“Does anyone know why we’re stuck in this tiny room?”

Gavarin Brex glanced over his shoulder at Dr. V’Rel. It would have been easy to pick up on her irritation even if he wasn’t Betazoid. She did have a point though; he wasn’t sure what was going on but it was easy to assume it had to do with their new assignment. He was rather surprised that they had been assigned back to the same ship again. The Amadunsen was still stuck in the San Francisco Fleet Yards waiting for final repairs, so he assumed they’d all get their various assignments and never see each other again. Long-term crews often got reassigned together but one that had served together for barely a month? That was a rarity. He’d spent the last few months at home, on Betazed, with his family, taking advantage of Starfleet relaxing shore leave rules in the aftermath of Frontier Day. There were a lot of officers who didn’t get the luxury of extra time off but with his last assignment stuck in drydock, they didn’t argue with his request for extended leave. It had been difficult to come back, his little girl was growing up so fast and between the Lost Fleet and Frontier Day, it was a reminder of how precious little time there was these days but he couldn’t bring himself to walk away from the Fleet, not now. More than ever they needed good people serving Starfleet.

“Evidence would indicate that this has something to do with our new posting.” Lieutenant Commander T’Keu rose from her chair and walked towards the blacked-out window, pressing the control panel next to it to remove the tint. It simply let out an angry honk to indicate the controls were locked. “It would seem this is a surprise.” She did little to hide the disdain in her voice when she spoke the word surprise.

Commander Alexander Conklin pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on. “I’ve served with Captain Myers for nearly a decade, she isn’t exactly the surprise party type.” He brushed the dirty blonde hair out of his eyes; over the last several months he’d allowed it to grow significantly longer, now reaching his shoulders if he didn’t put it up. It was within regulation. Technically. “But, you know, maybe she was feeling feisty today. At least we aren’t being woken up in the middle of the night this time.”

V’Rel let out a grumble. “I knew I should have retired before all this started, but now they keep feeding me crap about ‘the shortage of personnel’ and ‘we need your experience.’ I’m a doctor, not a theoretical warp physicist. It’s not hard to replace me. Just teach these new kids to use a laser scalpel and let me retire.”

A half smile crossed Brex’s face. “To be honest doctor, I feel more comfortable with you wielding the laser scalpel. I’m worried some of these new Ensigns wouldn’t even be able to find my liver.”

V’Rel waved a hand in the air, dismissing the comment. “It’s not that hard. Most livers are in the same general location on humanoids, you just have to remember which species have two and which ones don’t have a liver.”

Brex rubbed his upper abdomen with a slight grimace on his face. “I’d still prefer to be in your capable hands doc. ”

V’Rel’s only response was (yet another) grumble.

Alex traced a hand along the edge of the table idly. “We’re missing a few people. Broheth, Erith, and Demar. I didn’t see them listed on the communication.”

T’Keu arched an eyebrow. “Perhaps they declined to be reassigned or resigned? Considering the circumstances Starfleet had found itself in as of late, many officers chose that path. Or perhaps Ensign Erith is still dealing with the aftereffects of his assimilation?”

An uneasy silence made its way through the room. Nobody had heard anything from or about Erith, not that they expected to. Nobody in the room had met each other before they all got tossed onto the same ship and trapped on Beol II. The experience had bonded them, to an extent anyway, but trauma bonding only went so far. The truth was none of them had spoken to each other besides a couple of messages from Brex asking how they were.

Alex cleared his throat softly. “Regardless, I hope he’s doing well. Seemed like a good kid.” He glanced up at the chronometer on the wall. “I guess we’ll find out in a moment, Captain Myers isn’t the type to be late.

The chronometer ticked over from 13:59 to 14:00 and as if on cue the door to the room opened with a soft hiss, Captain Clara Myers walked in, multiple PADDs in hand, Commander Demar right behind her.

Alex smiled, standing up a bit straighter at her entrance. “Good afternoon Captain.” It wasn’t difficult to spot Commander Demar standing behind her considering he was a good nine inches taller than she was. He felt his face flush as he looked over the Captain’s head at Demar; the last few months had been kind to the man, at least in the looks department. Realizing he was blatantly staring, he quickly averted his eyes and cleared his throat. “Good morning to you as well, Commander.”

