15 October 2401
Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona

The darkness of the unknown.
The mystery of what lies ahead.
Looking from here it is hard to fathom just what hides in that darkness.

All those points of light.
So many have guided travelers throughout history.
But to those that have been among them, we know what they hold.
The stories, the experiences, the unknown, and the known.

(an audible sigh, as we see the glowing embers and flames of a slowly dying fire)

{{ The light of the candle flickered and moved as they breathed, her sister Janho and her two childhood friends Keelleeh and Taarjoss. She could see them sitting in front of her but she could also see the ones whom they were hosting, Aajass the first, Mihjel the second, and Kijiad the third.
“I am Aajass, I was Rigras’s first host. Ask your questions, Aryanna”
“I was his second host, Mihjel. What is it you would like to know?”
“As you know I was his third host, Kijiad. We had many a conversation you and I. Ask what you may.” }}

(as the vision blinks itself out, focus is regained on flames in front of us)

Fire is the essence of chaos.
Chaos is what happens when mistakes are made.
Chaos is what happens when we do not see or hear that which is around us, in front of us.
When chaos engulfs us, what do we do?
Do we let it in?
Do we let it consume us?
Do we let it make decisions?
Do we embrace the chaos? Or do we forge it into something else?
Does it forge us?

I have faced that chaos, and seen what it does.
I have seen how it changes those who have faced it.
I have embraced it, I have let it forge me into what I am today.

(another sigh as we once again see the night sky)

That darkness, those points of light, have drawn so many to take their first steps into that dark sky.
Those points of light that have guided so many, call to me, beckon me to be amongst them once again.

(a gloved hand appears against the night sky as we see a watch face with glowing hands slowly move, ticking down the seconds)

“Too late to change your mind now. We made the decision together, we are a team you and I. We both agreed that It’s where we belong.”

(We watch as the hands slowly move, counting down the last seconds of the day. We hear a rustling from behind, as the view changes to one of someone sitting up with a blanket covering their lap and a small black box in one hand as the other shows the watch on a wrist.)

As the hands strike twelve, Aryanna let out a deep slow breath as she flipped open the black box and looked down at the two items it held.

She looked up at the sky, nodded, took the comm badge from its nest in the box, attached it to the left side of her shirt, closed the box, and returned it to the bag that she was using as a pillow.

Aryanna looked out over the mountains and valleys that came into view as the sun broke over the mountains. Dumping a canteen of water on the spot where the fire was the previous night she mixed it into the dirt making sure the fire was out. She slung the ruck onto her back as she started walking towards the house that could be seen distantly in the valley.

As she entered the house she could smell the aroma of fresh coffee, sausage being fried, and pancakes on the griddle.

“Breakfast will be ready in ten, my dear. Figured you would be hungry this morning.”
“Yes, ma’am. So enough time for a quick shower?”

A male chuckle could be heard coming from the dining room. “Not sure how much hot water is left, the hands were up early this morning.”

“Got it, Pop’s”
“Take them boots off, I’ll not have muddy boot prints tracking through my house.”
“Yes, ma’am”

As she entered the bedroom she couldn’t help but smile and shake her head as she saw the perfectly pressed command red tunic laid out on the bed and the shined black boots sitting on the floor beside the bed.

[[“Don’t look at me, not like I could tell them.”
“I know that. Meadow must have found out about the request and its approval.”
“She would have the access.”
“It’s probably why she suggested coming here, why she suggested getting away to someplace quiet and stress-free.”
“Did it help?”
“You know as well as I do that we decided to send in that request before coming here.”
“You didn’t answer my question, did it help? You could have pulled back the request at any time. But you didn’t, so did it help?”
“Yes, you know it damn well it helped.”]]

A few minutes later she entered the dining room as River, Meadow’s mother, was putting a pot of coffee on the table and Pop’s, John Bearsong, was pouring a healthy amount of syrup on his stack of pancakes.

“Sit and eat, John will take you to Phoenix when you’re ready.”

“Red looks good on you.” (John mumbled, mouth full of food)
“Thank you, pops.”

“Hmmmmmm”

Aryanna filled the mug in front of her with coffee and placed two pancakes, some eggs and sausage on her plate.

“Again I want to say thank you for inviting me into your home, you made me feel like family.”

River passed the syrup to Aryanna. “ My dear, no thanks is needed. You are always welcome here. Sometimes family, even ones that are not blood, are needed. Blood doesn’t make a family, family are those that are there for you no matter what, no questions asked, they are those whom you trust and who will have your back whenever they are called on. That is what being a family is.”

John nodded at his wife’s words.

Aryanna nodded “I see where Meadow gets it from. Like mother ,like daughter.”

River nodded as she looked out the window beside her. “Yes, well don’t tell her that. She always has believed that she is her own person. Trying to talk to her when she was younger was like trying to talk to that wall over there.” she pointed with her chin toward the wall across from them.

“So what happens now? Where do you go from here? San Francisco, I presume.”

Aryanna takes a long sip of her coffee. “Yes, After the Zhian’tara the docs will want to make sure that there are no lingering effects. After that, “ she shrugged her shoulders “Guess I’ll go where they send me.”

