Saying Hello Part I
Posted on Sat Mar 21st, 2026 @ 4:29am by Lieutenant Maya Canak & Lieutenant Ezra Van Wijnbergen
Edited on on Tue Mar 24th, 2026 @ 4:29pm
1,088 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Sins of History
Location: Victim Advocate's Office - Deck 9 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD016 1330 hrs
With her free time taken up with the poison garden, Maya had neglected to say hello to the new Victim Advocate Counselor. Even though she spent most of her time in sickbay or one of the labs, she liked to meet the senior staff in medical and counseling. So she made some time and headed to counseling to say hello.
Ezra's office was still a work in progress. He hadn't taken the time to add any personal effects yet, and most of the shelves behind his desk were still bare. The desk, however, was a small disaster: a half-dozen data PADDs were spread across it like leaves on a sidewalk in autumn. Each PADD was paused on a different testimony--a voice--that cried-out to be heard. They were the voices of Bajor during the Occupation, and Gul Vamcet's name snaked through each other like a stain that couldn't be scrubbed out.
He sat back in his chair, his legs stretched beneath the desk, one foot crossed over the other. His thumb was idly tapping the edge of a PADD--not reading it. He'd already ready these statements several times now and could easily anticipate the rhythm in each voice's suffering, like a musician knows the next note about to be played.
They burned the grain stores first.
My sister was taken for questioning and did not return.
We were told it was for order.
Ezra exhaled through his nose. Bored wasn't quite the word for it. More like being suspended in time. Waiting to be needed. He'd been aboard for a short time but hadn't been assigned to any specific task. It made sense, he had told himself. The case against Vamcet had been long in the making and his arrival surely wasn't about to unearth anything new from the atrocities that had occurred a half-century before.
A figure strolled into the open door of his office from the Counselling Suite he shared with Adalyn. At first glance, it seemed as though she might have taken a wrong turn. She was small--remarkably so in a space built for Starfleet's taller averages--dark hair tied back, posture upright but unassuming. She was beautiful in the way she wore an unspoken confidence behind a smile. It was as though she were accustomed to being underestimated and was entirely unbothered by it.
Maya's eyes scanned the almost bare room, then focused on the man at the desk. He was a big man, well over six feet, but it was hard to be certain as he was sitting back in his chair. His hair was tussled as if he'd run his fingers through it. Frustration or boredom? She wasn't sure which. The PADDs on his desk looked as disheveled as he did. But there was a weariness in his eyes that concerned her. However, she didn't know him or his situation well enough to ask.
A slow smile lit her eyes. "Hello. I'm Maya. Do you have a few minutes? It's nothing important. I just want to say hello."
The name clicked for him like a lock finding its key. Maya. Doctor Maya Canak, Chief Medical Officer. He rose immediately, the chair creaking softly as he stood, unfolding to his full height. The motion was instinctive--for she was his superior--and old-fashioned that hadn't been entirely unlearned. He smoothed a meaty hand over the back of his chair and inclined his head.
"Doctor Canak," he said, his deep baritone voice warm and pitched to respect. "Of course. Please--come in." Motioning to the chair on the opposite side of his desk, he added, "Make yourself comfortable."
"Thank you," she replied, sitting gracefully in the chair. "Please, call me Maya. This is a casual visit. I realized we haven't met yet. For that I apologize."
Ezra smiled at how easy and uncomplicated she made it seem. "No apology necessary then," he said, easing back into his chair once she was settled. "Please call me Ezra. Titles have a way of building walls where there don't need to be any."
"Definitely. And in our line of work, we get more cooperation when we're more approachable." Maya smiled again. "And I much prefer being pleasant. Don't you?"
His eyes drifted to the stack of PADDs on his desk and nodded. "Agreed," Ezra said, folding one hand over the other. "And you're right: approachability changes everything. It gives our patients a chance--even if it's a small one." He let out a slow breath and realized how bare and haphazard everything seemed to be in his office. He felt a pang of embarrassment at the Chief Medical Officer seeing it.
"So, Maya, any idea how the Vamcet case is shaping up?"
"I only know the medical side, and that's complicated," she said with a sigh. "Viessa and I ran some tests and reported our findings to the captain and first officer. But what is going on now...I have no idea." She raised an eyebrow. "As a victim advocate, have you been called in to talk to him?"
Ezra shook his head. "No. That would be more in Adalyn's wheelhouse."
He motioned to the stack of PADDs on his desk. "These," he said with a sigh, "are just a portion of the victim statements that were compiled by Bajoran authorities several years ago. Some of these victims and witnesses have since passed away."
Picking up a random data PADD, he began reading aloud. "Once, after they broke my arm for not returning to the camp before curfew, Vamcet's adjutant ordered it be repaired. Not because they cared--because they were understaffed with clerks..."
Ezra shook his head in disgust. "That one's extremely mild, as you probably know."
"I do." Maya shook her head. "I cannot condone what he or those like him did to the people of Bajor. But I also do not like how all this is stirring up old grievances. Especially when Bajor has come so far." She was more concerned that, no matter how the trial ended, there could be fighting between the two groups. "Some wounds take generations to heal."
A Joint Post by
Lieutenant Maya Canak
Chief Medical Officer/Medical Examiner, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Ezra Van Wijnbergen
Victim Advocate Counselor, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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