Had Demar noticed the Conklin eyeing him he didn’t show any indication; Conklin let out a small sigh of relief.

“Good afternoon everyone.” Clara began. “I appreciate you all taking the time to indulge me in this. I realize it would be easier to just send you a message with orders but I felt, after everything we’ve been through, it would be nice to gather again.” Clara moved over to the window, finger hovering over the panel next to the window.

“As many of you can surmise by now the Amundsen is still tied up in repairs at the fleet yards and will be for some time. The damage she sustained was extensive and there is still a large backlog from the Frontier Day attack so the ship won’t be ready to deploy for quite a while. As such, Starfleet has seen fit to give us a new assignment.”

She tapped a few commands into the panel and the tint on the window began to fade; outside the window work bees and shuttles zipped to and fro but docked in the closest berth was the large Galaxy Class starship. Clara had coordinated with Broheth and Commander Vale to get the warp core powered up and online before the meeting, lights gleaming across the hull and her nacelles shining a bright blue.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our new home away from home, the USS Galaxy.”

Brex took a step forward, letting out a soft whistle. “Now that is one beautiful ship. They don’t make them like that anymore. And the original one? Doesn’t get much more special than that.”

T’Keu took a step forward, hands behind her back. “The tactical superiority of a Galaxy Class ship is often unmatched, even after nearly 50 years in service. It is an agreeable assignment.”

A grin spread across Alex’s face, reminding Clara of a kid in a candy shop. “They don’t keep the Galaxys in local space that often; does this mean Starfleet is opening up deep space missions again?”

A smile spread across Clara’s face. “It’s in the cards, yes. We’ve got some fires to put out along the Cardassian border, but Starfleet made it clear that the Galaxy’s primary mission will be deep space exploration. Clara glanced out the window. ”I requested that this crew remain together; our time on the Amundsen was short but what I saw convinced me that, with time, we’ll serve the ship well.”

Demar took the PADD’s from Clara and began to hand them out to the assembled staff. “You will find your formal orders on these along with new staff lists for your respective departments. Please review them carefully; we’ll be starting with around 850 crew through our shakedown. It’s a stark increase from the 90 or so we had on the Amundsen so most of your staff will be new to you and, due to current staffing circumstances, new to the fleet as well. Please do your best to help them adjust. Being on a Galaxy can be pretty intimidating to officers fresh out of the Academy.” He handed the last PADD to Conklin and stepped back towards the wall.

V’Rel stuck the PADD in her coat without so much as a glance. “Ignoring the fact I specifically asked for a smaller ship and that.” She pointed a finger at the gleaming ship out of the window. “Is anything but small, I want to know, is it just us or did you invite Broheth and Erith to our little party?”

Clara chuckled softly. Considering V’Rel’s reputation, if that was the worst reaction she had, Clara would consider it a victory. “Lieutenant Commander Broheth is already on Galaxy assisting Commander Vane with the departure checklist.” She paused for a moment. Technically her request for Erith hadn’t been approved; Starfleet still had concerns about his mental state post-assimilation. Erith wasn’t alone in that; dozens upon dozens of officers were still in deep counseling following what happened on Frontier Day. With a compliment of nearly 1,000 and the expectation that the ship would be in deep space for years at a time she was required to staff a counselor on the ship. She had specifically requested one versed in PTSD and trauma response and if Starfleet gave her one, she could get Erith back. “Ensign Erith will be joining us at a later date but I’m told he’ll be here before we depart.”

It was a very basic, diplomatic, statement that fooled nobody in the room but no one bothered to challenge it. 

“When do we leave?” Asked Brex, doing his best to change the subject.

“In four days.” Responded Clara. “We have a few weeks of various shakedown testing then we’ll assume patrol duties in the former DMZ.”

“Four days?” V’Rel grumbled. “Glad I learned to travel light a few decades ago.”

Clara didn’t bother to hide the small smile on her face. “You learned that a little sooner than I did, commander. Any further questions?”

Brex raised a finger. “This might be an absurd question, but did they take out the carpet?”

