15 October 2401
Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona

The darkness of the unknown.
The mystery of what lies ahead.
Looking from here it is hard to fathom just what hides in that darkness.

All those points of light.
So many have guided travelers throughout history.
But to those that have been among them, we know what they hold.
The stories, the experiences, the unknown, and the known.

(an audible sigh, as we see the glowing embers and flames of a slowly dying fire)

{{ The light of the candle flickered and moved as they breathed, her sister Janho and her two childhood friends Keelleeh and Taarjoss. She could see them sitting in front of her but she could also see the ones whom they were hosting, Aajass the first, Mihjel the second, and Kijiad the third.
“I am Aajass, I was Rigras’s first host. Ask your questions, Aryanna”
“I was his second host, Mihjel. What is it you would like to know?”
“As you know I was his third host, Kijiad. We had many a conversation you and I. Ask what you may.” }}

(as the vision blinks itself out, focus is regained on flames in front of us)

Fire is the essence of chaos.
Chaos is what happens when mistakes are made.
Chaos is what happens when we do not see or hear that which is around us, in front of us.
When chaos engulfs us, what do we do?
Do we let it in?
Do we let it consume us?
Do we let it make decisions?
Do we embrace the chaos? Or do we forge it into something else?
Does it forge us?

I have faced that chaos, and seen what it does.
I have seen how it changes those who have faced it.
I have embraced it, I have let it forge me into what I am today.

(another sigh as we once again see the night sky)

That darkness, those points of light, have drawn so many to take their first steps into that dark sky.
Those points of light that have guided so many, call to me, beckon me to be amongst them once again.

(a gloved hand appears against the night sky as we see a watch face with glowing hands slowly move, ticking down the seconds)

“Too late to change your mind now. We made the decision together, we are a team you and I. We both agreed that It’s where we belong.”

(We watch as the hands slowly move, counting down the last seconds of the day. We hear a rustling from behind, as the view changes to one of someone sitting up with a blanket covering their lap and a small black box in one hand as the other shows the watch on a wrist.)

As the hands strike twelve, Aryanna let out a deep slow breath as she flipped open the black box and looked down at the two items it held.

She looked up at the sky, nodded, took the comm badge from its nest in the box, attached it to the left side of her shirt, closed the box, and returned it to the bag that she was using as a pillow.

Aryanna looked out over the mountains and valleys that came into view as the sun broke over the mountains. Dumping a canteen of water on the spot where the fire was the previous night she mixed it into the dirt making sure the fire was out. She slung the ruck onto her back as she started walking towards the house that could be seen distantly in the valley.

As she entered the house she could smell the aroma of fresh coffee, sausage being fried, and pancakes on the griddle.

“Breakfast will be ready in ten, my dear. Figured you would be hungry this morning.”
“Yes, ma’am. So enough time for a quick shower?”

A male chuckle could be heard coming from the dining room. “Not sure how much hot water is left, the hands were up early this morning.”

“Got it, Pop’s”
“Take them boots off, I’ll not have muddy boot prints tracking through my house.”
“Yes, ma’am”

As she entered the bedroom she couldn’t help but smile and shake her head as she saw the perfectly pressed command red tunic laid out on the bed and the shined black boots sitting on the floor beside the bed.

[[“Don’t look at me, not like I could tell them.”
“I know that. Meadow must have found out about the request and its approval.”
“She would have the access.”
“It’s probably why she suggested coming here, why she suggested getting away to someplace quiet and stress-free.”
“Did it help?”
“You know as well as I do that we decided to send in that request before coming here.”
“You didn’t answer my question, did it help? You could have pulled back the request at any time. But you didn’t, so did it help?”
“Yes, you know it damn well it helped.”]]

A few minutes later she entered the dining room as River, Meadow’s mother, was putting a pot of coffee on the table and Pop’s, John Bearsong, was pouring a healthy amount of syrup on his stack of pancakes.

“Sit and eat, John will take you to Phoenix when you’re ready.”

“Red looks good on you.” (John mumbled, mouth full of food)
“Thank you, pops.”

“Hmmmmmm”

Aryanna filled the mug in front of her with coffee and placed two pancakes, some eggs and sausage on her plate.

“Again I want to say thank you for inviting me into your home, you made me feel like family.”

River passed the syrup to Aryanna. “ My dear, no thanks is needed. You are always welcome here. Sometimes family, even ones that are not blood, are needed. Blood doesn’t make a family, family are those that are there for you no matter what, no questions asked, they are those whom you trust and who will have your back whenever they are called on. That is what being a family is.”

John nodded at his wife’s words.

Aryanna nodded “I see where Meadow gets it from. Like mother ,like daughter.”

