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Star Trek: Chimera - Phase II
Season Two - Episode Two: “Hard to Be” - Part Two

He ran, ran as fast as he possibly could. Through the clearing up ahead, he could see what remained of the ancient cargo ship, sat in the Rigellian desert, it’s hull fractured, burned to a crisp. He was starting to feel the heat himself, he could feel the sun baking down and the sweat running from his pours. His heart pounded in his chest, faster, harder —he almost felt as though he would vomit out his heart, expelling the pain that he was feeling right now, as he pushed onwards towards the valleys.
“It’s not all about you, you know,” her voice echoed in his head as he strode forward. And it just kept repeating, over and over again. “It’s not all about you…”
He twisted, turned and then ducked out of the way of a branch, hanging from a tree that should be dead. This heat. How anything could survive here, was not known to him. Not that he cared. All he cared about was himself.
Commander Rollins was blunt, direct and to the point —something that she was renowned for. Jade didn’t suffer fools gladly, nor did she take any prisoners when dispensing advice. Rollins was very clear with H’ogan, that he was overreacting, that he was being selfish.
But he couldn’t see that. All H’ogan Marsland could see was the here and now, not the future. His mother was still clearly hurting, still processing her ordeal from her time aboard the Ekadhika and, if that wasn’t worse enough, if seeing her commanding officer and two colleagues die wasn’t bad enough, coming to New Chimera on orders to not only take over as chief engineer, but to also assist in helping the same race that ended Captain Cole Hammond, Colby Channs and Keiddiom Seare’s life, well, frankly, that would be enough to push anyone over the edge.
His mother was hurting.
‘And what did I do? Pushed her away…’ H’ogan thought to himself as he finally stopped, finally took a moment to rest.  H’ogan was the eldest of three boys, he had two step-brothers after his mother remarried when he was just twelve years old. He had never met his father, died before he was born, so the man that Enrica was married to now was and always had been considered his father. He knew he had responsibilities, he knew that the boys looked up to him. Yet here he was, running away from his problems whilst his mother was trying to deal with hers. ‘Selfish,’ he thought.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, H’ogan tapped his wrist-comm and asked the computer to confirm the time.  “The time is seven hundred hours,” the synthetic voice of his wrist-comm confirmed. He was due on duty in two hours. That and he remembered he now owed Gale a favour, a thank you for taking his early shift in ops this morning. He also knew that if he were to go back now, it would be highly likely that his mother would be in the command centre, along with the rest of the senior staff, going through the morning briefing. He’d missed that. He was surprised that Captain Troi hadn’t contacted him. Of course Barin wouldn’t have contacted him —the first officer knew what the lieutenant was going through and agreed with Dana to give him some space, to let him deal with this, let him sort out what was going through his mind right now —after all, they kinda’ owed him that much, neither Dana or Barin told Marsland that his mother was coming, let alone be the new chief engineer. But they had reason not to, talk of the Andorian crisis was kept on a strict need to know, as for not alarming the general public, the populous and other worlds within the New Federation.
The greatest minds in the galaxy were on their way to New Chimera right now. And all H’ogan Marsland could think was how completely selfish he was being. This place, the starbase, New Chimera was better than that, it deserved better than that, it deserved men and women that were prepared to do their best, give their best and make a difference —H’ogan Marsland did not feel like he was making a difference right now. Not with his mother.
He had acted like a fool, stormed off when she had tried to talk to him and deep down, he felt lousy about it.
“Get your shit together, Marsland…” he said aloud, turning on his heal and heading back in the direction of the starbase, back to New Chimera, to his responsibilities and…to his mother…

*_*_*_*

The command centre was a hub of activity, even more so today, yet the crew remained steadfast and attentive, still managing the day to day pleasantries, smiling, laughing at each other’s jokes, double checking orders and making sure that they got the task at hand done.
By tomorrow, sixteen vessels from all over the New Federation and beyond would be in orbit of New Chimera, filled with brilliant scientific minds, medical personnel and engineers, all hoping to put an end to the pandemic that was sweeping through the Andorian people.
They had the know how, they believed they had a cure, but what was required, was something to distribute the vaccine on a massive scale. How Chimera was chosen was beyond Captain’s Ryan and Troi, yet they accepted the opportunity to show off what they were good at, to be a part of an effort that could potentially put an end to a terrible, debilitating virus that was making it near on impossible for the Andorians to procreate and…what was worse, if it could get any worse, the virus was targeting the sick, young and elderly.
Dana was fully aware that all eyes would be on the Rigel System once again, that they would be focussing on New Chimera and she was adamant that this had to go smoothly, that they had to help, even just the slightest bit, because she wanted to make a good impression to the high-ups —not that that mattered right now, there were more pressing issues, namely the aforementioned Andorian crisis, but still she wanted to make a good impression nonetheless.

The morning briefing was in full swing and Barin was holding court like they had all worked here for decades, but in truth, it had been just over a year and a half now. Regardless, he held his own and looked comfortable going through the day’s itinerary. Jade Rollins and Thea Tel were given a heavy case load, but it was expected nonetheless, they knew that they would be pulling double duties given the nature of the mission. The lives of countless millions were at stake here, so giving up a couple of days to assist, to help in anyway they could was completely acceptable. Likewise with Lieutenant’s Larallis and Trath, both of whom were ordered to work with Lieutenant Commander Ash in making sure that from a security point of view the visiting dignitaries, scientists and engineers would all be not only well looked after, but kept safe too. Larallis would of course liked some downtime, given her stint in engineering recently, but the cause was to great, she knew that she had to help out, to assist Larry with the security aspects of a mission of this nature. Sixteen ships were inbound, some as far away as the Vidiian Solidarity —a race that possessed unbelievable technological and medical knowledge, a race that was once inflicted with a virus, the Phage, that lasted for almost two thousand years —out of all the visiting races, the Vidiians knew how fragile life was, not to mention the pitfalls and dangers of what could happen if a virus, like the Phage, could keep going, mutating and forever destroying lives.
Lactus Stonivin, a Vidiian scientist, head of their Medical Sovereignty was en-route at slipstream. He, according to all accounts, was the most eager to assist, to help. He personally understood what the Andorians were going through, what they were facing if the virus mutated even further, becoming a Phage-like plague that could essentially tare a society apart —Stonivin would be assigned to Doctor Tyler’s charge and Brandon was very excited about that, he had heard many great things about the Vidiian doctor and was looking forward to working with him no end.
“Among the other guests and medical professionals, is Admiral Kirsten Bremnan, the head of Starfleet’s emergency medical response division,” Barin continued, turning to Jade, “I can see that you have both served with one and other aboard the Sojourner,” he said, almost smiling as he spoke, unaware until now that Jade and Admiral Bremnan had previously worked together, “so it makes sense for you to extend our courtesies and our good side to the admiral.”
“Yes, sir,” Jade responded, forcing a smile on her face. She and Bremnan tolerated each other during their time aboard the Sojourner. Bremnan was practically Starfleet Medical royalty, whilst Jade, and her brother Harrison were the children of a broken home and a drunk for a father —not quite the match made in heaven when it came to her previous experience with the now admiral, then chief medical officer of the starship Sojourner. To this day, Jade believed that Kirsten looked down her nose at her, that she thought her an incapable officer, having crawled her way up from transporter chief to the rank of assistant chief science officer, under Commander Saavik —in fact, Jade could still clearly remember one time aboard the Sojourner, during a particular drunken night in the mess hall, when Doctor Bremnan told the then Ensign Rollins that ‘she stood in the shadow of greatness, that she wouldn’t go far, tethered to the legendary Vulcan.’ Her words hurt, and they stuck with Jade for years decades even.
As Jade drifted off, rehashing old memories and insecurities, Barin continued, he briefly touched on Gale and H’ogan’s duties, and asked the young Ensign Zeta-Riker how he and Marsland were getting on with their preparations for the incoming vessels. Gale gave an incredibly detailed report, one that even made Trath look bored, which was no mean feat, but he had just been promoted, just passed out from the academy and was acclimatising to life with a pip on his collar and to his credit, Barin appreciated his attention to detail.
Once Gale had bored the pants off everyone else in the command centre, Barin turned to introduce the starbase’s new chief engineer, Commander Enrica Tye. Explaining where she came from and where she was going, taking over from the late Dustin Fox as chief engineer, Barin gave a glowing introduction, one that Enrica herself wished her son was here to hear, but alas, he had still not shown up for duty and if she was honest, was growing concerned about. It was one thing to be mad at her, but another to be remiss in his duties.
“—whilst the captain plays host to the various visitors over the next couple of days, I will be joining Commander Tye in engineering, working with some of Jade’s science teams and the engineering crews to help construct a wide scale delivery system for the antivirus. Which, providing it works as well as it does on the drawing board, will be able to deliver the anti-virus to over three million Andorians every three hours.”
The crew sat back in stunned silence, it was an impressive feat and one that they were all so proud to be a part of, that they would actually be a part of history. Dana rose from the command chair at the centre of the command centre, having listened quietly to Barin distribute everyones orders in a clear and concise manner. “I cannot stress the importance of this mission, the gravity of what we are all about to do here today,” she started confidently, before taking a look at each and every single member of her assembled officers. “This is really what it’s all about, what the New Federation and Starfleet is all about. When someone needs our help, we are there. When a race calls out into the darkness, we are there. When a society is on the brink, we are there. We all made that promise, to do no harm and to seek out new life and civilisations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Well, we’re doing that today, we’re going out into the unknown once more. Our needs are secondary, everything is. It’s about survival, and they will survive, because I know that this tenacious crew can do anything they put their mind to.”
Captain Ryan had galvanised her crew. If there was any doubt in their mind before, then that had been washed away with her words. The captain’s attitude, her very being was infectious, and it was beginning to resonate in each and every one of them. But before she let them go, before she let them get on their way, out there, to work, Dana turned to Enrica Tye and said, “Thank you for being here, I know that it could not have been an easy mission for you to accept and it certainly couldn’t have been an easy choice for you to make,” Dana paused, realising that she may have been overstepping, but continued on regardless, “—and I know that whilst you have some pretty big boots to fill in that engine room, that Chimera will become a welcome home to you and your family.”
Enrica smiled and thanked the captain for saying such words, she really needed that right now and was grateful to the captain for being so open and honest with her. And as the crew split up, as they went to work, to begin what was likely to be an exceptionally busy couple of days, maybe even weeks, —not that the Andorians really had that long, Enrica noticed her son, H’ogan in the corner of the command centre in mid-conversation with Captain Troi. Her mood instantly dropped, the mother in her kicked in, and all she wanted to do was go over and talk to him, to check on her son and to make sure that he was alright. She knew what was being said, Enrica could see it all over his face —H’ogan was being reprimanded for being late. Stepping out of view, making sure that H’ogan nor the captain saw her, Enrica made her way out of the command centre and onwards towards the engineering section, ready to get her hands dirty, to make a difference…and hoping, secretly hoping, that her relationship with her eldest son would hopefully be able to be repaired…