This time Demar let out a snort as he tried to hide a small laugh. “It might sound absurd Lieutenant, but it is a valid question these days.”

“The carpet is fully intact and even brand new,” Clara replied. “Thankfully the beige motif has been retired.”

Brex nodded, unconsciously rubbing his lower back. “Good because I was on one of the new Echelon classes a few weeks back and I tripped over a hyperspanner and let me tell you, hitting that bare metal hurts something awful. My back is still hurting even after their doc patched me up.”

V’Rel turned to look at him, disgust on her face. “You feel down and it still hurts weeks late? Damn cadet doctors don’t know how to do shit right.” The Caitian stood, motioning Brex to follow. “Come on lieutenant, I’ll get you fixed up.”

Brex didn’t look entirely comfortable with the situation, glancing at Myers.

Clara nodded, holding back a smile. V’Rel could be gruff in how she spoke to her patients, but there was little doubt that she did amazing work. “With that, you all are dismissed. Your PADDs have your quarter assignments on them. Move things over, tour the ship, and get a feel for it. Hopefully our first few weeks out of the dock will be a little quieter this time.” She pointed at Conklin and then Demar. “Not you two. Please stick around, Commanders.”

The two men nodded and stepped back, allowing the rest of the staff to shuffle out. 

“I won’t take much of your time gentlemen.” Clara turned to Conklin. “Commander, I would like you to serve as my second officer on the Galaxy.” She’d served with Alex for nearly a decade and considered him one of, if not her closest, friend. The gap in their ages had done little to slow down their friendship and while she’d never admit it to his face, Alex had helped keep her young over the years. His professionalism could use some work, along with doing better at not getting caught up in the moment, but he was a brilliant science officer and had little desire to add a fourth pip to his collar. She also trusted him to speak his mind, and honestly at that, when dealing with her and Demar. She was also hopeful that some of Alex’s personality would rub off on Demar and help bring him into his own. There was a good executive officer in there, she knew it, and he just needed to get out of his head.

Alex, for his part, didn’t hide his surprise. “Me, ma’am? I’m honored you would consider me but you know I don’t want to sit in the center chair. Wouldn’t it be better to have someone interested in the command track take this position?”

Clara shook her head. “I don’t need another commanding officer in training.” She tilted her head towards Demar for a moment. “That’s what he’s here for. I need you to keep me, both of us actually, honest and make sure we don’t get too wrapped up in the perspective of a commanding officer. You have a passion for your work that I haven’t seen anywhere else Alex; that passion may only be topped by your commitment to the ideals that Starfleet was founded upon. You’re our outside perspective. That’s something desperately needed as Starfleet is still figuring itself out.”

Alex opened his mouth and closed it again. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Thank you, ma’am. That’s high praise, coming from you. I.” He paused for another few moments. “Accept, ma’am”

Clara grinned. “Wonderful. I need to get onto Galaxy to meet with Broheth and Commander Vane. My first order to the both of you is to spend a little non-work time together. Get to know each other without a T’Kon virus doing its best to kill all of us; I need my command staff to work well with each other.” She glanced at Demar. “Buy him that drink you promised him on Beol II, that’s a good place to start.”

She caught the slightest flush rise on Conklin’s cheeks before turning on her heels, smiling as she left the room.

Alex glanced up at Demar. Demar glanced down at Alex. The two remained in an awkward and silent staring contest for a few moments before Alex broke the silence. 

“Um. Well. I.” Alex paused and collected a string of works together in his head. “You don’t have to buy me a drink or anything. Have you had lunch? Lunch would work. There is this nice cafe on 72 that is in the Arboretum.” Alex watched as Geden’s shoulders tensed up and his body stiffened slightly; just about the same response he had to Alex speaking to him on Beol II.

“I have not had lunch. That would be.” He caught himself from saying acceptable, which sounded beyond rude when he said it in his head. “Nice.” He did his best to let to tension in his upper body melt away and only mildly succeeded at it. He gave Alex a small smile and took a few steps back. “If you know where it’s located, I’ll let you lead the way.”

Alex nodded, grateful that the first step in the awkward dance of trying to befriend his colleague had been accomplished.