The Shape of Belonging - IV - Leth-allt

Posted on Thu Sep 10th, 2026 @ 6:16pm by Commander Rosa Coy

2,153 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Veyra

There are certain things you learn about a ship by flying it. You learn how quickly the deck responds when you ask for more power. You learn which thrusters hesitate before answering and which ones seem almost eager. You learn how the inertial dampers feel when the ship has been running hard for too long, and you learn which warnings can wait three seconds while you finish a maneuver and which ones deserve your attention immediately.

You also learn that Lieutenant Kade has absolutely no respect for a pilot who leaves a perfectly good shuttle sitting in the flight bay.

"You're taking that one?"

I glance over my shoulder as I climb into the cockpit. "That's generally what happens when someone assigns me this one."

Kade leans against the hatch.

"You could take the Type-7."

"The 7 has a temper."

"She does not."

"She tried to bite me yesterday."

"That was Rell."

I shoot him a death glare.

Kade smiles and backs away, defeated. "Fine, I'll leave you to your mission."

I shake my head as the hatch closes behind him. The assignment is simple enough. A colony on the planet below needs a replacement environmental regulator, several cases of medical supplies, and enough agricultural equipment to keep their hydroponics operation running until their own shipment arrives.

The sort of work that rarely makes it into a captain's log. The sort of work I like. There is something satisfying about taking a piece of equipment from one place and putting it exactly where it needs to be. There is no grand strategy involved. The destination exists. The route exists. The ship knows how to get there.

I ease the shuttle out of the bay. The Veyra rolls slowly beneath me as I clear the launch envelope, and for a moment only the ship fills my canopy. I can see the curve of her hull, the running lights, the tiny movement of personnel along the exterior maintenance gantries.

Then I turn toward the planet. "All right," I murmur. "Let's see what you've got." The descent is clean. The cloud cover breaks below me, revealing a wide stretch of green land interrupted by clusters of buildings and the geometric patterns of agricultural fields. The colony is larger than it looked from orbit, though that happens often. From space, settlements always seem smaller than the lives inside them.

I bring the shuttle lower.

"Approach control to shuttle Kaur."

I touch the comm. "Kaur here."

There is a brief pause. Then Kade's voice comes through. "Good morning, Leftie. I shall be your flight control officer today."

I smile. "Good morning, Kade."

"Try not to hit anything on this glorious morning."

"I've never hit anything in my life."

There is silence. I hear Rell from somewhere behind him. "You know you are a terrible liar, right?"

I laugh. "Thank you, Chief."

"You're welcome."

The channel closes. I shake my head and continue the approach. The landing platform appears ahead. I ease the shuttle down, compensate for the crosswind, and settle the Type-6A onto the pad with enough precision that I allow myself a small smile.

I like flying. I think I always have. There is a particular kind of peace that comes from having the controls in your hands and knowing that every movement matters. Flying gives me something command doesn't. When I'm flying, I don't have to wonder whether I belong. The shuttle just responds.

I unload the first container with the colony team, then begin transferring the medical supplies. Halfway through the process, my comm chirps.
"Veyra to Kaur."

I tap the control. "Kaur here."

Kade's voice comes through. "Leftie, how long until you're ready for departure?"

"Twenty minutes."

"Copy that, Leth-allt."

I freeze. The name comes through the speaker softly enough that I almost wonder if I heard it correctly.

"Leth-allt?" The loading technician beside me looks up.

I stare at the comm panel. "Where did you hear that?"

Kade doesn't answer. Instead, Rell's voice suddenly comes over the channel. "Who is Leth-allt?"

I close my eyes. Oh, no. "Nobody." There is a long silence.

Then Thenn speaks. "Leftie?"

I can hear the smile in her voice. "Yes?"

"Do you have another name?"

My face becomes hot. "No."

Kade comes back on, "You hesitated."

"I did not."

"You absolutely did."

"I am busy."

"Leftie has a secret name," Thenn says.

Rell laughs.

I stare at the comm. "Commander Voss?"