*_*_*_*

“You never told me that you served with the admiral!”

In the science lab, Thea was busily cleaning. It was ridiculous, actually cleaning, much to Commander Rollins’ chagrin. But Jade was too deep in thought. Not only about the admiral, making sure that the anti-virus delivery system would work, but strangely, about H’ogan Marsland. He was becoming a frequent feature in her thoughts for days now, weeks even —even before his mother’s arrival, she had noticed that they had been growing close, and their conversation the other day, after Enrica’s arrival on Rigel V, started to bother her, wondering if she may had been too hard on him —she was fully aware that she was feeling pretty much exactly the same as he was about his mother, as she was about Admiral Bremnan’s arrival at Chimera. Jade was aware of the irony and the more she thought about it, the more she felt bad.
“You do know the starbase cleans it’s self, ensign,” Jade said, becoming somewhat frustrated with the young…’oh wait,’ she thought, as Thea shot her a look, “Lieutenant,” Jade corrected herself, a little more softly
“Everything okay, Commander?” Thea asked, making her way over to Jade’s console, sitting down beside her.
Not that Jade really wanted to talk, but she and Thea had been getting on great the last few months, their working relationship was top notch and there was a genuine friendship starting to develop between the pair of them. Jade hesitated for a moment before replying, concerned that by really explaining what was on her mind would undermine Admiral Bremnan, but then she just thought, ‘damnit, this is bothering me,’ “Admiral Bremnan and I aren’t exactly bosom buddies,” Jade said, letting out a sigh, but thankful she said the words, “—she just always looked down my nose at me, always made me feel insignificant, always talking down at me, like I was a child…”
Thea smiled, then nodded, knowing exactly what that was like, to feel under appreciated or that her professional opinion wasn’t valid. “Oh, I’ve been there,” she said, placing a reassuring hand on the commander’s.
“Really, you?” Jade said, somewhat taken aback that the granddaughter of the revered Admiral Darren Tel was treated in such a way.
“Mmm hmm,” she nodded, “—first year aboard the Dallas, we had this lieutenant, one of the sciences, I forget which one, but he used to speak to me as though I was something he’d stepped in. What made it worse, was that I shared the quarters opposite and every morning, without fail, I’d have to share a turbolift with him to the bridge. I hated it. Absolutely loathed the man.”
“What happened? Jade asked, disgusted that someone would treat a cadet in such a way.
“It got that bad that I ended up talking to my commanding officer,” Jade explained, the uncomfortable memories flooding back, the pain, the anger she felt towards someone, “but Commander Dynehart wasn’t exactly very good with that sort of thing. She told me to either suck it up, or have it out with him. Unbeknownst to me, the commander had actually reported the lieutenant to the captain, but she made me go have it out with him. In fact, I distinctly remember her ordering me on an away mission with him, on purpose, just so I would spend some time with him.”
“Oh god, that sounds awful,” Jade replied, genuinely interested in finding out what happened next. “So, did you?”
“Well…he ended falling over, twisting his ankle and I had to carry him three kilometres to the transporter coordinates.”
“Well that’d do it,” Jade smiled, “I take it he was all sweetness and light after that?”
“Not really, but he stopped looking at me like I was a spoiled, entitled cadet. That and he actually started listening to what I had to say.”
“So, if I read this whole situation right, the moral of the story is that I need to break the admiral’s ankle?” Jade smiled, laughing.
“That’d do it.” Thea laughed, “Come on, you’ll be fine. Maybe she’s mellowed in her old age. After all, it’s been years since you both served together aboard the Sojourner.”
But as Jade was about to respond, both she and Thea suddenly found themselves no longer alone and an individual, clearing their throat, announced their presence.
“Commander Rollins,” Admiral Kirsten Bremnan spoke, folding her arms across her chest, “—quite the welcome,” the admiral continued, looking down at the trolley of cleaning supplies that had been left in the doorway.
Thea immediately shot up, stood to attention and then rushed towards the door to great the admiral, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, Admiral, you weren’t supposed to see this!” Thea said, practically pushing the trolley out of the door way, allowing the sensors to actuate the doors and close them behind the admiral. As the doors closed, the admiral, Jade and Thea heard someone fall over the trolley in the corridor. “We thought you were arriving tomorrow, not today.”
“My flight plan and itinerary was quite clear,” Kirsten said, trying her best to keep a straight face, trying to remain professional, admiral-like, before turning to Jade and saying, “It’s good to see you, Commander. How long has it been, ten, fifteen years?”
There was a softness to the admiral’s voice that Jade had not heard before. Maybe it was due to Jade’s advancing rank, or the admiral’s, she did not know, but whatever it was, her approach, tone and demeanour was much more easygoing than she remembered. “Sixteen actually, at Sojourner crew reunion I believe,” Jade smiled, offering the admiral a hand to shake.
“Sixteen, hu?” the admiral pondered a second before speaking, having clearly heard all of Thea and Jade’s prior conversation, “—then it looks like we have quite a bit of catching up to do, doesn’t it, Commander…”

*_*_*_*

Several hours later…
Enrica Tye looked very at home in New Chimera’s engineering section, genuinely at home. She worked the holo-computer consoles like she had been working with them for decades —which was no mean feat, as her predecessor had the engineering consoles laid out in a completely different configuration to that of the rest of the fleet or of other starbases with the New Federation. Enrica truly knew what Barin and the captain meant by saying that Dustin Fox had some pretty big boots to fill. It was obvious that he demanded perfection, attention to detail and encouraged out of the box thinking, the consoles were clearly a testament to that.
“Settling in okay?” asked Barin, as he made his way through the engineering section’s doors and crossing the room to join Enrica at the master systems display.
“I didn’t want to let on so soon, but I am actually secretly loving it,” Enrica said with a smile on her face, “That and the team, your engineering team are brilliant, haven’t had to explain anything yet.”
Barin smiled, “Oh, give it time. We’ve got some pretty complex stuff on the cards over the next couple of days, we’ll put ‘em through their paces soon enough!” Barin explained, before activating one of the auxiliary consoles to bring up a status report on how things were progressing. “Looking good,” he said, quietly impressed with how much progress the commander had made with calculations for the anti-virus delivery system. “—this genuinely looks like we’ll be okay, that we’ll be home in time for tea, as my mother used to say.”
“Let’s see what the Vidiians, and the other scientists have to say, shall we?” Enrica said, erring on the side of caution, aware that there was still plenty that could de-rail the progress of the mission.
“Problems?” Barin asked, looking concerned, and right to do so —after all, so much was hanging on the outcome of all of this.
“They haven’t actually developed the anti-virus yet, we’re still working on a model for anti-viral distribution that was provided to us from the early testing stages, we may need to completely rebuild,” Enrica expressed, putting a pin in Barin’s enthusiasm.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said, before bringing up a set of schematics, hoping that they would not need to go back to the design stage, start from scratch.
“We’ll get there, Captain Troi, we’ll get there…”

As Enrica and Captain Troi spoke, H’ogan watched from the upper engineering level, watching at how easily she seemed to have just slotted in here, how she communicated with the first officer and how effortless it looked. Of course, Enrica was a talented, outgoing individual, someone who could put someone at ease within a moment of meeting them. ‘Yet why can’t she be that way with me,’ he thought. ‘Probably my own doing,’ he concluded, relying on years of past memories whereby his relationship with his mother had been somewhat strained. But it was no more strained than anyone else’s relationship with their parents —the feelings he was feeling now was that of feeling like he had had his wings clipped. That his freedoms were being encroached upon. When his mother took the job onboard the Ekadhika, she did not know as to whether she would ever come home again, the mission was so experimental, so brand new, trailing technologies and engineering principles that had not been tried before. Her expertise was needed, called upon and she answered that call. She went out there, an explorer first, a mother second. And whilst she was out there, he was the one that was required to make sacrifices, to help his father bring up his two younger brothers, putting their needs ahead of his own. He called it the ‘Starfleet Curse,’ something that he believed effected families in Starfleet, being pulled from one assignment to another. She spent five years out there, hopping galaxies, charting new realms, realities and dimensions. Whilst his father conducted work of the utmost important to the New Federation in his capacity as a temporal scientist —his work, classified by very definition, kept him away for long periods of time. How H’ogan not only managed to help bring up his brothers, but attend the Academy and pass out a lieutenant was anyone’s guess, but he did, he succeeded and he was rewarded for it. And now, here he was, chief flight traffic control officer of a Starbase.
He knew he needed to make amends, to apologise to his mother, to make the effort, but he didn’t know how, he didn’t know how to broach the subject, tell his mother how he really felt…
…but deep down, she knew. And had seen him, standing there, looking down, scrutinising her in a way that a son would scrutinise their mother. She had too much going on right now, but like H’ogan, she wanted to heal this rift, put it to bed once and for all, and get back to having that close friendship, that mother-son-bond that they once had. Because Enrica knew that was special, it meant something, that it was more important than life itself. ‘Once this is over, I’ll talk to him,’ Enrica thought, ‘make things right…’

