The lights of the shuttle platform pulsed slowly, like the heartbeat of a creature resting before the night. Before the hunt.

Meran stepped off first, one hand resting instinctively near the phaser he – thanks to Risa’s restrictions on carrying weapons – no longer carried, while his gaze scanned the surroundings, taking note of the terrain, the people, and the available exits.

Behind him, Linna Valdes emerged with a breezy confidence that made her seem like she belonged here, and had always been meant to be here. Her summerly dress, too revealing for Meran’s taste, but modest compared to the attire he discovered some of the other women wearing. Still, it harmonized effortlessly with the clear sky, the perfumed air, the lushious palm trees and the exotic music.

“You don’t have to stick so close.” she said without sparing a glance at her ‘security escort’. “I’m not going to run off.”

Meran didn’t answer, not did he allow her to increase the distance between them. Instead, he kept walking, following Linna like a silent shadow that shot a warning glare at whoever got too close.

“I don’t know why you even had to come along.”, Linna huffed after unsuccessfully trying to lose him in the crowd. “Risa is perfectly safe. And don’t start with that story about the kidneys, the Captain already tried that.”

Captain. She said the word so disdainfully, as if it wasn’t her mother she was talking about. Meran used to have an equally complicated relationship to his parents who had been absent when he needed them, and overbearing when he made the first steps into independence. But now that he was nearing the big Five-Oh, he reflected would have been given anything to have an attentive parent to guide him through his youth.

“She’s your mother, it’s her job to worry.”, Meran remarked calmly.

Linna glanced at him. “It feels more like she’s worried about her career and reputation. I doubt she’s as worried about me getting lost on Risa as she is about being the someone who let her daughter get lost on Risa.”

Meran gave her a weary look. “I don’t think it’s ‘getting lost’ she’s worried about. Or missing a kidney – you got two.”

“That’s exactly what I said!”, Linna nodded and slowed down her pace so she could walk next to him, oblivious to how much he didn’t like that.

“You used to work brig detail, right?”, she asked when the silence between them stretched, and he made no attempt to fill it.

“That’s right.” Meran gave a short nod. It had been the start of his career, many many years ago. Now, he had evidently been upgraded to babysitter.

Linna spared him another glance, eyeing him up and down for the briefest of moments. A mischievous smile spread on her lips. “Were you in the brig, or did you run it?”

Meran didn’t validate that question with a response, and simply kept walking.

It wasn’t long before they reached the market, a visitor-packed plaza in the centre of Atheta. To Linna, it was nothing short of enchanting – food stalls with local and foreign delicacies, talented dancers that performed on the various stages, music played by instruments she didn’t know the name of, lighting that wove intricate patterns through clouds of smoke, and the promise of fireworks once the sun had set completely.

Meran, too, saw all of those things – and more. His trained eyes, and the fact that he was here on the very important assignment of guarding a hormonal teenager, saw through the layers of glitter and gold-paint, and he didn’t like what he found.

Vendor booths choked the side routes, while tall buildings funneled the masses into narrow, one-way corridors. The music, intriguingly beautiful as it was, drowned out local announcements.

“One way in, one way out.”, Meran muttered.

He glanced at the holo-image of a map, barely visible through the theatrical haze, and frowned. The nearest marked exit wasn’t far from them, but someone had converted it into a dance stage, another one blocked by a group of volunteer workers.

“This is amazing!” Linna beamed enthusiastically and took a few steps towards the nearest vendor.

Meran took a long look around and shook his head. “It’s a bottleneck with flowers and pretty lights.”

If Linna had heard him, she chose to ignore it.

“Excuse me.”, interrupted a Kressari male with an expression Meran could only interpret as deeply concerned. “Have you seen my daughter? She ran off and-…”

“Unfortunately not. And I’m on duty, sorry. I can’t help you look.” Meran replied, which was a whole lot nicer than the ‘Go away, I’m working’ that had actually come to mind. As the uniform he was wearing didn’t already make that clear.

