Miv sighed. She had arrived precisely on time, 10 minutes early, in fact. But Starfleet brass had a bad habit of keeping everyone waiting, a habit that she personally never perpetuated. A pet peeve of hers and, she mused, a possible holdover from a darker part of her heritage.
The tone of her mood had already been set by the crypically-worded summons that had brought her ship warping out of deep space and back to Earth. As she smiled at the curious stares from her Starfleet colleagues, she remembered why she didn’t return often. She was far from the only Cardassian in the Federation, and not even the only one in Starfleet, but it was still not common to see. She spent so much time on her own ship now, she forgot how uncomfortable her face made people. The realization made her more sad than anything. What must it be like for the Jem Hadar officers? Or liberated Borg? Or androids and photonic people, who were even still struggling to be seen as sentient beings, let alone competent Starfleet officers in their own right?
If my crew can work out their differences, anyone can. It’s just going to take time.
At last, her communicator chimed. The Admiral would see her now. She rose from the bench and left the onlookers to gawk at each other instead.
Captain Koril 