Categories > TV > Star Trek: Deep Space Nine > Legacy
Episode 5: Assessment
0 reviewsLani encounters some unexpected updates while editing her latest holonovel.
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Legacy
Episode 5 - Assessment
The doors to Lani’s quarters slid open, and Lani stormed inside, visibly upset over Kira’s insinuations. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone accused her of being a prostitute. But it wasn’t the accusation itself that troubled her; it was the person leveling the accusation. Major Kira was someone that Lani admired greatly. Knowing that she viewed Lani as little more than a whore was … disturbing. It was also a wake-up call.
It shouldn’t have affected her, really, but it did. It caused Lani to think about the image she presented to other people, especially to people she respected. She saw herself as confident, happy, outgoing. Did everyone else see something similar when they looked at her, or did they see something decidedly less desirable? If the latter was the case, was that really the reputation that she wanted to leave behind? She knew she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life at Quark’s, but how much longer should she stay? And how far would that reputation of hers travel? Regardless of how far it traveled, she knew that the longer she remained with Quark, the more difficult it would be to move on to something new.
The chirp of the computer console broke into Lani’s thoughts, and she moved toward her desk. She sunk down to the chair and activated the unit. Reyal’s gray-colored face filled the little screen, but Lani didn’t even try to conceal the fact that she was upset. Reyal picked up on it immediately.
“Lani? What has happened?” Reyal asked, alert and leaning slightly forward at his desk.
Should she trouble him with her problems? Would he care? “I just had a very interesting conversation with Major Kira,” Lani said.
“About what?”
“It isn’t anything that I suspect you’d find important,” Lani said.
“It’s important enough to upset you. Obviously, something has you rattled.”
“I think that I probably overreact sometimes,” Lani said with a dismissive sigh.
Reyal didn’t think that was true at all, but he didn’t want to press the matter if she didn’t want to talk about it.
Lani moved on before Reyal could say anything else about it. “So, what was it that you needed to tell me?” she asked, trying to adopt a merrier demeanor.
Reyal had forgotten for a moment that he had been the one to call Lani, not the other way around. “Oh, yes,” he began, remembering. “I wanted to thank you, for taking the time to show me your holonovel. It was a pleasure, truly.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I hope that next time we’ll have more time to experience it properly,” Reyal said. “My visit this time around has been so short. My ship will likely be leaving the station tomorrow.”
“You always have to leave just when we’re starting to have such a good time,” Lani said, threatening to pout.
“I know, and I do apologize, my dear. I have some leave due to me quite soon. I promise you that I will use at least some of it for an extended stay on your station.”
“You’d better,” Lani warned with a playful smile. “I’ll see you soon, Dorien.”
“Not soon enough,” Reyal said. He bid her goodnight before signing off.
Lani knew that Major Kira would be at the temple for afternoon services, but that didn’t stop her from going. In fact, she’d hoped that the major wouldn’t choose today to put her spiritual well being on the backburner. Lani kneeled near the front of the temple, and she couldn’t see during the service if the Kira ever entered. When Lani turned around at the end of the last prayer, she saw that Major Kira’s religion apparently hadn’t left her.
As the service ended, and people began to file out of the temple, Lani began to make her way toward the exit and ended up beside Major Kira on the way out. Their eyes met, and Kira wasn’t sure what to say. The last time she’d seen the younger woman, Kira had practically called her a whore. To her surprise, Lani spoke to her.
“Major Kira,” Lani called out to Kira over the din of the exiting crowd. “Major Kira, I wanted to speak to you,” Lani said once the two were outside on the Promenade. “I’m glad I ran into you. I need to talk to you about something.”
“Lani, I need to apologize for the other day at Quark’s,” Kira began quickly, nearly cutting Lani off. “You’re right – I don’t know you, and I had no right to make any presumptions about you or Gul Reyal. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, Major Kira. I appreciate the gesture,” Lani said. The two women began to walk. “It was a difficult thing to hear at the time, what you said. But I went back to my quarters and thought it over, and I couldn’t find a reason to be angry anymore with anyone except myself. Major, you only said what you said because there’s something about me that gives off that idea.”
“Oh, no, Lani,” Kira said, shaking her head. “That isn’t it at all.”