“Yes, Meadow said as much in her last message. We have all seen the reports and Meadow tells us what she can. If I may ask What is driving you to return? What do you want? You have told us of your past.” As she looked at Aryanna’s gloved hand “And you have told us of the visits you have made since your return. From what our daughter has told us about you before your arrival to what we see sitting here now in front of us, and what we have seen this past month. What you wanted in the past is not what you want now.”

John looked at the two women “blni’ godilkooh, blni’ gontl’iz, blni’ gonldzil. You have grown in both heart and mind, you are not the person you were before.” He looks at Aryanna and locks eyes with her, pointing at his chest. “You have a new fire, here. Something new burns within you, a new fire, a new light guides you. I have seen it these last few days and so have others.” John puts another fork full of pancakes dripping syrup into his mouth.

River took a sip from her cup, looked at Aryanna with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to answer her questions.

Aryanna looked at them both, took a sip from her cup and then held it in both hands. “ Family, the family I have out there, the ones I have here and at home. The ones who I left behind and the ones who are still to come. I’m not sure what I want, what my end goal is. But truthfully does anyone?”

John let out a chuckle “See, I was right. Let me tell you something Aryanna, you wake up everyday with a clean slate, what you did the day before is the past and nothing you do today can change the past. But what you can do is learn from the past and let it teach you. The only goal any of us have when we wake up each day is to put one foot in front of the other.”

River stood from her chair and walked over next to Aryanna and placed her hand on Aryanna’s shoulder. “Goals change as fast as a river flows, don’t drown because you are looking too far down stream.”

John wiped up the remaining syrup on his plate with the last bit of pancake, ate it then took a long sip of coffee. “Ready when you are, Captain.”

November 2401
Starbase Bravo

Personal Log:
Aryanna Rigras, Captain
The past three weeks were a blur, poked and prodded, scans for this, scans for that, several lengthy meetings with various doctors. For what? Just to tell themselves, what I already knew. Rigras is fine, I’m fine, we are both fine.

Sometime during those two weeks a decision was made. Someone, somewhere decided that the best place for me was to send me back, back to the fourth fleet. So here I am, waiting, waiting, waiting. Maybe it’s time for me to stir the nest a bit. After all one can only be kept waiting for so long before one says something.

(Aryanna, sat back in the chair and let out a sigh. Looking at the time on the PADD she realised that she needed to be on her way to another briefing.)

Computer, close personal log.

“Computer, who is the current commander of Task force 47?”
“The Task Force 47 commander is Captain Varen Wyll.”

[[“Ha, not even back a week and you’re going to step on some toes already?”
“Just because I have a new purpose, a new fire, doesn’t mean that I’m still not the same Aryanna.”
“That is true, just be careful of whose toes you step on.”
“Yaaaa, you know me too well.”
“I do and that is what worries me.”]]

Aryanna sat down at the console again and quickly typed out a message, hitting send as she stood and quickly walked out of the room.

Deep Space 47
Thomar Expanse

The face of Captain Varen appeared on the small screen, his weary visage topped by a mane of barely kempt black hair. He set down a tall glass, the clinking of ice cubes carrying across the lightyears as he allowed a welcoming smile to spread across his face.

“Aryanna, I’m glad to hear you’re ready to rejoin us out here amongst the stars. It’s…”

His words caught in his throat, forcing him to swallow down the grief.

“… It’s been a rough few months and I could use every capable hand at the pump. I’m afraid Dragon has been redeployed to the Cardassian front, things are tense over there but I think I’ve got something that will tickle your fancy.”

He waved his hands across the screen, causing a small message icon to appear on the screen.

“The Chawla is in need of a captain. And a crew to be honest. She’s one of the new Sagan-Class, which means she’s fast, she’s dependable and as of a few weeks ago retrofitted for deep space exploration.”

He paused, chewing on his cheek nervously.

“You’ll have to pick a crew too, unfortunately not everyone made it through Frontier Day and Chawla was part of the Sol honour guard…”

He swallowed down his grief once again hoping his tone had carried the message. The Chawla had been empty when it was retrieved, the crew having fought each other to a standstill at the end. It never got easier talking about it, even six months later.

“… you might have to run a little short handed out the gate but she’s got a lot of automation to make up for it.”

16 November 2401
Starbase Bravo/ USS Chawla

“I always liked the look of the old Constellation class. But this…. Aww, this is a thing of beauty, some of the old mixed with a lot of the new.”

Rigras echoed in Aryanna’s head as she looked out over Starbase Bravo’s docking ring, looking at the ship currently stationed at the end of the docking arm that reached out from the door a few feet to her left. She turned as she heard the door swoosh open and footsteps exit. She noticed the yellow tunic officer look around, notice her, and approach.

“Captain Rigras?”

Aryanna looked at the yellow tunic’d Benzite wearing the pips of a Lieutenant Commander. “Yes, Commander..”

“Ahhhh, I thought so…Something about the way you were looking at her. I can report that she is as good as she was the day she originally left the shipyard. My teams finished up with their final inspections yesterday.”

Aryanna looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

The commander took a deep breath through his breathing apparatus and held it a second before exhaling. “I was conducting my final walk through ma’am. I don’t sign off on anything till I make sure myself that everything is as it should be.” As he handed her a PADD. “The maintenance logs and diagnostic testing results, ma’am.

Aryanna nodded, accepting the PADD from him.

