Truth, Heart & Honesty

Posted on Mon May 18th, 2026 @ 2:04pm by Commander Anastasia Aventnova & Lieutenant Cassian Massy

2,705 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: The Hand That Rocks The Babe
Location: Promenade
Timeline: BACKPOST: Prior to deployment

It was going to be one of her final 'patrols' that had become one of her traditions, at least every other day. A chance to go out in public and be seen by the crew and the civilians by taking a walk on the Promenade just to take a look at anything and everything that she could. And it was because she was doing that that she'd seen Cassian at a table, his back turned to the walkway and her heart stung at the sight of him. Ever since that day in her quarters, he'd been avoiding her aside from official duties and she couldn't ask him about personal stuff there.

She stood for a few moments, then made her decision and went to the vendor and picked up something that she could snack on legitimately and made her way over, putting herself into plain sight as she approached him, "Hey Cassian, may I join you?"

Cassian looked up slowly at the sound of her voice, fingers still wrapped around the untouched mug of raktajino cooling beside him. The Promenade bustled around them, traders calling out prices, a Bolian child laughing somewhere near the second-level rail, the low hum of ship life carrying on with infuriating normalcy while his thoughts remained hopelessly tangled.

For a moment, he considered saying no.

Not out of anger. Not really.

But because Commander Anastasia Aventnova had somehow become the gravitational center of his universe, and every moment since Selene appeared lately felt like standing too close to a warp core breach: beautiful, dangerous, impossible to ignore.

Still, Starfleet officers were trained to face uncertainty.

Even emotional uncertainty.

Cassian gestured stiffly to the empty chair opposite him. “Sure Commander.”

She winced at the formality in his voice, it was the rebuke that she knew she deserved and had to take like the shot to the heart it felt like. She set her tray down on the table and slid into the chair, her hands twitching in distress as she picked up the fruit, she didn't know what it was when she'd ordered it, and took a bite of it, "We need to talk.. Not officer to officer, but as Ana and Cassian."

She placed the fruit back on the tray and tried to look at him in the eyes, worry in them and hope as well, as much hope as she could muster in this situation as she went on, "The Marines are throwing a ball and as the Exec, I've been given an invitation to it and I need a Plus One, and I wanted to know if you wanted to go with me... If you were still interested in anything with me."

Cassian stared at her for several seconds after she finished speaking.

Not because he did not understand the question. But because he had not expected hope.

The promenade noise faded into background static as he watched her struggle to maintain composure. Anastasia Aventnova, the station’s Executive Officer, the woman who could stare down hostile admirals and pirate captains without blinking, was nervously mutilating an unidentified fruit because of him.

And somehow that realization hurt worse than the jealousy had. His gaze drifted to her hands twitching against the tray. Distress. Real distress. Not diplomatic performance. Not carefully engineered command poise.

Ana. Not Commander Aventnova. Just Ana.

Cassian let out a slow breath through his nose and looked away briefly toward the viewport overlooking the stars beyond the station hull. Tiny pinpricks of light against endless black. Navigation beacons in the dark. When he spoke again, the sharp edge in his voice had dulled.

“You know,” he said quietly, “when I joined Starfleet, I thought relationships would be easier for officers. I figured everyone would be emotionally evolved by now. Twenty-fourth century enlightenment and all that.” A faint, crooked smile touched his mouth. “Turns out we’re still just people in nicer uniforms.”

Cassian looked back at her fully then. “And the problem is,” he admitted, “I am still interested in you. That’s what’s been making this so difficult.” He leaned forward, elbows resting against the table. “When I saw Selene, I felt blindsided. Not because you dated someone before me,, but because suddenly I realized there are entire parts of your life I know nothing about.” He hesitated. “And I think for a while I convinced myself that meant what we had wasn’t… real yet.”

"We are both human, not that that happens to be relevant in these days, but that just means that emotions can be crazy. Relationships that start at these times, between two people, have a way of going awry and in weird directions." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself and not him.

