A Chance Meeting

Posted on Sun Jun 16th, 2013 @ 4:16pm by Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson & Lieutenant Ophelia Lysander

Mission: Episode 1.2 - "A Friend in Need..."
Location: Cardassia Prime
Timeline: MD01, 1315

ON: [[Cardassia City, Torr Sector, MD01, 1315]]

It was a beautiful day on Cardassia Prime, and Ophelia was soaking up the sunshine with Hazel (PNPC) by her side. They had been meandering through the Torr Sector for nearly two hours now, observing the different displays and street performances that alternately thrilled and terrified Hazel, depending on the performer. Though Ophelia had assumed that Hazel would start tiring out by now, seeing as her naptime was fast approaching, the three-year-old seemed to be filled with boundless energy, all but bouncing from place to place as mother and daughter explored together.

The pair found themselves in an outdoor market, and it wasn’t very long before Ophelia was waylaid by friendly if persistent merchants touting their different wares. One stall in particular, bedecked and filled with all different sorts of brilliant baubles and beads, caught Hazel’s eye. Since they were practically on holiday, Ophelia was happy to stop, letting her daughter look at the collection of bangles that rested on a table at the child’s eye-level. She smiled at the wonder in Hazel’s eyes but was soon distracted by the stall’s patron, who immediately began to offer her a series of prices and deals, each one supposedly more wonderful than the last.

It was in those brief moments that the unthinkable happened. As Ophelia laughingly gave in to the Cardassian—she’d never known that they could be such shrewd negotiators, though it hardly surprised her—she looked down to ask Hazel which one she wanted only to discover that she was gone. The sheer terror that seized her in that moment was indescribable, and she felt nearly hollow as she immediately turned on her heel, searching for any sign of the dark-haired little girl. “Hazel? Hazel!” Leaving the surprised vendor behind, Ophelia tore through the busy marketplace with only one goal in mind, her heart in her throat as she continued calling desperately for her missing toddler.

Like many of his fellow crewmembers, Joe had finally given in and gone down to the surface of Cardassia Prime for a brief visit. Though it was a beautiful day, Joe's reluctance had stemmed from years of ingrained distrust of Cardassians. Even now that he was down here, he was instinctively mapping exits to each area and gauging the flow of foot traffic. As it turned out, it was a good thing he was paying attention to such things.

There were several other members of the Yorktown crew perusing the marketplace, but Joe was fortunate enough to be looking towards Lieutenant Lysander when it happened: her three-year-old daughter took advantage of the doctor's distraction with a vendor to slip off in pursuit of adventure. By the time the mother turned, her daughter was well out of her sight - but not out of Joe's. Moving through the flow of the crowd in a pattern that was second nature to him, Joe managed to converge on the little girl just as she was about to make it out of the main area of the market.

"Well, hello there," Joe said kindly as he kneeled unthreateningly in front of the little girl. "Where are you off to?" Even without his uniform (Joe didn't like standing out in a crowd), Joe knew he should be recognizeable to the little girl. Even if he wasn't he was at least stalling her long enough for Lysander to catch up; the clearly worried mother had fortunately chosen the right direction and was already nearing them. She would see both Joe and her daughter in just a few moments.

Halted in her tracks, Hazel looked somewhat skeptically at the man in front of her, though her attention was clearly drawn to something over his shoulder. For a moment, it looked as if she seriously was considering moving around him to pursue whatever it was she had her eye on, but at that moment, Ophelia finally arrived on the scene.

As terrible as her fear had been only moments before, the doctor felt nothing but relief as she crouched down before her daughter and gathered her tightly into her arms. “Hazel, thank God,” she said quietly, her voice somewhat shaky after the scare she’d just had. “You scared me, dearest. You can’t run away from me like that, all right? It’s very, very important that we always stay together, no matter what.” As Ophelia finally pulled away from her daughter, she noticed belatedly that the Yorktown’s Chief of Security was directly beside them. Realizing in a moment what must have happened, she turned to Joe with a grateful smile. “Commander Thompson, I can never thank you enough. I don’t know what I would have done if…” Deciding it was better not to finish that thought, she finished simply, “Thank you so much for stepping in.”

"Not a problem," Joe said with a smile. "I know how much trouble little girls like to get into. Call me Joe, by the way. Formal titles are for boring meetings - but don't tell the captain I said that." Joe winked conspiratorily.

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Ophelia agreed in a similar conspiratorial fashion. “I hope you’ll call me Ophelia. And this, of course, is Hazel,” she added, giving her daughter a quick squeeze with her right arm, making her laugh. The doctor couldn’t recall meeting Joe outside of an official capacity, and she appreciated his easy-going attitude, a trait that was rather unusual for a hardened Security Officer, at least in her experience.

Rising to her feet, Ophelia nodded towards a stall near the edge of the marketplace, just over Joe’s shoulder. It was filled with small cages housing exotic birds, and she realized that Hazel must have seen it when they first passed through and decided to visit it for herself. “I think I’ve uncovered the reason behind Hazel’s hasty flight. Hazel’s an incurable animal lover, like her mother. Aren’t you, little one?” Hazel, following her mother’s gaze, nodded excitedly, declaring in a clear, small voice, “I want to see the birds!”