As he turned and continued along the hallway before him.

[[“Well, as they say, there’s no time like the present.”
“True though I always liked “don’t put off till tomorrow what you can get done today.”]]

As she walked the door swooshed open in front of her guiding her footsteps forward.
Entering through the ship’s open hatchway, she noticed as the lights started to snap alive in whitish blue light shining against the glossy black floors and the grey walls. Looking down at the PADD, then back up. She took the turn toward the right when she reached the first junction.

Aryanna stopped in front of the turbo lifts, tilting her head slightly to the side.

[[“What is it?”
“Ssshhhh.”
“Ahhhh. Ya, it’s quiet, eerily quiet.”
“It’s a ghost ship. A legacy that we need to change”]]

Stepping into the turbolift she gave a slight shudder, not in fear but at the memory of what had happened on this ship. She had read the reports and seen the pictures, she knew that the Chawla in its silence was speaking to her, telling her its story.

“Bridge”

As she walked out of the confines of the turbolift she noticed two things: the smell of sage wafted throughout the space in front of her and movement from the right-hand side of the bridge.

“Took you long enough, thought I was going to fall asleep in this chair waiting on you.” As a green tunic’d human woman spun in the right-hand chair toward the turbo lift doors.

“Meadow, how? When?”

“Well hello to you too.” As she stood and stretched her back. “As for when that would be about two hours ago now. It’s amazing how fast news makes its way around. It does help though when you still have connections with Task Force 47 staff.” she said with a wink.

Aryanna nodded as she stopped to take in the bridge laid out in front of her, she walked and stood in front of the central chair, placing her hand on one of the armrests.
“Sorry Meadow, about not stopping by your office. The command has been keeping me rather busy with getting me up to speed on what has happened the last few months since I left.”

“I understand. A lot has happened around here and I’m sure they would want to get you up to speed as fast as possible.” She walked over in front of the chair she was just sitting in, picked up the bundle of smouldering sage, circled it around, and then snuffed it out on the plate it was lying on.

Aryanna looked at her with a questioning raised eyebrow.

“Old traditions for new beginnings, both for you and for her.” As she looked around the bridge.

Aryanna turned back to face the dark view screen, taking in the sleeping bridge. “It’s yours if you want it.” she turned to face the green tunic’d commander. “I was going to stop by your office tomorrow and make the offer. But since you’re here.”

Meadow looked at the chair and then at Aryanna. “You sure?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t.”

“Guess I’m going to need a new uniform.” She stood a bit straighter and looked at Aryanna. “Captain Rigras, I formally accept your offer to be the executive officer on the Chawla.”

Aryanna nodded and then took a deep breath, “Very well, I guess there is one thing left to do.” As she took a seat in the central chair. Tapping a button on the right hand armrest, a small LCARS screen raised and tilted back. Aryanna held her right hand to the screen

“I, Captain Aryanna Rigras, do accept and affirm the orders presented to me and as such accept the duties and roles inherent with the position of Captain.” She watched as the screen went from amber to green.
“Computer, transfer all command codes to Captain Aryanna Rigras, authorization Rigras – Cuatro – zero – six – two – nine – Zulu – Juliet – four .”

“All command codes transferred. USS Chawla is now under the command of Captain Rigras, Aryanna.”

The two of them watched as the LCARS screens and panels slowly blinked and came to life around them.
“Computer, by my order, assign Lieutenant Commander Meadow Bearsong to the position of Executive Officer with all rights and privileges inherent to said position. Authorization Rigras – Cuatro – zero – four – two – zero – Alpha – Alpha – Nine”

“Lieutenant Commander Bearsong, Meadow is now recognized as Executive Officer, USS Chawla.”

Meadow stood “Well, I don’t know about you captain, but it has been a long day and I for one intend to get a few hours of sleep before facing the morning.”

Aryanna tapped the button once again and watched as the screen slid back into the armrest. Standing, she looked around the bridge again and nodded.

“So what is the plan for tomorrow,” Meadow asked as she looked at a console she walked by, “we’ll make that today as of a few minutes ago.”

“We start putting a crew together.” As she headed toward the turbolift.

17 November 2401
USS Chawla

((Aryanna sat up quickly from her bed, something was off))

“Computer. Lights dim.”

She blinked the sleep out of her eyes as the lights slowly came up to a dimmed yellowish warm light.

“What time is it?” she said absently into the room.

“It is currently 0415.”

“What the…” she had to look around the extremely bare and empty room to remind herself where she was. Kicking off the light blanket she had found in the room and turned herself so that she sat on the edge of the bed, her mind racing as she tried to piece together what was bothering her.

As she walked around the room, trying to think of what was off.

[[“Rigras, do you feel that?”
“Yes, now that you mention it. It wasn’t like a few hours ago.”
“No, it was not.]]

“Computer, run a diagnostic on the warp core.”
“The warp cores are currently operating within allocated parameters for station operations.”

“Right, I forgot there are two in the Sagan class. Still doesn’t explain…”

Aryanna tapped her combadge. “Meadow, are you on the Chawla?”
A very groggy voice comes through the badge. “Yes.”
“Please come to my quarters.”
“On my way”

A few seconds later Aryanna hears the door chime.
“Enter”
A sleepy Meadow quickly enters the room.”
“What’s up?”
“ You have been on ships a bit more than I have recently, does something feel strange to you?”
“Strange, how?”
“Give it a second.”
“Ohhhh..”As Meadow looked at the floor. “That’s different, it wasn’t like that earlier.”
“No, it was not.”