“You don’t have to spare my feelings, Major. It’s a logical explanation, and once I thought about it for a bit, I realized that. If I were observing me, witnessing my behavior, the way I dress, the people I associate with, I would probably think the same thing. I’m actually glad you said what you said.”
“Glad?”
“It’s made me think seriously about what kind of mark I’ll be leaving on the universe, about my legacy. Major, I don’t want to work for Quark all my life, that was never my intention. But I didn’t know what else I wanted to do when I started working there. Things are different now.”
“They are?”
“I know what I want to do.”
“Really? What is it?”
“I want to join Starfleet. I want to take the Academy entrance exams.” When Kira didn’t respond, Lani spoke up again. “What do you think about it?”
“About you going to the Academy?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, Lani, it’s a very ambitious goal,” Kira said. She wanted to be gentle and tried to avoid saying anything that might sound too harsh. “Why the Academy? Why not simply enlist?”
Lani stopped walking and turned to Kira. “You don’t think I can do it.”
“No, that isn’t it, Lani. I know that you are very capable and intelligent. My concern is that you may be jumping into something that you aren’t prepared to handle. I was just thinking that enlisting might be a better option for someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience. From what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of information on those entrance exams that they expect you to know going in, a lot of stuff that you can learn best from experience.”
Lani walked over to the railing overlooking the Promenade’s lower level. “I know,” she said. “That’s where I was hoping you could help.”
“How could I help? I’m Bajoran militia. I’ve never been to Starfleet Academy.”
“I know, but you’re familiar with Starfleet operations,” Lani said. “And even though you came up through the Bajoran militia, you still have plenty of knowledge and experience that would be useful to someone taking the Academy entrance exams.”
Kira shook her head slowly, still not convinced. “I don’t know, Lani. Testing for the Academy entrance exams is a big commitment. Are you sure you’re ready for something like that?”
“Honestly, no, I’m not sure. But I do want to give it an honest try. And I’m willing to work as hard as required to make this happen.”
Kira studied Lani. In her brown eyes there was an earnestness that Kira couldn’t ignore. She nodded and said, “All right. But first, I’m going to have to recruit some help.”
“She wants to go to the Academy?” Bashir asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Kira said without batting an eyelid.
Dax shook her head, mirroring Bashir’s skepticism. “Kira, I don’t know. The Academy isn’t exactly the easiest way to go.”
“Especially for someone like Lani,” Bashir added.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Kira asked. To be truthful, she was thinking the exact same thing as Bashir, but it didn’t feel right to insult someone outright when that person wasn’t even there to defend herself.
“Major, I know you know her better than any of us, but you have to admit that she doesn’t exactly come across as Starfleet material, at least not for the Academy, anyway. She might make it as a noncommissioned officer.” Julian delivered his proclamation in his customary innocently arrogant manner.
“You’re right, Julian, I do know her a little better than you do, and I have to respectfully disagree with your assessment of her abilities,” Kira defended. “I don’t know if she would make a good cadet or officer, but I know that she’s a hard worker and that she wants to give it a try.”
“She is a hard worker,” Dax said. “Have you ever seen her work a dabo wheel?”
“Yeah,” O’Brien said. “She rakes in a fortune for Quark.”
“I’m not saying that we should start campaigning for Lani’s application,” Kira said. “I’m just asking you to give her a chance, see what she’s working with. And then if you think it’s worth your time, I’m asking you to help her prepare for the exams.”
“I don’t know what she’s capable of, Kira, but it’s obvious that you see something, and you think she’s got some potential,” Dax said. “And that’s reason enough for me. You can count on me.”
“Me, too,” O’Brien said. “I’m curious to see what the girl’s made of.”
Everyone turned and looked expectantly at Bashir. Bashir shifted slightly on his feet as he began to speak. “I can’t say that I have as much faith in her as you seem to, Major, but if everyone else is willing to give it a go, I certainly don’t want to be the only spoil-sport.”
PADD in hand, Lani stared at her two main characters of her holonovel, the knight and the peasant girl. Her holonovel needed a little tweaking before it was complete, and she decided to start with her two main characters.
She stepped up to the representation of the girl first. Slowly circling her, she tried to figure out what would make her a better, more developed character. Lani looked down at the PADD in her hands and entered a few keystrokes. The character transformed from a redhead to a light brunette. A few more keystrokes and her hair went a few shades darker to a dark, chestnut brown color.
