Shore Leave: Cottage 114

Day 2, 1300 hoursAlira, checking your terminal in the morning, you find two new messages.
One is from Lt. Comm. Darcy and it contains the information on when and where to meet her. The address is a cottage not too far from yours.

The other is from Lisa. It reads:
It’s me again. Turns out I’ve been uninvited from the party because Chad and Rachel got arrested because of me. I guess that means you’re not welcome there either, sorry.
If you don’t have anything better to do, we can hang out in the evening.

Lisa

----

Alira arrives at the cottage Darcy mentioned to her a few minutes early so she can make her entrance at just the right moment. When she walks up to the front door and knocks, there is no response but she can hear sounds from the yard behind the house.

There is no response to Alira's knocking and calling at the door so she decides to go around the house.
As she turns a corner, she sees the source of the noises she'd been hearing. A tall woman wearing a work overall that's not a spacefleet uniform but it is spacefleet issue. She's building some machine on the grass behind the cottage and does not seem to notice Alira as she is currently welding something and has her back to her.

Excuse me!

If she still doesn't hear her, Alira will circle in such a way that she doesn't come right up behind the person who is welding.

When Alira calls out, the woman doesn't react immediately so she starts moving in a circle so that she would hopefully see her but a short moment later, she turns her machinery off and looks at Alira. The woman is a few years older than Alira. Her face is red and sweaty but the immediate thing that Alira notices are large discolored scars on the woman's left cheek and side of the neck that look like old chemical burns.
"Can I help you?", she asks.

As Alira is standing at attention, the woman in front of her seems completely relaxed. She smiles warmly at Alira and replies: "Lt. Comm. Darcy? You're about 18 months too late for that. It's Commander Darcy now." After a brief pause to see Alira's reaction, she holds out her hand for a handshake and adds: "You're looking for my sister. Try not to stress her out too much. She's supposed to be on shore leave."
She nods towards the cottage and Alira sees a second woman there, sitting on a bench in the shade right at the side of the house. She has a datapad in her hand but is looking up from it just now. She locks eyes with you and stands up from the bench. Her posture is immediately recognizable as much more formal than her sister's as she waits for you to come to her.

This Darcy looks much more serious than the first one you met. She is a few years younger and does not have any facial scars. While she is not wearing uniform, her clothes look very formal for shore leave.
"Lt. Vitan, it's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming." She offers you to sit down on the bench. "Can I offer you anything to drink?"

Darcy turns to look at her sister, who momentarily stopped working on whatever it is that she was working on. "Helena, can you bring us something to drink, please. Cherry juice." Darcy's sister doesn't say anything in response. She smiles, nods and walks into the cottage.
"I apologize for the circumstances. I wanted to conduct a proper interview, inside, at a table, but my sister was against it. She wanted me to keep it casual. I hope you're okay with that." She puts the datapad down on the bench and puts her hands in her lap. "I asked you to come here to talk to you about a possible transfer to the USS Potential. We are looking for a new chief of security. I have read your file, talked to your captain, and think you would be a great fit for the crew."

"Our previous chief of security has been critically damaged in action and is currently unable to resume his duties. He was an android and is currently being repaired on Earth but it could be months until he is able to return to active duty, if ever. There would be no hard feelings toward you." Darcy, who has been looking straight at Alira until now turns to the side, seemingly looking at the machine her sister was working on. "They're expecting me to take over for him, I think, but I won't."
She turns back to Alira. "This is not a job interview. I have talked to command and I have talked to your captain. You are qualified for the position and if it were up to me, I would request your reassignment immediately. But it is not, so there is one more step first - if you are interested that is."

"Good. I'm not in charge of approving your transfer so take what I say now with a grain of salt. If you take over chief of security, you will be on the fast path to Lieutenant Commander. Do a good job and you'll get the promoted within a few months, a year maybe. After that..."
Darcy gets interrupted when her sister comes out of the house and with no regards for the privacy of the conversation, comes up to the two of you. She has three glasses of juice on a small tablet, hands one to each of you and takes a sip from the third one. She pulls up a chair and sits down next to you two. "So, are you taking the job?", she asks Alira.
Darcy glares at her but doesn't say anything.

The older sister, the one who had been welding when you arrived, looks at the other one. "I'm here to relax. If there's been any trouble, I try to stay out of it."
Her sister, who has been interviewing you, says: "I haven't heard anything. You mean something happened here on the island?"