"Mind if I tag along?" Joe said. "As long as I'm wandering around aimlessly, I might as well do it with someone I can get to know better. Besides, an extra pair of eyes might be helpful in thwarting Hazel's future plans of escape." He grinned.

Ophelia nodded, laughing softly. "We'd be delighted if you joined us. Wouldn't we, Hazel?" But Hazel's attention was already fixed firmly on the birds, and her only answer was to pull Ophelia insistently by the hand. Taking that as a tacit agreement, Ophelia let her daughter lead them over to the stall, which was only a few steps away. The Cardassian vendor proved to be marvelously friendly, and in no time at all, Hazel was happily distracted while he showed her his different birds. Turning to Joe, Ophelia asked, "So, how are you enjoying Cardassia Prime so far?"

"Better than the last time, I'll admit," Joe said. "Much better, in fact. Certainly the atmosphere is more friendly than I remember. Have you been here before?" He had most of his attention on Ophelia and his conversation with her, but his sniper's training allowed him to keep an eye on extraneous details - like making sure he knew where Hazel was and what she was doing.

“Once before, when I was a new officer,” Ophelia replied. “It really was much more somber then, as I recall. It’s wonderful to see that life is moving on again.” Something that the Cardassian said to Hazel made her laugh, and Ophelia smiled at the sound. “Hazel’s going to want to stay here forever after today. It’s difficult to recreate this much fun and excitement for a three-year-old on a holodeck.”

"True," Joe said. "But there are also plenty of other planets we could visit. I much prefer being on a starship to being on a starbase. You served on one, though, didn't you? A starbase, I mean?"

Momentarily distracted by a large flying insect, Ophelia nodded as she swatted it away. “That’s right. Hazel was born on that starbase, as a matter of fact. But keeping her busy wasn’t so much of an issue when she was younger, and her father was there for a time too, which helped.” Although this was said offhandedly, Ophelia still felt a slight pang at the very thought of Roken. She’d had over two years to adjust to his absence, but there was still the occasional moment when her grief felt terribly fresh.

"The father..." Joe said, noticing something underneath the casual comment. "He's no longer with you? I don't mean to pry."

“It’s all right,” Ophelia said with a small smile. She was fairly used to this sort of thing coming up in conversation with new acquaintances. “I’m a widow. My husband took a special assignment when Hazel was a baby, but his ship was lost with all hands.”

"I'm sorry to hear that," Joe said, and he meant it with utmost sincerity. "I lost my own wife and daughters to a pirate attack two years ago, though under circumstances of my own making, I'm afraid." He offered the slightest of grimaces. "I can see you're quite the dedicated mother, though, raising Hazel on your own. It can't have been easy for you. I'm surprised you took on a demanding assignment like this when you could have stayed back on the starbase." While the Yorktown certainly wasn't a warship, it was bound to have enough dangerous missions keep her chief medical officer quite busy.

Ophelia’s gaze flew to Joe at that sad revelation. “I didn’t know about your family. I’m so sorry,” she said quietly, echoing his sentiment. Losing Roken had been difficult enough, but she still had Hazel. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she’d lost her daughter too. “Starbase 339 was home to us for a time, but to be perfectly honest, the memories were too fresh there, and it seemed like I could never escape everyone’s sympathy. We needed a fresh start, and I wanted Hazel to see and experience a little more than our starbase had to offer.”

"Well, you'll certainly experience a lot on the Yorktown," Joe said with a smile, making an effort to brighten the mood; he didn't want to make them dwell on their mutual loss and ruin a beautiful day. "After all, we're standing on Cardassia Prime." Legally, too, Joe added silently.

Smiling in agreement, Ophelia looked up into the warm sunshine. “The opportunity for adventures like this really was too good to pass up,” she agreed. A beat of silence passed, and the doctor sighed to herself as Hazel turned to her with a hopeful look in her eyes. “I think I’m going to have to convince Hazel that bringing home a Cardassian bird isn’t the best idea,” she chuckled. “But after that, I thought that Hazel and I would find some lunch. It’s hardly an adventure if you don’t try the local cuisine, after all,” she smiled wryly. “I don’t suppose you’d care to join us?”

"I'd love to," Joe said easily. "That is, if you're willing. Though I guess you wouldn't have asked if you weren't." He laughed. "Should be an interesting experience - I've never had Cardassian cuisine before, at least not that I can recall."

“Excellent,” Ophelia said, truly glad that they would get to enjoy Joe’s company for a little while longer. “You might want to stay away from the zabu stew if this is your first dining experience. I speak from my own personal experience, of course,” she added with a somewhat playful half-smile. “Just give me a moment to talk Hazel away from the birds, and then we can be on our way.”

With a smile and a nod, Joe glanced around the market. It seemed that he might enjoy his time down here, after all.

OFF

A Post By:

Lieutenant Ophelia Lysander
Chief Medical Officer, USS Yorktown

Hazel Lysander
Civilian, USS Yorktown
Played by: LT Lysander

Lieutenant Commander Joseph Thompson
Chief Sec/Tac Officer, USS Yorktown