DEEP SPACE NINE – Locked away in a secure compartment, a mix of Bajoran Security and Starfleet volunteers were treated to an eyeful as the USS Khitomer wound down its shore leave.
“Oh yeah,” Petty Officer Second Class Jackson Pearl effused, “We see everything.” He paused before reiterating with emphasis: “Everything.”
Security monitors placed in common areas on a station with as turbulent a history as Deep Space Nine have been widely interpreted as a necessary inconvenience. Typically, these cameras were used to solve petty crimes and identify maintenance needs, but generally the personnel monitoring the station weren’t familiar with the many faces they saw coming and going, day in and day out. That changed with the arrival of the USS Khitomer, and the USS Ronin. Both starships have lent personnel to DS9’s often stretched staff, after an estimate for repair time was provided to both vessels.
“I figured, if we’re making the mess we might as well help clean it up a bit,” explained Captain Randal Shayne when asked about the impromptu exchange program.
The assignment of ship personnel to station duty meant patterns that might not have been fully understood could be put into their fuller context.
“At first it was just mayhem,” Petty Officer Third Class Siggy Alamenda explained. “First day we got here, I’m not sure there was anybody sober for more than five minutes. And that’s when the violence started.”
Between a brawl on the Promenade and a smashed telescope in an observation room, it appeared that the Khitomer’s shore leave was, in the wake of the Siege of Deep Space Thirty-Three, going to be just as destructive as the battle the crew had survived. Pearl explained that somewhere along the way, things quieted down, and took an interesting turn.
“Take our Chief Medical Officer, for example,” Pearl went on. “I can’t tell you and won’t speculate about what happened behind closed doors, but that woman appears to be [recovering well].”
Lieutenant Commander Talia Ohnari could not be reached for comment by the time of publication. Lieutenant Pershan, one of Khitomer’s counselors, agreed to speak broadly, but wouldn’t comment on specific patients.
“The crew went through a lot,” Pershan explained, “and individuals process grief and trauma in a variety of ways. That’s true even among a single species, so you can imagine what it’s like for a Federation of them. And what I find most promising is that they’re processing it together.”
Written by: Nolen Hobart
