The Quiet Before Departure
Posted on Sun Nov 2nd, 2025 @ 10:11am by Lieutenant Jaina Zalla & Commander Alesia Harrington
607 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission: Respite
The forward observation lounge on deck one was empty except for the faint pulse of the docking lights beyond the wide windows. Jaina stood with her hands braced against the railing set in front of the view port, her eyes fixed on the sleek lines of Starbase 24 outside. The corridors had been whispering all day with rumors of Harrington’s departure, of classified transfers and sealed records. But it wasn’t the orders that twisted in her chest, instead it was the silence that had come with them. When the doors opened behind her, she didn’t turn. “I thought you might try to leave without saying goodbye,” she said quietly.
Alesia paused just inside the doorway but enough so that the doors closed behind her, her arms folded loosely. “I tried,” she admitted. “At first I thought it might be easier.” Her voice carried a measured calm as she spoke. “I didn’t want to make this harder than it already is.”
Jaina turned and faced Harrington, her eyes sharp but tired. “Harder? You think walking away in silence is easier?” She shook her head, taking a step closer. “After everything we've been through, Alesia. I’ve trusted you with more than just my heart. And now you want to just be gone? No explanation, no real goodbye?”
Alesia drew a slow breath, steady but weary. “You know as well as I do that what we had couldn’t last, Jaina. We both wear uniforms that come with too many boundaries.” Her gaze flicked toward the view port, where repair shuttles drifted like fireflies. “What’s coming next for me is complicated. Dangerous in ways I can’t explain. If I stayed, it would only pull you into something you shouldn’t be a part of.” She forced a small, brittle smile. “We were always running out of time. I just didn’t want to pretend otherwise anymore.”
“That’s not fair,” Jaina snapped. The words caught in her throat. “You make it sound like we were some temporary convenience. Was any of it real?”
Alesia's eyes softened, the control cracking for a heartbeat. “It was real,” she said. “More real than I meant for it to be.” She reached out but stopped short of touching Jaina’s arm. “That’s exactly why I have to let it go now. If I carry it with me, I won’t be able to do what comes next. And if you hold on to it, you’ll only resent me later.”
Jaina’s composure faltered and she turned away, her jaw tightening as she blinked hard against the sting behind her eyes. “You’re good at that,” she said after a moment, her voice rough but quiet. “Knowing how to say the right words. You make it sound logical, clean. Like love is something you can file under classified and walk away from. You should try being with a Vulcan.”
Alesia stepped closer, her tone low. “This is not clean, Jaina. It’s the opposite. But if I let myself feel everything right now, I won’t leave and I have to.” She hesitated, then added softly, “You made me remember what connection feels like. That’s something I’ll carry, even if you never believe it.” She turned toward the doors, her voice steadier again. “Goodbye, Lieutenant.”
Jaina didn’t follow. She just stood there as the doors slid closed behind Alesia, leaving the hum of the room and the faint reflection of her own face in the glass. She finally drew a slow breath and straightened her shoulders. “Goodbye, Alesia,” she whispered to the empty room.
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