‘…and she just wants me getting the new personnel squared away,’ grumbled Ensign Nia Hargreaves as she grabbed a cup of coffee from the replicator in the deck one break room. A small mess hall, it was cramped and inauspicious and without windows, but sufficed for taking breaks during a shift. It was also the place to grab a cup of coffee before a shift if you were as anxious about being on time as Ensign Kallavasu.

‘The captain’s trusting you with key responsibilities,’ Kally protested as Hargreaves pulled up the chair opposite. ‘That’s good, right? It could be worse, you could be just processing paperwork.’

‘Or stuck as a relief bridge officer, waiting for something interesting to happen somewhere else so someone more important than me could check it out and I get their post,’ Hargreaves conceded. Ensign Osman, the relief flight control officer on duty, gave her a filthy look from across the break room. Hargreaves ignored him, while Kally gave a cheery, apologetic smile.

‘See! And we’re about to go do some important work; you never know what she’ll entrust you with.’

Hargreaves made a face. ‘Important work? Kally, this is the baby-kissing of Starfleet politics.’

‘But… people are in danger.’

‘Swiftsure could have dealt with this. They’re sending Endeavour to wave the flag, just so they can show off they sent a Connie-Three to the job. This is all because Scarix is owned by Dyke Logistics, and Amadeus Dyke has dinners with the right people on Earth.’ Hargreaves leaned back with all the world-weary cynicism of a freshly-graduated ensign who’d decided they already understood how the galaxy worked.

Kally bit her lip. She’d always been a little in awe of Hargreaves, going back to their time at the Academy together; she was bold and forthright and always at the centre of things, where Kally was, at best, thoughtlessly fearless and keen to support others. And Hargreaves’s father was a decorated captain, and she’d grown up on starships, the archetypal Starfleet brat.

‘I thought,’ Kally said at length, ‘that nothing should be beneath us? Nobody’s too little for us to help?’

‘Workers for a rich Federation corporation aren’t the little guy. You’ve done cool things since getting posted here, Kally – faced off against Borg, been on the other side of the galaxy! Don’t pretend that this is worthwhile.’

‘It’s all worthwhile,’ said Kally in a small voice. ‘It’s all important.’

They were saved from a petulant falling-out by the alert siren going. Endeavour was about to drop out of warp.

Kally had her post to assume at Comms on the bridge, while Hargreaves sank into the background near the doors to the conference room, on hand in case Captain Valance needed something. Kally watched Hargreaves give the command chair to the captain’s left a quietly hopeful look as senior officers trooped in, only for the hope to be snuffed out when Lieutenant Beckett arrived to claim it with a rather louche air.

The viewscreen filled with the sight of the HD 168746-Gamma system the moment Endeavour dropped out of warp. Lieutenant Lindgren had brought them as close to the Scarix Facility as could be safely done, and the view of the blazing sun was punctuated with the black spots of the asteroids that boasted the system’s wealth. It was for this asteroid field that Dyke Logistics had lunged across the Federation border into unclaimed space as quickly as possible.

As Kally watched, her console display filled up with detected communication signals. Most were automated systems of the vast enterprise of the Scarix Facility’s equipment, stretched across the asteroid fields and many of the system’s moons, in constant communication. Others were local messages on an internal system, formal and informal discussions between staff and inhabitants of the sprawling facility. Then came the one she’d been waiting for: a hail from the Command Hub of Scarix Facility’s central station on Asteroid Eirene. At Valance’s nod, she put it through.

The ruddy face of Selwyn Dyke and his opulent office filled the screen. ‘Captain Valance! We were wondering when you were going to arrive,’ he boomed. Even with a view of only his upper half, Kally could see he wore a perfectly tailored and expensive shirt, but with a loose collar and rolled-up sleeves to evoke a workmanlike air.

Valance did not stand, remaining perfectly poised in the command chair. ‘Mister Dyke. We spent twelve hours to take on equipment, material, and personnel, and left Gateway this morning. I assure you, my ship is prepared to deal with this flare and protect your facilities.’

‘Good to hear, good to hear. My foreman is standing by to direct your engineers on where they can help –’

Kally watched as expression shifted all over the bridge. Lindgren looked appalled, Airex looked wryly amused, while Kharth scowled openly. Valance’s expression, of course, didn’t change. ‘You misunderstand me, Mister Dyke. The protection of Scarix is a Starfleet operation. My XO and Chief Engineer will beam over to Eirene shortly, along with other key officers. They’ll assess the task ahead and draw up a work plan.’

