The time was zero-five hundred hours. The chime of an alarm programmed to wake the slumbering Trill was ringing in the background. “Ugh…five more minutes.” Treylana moaned, knowing full well that today was going to be a busy day. It was graduation day. The day she had longed for the last four years was finally here.

Realizing she was not going to get the response or result she wanted, she forced herself to roll over and silence the alarm. “I don’t know how you did it Narissa, but I hope one day this becomes more routine” she muttered to herself, referring to her fourth host, before slipping into the sonic shower.

It seemed pointless for her to shower, especially if she was going to go for her morning run and working up a sweat, but the feeling of the vibrations from the shower was extremely soothing given her grumpy state. She stood there for what seemed like hours, though it had only been twenty minutes or so. The program completed and suddenly she felt like a new woman. She covered herself up with a towel and proceeded back toward the bedroom.

“Damn girl! You’ve been in there forever!” said another female voice as she scurried past the Trill into the bathroom. Treylana had almost forgotten that she had a roommate but being a cadet did not afford her the luxury of having private quarters on the campus. She did not remember her name. They were not in any of the same classes, and both were on different schedules. In fact, this was one of the rare occasions where the two of them had any interaction.

Putting aside that minor altercation, Treylana donned her athletic gear and combadge and headed out of the dorm room.

***

The sun was barely cresting over the horizon. Some of the local fauna could be heard chirping. Weather stations reported the temperature being a mere ten degrees Celsius. Refreshing for a morning run as Treylana knew that if she had gone later in the day, it would be much warmer.

The path she was on was one she had run several times. She was typically a woman of routine. However, this was a special day. There was a fork in the path further ahead. Normally she would take the right path but this morning she decided that she was going to go out of her normal routine and take the left one instead.

There were several dips and hills along this path. It did not seem to be as well maintained as the other one she was used to. Not neglected, but certainly in need of repair. As she approached the second hill, the overgrowth of trees began to block out what little sunlight there was. Lost in thought about the ceremony later that day, she had not been paying full attention to the path. It was at that moment that her foot stepped in a small pothole and she rolled her ankle. Down she went like a ton of bricks. She tried to brace herself with her arms but that was nearly as impossible as paying attention to her surroundings in the first place. Her arms buckled as soon as they hit the pavement and she slid for a couple of meters.

It took a moment and a few curse words for her to regain some composure. When she did, she inspected herself. Her priority was to her symbiont. There didn’t appear to be any life-threatening injuries. This relieved her. She did end up bruising her hip and her knees, her arms were scraped from the fall and her ankle was also in immense pain.

Since she did not know her exact location being on a path she was not accustomed to, she decided the best course of action was to call the campus sickbay and have herself transported there directly. She went to tap her combadge. Unfortunately during her fall it became damaged and was non-functional.

“Great!” she thought, “Now what am I going to do?”

She estimated that it was at least five kilometers to the main campus building where she would find the sickbay.

***

A little more than an hour later Treylana finally made it to the sickbay. She did not think she was going to make it and by all rights, she probably should not have but determination pushed her through the pain. A male Bolian noticed the trill as the doors slid open. “What happened to you?” he questioned her.

Exhausted she managed to inform the man what had happened before collapsing to the floor.

“Get this woman on the biobed immediately!” he shouted to one of his assistants as he went to grab a tricorder and a hypospray.

Two nurses stopped what they were doing and went to the Trill’s aid, each grabbing half of her collapsed body, they lifted her up and placed her on the biobed as requested.

The Bolian, Brax as he was known, scanned the woman on the bed before him, relieved that her injuries were superficial and the reason for her passing out was merely exhaustion. He programmed the hypospray for ten milligrams of Hydrocortilene for the pain before requesting a dermal regenerator for the abrasions on her arms and legs. Lucky for Treylana she had not broken any bones. She might be in some pain for a day or two, but she would otherwise be fine.

Brax finished up his treatment and let Treylana rest on the biobed. He requested the computer to monitor her vital signs in case there was something he had missed. One could never be too careful with Trill physiology. He then went about the remainder of his duties.

When Treylana awoke, she did so in a panic. “I haven’t missed it have I?” she shouted.

Startled the Brax dashed out of his office to inquire what the fuss was about. “What my dear?” he asked.

“The graduation ceremony. I haven’t missed it have I?”

“Relax!” he replied, “You’ve only been asleep for about thirty minutes. The ceremony isn’t until this afternoon.”

Treylana breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought she had messed up her whole day all over a dumb decision to veer from her normal routine.

Brax looked over medical readouts one last time. Satisfied that there was nothing further to be concerned about, he discharged his patient. “You will be sore for a bit. Unless you have any further need of my assistance, you are free to go.”

Treylana slid herself off the biobed and headed for the door. “Thanks Doc.” She said as the doors slid open.

“Just doing my job.” He replied “Oh! And congratulations!”

She looked back as she was about to turn the corner and smiled. Hopefully, her day could only get better from here on out.

The room was empty save for the presence of a lone figure perched upon a chaise lounge nearest the window overlooking the vastness of space. The Trill, who only months ago had graduated Starfleet Academy, sat there after completing her night shift with her nose buried deep into a leather-bound replica of the works of William Shakespeare. Treylana had been fascinated with the playwright ever since she had learned about him while studying Earth literature.

She had recently finished Macbeth and since she had finished her shift and wanted to unwind before bed, she thought she would take the time to relax with some Hamlet. She was not more than a couple of pages in when the silence was broken by the voice of a Hispanic male.

“Mendoza to Ensign Hess. Please report to my office immediately.”

