Posted Feb. 25, 2020, 10:48 a.m. by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) (Lindsay B)
Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kiama Naim ((A) Chief Science Officer) in CSO’s Office - Questions over questions
Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in CSO’s Office - Questions over questions
Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kiama Naim ((A) Chief Science Officer) in CSO’s Office - Questions over questions
(snip)
While her fellow officer leaned back, Kiama found herself leaning ever so slightly forward, her forearms resting on the desk; one on top of the other. She listened intently to every word Faye said. Wanting to understand. Not for the sake of morbid curiosity, but because she cared for the people around her. So even after she stopped talking, Kiama remained silent for a few more moments. “How did that make you feel?” she eventually asked softly. “I remember very clearly how I felt during the Occupation of Betazed, but of course the circumstances were different and we all perceive things so differently…” Her voice trailed off and for a brief moment an expression of … indignation or maybe annoyance played across her dark features.
~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO
Faye’s brows knit as she worked through how to answer this. Normally these conversations were the stuff of bar room talk with drinks in hand. If she drank, that was. She technically no longer had the restriction in her file, but knew better than to indulge in anything more than a tiny amount. How did she feel? How did she feel? It had been a long time since she had actually thought back to life under threat before the Dominion wiped out the colony. She could talk about their idyllic colony life, and she could talk (in loose terms of course) about losing everything knew had known and loved, but being a child soldier as it were? Hmmm. Faye wasn’t sure she had really ever considered what she had felt during that time. “It’s was exciting, to a point. I mean, I knew nothing and didn’t understand the implications,” she said casually tracing a circle with the point of her index finger on the desk. “But I got to spend a lot of time with my father, who was an elite computer security expert who had retired from the field to live a simpler life on Tracken Two. But his skills were in high demand when the colony joined the Maquis and I got to help him. There wasn’t anyone in our community who naysayed joining. We were fighting for our lives and the Cardassians made it clear it was necessary, even though kids like me had no idea about the greater socio-political climate surrounding it all.”
~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist
Kiama nodded her and there while listening attentively to every word Faye said and taking in the emotions she sensed from her. “I think I understand you feeling excited. Also, you must have learned a lot from your father. That’s a wonderful memory and legacy to have,” she mused, her black eyes slightly unfocused. “And speaking of knowledge … I’ve wondered most of my life how much knowledge is beneficial for a child in that situation? My parents pretty much refused to tell me anything. I knew the situation was bad. After all, you don’t survive the destruction of the capital without realising that. So instead of the truth, all I had was my own imagination and whatever parts of the conversations I could catch before someone noticed me.” She shrugged and sighed softly. “But I guess there is no right answer to that question. At least non that applies to everyone and every situation.”
~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO
“It’s a matter of scale, I think,” Faye said quietly. “Our colony was relatively small. A single main community. You couldn’t escape the reality of what was going on, no matter how old you were. On the scale of a planet with millions or billions of people, not every single person is going to be as deeply effected. An occupying force can’t be everywhere, which is why resistance groups can be successful. In our case, we only served to paint a big fat target on our settlement and the Cardassians likely didn’t have to convince the Dominion all that hard to help do away with the bane of their existence that was the Maquis,” she said rather bitterly.
~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist
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