Amy came home from the Education unit on the Starbase and headed for her room to change. Although living on a Starbase was never boring, the Education unit had a uniform code. Quickly removing the 'daggy' unitard she was forced to wear, she changed into some of her more comfortable clothes.
Next she picked up the small bag she had brought home with her and headed for the utility room. Opening the bag, she pushed the pile of dirty clothes, including the unitard into the washer and set it going. Returning to her room, she picked out some clean clothes from the pile of clean washing and pushed them into the bag.
Whilst her parents were away, she had been staying with her best friend Amanda, but every couple of days she came back home to get rid of the dirty washing and pick up some clean clothes. Before she headed out of the door to go back to Amanda's she checked the console for any new messages from her Mum and Dad, but there were no.
As she opened the door to leave, she bumped into someone. Backing off, she saw that it was Commander Sinclair, Amanda's mother and Amanda was standing behind her.
"Hello, Amy, may we come in?" the Commander asked.
"Sure," Amy replied.
At first Amy thought that this was just a 'checking up on the kid' routine. Amy had always got on well with Amanda's parents, some might have said more than her own, since she often stayed with them when her parents were away on missions.
But there was something in the way Amanda looked at Amy that got her thinking the worst had happened. The Commander sat down on the long sofa and urged Amy and Amanda to both sit too. Now fearing the very worst, Amy started to panic.
"Is something wrong?" she asked. "Are Mum and Dad okay?"
Commander Sinclair picked up on the panic in Amy's voice and in a reassuring voice told her that her parents were fine and that they had contacted her with a request.
"So did they say when they'll be home?" Amy inquired. She really missed having her parents around, although she'd never admit it to anyone but Amanda.
"That's the thing," the Commander said. "They're not exactly coming home."
Amy was puzzled. If they were okay, then why wouldn't they be coming home, even though she gave them a hard time once in a while, they would never abandon their daughter.
"They've been re-assigned to a new position," Commander Sinclair stated. "So they've asked me to oversee the packing and transfer of their belongings to their new base."
By now Amanda was starting to get tears welling up in her eyes, but Amy didn't notice, her concentration still on the Commander.
"I'm leaving?" Amy exclaimed.
"Yes, dear," the Commander replied. "You have a new home to go to."
"Where?" Amy asked.
"It's a planet known as Serenity in the Serenity system," Sinclair stated. "From what I've read in the various reports it's a very nice place to live. The air is clean, not recycled, and the base is still very new."
"Serenity! "Amy said. "Never heard of it."
"It's on the far side of the Briar Patch," Sinclair confirmed.
"Briar Patch!" Amy exclaimed. "Isn't there a war going on there?" Amy had been watching the news feeds and the invasion by the Mullurans of Ferengi space was always the top story.
"The war is nowhere near Serenity and the system is protected by a Federation Starbase," the Commander said, trying to re-assure the teenager. "I doubt Starfleet would allow anyone to settle on Serenity if it were not safe."
"How long have I got left on the base?" Amy inquired.
"Two days," Commander Sinclair answered. "There's a vessel heading for Serenity leaving in two days. It's then a two day journey to the Briar Patch and another three to Serenity. This time next week, you'll be in a new home."
By now Amanda was starting to cry and finally Amy noticed that her friend was in distress and the tears in her own eyes started to form.
"I don't want you to go," Amanda blubbered through the crying.
"And I don't want to go either..." Amy replied. "...but I have to go wherever my parents are stationed. I can't stay here whilst they are hundreds of light years away. I'd miss them too much."
"But I'll miss you if you go," Amanda stated.
"We can visit each other," Amy said, trying to put on a happy face. "And we can still talk on sub-space and sent letters to each other."
Amy was trying as much to convince herself as Amanda that leaving would be good for her, but even her own efforts weren't doing much good.
"Let's go back to my quarters and have something to eat, you have two days together, make them the best two days you've ever had," Commander Sinclair suggested.
With that the three of them headed out of the Franklin quarters and down the corridor to the Sinclair's. Two hours later, Amy and Amanda had a good long talk (and cry) together, their friendship was as solid as a rock and a hundred light years wasn't going to change that.
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