Post 245:As Blue as the Very Sea Part One

Stardate:70623.2030
Title: As Blue As the Very Sea Part One
Author: Zanh Liis
Scene: Ready Room
Time: After "A Shave and a Haircut" but before "Twilight"
-------------------------

=/\=

"Yes, that should be more than enough azure crystal stone to use for the purpose I have in mind. Thank you for your generosity, Minister Velonn." Zanh Liis' voice was hushed as she spoke to the district administrator of the next province over from the Takesian Plains.

She had asked him a favor earlier; that he obtain for her a small amount of a beautiful gemstone which was found embedded in many of the caves in the area that the storms had devastated. She had a specific use planned for it.

"I believe that it will mean a lot to my people to have it. Thank you kindly."

[It is the very least we can do. Please thank them again, Zanh Liis, on behalf of Starfleet and Bajor. There is no doubt that many lives were saved thanks to the people of the Independence. We will forever be in their debt.] The man's eyes appeared tired and weary, and Liis could only nod in reply as she closed the channel and he winked out of sight. She tapped her badge and addressed the officer at communications.

"Sarah," she croaked, her voice hoarse from exhaustion and sadness. "Inform Chief Quinlan that there's a special parcel beaming up from Bajor for me shortly. Ask him to let me know the moment it arrives."

"Understood, Captain. Tenney out."

Zanh folded her hands and brought the index fingers up to her lips. As the tips of them touched her chin, she shook her head and smiled a little. Salvek's gesture. After all these years, she'd finally picked it up.

She knew that her friend the Vulcan would be the last person back from Bajor if he had his way. But she'd had to tell him that he could only be last, save two others. She couldn't force Vedek Jariel to leave the surface in the middle of what he was doing- not as long as orders commanding they should leave orbit of Bajor had not come. She had the time to offer him, so offer it she would.

Commander Salvek had not been pleased by this. He had cited chapter and verse of regulation as to why the officer in charge of ground operations in any crisis should be the last to beam back to his ship of origin. She'd finally had to tell him that while she appreciated his attention to detail, if he didn't get his Vulcan a** back up to the ship soon she was going to come down there and fetch it.

Silence had been her answer from him for moments of dead air over the com before he finally acquiesced to her request.

She couldn't wait to see him.

She was afraid to see him.

She knew that nothing could fully prepare anyone for what the teams had been through, and that they were going to need time to regain their equilibrium. She also knew that sometimes, things you experienced stayed with you permanently.

Zanh took a moment to note now in the ships official log that hours before, the body of Lt. Kathleen Baux had been released quietly and without fanfare to officials on DS9. They would see to it that the body was returned to Baux's next of kin, as per their wishes. As she finished tapping the information into the computer, her badge sounded once again.

[Your parcel has arrived, Captain Zanh.] Quinlan informed her. [Should I send it down to you?]

"No, Gil thanks. I'll be sending Ensign Xhian to retrieve it, he knows what to do with it. Zanh out." Liis stood up from the chair behind the desk that she had always, and would always, think of as belonging to Jordan Morris. She opened a large metal case which sat on the surface and removed one of the hundreds of small black boxes contained therein. She gently pried the lid open and watched as the light bounced off of the platinum surface of the small but ornate Starfleet Order of Heroes medal inside.

She had taken pains to get these- placing the request with Starfleet the moment that Indy's teams had deployed. This was a medal rarely given anymore but the only one that Zanh felt conveyed the gratitude her that people felt for all they'd done.

Once the medals had arrived on the ship, she'd enlisted the aid of their new and promising engineering officer Ensign Xhian to use his special gifts for precision to detail them for her.

She'd asked him to take a laser scalpel and engrave the symbol of the Bajor on the back of each medal. She also asked him to place a small groove in the metal in the center of the symbol, to which he would later affix a small chip of the azure crystal stone unique to the Takesian Province.

That way each member of the team would be able to have it, close to their hearts. She wanted them to be able to could take away with them a reminder that even through the devastation they'd seen on Bajor, that the planet, the Plains, and the people themselves were beautiful. The crystals, a tiny gift representing all of Bajor- as blue as the very sea near which they formed, and which had spawned the storm that brought them there.

She hoped that they'd find them a meaningful token of the deep appreciation of all of Starfleet as well. The medals were suspended from deep blue ribbon the color of the flag of the Federation of Planets.

[Commander Salvek is hailing, Captain. Everyone is accounted for and has returned with the exceptions of Rogers and the Vedek. He's requesting permission to board.]

"Hell yes, permission granted. Just give me two minutes to get to the transporter room," Liis said, snapping the box she held shut and putting the medal back with its companions. She hurried, picking up the case and taking it with her so she could give it to Xhian along with the gemstones so that he could finish his task.

She stepped up her pace, not wanting to delay Salvek's return a moment longer but explaining to Tenney, "I want to be there when he beams back."

------------------------------------------
Zanh Liis
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Independence NCC-90791