‘We provided you with all information -’

‘A solar flare of this magnitude should have been detected sooner. It makes me concerned for the efficacy of your facility’s equipment. We want everyone to be safe, Mister Dyke. But don’t worry – Starfleet’s here. Have your foreman meet my officers in ten minutes. Endeavour out.’

Kally always felt a little bad hanging up on people when Valance wanted to make a point. Dyke had seemed superior, but she’d seen the desperation around his eyes.

Commander Kharth, however, was chuckling as she stood. ‘Laying down the law from the start, Captain?’

‘I meant what I said,’ said Valance. ‘The flare should have been reported sooner. Someone dropped the ball here, and until I know what the problem is, we’ll be running the show. Don’t ride roughshod over these people – they live and work here, and many of them will know Scarix far, far better than we ever could.’

‘I know the difference between a prick of an administrator and the people on the ground,’ Kharth said with a reassuring, if slightly dismissive, wave of the hand. ‘Thawn’s gonna meet me in the transporter room. Logan, Caede, you’re with me, too.’ There was a beat, then Kharth turned to her left. ‘Kally, you’re up.’

Against all logic, Kally’s reaction – after a nervous swallow – was to give a guilty glance towards Hargreaves. ‘Me?’ she squeaked. ‘Uh, you think you’ll need a linguist, Commander?’

‘No. I think someone who likes people more than the rest of us should be there to help us play nice. No offence, Logan.’

‘I like people,’ said the ex-Borg in an airy voice as he surrendered Tactical to Lieutenant Qadir. ‘People just got problems with me.’

Somewhere in all the hubbub, Olivia Rivera had slid onto the bridge. She stepped up now, looking at Kharth. ‘Mind if I ride shotgun, Commander?’

Kharth’s expression soured. ‘So long as you stay out of my way and I don’t read headlines about how mean a Romulan was to some poor Federation citizens exercising their right to manifest destiny.’

‘Of course not. I’d write something much more pithy.’

Kharth gave Valance a resentful look before she assented. Again, Kally found herself looking to Hargreaves; she’d not meant to be overheard by the XO when she’d been unable to keep the discovery of Olivia Rivera in the captain’s quarters first thing in the morning to herself. But the rumour clearly had legs now, and Kally just hoped Captain Valance didn’t trace it to her.

Hargreaves caught her as she went to join the burgeoning away team at the turbolift. ‘Remember, Kally. This might be baby-kissing,’ she said, voice low, ‘but it’s still politics.’

Kally’s expression creased as she looked up at her friend. ‘We’re helping people.’

‘Bet you the first round of drinks that nobody else in that facility works in an office as nice as Dyke’s.’

We don’t work in an office as nice as the captain’s, Kally thought, and wondered if that was treacherous as she hurried to the lift. But that wasn’t the point. The captain was right to be concerned about Scarix’s systems not detecting the blossoming flare sooner. If they’d cut corners there, where else was suffering from lack of investment?

‘Don’t worry, Ensign,’ said Kharth as the turbolift whisked the five of them away from the bridge. ‘You won’t have to do all the people-ing on this expedition. After all, you’ve got us: two Romulans, an ex-Borg, a journo, and, you know. Thawn.’

Kally worked her jaw for a moment. ‘You’re there to save their lives and their whole operation. That’s what really matters. I know some of us here might think the job’s a little below our qualifications – you’ve done cool and impressive things, galaxy-changing things, and this is just some shielding on a mining facility. Doesn’t that make those people, most of whom won’t be Selwyn Dyke, won’t be like Selwyn Dyke, really, really lucky to have you coming to save them?’ She resisted the urge to stare at the door or fidget with her sleeve, instead looking up at Commander Kharth, gaze and expression open.

Kharth gave her the awkward look everyone did when they didn’t know how to handle positive emotions being calmly expressed in front of them. Kally gave her a small, reassuring smile, like this might help her engage better.

The response was inevitable, but not unwelcome, as Kharth gave a gentle scoff – but it was accepting, deflecting, and not dismissing. ‘Hell, Ensign. You’re just proving I was right to bring you along.’

At the back of the lift, Rivera’s laugh was lighter. ‘Is it always such a love-in before an away mission?’ she asked, soft in her wryness.

‘Only when Kally’s here,’ said Logan, grinning. ‘She likes to look on the bright side of situations.’

‘Not situations. You can’t count on situations to do or be anything, really,’ said Kally, beaming as the lift swished along. ‘I look on the bright side of people, because you can count on them.’