Lieutenant JG Amelia Semara - Nantahala in Spring

[Max]

(( Docking Ports, Deep Space 33 ))

Since returning from the cruise, Amelia had already gotten back to work.  That morning was spent with B'Ella, using the holodeck on the station until both women were a sweaty mess.  Despite what sounded like the diet of a teenage Human boy, she was still Klingon, and Amelia had to push herself to keep up just as hard as she pushed the Ensign.  After, there was time to clean up and run through a pile of briefs and forms over lunch before it was time to get ready for the ceremony.  Ready or not, Khitomer and her crew were being sent back out on patrol - this time deeper into the Isles than they'd ever gone.  Intelligence was sketchy at best, often coming second- or even third-hand.  Ironic that they'd finally been sent exploring the unknown the moment discovery was no longer her main job.

Among other items in her inbox, there was an official notice of her new posting.  Naxell had been true to his word - not that she'd expected anything less.  Her time wearing blue was at an end.  What she hadn't expected was what appeared to be a mistake in the notice of assignment, at first, but then... She was about to find out for certain, wasn't she?

Ordinarily, she might have eschewed a uniform for something formal from her own selection for one of these ceremonies, but...  Not only was this ceremony somewhat different - less casual - it was going to be her last chance to don the science colors.  May as well make it count.  There was no holding back.  The replicator could tailor the blue dress uniform to fit her figure just so - and the correct variant (with a slitted skirt over fitted pants), no less.  The uniform library was even willing to produce dark matte boots with a thick three-inch heel.  A great deal of effort was expended in front of the mirror on her face and hair.  She did her nails in a royal sapphire blue.  Her lips were done in a bold red, cheeks dusted with a carefully-applied blush.  Eyes received special attention with precise liner.  A glamorous eyeshadow accentuated the shape of her eyes, glittering with flecks of metallic blue in the light that turned to smokey grey-black in the shadow.  Her hair was allowed to have a little loose wave and bounce, but the left side was tightly pulled back where the Golden Leaf of Semizad proudly pinned it back.

In truth, it was all armor.  Even though she had made her peace with it, a black collar was still different from all the rest.  However much she was a part of the crew, she would still stand somewhat apart.  She would always know something the rest of them didn't - and couldn't - know.  The color would naturally draw in eyes and minds, wouldn't it?  Despite her acceptance of the posting, she still found herself chewing her cogitative cud over what the crew would think.  At least she'd told Talia - that was one question put out of mind.  But it was why she'd spent the time so carefully on her appearance: if people were going to be looking, she still had the power to choose the image they'd see.  Drama and elegance in her appearance could make a pronouncement of pride and confidence.  She hoped showing it would help her feel it, too.

Then again, the person Amelia really wanted to see was the only person she couldn't seem to find.  She knew Ras was somewhere nearby, but the brewing cloud of his aura seemed to float and diffuse through the crowd of crew in a way that she couldn't pin down with her eyes.  It was a terrible thing that she'd let talking to him again slip for so long.  It would have been better to have spoken with him before the ceremony, but the whirlwind of returning seemed to steal away even a fleeting moment to invite him to the apology dinner she was still planning.  Or that was the excuse while she still picked over what to say to him.  Odds of things working out were quickly burning away, but...  Amelia had to choose hope.

A new captain, a new posting, a new perspective on a maybe-more-than-friendship...  Amidst all the change, she was becoming aware of the change in herself most of all.  At some point, she gave up looking for Ras, and found herself thinking in front of a window.

Standing there angled against the transparent barrier, she stared out at the disced streak of stars brightly clustered around the galactic center.  Amelia was reminded of Nantahala in Spring, when Casperia's rings put on their most lively displays.  The Valley of the Sapphire-Crowned Sun earned its poetic title from the way the planet's rings appeared bigger, brighter, and more vibrant at altitude.  They lit up in brilliant, rich blues in the morning, growing pale as the sun rose.  They turned to droplets of pink honey - just like the padparadscha in her heirloom pin - as the sun appeared to pass through them, casting colored shadows on the valley below.  At dusk, they scattered back a mix of burnt oranges and violets like a glimmering chandelier.  Finally, at night, as the planet intervened between the sun and the rings, the night sky fell dark... but not quite.

The rings were a living thing: a flattened out accretion of dust and rock and mineral and gasses orbiting at speed, particles constantly tumbling about and colliding.  As a girl, Amelia would look up on those chilled spring nights and watch as this dance made a whole arc of the sky look like twinkling fairy dust.  Every so often, a slightly larger anchor asteroid - otherwise invisible - would spin to reflect a little more starlight, faintly glittering like a tiny diamond before turning black again.  The sky was full of precious gems.

When she imagined herself looking up at those rings again, she easily pictured Ras' warmth next to her on a blanket atop the grass, her hand in his.  Hadn't the way his eyes shifted color reminded her of home?

Then she flipped perspective, and she became part of those rings in her mind's eye.  From blue to black...  From morning to night...  What if she hadn't changed as much as she imagined?  What if it was simply seeing herself more clearly now in the dark?  That this was what she needed to better see the brightest and most beautiful parts of what was already there?

Amelia peeled away from the window, and was immediately searching for Ras again.

Clarity had a frustrating way of coming at the most inconvenient times.  Crew were already finding their seats, and time had run out for her to say what she should have said weeks ago.  Luck wasn't completely against her, though.  Amelia spotted Ayemet, and found herself beaming and bouncing up to her friend.

Semara: Ayemet!

Amelia didn't bother hesitating pulling the woman into a hug.  Why bother holding back, when it seemed like they both needed one?

A. Dewitt: Response

After holding only a swaying smidge too long, she let Ayemet go.

Semara: Weird shore leave for you too, I imagine?

