Lance Fox took a deep breath before touching the icon on his display. It took a second or two but eventually an uplink was established with Earth and he was looking at the face of his grandmother. Her face was slightly smudged with dirt, as was her shirt. She had to have been out in the garden, not a surprise for this time of day. 

“Hey, grandma.”

“How is my grandson, the great space explorer? Run into anything else lately?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “That happened once at the academy, why do you insist on bringing it up.”

“Someone has to keep you humble,” she said. “How are things out on Starbase Bravo?”

Lance smiled again, although this time he knew that she could see that mischievous twinkle that had appeared in his eyes. After all, he had inherited it from her side of the family as she often pointed. No wonder there was no fooling her when he was a kid.

“I’ve actually got some good news.”

“You got promoted again?” she asked.

Lance shook his head. “No, although it’s almost as good as that.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you mean almost as good?”

“I mean I got my own command today,” Lance said. He watched her eyes go wide and then she let out a loud cry of excitement. “It’s nothing huge, just a Raven-class Corvette but it’s something.”

“I’m so proud of you! Now I can tell Angela Gerwin that my grandson has his own command, that outta shut her up about Jasper. Who cares if you’re serving on a Sovereign-class, he has to take orders, you get to be the one that gives them!”

Lance sighed heavily. “I really wish that you’d let this thing with Ms. Gerwin go, I haven’t even met Jasper, I’m sure that he’s perfectly nice.”

“I’m sure that he’s a perfectly nice man as well,” she said. “But the way that women goes on and on about him, like he’s the greatest thing to happen to the Federation since James T. Kirk.”

“That’s debatable,” Lance said. “As much good as that man did, there are scholars who say that he did his fair share of damage as well.”

“Do not speak ill of James T. Kirk young man!” 

Lance held up his hands. “Okay, okay, point taken.”

“Good, so when do you take off on your first mission?” she asked.

“Not sure just yet,” Lance said. “My chief engineering doesn’t arrive until tomorrow and I still haven’t heard if they’ve found me an XO or an operations chief and some of the systems might need some updating. I’m hoping to get her out for a shakedown cruise by the end of the week.”

“I take it that you’ll still be based out of Starbase Bravo?” 

Lance nodded. “Yeah, the ship is good for short journeys but there is no way you’d want to live on it full-time. She’s not the fastest or the most advanced but it at least gets my foot in the door. If I can prove I can handle this command, who knows what’s next.”

“I really am very proud of you Lance,” she said. “My little boy is all grown up.”

“You’re the only reason that I made it this far,” Lance said. “Without you taking me and putting me on the right path, who knows what might have happened.”

“You did that yourself honey, all I did was nudge you in the right direction.”

“Thanks,” Lance said. “How’s the garden this year?”

“Could be better,” she said. “I’m trying a new compost method this year so we’ll see if that helps. I should get back at it before all my lights gone. I’m seriously proud of you Lance. Love you.”

“Love you too grandma,” Lance said.

She cut the channel and Lance leaned back in his chair. After a moment, he stood up, grabbed his PADD, and exited his quarters. He caught a glimpse of himself in the nearby mirror. He stood at 5’11 with red hair, blue eyes, and athletic build. He continued out the door and into the corridor. 

It took him about five minutes to arrive at the docking slip that held the USS Opharus. The ship was still pretty dark, save for the work lights that were shining on her. He gave up on the urge to board her for what have been the fourth time that day. Instead, he made a few more notes on his PADD and was about to walk away when he saw someone else giving her a once-over.

The man was slightly taller than himself but packed with muscle. He had short brown hair, blue eyes, and the faintest of nose ridges that marked him as having some sort of Bajoran heritage. 

“Can I help you?” Lance asked.

“Just getting a look at my ship.”

“Your ship?”

The man nodded. “Yup, Ensign Archer Valentine, I just got assigned as her chief tactical/security officer. I was actually on my way to meet up with the CO, hopefully he doesn’t mind his officers randomly stopping by.”

“I don’t think he will,” Lance said. “Because he’s right here staring at his ship.”

Archer smiled and thrust out his hand. “Well, nice to meet you, Lieutenant Fox.”

“Lance will when we’re not on the bridge.”

“That’s not regulation-like,” Archer said. “I know some COs that would have a cow about that.”

Lance shrugged. “I’d like to start my first command off with an atmosphere that isn’t pure and utter abject terror. So, would you like to take a look onboard?”

“I’d love to.”

Alexander Wright stepped out of the turbolift and did his best to wipe the scowl off his face.  His journey to Starbase Bravo had been relatively hassle-free, aside from a minor incident with the transport’s engines after leaving Earth Spacedock.  Once he arrived at the station, he started to make his way down to the berth that held the USS Opharus. 

He was doing his best not to wear an unpleasant look on his face as he passed by everyone else. It wasn’t their fault that he had been stuck on this dead-end assignment instead of on a real starship that would undertake real missions. He knew that he should have just been happy to have been chosen as a member of the command staff, even if it was on a corvette. 

He would preserve through this and get assigned to an actual command. He didn’t know much about the CO, other than the man was only a few years older than himself. It probably made him a bad XO but he really just wanted to get through this assignment and move to the next. He must have gotten turned around while thinking because when he next glanced down the corridor, he realized that he was totally lost. He swore and walked over to the nearby wall display.

“Computer, I need directions to the USS Opharus.”

“Continue down the corridor another 150 meters and then take the turbolift down one deck.”

Alexander stepped away from the wall and continued down the corridor. As he walked he pulled out his PADD and looked up the command manifest for the Opharus and then stopped in his tracks, causing several people behind him to have to veer abruptly around him. He shook his head and read the screen again, just to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things.

