Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Benjamin Grey (Chief Medical Officer) in Deck 38, Arboretum 3- A Casual Meeting

Posted by Fleet Captain Ghubari Koraia (Captain) in Deck 38, Arboretum 3- A Casual Meeting

(snip)

She bowed her head in acknowledgement. “When I joined Starfleet, I never really thought about becoming a captain. Some would scoff at that in disbelief, thinking I’m lying, but really, I joined to find a place where I fit in. Starfleet was full of telepaths and empaths and I knew at least there I would be accepted as I was. And… my father was out there and I wanted to understand the thing that kept him and my mother apart. Of course, it was and always had been more complicated than that. But strangely enough, I feel like everything has come full circle.” Koraia smirked slightly at Ben. “Did you know my mother, who detested the idea of leaving Tanzania, let alone Earth, is living with him on his ship?”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

He shook his head “I was only aware of you having a mother in a sense that you had been born” He said half jokingly. He only knew what her Starfleet file told him and even then he’d only focused on the parts relevant to his job. “If you don’t mind my asking, how did that come to be?” Ben gave her a curious expression “My own Clan is split practically in half in regards to spacetravel, most dislike the idea of going as far as Newcastle whilst others think the Galaxy isn’t big enough, I’,m curious as to why she changed her mind”

Dr. Grey - CMO

Inhaling deeply, Ghubari smiled slightly, she shook her head. “It was because of me. When the Athena, the previous Athena, went down, we…”-she twirled her empty glass in her hand before holding it out to him so he could refill it-“barely made it. It was one of those assignments that Starfleet really didn’t expect us to come back from. So the fact that seventy-five percent of my crew made it was kind of a miracle, even if I didn’t see it that way back then. But we were on Outpost 42 for a time and then we found out that we were getting a new ship. We were days from shipping out and suddenly my mother shows up trying to board the ship… without credentials, of course, because who needs those?” She smirked.

“Anyway, she told me later that she had a vision.” Ghubari spoke more cautiously now, but it wasn’t in embarrassment but more in recognition that she was speaking on a deeply personal level. “My tribe believes we are connected to the past generations and that through the Ancestors we can learn our most significant life lessons. They also believe in benevolent and malevolent spirits. She… I nearly died, Ben. I remember distinctly having one of my own visions like I do when I meditate deeply, and I knew I was dying, but at first I wasn’t sure that I wanted to live. We were far from a proper medial facility and I knew even before we escaped our situation that I was gravely injured. I had accepted death as an outcome. So… suddenly I had a choice. I chose, after probably too much consideration, to live. And the weird part is that I never told my mother that much, just that I had been very injured and nearly died. But she knew. Because she had her own vision and knew at least in part what I had gone through. So she left Earth and showed up, in her words, because I needed her. And I did. More deeply than I realized. I felt broken and lost and it was enough to compel my space-adverse mother to travel all that way just to help however she could.”

She knew it was far-fetched in many ways, but her and Akeela stood by their understanding of that strange sequence of events. It was because of that that their relationship had finally reached the depth they both had always wanted.

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO