Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Requiem for a Life

(snip)

A few seconds later Faye seemed to get a grip of reality and she dashed out of her room into the dim corridor. She went off in one direction knowing it was the most likely way he’d try to go. There were only so many quiet ways out of the manor.

Later, Faye would not be able to recall the exact details. Which was strange given her encyclopedic mind. But she remembered shouting. She remembered a scream and at one point she was knelt beside Cam, who was prone on the ground with an ugly charred mark across his chest from a disruptor. There were no tears. Just emptiness and that strange out of body experience returned. It was like floating. There were words, people. Someone must have picked her up at one point, but Faye wasn’t actively aware of any of it.

Days passed and people came and went from her room. She was in bed, but little else registered with her. There was food and water but Faye ate and drank without awareness. She showered with help and used the toilet but unaware of her body’s prompting. At one point a doctor even came by to administer a nutrient injection.

All she knew was that she was truly alone now. And in that solitude she slipped to other places and times, trying to piece together exactly how she found herself in this mess.

Tracken II, 2370

Sitting on a large storage box on the side of the space, Faye banged her heels banging against the side. Not that anyone could hear it. The music playing drowned out all the small noises and quiet conversations. Not that there were a ton of people here at the moment. Most of the decision makers on their little colony were gathered in the community centre to her right, having an in depth discussion about something big. No one was saying anything but Faye and the other older youth were all too aware of the tension that had swept over their home.

Cam came over, and handed her a glass as he scooched up onto the box beside her. “Anything yet?”

Faye shook her head. “Nope. They’ve been in there for two hours. Whatever it is, it’s big. I even heard Jaris raising his voice, so you know it’s something bad.” News about the treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians had swept through the colonies weeks ago, especially in light of the new Demilitarized Zone, but Tracken had been thankfully left out of the mess. Still, there had been an edge present since the news had made it to them.

He slipped his arm across Faye’s shoulders. “Well, not much we can do about that. Come on, let’s dance.”

With a lopsided grin she set down her glass and slipped off the box with him and over to the dance floor. It was a makeshift affair under the set of pergolas outside the main square of the settlement. Strings of lights were woven through the slats and this was the outdoor space where they gathered most weeks when the weather was nice. A big fire was often going off to the side and someone was always cooking something, though they all brought stuff to eat potluck style. Music, as it always was, was a vital part of these gatherings. Sometimes live, sometimes played over speakers. It thrummed, becoming something of a heartbeat for this place.

Faye and Cam spun and swayed to the music, Faye’s occasional laughter ringing out across the area. Regardless of what was happening elsewhere, at least for the moment, they could pretend it was just them and everything was okay. But as memories always were, her later recollections were one sided. If she had only known the whole story of that one night, maybe things could have been different. But probably not.

Shara stepped through the door that Edward held open. “I just…”

“I know,” he said solemnly. “But you were right. It could’ve been us. We’ve been fortunate that they didn’t lay claim to Tracken, but others were not so lucky. We could be neutral, but then what?”

She sighed as they stepped into the night air and walked slowly towards where everyone who hadn’t been at the colony meeting had gathered for the weekly dance night. “Inviting the Maquis here though… that’s a bold move. A dangerous one.”

Edward was silent for a moment but he slipped his hand into Shara’s, squeezing solidly. “It is. And Jaris isn’t exactly unbiased when it comes to the Cardassians, but that’s exactly why he’s right. He knows all too well what they will do. You were right when you told everyone that we can’t become another Setlik III. If we go down, we go down fighting.”

As they approached the dance floor, they saw Faye and Cam laughing and dancing carefree. Edward squeezed her hand again. They were doing this for that, for Faye, for the future of everyone here. They wouldn’t turn a blind eye and hope no one noticed. They just couldn’t- it went against everything they believed.

The song changed and Edward grinned. “Oh look, our song! Come on.”

Shara gave him a sideways grin. “We have a song? Since when?”

“Since right now,” Edward said, a cheeky gleam in his blue eyes. Shara just laughed as he led her onto the dance floor.

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin’
We could dream this night away

But there’s a full moon risin’
Let’s go dancin’ in the light
We know where the music’s playin’
Let’s go out and feel the night

Edward began to mouth the words, a deep smile etched in his eyes.

Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDzHhqWZMD0]

Faye watched her parents shift from solenm conversation to lightheartedness as they too hit the dance floor. Even as things were clearly not alright, it filled Faye with a sense of certainty. Of rightness.

