Magenta had done a remarkable job as Executive Officer of the USS Queen Elizabeth II. She and Captain S'Nii had gotten along very well and had worked together with productive results including saving the important Galaxy Class Ship and helping rescue the city of Jersey on the Colony.
Magenta, S'Nii and Cinnamon Leo had worked so well together to get the USS Lexington off the ground, despite the end result. Now the USS Wrath of Prometheus was preparing to fulfill a job that had been vacant since the USS Yang Liwei left the Colony. They were going to head into orbit to protect the colony. There will be no more Vulcan invasions or Romulan Occupations.
Magenta was the logical choice to be the Executive Officer of the USS Wrath of Prometheus. Nicole knew it. Magenta thought she wanted it. The girls spent the evening together. Nicole wished that Magenta could understand. She knew she was being selfish by asking her to stay. Magenta was a young officer. She had her whole career ahead of her.
Nicole did busy work. She decorated her house for halloween. It was the only house in Little Lakaria decorated for the ancient Earth holiday. Nicole told Magenta of the Earth legends and of the holiday. Nicole then replicated a bunch of candy and took it out and gave it to the little Cardassian children in Little Lakaria. She sat them on the grass and told them the stories of Earth and how every child dressed up for halloween on October 31. Some of them had never seen an Earth Calendar; used to only the Stardate system of the United Federation of Planets.
Magenta watched in amazement as Nicole mothered the entire group of children. A small Bajoran girl had walked over from Little Boston to see what the commotion was. Often the Little Boston children would come over to play with the children from Little Lakaria. Nicole waved her over. She handed the young girl a chocolate bar and Brenna stood up and went to sit next to her.
Brenna looked at her, "We are celebrating Halloween."
"Hall low ween", the Little Bajoran girl repeated slowly.
"I think I like it.", she smiled.
Magenta went into the house and grabbed her bag. She left without even saying goodbye. It was going to be too hard. She did not hail a cab. She did not take a shuttle. She walked. She needed time to think.
She thought of her service to the Phoenix Colony on the USS Queen Elizabeth II and all of the efforts to get the Lexington in the air. She thought a lot about Captain S'Nii. She knew that S'Nii "fancied" her and wondered about the potential of that relationship. She kept coming back to her image of Nicole. She went into the capital. She went to the Federation Complex. She stood in front of the building for a long time. She then went walking down the street.
Nicole sent the children on their way. She knew that Magenta had left. She tried to control her tears until Brenna went to bed. Brenna took a bit to settle. She was horribly overstimulated because of the candy and stories.
Nicole was sitting on the couch crying. She did not want to wake up Brenna. She was hurting inside. She was sitting on the steps. It was raining. Nicole had been here before. She thought of Orchid leaving for Bajor. She cursed the Coren girls. She cursed her life.
She thought she was seeing things when Magenta came walking up the road. She looked at Nicole, "Hello, my name is Lt. Magenta Coren, Chief Science Officer for the Phoenix Colony."
"But I thought Dr. Velta Varno was the Colony Science Officer.", Nicole stood up.
"Dr. Varno has accepted the position of Executive Officer aboard the USS Wrath of Prometheus.", Magenta responded.
"Your staying?", Nicole's lips quivered as she tried to stop crying.
"I am.", Magenta smiled.
Nicole hugged her so tight. This was like "Walking on a Dream."
Posted by:
Vice Admiral Nicole Branson
Star Fleet Executive Officer
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Fleet
