Chirp . . . Chirp . . . Chirp

T’Aria drew a deep, sobering breath as the PADD once discarded to her lap lit up with an incoming message. She had not anticipated a message. Her spine straightened as she rolled her shoulders back until they encouraged her into a fully upright position, shaking from her thoughts the remnants of her meditation. She had spent most of the trip reviewing orders and the information provided on the Chernov’s status. Her PADD, therefore, was still on but toggled to a standardized home screen while she meditated on the mission at hand. Lifting the PADD, she dimmed the display further and selected the message, carefully subduing her surprise when she realized it wasn’t from Command.

It was a personal message patched through from her niece, Awiyat.

Her eyes scanned each line, searching for meaning among the child’s (deceivingly logical) ramblings, and she clenched her jaw.

Hidden in sound arguments and carefully laid facts were hints of grief at the thought of losing their proximity. Awiyat had grown attached to her presence. And while T’Aria was certain in her choice to return to Starfleet, she empathized with Awiyat’s position. They had been essentially inseparable for two years. When Awiyat returned from school and T’Aria from the medical center, they would huddle up in the study until their evening meal, studying Vulcan language, traditions, and culture. They bonded over a shared longing – Awiyat for the world she never knew, and T’Aria for the world she lost. In a way, their studies were healing and brought them closer as family and as a people.

For T’Aria, her departure was imminent. Her orders were concise and carried a sense of urgency. Thus, when they arrived at an odd hour, T’Aria had neither questioned them nor delayed. She packed the Starfleet-issued duffel that had sat in the back of her wardrobe since 2273, shared a final meal with Y’cha and his family, then boarded the transport to Starbase 257.

Awiyat expressed her displeasure at her approach. T’Aria agreed it had been hasty and lacking sensitivity (a trap she often fell into since departing a Human-dominated field), so she returned her message with an apology and assurance that she would resume their weekly meetings in an effort to preserve their relationship. She would do everything in her power to demonstrate to Awiyat that her choice to return to Starfleet was not a reflection of her care.

Her message, however, prompted T’Aria to consider how she felt about returning to the Chernov. There was a sense of… familiarity in the ship and her crew. Chernov had been her first assignment after completing her residency on the Wy’east and the first place she had fostered a community in Starfleet. Then-Doctor Taggart had taken her into his mentorship – he challenged her, supported her, and slowly chipped away at the part of her mind bound in logic and service. He and so many others – Kane, Umbri, Sega’a, Symar, Kastarak – had shared with her elements of their habits, beliefs, and ideas about the world that she had unknowingly subsumed into her personality.

That was especially true of Kastarak. Their years of service had nurtured a familial bond. They understood each other. It was for that reason, T’Aria could not find an ounce of discomfort or hesitation at the thought of returning to Chernov under his command, only reverence for his leadership and a twinge of sadness for the way it had found him. Though she did not know how he was feeling, nor how he was adjusting, she would be there to listen, to advise, to sit in silence, to support him in whatever way he needed.

Turning off the PADD screen, T’Aria slid it into a mesh pocket at the front of her bag, and tucked it back into its holding space. Though there were three of them in the runabout – a pilot, the medic who would be assuming the incapacitate captain into their care upon reaching the rift, and herself – she had not spoken except in introduction or affirmation since departing Starbase 257. She hadn’t found a reason to converse. Rising to her feet, (OOC: Assuming this runabout is set up with a cockpit and aft compartment, please correct if I’m mistaken :)) T’Aria stepped through the hatch to address the pilot with a calm, albeit curious tone that mimicked a sort of ‘How’s it going?’:

“What is our ETA?”

— T’Aria