*_*_*_*

Brandon took a step back, he’d had enough of the posturing, the ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ mentality that was present by the boatload ‘—never meet your heroes,’ he thought as Lactus Stonivin, the Vidiian scientist lambasted Admiral Bremnan’s suggestion about various particulate rates in the anti-virus. It was painful, the man was pretentious and arrogant to the point of being just plain rude.  Brandon looked over at Thea and Jade, as if to say, ‘Is this guy serious?’ —it was hubris in epic proportions and even Admiral Bremnan was finding it difficult to keep her cool. Of course the three Tellarite scientists were finding this whole encounter, this whole meeting hilarious —one of them was actually keeping score, as if it were some Tellarite parlour game that Stonivin and the admiral were playing for sport, or a little light relief. But the situation was far to grave for this, far too serious —which of course annoyed the Andorians, bringing back centuries of hostilities back to the surface, hostilities that dated to before the formation of the Federation. It was maddening, and somewhat surprisingly, the Klingons and the Romulans actually looked uncomfortable.
The Klingon representative, a short, bloated, but exceptionally gifted scientist looked completely dumbfounded, whilst the Romulan delegate just looked down his nose at the whole proceedings, quietly wondering if it would really be a bad thing if the Andorians just blinked out of existence.
Maddening.
“Okay, enough is enough!” Admiral Bremnan finally snapped, slamming her hands down on to the top of a glass table that hard Thea was surprised that it did not break. “We are so close, we need to remain objective here people,” she said, with a fire in her eyes, one that Jade had not seen in years. “The simulations clearly show that one of the remaining three vaccines will be successful, that these base pairs here,” she paused and pointed at a holo-image of several infected DNA strands, “—are unaffected by vaccines one and two, however, vaccine three has massive side effects, nullifying many of the symptoms, but not wiping it out of the patients chemistry once and for all,” she paused again, and looked around at the others, each and every one of them, trying to set their differences aside and talking to them calmly, and clearly, she said, “We’re so close, but we’re missing something here people.”
Lactus Stonivin rose from his seated position, placed what could only be described as a pair of glasses on the table in front of him and walked towards the holo-image of the Andorian DNA presented in front of them all. Scrutinising the image in front of him, he swept away the two unviable vaccine proteins and honed in on just one DNA stand. “You are right, we are missing something,” he said, pointing at the infected cells. “The virus isn’t behaving like normal,”
“We know that, Vidiian,” the lead Tellarite scientist spoke, causing his colleagues to laugh under their breath. “We would all be home in our mud baths, drinking cilla berry juice if this was a common garden cold. It’s not. The infection spreads throughout the DNA like a…”
It was like a lightbulb had just gone off above the Tellarite, and the same epiphany swept through the room just as quick as the Tellarite’s realisation.
“I’ve seen this before," Stonivin said.
“So have I,” Kirsten remarked, “How could we have been so blind.”
“The Tarellian Plague!” both Jade and Brandon said in unison.
“Yes, it’s mutated, altered, but all of the signs are there, on a molecular level,” Stonivin explained, it matches precisely the readings we took when our species, the Vidiians encountered a Tarellian plague ship over forty years ago.”
“The Vidiians encountered the Tarellians?” asked Jade, wondering how a race from the Alpha-Quadrant, all of whom practically had died out by the 2360’s had managed to make it all the way to the Delta-Quadrant. “What happened to them, did you cure them?” she asked —one of medicine’s greatest mysteries, the cure to the Tarellian Plague, something that had been alluding Starfleet Medical and the New Federation for decades now.
“We…did not cure them,” Stonivin spoke, looking uncomfortable, his arrogance, his smugness diminishing for a moment, “—but we prolonged their lives, allowing them to live out a normal existence without being contagious or a threat to the population.”
Stonivin went on to explain that the treatment his people was akin to the treatment of AIDS and HIV. They were able to nullify the contagion, the spread of the virus, and then were able to boost the white blood cell count, allowing the infected individual, the host to live out their life as normally as possible —the only caveat to that was that they would need to remain on medication for the rest of their lives. Brandon, Jade, Thea, the admiral and the others were impressed. Genuinely impressed, and maybe if Stonivin hadn’t been such an ass, they’d have been able to appreciate him just as much as his accomplishment at almost bringing an end to a virus’ cure that had eluded Starfleet for decades.
“So are you saying your treatment for the Tarellian Plague could be used here?” The stout Klingon scientist asked, reading the same data from a padd that was presented to the group on the holo in front of them.
“They may be dependent on medication for the rest of their lives, but it just might work,” Stonivin said, now frantically throwing mathematical and medical equations into a padd of his own.
“This is progress people,” Admiral Bremnan said, looking around the room, “—this is what it is all about, working together, putting ego aside and getting your sleeves rolled up and getting down to it. We can do this…we can do this people.”

*_*_*_*

Much later…
The mess hall was busier than usual, much busier, given the late hour. People, seemingly from all over the galaxy appeared to be taking advantage of the mess hall’s replicators and drinks dispensers. There was a quietness about the room, which often came when the crew were in the middle of a mission. This was the first time Jade had really experienced something like this whilst working at Chimera —usually these hushed tones over dinner came aboard a starship, or during a difficult mission, or worse, during a war. It was strange, and she felt slightly uncomfortable as she sat in her civilian clothing whilst grabbing a bite, before heading to bed.
As Jade sat and worked her way through a considerable amount of food, barely even savouring what she was shovelling into her mouth, she was that hungry, the commander suddenly felt a presence nearby. Looking up, Jade saw Admiral Bremnan, also out of uniform, stood in front of her table, gesturing at the spare seat in front of her.
“Be my guest,” Jade said, unaware of the tomato ketchup all around her mouth from the rather large ‘All American Burger’ she had chosen from the replicator.
“Thank you,” Kirsten replied, smiling as she sat down with a more conservative bowl of soup and cup of Earl Grey tea to consume before bed.
“Something funny?” Jade asked, looking somewhat bemused at the admiral’s expression.
“You’ve…er, got a little something,” Kirsten reached over with her napkin and rubbed the sauce from the commander’s face —much to Jade’s embarrassment.
“So…” Jade started, trying to think of something spontaneous to say. She would have spoken about work, about the virus and their progress with finding the vaccine, but she was too tired, beat even.
“So you thought I was a bit of a hard ass back on the Sojourner, did you?” Kirsten said, smiling, before taking a sip of her soup, “Ouch, hot!” the replicated soup burning her mouth. Kirsten placed her spoon back on the table and shook her head, “You’d have thought by now, that they’d have made a replicator that doesn’t straight up serve you a bowl of steaming hot lava, wouldn’t you?” Kirsten said, half jokingly, whilst wiping her mouth with the same napkin she’d used to wipe Jade’s a moment before.
Jade just smiled, somewhat in awe of the admiral, just her being here was a treat, despite how she felt about Kirsten in the past.
“You know, we can travel faster than warp speed now, we’ve charted sectors and quadrants if different universes, cured tens of thousands of viruses, this one notwithstanding, yet they still can’t replicate a decent bowl of tomato soup.”
“You should try the burgers, the chef makes them here, you know. Whenever you want one. Any time of day or night,” Jade replied, having fallen for ordering the soup from the replicator many a time in the past and having always being disappointed. “And yes, I did think you were a bit of a hard ass back then,” she confessed.
Kirsten smiled, before taking a sip of her tea, pondering on what to say to Jade, a woman she served with last sixteen years ago, a woman who had grown more confident and more assured of herself than she could remember. “I was hard on you, damned hard on you, Jade.”
“I knew it,” Jade playfully replied, hoping that Kirsten still had a sense of humour, not that she ever saw it back then.
“I was hard on all of the junior officers,” the admiral continued, “—but it was only for your own benefit. I’m a firm believer in allowing people…officers, to find their own way, to come to a decision themselves or learn something by their own doing, not me giving them the answers, by me showing them the way, because they would never learn anything.”
“Bit flimsy, that, Kirsten,” Jade replied, not buying it. “There’s letting someone go their own way, learn what they have to learn for themselves, but there’s being a dick, and frankly, that’s kinda what it felt like. You were pretty damned hard on my brother and I.”
“Ah, the whizz kid brother and his transporter-chief-sister. One wanted to fly the ship and the other dreamed of becoming a scientist,” Kirsten joked, feeling a little attacked.
Jade looked at Bremnan and shook her head. “No, that’s not it. You just…” she paused, almost trailed off, but knew that if she didn’t have it out with her now, she probably never would again. “It was like you were better than us, that’s how you treated us. And it was only us. You didn’t speak to Ro’Mah or Herge like that. You didn’t give Zor any attitude or bust down Commander Gaulway when you felt the need too. No, we were always the butts of the jokes, the dorky young cadet and the transporter chief sister. Yeah. You just didn’t plain like us.” That was it. It was out there now. Jade couldn’t take it back, yet Kirsten looked exactly how she did a moment ago, before Jade spilled her truth.
“That’s not it, Commander,” Kirsten said, now addressing her by rank, reminding her of who was in charge here. “—you are not remembering things correctly…”
“I’m not remembering things correctly? Who the hell…” Jade interjected.
“Jade!” Kirsten replied, angrily, “—will you let me finish? I’m trying to make a point here, one that…”
“One that what, Admiral?”
Kirsten closed her eyes, squeezed both of her hands in to fists and then let out a slow breath of air. It looked somewhat unusual, but it made sense, the admiral was collecting her thoughts before she vocalised them, making sure that she did not offend Jade any further. “You know I was married before I joined Starfleet, right?”
Jade shook her head.
“And that I joined Starfleet quite late, in my thirties. That my first assignment was aboard the Sojourner. That Starfleet granted me my rank as commander due to my experience within my field, that and I took that god-awful command exam, meaning I could sit on the bridge at stupid hours of the morning. Well…” -she was digressing, and knew it. “—I had two kids before I joined Starfleet. Two. A boy and a girl. The boy was called Harry and the girl…well, we hadn’t thought of a name for her, because she did…they both died, before they reached three days old.”
“Admiral, I’m so sorry.” Jade replied, not quite sure where this was all going, but she allowed it nonetheless.
“You reminded me of them. I treated you like my own children. Firm, but fair. And you know deep down that you were not the butt of all of our jokes and you were there to work, to learn,” Kirsten paused to wipe a tear from her eye, “—when you’re an ensign, or a cadet in your brother’s case, everyone and I mean everyone feels like they’re gunning for you, that they’re on your back and won’t help you out, won’t show you the way. But over the years you and your brother found yourselves, and your own way of doing things and you both excelled. Look at you now, you’re a commander, Harrison’s got his own ship, you’ve both done well for yourselves. Really well. You should be proud, not focussing on the shitty business that comes with being in your first year out of the Academy.”
“You’re right, obviously.” Jade said, feeling embarrassed.
“Did you tell Thea about all of the good times we all had on the Sojourner?”
“Which one? There were like five,” Jade joked, remarking at the sheer number of starships named Sojourner she and Bremnan served on together.
“Yeah, I’m really surprised that Starfleet Command gave Captain Dynehart that last one.”
“That’s the E, right?” Jade said, laughing, having unconsciously taken Kirsten’s hand and began to hold it. “We had some good times, some really good times. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Kirsten said, regaining her composure, her more authoritative ‘admiral’s composure,’ and said, “Just don’t ever forget that —the good that is. The good should always outweigh the bad, because if its the other way around, then it’s not worth it anymore, it’s not worth getting up in the morning and putting on that uniform. And trust me, we’ve still got a lot of good to do.” Kirsten said, honestly, genuinely and hoped that she and Jade would be able to move on and past this.
“Agreed, admiral…”