There is another voice now. Calm. Measured. "Enough." The channel goes quiet.

I breathe again. "Thank you, Commander."

Voss answers after a moment. "Finish your delivery, Ensign."

"Yes, sir."

The channel closes.

I look at the colony technician. He's trying very hard not to smile. "You heard nothing."

"Of course." He smiles.

I return to the cargo.

The problem is that the name doesn't stay quiet. By the time I have finished unloading the second container, Thenn has tried pronouncing it twice.

"Leth-all?"

"Leth-allt."

"Leth-alt?"

"Leth-allt."

"That's what I said."

"No, it isn't."

"Close enough."

"It really isn't."

Kade comes through the comm again. "Leftie, report."

"Cargo's almost finished."

"Good. Leth..."

I slap the comm control. "Don't."

He laughs. I can picture his face.

Rell tries next. "Leth... alligator?"

I stare at the panel. "Chief."

"What?"

"Please stop."

"I'm trying to learn."

"You're trying to annoy me."

"Those aren't mutually exclusive."

I can't help laughing. That is the problem. They know me well enough now to know when I've stopped being genuinely annoyed. The return flight is worse. Every time the comm activates, someone else tries.

"Leth-alt, report."

"Leth-allt."

"Leth-owl."

"That's not even close."

"Leth-alligator, prepare for docking."

"I am going to eject your console."

"Threat acknowledged, Leftie."

Even Dr. Virel tries once. "Leth-allt."

I blink, because she got it right. "How did you do that?"

"I listened."

Thenn groans. "That's cheating."

Dr. Virel's voice remains perfectly calm. "No. It is phonetics."

Kade laughs so hard I have to pull the shuttle slightly off the docking vector. "Focus," I tell him.

"I'm not the one flying."

"You're distracting me."

"You're flying the shuttle."

"Exactly." I correct the approach. The Veyra grows across the forward viewport. For all the teasing, I find myself smiling. They are curious. They are annoying, but they are trying to know me. That thought stays with me as I bring the Kaur into the bay.

When I step onto the deck, Thenn is waiting. "So?"

I look at her. "So?"

"What does it mean?"

I start walking, "Nothing."

"Everything means something."

"Not everything."

"It has to."

Kade appears from around the shuttle, "What are you two arguing about?"

"Her name."

He looks at me.

I point at him. "You started this."

"I merely repeated something I heard."

"From where?"

He gives me a suspiciously innocent smile. "That's classified."

I stop.

He stops.

Thenn looks between us. "Is it?"

"No."

"Then tell me."

Kade looks at me.

I sigh. "It's my Family name."

The teasing softens. Only slightly.

Thenn looks at me. "Your family?"

I nod. "Back home."

Kade's expression changes. The joke has gone out of him. "Then we'll leave it alone."

I wasn't expecting that. I look at him.

He shrugs. "Seems fair."

Thenn, however, keeps looking at me. Not suspiciously. Curiously. Her eyes narrow slightly as though she's assembling something in her head. "Wait."

I know that tone. "What?"

She points between Kade and me. "Leftie?"

I look at her. "Yes?"

"That's from Leth-allt."

I stare at her.

Kade's mouth opens, then closes.

Rell's voice comes from behind us. "You're telling me Leftie is actually short for that?"

I turn. "Who told you it was short for anything?"

Rell looks offended. "You think I came up with Leftie?"

Kade laughs. "I remember when someone first tried to pronounce her name."

I look at him. "You were there?"

"Of course."

"Who said it?"

He points toward Rell.

Rell immediately raises both hands. "Absolutely not."

Thenn looks delighted. "So somebody couldn't say Leth-allt and just said Leftie?"

I feel my face heating again. "Something like that."

"Who?"

I look away. "I don't remember."

Kade grins. "You remember."

"Perhaps I choose not to."

Thenn laughs.

Dr. Virel, who has been quietly reviewing a PADD nearby, finally looks up.

"So the nickname is derived from your family name."

"Apparently."

She studies me for a moment. "Does Leth-allt have meaning?"