There was no way this was happening. There was no way that the universe was this cruel. Did he piss off Q or something? His new commanding officer, the man that he would be stuck with for the foreseeable future, was the same man that had stood him up three times in high school. 

He looked different for sure but he still wore that same old cocky grin in his personnel file that he wore all around high school. Now, Alexander really wanted to hit something. He took a deep breath and then asked the computer to locate Lt. Fox. 

“Lt. Fox is onboard the USS Opharus.”

“Let’s get this over with.”

Theo couldn’t help the startled yelp that escaped his mouth as the shuttle dove wildly down toward the superstructure of Starbase Bravo. They had dropped from warp only a few moments earlier and as soon as they were back at sublight speeds, the pilot, who he just found out was going to be piloting the ship he had been newly assigned to, threw the throttles on the shuttle wide open. His reaction just caused the pilot to beam widely.

“Where’s your sense of adventure sir,” Niobe said, as she slide around a Saber class in the parking lane. “I haven’t crashed once, hell I haven’t even chipped the paint.”

“I find that very hard to believe,” Theo replied. “Also, you do see that warp nacelle right in front of us, right?”

Niobe rolled her eyes. “Of course I do, you need to learn to lighten up a little.”

They coasted over the top of the nacelle. “I have everything under control. We’re going to have to learn to work together, especially since you’re the new chief engineer.”

“Of which I would very like to spend at least one day being,” Theo said. “Please tell me that you aren’t going to fly the ship like this?”

Niobe winked at him. “Only if the captain asks me to.”

Theo thought she was joking, but judging by her semi-sinister grin, she wasn’t. He made a mental note to double-check all of the ship’s flight control systems as soon as he got aboard, just to make sure that Petty Officer Watts hadn’t modified them. She dove to the side, narrowly missing a Cardassin freighter. 

“You might want to contact traffic control,” Niobe said, as she settled into a more appropriate approach pattern. 

Theo tapped his station. “Starbase Bravo this is shuttlecraft Camden, requesting approach vector for docking maneuvers.”

“Continue on the current approach vector, prepare for remote piloting.”

Niobe leaned back in her chair and kicked her feet up. “And now the computer takes over and does all the boring parts.”

At least with the computer flying they weren’t going to bounce off an engine nacelle, Theo thought. But he decided to keep his mouth shut. He’d have to work closely with the petty officer and didn’t want to start out with bad blood between the two of them. 

“Are you looking forward to this assignment?” Niobe asked.

“I guess so,” Theo shrugged. “I just wanted to get far away from ESD.”

“I don’t blame you, I’m so glad that I got reassigned out here. After the incident at my last post, I thought I’d be assigned to some backwater transporter post or something.”

“What do you mean incident?” Theo asked.

Niobe waved the comment away. “Nothing really, hardly worth mentioning.”

Theo opened his mouth to ask about it anyway but then quickly shut it. He knew that he wouldn’t want her prying into his own past so, he decided not to say anything, at least not yet. He could always see what he could dig up from her personnel file later anyway. Moments later, the shuttlecraft sailed through one of the smaller docking bays and then settled onto the deck.

Niobe stood up and stretched. “Alright, let’s go meet this CO and hope that he’s not a tightass like my last one.”

Theo said nothing as he stood up. He just hoped the CO wasn’t anywhere anything like their helmsmen otherwise he’d have to seriously reconsider his assignment. 

Although the Opharus lacked an actual ready room, Lance did have small but functional quarters on the ship. He had just finished hanging up a picture of himself and his grandmother when the door chime sounded. He looked at the display and noted the rather late hour. 

“Come in.”

In came an officer shorter than himself, with short brown hair, blue eyes, and a very athletic build. He wore a very unpleasant expression on his face.

“Is there something that I can help you with ensign?” Lance asked.

“Ensign Alexander Wright reporting for duty sir.”

The word ‘sir’ seemed covered entirely in venom and the hostility in the man’s voice took Lance aback for a second. He arched an eyebrow at the other officer. He had to be his XO and chief operations officer, although according to the personnel office, Ensign Wright hadn’t been due to arrive until tomorrow. 

“I thought that you weren’t scheduled to arrive until tomorrow,” Lance said.

“I took an earlier shuttle,” Alexander replied. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get right to work making sure that the operating systems are all up to date. I’ll coordinate with the chief engineer when he arrives.”

“Sure, that’s fine,” Lance said. “Do you want to sit down and have a drink? Maybe go for a tour of the ship.”

“No offense sir,” Alexander said, voice dripping with disdain. “But I’d really rather spend as little time with you as possible.”

Now, Lance was beyond concerned. “Are we going to have a problem ensign?”

“You tell me, sir,” Alexander snapped.

“Have I done something to offend you?”

Alexander snorted. “You don’t even remember, do you?”

Lance racked his brain trying to think of where he had seen the young officer before. He didn’t look familiar at all. Maybe they had served together? Unlikely given Lance’s relatively short time in Starfleet but not impossible.

“You stood me up three times,” Alexander said, clenching his hands at his sides. “Three times in high school, I thought I was going to get to go out with the most popular guy in school and do you know what happened? I ended up looking like a total fool, that’s what happened. Not just once, not twice, but three times!”

Lance tried to keep his face as impassive as possible. “Are you sure?”

Alexander threw his hands up in the air. “See, I knew that you hadn’t changed!”

“I’m sorry, I honestly don’t remember you.”

Alexander took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was slightly more calm. “I don’t need you to remember sir. I just need to do my job so that I can get promoted away from this assignment. Now, if there’s nothing further then I would really like to get to work.”

Lance didn’t really know what to say so he just said. “Dismissed.”

What the hell was he going to do about this? He thought as Alexander left. What the hell indeed.