The soft thudding of boots against the plush carpeting of the quarters that Commander Mira Novak had been assigned when she’d arrived at Starbase 11, the sound echoing gently in the spacious ‘front room’ of her multi-roomed living space. In keeping with the apparent tradition of ostentatious and bordering on excessive furnishing styles that seemed to epitomize the Command spaces aesthetic, the main living area played host to a rather eclectic collection. Stately tables made of polished wood of sizes ranging from small end tables to a large banquet table dotted the room, each one either flanked or ringed with chairs painstakingly crafted to be both comfortable and opulent in equal measure.

The space had enough room, even with all of the accoutrements one might need to host a fancy dinner party with important dignitaries, to house not one but two desks that doubled as workstations. The one nearest to the entrance to her quarters had seen the most use in the day and a half she’d already been aboard, while the other one was tucked away at the far corner of the room furthest from any other convenience of living that Mira considered it simply part of the wall decorations rather than a functional piece of furniture. The walls themselves were lined with artwork, likely left by previous station commanders to add their own little spark of charm to the room. Everything from abstract art to hyper-realistic paintings dotted the visual landscape.

Even the lighting in this particular part of her quarters was designed with elegance in mind. Wall sconces were arrayed in such a way that they heightened the sophisticated feel of the space while still managing to provide viable illumination, a feat of aesthetically pleasing engineering that incorporated function. Mira was impressed by exactly none of it, the space feeling to her more like a museum piece she was now forced to inhabit rather than a living space that felt like hers. Even with the understanding that her quarters were a holdover from the era of Admiralty holding the position she found herself in, Mira couldn’t quite bring herself to feel comfortable.

Her lack of internal ease didn’t stop her from leaving her boots exactly where they fell, nor did it stop her from undoing her uniform jacket and tossing it so irreverently onto one of the nearby chairs that a casual observer might think it had been on fire from the speed with which it was doffed and discarded. Her slender frame slid down into the plush, high-backed chair behind the desk she’d decided would be her home office for the duration of her stay, the exhaustion from her first real duty day aboard the station washing over her all at once.

With a somewhat languid motion of her right arm, Mira activated the holographic screen embedded in the ornate desk she was sitting behind. Status updates and messages scrolled down the display, with news clips flanking the right side of the information feed. A lazy skim of the information being displayed told her that nothing was happening on the station or around the cluster that required her immediate attention, which put her a bit more at ease in the moment.

With no after-hours business demanding her attention, Mira’s thoughts began to meander toward more personal matters. She recalled a conversation she’d had with her mother a few days before her arrival, and a promise she’d half-heartedly made about reaching out once she’d

settled in. She’d avoided it the previous day simply because of how late she’d arrived and how little settling she’d actually done before lying down in an unfamiliar bed that provided less than restful sleep.

Her fingers hovered just outside of the input range of the communications protocol, not entirely committed to reaching out to her mother even though she knew in the back of her head that it was probably the right thing to do. Unexpectedly, the decision was made for her when a notification came in from Luna, where her mother still lived. Mira willed her finger to strike the ‘accept’ indicator and pushed herself up into a more presentable but still relaxed posture.

“Hello, sweetheart,” the voice of Talia Novak filled the space around her, “I was wondering if you’d made it back to your quarters or not by now. How was your first day?”

“Honestly? It was exhausting in every way a day could be,” Mira muttered.

Her mother smiled at her through the screen, “I can only imagine. The worst I have to worry about is an experiment or two running behind schedule or over budget. You’ve got an entire starbase full of people to keep track of.”

“And personalities…” Mira grumbled.

Talia couldn’t help but chuckle at her daughter’s choice of words, “Is it really that bad, honey?”

“I suppose it depends on what you’d consider bad,” Mira sighed, “The crew itself is… colorful, but they aren’t… well, no, that’s not right. They don’t seem to be a bad group at first glance, but we are missing a few, and I haven’t met our head physician yet. There’s still time for disappointment.”

“Mira…” her mother said in an admonishing tone, “You need to stop assuming people are going to disappoint you so quickly. You know as well as anyone how vast the universe is, dear, and assuming people are pre-ordained to rub you the wrong way is a pretty rotten outlook. Have a little more faith in people.”

“Yeah yeah…” Mira waved the comment off in a peevish manner.

Talia gave her daughter a knowing smirk, “You know, ever since your promotion, you’ve been very hard to discipline.”

“Not so easy to flaunt rank when we’re wearing the same one,” Mira responded with a crooked smile of her own.

“I never flaunted it, sweetie. I merely used the tools in the tool bag. I know I taught you about that little nugget of wisdom more than once,” her mother retorted.

Mira nodded, “Yes, mother, you did. And I do follow it with a lot more regularity now that I’m a command officer. So thank you for bestowing upon this unworthy child of yours that profound wisdom.”

“No need to be snippy,” Talia said with an exasperated look.

“I’m not snippy,” Mira muttered, rolling her eyes. “You just bring that up too many times for me not to have something to say.”

Her mother raised her hands in surrender, “Fine, you’re right, sweetheart. I do like to remind you of things I believe are important. You know, you’re lucky to have a mother that loves you enough to worry about you even after all these years.”

“Moooom…” Mira groaned, dragging the word out with practiced exasperation.

“Okay… okay… I’ll stop teasing you. I actually do want to hear about how your first day went. I’ll behave so you can tell me, I promise,” Talia said with a smug laugh.

