“I’m sorry it has been so long, I wanted to come sooner but…well, it is hard…”

Riandri sat on a small wooden bench that was covered in snow as she looked down at her feet. She had grabbed her heavy winter coat and was bundled up against the cold but as she sat there she couldn’t help but feel a deep cold penetrate into her.  As she looked down at her feet a tear rolled down her cheek slowly crystalizing before it fell to the ground, another small chunk of ice to add to the piles of snow and ice around her.

She sat for a few moments in silence as if waiting for a response before continuing. “I think you would be proud of me, I am a Lieutenant now with Starfleet intelligence and I am told I am good at it.” She said her voice quivering slightly. “They came back, last year, but we learned, adapted, they still killed alot of people but the fleet met them and destroyed them.”

She leaned back and looked up at the pale grey winter sky above her, snowflakes slowly drifting down towards her. “I am not sure if it is a good thing or not but I don’t think you wouldn’t recognize Starfleet anymore, it has changed so much. Especially since the Dominion appeared, they are hell-bent on taking over but we are giving them a run for their money, as you liked to say. But unless this changes we will lose; another home lost.” She leaned forward again, her eyes closed as tears welled up as she tried to force them away but gave in and wiped them from her cheeks with her glove.

She looked up slightly towards the small pyramid-shaped memorial alot a small rock outcropping before her shaded by several trees. On its side, the engraved image of her late husband’s face with his birth and date of death looked back at her. There never had been anything to bury after Wolf 359 as the USS Firebrand had been so effectively destroyed so all she had was a couple of his things entombed in the memorial to remind her of yet another person the borg had taken from her.

“You know, I have had this cabin and area for a long time, but now, whenever I come home, well here. All I can remember and think about is you and the life we never had James. Losing you pushed me to Starfleet, pushed me to do things I never thought I would do, lines I wouldn’t cross.” She looked at the stone face and her eyes grew hard. “I won’t let the Borg or Dominion or anyone continue to destroy people’s lives.” As she said that a gust of wind blew through the trees distributing the snow around her before it settled. That all but erased her growing anger and eased her sadness a bit, “If I didn’t know any better O’Connel I would say you agreed with me. I will give them hell.” 

She stood up and stepped towards the memorial and kissed the stone lightly. “I miss you.” With that, she turned and began to walk back the way she had come through the deep snow following her footprints, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.