Ensign Yinn: Receiving the Torch, Part 9

[Mike Vago]

(( Quark's Bar, Promenade, Deep Space 9 ))

Yinn's day ended where it began, at Quark's. Despite having nearly been stabbed at the bar earlier, she wanted to come back, just to soak in a little more atmosphere before she returned to the 'Oumuamua. There was so much work to do before the ship went off to be repaired — packing up the science lab to move to the Butler, of course, but she had also left some asteroid core sample analysis unfinished when she got called to the bridge a few hectic days ago, and she wanted to do an exhaustive search of the ship's area scans from the last mission to see who, or what, had given her that last hallucination. She suspected there was a malevolent, incorporeal being on the moon of Alpha Brenkelvi II, but Yinn was a scientist; she didn't want to think there was something there, she wanted to know before she made any kind of report.

She felt a pang of guilt for spending the day drinking and going to that Bajoran festival. It wasn't exactly time wasted, making new friends and visiting another planet for the first time. But she felt like she should have been doing more.

But there was time for one more bit of cultural exploration. She was trying a frothy, bitter human beverage called "beer". They swore by it, but she didn't quite see the appeal. Even so, she savored another sip. She'd come a long way from a fishing village on Izos.

Yinn was snapped out of her reverie by the approach of two red uniforms. The Commodore! And Commander Rouiancet, whom Yinn hadn't met in her brief time on the ship. The brass could take an hour off to have a drink too, she reasoned.

Except they weren't looking at the bartender, they were heading straight for her.

Rouiancet: Ensign Yinn?

Yinn: Yes, sir.

The Commander smiled reassuringly. Yinn had gotten worked up about seeing Commodore V'Airu earlier, and needn't have worried. This was just another social visit. 

Rouiancet: I'm Lia, Commander Rouiancet, your new CO aboard the Octavia E. Butler. I wanted to welcome you to the crew, since I don't think we've formally met.

Yinn: No, sir. I haven't been with the 'Oumuamua long, and I'm still meeting everyone.

V'Airu: And I'm here to wish you well. (beat) But also...

The Commodore indicated a small box that she held with both hands. Was this some Vulcan or Betazed tradition Yinn wasn't aware of? But then she saw the ribbon inside. It was a Starfleet tradition. Yinn instinctively straightened her back.

V'Airu: You were called to the bridge with no warning, in an emergency situation in which you were drafted into the ship's senior staff. You performed in an exemplary manner under pressure in an emergency situation, when the gold standard might well have been simply keeping your wits. Yet you did much more than that. I was not there myself, and yet it is my decision and my honor to recognize you with the Captain's Commendation, one of the most prestigious ribbons I can offer.

Commodore V'Airu stepped forward to pin Ensign Yinn.

Yinn: Sir, I — I didn't really —

What had she done? Flooding the planet with chronitons had saved the incorporeal residents of the planet, but it was someone else's idea. All Yinn had done was execute her orders competently; what everyone was supposed to do. Yes, she had been trapped in some kind of mental prison and found her way out to complete the mission, but it didn't have an effect on the larger mission. Was that anything exceptional? 

Yinn decided to stop overthinking it. It wasn't her place to question the Commodore.

Yinn: Thank you, sir.

She put her fingers to her chest where the ribbon adhered to her uniform. She wasn't sure if she deserved it, but the best thing she could do was live up to it, and the faith the Commodore and her new Captain were putting in her.

Maybe it hadn't been a waste of a day after all.

(End scene)

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Ensign Yinn
Science Officer

USS 'Oumuamua

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