Meadow tapped her combadge.
“Computer, when was the last time someone performed maintenance on the warp core?”
“Maintenance is currently ongoing on the warp core.”
“What?? How many individuals are currently onboard the Chawla”
“I am currently showing three life signs onboard. Two in the captain’s quarters and one in main engineering.”

Aryanna quickly looked at Meadow as the former quickly ran to her quarters and returned with a phaser in hand. Aryanna nodded, went to her bed, and, thought for a second as she looked at the headrest and pushed a hidden button as a panel slid open behind where her pillow was, she reached in and pulled out a phaser.
“Took me a second to remember where the button was. Alright then let’s go.”
“Computer, Alert bravo security, Chawla – Alpha – 1- Ninja”

The two women started to quickly make their way to the turbolift.

[[“Ummmm, are you forgetting something?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“I mean I’m not going to complain, Meadow does have very nice legs, if you two want to go gallivanting around in your current state of dress.”
“No time for that, there are more important matters at hand than what we are or are not wearing.”]]

“Main engineering”

“Come on, come on.” A lanky human stands bent over one of the engineering terminals, one hand gripping the edge of the console while the other is running through his disheveled brown hair. “By my calculations, we should be operating at no less than ninety-five percent efficiency.” he nervously looked around the dimly lit engineering bay and then back down at the console.

“Simulation completed. System efficiency as per testing parameters is at ninety percent.”

“What? That makes no sense, I’ve run these numbers several times.” He looked down as the LCARS started to show the results of the simulation.

“Oh come on, there is no way that would make sense. Why would any engineering officer make those decisions? “ As he quickly moved his PADD from behind his back across to his front. “Let’s see…” as a hand quickly started to type and move through the information presented on the PADD. “Yaa.. Sovereign class, Inquiry class, Reliant class. That should give me a broad spectrum of ship engineering practices.” he turned and leaned against the console. “Hmm, ah ha. Yes, I see. Ok, that makes sense. Hmm, ahhhh. Nope, no that won’t do at all. What are they nuts? They do that. “he shook his head “ idiots, all of them. That makes no sense why would you bypass conduit alpha 120 to Charlie 358.”

He turned back to the console, flinging the PADD behind his back. “Computer, pull up all parameters for simulation Aidanson – Sierra – one – one”

He watched as the LCARS started to show lists and flowcharts of how the various parameters worked together. “Ahhhh, here you are.” As he stabbed the console on a particular list. “Of course, he would do that. How can he even call himself an engineer? Him and his damn book.”

He stumbled down the set of stairs to the lower level of the main engineering and went to another set of consoles.

“Ok, Let’s change the settings on the cores.” He pulls his PADD from his back and looks at the results from the previous simulation, his right hand starts to type on the console in front of him as he is reading the PADD.

“If I were you I wouldn’t do that. Matter of fact I would heavily suggest you put down that PADD. Now who the hell are you? “And what the hell are you doing on my ship?” he heard from behind him.

“Umm, ah, hmmmm, uh.” he nervously pushed up his glasses as the PADD dropped and was caught by the sling wrapped around his shoulder.

“Aryanna, he has something running. Not sure what but it looks like it is tied into most of the engineering systems.” he heard from above.

Slowly looking up at the voice he saw a human woman, quickly looking back down he realized that she was in her night clothes.

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. Ummm, no one was supposed to be here for at least forty-eight more hours. I’m so dead.”

A chuckle escaped from Aryanna’s lips. “You would be if she hadn’t talked me into asking questions first and shooting second. So If I were you I would start talking.” she watched as his head dropped and a loud breath escaped from him.

“Lieu lieu lieu Lieutenant Aidanson. I’m part of the team that worked on the Chawla.”

“Uh-huh, don’t explain what you are doing on my ship though.” Aryanna tapped her combadge, “Bravo Security, Chawla.”

“We are outside the main engineering ma’am.”
“We have the person in custody, he says he is Lieutenant Aidanson.”
“Oh damn it, not again.”
“We will call bravo engineering ma’am, and have them send a team.”
“Very well”

“Sounds like this ain’t the first time Lieutenant. So again, what are you doing on my ship?”

“Can I turn around? It is kind of rude to talk to somebody like this.”

“Slowly, but first, end whatever you are doing?”

The slender human male started to turn around as he did a beep emanated from the console.” No need, it has finished.” he looked at the Trill woman in front of him, quickly dropping his eyes as he realized that she too was in her night clothes.

Aryanna raised an eyebrow as she looked the human male over. “Answer the question.”

“Well you see, I’ve always hypothesized that the sagan class could be more efficient if warp core configuration was altered and some changes were made to its underlying systems.”

He noticed the second female walk towards them from the stairs.

“Let me guess, you figured you would test it on the Chawla as she was just retrofitted and had her systems updated,” Aryanna asked from in front of him, phaser pointed down slightly.

“Yes, that’s right. No one was supposed to be assigned to her for at least another forty-eight hours. So I thought…” as he quickly wiped the sweat beading up on his forehead.