The voice was that of her commanding officer, Chief Flight Control Officer Lieutenant Commander Enrique Mendoza. The tone of his voice sounded urgent. This worried the young Ensign and seeing as though she was presently out of uniform. She reached for the comm panel on the table next to her, not only to reply to her superior but also to try and buy herself some time before having to confront the man.

“Excuse me Commander. I am not presently in uniform. Can this wait?” she said as she closed the book and stood up.

“Immediately!” replied the man on the other end.

The inflection in his last message solidified in her mind that she was in trouble. What could she have done? Whatever it was, she was about to find out.

A few minutes later Treylana stood before the door to her commanding officer’s office, hesitant to notify him of her presence but also worried that she would face further scrutiny for any delays in reporting. She raised her hand and pressed the door chime.

“Enter.” Came a voice from the other side of the door.

The doors slid open and as Treylana entered, she could see her superior actively scanning the multiple displays on his console. Though he had not been looking at her directly, he motioned for her to sit down. He wrapped up what he was doing and then addressed her.

“Ensign Hess…” he began “Treylana. You’ve been on the Triphane now for what, four months now?”

“Yes sir.” She replied nervously.

“I selected you for the Triphane because your Academy grades were above average. Still room for improvement, but more than qualifies you for this position. And yet, I look over your shift report for last night and wonder if my decision was the right one. Your report was incomplete, and your flight plan was inaccurate. This is the third time this month and I have spoken to you before about this. Is there a problem I should know about?”

Knowing now why her commanding officer called her there eased her suspicions, though it did not make her feel any better for being called out for underperforming. “No sir. No problems. Carelessness on my part. I promise it will not happen again.” She replied.

Mendoza looked at her perplexed. Procedure dictated that he should reprimand her, but he wanted to give the young Trill a chance to make it up to him. At the very least, perhaps she could use with some extra coaching. He pulled up a personnel list on his console and searched for a suitable candidate.

“I want you to report to Lieutenant Sullivan tonight at twenty-three hundred hours. She is one of my finest officers. You can learn a lot from her.”

“Yes sir.” Treylana replied.

“You are dismissed.”

Treylana rose from her seat and exited Mendoza’s office. Rather than going back to her book, she decided to go back to her quarters and get some sleep.

***

Treylana woke from her slumber far sooner than expected. She was unable to sleep after her conversation with Mendoza that morning. She did not like the idea of being stuck with someone else. She knew she could perform her duties, but maybe Mendoza was right. Maybe what she needed was someone she could look up to. Someone she could aspire to be. Not a coach, but more of a mentor.

She did not know of anyone currently aboard the Triphane that would meet the qualifications of a mentor, certainly not in her department anyway. What Treylana needed most was another Trill. Someone who might have shared similar life experiences. The real question was how many Trills there were in Starfleet, let alone ones close enough that she could reach out to.

“Computer. How many Trills are currently serving in Starfleet?”

“There are currently twenty-four thousand nine-hundred fifty-two Trills serving in Starfleet.” Replied the computer.

“How many of those are serving aboard starships?”

“There are nine-thousand eight-hundred sixty-three currently listed aboard active starships.”

“And how many of those are ranked equal to or above Lieutenant Commander?”

“Four-hundred and twelve.”

“How many are nearest to this sector of space?”

“Seven.”

“Computer. Pull up personnel files on those seven officers.”

“Working.”

The computer terminal lit up on her desk with a listing of the seven officers. Treylana glanced at the list and saw that three of them were in the sciences, one was in Tactical, one in Engineering and two had chosen the command route. She eliminated all but the two in command and of those there was one that caught her eye. A Captain by the name of Th’lora Vehl currently serving aboard the USS Hiawatha. Much of the Captain’s file was protected and Treylana only had level two clearance as an Ensign, but it was enough information that she was able to make up her mind that this was the woman she wanted to look up to.

“Computer. Open a channel to Captain Vehl aboard the Hiawatha.”

Moments later a slender woman in her early senior years with shoulder-length dark brown hair and matching brown eyes appeared on her screen. “Yes? What can I do for you…Ensign” the woman asked quizzically.

“Captain. You do not know me. I am aboard the Triphane. It seems as though I am not meeting the expectations of my commanding officer and he believes that I would benefit from some coaching.”

“That would seem like a reasonable decision, but what does that have to do with me? Are there no officers aboard the Triphane to help you with this?”

“Yes, ma’am there are. That is not why I am reaching out to you. I think what I really need instead is a mentor. I have read what I can of your personnel file. I too would like to sit in the big chair one day. However, first and foremost you are a Trill. You understand the things I have been through. Which is why I would like for you to be my mentor.”

“An interesting proposal. As a starship Captain, I may not have all the time necessary to provide what you need but I admire an officer that recognizes their faults and wishes to better themselves…”

Sensing the positivity in the Captain’s response Treylana chimed in excitedly “Thank you Captain. You will not regret this!”

“I have not agreed yet Ensign.” Captain Vehl retorted.

“I am sorry ma’am. Please continue.”

“I am not willing to mentor you over subspace communications. However, if you are willing to put in for a transfer to the Hiawatha and your commanding officer accepts it, I would be willing accept your request for mentorship.”

“Thank you, Captain. I will not disappoint you. I will draw up the papers immediately for transfer and get back to you as soon as possible.”

“Acknowledged. Vehl out.”

Treylana’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm and a new sense of hope. She enjoyed serving on the Triphane though clearly it was not the right fit for her and so she immediately began to draw up the transfer request to present to Mendoza that afternoon.