Lani sighed. “Well, that’s something, but it’s going to take more than hair color to fix you.”
Before Lani could make any additional changes, the forest around her dissolved into white, metal walls and people. Lots of people. People everywhere, moving, some frantically, others in an apparent state of confusion. Men in white jackets and women in white aprons moved briskly through the throng, shoving white vests into people’s arms as they passed.
“What the hell … “ Lani said, looking around and noticing the abrupt change for the first time. “This isn’t exactly the kind of change I had in mind.”
She looked down at her PADD, trying to figure out what had just happened, but her PADD revealed nothing. She looked around her again. “Computer, what just happened?” she asked. The computer offered no response. “Computer, respond.” Still no response. The holosuite must be malfunctioning, Lani reasoned.
“Computer, arch.” Lani looked around expectantly, anticipating the appearance of the exit and the accompanying control panel. But none appeared. Maybe the exit was embedded in the environment, Lani guessed, as she looked around for any doors. But she didn’t see any.
She began to feel the walls. “Computer, display the holosuite exit.” Her hands slid along the slick, cool surface of the ivory-colored walls. There was no door, no holosuite exit anywhere. “Computer – exit.” Still nothing.
Lani stepped back and surveyed her situation. No exit, no computer response, no anything, except an environment that wasn’t supposed to be here.
This didn’t make sense. There had to be a computer console somewhere. Maybe it was hidden behind a hidden panel or a trick door. Lani touched the wall again, gently pressing. She moved along the wall and came to a case on the wall marked “fire”, containing an axe. The other word written on the front of the equipment case caught her attention, but she couldn’t discern why the words seemed so familiar to her.
“RMS Titanic,” Lani read aloud. Titanic … how did she know that name? She looked around at the whole scenario. It all seemed familiar to Lani, as a matter of fact, but she just couldn’t place it.
Lani moved on from the fire unit and continued searching the wall until it ended, intersecting with another wall and forming a corner.
When Lani turned away from the corner in frustration, she saw the mass of people crowded on and around a stairwell, a stairwell that led up to a locked gate with all these people desperately trying to get though to the other side. She took a few steps toward the crowded stairwell and realized that she was splashing around in a few inches of water. Where was it coming from, and what was causing it?
“What the hell is going on around here?” Lani whispered.
Episode 5 - Assessment
The doors to Lani’s quarters slid open, and Lani stormed inside, visibly upset over Kira’s insinuations. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone accused her of being a prostitute. But it wasn’t the accusation itself that troubled her; it was the person leveling the accusation. Major Kira was someone that Lani admired greatly. Knowing that she viewed Lani as little more than a whore was … disturbing. It was also a wake-up call.
It shouldn’t have affected her, really, but it did. It caused Lani to think about the image she presented to other people, especially to people she respected. She saw herself as confident, happy, outgoing. Did everyone else see something similar when they looked at her, or did they see something decidedly less desirable? If the latter was the case, was that really the reputation that she wanted to leave behind? She knew she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life at Quark’s, but how much longer should she stay? And how far would that reputation of hers travel? Regardless of how far it traveled, she knew that the longer she remained with Quark, the more difficult it would be to move on to something new.
The chirp of the computer console broke into Lani’s thoughts, and she moved toward her desk. She sunk down to the chair and activated the unit. Reyal’s gray-colored face filled the little screen, but Lani didn’t even try to conceal the fact that she was upset. Reyal picked up on it immediately.
“Lani? What has happened?” Reyal asked, alert and leaning slightly forward at his desk.
Should she trouble him with her problems? Would he care? “I just had a very interesting conversation with Major Kira,” Lani said.
“About what?”
“It isn’t anything that I suspect you’d find important,” Lani said.
“It’s important enough to upset you. Obviously, something has you rattled.”
“I think that I probably overreact sometimes,” Lani said with a dismissive sigh.
Reyal didn’t think that was true at all, but he didn’t want to press the matter if she didn’t want to talk about it.
Lani moved on before Reyal could say anything else about it. “So, what was it that you needed to tell me?” she asked, trying to adopt a merrier demeanor.
Reyal had forgotten for a moment that he had been the one to call Lani, not the other way around. “Oh, yes,” he began, remembering. “I wanted to thank you, for taking the time to show me your holonovel. It was a pleasure, truly.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I hope that next time we’ll have more time to experience it properly,” Reyal said. “My visit this time around has been so short. My ship will likely be leaving the station tomorrow.”