The question lands differently, and I look at her.

Thenn's expression changes immediately. "If you don't want to answer..."

"It's all right." I look down at my hands. "It doesn't translate cleanly."

"Most meaningful names do not," Virel says.

I smile faintly. "It's associated with two paths. Two directions with a choice between them."

Thenn's eyes brighten. "Duality?"

I nod. "Something like that."

She looks at me for a moment. "That's actually beautiful."

Rell snorts. "Still sounds like Leftie."

I point at him. "You're the one who couldn't pronounce it."

"I've improved."

"You called me Leth-alligator."

"It was a transitional pronunciation."

Kade laughs.

Thenn shakes her head. "How long did it take before everyone started calling you Leftie?"

I think about it. "Not long."

"Did you hate it?"

I consider the question. "I did at first."

"Why?"

I look around at them. "Because it wasn't my name." That quiets them. I smile. "But, then it became mine." Nobody answers for a moment.

Then Rell nods. "That's usually how nicknames work."

I laugh. breaking the tension. And somehow the subject becomes less embarrassing after that. The joke lasts for weeks. Rell insists on inventing increasingly terrible pronunciations. Kade uses Leth-allt whenever he wants to make me suspicious. Thenn occasionally says it correctly just to prove she can. Virel gets it right every time and refuses to explain how. Commander Voss never uses anything except Sira. At least over official channels. I begin to wonder whether he does that deliberately.

Months later, I realize something else. The first time they called me Leftie, it belonged to them. The name was a mistake. A mispronunciation. A little accident that happened because someone couldn't quite make their mouth cooperate with my family name.

Then the ship adopted it. And eventually, so did I. That evening, I sit alone in the observation lounge. The stars move slowly beyond the viewport. I think about Bajor. About the people who know the name. About how strange it feels to hear it spoken here.

For months, I have been Leftie. Leftie on the bridge. Leftie in the mess. Leftie in the shuttle bay. Leftie who hit the cargo tug. Leftie who stole Kade's coffee and denies doing it. Leftie who knows which console sticks during power fluctuations. Leftie who knows when Rell is pretending to be angry. Leftie who knows Thenn is nervous because she taps her thumb against the edge of her console. Leftie who has learned the rhythms of this ship.

Leth-allt belongs somewhere else. At least, that is what I have always thought. The door opens behind me.

Kade walks in. He doesn't sit. He stands beside the viewport. For a while, neither of us speaks. Then he says it. Perfectly. "Leth-allt."

I turn toward him. There is no smile. No joke. No exaggerated attempt to pronounce it. Just my name. I feel something tighten in my chest.

"That's the first time you've said it correctly."

"I know." I look back toward the stars. He remains beside me. "I asked Thenn how to pronounce it," he says.

I smile. "She didn't know."

"I know."

"Then who told you?"

He looks at me. "Your transmission."

I understand. He must have heard the original pronunciation. The one from home. The one that made me stop in the middle of a cargo transfer because suddenly I wasn't Leftie anymore.

I look at him. "Thank you."

He nods. Then, after a moment, he says, "You're welcome, Leth-allt."

This time I don't correct him. Because I don't need to. Though I'd prefer Sira, the name doesn't feel strange anymore. It feels like something I've carried a long way. Something that can exist here too. Kade leaves without saying anything else. I remain at the viewport.

The Veyra hums beneath me. I know her sounds now. I know her people. And somewhere between the planet below and the stars beyond the glass, I realize that perhaps belonging isn't about leaving pieces of yourself behind.

Perhaps it is about finding out which pieces other people are willing to carry with you. I smile quietly. Then the comm on the wall chirps. "Leftie to the bridge."

I close my eyes. "Yes, Kade?"

His voice comes through. "Rell wants to know if you can pronounce his name correctly."

I laugh. "Tell him I'll try."

"That's all we ask." The channel closes.

I sit there for another moment before getting up. Then I head for the bridge. Leftie is being called. And now, I know exactly where she belongs.

TBC

 

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