile in her direction “I will report later on to Captain Kobahl about the current condition of the Medical Hub” With that said, Kossaal grib on his tools tighten as he mentally prepares to get ready to tackle this, moving back into the Medical Hub to continue their long list of work that was piling up every second.

Boxes of moved stuff were still there, the apartment was still not done, but it was spacious. A master bedroom, two guestrooms, living room, kitchen, bathroom and a wonderful view of the Grim Wall outside their window. Placing down some pictures of the crews of Jaxartes, Damascus and Mariner. Sazra was wearing her comfortable clothing as she placed the last picture onto the shelf that showed her class at the Academy. Most of them were now gone due to all what has happened. Sazra slides her finger pass the frame as she lets the memories of that time sink in.

“I was thinking of placing the guitar in the corner Saz, what you think?” A familiar and warm voice came from the bedroom.

Tapping the shelf as Sazra smiled “Not in the bedroom Sil, just put it in the living room”  She replied while opening another box to continue unpacking. It has been a few days since her arrival and from what she had seen, Hecate was in bad shape or better said neglected by the previous commanding officer. The question was more, why? Hecate had been a valuable position and would take priority above all seeing recent changes with the Klingons. Sazra stare broke off as she noticed Silina entering the room.

Placing the holder of the guitar in a corner near the couch “There, at least I can do some guitar when I am here” Silina smiled and nodded to herself.

“When are you going?” Sazra said looking at her girlfriend, well after so many years and now that their careers were not mixing up anymore they were able to make a secret a reality. Taught many already knew their passion for each other for years, but kept it to themselves. Sazra was grateful for that.

Silina looked over her shoulder at Sazra “Gemini has docked, updating the crew transfers, supplies that need to be put into cargo bays. Perhaps a week, maybe more” Silina thought for a second “What about you, you start immediately?” She had seen Hecate state from the first visited a while ago, and it was not a pretty sight to witness. Silina would have loved to stick around and help to clean out the trash off this station and get things back in shape.

“Immediately yea, the previous commanding officer is promoted to a Canopus-class station up north” Sazra grabs some blankets out of the box and throws it gently at Silina who catches it “I have yet to get my first staff meeting going, but I am getting glimpse already from chiefs that they are shocked in the condition of this base as much as we were when we first saw it”

Placing the blankets on the couch and tapping it gently “Its unbelievable that a person like him would get an upgrade after leaving such a neglected job behind” Silina sat down on the couch and looked at Sazra “You sure you want to be in this level of the station? I mean I am not complaining it is beautiful here but its also further away from the operations center”

Briefly stopping with unpacking as she looked at Silina “I know, but for some reason I want to be closer to the people, I want to feel what they feel. With they had to endure, why would I take the liberty to sit comfortable and safe up there? It’s against my own principles”

A brief smile appeared on Silina face as she leans back on the couch “That does sound like you, well you got my support as I love it here” She looked outside the window at the door that viewed the inner working base “It’s rarely you are able to get two great views. Like a penthouse…” She stretches out and yawns showing that she was quite comfortable.

Smiling at Silina “Actually the top layer and only a selected few houses as the ability to show this view from both in- and outside. But this sector is also focused primarily on …family” Sazra hesitated for a second and looked away back to the box.

“Family?” Silina blinked and looked at Sazra.

“Yea….the area has facilities in education, daycare, family support and yea…” Sazra dives a bit deeper into the box of her supplies trying to find something.

A warm feeling came through her body as if it is intense with every heartbeat. Silina leans forward not breaking her focus on Sazra “Saz…you choose this location for us to build a family?” Silina never had her mind set on the future, only that she wanted to be with Sazra. She took the Captain seat only because Starfleet kept urging on her, but only accepted it because she knew she would be near Sazra.

Pulling herself out of the box, she sat onto the ground as Sazra fiddles with the tag of the box and slowly nods “I thought seeing we are fixed in the station, we have the space, we are near each other…we might be able to start thinking of our family” Sazra eyes slowly meets those of Silina seeing her warm glare at her and feeling a blush coming up making her look away “I mean, It’s logical to do that…. but only if …if you are interested in it”

Moving forward to her at the edge of the couch and grabbing Sazra hand “I be honored to start this family with you, I thought about it myself, and it might be tricky with us both being in command and such” Silina taps Sazra hand “But… with proper course of action we can make it work and either you or I can …carry our child, and we can deal with command meddling later on. We have our rights to do this”

Blinking a few times as Sazra looked back at Silina “Carrying….wait seeing the current condition of Hecate right now, while the sector might be good, I feel I still need a lot of time before I can go around and carry our child or you. I think….” She shook slightly her head “Wait are you sure about this? I know I am being impulsive about this, so you can say no if you’re not comfortable with it”

Giving a soft kiss on Sazra forehead as Silina smiles at her “I am very sure about this. But if you don’t feel comfortable about us carrying our own child, what is cooking in that pretty head of yours?”

