Differing Viewpoints

Posted on Sat Mar 23rd, 2019 @ 3:48am by Lieutenant JG Danica ("Dani") Tyr

Mission: The Team Assembles
Location: Cygnian Home World
Timeline: One Month Before

Dani had never been an easy child or so her mothers would say when they thought she wasn't listening (she was). She was independent and not particularly inclined to accept 'because I said so' as a reason to do anything. Battle lines had been drawn early, certainly well before puberty. Not that there weren't good times. There were. It was more that there always reached a point where her mothers felt they had to prevent her from following a path they considered wrong. Which included a whole lot of what Dani thought was absolutely right for her. By the time she left for the Academy, both sides had drawn a collective sigh of relief at her departure.

Entrenched positions. No surrender. Separation was necessary though her mothers were positive that Dani would hate the discipline of Starfleet. In that they weren't entirely wrong. Her first weeks were difficult to say the least. But along with the problems, there was just so much to learn. Her world expanded exponentially and she couldn't turn away. Couldn't go back.

Nine years away. Four at the Academy discovering a whole new level of diversity amid so many challenges. She learned to control her temper and to see differences as opportunities. She tried things out. Explored. Did things her mothers would have died of shame to hear about (and so didn't). She went home to visit when she could and marveled at how much ... smaller ... things were on each successive visit. As though her home town couldn't quite contain her any longer.

Then came five years on the Pirogav where she finally hit her stride. Putting all the theory into practice and finding people who embraced her native ingenuity. Good years and she would have stayed had not her boss suggested the STAT team as being a perfect fit. Lots of research and questions and finally, Dani put in her application for transfer.

Starfleet took their time about getting her a new assignment. That was alright ... and not alright at the same time. There was time for a longer visit on the home world where she caught up with old friends and, at least at home, before too long, fell into old familiar patterns. Her mothers, loving and good people, did not approve of Starfleet or even of leaving the home world. So, Dani divided her time between fending off her mothers' view of what her life should be going forward, defending Starfleet and the Federation, and disappearing.

She'd perfected that art as a teen. She would sneak out her window and spend the night on the beach with those few who didn't see her as having gone over to the dark side. She dove off the cliffs of Andemyr and explored underwater caves. And waited for her life to get going again. That is, of course, until her friends showed her the community they were building, cut off from modern technology. That was tempting.

She spent two weeks in the mountains, helping build living quarters and a barn and a couple of greenhouses. The work was interesting and challenging and she forgot about everything else as she put her mind to the tasks at hand. For the first time since coming home she felt ... well, at home. Relaxed. Doing the things she could to help and not having to argue about her life choices.

And ... just about the time that she was finishing the last of the big jobs, the message came through about her assignment. Finally. Frenzied packing and a round of good-byes, some happy and relaxed, some reluctant and tearful, and with her mothers, well, the whole obligatory speech about how Starfleet didn't need to define her life. Dani did not say, though she dearly wanted to, what was on her mind. The only ones trying to define her life for her were her parents.

Time, she thought as she stepped into the transport shuttle, to get to work again. Past time.