Mira gave her mother a pointed glare momentarily before letting out a tired sigh, “Have you ever had to deal with politicians?”

“Thankfully my career has been blissfully devoid of them,” Talia replied to the question before asking, “I take it you’ve already had the pleasure?”

“Pleasure is not the word I would use to describe it…” Mira grumbled.

Her mother leaned a bit closer toward the screen, “What happened?”

“We had a surprise visit from the planetary governor today,” Mira began, her posture degrading a bit further, “Governor Wakefield is her name. A real… politician…” The word carried with it an unusual amount of vitriol when she said it. “I guess my new XO and our civilian liaison got a kick out of how I handled her though.”

“Do tell,” Talia urged her daughter.

“Well, like I said, she showed up without warning. I got a heads-up from my staff and a short briefing before she arrived, but still… the audacity…” Mira sucked in a breath and stopped short of continuing the tirade. After letting out the air she’d taken in, she continued, “Her escort was told to take the long way up to my office, so when she finally made it up, I did the only thing that seemed appropriate at the time…”

“You didn’t…” her mother said with a burgeoning smirk.

Mira nodded, “I did. I made her wait. Had her stand at my door… a horribly gaudy monstrosity I might add… and had her sweat it out while the two I had in my office got themselves under control. I think the best part about the whole encounter was that I didn’t bother to give her my name when she came strutting in all self-important.”

“Really?” Talia asked, the surprise evident on her face.

“And I didn’t let her take over the conversation like she wanted to, either. Or promise her anything. And my crew was so shocked by it, they organized a party,” Mira remarked, glossing over the details.

“A party?” Her mother leaned back a bit. “Did you actually go?”

Mira rolled her eyes, “Yes mother… I actually went. You asked that like you already knew I wouldn’t…”

“Mira… honey. You know I love you, but let’s not pretend you haven’t skipped out on more social events than you’ve attended,” Talia said with a measured look of disappointment.

“Yeah yeah…” Mira muttered, propping an elbow on the armrest and resting her head in her hand, “But after hearing everyone basically say that the man I replaced was a tyrant and an asshole without actually using the words… I figured I’d at least try to be a little different… even if I did almost get hugged this morning by an overly affectionate Bolian…”

“What’s wrong with a nice hug, sweetheart?” her mother asked, her tone just shy of teasing.

Mira’s face curled into a sneer, “You know how much I love strangers touching me.”

“It’s not that bad,” Talia said with a laugh, clearly amused by her daughter’s exaggerated disgust. Once she’d gotten her laughter under control, she added, “So how was the party? Or did you just walk in, show face, and duck out the second people started eating?”

“No, I didn’t, mother,” Mira huffed, clearly annoyed, “I got there just in time for the meal, and stayed until everyone had finished the first round. They had a buffet set up, but they put so much on my plate the first time around that another round would have landed me in sickbay. It was good though.”

“A buffet? For replicated food? That’s a bit odd…” her mother muttered.

Mira shook her head. “No, it was made fresh. My XO’s wife runs a restaurant on our promenade, and they import fresh produce and meat from the surface. They even have one of those old food hydrators from back when you joined Starfleet.”

“Mira Elenai Novak,” Talia fumed, “I am not that old!”

Mira flinched at the use of her full name, “I was just joking, mother…”

“Wait until your children make a smartass comment about your age… you’ll see just how funny it is,” her mother snapped.

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen…” Mira snorted derisively.

“You say that now,” Talia replied flatly, “but I wasn’t exactly looking to have you either before I met your father.”

Mira shifted uncomfortably in her chair, “Can we not talk about him, please.”

“Fine,” her mother relented with a sigh. “But you can’t avoid it forever, you know?”

“You’re my mother, not my counselor,” Mira muttered. “And I’ll avoid whatever I want for as long as I want to, thank you very much.”

“If that’s really what you want…” Talia said, though her tone made it obvious she didn’t believe it.

Mira started to speak but stopped herself, her eyes dropping to the surface of her desk. “I just need a little more time… okay?”

“You’ve been asking for ‘a little more time’ since you were old enough to understand what happened,” her mother said gently. “At some point, you’re going to have to come to terms with it. I’m not asking you to forgive your father… I still haven’t. But you can’t keep pushing it away and hiding behind misunderstandings and half-truths forever.”

She paused before adding, “You didn’t do anything wrong, sweetheart. There’s nothing for you to feel guilty about.”

“But I do…” Mira groaned, “And I hate that I do. And I hate him for making me feel this way…”

“What your father did was reprehensible,” Talia said softly, “but it was his crime, not yours. No one ever looked at you in a negative light for being his child. Look where you are, honey… that should be proof enough. You’ve earned the trust that’s been placed in you.”

She leaned in a little closer to the screen. “You’re the commander of a starbase, for crying out loud. And a historic one at that. Why would they send you there if they didn’t believe you could live up to the task?”

Mira let out a frustrated sigh. “But I wanted to captain a starship…”

“I know you did, baby. I know that was always your dream, but that doesn’t mean this command won’t lead to a starship posting later down the line. And who knows… maybe you’ll come to love your starbase family and it will be the command that stays with you for the rest of your career.”

Talia smiled gently. “Just give it some time.”

“Thanks, Mom…” Mira said, her voice just above a whisper, “I love you.”