Feeling the warmth of Silina kiss on her forehead, as if she was kissed on her soul took a grasp of her breath and Sazra took a second to recollect herself. “Well, I kept thinking about those children we met when we arrived. I somehow…want to help them, give them a home, but the scar that Starfleet has given them….I just want to take care of them somehow”

Leaning back as she crosses her legs over each other, Silina thinks for a second back “Oh…Talitha and Alexia. Well I think we should be careful with this choice. They look like two fine girls, but they are honestly not showing interest in having a home especially with two Starfleet Officers”

“Yea that is the problematic issue of this all, we can’t take them in if we do this as Starfleet Officers….” She looked at Silina as Sazra awkwardly looked at Silina.

A confused look came from Silina as she blinked a few times as the coin drops with her facial expression in shock “Wait…Sazra no…we will lose our rights to this house if we suddenly resign from our position within Starfleet and the amount of drama Task Force 17 will make when we just got assigned to them?!” Silina shrugs thinking about the amount of bickering and scolding.

Sazra grabs Silina hands “No, no, it’s not that, we just pretend to be civilians and keep this house Starfleet free, perhaps certain degree more Starfleet friendly. But we pretend to be a scientific specialist and an expert doctor” Sazra knows that might cause some problems but to heal the wounds of these children this would be the best approach in her opinion. “Its good for them to getting comfortable with this family then being honest about the situation right away”

“But would that not put more salt onto the already pestering wound of these children? If we lie of who and what we are then we are not star role models as their parents” Silina stated her concern”Additionally I have my duties on the Gemini, what do you expect me to do being away from home so much? Everything will be on your shoulders” Silina felt uncomfortable with that idea.

Squeezing Silina hands a bit “I know… but perhaps we can do like 50/50 they stay here on the base under my watch, and sometimes they go with you on a mission, perhaps you could use the guest quarters on the Gemini?” Sazra showed that she really did think this throughout to the fine details “I want to give this a shot”

Seeing the pled in Sazra’s eyes, Silina swallowed for a second and thought about it and slowly nodded, “We can…give this a try. But I don’t feel that comfortable lying to these kids.”

“They need time to heal, after that we can slowly bring them the news that we are…Starfleet also. Perhaps within a year or earlier seeing, we don’t know the damage to these children. They have experienced quite traumatic life on the street.” Sazra quickly defended her point of view.

“Your name is on the crew manifest access to everyone, never mind you already thought about this” Silina took a deep breath and looked around the room as her eyes fell onto the framed pictures “We might have to consider moving those to your office hun, those are clear signs that you are lying”  She points at the pictures and looked at Sazra who was oblivious about it “Oh we need some time working on this story don’t we?” Giving a warm smile in Sazra direction “But we will get there… together”

The observation dome, is a stair accessible room above the operational center that is meant to be used as a meeting room to show the beauty of space. The room ceiling was a reinforced, thick glass that was barely visible to the naked eye that it was there. From the inside you could see 360 degree all around you, yet from the outside it was not visible and even better the location seemed more like a small array that was build on top of the operational center. So about eighty procent of the view was clear, the additional layers blocked by the array infrastructural framework were replaced by the computer. But the previous commanding officer choose to make this his office and take the glory of this place for himself, Sazra choose to reverse this and take the old office back rather than keeping this dome for herself.

However, she was staring at the direction of the Grim Wall, with a red glow dancing from the Betreka Nebula that slowly fades away as it stretches in Hecate direction. Ships passing by, docking or leaving to resume their duties or trade. It was quite mesmerizing to witness. But with this daunting beauty was also growing, crawling through hallways, stores and houses in Hecate. Sazra narrowed her eyes, hearing a few voices getting up the circle formed stairs that would bring them to the dome.

The first person her eyes met were those of Kossaal, a veteran medical officer that had seen various dire situations from the Blood Dilithium Operation to the Underspace sudden expansion, followed by the young Asipa, a Ferengi woman that had faced her horrors in Delta Quadrant and was a vital key in delivering the message to the Dominion Lost Fleet. K’Nala, an inspiring and ambitious woman that showed the will to grow within the role of command, but her love for piloting had saved the Damascus and Mariner countless times. Domam was a relative new person, but not to be underestimated for the amount of work he had to move during the Underspace crisis.

Sazra nodded to them as she moved to her own chair as her eyes glare to some latecomers. Yozria Deem, the former first officer of the USS Tokyo, was the vital key in dealing with the Borg Intrusion, but paid the ultimate price by losing her brother. They manage to get them back, but at the cost of her rank and position. Sazra remembered in the report that she would do it again if it would happen. Then there was Tamaz Alavidze, a vital key also on the Tokyo in the operations, his experience would be of great value on this station. Sazra looked at the final two arrivals as their eyes are glued to the mere view of everything that was aroudn them.

