Hecate Station is a place that is relatively unknown to the galaxy. Its weight, its meaning, and value. The people here go about their daily routines. Be it the shop owners trying to sell their products or the miners traveling in the dangerous Grim Wall to find their precious minerals. The regular visitors come to enjoy their off day, be part of essential expeditions, or get involved in shady deals. At the same time, Starfleet holds a close eye on its borders, as beyond the large dense asteroid field known to everyone as the Grim Wall lays the borders of the Klingons. Not everything is as it seems at Hecate; the old command crew has shown a lack of interest in its daily operations and in what needs to be done to be covered by the lies of what is essential to be done. 

The next batch of visitors arrives at the docking port as two women in civilian clothing exit the area and enter the promenade. Sazra took a deep breath and could smell the spices as her eyes went to the right. She saw an eccentric seller trying to lure people to his stand to sell his skewers. Her eyes were directed to another gentleman yelling over the crowd to get attention to his fine tailors of clothing. 

“Quite the lively place we got here.” 

A voice came from Sazra’s side, and she saw Silina had joined her. “Convinced the customs of our ID?” 

Silina nodded, “I thought the fellow was quite confused why officials of Starfleet didn’t want their name recorded. But when I showed my pips and ID, he was quickly convinced that my request was valid.” She grins a bit, looking around and noticing the spices from the skewers.

“You like those pips now. You will come back from that soon enough.” Sazra pointed out as she started to walk into the crowd, “The area is quite busy.” 

Following Sazra and grabbing her arm, Silina said, “Well, I have learned from my previous Captain how not to react in certain situations.” She didn’t want to admit it, but she was actually enjoying this little undercover game. Her eyes also scanned the area and agreed that it was quite busy: “I want to say that it being busy is good, but …” 

Sazra nodded. “Little to no security visible….” She shrugged, noticing the same thing as her girlfriend. Plus, you can pretty much spot the shady figures.” She spotted a few sitting in the shadows with a group dealing with something or at the bar, trying to slide some slips to the bartender.

“Yeah, a normal civilian or a junior rank officer wouldn’t notice these things. Ze will have a field day with this deck alone.” Silina referenced the new Chief Security Officer that Sazra had appointed as part of her station’s senior staff. “Lucky that he will have Lieutenant Crim with some support, read he was part of Outpost Houtman, that colony that just started, quite an impressive record.” 

She looked at her side. “You do know that it is not your task anymore to check out the crew roster under my command.” Sazra blinked, a bit confused, as they kept walking. 

Pulling her closer to her with a slight tease, “Well, that might be the case, but I still want to know who is operating on my girlfriend’s base of operations.” Silina smiled as her smile faded away, seeing some sick people in the corridor under some blankets. “First-stage medical problem…” she muttered to herself.

“Medical, security, let alone the condition of the station.” Sazra looked around, seeing faulty panels, blinking consoles, and people ignoring the broken lights. “I wonder if I did well to accept Captain Takato’s request to take over this base.” Sazra saw that there was already a lot of work ahead of her. This base had many issues that would not be resolved within a week. 

“I think you are the best choice for those bases,” Silina replied quietly, looking around and seeing more issues. “Because you notice them, you see the issues and have experience dealing with them.” Silina wouldn’t want to be in Sazra’s shoes right now. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she couldn’t handle what was happening.

Letting out a sigh as they arrived at the next level of the promenade, Sazra saw a commotion with two security officers and some children. “Well, let’s hear what is going on….” Sazra whispered in Silina’s direction, crossing her arms as if she were talking to Silina. 

The girl, about sixteen years old, held a younger girl in her arms in front of her. The little girl would be eight years old. “We didn’t steal anything from anyone!” The older girl almost said in a yelling tone.

“Arg…damn these tube rats….” The security officer shrugged as the other took it over. “I don’t care. Honestly, you were here in the area when the theft happened. You better come with me, both of you, and you can actually have a nice rest in the brig.” 

The girl held the younger girl closer to herself. “How tempting that might sound. That would actually mean that we did do the crime you are accusing us of. We didn’t do anything!” 

The other security officer grabs the older girl’s hand. “I am not in the mood to deal with this… let’s go.” But as the girl wanted to pull away, Sazra placed her hand on the security officer’s wrist, and with a gentle grip, he let go of her. “Who the hell are you…”

“A visitor…..well, soon to be a new citizen of this base. I do wonder what these girls did in the given situation.” Sazra lets go of his wrist and crosses her arms over each other. 

The other guard stepped in. “Look, miss. We had a 12-hour shift, and we were almost done. We had a report from one of the shop owners that there was a theft, and they were wandering around here. Most of the cases of theft are proven to be these tube rats. Now, let us do our job…..” 

“Your job without solid proof?” Sazra bluntly pointed out, “I do think it is time for you to sign off, Lieutenant. Your co-workers can pick this case up, and the shop owner can wait. If you tend to continue your work, sloppy results might come out of it.” Sazra gave a soft smile in their direction. 

“What?! How dare…” The officer gets a hand in his face that stops him as the other officer who previously explained the situation gives a nod in Sazra’s direction, “You are quite right, seeing we have some staff updates coming soon to this base, it is best to show ourselves in the good light. Have a good day, miss.” He pushed his colleague in a direction to walk away. 

Sazra looked at the two walking away as Silina checked on the girls. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

The eldest girl looked at her, still holding the little girl close. “Yeah….they didn’t do anything. Is it true that you will be living here?” The girl shrugs a bit, seeing Sazra give a brief nod in her direction. “Well, get used to it. We tube rats rather have to fend for ourselves. We better go get some food.” The girl walked away with the little girl holding her hand as she looked over her shoulder. “Talitha is the name; she is Alexia…Welcome to Hecate…..” She wanted to add something but chose not to and left the two behind.

Seeing the two girls go, Sazra looked at Silina. “Tube rats?” 

Silina lifted her shoulders. “No freaking idea…you got some work to do here.” 

Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands on her hips and looked around. “That is the understatement of the year, well shit” Her eyes glared at the two girls that were still walking away.