[1232] Observation Lounge 3
The second day of lectures and undoubtedly buzz-word laden directives from Bravo Fleet's Admiralty was focused on the future actions and plans of Task Force 25 and their initiative direct at the Delta Quadrant.
Raksha could not help but feel a slight sense of envy towards the officers leaving on voyages to that mostly uncharted expanse of space.
The Delta Quadrant, along with all-but-forgotten Gamma Quadrant, remained some of the last true frontiers of known space. Even in the return journey of the USS Voyager, a trajectory that spanned almost the entirety of the Quadrant, only the surface was scratched of the people and societies that dwelled there in those distant stars.
Raksha wondered about the civilizations the Federation had discovered and what had become of them. The Talaxians, the Vaadwuar, the Kazon, the Ocampa, the Vidiians; the Commander wondered how incredibly their own lives and plans for the future might have changed since their own discovery and interaction with the Federation and new knowledge of the Beta Quadrant.
Her mind then wondered though, to the Gamma Quadrant and the Dominion that still called it their empire. She recalled the stories of her old Captain, who had served in the war. How he had stared death in the face in the form of Jem'hadar attack cruisers. How he had had to master the arts of diplomacy on the spot in the face of the Vorta.
The events of that great war against the Dominion had shaken the Alpha Quadrant to its very foundations. Cardassia, Breen, Betazed, Bolia, Bajor, Ferenginar. Each of these worlds, and the civilizations that sprang forth from them, had been irreparably altered by all that had happened to them in that short space of time, and of the wormhole from which all of these issues had stemmed.
From that Wormhole and their actions in traversing it, the Federation had learned the hard way the true dangers of extending their sights in exploration. It was a sobering experience, and one Raksha had hoped she'd learned a lesson from.
The Federation's calling in the universe was to explore, to discover what there is out there, and to expand the collective knowledge of all species who proudly wave the UFP banner, but that sheer act of prying open the dark chests of wonder could, in turn, lead to the opening of a Pandora's box from which there was no escape. Was it not then the responsibility of the Federation to fix the messes they had caused simply by being present?
The young Commander stared out of the vast window of Observation Lounge 4 in front of her where, despite the great crowds gathered about the station, she had managed to secure a seat all to herself facing the window and was against all odds alone.
She wondered what was to come of those assigned to Task Force 72 in the Alpha Quadrant like herself. Was she free to recklessly explore the Iconnu Expanse like so many others were likely to do, or would the responsibility of negotiating the lasting traces of her colleagues' actions rest upon her shoulders? If so, was she up to the challenge? Did she even want to be up for the challenge? Did she really want to be doing anything else, in fact?
Closing her eyes for just a moment to consider these things, she opened them once more and continued to stare. The stars twinkled out of that window brighter and more beautifully than even she remembered on Earth when she was young, and she had promised herself that she would see them all.