"I didn't expect Selene to show up, not here, not now, not ever. The way she and I broke up a decade ago? I abandoned her without much more than a 'See ya' and even then I knew it was wrong, but I didn't see any other choice." Ana exhaled deeply, "Truth matters and the truth is that I'm very interested in you, Cassian, but I think you already know that. But unlike what happened with Selene, I decided to take what we have slower, a lot slower. Selene and I burned like a candle at both ends and I missed out on so much because of that.. I didn't want to make that same mistake, and when you told me that I'm your first relationship? It became even that much more important to me to not miss any of the 'normal' milestones that couples have. Then she walked back into my life and threw everything into chaos again."

Ana watched him for any telltales that she might be able to glean from him, "I don't know what it all means, what it all will turn out as, but I'm not going to abandon you, not unless you actually want me to. What I said the other day stands: If I need to make a decision between you and her, there's no decision to make: I'd choose you."

Cassian listened without interrupting. Not because he had nothing to say. But because every word coming from Ana felt painfully honest, stripped of rank and diplomacy and the polished certainty expected from a Starfleet executive officer. This wasn’t Commander Aventnova delivering a briefing. This was a woman trying to hand someone her heart without knowing whether he would keep it. He noticed the way she tried to intellectualize emotions at first, reducing them to human unpredictability and relationship theory like she could somehow organize feelings into neat tactical reports. It almost made him smile.

Almost.

Because beneath it he heard the real thing: Fear.

Not fear of Selene. Fear of repeating old mistakes.

When she admitted she had abandoned Selene, his expression shifted subtly, not judgmental, but thoughtful. He could practically see the guilt she'd carried for ten years sitting between them at the table like an unseen passenger. Then came the part that hit him hardest.

I didn’t want to miss any of the normal milestones.

Cassian blinked at her. Normal milestones. The words lodged somewhere deep inside his chest because until now, part of him had quietly assumed she viewed this as temporary. Intense maybe. Meaningful perhaps. But still something experienced officers drifted through between assignments and starbases.

Yet here she was talking about firsts. About slowing down intentionally. About wanting to experience things with him, not skip ahead to the ending. For someone like Anastasia Aventnova, that might have been the most vulnerable confession imaginable.

When she finally finished, silence settled over the table again. Not awkward this time.
He leaned back slightly, exhaling through his nose as though admitting it cost him something.

“Because I don’t know what I’m doing, Ana. You say you don’t want to miss milestones, but half the time I don’t even know what the milestones are.” He glanced away briefly toward the crowds moving along the promenade. “I spent years preparing to navigate stellar phenomena, tactical engagements, first-contact protocols…”

A crooked smile appeared.

“There was apparently no Starfleet Academy course titled What To Do When A Beautiful Executive Officer Makes You Emotionally Compromised.”

“But I do know this,” he continued. “The fact that you’re sitting here explaining all this instead of avoiding me? That matters.”

He turned his hand beneath hers then, fingers curling lightly around her own. “And hearing you say you’d choose me…” He swallowed once. “I didn’t realize how badly I needed to hear that.”

The touch of his hand made her sag in relief as her fingers gripped his, probably tighter than was comfortable for him, "If they had that class at the Academy, it would make things one heck of a lot easier for everyone, but there wouldn't be enough of those Executive Officers to go around, or we'd just have to promote more of us." She didn't seem to realize that it sounded egotistical of her, accepting his judgement on her looks.

"Just like you, though, I don't even know what the milestones are, but I want to experience them, whatever and whenever." She gave him a truly genuine smile this time, "But I've had experience with rushing through things too fast to understand what's happening and I can't do that again. But there's still the question of Selene." A shudder ran down her arms and to him, "I can't tell you that I don't have feelings for her still, because that would be a lie. The effect she had on me... She has that inner strength that I didn't have, that I'm still growing into. But she's always been that dominant force."

"Yeah, I kinda saw the effect she had on you firsthand." Cassian spoke. "Its obvious she wants you again. sure things have changed. I think in some ways I guess I'll have to speak to her myself. I'm new to relationships as you know, but this....I wouldn't even know the first thing on how to handle this."

"I don't think anyone does." Ana agreed, "Except maybe Selene... Any sort of even potential relationship between the three of us needs us all to be on equal footing. You nailed it on the head the other day, it can't be all about me and if we can't work it out, then I'll have to tell her to bugger off." There was some sadness in her voice, but determination as well, "But that's neither here nor there right now. As I said, I got an invitation to the Marine Ball and I want you to go with me."