*_*_*_*

Enrica couldn’t sleep, she had to much on her mind and found herself deep in thought, sat, looking out at the gardens that had been so lovingly curated around the habitation block. Her new quarters were sparse, she had barely brought anything with her, so going out into the gardens was a welcome relief, to take time, take stock and think about some of the choices that she had made to bring her to this point.
But all she could think about was Cole, Seare and Chann —their deaths weighed heavy on her. It had only been four months. Maybe she should have waited, should have taken more time before going back out there and accepting a new role, a new position, she thought. Maybe, she should have gone home, back to Earth and spent some much needed time with the boys. H’ogan didn’t need her right now, he’d made that abundantly clear —he reminded Enrica of her when she was younger. Independent, forthright and opinionated. Although, if she was honest, she knew that H’ogan was a lot more patient then she ever was, more considerate to others and played things way more by the book than she ever did. Enrica wished she’d spent more time with the kids, with H’ogan, with her husband, but the truth of the matter was that she never really felt comfortable being settled, stuck in one place for too long.
Enrica was in thunk and she needed to snap out of it, to sort herself out.
As Tye sat looking out at the beautifully landscaped gardens, contemplating what to do next, she heard footsteps approaching. Turning to see who was passing her by, Enrica found her son looking back at her, half smiling, but hanging his head somewhat.
“Evening,” she said, gesturing towards the space next to her on the bench overlooking the pond and the stream. “—trouble sleeping,” she asked, wondering herself what time it was.
“It’s been an a long day,” H’ogan said, not really making eye contact with his mother.
“Tell me about it, although on the plus side, we think the anti-vax delivery system is almost complete.”
“That’s good.”
Enrica placed a hand on her sons, and turned to him to ask him what was really bothering him, “Come on, we might as well do this now,” she said, trying to meet his gaze, hoping for some kind of indication as to what had caused this rift between them.
“It’s funny,” he said, looking out towards the pond, at how the water lilies were reflecting on the water, how the moonlight danced across it. “—before I became a Starfleet officer, I only had what you and dad had said, talked about, to go on, you know, to really know what it’s like to follow orders. Go where you are told.”
“I’m not sure I follow?” Enrica replied, unclear of the point H’ogan was trying to make.
“I get that you were ordered, that you were made to take the job aboard the Ekadhika, that it wasn’t your choice. And I really shouldn’t hold you responsible for that. I shouldn’t keep making you feel bad for leaving us like you did.”
Enrica paused for a second before continuing, because she knew what she was about to say next would probably push her son over the edge. “That’s not exactly what happened, H’ogan,” she said, uncoupling her hand from his. “I did have a choice, it was my choice to go, to take the job, it wasn’t an order, it was voluntary.”
H’ogan’s eyes narrowed, “Then why? Why would you go, risk your life like that?”
“Because, it’s part of the job. Risk is part of the job, it’s something that I’ve felt that I was born to do…”
“Oh cut the crap,” H’ogan interjected, rising to his feet, making his way down to the edge of the pond. He picked up a stone from the gardens and tossed it in, the moonlight shimmering in the ripples of the water. “I don’t buy that, stop soft pedalling me. Why did you really go?”
Enrica thought long and hard about how to answer this over the years, yet she could see H’ogan was hurting right now, not to mention feeling as though she’d robbed him of his independence by coming here and said, “Because it was too damned much,” she blurted, the words falling from her mouth so quickly she was unable to put them back in. “The boys were a nightmare, a complete handful when they were younger and I couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t cope, so I left.” It was out there, she had finally said it, finally admitted to her post-natal depression —something that lasted until the boys were almost three years old. It was heartbreaking, she wanted to love them, really she did, she tried, but there was something deep inside of her that just would not connect, could not bond with the boys and it terrified her. So what did she do, she upped sticks and left, took the first deep space mission that was available and ran, ran away with her best friend [Cole Hammond] on a mission to explore the multiverse.
Enrica realised that she had said too much. There are some things that you should never share with your kids, she thought —this being one of them. But what surprised her was how quick, how calm H’ogan became after hearing this bombshell, this revelation.
“Mom,” he said, turning back to face her, “I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, rejoining her on the bench, now he taking her hand, offering his support, kindness and compassion.
“Because there are somethings that should never be said, because you can’t exactly go around telling people you don’t love your kids, that you don’t feel anything for them,” tears started to form in her eyes as she spoke, as she looked into the eyes of her son, her eldest son from her first marriage. “You were different, it was just me and you. When the boys came, it was much later, my whole life had changed by that point and it was too much to bear. I snapped, reached my limit and needed to get away, get away from it all.”
“And now?” he asked, “How do you feel now?”
Enrica shook her head, the feelings of shame still apparent. “I have two teenage boys that I barely know. I have a husband that struggles to open up to me and I have a twenty eight year old son, a Starfleet lieutenant no-less, that feels like his mother’s just come home to keep an eye on him…” she smiled, “so you could say, I’ve had better months.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” H’ogan said softly, probably meaning it a lot more one day, but right now it was what she needed to here, and he knew that he needed to put his own selfishness, his own needs on the back burner for now. His mother was clearly hurting, whether it was from her time aboard the Ekadhika or from her post-natal depression she suffered after giving birth to the boys —whatever the reason, they would live with her for a long time and H’ogan knew that it would take a lot of unpacking, processing and counselling to really get to the bottom of how she truly felt. “If you ever need anything, you know where I am,” H’ogan said, “—you know I’ll always be there for you. Might not exactly feel like that sometimes, but I mean it, if you need anything, anytime, I’ll be there for you…I love you.”

“Hard to Be” - Part II
by Jonathan Crosby-Bromley.

