Moving On

Posted on Mon Jun 30th, 2025 @ 2:47pm by Lieutenant Rio Kholin MD

1,259 words; about a 6 minute read

Rio couldn't really take it all in at first. She had been so unsure as to what she should do next.

Her catastrophic personal relationship had turned toxic and now her imagined 'perfect future' - the one with the loving, handsome, soulmate of a husband and their 2.5 average kids, with the lovely double suite in a state-of-the-art Space Station with a lively, thriving, ideal community - If she had been describing it out loud it might have choked her to say it but as it was internally running through her sad thoughts *again*....

He wasn't worth all this heartbreak. Two-timing, lying, cheating, smarmy *creep* - and as for that ..... that....... she could barely find a word, let alone a string of them, for her EX- so called BEST- friend who'd been sneaking around into Rio's own bed with him. It was that betrayal that incensed the most anger in her. It seemed to be lasting longer that that which losing 'the cheat' had brought.

~Perhaps that said something about the delusions I'd had about HIM - she couldn't even bear to use his name now, even in her thoughts. ~They deserve each stinking other~ she concluded and vowed to herself that she wouldn't EVER think of either of them again. They were dead..... hadn't ever even existed. She wanted to be so far away from them then that she'd gone to the CO and asked to be put forward for every and all possible transfers that might come up, as urgently as possible.

Her CO had been good about this and had promised to send a good reference. Rio hadn't done anything wrong and her work was exemplary, she had always been patient, sympathetic, kind, gentle and reliable. She had some kind of empathy with patients and a sense of humour that might have been a little bit on the wrong side of formal but then Rio was a light, cheery character - before that incident - the one she told herself she couldn't remember even though the shocked memory of the two people she loved most, entangled in one another, shrieking with laughter, passion and excitement as they rolled over the marital bed..... ~But that was a LONG time ago.....RIGHT?~ she accused herself silently with an internal slap for seeing that trauma-filled memory snapshot over and over.

Then, as she sat on her bed, reading and re-reading the communication she'd received this morning. It was surreal. She read it for another time and almost had it off word for word by the time she hurried to her CO. She didn't have to wait long to see him and he knew already what she was there for. Of course he did. She could have hugged him but fortunately all the years of starfleet training managed to hold her back. "Did you get this for me Sir?" she asked, excitement visible on her beaming face.

"No" he said, grinning at her, infused by her energy and hope. He'd been worried about how broken she had seemed to be after the personal Tsunami she'd been through and to see her now, filled with the hope of a new beginning, was restoring Captain Tin Bekko's faith. Rio was a popular, sunny doctor who was good with everyone, young and old and she had studied so hard, seemingly determined to prove her Trill family wrong in their rejection of her as a child.

In Bekko's personal opinion, Rio had seemed to overcome the lack of self esteem that had begun in her early on and with her achievements as she had succeeded, it had seemed to have bolstered her and given her self-confidence. Even Bekko could tell that Rio needed to be away from here in order to go back to what he considered to be her real self. Her applications had been well received but this latest one today was, even to his eyes, by far the best. He was expecting her to jump at it - as he would have done if he'd been in her shoes.

"Actually you got quite a few good options, all on your own merits" he had assured her.

"Yes, but they were influenced by your kind reference..." she came back with modesty.

"I didn't say anything that wasn't 100% true." he countered. "So when will you leave us? We'll have a party to send you off" he said almost paternally.

"Oh NO...... I couldn't face all those people who all know by now....." she began, horrified. "It'd be like a walk of shame....."

"NONSENSE he cut her off.

"Rio, people like you, for yourself, not for any other reason. They need closure and so do you. If you want me to, I will roster accordingly so that the two people you'd rather not see there will be busy on duty - that way you can enjoy your own send off."

"My Pity-Party do you mean?" she muttered quietly and then instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry Sir, I know you're doing this for all the right reasons and I'm actually very grateful to you.." before she could get out the word "BUT", Bekko cut her off again.

"Good, I'm glad you understand. Hold your head up Rio." he used her first name, unusually, which made her stop and look directly at him (just as he had intended),

"Remember you have nothing to be embarrassed about and you're saying goodbye to a lot of genuinely good friends and grateful patients as well." The CO continued with a reassuring smile now.

Rio opened her mouth to say more but he raised one very expressive Hybrid-Vulcan eyebrow which instantly dried up whatever was trying to come out and she closed her mouth again. After a moment of thought and a wrestling back to prevent the tear that threatened to gather in her eye where she had been moved, Kholin pulled back her shoulders and said with reinstated strength, "Yes Sir! and THANK YOU SO MUCH Sir."

"You deserve this break Doctor" Bekko said, gently and came around his desk to offer her a handshake. As they locked hands, he put his other hand on her other shoulder and patted it. This was the final straw in breaking the "ingrained doctors' impenetrable mask" and Rio's tears flowed silently down her face in response to the CO's kindness.

The party was fantastic and the doctors' mask slipped a couple more times at the kind words and wishes she received. Not long afterwards, Rio packed her most important things and set off on a shuttle to rendezvous with the several upcoming stages of her journey to join the USS Enterprise..... this was going to be INCREDIBLE!

Sitting eventually in her new quarters, having been welcomed aboard as if she were 'coming home' rather than as a new intake, Rio, out of sight and sound of anyone for the first time in several days of goodbyes and travel, finally sat on her new bed in her wonderful CMO's suite and punched the air above her head.

" YESSSSS " she said out loud filled with joy and a whole new 'lust for life' as the ancient song said.

"BRING IT ON!" she celebrated.

When she finally found sleep amongst all the excitement inside her, Rio Kholin had only dreams of the future AT LAST A door closed in the universe somewhere and a new window opened.

OFF

 

RSS Feed