Dacio was for a long period of time the asst chief science officer and with Commander Scott out of commission in the Underspace crisis, he stepped up his game and made it possible for their safe return. Sazra gave him a shot at the chief position, but at a station is a different play and no one at this table at real experience with it. Sazra gave a friendly nod in the direction of Palema, who had been a comfortable source of diplomatic knowledge to her for quite some time. “Welcome, please take a seat so we can begin”

Most of the people at the table were still distracted by the sight that was around them. But they saw the serious look of Sazra and focus on her. Taking a deep breath, it felt like the air was heavier, as if she was sitting on the top of a mountain. “Some of you know me, some of you don’t. My records are access to everyone in Starfleet and if you have questions I am open to them. So I will spare you my life story, but what I will tell you is my way of commanding. I am a stubborn, direct and maybe even sometimes sarcastic and insensitive person. But what you need to know about me is that I will go through any kind of fire to make sure anyone is safe. This might take a heavy toll on me being the lead person of a station that has about 4,500 people on it, both civilian and starfleet. But that won’t change my personality, my character”

She saw some people nodding in acknowledgment of that, knowing all too well what kind of person Sazra is. She lets her hands slide over each other and shrugs a bit “So let’s get over with it, what is this station condition and don’t sugarcoat it” Sazra had it rather straight to the facts then do a dance around the reality of the situation.

The people at the desk looked at each other for a brief moment as Kossaal, the elder Andorian looked up and at Sazra direction “Medical Hub is to say it nicely a dramatic scene to behold. We have a serious shortage in personnel, supplies, and our machinery is barely holding out as it is.” He was not in the mood to sugarcoat the situation, but he saw a glimpse of gratitude from Sazra to take the leap.

“What about the medical condition of the people?” Sazra looked with a bit of concern at the doctor.

Taking a deep breath, “Starfleet personnel is fairly doing okay, we do see a raise in usage of recreational drugs with certain officers. The other thing our files have noticed are the waiting list that were on purpose delayed. Civilian care was placed on a lower priority and not based on severity of sickness” Kossaal shrugged at that last point. “Suspicion is there that a plague is roaming around in certain civilian areas”

Tapping her finger on the table letting it sink in, Sazra nods to the rest “Next”

“To follow-up, anything related to engineering is delayed due to a lack of resources but also lack of maintenance as priority was given to only essential systems” Yozria tied her fist trying to let the frustration not get to her “We are aware of the sense of urgency in all departments, but it seems focus was laid on something or somewhere else rather than keeping all systems going”

Nodding to Yozria statement, Tamaz followed-up “The backlogging of engineering reflects in operations, we are getting tons of request of things that need to be done, ships that want to dock, and we are trying to regulate what is possible. But we are at a stretch, Captain”

Giving a brief nod to both Yozria and Tamaz “Thank you”  Sazra let it get quiet for a moment as her eyes met those of Domam “Chief?”

He swallowed for a moment and slowly nodded as comforting himself, “The situation with security is dire, we are dealing with corruption within our own department, criminals roam free on the decks, and we do believe Orion Syndicate have a firm grip on the lower decks of this base. Our weapon inventory is compromised and supplies as stated before is low. It will be quite a challenge to get things back to how it should be, merchants and traders on the Promenade are afraid, yet they won’t leave as the coin is too good to let go…”

“Science is dealing with stolen equipment, low supplies, sensor arrays in the asteroid belt that the people call the Grim Wall is barely functionable.” Dacio leans back in his chair with some disappointment, “But we can still work with what we got”

Asipa shrugged “On terms of communications I am dealing with outdated software, arrays that barely work and translation requests from various representatives”

“The situation in the region is very unpredictable at this current moment Captain” Palema continued on Asipa mention of representatives “The Klingon Empire intention are still at a guessing phase which brings uncertainty to the station. There are factions that wish to have a more fixed sit on this station, I will forward my report to you after the meeting”

“Thank you all for the given information and your delicate approach of it. I know that it is much asked of you to not immediatly get your hand dirty with how this statin was being treated for quite some time. Please foward your findings as a report to me. I am building a case to the previous command team and his chiefs”  Sazra shrugs that she asked a lot of them “I asked you to be treating this with a soft hand, delicate and slow approach because they lost faith in what Starfleet and the Federation stand for. We can’t rush this and as Lieutenant Ze said, we are dealing with some rats that might be feasting deeper into us than we might consider”

With that said, “I will wrap it up, for now. Focus on your duties, Engineering will gain support from Operations to get caught up on requests. Science will back up the Medical up and focus on what people need, not their status. K’Nala help coordinate any crossover work requests to get things done, I will provide help where I can as well” Sazra saw all of them nod in agreement “Palema try to focus on the relationship with the Klingons”  She took a deep breath “Dismissed all” with that said, everyone resumed their duties as Sazra rubs her hands over her face letting the weight of responsibilty rest for a moment before she left the dome as well.