A Person of Interest, Part II
Posted on Tue Nov 4th, 2025 @ 4:07pm by Lieutenant Siadra Molaur & Lieutenant Ezra Van Wijnbergen
Edited on on Mon Nov 17th, 2025 @ 5:21am
1,611 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Sins of History
Location: Side Bar Lounge - Deck 5 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD015 0730 Hours
"Thank you." Setting the napkin down upon the table, it slightly crumpled in her hand. She liked the way that small smile lightened up his features, adding even more to the warmth in his gaze. "And you have a lovely smile, it reaches to your eyes." Siadra softly said.
He felt her words warm and spreading somewhere behind his ribs. Compliments always made him a little uneasy--like being asked to stand under a spotlight he had yet to earn--but there was nothing forced about hers. It felt honest and offhand.
The Sidebar's morning lights were mostly ambient in nature, allowing Ezra to study her even more. He liked the way her fingers folded the napkin without thinking, the way the very same lights above them caught the shine in her brown hair. He could feel some real depth to her personality.
"You've got a centered way about you," he said at last, leaning an elbow on the table. "It's like you've stood in a few different pairs of shoes."
"Aye that I have, and they like to comment and advise me on different matters. And centered? I wonder at times." an easy smile surfaced, "I consider myself slightly eccentric. " giving a wink. "Different lives, different perspectives." Siadra gathering up her dishes as she was finished eating.
Ezra blinked. She was gathering her dishes already? So soon? The motion seemed entirely too quick. They'd barely shared the space for longer than ten or fifteen minutes.
"Leaving already, Siadra?" he kept his voice soft, careful not to sound disappointed, though it fluttered a little anyway. "I thought..."
She noticed his slight disappointment, her eyes displaying some dismay at what her actions were implying. "Oh I am not leaving yet. Just habit of clearing off my dishes." Siadra moving the dishes to one side. "I was thinking of taking the dishes to the recycler and coming back with a cup of cocoa, with some marshmallows. Little puffy islands upon a sea of chocolate."
Ezra found himself grinning at her description. "Cocoa with islands," he repeated gently. "I can't argue with that."
Glancing at his almost empty cup, Siadra whisked his cup away along with her own dishes. "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail."
Turning on the balls of her feet, with practiced ease, and a swirling of her skirt she was gone but not for long. Siadra returned with two mugs of hot chocolate, with marshmallows. and also some stirrer stick. She set one mug in front of Ezra, and a stirrer, resuming her seat.
"There you go, I have returned" Siadra raising her eyebrows, and smiling.
He took the cup she set before him, both hands around the warmth. Steam rose and wavered between them, the sweetness of the cocoa clouding the air.
"Efficient and kind," Ezra said, smiling a little.
He hadn't realized until that moment how easily she had filled the space between them. The air felt lighter, somehow. Things just felt more lived-in with her presence.
"Tell me, Siadra--what do you do aboard the ship?"
The trill woman had picked up her stirrer stick and was slowly stirring the marshmallows around, watching them float in the eddies that she was making. At his question, and hearing her name being spoken. She drew in a breath, smiling.
"I am the chief of science." she responded, "Have you been to the science department, yet Ezra? And, what do you do aboard the ship?"
Ezra smiled faintly, catching the hint of memory in her tone. He could have reminded her that she'd already asked him that question, but he chalked up the memory lapse to an empty stomach.
"Victim Advocate," he repeated, though upon saying it, the title felt much smaller than the work itself. "I help survivors navigate the aftermath of crime or trauma. I make sure they're not lost in the machinery of justice. I talk to them before hearings, keep them informed, guiding them through the legal process, and I try to make sense of things when the system often does not."
He touched the rim of his mug, tracing a thumb along it. "A lot of people think justice is a clean process. But mostly, it's people trying to stitch themselves back together while time keeps moving." He shrugged. "I just help them keep hold of the thread, I guess."
Looking back to Siadra, his seriousness softened. "As Chief of Science, I imagine your department runs on logic, curiosity, and caffeine in equal measure."
Victim Advocate? Why did that sound familiar? Wait he had mentioned that earlier! That particular detail had faded away when I was listening to his voice! Siadra face heated up, realizing this.
Keema cackled at Siadra's embarrassment. Yes you were so sublimely taken by his voice, you barely caught his name, let alone what he did.
Her eyes blinked, coming back to focus. "Ah yes, you had mentioned what you did earlier. Foggy mind from needing food and a drink." Siadra giving a smile.
"I suppose logic is on the upper part of the list. Curiosity immense amount, too much caffeine, there is a doctor onboard who would have a few words to say to me if I over indulged. No caffpow for me most definitely!"
Ezra smiled into his cup, the rim just brushing his lip before he set it back down again.
"I've met a few scientists like that," he said. "A lot of their projects were measured by how often their hands were seen to be shaking."
Across from him, Siadra's marshmallow had begun to melt, their fluffy white edges folding in on themselves like snow surrendering to a warm March day.
"I've noticed something on this ship," Ezra said, almost solemnly. "Many of us are working toward the same goal, but we don't really know each other."
"I've not gotten to know many on the ship as of yet. I feel that I need to compile a list in order to go learn some of their history. I am behind in finding those out. Plus we have been busy due to the Vamcet trial, what happened in the hunt for him, has sent ripples through the ship. Myself included. I was part of an away team in the hunt for him, and that--" she paused to take a drink of her chocolate, as if to draw comfort from it.
Lowering it, she cupped her hand around the mug, Siadra's voice lowered, a hint of sorrow in it. "We had two, two who were severely injured when a battle ensued, between ruffians who worked to protect Vamcet. One of them a close friend, or had been." She looked back down toward her cocoa, stirring the froth that was left of the marshmallow.
He knew the look; he'd seen it before on the faces of people who carted around more than their fair share. He'd read a couple of the reports the day he arrived and knew the apprehension had not been so straight forward.
"There's never an easy way to talk about violence," he said. "The language for it doesn't really exist. We just... circle around it until we find something that sounds close enough."
Ezra leaned back a little, his tone softening. "I'm sure you did what you could. That's all any of us ever manage." He took a small sip of his cocoa, testing the temperature. "I'm sorry, Siadra."
She gave a nod as to his acknowledgement. "There are losses though that one experiences. In some cases as with Trill, there are a few losses that one has to endure, to learn to experience." Siadra's voice still quiet.
As if to move from the solemn tone that the conversation had turned to, Siadra gave a smile. "Then again, there are the opportunities to meet people who have the ability to lighten the load and bring a bit of sunshine into one's life. And you, you are someone who has made the day seem more lighter."
Ezra met Siadra's gaze across the cups. Her words had a softness to them as if they were unrehearsed and simply slipped free before she'd thought better of them.
He smiled, quiet and genuine. "That's kind of you to say," he said. "I don't usually get called sunshine. More often I'm the overcast right before it."
The corners of his mouth lifted a little, but his eyes remained on hers. "But I'll take it."
He set his cup down and, almost absently, added, "You've got this way about you, Siadra... like you walk through the day noticing everything worth noticing. People like that"--he paused, searching for the right way to frame the thought--"they make the rest of us slow down and remember that small things still matter."
"I am glad that I can be of service. I have found that, each moment that a person shares with another, being a small part of their history, or they being of mine. It adds to life." Siadra giving another smile.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Ezra Van Wijnbergen
Victim Advocate Counselor, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Siadra Molaur
Chief Forensic Science Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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