River nodded as she looked out the window beside her. “Yes, well don’t tell her that. She always has believed that she is her own person. Trying to talk to her when she was younger was like trying to talk to that wall over there.” she pointed with her chin toward the wall across from them.

“So what happens now? Where do you go from here? San Francisco, I presume.”

Aryanna takes a long sip of her coffee. “Yes, After the Zhian’tara the docs will want to make sure that there are no lingering effects. After that, “ she shrugged her shoulders “Guess I’ll go where they send me.”

“Yes, Meadow said as much in her last message. We have all seen the reports and Meadow tells us what she can. If I may ask What is driving you to return? What do you want? You have told us of your past.” As she looked at Aryanna’s gloved hand “And you have told us of the visits you have made since your return. From what our daughter has told us about you before your arrival to what we see sitting here now in front of us, and what we have seen this past month. What you wanted in the past is not what you want now.”

John looked at the two women “blni’ godilkooh, blni’ gontl’iz, blni’ gonldzil. You have grown in both heart and mind, you are not the person you were before.” He looks at Aryanna and locks eyes with her, pointing at his chest. “You have a new fire, here. Something new burns within you, a new fire, a new light guides you. I have seen it these last few days and so have others.” John puts another fork full of pancakes dripping syrup into his mouth.

River took a sip from her cup, looked at Aryanna with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to answer her questions.

Aryanna looked at them both, took a sip from her cup and then held it in both hands. “ Family, the family I have out there, the ones I have here and at home. The ones who I left behind and the ones who are still to come. I’m not sure what I want, what my end goal is. But truthfully does anyone?”

John let out a chuckle “See, I was right. Let me tell you something Aryanna, you wake up everyday with a clean slate, what you did the day before is the past and nothing you do today can change the past. But what you can do is learn from the past and let it teach you. The only goal any of us have when we wake up each day is to put one foot in front of the other.”

River stood from her chair and walked over next to Aryanna and placed her hand on Aryanna’s shoulder. “Goals change as fast as a river flows, don’t drown because you are looking too far down stream.”

John wiped up the remaining syrup on his plate with the last bit of pancake, ate it then took a long sip of coffee. “Ready when you are, Captain.”

November 2401
Starbase Bravo

Personal Log:
Aryanna Rigras, Captain
The past three weeks were a blur, poked and prodded, scans for this, scans for that, several lengthy meetings with various doctors. For what? Just to tell themselves, what I already knew. Rigras is fine, I’m fine, we are both fine.

Sometime during those two weeks a decision was made. Someone, somewhere decided that the best place for me was to send me back, back to the fourth fleet. So here I am, waiting, waiting, waiting. Maybe it’s time for me to stir the nest a bit. After all one can only be kept waiting for so long before one says something.

(Aryanna, sat back in the chair and let out a sigh. Looking at the time on the PADD she realised that she needed to be on her way to another briefing.)

Computer, close personal log.

“Computer, who is the current commander of Task force 47?”
“The Task Force 47 commander is Captain Varen Wyll.”

[[“Ha, not even back a week and you’re going to step on some toes already?”
“Just because I have a new purpose, a new fire, doesn’t mean that I’m still not the same Aryanna.”
“That is true, just be careful of whose toes you step on.”
“Yaaaa, you know me too well.”
“I do and that is what worries me.”]]

Aryanna sat down at the console again and quickly typed out a message, hitting send as she stood and quickly walked out of the room.

Deep Space 47
Thomar Expanse

The face of Captain Varen appeared on the small screen, his weary visage topped by a mane of barely kempt black hair. He set down a tall glass, the clinking of ice cubes carrying across the lightyears as he allowed a welcoming smile to spread across his face.

“Aryanna, I’m glad to hear you’re ready to rejoin us out here amongst the stars. It’s…”

His words caught in his throat, forcing him to swallow down the grief.

“… It’s been a rough few months and I could use every capable hand at the pump. I’m afraid Dragon has been redeployed to the Cardassian front, things are tense over there but I think I’ve got something that will tickle your fancy.”

He waved his hands across the screen, causing a small message icon to appear on the screen.

“The Chawla is in need of a captain. And a crew to be honest. She’s one of the new Sagan-Class, which means she’s fast, she’s dependable and as of a few weeks ago retrofitted for deep space exploration.”

He paused, chewing on his cheek nervously.

“You’ll have to pick a crew too, unfortunately not everyone made it through Frontier Day and Chawla was part of the Sol honour guard…”

He swallowed down his grief once again hoping his tone had carried the message. The Chawla had been empty when it was retrieved, the crew having fought each other to a standstill at the end. It never got easier talking about it, even six months later.

“… you might have to run a little short handed out the gate but she’s got a lot of automation to make up for it.”