Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home
The shuttle banked starboard, opening up the view of the city below and many occupants took the opportunity to look down below at Atlanta, Georgia. One however was catnapping after a very long journey. From the Delta Quadrant to Alpha, she had gone from Starbase Event Horizon to Starbase 243, where she hitched a ride on the USS Kerrisdale to Bolarus, before switching to a transport vessel heading to the Sol Sector. Catching a shuttle from McKinley Station, she was now on her way down planetside to Tennessee. It was a place she had never been but had been promised two whole weeks of peace and solitude, of beautiful surroundings in nature and a lovely home where she could cozy up to one of the most abrasive and foul-mouthed men she had ever known, but whose kindness, empathy and strength gave her a reason to let go.

Eighty acres in Tennessee was what she had been promised. Just them, coffee and eighty acres of wilderness where she could unwind, unload and unburden herself. Where the secrets and secret hurts could rise to the surface and no one would bat an eye. A place where those secrets unleashed couldn’t hurt her or anyone anymore. And she needed that. She needed be able to cry or scream or whatever without someone worrying about it.

In her line of work, emotions were weakness. Of course, it was more complicated than that. In fact, the many counsellors and psychiatrists she’d been seeing in recent years would tell her that finding ways to work through those emotions without letting them compromise her would be the key to continuing with her work. She didn’t disagree. But times had changed and one fateful assignment had brought her daughter within reach. So many years apart, so many things missed, and she was right there.

Faye might as well have been in another Quadrant. Because anything too overt would have gotten them both killed. So she bided her time. And each day she died a little inside as those bastards caused her baby girl pain and torment, all in the name of an experiment. And the only thing she let herself feel at the time was deep, immense pride because Faye never broke. Not once. There was a special place in Hell for her daughter’s tormentors, but it would not be herself who sent them there, though she’d have loved the opportunity. A fact for which she felt not a lick of shame.

The reality for Shara Calloway was that she had done her duty. She had served her cause. And she found Faye. It would take yet another assignment and utter chaos for them to be reunited, but it had not been a smooth process. The secrets.... oh the secrets! On both their parts. So many to share and unravel. So many painful things that had to be slogged through. But they made it. She still wasn’t sure how, but she knew it had a lot to do with a scrappy woman who had given birth and raised a scrappy daughter until fate decided to pull them apart. There were not mirrors, but they were pages of similar books, who shared chapters and wrote with different voices. At their core, they were the same… much to each other’s chagrin and deep fascination.

As the pilot announced their impending landing, Shara Calloway immediately sat up, grabbed her bag and prepared herself for the next chapter of her life. And she was admittedly looking forward to it. Her and Faye had gotten to say, not ‘farewell’, not ‘goodbye’, but ‘call you when I get there’, ‘talk to you later’. And oh the wonderful miracle that was! Her next chapter awaited before not before two weeks of promises. She was not someone who generally liked promises, but she liked them from this singularly and impressively deep man.

Here, as the shuttle landed and Shara stepped out in her grey cargo pants, sleeveless ribbed white shirt and dark brown leather jacket, her boots hit solid ground. With her duffel in one hand, she slung her soft shelled guitar case over a shoulder (her only possessions in the Galaxy) and walked out in search of Home. And if there was one thing in her six decades of life that Shara Elaine Calloway knew for certain, it was that home was not a place. Home was people.

~Shara Calloway

A metal arm intertwined itself into hers at the same time a voice said “Well ain’t you jus’ an oasis in the desert. You come here often, sweet thang?” and Micah chuckled. “Took ya long enough. I was starting ‘ta think you might have changed your mind.” He bent his face to her cheek and kissed her. “And I’m really glad ya didn’t.” he half-whispered as he pulled her away from the regular customs line and towards an unmarked and easily overlooked door.

As they approached, a panel slid up and a optical reader appeared. Micah looked at it and then blinked after the light scanned his optical pathways. “Advantge of having me around…” and the door clicked and slid open to reveal a hallway. “Perks a’ the job, love… perks a’ the job.”

He led her down the hallway until they came to a door marked 19C. The door opened at their approach and stepping through they were in a private hangar. It was empty save for a single vessel: a Hideki-class Cardassian patrol ship. It was painted a dark, muted gray rather than the standard Cadassian military burnt orange. It was obviously on standby, as the impulse engine ports glowed with a faint blue light.

“C’mon, hun. Want to get us home before dark.” and he reached in his pocket and pulled out a rod-looking device and pressed a stud and the starboard hatch opened and he led her inside.

The interior of the vessel was definitely not Cardassian, and had been heavily modified. Living quarters, upgraded subspace communications, cryptographic center… even a small holding cell were all visible to Shara’s trained eye as he led her to the cockpit. Here, the normally clumsy and effecient-yet-rigid Cardassian control systems had been modified to a strange hybrid system of Star Fleet, Romulan, and Federation Law Enforcement systems.

“Have a seat.”he said and indicated the co-pilot’s chair as he settled into the pilot’s. He looked at her and smiled. “I’m really glad you came, Sha. I’ve missed you… somethin’ fierce.”

He smiled and turned to the controls and with a practiced ease awakened the vessel. =/\= Control, this is Union 8-6-9-8. Leaving docks. =/\= there was a small delay and then a voice replied =/\= Union 8-6-9-8 confirmed. =/\= The vessel rose off the deck, retracted its landing gear and moved slowly to the exit. Micah grinned and said “Grab your ta-ta’s, here we go.” and suddenly the vessel shot forward and up with such acceleration that it could be felt even with inertial dampeners. In under a minute they had left Atlanta and streaked north west at altitude high enough to avoid air traffic. Micah looked over and said “Well? What’dya think of my little lady here? Her name is Vanessa.” and he grinned and winked.

Micah Pikelsimer