“Let me guess, you thought you would come on board, do your thing, and wipe the logs before anyone would be onboard to notice.” Aryanna looked at the PADD that Meadow held so that she could read what was on it.

“I see, this is not the first time you tried this.”

The lieutenant nervously shook his head.

Aryanna turned as she heard footsteps coming from behind her.

“Take him to the security room, Charlie one, hold him there.”
“Yes, Ma’am”
Aryanna watched as a small engineering team started to make their way into the main engineering, raising an eyebrow as she saw the Benzite commander. “Figure out what he did, commander. Report back to me and only me.”

“Yes, Captain. Where will you be?”

“Well, First I’m going to go put something a bit more proper for the situation on, and then I’m going to talk with the lieutenant.” She turned toward Meadow, nodded, and made her way out of the main engineering suite followed shortly by the human female.

Deep Space 162
October 2401

“Fleet Captain Orah,ino, As you can see in the report we believe that your station’s security and logistical systems are severely compromised. Over the past month, my team and I have found evidence that…”

A red tunic’d Bolian sitting at the head of the table, raised a hand, stopping the human lieutenant mid-sentence. Turning toward the red tunic’d Captain sitting on the right. “Are you telling me that you have been running an investigation on my station commander?”

“Not exactly, you are quite aware that as part of our mandate, we can run security exercises on various stations to test their systems, procedures, and station personnel.” sitting back in his chair as he tapped a finger on the PADD in front of him.

“I am very aware of your section’s mandate Captain, but that is in regards to diplomatic security. “ he leaned forward in his chair looking the captain in the eye. “and I am not aware of nor have I been briefed on any diplomatic staff visit and I highly doubt that any ambassadors are going to come out to this old rundown barely fit to be called a federation station in the middle of nowhere. So again what are you and that…” as he pointed at the lieutenant, with his eyes still locked on the captain. “ doing on my station?”

“Sir, it is all explained…”

“Lieutenant. First, I do not remember telling you to speak. Second, I am well aware of who you are and more than that I know your history.” he glared at the lieutenant.

“The lieutenant works for me, everything he does is under my orders.”

“From what I heard very loose orders.” he pointed at the PADD in front of him. “Anything to get results, nothing is off the table. From what I’ve heard.”

The captain spread his hands as if to say “so”. “Sometimes you have to bend the rules to find the problems, captain.”

“Is that what you call what he does, bending the rules?”
The lieutenant looks at the captain and then back at the station commander, clenching and unclenching the PADD in his hands.

The captain noticed and let out a chuckle. “So.. the reports are true.” He looked over at the commander “Your dog is on a short leash and it’s getting shorter.” he looked back at the lieutenant “Isn’t it?”

The captain looked at the lieutenant giving him a slight shake of the head, then leaning forward in his chair. “Sir, are you going to look at the report or not? Though I’m pretty sure after seeing the station in person you are quite aware of what my team found.”

“It’s an old station. What do you expect, Bravo Station?” as he slid the PADD closer. Propping it up he started to read. “Expected, expected, knew about that, working on that one.” He raised an eyebrow at the captain. “Captain, you expect me to believe that the Orion syndicate has a foothold in my station?”

The captain looked at the lieutenant, who nodded. “That’s what it says, sir.”

The captain continued to read as he did so his face started to turn a deeper and deeper shade of blue. “You have crossed the line…” as he tapped a button on the side of the table, two security officers entered with phasers drawn. He pointed at the Lieutenant “Take him to the brig.” He turned and looked at the captain “Do you know what this says?”

“I do.” he turned toward the security officers who were starting to escort the lieutenant away. “Take him to the Nimitz, I will have security detail meet you and they will take custody of the lieutenant.”

“No, I said take him to the brig ensign. We will handle him as per regulations.”

The red tunic’d captain turned back toward the station commander. “With all due respect, sir. He is under my command, and as far as I can tell he did not break any laws or regulations. Therefore he falls under my purview.”

The station commander looks between the security detail and the captain, face still a dark blue. “Very well, due as the captain says.”He looks back at the captain “ I’ll be throwing the proverbial book at him, he will never see freedom again if I have anything to say about it.”

“Yes, sir” as the captain stood and pulled his tunic straight.

“Where do you think you’re going, captain?”

“Well, sir you have your report so I think my mission here is done.”

“I am not done with you yet. Sit down.” the station commander made a short sharp movement pointing at the seat across from him.

The captain sighed and took the seat as ordered.

((The two security officers outside of the room looked at each other as they heard a thud and an excessive amount of screaming, they both shook their heads, grimaced, and stepped to the other side of the hallway facing the door.))

A couple of hours later

Captain Liam tapped on his combadge as he walked aboard the Nimitz. “XO, start departure procedures.”
“Where to captain?”
A slight chuckle is heard over the combadge. “Anywhere but here.”
“Got it, I’ll pick a star.”

He looked at his PADD, sighed, and proceeded down the hallway.

Arriving at the lieutenant’s assigned room a few minutes later he nodded at the two armed security officers and entered.

“Damn it, Clyde. You put yourself in a jam with this one.” he entered the room and noticed the lieutenant sitting in one of the room’s two armchairs with a glass in one hand, tunic unbuttoned.

