It was weird. Scary. Confusing. Unsettling.

Posted on 05 Oct 2026 @ 2:43am by Ensign Lirien vel Morah

701 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Unity
Location: Stellar Cartography

It was weird. Scary. Confusing. Unsettling.

A murderer was on the loose, either on the Odin or at the station. Yet they could still move about the Odin. They could keep on duty as if nothing had happened. But that was life; even if they were civilians, life would just move on regardless of what happened.

For Lirien, it didn't help that one of her colleagues didn't seem affected by any of this. It was back to work. "Porra, I get what you are saying, and I am looking at the data, but what I am seeing is just space noise," Lirien said, now getting a bit annoyed with what Porra was trying to prove.

"Are you serious? I mean, have you ever seen these?" She asked, pulling up the frequencies.

"No. But my specialty has always been stellar cartography, not astrophysics, which that falls under." The young Orion said, trying to stay calm. "And this is not me saying don't pursue this; it's just be careful. You need more data." Lirien felt the Denobulan's rejection, and it weighed on her. "Sorry. I don't mean to dismiss your research or you; it is just this- the murder, lockdown- it is just a lot, you understand?" Lirien asked, knowing that this would either piss her off or help smooth things over.

"I know, and sorry, I just...it is, well, this is how I handle things. When things get rough, I bury myself in my work." The Denobulan said, and it was a fair rationale, especially for scientists; for them, their work was everything.

"Porra, it is okay, I get it, hell, we have all done it. You just need to breathe, and just understand everyone else and how they are dealing with everything." Liriren said, taking a deep breath, "But there is a silver lining: the lieutenant hasn't told you to stop. Unless- please tell me you have been keeping him in the loop?"

"Well...," the Denobulan said with a sheepish grin.

"Porra, are you serious?" The young Orion sighed, looking at her. "Okay, tell me you have detailed reports and a presentation that you can show him?"

'I have...," but once again she was cut off.

"Okay. You're cut off from any new information until you have a fully built presentation, past, present, and hell, future reports ready for the lieutenant. Go!" Lirien said with a soft chuckle.

The Denobulan just nodded, not in defeat, but in realizing she had screwed up, and that there was a reason why Lirien was placed where she was placed, and why the lieutenant relied on her as much as he did, without saying so.

The young Orion took another deep breath as she watched the Denobulan slinker off to do it.

"...this is why that annoying, pain-in-the-ass lieutenant has pushed to be this. The 'hold everyone together' person of the team. Because you are destined to be team leader and eventually department head." The Andorian said with a smirk, which was rare for her.

This made the Orion chuckle. "The problem is, I didn't ask for this; I just wanted to be a scientist."

"I also know that, but...well, you are a scientist, and the problem is you are not the typical scientist. You know how to handle people, which, unfortunately, in this line of work, bills you for one place: department head, or at least a fleet-level position." The Andorian said as she moved towards Lirien.

The young Orion wanted to throw up at what Zhara said; the problem was she agreed with her. "But only with you at my side." She whispered, making sure the Andorian didn't hear her. "Don't you have work to do?"

"I do; I was just checking on you," Zhara said, showing a side Lirien was only privy to.

"Thank you, and I appreciate that more then you'll ever know, but please go back to work, so I can achieve my destiny." Lirien said with a soft chuckle, resisting the urge to place her hand on Zhara's.

"Of course ma'am." Zhara said with her own chuckle as she turned and headed back to her desk. Leaving Lirien to her work, which she was oddly grateful for.

 

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