[Encounter Mission] Those Lost and Found - Part One

Posted on Monday April 24th, 2023 @ 7:11pm by Commander Kanaka Shakura
Edited on on Monday April 24th, 2023 @ 8:37pm

1,727 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Suraya Bay, Risa
Timeline: Stardate 72311.16 (April 25th, 2395); During the events of "Shore Leave"
Tags: Kana Shakura, Anda, Shore Leave, Risa, Suraya Bay, Encounter Mission, 2395

Mission Prompt: You are a single crewman who comes across an orphaned Risian! How will you bring them to safety? Will it be as simple as transferring them over to the authorities or will you search for their parents or guardians? This may be concluded in a single part or multiple. You have free liberty in this encounter to decide the fate of the orphan, but be warned! The conclusion you write will affect the mission as a whole and your character.

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The pristine white sand and warm blue waves that rolled into shore were just the tantalising tip of what Suraya Bay had to properly offer. All along its beaches, one could find activities situated for recreation and leisure; the Risian's reputation for promiscuity was seconded only by their diligence in making sure all was provided for their visitors, with no exceptions. If one did not wish to participate in anything too physical, there was plenty of alternative options for more rest and relaxation.

For Commander Kanaka Shakura, however, none of this was entirely clicking with her. For sure she was entertained by all the sites and sounds of joy, and was able to marvel and properly appreciate the vastness of Risa's natural beauty, but none of it felt entirely for her. Not really. She had always since the age of eleven much rather preferred to hang back and merely observe, feel what was going on around her rather than be immediately drawn into feeling herself. This was what made her such a formidable Counsellor, and she was grateful for the life she was able to lead now. But something had always been...missing.

When Kana had been called up in the service of the Poseidon two years ago to serve as her Executive Officer, it had never been a position the now thirty-two year old Betazoid had aspired to. But she accepted it, knowing then how much the Captain and crew needed her. They had successfully managed to carry out a rather arduous and intensive set of missions in the Alpha Quadrant, protecting cargo and ferrying refugees, all the while under the threatening eyes of pirates. All this on top of serving as a training vessel for many bright-eyed cadets, some of whose flames were temporarily dulled after such tragic incidents as the Battle of the Bright Nebula.

She had been proud of everything she had been able to accomplish in that position - her proudest moment being when she successfully defended her crewmates while under assault from a pirate Gorn onboard the hulk of an old Cardassian vessel - and she had risen to the rank of Commander in that time, making her one of the most senior Starfleet members aboard the ship. Still she did not feel that there was something right. As time went on and more souls came and went, she never felt fully able to properly balance her commitments between Command and Counselling. "Counsellor and Commander" in some senses seemed antithetical; how could she provide effective counsel if others worried what she would think of their capacities? It genuinely pained her to not be able to provide both effectively.

And so, she and Captain Johnson had made the sad but rational decision to relinquish her of Command duties, though he was adamant that she not leave entirely. Nor did she wish to; there was plenty of counsel still to be provided for, and especially as the Poseidon had fully begun to settle into her role as a Academy Training Vessel, a transfer to Theta Fleet set the stage for many new fresh faces who would need a firm and confident counsellor to be available to them.

Kana strolled idly along the beach, sand in her toes as she carried her boots and a few other personal belongings in a Starfleet satchel that was slung over one shoulder. Before she could properly return to her Chief Counsellor position, Captain Johnson had insisted that she be among the many who had been released on shore leave down on Risa. She obliged, though this had remained the extent of her relaxation time. Wandering and wondering; thinking of what had been and all that was about to come.

In some ways, the emptiness of these moments were calming. But in others, it could be downright frightening. It took a lot for a Betazoid to feel this way, and the truth that Kana was coming to was that she had probably felt this way in her life for a very long time, and had simply never been able to admit it. Not even to herself. She was not as much insecure as she had simply numbed herself to the fact, and while that had allowed her to progress this far in her life, she realised that if she was to progress any further then it had to be resolved.

