Akane sat at her desk and sighed as she looked at the pile of boxes in the corner. Moving had never been her favourite thing and she loathed unpacking. On her last posting it had taken her 4 months to unpack all her stuff but she had decided that this was a new posting and a new leaf.

Reluctantly she grabbed one of the boxes and dragged it across the floor towards her. She gently took out one of her most prized possessions, a family picture. She softly touched the image of her sister’s face and said a silent prayer that she would return. It had been 13 years since her older sister Mayumi ran away from home, Akane had only been 15 but that day still haunted her. No one from the family had seen or heard from her since but deep down Akane knew she was still out there somewhere and that one day they would be reunited. She popped the picture of them in pride of place on her desk. It had been a difficult decision to move so far away from home and her family but after her last posting she wanted to get as far away from her old life as she could and the delta quadrant certainly ticked that box.

Shuffling a few bits around she looked at the next crate and sighed then shook her head and headed for the replicator. “Tea, Assam with milk, hot” she requested as a steaming cup of tea materialised in front of her. She took a moment to enjoy the familiar aroma gently wafting from the cup before savouring the delicate flavour and letting out a gentle sigh.

Taking a seat back at her desk, Akane took a moment to start looking over personnel files. She briefly glanced back at the unopened boxes and grabbed a throw off her sofa and chucked it over the remaining luggage. “Out of sight, out of mind…” she chuckled to herself as she went back to reading.

As she finished her cup of tea she briefly thought about opening another box but she knew she was delaying the inevitable. Letting out another sigh she wandered over to the mirror and quickly fixed her jet black hair and straightened her uniform before heading out of the door.

-Lt Sakai (Counselor)