The hull was smooth.  The Raven Class USS Erigone was a workhorse with a long history.  Lieutenant Jordan Reid stood beside it, searching the surface.  It had been her first assignment out of Starfleet with an unknown CO, Commander Ambrose Harris.  Her feet pushed her closer, and her fingers hesitantly brushed against it.  The aroma of atmosphere floated off the ship – it had recently come up from the planet below for a refit.  Jordan pushed her palm against the stiff hull, wondering what the ship would say to her.  She remembered the small sickbay and how crowded it had become when they’d scrambled to rescue members of the Romulan Research station.

The Erigone had saved those lives.  Jordan had come to love the little ship.  Since leaving the assignment in August of 2400, she’d taken to watching out for other Raven classes.  She began to walk around, spotting the customary dings and marks painted across the outside over the years.  As a crew, they’d left their share.  She thought back to her assignment to the Erigone.  She had been exiled after upsetting a high ranking academy instructor.  She reached the outline of the warp engines, and her heart climbed towards her throat.  Even now, her memories of Ambrose Harris were hard to ignore.

They had met on the Erigone and continued to grow to the Edinburgh and the Mackenzie.  His death sent her into a chaotic spiral.  She traversed behind the Erigone, returning to where she had started.  She stared at the ship, wondering how different things would have been without it in her life.  From Harris to the crew to now – her future remained bright.

She touched the hull one more time, whispering, “Thank you,” before she left the bay, fighting back tears of memory.