Starring:
Claire Foy as Captain Dana Ryan
Rob Lowe as Captain Barin Troi
Cynthia Nixon as Enrica Tye
Kristen Kurek as Commander Jade Rollins
Lukas Gage as Doctor Brandon Tyler
Chandler Flanagan as Gale Zeta-Riker
Derek Shaw as Erit Mason Jr.
Szabó G. Tailor as H’ogan Marsland
Brianne Howey as Thea Tel
Callum Kerr as Lt. Commander Ash
Angelina Jolie as Larallis
Ruby Rose as S’Lan
and Rafael L. Silva as the voice of Lazaar Trath

Guest Starring:
Gillian Anderson as Admiral Kirsten Bremnan
Jonathan Pryce as Lactus Stonivin

Image Credits:
Photo Manipulations by JonBromLE1
Cargo Ship by Pierre Drolet
Image by JonBromLE1

Description
Star Trek: Chimera - Phase II
Season Two - Episode Two: “Hard to Be” - Part Two

He ran, ran as fast as he possibly could. Through the clearing up ahead, he could see what remained of the ancient cargo ship, sat in the Rigellian desert, it’s hull fractured, burned to a crisp. He was starting to feel the heat himself, he could feel the sun baking down and the sweat running from his pours. His heart pounded in his chest, faster, harder —he almost felt as though he would vomit out his heart, expelling the pain that he was feeling right now, as he pushed onwards towards the valleys.
“It’s not all about you, you know,” her voice echoed in his head as he strode forward. And it just kept repeating, over and over again. “It’s not all about you…”
He twisted, turned and then ducked out of the way of a branch, hanging from a tree that should be dead. This heat. How anything could survive here, was not known to him. Not that he cared. All he cared about was himself.
Commander Rollins was blunt, direct and to the point —something that she was renowned for. Jade didn’t suffer fools gladly, nor did she take any prisoners when dispensing advice. Rollins was very clear with H’ogan, that he was overreacting, that he was being selfish.
But he couldn’t see that. All H’ogan Marsland could see was the here and now, not the future. His mother was still clearly hurting, still processing her ordeal from her time aboard the Ekadhika and, if that wasn’t worse enough, if seeing her commanding officer and two colleagues die wasn’t bad enough, coming to New Chimera on orders to not only take over as chief engineer, but to also assist in helping the same race that ended Captain Cole Hammond, Colby Channs and Keiddiom Seare’s life, well, frankly, that would be enough to push anyone over the edge.
His mother was hurting.
‘And what did I do? Pushed her away…’ H’ogan thought to himself as he finally stopped, finally took a moment to rest.  H’ogan was the eldest of three boys, he had two step-brothers after his mother remarried when he was just twelve years old. He had never met his father, died before he was born, so the man that Enrica was married to now was and always had been considered his father. He knew he had responsibilities, he knew that the boys looked up to him. Yet here he was, running away from his problems whilst his mother was trying to deal with hers. ‘Selfish,’ he thought.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, H’ogan tapped his wrist-comm and asked the computer to confirm the time.  “The time is seven hundred hours,” the synthetic voice of his wrist-comm confirmed. He was due on duty in two hours. That and he remembered he now owed Gale a favour, a thank you for taking his early shift in ops this morning. He also knew that if he were to go back now, it would be highly likely that his mother would be in the command centre, along with the rest of the senior staff, going through the morning briefing. He’d missed that. He was surprised that Captain Troi hadn’t contacted him. Of course Barin wouldn’t have contacted him —the first officer knew what the lieutenant was going through and agreed with Dana to give him some space, to let him deal with this, let him sort out what was going through his mind right now —after all, they kinda’ owed him that much, neither Dana or Barin told Marsland that his mother was coming, let alone be the new chief engineer. But they had reason not to, talk of the Andorian crisis was kept on a strict need to know, as for not alarming the general public, the populous and other worlds within the New Federation.
The greatest minds in the galaxy were on their way to New Chimera right now. And all H’ogan Marsland could think was how completely selfish he was being. This place, the starbase, New Chimera was better than that, it deserved better than that, it deserved men and women that were prepared to do their best, give their best and make a difference —H’ogan Marsland did not feel like he was making a difference right now. Not with his mother.
He had acted like a fool, stormed off when she had tried to talk to him and deep down, he felt lousy about it.
“Get your shit together, Marsland…” he said aloud, turning on his heal and heading back in the direction of the starbase, back to New Chimera, to his responsibilities and…to his mother…

*_*_*_*

The command centre was a hub of activity, even more so today, yet the crew remained steadfast and attentive, still managing the day to day pleasantries, smiling, laughing at each other’s jokes, double checking orders and making sure that they got the task at hand done.
By tomorrow, sixteen vessels from all over the New Federation and beyond would be in orbit of New Chimera, filled with brilliant scientific minds, medical personnel and engineers, all hoping to put an end to the pandemic that was sweeping through the Andorian people.
They had the know how, they believed they had a cure, but what was required, was something to distribute the vaccine on a massive scale. How Chimera was chosen was beyond Captain’s Ryan and Troi, yet they accepted the opportunity to show off what they were good at, to be a part of an effort that could potentially put an end to a terrible, debilitating virus that was making it near on impossible for the Andorians to procreate and…what was worse, if it could get any worse, the virus was targeting the sick, young and elderly.
Dana was fully aware that all eyes would be on the Rigel System once again, that they would be focussing on New Chimera and she was adamant that this had to go smoothly, that they had to help, even just the slightest bit, because she wanted to make a good impression to the high-ups —not that that mattered right now, there were more pressing issues, namely the aforementioned Andorian crisis, but still she wanted to make a good impression nonetheless.

The morning briefing was in full swing and Barin was holding court like they had all worked here for decades, but in truth, it had been just over a year and a half now. Regardless, he held his own and looked comfortable going through the day’s itinerary. Jade Rollins and Thea Tel were given a heavy case load, but it was expected nonetheless, they knew that they would be pulling double duties given the nature of the mission. The lives of countless millions were at stake here, so giving up a couple of days to assist, to help in anyway they could was completely acceptable. Likewise with Lieutenant’s Larallis and Trath, both of whom were ordered to work with Lieutenant Commander Ash in making sure that from a security point of view the visiting dignitaries, scientists and engineers would all be not only well looked after, but kept safe too. Larallis would of course liked some downtime, given her stint in engineering recently, but the cause was to great, she knew that she had to help out, to assist Larry with the security aspects of a mission of this nature. Sixteen ships were inbound, some as far away as the Vidiian Solidarity —a race that possessed unbelievable technological and medical knowledge, a race that was once inflicted with a virus, the Phage, that lasted for almost two thousand years —out of all the visiting races, the Vidiians knew how fragile life was, not to mention the pitfalls and dangers of what could happen if a virus, like the Phage, could keep going, mutating and forever destroying lives.
Lactus Stonivin, a Vidiian scientist, head of their Medical Sovereignty was en-route at slipstream. He, according to all accounts, was the most eager to assist, to help. He personally understood what the Andorians were going through, what they were facing if the virus mutated even further, becoming a Phage-like plague that could essentially tare a society apart —Stonivin would be assigned to Doctor Tyler’s charge and Brandon was very excited about that, he had heard many great things about the Vidiian doctor and was looking forward to working with him no end.
“Among the other guests and medical professionals, is Admiral Kirsten Bremnan, the head of Starfleet’s emergency medical response division,” Barin continued, turning to Jade, “I can see that you have both served with one and other aboard the Sojourner,” he said, almost smiling as he spoke, unaware until now that Jade and Admiral Bremnan had previously worked together, “so it makes sense for you to extend our courtesies and our good side to the admiral.”
“Yes, sir,” Jade responded, forcing a smile on her face. She and Bremnan tolerated each other during their time aboard the Sojourner. Bremnan was practically Starfleet Medical royalty, whilst Jade, and her brother Harrison were the children of a broken home and a drunk for a father —not quite the match made in heaven when it came to her previous experience with the now admiral, then chief medical officer of the starship Sojourner. To this day, Jade believed that Kirsten looked down her nose at her, that she thought her an incapable officer, having crawled her way up from transporter chief to the rank of assistant chief science officer, under Commander Saavik —in fact, Jade could still clearly remember one time aboard the Sojourner, during a particular drunken night in the mess hall, when Doctor Bremnan told the then Ensign Rollins that ‘she stood in the shadow of greatness, that she wouldn’t go far, tethered to the legendary Vulcan.’ Her words hurt, and they stuck with Jade for years decades even.
As Jade drifted off, rehashing old memories and insecurities, Barin continued, he briefly touched on Gale and H’ogan’s duties, and asked the young Ensign Zeta-Riker how he and Marsland were getting on with their preparations for the incoming vessels. Gale gave an incredibly detailed report, one that even made Trath look bored, which was no mean feat, but he had just been promoted, just passed out from the academy and was acclimatising to life with a pip on his collar and to his credit, Barin appreciated his attention to detail.
Once Gale had bored the pants off everyone else in the command centre, Barin turned to introduce the starbase’s new chief engineer, Commander Enrica Tye. Explaining where she came from and where she was going, taking over from the late Dustin Fox as chief engineer, Barin gave a glowing introduction, one that Enrica herself wished her son was here to hear, but alas, he had still not shown up for duty and if she was honest, was growing concerned about. It was one thing to be mad at her, but another to be remiss in his duties.
“—whilst the captain plays host to the various visitors over the next couple of days, I will be joining Commander Tye in engineering, working with some of Jade’s science teams and the engineering crews to help construct a wide scale delivery system for the antivirus. Which, providing it works as well as it does on the drawing board, will be able to deliver the anti-virus to over three million Andorians every three hours.”
The crew sat back in stunned silence, it was an impressive feat and one that they were all so proud to be a part of, that they would actually be a part of history. Dana rose from the command chair at the centre of the command centre, having listened quietly to Barin distribute everyones orders in a clear and concise manner. “I cannot stress the importance of this mission, the gravity of what we are all about to do here today,” she started confidently, before taking a look at each and every single member of her assembled officers. “This is really what it’s all about, what the New Federation and Starfleet is all about. When someone needs our help, we are there. When a race calls out into the darkness, we are there. When a society is on the brink, we are there. We all made that promise, to do no harm and to seek out new life and civilisations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Well, we’re doing that today, we’re going out into the unknown once more. Our needs are secondary, everything is. It’s about survival, and they will survive, because I know that this tenacious crew can do anything they put their mind to.”
Captain Ryan had galvanised her crew. If there was any doubt in their mind before, then that had been washed away with her words. The captain’s attitude, her very being was infectious, and it was beginning to resonate in each and every one of them. But before she let them go, before she let them get on their way, out there, to work, Dana turned to Enrica Tye and said, “Thank you for being here, I know that it could not have been an easy mission for you to accept and it certainly couldn’t have been an easy choice for you to make,” Dana paused, realising that she may have been overstepping, but continued on regardless, “—and I know that whilst you have some pretty big boots to fill in that engine room, that Chimera will become a welcome home to you and your family.”
Enrica smiled and thanked the captain for saying such words, she really needed that right now and was grateful to the captain for being so open and honest with her. And as the crew split up, as they went to work, to begin what was likely to be an exceptionally busy couple of days, maybe even weeks, —not that the Andorians really had that long, Enrica noticed her son, H’ogan in the corner of the command centre in mid-conversation with Captain Troi. Her mood instantly dropped, the mother in her kicked in, and all she wanted to do was go over and talk to him, to check on her son and to make sure that he was alright. She knew what was being said, Enrica could see it all over his face —H’ogan was being reprimanded for being late. Stepping out of view, making sure that H’ogan nor the captain saw her, Enrica made her way out of the command centre and onwards towards the engineering section, ready to get her hands dirty, to make a difference…and hoping, secretly hoping, that her relationship with her eldest son would hopefully be able to be repaired…

