Uncomfortable. That was the main emotion Alcyone was feeling as she was being interrogated, and she regretted being so foolish to approach two strangers.

She wasn’t looking for some revelation concerning her heritage – she already knew. She knew who she was, why she was ageing the way she was, and she had no interest in exploring or discussing it further.

If anything, she wondered since when she was someone who trusted strangers. Clearly her parents had done something wrong when raising her.

Luckily, just when she was wondering how to get out of the mess she had gotten herself into, salvation came in the form of a pale woman with dark Betazoid eyes, a young human male who looked uncomfortable to be here, and a Bajoran female with the stern expression every aspiring medical officer seemed to learn sooner or later.

“Commander Brennan.” The Betazoid – Kendall River – said stiffly, and offered the two Rodulans a nod before she turned to Alcyone. “Captain Valdes just contacted us. There appears to be a problem with the weather control system, and we have been ordered to investigate.”

“We? I don’t even belong to the Sirona’s crew.”

“I believe that the Captain is aware. I also believe the Captain doesn’t care much about that.”, River shrugged. “I will be leading the away team.”

Edwardson – the human – shrugged, and offered a supportive smile. He knew how difficult their Captain could be. They all did.

“Right…” Alcyone sighed. She turned to Alasafor and Nestira to bid them farewell, but didn’t get that far.

“We will accompany you.” Nestira said, and rose from the bench.

“We will?” Rixx asked.

There was an awkward pause as the eyes present turned towards him and he realized that, perhaps, that was the wrong thing to say.

Nestira was a Starfleet officer. Or at least she had been one for a considerable amount of time. Alcyone was a Starfleet Officer. And Rixx?

He was the farthest thing from a Starfleet officer.

Though he would admit he was curious about the weather disturbances, so if he could tag along, he would. Then again he doubted his skills of espionage or negotiating or information gathering would come into play.

River looked unimpressed. She had come here to relax, not to lead an away team. And if she were to lead an away team, she wouldn’t have selected someone who had left Starfleet because of some minor hiccup during a mission, and then added two civilians into the mix.

The only reason she didn’t protest was the fact that she wanted to get away from here as soon as possible – away from the crowd with their painted faces and forced laughter.

“Don’t slow us down.”, she said, addressing all three of them. “We find out what happened, and report back to the Sirona.”

“Are we to provide assistance in the repairs?”, Nestira asked sensibly.

“No.”, River shook her head. “I doubt this will be a particularly eventful trip.”

She gave another casual shrug, and turned on her heels to lead them away from the celebration.