Ready Room

“Come in.”

The door opened and Doctor Weaver entered.

Matt smiled, motioning to the chair across from his desk.  “Have a seat.”

“I’ll stand.”

The tone in Lori’s voice gave Kirby the sense she was upset about something.  “What’s up, Doc?”  He chuckled at the line from a very old Earth television show.

Weaver’s expression didn’t change.  “I want to update you on Tork’s condition.”

“Okay.”  She could have done that through the comm system.  “Is he all right?”

“Of course he is.  I repaired the skull fracture and stopped the bleeding around his brain.  He needs rest, but he’ll be okay to go back to Delvis.”

Weaver’s response was a tiny bit snippy.

“Is there anything else, Doctor?”

“As a matter of fact, there is.”  Weaver sat down.  “Are you actually letting Nick resign from Starfleet?”

There it was, the real reason Weaver was there.

“Lori….”

“Don’t give me that.  How could you not let him go rescue Mara?  Why did it need to go that far?”

Kirby paused.  “We all know how tense things are since the Cardassians collapsed Underspace.  I needed him here.”

Weaver snorted in derision.  “Are you telling me you wouldn’t have done the same thing for someone you loved or cared about?  What if it was one of us?  Would you leave me in the hands of Orion slavers?  Would you do that?”

“It isn’t that simple.”

“Of course it is.  We all know about duty and loyalty, and I respect you as Captain, but you would have resigned too, and you know it.”

Kirby sat back in his chair, pricked in his heart.  He could understand what she was saying, but the captain of a starship was held to a higher standard.  “Is there anything else?”

Weaver let out an exasperated sigh.  “No, sir.  That’s all I have.  Permission to return to my duties.”

Kirby frowned.  It was clear Lori was unhappy with him.  “On your way out, if you can find the time, please tell Lieutenant Commander Allen I’d like to see him.”

It was Weaver’s time to frown.  “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

=====

“I have interesting news from Command.”

“Interesting?” said Allen.  “That could mean almost anything.”  He chuckled.

“Once we take Tork back to Delvis and pick up Iziraa and Saunders, we’ll be going to Starbase 93.  There’s going to be crew rotations.”  Kirby handed Allen a PADD.  “This is the list.  I want to make sure you’re okay with them.”

Allen scrolled through the names.  “I trust you and Command.”  He handed back the PADD.

Kirby nodded.  “There’s big news too.  A new task force is being formed, TF21, and we’re being transferred there.”

“Oh?”

“It’s a forward-deployed unit,” said Kirby.  “We’ll be in the middle of frontier action and border protection.  No more milk runs.”

Allen smiled.  “When do we head out?”

“We go once we’re finished with our business at 93,” said Kirby.  “You can inform the crew.”