*_*_*_*

“You never told me that you served with the admiral!”

In the science lab, Thea was busily cleaning. It was ridiculous, actually cleaning, much to Commander Rollins’ chagrin. But Jade was too deep in thought. Not only about the admiral, making sure that the anti-virus delivery system would work, but strangely, about H’ogan Marsland. He was becoming a frequent feature in her thoughts for days now, weeks even —even before his mother’s arrival, she had noticed that they had been growing close, and their conversation the other day, after Enrica’s arrival on Rigel V, started to bother her, wondering if she may had been too hard on him —she was fully aware that she was feeling pretty much exactly the same as he was about his mother, as she was about Admiral Bremnan’s arrival at Chimera. Jade was aware of the irony and the more she thought about it, the more she felt bad.
“You do know the starbase cleans it’s self, ensign,” Jade said, becoming somewhat frustrated with the young…’oh wait,’ she thought, as Thea shot her a look, “Lieutenant,” Jade corrected herself, a little more softly
“Everything okay, Commander?” Thea asked, making her way over to Jade’s console, sitting down beside her.
Not that Jade really wanted to talk, but she and Thea had been getting on great the last few months, their working relationship was top notch and there was a genuine friendship starting to develop between the pair of them. Jade hesitated for a moment before replying, concerned that by really explaining what was on her mind would undermine Admiral Bremnan, but then she just thought, ‘damnit, this is bothering me,’ “Admiral Bremnan and I aren’t exactly bosom buddies,” Jade said, letting out a sigh, but thankful she said the words, “—she just always looked down my nose at me, always made me feel insignificant, always talking down at me, like I was a child…”
Thea smiled, then nodded, knowing exactly what that was like, to feel under appreciated or that her professional opinion wasn’t valid. “Oh, I’ve been there,” she said, placing a reassuring hand on the commander’s.
“Really, you?” Jade said, somewhat taken aback that the granddaughter of the revered Admiral Darren Tel was treated in such a way.
“Mmm hmm,” she nodded, “—first year aboard the Dallas, we had this lieutenant, one of the sciences, I forget which one, but he used to speak to me as though I was something he’d stepped in. What made it worse, was that I shared the quarters opposite and every morning, without fail, I’d have to share a turbolift with him to the bridge. I hated it. Absolutely loathed the man.”
“What happened? Jade asked, disgusted that someone would treat a cadet in such a way.
“It got that bad that I ended up talking to my commanding officer,” Jade explained, the uncomfortable memories flooding back, the pain, the anger she felt towards someone, “but Commander Dynehart wasn’t exactly very good with that sort of thing. She told me to either suck it up, or have it out with him. Unbeknownst to me, the commander had actually reported the lieutenant to the captain, but she made me go have it out with him. In fact, I distinctly remember her ordering me on an away mission with him, on purpose, just so I would spend some time with him.”
“Oh god, that sounds awful,” Jade replied, genuinely interested in finding out what happened next. “So, did you?”
“Well…he ended falling over, twisting his ankle and I had to carry him three kilometres to the transporter coordinates.”
“Well that’d do it,” Jade smiled, “I take it he was all sweetness and light after that?”
“Not really, but he stopped looking at me like I was a spoiled, entitled cadet. That and he actually started listening to what I had to say.”
“So, if I read this whole situation right, the moral of the story is that I need to break the admiral’s ankle?” Jade smiled, laughing.
“That’d do it.” Thea laughed, “Come on, you’ll be fine. Maybe she’s mellowed in her old age. After all, it’s been years since you both served together aboard the Sojourner.”
But as Jade was about to respond, both she and Thea suddenly found themselves no longer alone and an individual, clearing their throat, announced their presence.
“Commander Rollins,” Admiral Kirsten Bremnan spoke, folding her arms across her chest, “—quite the welcome,” the admiral continued, looking down at the trolley of cleaning supplies that had been left in the doorway.
Thea immediately shot up, stood to attention and then rushed towards the door to great the admiral, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, Admiral, you weren’t supposed to see this!” Thea said, practically pushing the trolley out of the door way, allowing the sensors to actuate the doors and close them behind the admiral. As the doors closed, the admiral, Jade and Thea heard someone fall over the trolley in the corridor. “We thought you were arriving tomorrow, not today.”
“My flight plan and itinerary was quite clear,” Kirsten said, trying her best to keep a straight face, trying to remain professional, admiral-like, before turning to Jade and saying, “It’s good to see you, Commander. How long has it been, ten, fifteen years?”
There was a softness to the admiral’s voice that Jade had not heard before. Maybe it was due to Jade’s advancing rank, or the admiral’s, she did not know, but whatever it was, her approach, tone and demeanour was much more easygoing than she remembered. “Sixteen actually, at Sojourner crew reunion I believe,” Jade smiled, offering the admiral a hand to shake.
“Sixteen, hu?” the admiral pondered a second before speaking, having clearly heard all of Thea and Jade’s prior conversation, “—then it looks like we have quite a bit of catching up to do, doesn’t it, Commander…”

*_*_*_*

Several hours later…
Enrica Tye looked very at home in New Chimera’s engineering section, genuinely at home. She worked the holo-computer consoles like she had been working with them for decades —which was no mean feat, as her predecessor had the engineering consoles laid out in a completely different configuration to that of the rest of the fleet or of other starbases with the New Federation. Enrica truly knew what Barin and the captain meant by saying that Dustin Fox had some pretty big boots to fill. It was obvious that he demanded perfection, attention to detail and encouraged out of the box thinking, the consoles were clearly a testament to that.
“Settling in okay?” asked Barin, as he made his way through the engineering section’s doors and crossing the room to join Enrica at the master systems display.
“I didn’t want to let on so soon, but I am actually secretly loving it,” Enrica said with a smile on her face, “That and the team, your engineering team are brilliant, haven’t had to explain anything yet.”
Barin smiled, “Oh, give it time. We’ve got some pretty complex stuff on the cards over the next couple of days, we’ll put ‘em through their paces soon enough!” Barin explained, before activating one of the auxiliary consoles to bring up a status report on how things were progressing. “Looking good,” he said, quietly impressed with how much progress the commander had made with calculations for the anti-virus delivery system. “—this genuinely looks like we’ll be okay, that we’ll be home in time for tea, as my mother used to say.”
“Let’s see what the Vidiians, and the other scientists have to say, shall we?” Enrica said, erring on the side of caution, aware that there was still plenty that could de-rail the progress of the mission.
“Problems?” Barin asked, looking concerned, and right to do so —after all, so much was hanging on the outcome of all of this.
“They haven’t actually developed the anti-virus yet, we’re still working on a model for anti-viral distribution that was provided to us from the early testing stages, we may need to completely rebuild,” Enrica expressed, putting a pin in Barin’s enthusiasm.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said, before bringing up a set of schematics, hoping that they would not need to go back to the design stage, start from scratch.
“We’ll get there, Captain Troi, we’ll get there…”

As Enrica and Captain Troi spoke, H’ogan watched from the upper engineering level, watching at how easily she seemed to have just slotted in here, how she communicated with the first officer and how effortless it looked. Of course, Enrica was a talented, outgoing individual, someone who could put someone at ease within a moment of meeting them. ‘Yet why can’t she be that way with me,’ he thought. ‘Probably my own doing,’ he concluded, relying on years of past memories whereby his relationship with his mother had been somewhat strained. But it was no more strained than anyone else’s relationship with their parents —the feelings he was feeling now was that of feeling like he had had his wings clipped. That his freedoms were being encroached upon. When his mother took the job onboard the Ekadhika, she did not know as to whether she would ever come home again, the mission was so experimental, so brand new, trailing technologies and engineering principles that had not been tried before. Her expertise was needed, called upon and she answered that call. She went out there, an explorer first, a mother second. And whilst she was out there, he was the one that was required to make sacrifices, to help his father bring up his two younger brothers, putting their needs ahead of his own. He called it the ‘Starfleet Curse,’ something that he believed effected families in Starfleet, being pulled from one assignment to another. She spent five years out there, hopping galaxies, charting new realms, realities and dimensions. Whilst his father conducted work of the utmost important to the New Federation in his capacity as a temporal scientist —his work, classified by very definition, kept him away for long periods of time. How H’ogan not only managed to help bring up his brothers, but attend the Academy and pass out a lieutenant was anyone’s guess, but he did, he succeeded and he was rewarded for it. And now, here he was, chief flight traffic control officer of a Starbase.
He knew he needed to make amends, to apologise to his mother, to make the effort, but he didn’t know how, he didn’t know how to broach the subject, tell his mother how he really felt…
…but deep down, she knew. And had seen him, standing there, looking down, scrutinising her in a way that a son would scrutinise their mother. She had too much going on right now, but like H’ogan, she wanted to heal this rift, put it to bed once and for all, and get back to having that close friendship, that mother-son-bond that they once had. Because Enrica knew that was special, it meant something, that it was more important than life itself. ‘Once this is over, I’ll talk to him,’ Enrica thought, ‘make things right…’