She then came to an abrupt stop as, within that emptiness, she suddenly felt a spike of tremendous anxiety. It sat right in the centre of her gut. She mentally checked herself, "This isn't me...", and then proceeded to cast her dark eyes out towards the thronging crowd of this particular section of the bay she found herself in. Despite all the commotion and excitement and all the attention given to the collective expression of happiness and joy taking place, it seemed as if everyone had failed to take a single notice of a lone Risian girl in the crowd. She looked around in a panic, her eyes darting up between adults as she searched with increasing frustration. Then for a brief moment her eyes met with Kana, and it felt as if time stood still for a split second.

The Chief Counsellor took one deep breath in through her nose. Counting to five, she exhaled. She then made her way towards the girl, her short but lean figure giving her the manoeuvrability to get to the girl quickly but also able to confidently push between anyone who did get in her way. Within that moment the girl watched and patiently waited, seemingly not too alarmed by the approach of this stranger. "Must be because I'm still wearing my uniform..." Kana thought.

"Ikara, little one." Kana initiated their contact in earnest, somewhat awkwardly. While she had been around plenty of younger people, especially since serving on the Poseidon, children were a particular category of people who she was still learning how to properly navigate. It likely had to do a bit, in part, due to pressure from her mother in earlier adulthood to have children of her own; it was not something she was against at all, but it was always something she wanted to happen on her own terms.

The girl said nothing, her clear green eyes like a sad reflection of the foamy waves that rolled up onto shore. Yet she stayed calm by Kana's side, and continued to look at her. The Betazoid wondered if this was the first time the young girl had properly seen someone so alike, yet so different at the same time; perhaps it was her first time seeing a Starfleet officer up close. One that she recognised as such, anyway.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Kana chimed in again. "I...noticed you looked a little upset. Is everything alright?" Still, the girl didn't vocalise anything, but she did look up and around again at the other adult faces in the crowd for a brief moment - almost theatrically - before looking back at Kana.

"Are you...looking for someone?" She asked, trying to follow along with the young girl's means of communicating with her. To this she responded with an emphatic nod. Kana smiled, and in that moment so did the young girl.

"Your parents?" Kana asked again, and once again the girl emphatically nodded. She wasn't sure why the child - who couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old - was not vocalising, yet could clearly understand what she was saying. Even so, they each shared an understanding of the situation now.

"Okay. Can you tell me where you last saw them? What they look like?" She asked the question almost without thinking, and cursed herself almost immediately. The expected response came; a puzzled look, somewhat unsure. Kana realised that such a question would not be so easy to answer without words. Fortunately, she did have another option.

"Okay..." She knelt down so she was at the young girl's height. "I'm a Betazoid. I can read people's minds. Would you let me read your mind so I can see who your parents are, and so we can go find them?"

The girls eyes widened, fascinated by the prospect of another being legitimately reading her mind. Enthusiastically she agreed, somewhat to Kana's surprise. Smiling, she gently placed her fingers on the young girl's temple, and almost seamlessly she was able to enter into her mind, likely in part because of the child's enthusiasm.

It was in that instant that Kana realised at once why the young girl had not said a word. Usually when she entered a person's mind, their minds conceived of the words they would speak to express themselves, and so those things would materialise physically in their mind. Yet, this child did not use words, and so instead her mind was full of pure feeling. She did not imagine her parents by any words that we would commonly use to describe a loved one that would help to fill a blank snapshot of a person's face or physical appearance; this young girl thought of her parents in the act of doing and loving, in the warmth of their embraces and joy in their celebration of her life.

Withdrawing, the stunned Betazoid looked directly into the girl's eyes. The two now shared an even better understanding of each other's situation. This made the situation even more challenging, but this was the exact situation that Kana thrived for. Feeling.

"Okay, Anda." Kana said, a new tone of confidence in her voice. The girl - Anda - beamed confidently upon hearing her name. "Let's go find your parents."

To be continued...

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Cmdr. Kanaka "Kana" Shakura
Chief Counsellor
U.S.S. Poseidon

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