“You got any more of that.” pointing toward the glass in the lieutenant’s hand.

The lieutenant pointed toward the table in the corner, where a glass jug sat with a couple more Tumblr-style glasses. He picked up a glass, blew in it, poured it half full, replaced the cork, and turned to look at the lieutenant. “Damn, his co-husband Clyde?”

“It all made sense once we followed the breadcrumbs, he’s good I’ll give him that.” he took a sip from his tumbler

The captain took a sip from his tumblr and grimaced as it went down. “Damn, is this moonshine?” as let out a slight cough.

“Pap-paps family recipe.”

“So do you think he’s syndicate?”

Clyde put his tumblr on the table beside the chair. ”The evidence leans that way, he is too far out to be an underling or someone who works for them. My gut says he has to be at least middle management. But…”

The captain holds up his tumblr, “ That question is above our pay grade, lieutenant.”

“Is it?” as he leaned forward in the chair “Sir, how can he not know?”

“Damn it, Clyde, he just tore into my ass for the past two hours on that very topic let alone us accusing his co-husband.”

“Sir?”

The captain took another sip from the tumblr, with a smaller grimace as it went down. “Damn, that burns. I had to burn your last get-out-of-jail-free card. He has issued arrest on sight orders.”

“Station or region?”

“Both, this makes what three now?”
“Four.” as he looked up at the captain.

The captain shook his head with a grimace and tapped on his combadge

“XO, Captain Liam”
“I’m here”
“Change course, take us to Bravo.”
“Roger”

“Comms, Captain Liam”
“Yes, sir”
“Send a message to all teams.”
“What’s the message, sir”
“The chair is against the wall. Repeat it three times.”
“Sent”

“That bad?”
The captain nodded.

“I’m sure by the time we reach Bravo a full investigation will be started with the information in that report of yours at its core. If that’s any consolation.”

“I have a feeling the boot is about to drop.”
“I’m pulling you from the section. Now the question is what to do with you.”
“Embassy duty? Ambassador staff? I can think of a few ambassadors who would welcome a security chief with my training and experience.”
The captain turned, put his glass down on the table where he got it from, and faced the lieutenant. “Unfortunately no, you would be in the limelight too much, too visible. For obvious reasons, a station won’t work either.”

The lieutenant looked at his empty tumblr and muttered a few words under his breath. “Can you at least make sure it’s a good one sir?”
“I’ll see what I can do, I know a few folks who owe me a favor or two.”

Starbase Bravo, Advanced Tactical Flight Training Squadron – 391 Offices
November 2401

The Andorian commander sat on the edge of his desk still wearing his flight suit from this morning’s training flight, an unlit cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth as he looked at the display on the wall displaying the results of the training flight and next to that the updated class rankings. Looking at the PADD in his hands he mumbled as he reread the message for the hundredth time this afternoon.

Walking over to the replicator he couldn’t help but notice the line of lieutenants standing outside the office’s glass walls.”Twenty down twenty more to go and somehow I’m supposed to five more whose dreams of flying in a squadron formation will be pushed aside for the needs of the fleet.” Sitting down behind the desk, he looked at the wall again and shook his head. He knew who was next in line, looking out the glass wall she was hard to miss, he looked at the picture standing on the corner of his desk, reached over, and laid it facing down.

“Next”

He watched as the green/blue skinned, white hair tightly pulled back into a ponytail walked into his office, coming to an abrupt stop exactly three paces from his desk. He looked her over as she came to a stop, he couldn’t help but feel a moment of pride in the woman and officer she had become.

“Lieutenant Shrishe Sh’thehlohr reporting as ordered.”
The wall beside her changed as she announced herself showing her pertinent information along with a running loop of flight recordings, and gunnery practice. As she stood there waiting for the commander, she couldn’t help but notice the items on his desk, particularly the framed photo that was now lying face down in its usual spot. “Shit!!” She thought to herself knowing from the past several months that he only did this when he needed to keep certain thoughts or feelings to himself.

“At ease Lieutenant” as he looked at the wall quickly, already knowing what was there. He put the cigar down on a small square plate that sat slightly in front of the now face-down picture.

“Well at least he did that, always hated when he tried to talk with that in his mouth.” she thought to herself. She watched as he looked through a stack of PAADS till he found the one that had her name across the top, he looked at it and took a deep breath. “Oh crap, are the rumors true? Are they sending some of us to the fleet, but why me? I’ve been at the top of the class since we started.” She thought to herself.

The commander stood and walked from behind the desk and approached the Lieutenant. “Congratulations Lieutenant, top three in the class. You should be proud of all that you have accomplished, Star fleet expects good things from you in the future.”He looked down at the PADD and took another breath. “Now ordinarily this is where I would offer you your choice of assignments, a privilege for those that rank in the top five of each class. But as we know these are not ordinary times, especially after the Frontiers Day happenings, Star fleet needs helmsman, and more importantly…”

She looked toward the commander, antennae twisting. “Sir, can we cut the speech.”

The commander nodded. “Just like her mother, always wants it straight.” He thought to himself. “Very well then, Lieutenant, I’ll cut to the chase. “You are being assigned to the USS Chawla, Sagan class. You are to report to Captain Rigras onboard the day after tomorrow.” he handed her the PADD containing her orders.