*_*_*_*

Brandon took a step back, he’d had enough of the posturing, the ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ mentality that was present by the boatload ‘—never meet your heroes,’ he thought as Lactus Stonivin, the Vidiian scientist lambasted Admiral Bremnan’s suggestion about various particulate rates in the anti-virus. It was painful, the man was pretentious and arrogant to the point of being just plain rude.  Brandon looked over at Thea and Jade, as if to say, ‘Is this guy serious?’ —it was hubris in epic proportions and even Admiral Bremnan was finding it difficult to keep her cool. Of course the three Tellarite scientists were finding this whole encounter, this whole meeting hilarious —one of them was actually keeping score, as if it were some Tellarite parlour game that Stonivin and the admiral were playing for sport, or a little light relief. But the situation was far to grave for this, far too serious —which of course annoyed the Andorians, bringing back centuries of hostilities back to the surface, hostilities that dated to before the formation of the Federation. It was maddening, and somewhat surprisingly, the Klingons and the Romulans actually looked uncomfortable.
The Klingon representative, a short, bloated, but exceptionally gifted scientist looked completely dumbfounded, whilst the Romulan delegate just looked down his nose at the whole proceedings, quietly wondering if it would really be a bad thing if the Andorians just blinked out of existence.
Maddening.
“Okay, enough is enough!” Admiral Bremnan finally snapped, slamming her hands down on to the top of a glass table that hard Thea was surprised that it did not break. “We are so close, we need to remain objective here people,” she said, with a fire in her eyes, one that Jade had not seen in years. “The simulations clearly show that one of the remaining three vaccines will be successful, that these base pairs here,” she paused and pointed at a holo-image of several infected DNA strands, “—are unaffected by vaccines one and two, however, vaccine three has massive side effects, nullifying many of the symptoms, but not wiping it out of the patients chemistry once and for all,” she paused again, and looked around at the others, each and every one of them, trying to set their differences aside and talking to them calmly, and clearly, she said, “We’re so close, but we’re missing something here people.”
Lactus Stonivin rose from his seated position, placed what could only be described as a pair of glasses on the table in front of him and walked towards the holo-image of the Andorian DNA presented in front of them all. Scrutinising the image in front of him, he swept away the two unviable vaccine proteins and honed in on just one DNA stand. “You are right, we are missing something,” he said, pointing at the infected cells. “The virus isn’t behaving like normal,”
“We know that, Vidiian,” the lead Tellarite scientist spoke, causing his colleagues to laugh under their breath. “We would all be home in our mud baths, drinking cilla berry juice if this was a common garden cold. It’s not. The infection spreads throughout the DNA like a…”
It was like a lightbulb had just gone off above the Tellarite, and the same epiphany swept through the room just as quick as the Tellarite’s realisation.
“I’ve seen this before," Stonivin said.
“So have I,” Kirsten remarked, “How could we have been so blind.”
“The Tarellian Plague!” both Jade and Brandon said in unison.
“Yes, it’s mutated, altered, but all of the signs are there, on a molecular level,” Stonivin explained, it matches precisely the readings we took when our species, the Vidiians encountered a Tarellian plague ship over forty years ago.”
“The Vidiians encountered the Tarellians?” asked Jade, wondering how a race from the Alpha-Quadrant, all of whom practically had died out by the 2360’s had managed to make it all the way to the Delta-Quadrant. “What happened to them, did you cure them?” she asked —one of medicine’s greatest mysteries, the cure to the Tarellian Plague, something that had been alluding Starfleet Medical and the New Federation for decades now.
“We…did not cure them,” Stonivin spoke, looking uncomfortable, his arrogance, his smugness diminishing for a moment, “—but we prolonged their lives, allowing them to live out a normal existence without being contagious or a threat to the population.”
Stonivin went on to explain that the treatment his people was akin to the treatment of AIDS and HIV. They were able to nullify the contagion, the spread of the virus, and then were able to boost the white blood cell count, allowing the infected individual, the host to live out their life as normally as possible —the only caveat to that was that they would need to remain on medication for the rest of their lives. Brandon, Jade, Thea, the admiral and the others were impressed. Genuinely impressed, and maybe if Stonivin hadn’t been such an ass, they’d have been able to appreciate him just as much as his accomplishment at almost bringing an end to a virus’ cure that had eluded Starfleet for decades.
“So are you saying your treatment for the Tarellian Plague could be used here?” The stout Klingon scientist asked, reading the same data from a padd that was presented to the group on the holo in front of them.
“They may be dependent on medication for the rest of their lives, but it just might work,” Stonivin said, now frantically throwing mathematical and medical equations into a padd of his own.
“This is progress people,” Admiral Bremnan said, looking around the room, “—this is what it is all about, working together, putting ego aside and getting your sleeves rolled up and getting down to it. We can do this…we can do this people.”

*_*_*_*

Much later…
The mess hall was busier than usual, much busier, given the late hour. People, seemingly from all over the galaxy appeared to be taking advantage of the mess hall’s replicators and drinks dispensers. There was a quietness about the room, which often came when the crew were in the middle of a mission. This was the first time Jade had really experienced something like this whilst working at Chimera —usually these hushed tones over dinner came aboard a starship, or during a difficult mission, or worse, during a war. It was strange, and she felt slightly uncomfortable as she sat in her civilian clothing whilst grabbing a bite, before heading to bed.
As Jade sat and worked her way through a considerable amount of food, barely even savouring what she was shovelling into her mouth, she was that hungry, the commander suddenly felt a presence nearby. Looking up, Jade saw Admiral Bremnan, also out of uniform, stood in front of her table, gesturing at the spare seat in front of her.
“Be my guest,” Jade said, unaware of the tomato ketchup all around her mouth from the rather large ‘All American Burger’ she had chosen from the replicator.
“Thank you,” Kirsten replied, smiling as she sat down with a more conservative bowl of soup and cup of Earl Grey tea to consume before bed.
“Something funny?” Jade asked, looking somewhat bemused at the admiral’s expression.
“You’ve…er, got a little something,” Kirsten reached over with her napkin and rubbed the sauce from the commander’s face —much to Jade’s embarrassment.
“So…” Jade started, trying to think of something spontaneous to say. She would have spoken about work, about the virus and their progress with finding the vaccine, but she was too tired, beat even.
“So you thought I was a bit of a hard ass back on the Sojourner, did you?” Kirsten said, smiling, before taking a sip of her soup, “Ouch, hot!” the replicated soup burning her mouth. Kirsten placed her spoon back on the table and shook her head, “You’d have thought by now, that they’d have made a replicator that doesn’t straight up serve you a bowl of steaming hot lava, wouldn’t you?” Kirsten said, half jokingly, whilst wiping her mouth with the same napkin she’d used to wipe Jade’s a moment before.
Jade just smiled, somewhat in awe of the admiral, just her being here was a treat, despite how she felt about Kirsten in the past.
“You know, we can travel faster than warp speed now, we’ve charted sectors and quadrants if different universes, cured tens of thousands of viruses, this one notwithstanding, yet they still can’t replicate a decent bowl of tomato soup.”
“You should try the burgers, the chef makes them here, you know. Whenever you want one. Any time of day or night,” Jade replied, having fallen for ordering the soup from the replicator many a time in the past and having always being disappointed. “And yes, I did think you were a bit of a hard ass back then,” she confessed.
Kirsten smiled, before taking a sip of her tea, pondering on what to say to Jade, a woman she served with last sixteen years ago, a woman who had grown more confident and more assured of herself than she could remember. “I was hard on you, damned hard on you, Jade.”
“I knew it,” Jade playfully replied, hoping that Kirsten still had a sense of humour, not that she ever saw it back then.
“I was hard on all of the junior officers,” the admiral continued, “—but it was only for your own benefit. I’m a firm believer in allowing people…officers, to find their own way, to come to a decision themselves or learn something by their own doing, not me giving them the answers, by me showing them the way, because they would never learn anything.”
“Bit flimsy, that, Kirsten,” Jade replied, not buying it. “There’s letting someone go their own way, learn what they have to learn for themselves, but there’s being a dick, and frankly, that’s kinda what it felt like. You were pretty damned hard on my brother and I.”
“Ah, the whizz kid brother and his transporter-chief-sister. One wanted to fly the ship and the other dreamed of becoming a scientist,” Kirsten joked, feeling a little attacked.
Jade looked at Bremnan and shook her head. “No, that’s not it. You just…” she paused, almost trailed off, but knew that if she didn’t have it out with her now, she probably never would again. “It was like you were better than us, that’s how you treated us. And it was only us. You didn’t speak to Ro’Mah or Herge like that. You didn’t give Zor any attitude or bust down Commander Gaulway when you felt the need too. No, we were always the butts of the jokes, the dorky young cadet and the transporter chief sister. Yeah. You just didn’t plain like us.” That was it. It was out there now. Jade couldn’t take it back, yet Kirsten looked exactly how she did a moment ago, before Jade spilled her truth.
“That’s not it, Commander,” Kirsten said, now addressing her by rank, reminding her of who was in charge here. “—you are not remembering things correctly…”
“I’m not remembering things correctly? Who the hell…” Jade interjected.
“Jade!” Kirsten replied, angrily, “—will you let me finish? I’m trying to make a point here, one that…”
“One that what, Admiral?”
Kirsten closed her eyes, squeezed both of her hands in to fists and then let out a slow breath of air. It looked somewhat unusual, but it made sense, the admiral was collecting her thoughts before she vocalised them, making sure that she did not offend Jade any further. “You know I was married before I joined Starfleet, right?”
Jade shook her head.
“And that I joined Starfleet quite late, in my thirties. That my first assignment was aboard the Sojourner. That Starfleet granted me my rank as commander due to my experience within my field, that and I took that god-awful command exam, meaning I could sit on the bridge at stupid hours of the morning. Well…” -she was digressing, and knew it. “—I had two kids before I joined Starfleet. Two. A boy and a girl. The boy was called Harry and the girl…well, we hadn’t thought of a name for her, because she did…they both died, before they reached three days old.”
“Admiral, I’m so sorry.” Jade replied, not quite sure where this was all going, but she allowed it nonetheless.
“You reminded me of them. I treated you like my own children. Firm, but fair. And you know deep down that you were not the butt of all of our jokes and you were there to work, to learn,” Kirsten paused to wipe a tear from her eye, “—when you’re an ensign, or a cadet in your brother’s case, everyone and I mean everyone feels like they’re gunning for you, that they’re on your back and won’t help you out, won’t show you the way. But over the years you and your brother found yourselves, and your own way of doing things and you both excelled. Look at you now, you’re a commander, Harrison’s got his own ship, you’ve both done well for yourselves. Really well. You should be proud, not focussing on the shitty business that comes with being in your first year out of the Academy.”
“You’re right, obviously.” Jade said, feeling embarrassed.
“Did you tell Thea about all of the good times we all had on the Sojourner?”
“Which one? There were like five,” Jade joked, remarking at the sheer number of starships named Sojourner she and Bremnan served on together.
“Yeah, I’m really surprised that Starfleet Command gave Captain Dynehart that last one.”
“That’s the E, right?” Jade said, laughing, having unconsciously taken Kirsten’s hand and began to hold it. “We had some good times, some really good times. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Kirsten said, regaining her composure, her more authoritative ‘admiral’s composure,’ and said, “Just don’t ever forget that —the good that is. The good should always outweigh the bad, because if its the other way around, then it’s not worth it anymore, it’s not worth getting up in the morning and putting on that uniform. And trust me, we’ve still got a lot of good to do.” Kirsten said, honestly, genuinely and hoped that she and Jade would be able to move on and past this.
“Agreed, admiral…”

