A Place to Call My Own

Posted on Tue 6th May, 2025 @ 2:11pm by Commander Heriah Rex & Captain Gordon Francis & Commander Mikaela Locke

1,886 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: From The Ashes
Location: Deck 12 - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD-01: 1059

It had not been long before Commander Mikaela Locke's restlessness about her place on the station returned.

Despite Paul's attempted assurances that her unease surrounding her position and billet didn't need to be resolved immediately, her impatience had gotten the better of her. Within an hour she had contacted Captain Francis' yeoman and asked for an appointment. Within two hours she was standing outside his ready room, finger outstretched over the chime, but not pressing it quite yet. A sudden wave of uncertainty swept over her.

She had spoken to Paul briefly about the new station captain and the new XO, but had not yet had time to read their personnel files - something that, she now realised, might have been a good idea before setting up a meeting with them.

'Some intelligence officer you are!' she chided herself, disgusted that she had allowed her anxiety to lead to impatience and an impulsive decision.

'Oh well,' she continued, in her mind, 'Looks like I'm doing this the old-fashioned way.'

She briefly reassessed her situation. Forming opinions on character based on body-language and initial conversations wasn't something she considered to be her strong point - at least not compared to some intel. officers or a psychologist-stroke-counsellor like Paul - although she did have an eye for detail. She mused that, perhaps meeting Francis and Rex without the information contained in their personnel files would allow her to build up a more unadulterated impression of them as officers, as leaders and as people. Their relationship, therefore, would be built less on suspicion, which was her default, and more on innocence.

'Or naïvety...' she chided herself again. Captain Francis has also been an intelligence officer earlier in his career, that much she did know. There was no way he was taking this meeting without having read her file first.

She cursed under her breath, realising that it was too late to correct her mistake now. Her meeting was at eleven hundred, and eleven hundred it was. Reflecting that she may have been a fool, but at least she wasn't a late fool, she extended her finger slightly further, pressed the chime, and waited.

"Come in," came Captain Francis' response. The doors swished open to reveal the all-too-familiar ready room. Francis had done virtually nothing to change the look of it. Same couch, chairs, and desk. A watercolor painting of the station hanged framed on the wall opposite the desk added a little personality to an otherwise drab room.

Upon the doors opening, Captain Francis, still behind his desk, stood and gestured to the chair next to where Commander Rex was seated.

Heriah was already looking in Locke's direction as the door revealed who was on the other side. She recognized Locke from the roster of incoming personnel. She smiled at the woman invitingly. Rex, however, was elated, but at the thought of the former XO losing her position and room.

"Commander Locke, I presume," Francis said. "Welcome aboard, or rather welcome back!"

"Thank you, Captain," Locke replied formally, as she crossed the room towards the chair that he had indicated. It was only a matter of a few steps, but in seconds it took her to traverse the room, a whole raft of emotions welled up in her out of nowhere. On one hand, this was a familiar walk - one that she had undertaken hundreds, if not thousands of times before. The familiarity was comforting. Except that this was different. Every time that she had previously walked toward that desk, she had done so as the station XO; as the deputy and closest advisor to the person who sat behind said desk - the station CO. Three of them to be exact. On two separate occasions, she, herself, had found herself behind the desk - the acting station commander, in its times of transition.

But this time was different. This time, as she crossed the room, she had no sway with the captain. She had no power and no position at all. And that unsettled her further.

She pulled out the chair and took a seat.

She wasn't getting anything from Captain Francis. He wasn't stoic, as such, but even behind the bright expression on his face, he wasn't giving anything away. 'Intel. officer,' she reminded herself. Commander Rex on the other hand was smiling, a sweet smile, but behind her eyes was something else. Something that she couldn't quite place yet, but not something that she relished uncovering.

"Nice to meet you, commander," she turned in her seat, returning the smile, keeping her expression as cordial and friendly as she could.

"Commander," Heriah regarded the women in return. "Of course you know Captain Francis. I am Heriah Khatain Rex..."

'Commander of 109. Remind her that you are the comman...'

"...the...XO under Captain Francis. And please," she waved informally, "I think we can all agree on first names when it is just us. Heriah, Khatain, some like to call me Khat. You know...like a cat."

'And you are just going to forget about me?'

"Rex will also suffice. I answer to just about anything." She looked to Frank. "Don't I, Captain?"

Francis nodded with a little smile. "I'm so old I remember when everyone called you 'Spider'!"

"Yes," Heriah said, "there was 'Spider' as well."