She took the PADD but felt a momentary reluctance on his part to let go. “Sir, off the record?”
He nodded as a reply, halfway expecting it.
“This is you trying to keep me safe, is it? Trying to keep me out of harm’s way? I’m not that little girl anymore.”
“I’m very aware Shri of just who you are, or at least who you think you are. You still have a lot to learn, things to experience, things that will change you. As for your two questions, No. The decision was made to best benefit the fleet. I’ll clue you in on something, the Chawla is assigned to Task Force forty-seven.” He watched as her antennae twisted left and right knowing this was a sign that she was thinking about what he had just said, her cloudy grey eyes looking at him trying to read something on his face that was not there.

“Thomar Expanse?”

“Correct, now knowing what you know from your classes does that sound like I’m trying to keep you safe? I’m willing to bet you will be seeing more than your classmates who did get assigned to squadrons. Shri, this decision was not easy for me. I went back and forth on it many times this afternoon. In the end, I had to decide what I thought was best not only for the fleet but for you.”

“You thought I would be better serving as a glorified bus driver than sitting in the seat of a Valkyrie or even an Aspara?”

“I don’t think anyone would think a Sagan class is a glorified bus, they are one of the most technologically advanced ships in the fleet and I think you will be surprised. Listen, Shri, you have a lot to learn and in some ways a lot of growing up to do, you will come to realize that this was the best decision I could have made for you.”

“I doubt that, sir. Permission to leave.” she took a step back from the tall Andorian Commander.

The commander nodded to himself and went back to his seat behind the desk, he slid a rather ornate wood box towards the lieutenant. “An old earth tradition. We don’t use such things these days but my commander presented them to me when I graduated and I have kept the tradition alive. You are dismissed, lieutenant.”

She picked up the box feeling the embossed stylized wings on the lid. She quickly turned and made her way toward the door.

“Lieutenant, one more thing. Your mothers asked me to remind you of the family dinner tonight at 2000 our quarters. Your brothers and sister will be there. We have also asked your husbands and wife to attend. Maybe the last time in a long while that we can get everyone together.”

She stopped as she approached the door, not turning to face the commander. “That may be kind of hard, last I heard from her she was still on Andor attending some advanced trauma seminar at the academy. When did Jhaviass arrive? “

“Lieutenant Commander Zh’iqethral arrived this morning and Cadet Zh’thehlohr arrived planetside a week ago.”

“What??? When did she join Star Fleet? We had discussed it of course, but she said she would wait till the four of us could be together in one place before she made up her mind.” She rounded on the Commander with her antennae twitching “Damn it, father. You told her, didn’t you? I bet you told Ibahl and Oshrybiahr too. Hold on, if Avremiah had time to put in a request to transfer into Star Fleet and get accepted, that means you knew, you had this planned for some time, didn’t you?

The Commander gave the lieutenant a shrug. “How else would they have had time to put in their requests? So what do I tell your mothers?”

“I’ll be there, I guess.”As she walked out the room’s doors and strode past the waiting lieutenants. None of them said anything to her as they could see the anger on her face as she quickly walked out of the room. She stabbed her combadge. “Computer, location of Lieutenant Commander Zh’iqethral.”

“Lieutenant Commander Zh’iqethral is currently located in quarters Delta level – ring two – Room H5687”

“Of course she would be.” As she briskly walked toward the closest set of turbo lifts.

USS Chawla
17 November 2401
0530

Meadow noticed the burly human male the yellow tunic, standing outside of her ready room. He was leaning against the wall reading something on a PADD and looked like he had been there for more than a couple minutes.

Lieutenant Commander Altizer noticed the red tunic’d human female as she exited the turbo lifts at the end of the hallway. As she approached he stopped leaning against the wall and tapped on the PADD to bookmark where he was at. “Excuse me, ma’am, Commander Bearsong?”
“Yes”, noticing the pips on his collar “Commander. How can I help you?” As she walked into her ready room.
“Lieutenant Commander Altizer, Ma’am.” As he stood at the door.
Meadow looked at him with a sideways glance. “You can come in commander, I promise I won’t bite,” she said with a smile.
He walked in and stopped a few paces in front of her desk, looking around he noticed that the office was devoid of anything, blank walls and empty shelves plus it had that smell of something clean and new.
Meadow noticed him looking around and noticed the raised eyebrow. “The ship was just refurbished, she was part of the frontiers day incident. The captain and I took command roughly ten hours ago. This is my first time here.” As she took a seat behind the desk. “So how can I help you, Commander?”
“Ma’am, this is in concern of the message you received from Captain Liam, should have been a few weeks ago now.”
She looked at the man standing in front of her desk with a raised eyebrow. “Captain Liam of the diplomatic security force? Been a while since I heard that name.”
“Yes, ma’am”
She started to type on the desk’s console scrolling through messages, and she found the message, “Ok, what do we have here.” her lips moved as she read, looked up at the commander then back down at the message. “Oh, ohhhhhhh. I see.” as she looked back up at the commander. “At the time I wasn’t able to do anything in regards to the message, but now…” she let the statement hang in the air for a moment. “Can you talk and walk, Commander?”As
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Can’t everyone?”
She flashed a smile, as she got up from her desk picked up the PADD, and opened a file she had sent to it. “You’d be surprised. Well, let’s go.” as she headed out of the office.
“Where to?” as he followed her.
“To see the Captain, of course.”

