Post # 003 A New Home

Posted on Wed Jul 14th, 2021 @ 12:45am by Lieutenant Lily Crawford
Edited on on Wed Jul 14th, 2021 @ 9:24am

Mission: Moving Day
Location: USS Babylon

It was quiet in the arboretum on the Babylon. Lily had been spending a lot of time either in 10-Forward or the arboretum, the two places on the ship where she had spent relatively little time during her life on the Artemis. She had tried to tell herself that the Babylon was nothing like her old ship, and that she would be off it soon enough anyway, but her quarters felt very similar. Even walking down the hallways felt the same. Her therapist had thought sending her to her new posting aboard an Odyssey Class wouldn't be a problem. She had been cautiously optimistic; after a week aboard, she was glad she had saved some work to do until boarding. At least she could focus on the journal article she was helping to peer-review. Perhaps the counselors had been right. She was ready to return to work.

"Lt. Crawford?"

Her head snapped up at the sound of her name, but as the speaker came into view, she relaxed. "Yes, Ensign Johnson?" she asked. The Operations officer had done her best to make sure she was as settled as possible during the short time she would be on board.

"I've been told we're coming up on a view you won't want to miss, ma'am. And we're within a few hours of arriving at the station."

"Thank you Ensign Johnson, but I think I'll skip the view and just go pack my things. The only thing worth seeing out here can't be seen with the naked eye."

The ensign shrugged her shoulders. "As you wish, lieutenant. I'll let you know when we're at the station."

Lily watched as the young woman walked off, then closed out the document she had been working on and stood up, leaving the arboretum herself and returning to the guest quarters she had been assigned. As she packed up the few things she had gotten out during her short stay on board, her mind wandered back to Earth, where she had been when she had received the news about her upcoming assignment.

**San Francisco, 2 weeks previously**

"Already?" She asked, turning to her counsellor, Lt. Deborah Greyson, who had given her the news.

"Yes. It's been six months. You may still feel bad about losing so many of your friends and your fiancé, but you're a lot better than you were when I met you." Deborah had said. "You're never going to fully recover from that kind of loss." her face was full of compassion. "But this is a chance at a new beginning. It's a station, very different to ship life. And I'm told that your work on black holes and dark energy helped get you the position. No one in the Federation has ever been that close to a supermassive black hole before." She knew Lily's weakness.

Lily couldn't help but smile. "I still feel guilty." she said, shaking her head.

"Survivor's guilt is a strong thing. But you know them, I didn't. Would they have wanted you to wallow in misery for the rest of your life because they died and you didn't?" It was an old argument, and they both knew it.

"I feel like that's been tattooed on my brain." Lily mumbled. "Okay. You win."

"I'm sure you're going to do well." Deborah assured her.

**Present time**

"I hope you're right, Deborah." Lily said out loud as she looked around her quarters, making sure everything was packed up. She packed the PADD she had been working from on top. At the encouragement of her counselor, she had slid back into work relatively early on, assisting in experiments from Starfleet Headquarters, co-writing the odd paper, and peer reviewing others for journals. The science had kept her grounded long enough to let her heart heal at least partially. Now she was going to have to start over: new friends, new colleagues, and a new home. "Wish me luck." she added, feeling as if she was going to need it.

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