Cassian thought about her question. "With everything that's gone on, especially with Selene making her appearance, I think you should take her." He paused. "Im still getting used to things, I don't want to be the guy people look at and they wonder who that man is with the First Officer." Once more he worried this his presence would negatively impact her image with the crew. "Plus, I'm not the greatest in large social groups and this ship doesn't exactly have a small number of marines on board."

Her hand tensed again as he made his suggestion. This was an invitation by him to not cut Selene loose, which meant he was still considering the possibility of the three of them. "Are you absolutely sure you would be fine with me taking her?" Ana had to ask for the confirmation, "I've been to parties like this before, far too often because of my old position with Admiral Foraker, and getting to meet and greet people, even if they're only Marines, is a good way to build rapport. I won't force you, that's for sure, but I don't want you to think that I wouldn't rather have it be you."

"I know." Cassian answered. "You said yourself it needs to be equal terms, I don't want you not taking someone just because I'm uncomfortable and lets be honest, I think Selene would be an imposing figure in the room. We can always talk about us as a whole after." It was good that Ana wanted him to go as her first option, but it wasn't what he was ready for as a public social setting with so many people.

"And maybe I can use the opportunity to feel her out about you?" Ana asked him, "If I can settle my own nerves around her, I've grown since she and I were together, I am the Exec aboard the largest ship in the Fleet after all. And you are right, she would be imposing in that setting, buy some time and space for that conversation."

"Can I be brutally honest?" Cassian spoke, debating if what he was about to say was good...or bad.

"Always. Honesty is one of the most important tenets of Rome."

"The way you were with Selene, the dominant and submissive vibe between you two.....incredibly sexy." For Cassian he got to see Ana in a light he honestly never expected, she was submissive to the very dominant Selene and from his standpoint...he enjoyed it. He witnessed Selene having Ana eating out of her palm with clearly practiced ease.

Her eyes opened wide at the words that she absolutely had not expected to hear coming from him. She wasn't sure what to say to that, blinking several times in rapid succession, "I.. I, um.. It always was the dynamic with us, I was never very assertive back at the Academy, that only came after I was out in the Fleet for a while, I think it was her influence."

"Is that a hint of a blush I see?" Cassian spoke with a smile.

Anastasia shook her head with a laugh, breaking down a bit in clear effort to jokingly deny what was absolutely true, "Okay, maybe it is... Maybe sometime you'll see why it's so?" It was again an invitation to him, but definitely not to rush him.

"Maybe, as the saying goes....good things come to those that wait." Cassian replied, though he appreciated the gesture of not forcing the issue.

"That they do." She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it, "And I'll be patient, I promise. We'll take us as slow or as fast as we want to be, never be afraid to say no if you want to."

"Will Selene be as accommodating?" He asked. "I know next to nothing about her or what she's like."

"If she isn't, then she's going to deal herself out of this game." Ana said without hesitation, "I'll make that clear to her. While I want you and her to get along, and to make this work that has to happen, if she pushes you or us too hard, then she's making her own choice."

"Alright." Cassian replied, he knew this was going to take time and he had plenty of that. He hoped that Selene would be supportive but he didn't know her well enough. Still though, he'd have to speak to her at some point, if she wanted this then he may as well get to know her a little beyond a face and a name with a snippet of history.

"So we're good, you and me?" It was a hard question but Anastasia had to ask it. With what was coming up, having one fewer problem in her life would only help.

"Yeah, we are. It's just going to take some time to adapt to....all of this." Cassian replied, though he was happy that she'd pick him over Selene if it came down to it.

"I know." She glanced down at her chrono, "Now I hate to run, but I'm due for a meeting in the science labs in about twenty minutes..."

"Life if the First Officer never ends." Cassian joked. "Will it be ok if I see you tonight?"

"I'd like that, very much. Pick me up at my quarters at nineteen hundred? We can go out to anywhere you'd like." She smiled at him.

"Nineteen hundred it is." Cassian spoke.

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