The Kressari gave him a dismayed look, and muttered something in his native language the universal translator refused to translate, and hurried away. Meran returned his attention to Linna, who had left the stall she had been inspecting.

Meran could feel his heartbeat quicken as he scanned the crowd for her, and let out a relieved sigh, followed by an annoyed groan, when he found her in front of the dance stage, only seconds away from entering it.

He pushed through the groups of people, ignoring protests and insults. As he reached her, he grabbed her arm a little firmer than he had intended.

“Hey! Let go of me, or I’ll scream”, she hissed and tried to jostle herself away from him, but to little avail.

“I told you to stay closeby.”, he snarled back, his usually calm demeanour fraying at the edges the longer they spent here.

“You’re paranoid.”

“I’m not. I’m careful, and you are careless. Either you obey, or we’re going back to the Sirona. Trust me, I can have us beamed up in an instant.”

Which was an assumption more than it stated a fact, but Linna didn’t need to know that.

“Fine.”, Linna replied with all the decorum of a sixteen year old. “Can we get something to drink? It’s warm.”

“Sure.” Meran nodded, but didn’t let go of her just yet. Instead, he led her towards a small and comparatively quiet café pressed into a corner at the far end of the plaza.

“It just… sucks, you know?” Linna said as she absentmindedly stirred the vile swirl of sugar and cream that she considered ‘coffee’. “Living with your mom, and her being the Captain of a Starship – especially one like the Sirona.”

“What makes it… suck?” Meran asked. He wasn’t great at conversation, but if being heard would make Linna more compliant, he would gladly be her sounding board.

“I’m constantly being watched. And compared.”

“Linna, you’re always compared, it’s just the nature of things. I was compared to my siblings, and they were compared to each other. That your mother is Captain has nothing to do with it.”, he sighed, and for the first time, he met her eyes.

“It’s unfair.”, Linna shrugged and sipped from her drink.

“Yes, it is.” He agreed. “But it won’t last forever. At some point, you will be an adult and get to make your own choices. And if you join Starfleet, you might get away from your mother, but still have to obey Captain’s orders.”

Linna shook her head. “I don’t want to be part of Starfleet. I want to… be an artist, I think. Or a teacher. Or a doctor.”

Meran smirked. “Those are three very different things.”

“Well, I just don’t know yet, okay?” A pause. “What made you choose Starfleet?”

“It’s a long story.” Meran sighed, and wondered how to fit said long story into a short explanation that would satisfy her curiosity. “Spite, I guess. I was in my thirties when my father said I wouldn’t amount to anything. So I packed my bags, joined Starfleet, and sent them a postcard.”

Of course, enlisting with Starfleet hadn’t been as easy as he made it sound. Nor had he ever ever sent a postcard.

“That also sucks. With your father, I mean.” Linna admitted and fell silent. She didn’t know her father all too well, and while she had a tendency to tell her mother that living with him would be so much better, she didn’t actually know if that was true.

It was just one of those things she said to make her angry, and it never worked.

“Come on.”, she said eventually, leaving the half-finished drink on the table. “I want to get to the party before you have us beamed up again.”

Meran looked over at the direction Linna was indicating. Wave after wave of people headed that way, shoulder on shoulder, above them a banner reading “One Way to the Stars”. He stared at it for too long.

“What’s up?” Linna asked.

“There are just a lot of people, that’s all.”

“Oh yeah.” She nodded. “One of the merchants said that there are thousands more than they had expected.”

Thousands more. And one way in. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

“If something happens” Meran said “don’t run where everyone else is running. Find a wall, get your back to it, and wait for me.”

“Are you expecting something to happen?” Linna asked. There was annoyance in her voice, but underneath that, the hint of something else.

“I always am.”

But Risa had experience with such festivals, didn’t they? The whole planet was a tourist dream come true, the festival staff experienced, and security measures in place. Still, with the crowd swelling like a tide, Meran couldn’t help but feel that trusting it might be unwise.

“Are you coming?” Linna called, already a few feet ahead.

“Yeah. I’m not letting you go alone.”