'And don't forget the names people had for Davmorda; slut, skank, whor...'

Heriah broke in on Rex' thoughts with, "...who...or...ow...how are you finding the starbase? Just as you left it?"

"Not entirely," Locke replied, trying to keep her expression light. 'For one thing,' she thought to herself, 'You're sitting behind my desk, doing my job and living in my quarters!' "But there's enough familiarity for it to feel comfortable." She offered another half-smile to Heriah, not being able to envisage a universe in which she referred to this woman as 'Spider'. "How is One-Oh-Nine treating you both?" she continued, trying to move the conversation away from her discomfort at being replaced for a moment.

"So far this station has treated me just fine. I'm very taken with it. Coffee anyone?" Francis said, standing and pouring himself a cup.

"I'll have a coffee. If you please, sir," Heriah said. She then turned her attention back to Locke. "And 109 has been inviting to me. I am new here myself. Settling in nicely I would say."

Mikaela nodded at Heriah, "I'm glad," she said, before turning her attention back to the captain. "I'll have a coffee too please, sir."

Captain Francis could see a certain amount of tension--or perhaps anxiety--in Commander Locke. He understood the feeling, and was beginning to be annoyed by the elephant in the room.

Francis handed both women their coffee and returned to his seat, making a mental note to brew more. He continued. "I know how it feels to come back to a place you called home after being away so long. I remember returning to my home farm twenty years after Pa sold the place, and fifteen years after he and Ma passed, and meeting the new proprietor. It was strange when Pa wasn't the one to answer the door. It hurt thinking of a new family at our dining table, or their son sleeping in my room. The family was very polite and humored me while I told them a few stories... but they weren't my family, and this wasn't my house."

He took a sip of coffee and continued. "Forgive an old man's assumption, but I can see how that feeling might be the same for you. Am I correct?"

It was a somewhat long-winded metaphor, but Mikaela could see where the captain was going and why he had chosen that particular route in to opening up this part of the conversation. "In a manner of speaking, yes sir," she replied. "While much is the same, there is most certainly a sense..." she paused, not wanting to go so far as to say that it hurt to think of the woman seated to her right sleeping in her room. Again, she had known that this would likely happen the second she agreed to join Grax on the Falcon. "There is a sense that this is no longer my house," she concluded cautiously. "I'm not sure whether I still belong here, or, respectfully sir," she pushed slightly, "whether I fit in to your plans."

"Oh, I've been in similar situations believe me," Heriah said. "I've no doubt you will fit right in."

She resisted the temptation to look at Heriah. It was clear that the Trill woman did not see this post as a temporary one and she, herself, was under no illusions that she would waltz back into her old job, but that being said, where did she fit? Paul had alluded to a couple of department head vacancies on the station, but she had no idea if she was going to be the right fit for them, or them for her.

Captain Francis hoped his smile was reassuring. "I was perusing your record with Commander Rex earlier. You have quite the education, and excelling at both Intelligence and Communications means you're no one-trick pony. How would you feel about running the Security Department?"

"The security department?" Mikaela repeated, surprised. "I'm not a trained security officer, captain."

Francis shrugged. "Perhaps," he said, glancing at Rex.

"September 2388," Heriah spoke up, "you cross-trained in Strategic and Tactical Operations." She had Locke's profile pulled up on her PADD. "January 2390, promoted to Senior Intelligence officer, DS5. And your profile says you have an eidetic memory. You know languages and your profile indicates proficiency in fencing. So, there is some combatives experience. The training is all there. All that is needed is a brush-up on Security protocol. An eidetic memory can get through that in a day I think." Heriah looked from Locke to Frank wondering if he agreed with her quick assessment.

Francis smiled. "We have an open slot, and Commander Rex and I are both confident you can handle the job. You have the extra advantage of already knowing the station and some of its crew. And I personally guarantee you'll get everything you need. What do you say, Commander?"

Locke mused for a few seconds. Despite her initial protestations, Francis and Rex's logic was irrefutable - which she found slightly annoying - and, while some of the staff would have change in the last eighteen months, she would be familiar with many of them. Also, it was an opportunity to stay on the station... With Paul... In the only place she could currently call home. Ultimately, she concluded that the only reason to turn this down was her own fear of failure - something she couldn't countenance - but she never failed at anything she had put her mind to before. There was no logical reason to believe that she would fail at this.

"I accept your offer, captain," she eventually said.

Francis grinned. "Thank you, Commander. Welcome home!" The Captain extended his hand, a gesture he was notorious for giving on rare circumstances.

 

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