round 1 HSINA AMMAN - Who Will Cry For You?

[Blueheart]

((Senior Officer's Quarters, USS Columbia))

::After spending a few hours with her nephew, Hsina took a quick trip over
to the USS Columbia. There were a few workers from the star base on
board, but for the most part it was just a minimal security contingent
keeping the public off while the powers that be decided what to do with
the relic.

Hsina had not yet visited the ancient ship since the initial away mission
prior to her trip to Kjenta II, and as an archaeologist and historian she
simply couldn¹t resist taking another look around. Her first stop were
the senior officers¹ quarters.

Dr. Treng¹s quarters had already been scoured before the descent to Kjenta
II when Hsina was looking for clues regarding the mysterious antenna, but
Hsina had not taken the time to try and figure out who exactly Lan-Ngoc
Treng was as a person. The more Hsina looked, the more she admired the
person who became the madwoman on Kjenta II.

That Treng was a brilliant scientist was without question, but Hsina found
in her diaries and logs that she also had a passion for helping the poor,
which was still a problem on mid 22nd century earth. While the
transporter was Treng¹s most famous invention, the one the scientist was
personally the most proud of was a compact, low cost water purification
system that used sunlight common aluminum as a catalyst and could purify
over one thousand gallons per gram of aluminum, with no toxic waste. It
was a simple and elegant system that Hsina found out was still in use
throughout the federation today.

Treng wasn¹t the only overachiever on Columbia¹s crew. Commodore Moretti,
in addition to being a famous explorer and career officer, was also a
fairly famous painter in his day. A simple check of his published
paintings revealed that one of his works remained on display in the
entrance to Starfleet Academy, a painting of the signing of the Federation
charter, which Moretti was a personal witness to.

The list went on and on. Every room she visited, Hsina got a sense of the
people who had once lived, served, and in most cases died here.
Lieutenant Klein¹s room filled with pictures of her daughter, Ensign
Marquez¹ room filled with beer-making equipment, and Commander Lennon¹s
room with a collection of medieval manuscripts that would make a small
museum proud. Each one a story.

Hsina¹s entire life had been spent uncovering the stories of people long
dead, but somehow this was different. Except for Moretti she hadn¹t met
any of the dead, but she had met some of their shipmates and had
conflicted feelings about them and their plight.

The marine, Pavlova, was someone that Hsina could actually relate to.
Tough and pragmatic, Hsina admired the way the marine handled herself on
Kjenta II after being betrayed by her shipmates. Again it made Hsina
think back to her first mission on Discovery when she had moved against
Captain Waltas to try and prevent him from firing on a Romulan colony. It
was amazing how far she had come in such a short time, to the point where
she would fight and if necessary die to protect that same Captain and his
crew today.

In the marine¹s room Hsina found a small mahogany box, and inside the box
an ancient firearm in well-maintained condition, along iwht a faded
black-and-white photograph of a World War Two Russian officer shaking
hands with a Nazi Officer as the latter handed the former the same box.
An ancestor¹s spoil of war, and one that Hsina would make sure was
returned to the marine before she left DS 285.

Her exploration complete, for now, Hsina returned to the large hall for
the ceremony that was due to start about 30 minutes later. She would give
the marine her momento, and then link back up with her shipmates.
Shipmates? When had she started to think of those people with such
closeness? By all of the standards that she had lived by, many of them
were people she simply should not care about, and yet somehow, she did.
They were caring, emotional and sensitive, all qualities that Hsina had
long despised, thought of as weak and feeble. Yet somehow, she had come
to care for each of them.

She thought of Commodore Moretti and his painting, then of her sister
Samira, how had killed herself after their mother¹s death. Samira had
also been a painter, but by the time Samira died at age 19 Hsina, then 13,
was already hardened and cold. Hsina hadn¹t cried since she was
six-years-old, so when a tear slid down her cheek as she walked out of
the marine¹s room, for a moment she didn¹t even know what it was.

It was followed by another, and another, causing Hsina to stop, turn
around and go back into the room she had just left. She just stood there
for a few minutes until the water stopped flowing, wiped her face dry and
then took a look into the mirror.::

AMMAN: And who will cry for you, when the time comes?

::She just stood there for a while and looked at her reflection. Without
another thought she then suddenly turned away, put her demons back in
their closet and walked out of the room.::


Lieutenant Hsina Amman
Chief of Security, USS Discovery-C