“You always have to leave just when we’re starting to have such a good time,” Lani said, threatening to pout.
“I know, and I do apologize, my dear. I have some leave due to me quite soon. I promise you that I will use at least some of it for an extended stay on your station.”
“You’d better,” Lani warned with a playful smile. “I’ll see you soon, Dorien.”
“Not soon enough,” Reyal said. He bid her goodnight before signing off.
Lani knew that Major Kira would be at the temple for afternoon services, but that didn’t stop her from going. In fact, she’d hoped that the major wouldn’t choose today to put her spiritual well being on the backburner. Lani kneeled near the front of the temple, and she couldn’t see during the service if the Kira ever entered. When Lani turned around at the end of the last prayer, she saw that Major Kira’s religion apparently hadn’t left her.
As the service ended, and people began to file out of the temple, Lani began to make her way toward the exit and ended up beside Major Kira on the way out. Their eyes met, and Kira wasn’t sure what to say. The last time she’d seen the younger woman, Kira had practically called her a whore. To her surprise, Lani spoke to her.
“Major Kira,” Lani called out to Kira over the din of the exiting crowd. “Major Kira, I wanted to speak to you,” Lani said once the two were outside on the Promenade. “I’m glad I ran into you. I need to talk to you about something.”
“Lani, I need to apologize for the other day at Quark’s,” Kira began quickly, nearly cutting Lani off. “You’re right – I don’t know you, and I had no right to make any presumptions about you or Gul Reyal. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, Major Kira. I appreciate the gesture,” Lani said. The two women began to walk. “It was a difficult thing to hear at the time, what you said. But I went back to my quarters and thought it over, and I couldn’t find a reason to be angry anymore with anyone except myself. Major, you only said what you said because there’s something about me that gives off that idea.”
“Oh, no, Lani,” Kira said, shaking her head. “That isn’t it at all.”
“You don’t have to spare my feelings, Major. It’s a logical explanation, and once I thought about it for a bit, I realized that. If I were observing me, witnessing my behavior, the way I dress, the people I associate with, I would probably think the same thing. I’m actually glad you said what you said.”
“Glad?”
“It’s made me think seriously about what kind of mark I’ll be leaving on the universe, about my legacy. Major, I don’t want to work for Quark all my life, that was never my intention. But I didn’t know what else I wanted to do when I started working there. Things are different now.”
“They are?”
“I know what I want to do.”
“Really? What is it?”
“I want to join Starfleet. I want to take the Academy entrance exams.” When Kira didn’t respond, Lani spoke up again. “What do you think about it?”
“About you going to the Academy?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, Lani, it’s a very ambitious goal,” Kira said. She wanted to be gentle and tried to avoid saying anything that might sound too harsh. “Why the Academy? Why not simply enlist?”
Lani stopped walking and turned to Kira. “You don’t think I can do it.”
“No, that isn’t it, Lani. I know that you are very capable and intelligent. My concern is that you may be jumping into something that you aren’t prepared to handle. I was just thinking that enlisting might be a better option for someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience. From what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of information on those entrance exams that they expect you to know going in, a lot of stuff that you can learn best from experience.”
Lani walked over to the railing overlooking the Promenade’s lower level. “I know,” she said. “That’s where I was hoping you could help.”
“How could I help? I’m Bajoran militia. I’ve never been to Starfleet Academy.”
“I know, but you’re familiar with Starfleet operations,” Lani said. “And even though you came up through the Bajoran militia, you still have plenty of knowledge and experience that would be useful to someone taking the Academy entrance exams.”
Kira shook her head slowly, still not convinced. “I don’t know, Lani. Testing for the Academy entrance exams is a big commitment. Are you sure you’re ready for something like that?”
“Honestly, no, I’m not sure. But I do want to give it an honest try. And I’m willing to work as hard as required to make this happen.”
Kira studied Lani. In her brown eyes there was an earnestness that Kira couldn’t ignore. She nodded and said, “All right. But first, I’m going to have to recruit some help.”
“She wants to go to the Academy?” Bashir asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Kira said without batting an eyelid.
Dax shook her head, mirroring Bashir’s skepticism. “Kira, I don’t know. The Academy isn’t exactly the easiest way to go.”