A few minutes later they exited the turbo lift onto the bridge, the first thing that the Commander noticed was the emptiness, then the darkened consoles and displays. “Uhhh, ma’am. Where’s the crew?”
“You noticed that, huh.” she said with a chuckle “We expect the first ones to report onboard sometime today, or so Bravo operations tell us.” She held up the PADD in her hand as they made their way to the captain’s ready room door. “Wait here, Commander.”
“Yes, Ma’am”

“Aryanna, do we have a couple of minutes?” Meadow asked as she entered and heard the door close behind her. Placing her PADD on the captain’s desk beside the steaming cup of coffee she took a seat in one of the armchairs and watched the captain finish braiding her hair into a single neat braid.
“We have till I finish this coffee, I have some questions for a certain lieutenant we have sweating it out in security.” she took another sip of her coffee.
“Well, I think I may be able to end our security concerns plus gain us our Chief Tactical Officer.”
Aryanna raised an eyebrow as she picked up the PADD recently placed on her desk.
“An old acquaintance from my diplomatic corp days is calling in one of his favors, though I probably could wipe the slate clean with this one.”
Aryanna let out a low whistle “You not joking, banned from four stations with arrest on sight order on three of them. But you can’t deny his record or his training.” She took another sip of coffee as she continued to read. “He had an interesting upbringing…”
“To say the least, who lives like that anymore? And his parents were both Star Fleet so it’s not like they had to. Did you read his education records?”
“Just getting to that, top 10 percent of his academy class. Top of the security group, to be expected I guess given his upbringing and who his parents are, oh that’s interesting top of the operations group too. That’s an interesting mix. Huh, got his degree in Systems Science.” she sat back in her chair and closed her eyes for a brief moment.
“Is he here?”
“Just on the other side of the door.”
“Well, bring him in.”

Meadow went to the door, and let it open. “Commander, you’re up.”
She turned and went back to the chair she had just left as Lieutenant Commander Altizer entered the ready room.
He noticed the Captain, a trill, sitting behind her desk, PADD in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. As he entered she motioned to the other chair with her cup of coffee.

“You’re in quite the pickle aren’t you Commander?”
“That’s one way of putting it, ma’am.”
“From what I have read, it’s the only way of putting it.” she looked over at Meadow, who nodded in agreement. Putting the PADD down and sitting forward in her chair she directed her gaze fully on the commander.
“Ever been to the Thomar Expanse, commander?”
“Not that I can recollect.”
“Any issues with the Cardasians, the Breen, Bajor, DS9, the Tzenkethi?”
“Ma’am?”
“Meaning there’s no reason why we would have to end this interview now.”
“No ma’am, though I do know a few folks in the Cardassian security agency. Let’s call them more like acquaintances. I wouldn’t invite them over for dinner but I would go to the local bar for a few drinks, if you know what I mean.”
Aryanna chuckled. “Yes, I think I do. I have a few of those myself.” She took another long sip of coffee, while looking at the PADD, closed her eyes for a few moments, nodded to herself, and slid the PADD back toward Meadow. “Ok, so here’s the issue as I see it, we have a Quid Pro Quo situation. You need a place to disappear, and we need bridge officers, more importantly, I need a Chief of Tactical/ Security and a Chief of Operations. Either of which I think you could fill based on your experience, skills, and education.”
The commander pulled out his PADD, typed something on it, and read over what came up for a moment.” Five hundred crew, four shuttle bays, enhanced systems that are derived from Borg technology.” he looked at Meadow and then towards the captain, holding eye contact for a brief moment. “Can I bring my own deputies?”
Aryanna leaned forward in her chair and looked at Meadow who gave a slight shrug in reply to the captain’s unasked question. “I would hazard a guess that they are in the same situation as you are?”
“One is ma’am, the other is someone whom I went to the academy with and have on several occasions used their services in a few situations.”
Aryanna nodded. “Send your recommendations to the XO, if they pass her records and dossier review then we have no problem with that. I plan to leave as soon as we can, hopefully within the next week, so if they can’t meet us here before then tell them to make their way to DS9.”
“Yes ma’am”
“So commander, how should I fill out these orders? Am I looking at my new Chief of Tactical/Security or my new Chief of Operations?
“Both ma’am, it’s been my experience that sometimes the best way to disappear, “ doing the air quotes when he said the word “disappear” ” is to stay busy. So ya, both.”
Aryanna looked at him with a raised eyebrow and let out a chuckle. “Well ok then. Welcome aboard the Chawla, commander. I’ll have your orders in the system by this afternoon if not sooner. So let’s get down to business, shall we? Your first job, besides getting your departments staffed and set up, is to build me a hazard team. I’ll send you the latest intel on the expanse, I think you’ll be able to figure out what I want when you read it.”
He nodded as a simple reply. “And the second?”
Aryanna stood and straightened her tunic. “That concerns a little incident we had this morning.”
Meadow stood as she knew what was next on the captain’s agenda. “Wouldn’t exactly call it little, captain. I mean you almost shot him.”
Commander Altizer stood and looked between the two women trying to tell if they were joking or not. “I guess walk and talk?” as the three of them left the captain’s ready room.