*_*_*_*

Enrica couldn’t sleep, she had to much on her mind and found herself deep in thought, sat, looking out at the gardens that had been so lovingly curated around the habitation block. Her new quarters were sparse, she had barely brought anything with her, so going out into the gardens was a welcome relief, to take time, take stock and think about some of the choices that she had made to bring her to this point.
But all she could think about was Cole, Seare and Chann —their deaths weighed heavy on her. It had only been four months. Maybe she should have waited, should have taken more time before going back out there and accepting a new role, a new position, she thought. Maybe, she should have gone home, back to Earth and spent some much needed time with the boys. H’ogan didn’t need her right now, he’d made that abundantly clear —he reminded Enrica of her when she was younger. Independent, forthright and opinionated. Although, if she was honest, she knew that H’ogan was a lot more patient then she ever was, more considerate to others and played things way more by the book than she ever did. Enrica wished she’d spent more time with the kids, with H’ogan, with her husband, but the truth of the matter was that she never really felt comfortable being settled, stuck in one place for too long.
Enrica was in thunk and she needed to snap out of it, to sort herself out.
As Tye sat looking out at the beautifully landscaped gardens, contemplating what to do next, she heard footsteps approaching. Turning to see who was passing her by, Enrica found her son looking back at her, half smiling, but hanging his head somewhat.
“Evening,” she said, gesturing towards the space next to her on the bench overlooking the pond and the stream. “—trouble sleeping,” she asked, wondering herself what time it was.
“It’s been an a long day,” H’ogan said, not really making eye contact with his mother.
“Tell me about it, although on the plus side, we think the anti-vax delivery system is almost complete.”
“That’s good.”
Enrica placed a hand on her sons, and turned to him to ask him what was really bothering him, “Come on, we might as well do this now,” she said, trying to meet his gaze, hoping for some kind of indication as to what had caused this rift between them.
“It’s funny,” he said, looking out towards the pond, at how the water lilies were reflecting on the water, how the moonlight danced across it. “—before I became a Starfleet officer, I only had what you and dad had said, talked about, to go on, you know, to really know what it’s like to follow orders. Go where you are told.”
“I’m not sure I follow?” Enrica replied, unclear of the point H’ogan was trying to make.
“I get that you were ordered, that you were made to take the job aboard the Ekadhika, that it wasn’t your choice. And I really shouldn’t hold you responsible for that. I shouldn’t keep making you feel bad for leaving us like you did.”
Enrica paused for a second before continuing, because she knew what she was about to say next would probably push her son over the edge. “That’s not exactly what happened, H’ogan,” she said, uncoupling her hand from his. “I did have a choice, it was my choice to go, to take the job, it wasn’t an order, it was voluntary.”
H’ogan’s eyes narrowed, “Then why? Why would you go, risk your life like that?”
“Because, it’s part of the job. Risk is part of the job, it’s something that I’ve felt that I was born to do…”
“Oh cut the crap,” H’ogan interjected, rising to his feet, making his way down to the edge of the pond. He picked up a stone from the gardens and tossed it in, the moonlight shimmering in the ripples of the water. “I don’t buy that, stop soft pedalling me. Why did you really go?”
Enrica thought long and hard about how to answer this over the years, yet she could see H’ogan was hurting right now, not to mention feeling as though she’d robbed him of his independence by coming here and said, “Because it was too damned much,” she blurted, the words falling from her mouth so quickly she was unable to put them back in. “The boys were a nightmare, a complete handful when they were younger and I couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t cope, so I left.” It was out there, she had finally said it, finally admitted to her post-natal depression —something that lasted until the boys were almost three years old. It was heartbreaking, she wanted to love them, really she did, she tried, but there was something deep inside of her that just would not connect, could not bond with the boys and it terrified her. So what did she do, she upped sticks and left, took the first deep space mission that was available and ran, ran away with her best friend [Cole Hammond] on a mission to explore the multiverse.
Enrica realised that she had said too much. There are some things that you should never share with your kids, she thought —this being one of them. But what surprised her was how quick, how calm H’ogan became after hearing this bombshell, this revelation.
“Mom,” he said, turning back to face her, “I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, rejoining her on the bench, now he taking her hand, offering his support, kindness and compassion.
“Because there are somethings that should never be said, because you can’t exactly go around telling people you don’t love your kids, that you don’t feel anything for them,” tears started to form in her eyes as she spoke, as she looked into the eyes of her son, her eldest son from her first marriage. “You were different, it was just me and you. When the boys came, it was much later, my whole life had changed by that point and it was too much to bear. I snapped, reached my limit and needed to get away, get away from it all.”
“And now?” he asked, “How do you feel now?”
Enrica shook her head, the feelings of shame still apparent. “I have two teenage boys that I barely know. I have a husband that struggles to open up to me and I have a twenty eight year old son, a Starfleet lieutenant no-less, that feels like his mother’s just come home to keep an eye on him…” she smiled, “so you could say, I’ve had better months.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” H’ogan said softly, probably meaning it a lot more one day, but right now it was what she needed to here, and he knew that he needed to put his own selfishness, his own needs on the back burner for now. His mother was clearly hurting, whether it was from her time aboard the Ekadhika or from her post-natal depression she suffered after giving birth to the boys —whatever the reason, they would live with her for a long time and H’ogan knew that it would take a lot of unpacking, processing and counselling to really get to the bottom of how she truly felt. “If you ever need anything, you know where I am,” H’ogan said, “—you know I’ll always be there for you. Might not exactly feel like that sometimes, but I mean it, if you need anything, anytime, I’ll be there for you…I love you.”

“Hard to Be” - Part II
by Jonathan Crosby-Bromley.

Starring:
Claire Foy as Captain Dana Ryan
Rob Lowe as Captain Barin Troi
Cynthia Nixon as Enrica Tye
Kristen Kurek as Commander Jade Rollins
Lukas Gage as Doctor Brandon Tyler
Chandler Flanagan as Gale Zeta-Riker
Derek Shaw as Erit Mason Jr.
Szabó G. Tailor as H’ogan Marsland
Brianne Howey as Thea Tel
Callum Kerr as Lt. Commander Ash
Angelina Jolie as Larallis
Ruby Rose as S’Lan
and Rafael L. Silva as the voice of Lazaar Trath

Guest Starring:
Gillian Anderson as Admiral Kirsten Bremnan
Jonathan Pryce as Lactus Stonivin

Image Credits:
Photo Manipulations by JonBromLE1
Cargo Ship by Pierre Drolet
Image by JonBromLE1