“What did T’Lora want to talk to you about yesterday?” Cam asked, drawing Faye from her reverie.

“Oh! Uhhh, well…”

He frowned as she spun her out and back. “Is everything okay?”

Faye sighed and nodded. “Yeah, nothing bad at all. Just something to think about.” He raised his brows at her. “She thinks I should consider leaving Tracken to go to school. Apparently with some good recommendations, I could have a lot of options.”

“Options like what?” he said quietly.

Faye shrugged. “I don’t know. Places like Vulcan. Or Earth. She said with my memory and how much I’ve taken to science and maths that I could do some really cool things.” She searched out his gaze and gave him a grin. “I’m not deciding anything yet. It was just something to think about. And hey, if I did go to Earth or something, maybe you could go too?”

Cam chuckled. “And do what?”

She knew he was in danger of getting broody and a broody Cam was hard to be around. Him laughing was always a good sign. “Anything. There’s a whole entire planet, and a system, remember?”

“You just want to get off this rock and leave us little folk while you hop about the stars,” he teased.

“Ha ha. You’re making fun of it, but can you really see yourself here for the rest of your life?”

Cameron considered her. “I don’t know. It’s not so bad, is it?”

Faye shook her head. “No, not it’s not.” She couldn’t fully explain it, but there was something unsettled inside of her. It was ansty and the thought of spending day in and day out here made it worse. She loved Tracken. It was home. But was it so terrible that she dreamed of more?

The song came to an end and Faye smiled at Cam. “I feel like a walk. I’ll be back, okay.”

Cam nodded but there was almost a sadness in his eyes as he did so. Stepping away, Faye tried hard not to sigh. But as she passed her parents who had kept on dancing with the next song, she caught her mom’s gaze, who winked at her before resting her head against dad’s. Faye just smiled, taking a brief moment to create a mental snapshot of this moment. Her parents weren’t the most PDA forward couple, so it was nice to see them so affectionate with each other. Content.

As Faye left the dance, Shara watched her daughter knowingly. She had hoped that maybe her daughter wouldn’t inherit her restlessness but in recent months it had been creeping more and more in Faye’s demeanor. All she hoped was that it got Faye into less trouble than it had herself. Not that the restlessness had been the source of all the bad things. No, her father’s drinking had played a pretty large damn piece of it all and was the main reason she had left as soon as she was able. Though she regretted it at times (mostly leaving Gavin behind), she was equally glad she hadn’t looked back.

“Hey, Stargazer, where are you?” Edward whispered in her ear.

Shara nuzzled in closer. “I’m scared for her.”

“I know. Me too.”

“We could leave but everything in me says that doesn’t set any better example than staying. Are we terrible parents for wanting to stay and fight?” she said, voicing the fear that had crept in sometime during that meeting.

Edward was quiet for a few moments and held her tighter. They had already been through a lot together but they had built something special here. As the moon cast its glow over the settlement, he shook his head. “No. Maybe it’s the wrong choice, but if we don’t have our convictions, what do we have?” His hand reached up and stroked her hair as they found themselves no longer dancing. The Calloways gazed into each other’s eyes and saw all the answers they needed. “Would it make you feel better to have Plan B, an escape hatch, as it were?”

Shara chuckled. “You know me, I like a good escape plan.”

“If things get really bad and you think we need to get Faye out of here, we’ll send her to Gavin.”

She dropped her jaw. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “You two are talking again and despite the danger of him being in Starfleet, you know he’d look after his niece if it was an emergency. She’d be safe in the Federation. He knows how you feel about your dad. I want to believe he’d keep her out of his life.”

Shara nodded slowly. “Let me think about it, okay?”

“Okay,” Edward said, smiling and leaning in to kiss her. Shara kissed him back and at least for a moment all felt right in the Universe.

Sitting at the edge of the lake, Faye contemplated the interplay of shadow and mooncast light. Something had shifted tonight, like the planet had been knocked ever so slightly off its axis. Strange. Still, she contemplated her future and the breadth of possibilities. Somehow she knew Cam wouldn’t go with her and that was okay. He was her best friend. She had known him her entire life but that didn’t mean they were destined to walk the rest of their lives together. Her mind actively calculated the odds of this and that and slipped into daydreams (or evening dreams as it were), and Faye felt her gaze drawn upwards. The stars felt so close she could all but touch them, hold them. They spoke to her in her dreams and it was out there she knew where her destiny lay. Tracken would launch her but it would not be the place for her. And that was okay.

{To be continued…}

~Faye Calloway