Connor was XO.  Ayemet had to know.  Probably knew even before Amelia did.  Amelia had to shake her head at herself.  She'd been so busy thinking about herself...  Odds were good people would be too busy thinking about a newly-arrived Denobulan captain to cast their freshly-minted intelligence officer a second thought.

A. Dewitt: Response

Semara: I'm glad it's Connor.  But I hope he gave you a proper thank-you for bein' such an amazin' and endurin' wife.  :: A little smirk. :: Come on.  :: A sideways nod towards the seats. ::  Sit with me?  I wanna have a friend by my side tonight.

A. Dewitt: Response

Amelia smiled, and started filtering over towards the chairs.  Waiting for a few others to sit, she found her head angled up at an impossible angle towards what had to be the tallest Klingon she'd ever met in real life.  Met twice that is.

Semara: :: Half-unbelieving. :: Lieutenant Korras?

Korras / A. Dewitt: Response

Amelia promptly gave a little curtsy, and rose smiling.  There was something that felt healing about familiar faces returning.  Whatever drew people away - emergencies with family or whole worlds - time could mend things, and people eventually returned to their proper place.

Semara: Lovely to have you back with us.  Won't you join us for the ceremony?  :: Gesturing to Ayemet. ::  Then you can tell us what you've been up to after.

Korras / A. Dewitt: Response

Finally, the rows were filled up, and Amelia gestured to the other two to go ahead and take their seats.  The susurration of movement and conversation died down, and all eyes were pulled to Connor standing in crimson under light on the podium, the Khitomer lit up through the window behind him.

Amelia reached over and gave Ayemet a little squeeze on the arm along with a smile.  Connor looked good in red.  The exhaustion about him betrayed that it was all so new to him, and just how unsure he was.  Hopefully he'd figure it out soon that the crew needed him exactly where he was now, and how to take pride in that.

C. Dewitt: As a friend of mine used to say on occasions like this… Here we are again.

Amelia swallowed.  Those were Shayne's words, weren't they?  She had to wonder if she and the former captain had parted with any kind of friendship.

C. Dewitt: Before we get to why we’re all here tonight, there’s something I want to address first. ::beat:: Some of you may already have heard… Others may have guessed, and a few of you probably saw the uniform and figured it out immedieately. Standing here as the First Officer of the USS Khitomer is not something I expected to happen this soon.

There was a tiny impulse to scream out, "Go Connor!" at the top of her lungs.  Fortunately, there was a more powerful impulse that stopped her from probably embarrassing the daylights out of the poor man at what was clearly meant to be a solemn affair.

So, instead, she leaned over to his wife for a conspiratorial whisper.

Semara: :: Whispering :: Go Connor!

Korras / A. Dewitt: Response?

C. Dewitt: Captain Shayne and Commander Hobart have led this crew through some of the hardest months most of us have ever seen. Through battles we didn’t choose. Through losses none of us wanted. And through the long shadow of the Lattice Alliance.

The significance of Connor's red uniform and words were starting to settle into the crowd.  Amelia understood the grip of doubt and anxiety tightening around the assembly...  She must have been one of only a very few to have actually met the incoming Commander Naxell outside of the command team.

C. Dewitt: And through all of that they reminded us what Starfleet is supposed to be. They reminded us of why we are out here with a family of four hundred.

Amelia's smile came out a little cockeyed.  Connor liked to talk that way about family and the meaning of Starfleet.  For over a year before this ship and crew, Starfleet had just been a job as far as Amelia was concerned.  Khitomer was different.  Then again, literally meeting her daughter from the future and seeing the way she recognized crewmates made it easier to know what he meant.

C. Dewitt: Many of us have carried scars from the last year. Some visible. Some not. ::pause:: Tonight is not just about recognition. It is also about turning a page. A new chapter begins for Khitomer today. One where, hopefully, we begin to heal from what countless fights have left behind.

Her thoughts briefly drifted off to Lera - someone who would be healing more than the rest of them in the coming weeks and months, according to one report.  All from something that happened on shore leave.  Perhaps both the fighting and the healing never stopped, and that was the trick of it.

C. Dewitt: And every new chapter needs someone to lead it. I haven’t known him for very long. But in the short time, his advice has already had a significant impact on my life. ::pause with a smile:: And you can ask my wife, that’s something I don’t say lightly.

Amelia grinned at Ayemet at the comment, waggling her eyebrows.  Connor might have had a terrible time showing it, but the woman was so much of his life.  Hopefully, Ayemet knew that.

C. Dewitt: I look forward to a new chapter and to seeing where he will lead this crew next. It’s my honor to introduce the new commanding officer of the USS Khitomer… ::a small gesture of invitation:: Commander Naxell.

Looking back to the stage, it was now up to a bearded Denobulan to win over the crew.

Semara: :: Whispering again. :: Met the new cap'n yet?

A. Dewitt / Korras: Response

Amelia gave a little nod.  She'd been lucky, in a way, to meet the new captain.  There was another reason she had been thinking of Nantahala in Spring.  Every year, the snow on the valley floor melted away in the rising temperatures, leaving the ground seemingly dead and parched for a time before the rain came.  Sometimes they were gentle, and sometimes they were powerfully great thunderstorms capable of reshaping the mountains themselves with wind and water.  But after, there was always that great season of renewal, with brilliant life filling every corner.

Once again, Amelia had to choose hope.  The crew would undoubtedly miss Shayne and Hobart, but after...  There could be a renewal for all of them.

Semara: I think I might like him...  :: A little smile. ::

A. Dewitt / Korras: Response ?

Naxell / Any: Response

Tag / TBC...

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Lieutenant Junior Grade Amelia Magnolia Semara

Science Officer - Special Projects

USS Khitomer - NCC-62400

A239710MA0