“Especially for someone like Lani,” Bashir added.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Kira asked. To be truthful, she was thinking the exact same thing as Bashir, but it didn’t feel right to insult someone outright when that person wasn’t even there to defend herself.
“Major, I know you know her better than any of us, but you have to admit that she doesn’t exactly come across as Starfleet material, at least not for the Academy, anyway. She might make it as a noncommissioned officer.” Julian delivered his proclamation in his customary innocently arrogant manner.
“You’re right, Julian, I do know her a little better than you do, and I have to respectfully disagree with your assessment of her abilities,” Kira defended. “I don’t know if she would make a good cadet or officer, but I know that she’s a hard worker and that she wants to give it a try.”
“She is a hard worker,” Dax said. “Have you ever seen her work a dabo wheel?”
“Yeah,” O’Brien said. “She rakes in a fortune for Quark.”
“I’m not saying that we should start campaigning for Lani’s application,” Kira said. “I’m just asking you to give her a chance, see what she’s working with. And then if you think it’s worth your time, I’m asking you to help her prepare for the exams.”
“I don’t know what she’s capable of, Kira, but it’s obvious that you see something, and you think she’s got some potential,” Dax said. “And that’s reason enough for me. You can count on me.”
“Me, too,” O’Brien said. “I’m curious to see what the girl’s made of.”
Everyone turned and looked expectantly at Bashir. Bashir shifted slightly on his feet as he began to speak. “I can’t say that I have as much faith in her as you seem to, Major, but if everyone else is willing to give it a go, I certainly don’t want to be the only spoil-sport.”
PADD in hand, Lani stared at her two main characters of her holonovel, the knight and the peasant girl. Her holonovel needed a little tweaking before it was complete, and she decided to start with her two main characters.
She stepped up to the representation of the girl first. Slowly circling her, she tried to figure out what would make her a better, more developed character. Lani looked down at the PADD in her hands and entered a few keystrokes. The character transformed from a redhead to a light brunette. A few more keystrokes and her hair went a few shades darker to a dark, chestnut brown color.
Lani sighed. “Well, that’s something, but it’s going to take more than hair color to fix you.”
Before Lani could make any additional changes, the forest around her dissolved into white, metal walls and people. Lots of people. People everywhere, moving, some frantically, others in an apparent state of confusion. Men in white jackets and women in white aprons moved briskly through the throng, shoving white vests into people’s arms as they passed.
“What the hell … “ Lani said, looking around and noticing the abrupt change for the first time. “This isn’t exactly the kind of change I had in mind.”
She looked down at her PADD, trying to figure out what had just happened, but her PADD revealed nothing. She looked around her again. “Computer, what just happened?” she asked. The computer offered no response. “Computer, respond.” Still no response. The holosuite must be malfunctioning, Lani reasoned.
“Computer, arch.” Lani looked around expectantly, anticipating the appearance of the exit and the accompanying control panel. But none appeared. Maybe the exit was embedded in the environment, Lani guessed, as she looked around for any doors. But she didn’t see any.
She began to feel the walls. “Computer, display the holosuite exit.” Her hands slid along the slick, cool surface of the ivory-colored walls. There was no door, no holosuite exit anywhere. “Computer – exit.” Still nothing.
Lani stepped back and surveyed her situation. No exit, no computer response, no anything, except an environment that wasn’t supposed to be here.
This didn’t make sense. There had to be a computer console somewhere. Maybe it was hidden behind a hidden panel or a trick door. Lani touched the wall again, gently pressing. She moved along the wall and came to a case on the wall marked “fire”, containing an axe. The other word written on the front of the equipment case caught her attention, but she couldn’t discern why the words seemed so familiar to her.
“RMS Titanic,” Lani read aloud. Titanic … how did she know that name? She looked around at the whole scenario. It all seemed familiar to Lani, as a matter of fact, but she just couldn’t place it.
Lani moved on from the fire unit and continued searching the wall until it ended, intersecting with another wall and forming a corner.
When Lani turned away from the corner in frustration, she saw the mass of people crowded on and around a stairwell, a stairwell that led up to a locked gate with all these people desperately trying to get though to the other side. She took a few steps toward the crowded stairwell and realized that she was splashing around in a few inches of water. Where was it coming from, and what was causing it?
“What the hell is going on around here?” Lani whispered.
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