Interlude

Posted on 02/16/2017 @ 11:48pm by Captain Oseno Jureth

The Alsea had been docked at Starbase Lotus for nearly a week now, and to Jureth the base seemed to be a hive of activity these days. Several ships had arrived since they returned and nobody was saying what they were doing or why they were there. Knowing Lotus Fleet they probably had some purpose to serve that would become evident as soon as the details were worked out, or perhaps there was another crisis brewing that required reinforcements. The Bajoran captain wasn't sure, but for now he put such thoughts out of his head. It was nice to relax for awhile without having disruptors pointed at him. The crew of the Alsea were almost all on leave, and he had made especially sure that science officer Sirius got an extended leave. She'd been through quite an ordeal and hadn't had hardly any time to recover. As for Jureth, he was taking what humans called a cat nap on the couch in his quarters when the door chime rang.

"Really?" he muttered to himself before sitting up "Come." 

The door opened to reveal a human petty officer in an operations uniform with a small case in his hands.

"Afternoon Cap'n" 

"What is it Petty Officer?"

"This case is for you Sir. Came in with the last supply ship, all the way from Bajor." 

"Bajor?" 

"Yessir Cap'n." 

"Thank you Petty Officer," Oseno said as he stood up and took the case by handle. 

"Anytime Sir, have a good one." 

With that the man was gone and Jureth set out opening the case. The lock was biometric and as such could only be opened by the intended recipient. The only person who would send him anything from Bajor was his mother, but he didn't know what she could have sent that would require a secure case. As he opened the case Jureth took stock of the contents. There was a holodisk, likely a note from his mother, and then carefully placed was a pin that Jureth immediately recognized. It was the combage issued by the Bajoran militia, but Jureth knew neither of his parents had ever been in the militia so he wasn't sure where his mother would have gotten one. He supposed, however, that the holodisk probably held the answers so he placed it in the console on his desk. 

Immediately a holographic image of his mother appeared an began speaking

"My dear Jureth, it has been some time since I've heard from you. I imagine you are being kept busy with your duties what with being a full fledged Starfleet captain and all. I always check promotion lists when Starfleet releases them and I was so proud to see your name on there. I couldn't help but tell everybody that my son had his own ship. That brings me to the other item you found in the case. I'm sure you know what it is, but there is a story with it. You see I happened to meet Kai Kira at the Temple the other day and she asked about you. I was so excited to tell her about your promotion. That combage is the one she wore when she was militia liaison to Deep Space Nine. She says it will work with any Starfleet computer system, and she also said that if they gave you any troubles just tell them to call her. She wants you to remember where you came from Jureth, to never forget that you are Bajoran. I'm proud of you my son, we all are. Congratulations, and call or write your mother once in awhile. I love you son."

The message ended there and Jureth picked up the combage from the box and ran his fingers over the Bajoran emblem. A gift from a Kai was significant enough, but a gift from this Kai, so beloved by her people was incredibly special. As Oseno held the pin tears began to form in his eyes. Carefully he removed his Starfleet issue combadge and pinned on the Bajoran one. He tapped it once and the computer picked it up immediately.

"Computer, link this combage to Captain Oseno Jureth."

"New combadge linked. Oseno  Jureth, Captain, USS Alsea." 

He suspected he would have to answer some questions about it eventually, but who was he to disobey the Kai?