—- Dockyards, Starbase 72 —-

Chief Engineer James Young looked concerned. This was his permanent expression, at least as Captain Adriana Cruz could tell, so it was not that surprising. The Rhode Island-class USS Seattle was docked next to the Challenger-class USS Obama and work was about to begin dealing with the damage that their fight with a Cardassian Galor ship had wrought. Cruz had not come up with any nifty way of defeating the Cardassians, just speeding around getting the crud kicked out of them until help arrived which had finally happened in the form of rival Cardassians. Like Romulans it was hard to tell which Cardassians were friendly, and which were not. Like Romulans maybe friendly wasn’t the right word, but less angry.

”We have phaser marks along the outside of our hull,” he said.

”Makes us look tough,” Cruz said, not seriously. 

“I prefer when we’re not shot to Hell,” Young said.

”You can fix it Young, you and the station crew will have us running in no time,” she said confidently. They had not been meaning to make a stop back at Starbase 72 but between changing First Officers, the ship getting walloped and her girlfriend Captain Shraa being courtmartialed Cruz had figured it was as good a time as any to dock and recharge.

Young seemed less convinced, but he liked having the help from station staff to go over the ship and confirm that it was in working order. He nodded, “I’ll work around the clock.”

”Take breaks, enjoy the station, you and Doctor T’Rala still seeing each other,” Cruz asked.

”You mean is she still kidnapping me and making her take her for something called sushi? Yes,” he confirmed.

”Surely you know what sushi is, it’s from Earth,” Cruz said, ”It’s good. Now I want a California roll. Sunomono salad.”

”It’s raw fish right?” he asked.

”It has some raw fish but it would be an oversimplification to explain it that way,” Cruz said.

Young fell silent, likely contemplating the USS Seattle’s state of disrepair and having forgotten about sushi for now. Cruz watched as shuttles buzzed by it and then realizing that Young was lost to his own thoughts made her way towards the main concourse of the station.

There she found Commodore Jalian waiting for her, the Saurian female in surprisingly good spirits, “Do you want command of the USS Obama?”

Cruz shook her head, “I think I’d go crazy chaperoning VIPs all the time.”

”Well we have enough for that already,” Jalian said, “You and Shraa are close.”

”We attended the Academy together and we are close,” Cruz confirmed, though not the details.

”Did she ever tell you why she uses her first name? It is not Andorian tradition,” Jalian asked.

”I don’t know, no, it always seemed like I should ask but it was impolite to,” Cruz said.

”Well I contacted Andoria, to see if they would send legal representation. It turns out that she’s avoiding a ushaan, a ritualistic fight,” Jalian said, “She was young, before she was in the Academy, and she has been disowned by her family. So not only has she no legal representation but the Andorians are sending a team to arrest her.”

”So no legal representation,” Cruz said.

”And if she does make it out of her court martial, she’ll be arrested by the Andorians,” Jalian added.

“I submitted my selection for a First Officer,” Cruz said.

”I saw Commander L’Vail, however she is assuming command of the Obama as of tomorrow, so you have to pick someone else,” Jalian said, “But I’d have picked her too, she was good. Which is why I made her a Captain.”

”Aren’t you giving up on Shraa a bit easily?” Cruz asked.

”She hit an ambassador in Federation space for the crime of asking for more caviar,” the Commodore said, “She does not contest that. It’s my job to keep ships going, not to keep Captains going. If she beats this and deals with the Andorian thing I’ll find her a new ship.”

Cruz was quiet, “I should go see her.”

”She could use friends, a court martial is never easy,” Jalian said nodding in approval. She liked to see Captains supporting each other, particularly old friends from Starfleet Academy.

—- Holding Cells —-

Captain Cruz was shown very little deference when she was taken to Captain Shraa’s cell. The Bajoran guard seemed bored by his duty, and did not particularly seem to care that he was shepherding one captain to see another. When he left Cruz watched him go.

”You punched an ambassador,” Cruz said in disbelief more than anything else. Sure there had been some stuffed shirts that she had thought about taking a swing at, but never actually hit. 

From the other side of the force field Shraa shrugged.

”The Bolian deserved it, you think they’re all cheerful and sweet but he was a real piece of work,” Shraa said.

”And the ushaan you’re avoiding? I don’t even know what that is,” Cruz said.

”Just a battle I need to do. To the death,” Shraa said, “I’ve been hiding from it since I was eighteen it seems to have caught up to me.”

Cruz sighed, “Okay, we’ll deal with that bridge when we get to it. Now I just dealt with a possessed Chief Counselor, any chance you were possessed or acting under the influence of a space energy or anything?”

”Nope, I take responsibility, I hit him,” Shraa said, “You’d have hit him too.”

“But I didn’t babe, you need a lawyer, who’s your lawyer?” Cruz asked.

”My First Officer is a lawyer, he’s handling the case,” Shraa said, “But he’s pretty sure I’m doing to get convicted.”

”Let me talk to him,” Cruz said. Not sure it was going to help much.

— USS Obama —- 

The First Officer was a Vulcan and he seemed pretty confident that his captain was guilty. He informed Cruz that he had seen the Andorian strike the ambassador three times, and was not sure if there was a legal case to be made to get her off. It seemed, according to him, an open or shut case against his client and now former captain.

”And her ushaan?” Cruz asked.

”I deal with Federation and Starfleet. Andorian law is entirely separate like many less logical species their ways make no sense to me. I understand the ushaan has many ways out of it, such as married Andorians who have not yet procreated can indefinitely get out of it,” he said, “but the Captain is not married. You need to find her an expert in Andorian law for that.”

”Thank you that’s been more helpful that you know,” Cruz said.

—- Swingers Baseball Themed Nightclub —-

Thomas Winfield was not sure why a baseball themed nightclub was a thing, but it had good wings. It was nice to get out with Akane Sone and to bring our Lieutenants Junior Grade Hume and Flores. Food and drink not out of a replicator was good, even bad food was better than fake food, if not nutritiously. Plus dancing was a plus. That they played Cardassian techno was an added bonus, and there were some Cardassian civilians too, despite the Earth centric theme of the club.

Lieutenant Akane Sone spun away from him, looking nice in her dress she’d worn to go out for their first night on the station. The lower deckers liked serving on the USS Seattle, but life on the station was more diverse and vibrant. For Winfield who’d grown up on stations, this was better than anything. For the others, it was still great through planets might be a bit better.

“You doing okay after your ex put the whammy on you?” Rosa Flores asked her boss, the Assistant Chief Security Officer William Hume. They both shared a rank though so other than she’d transferred in later than him they were roughly even.

”Yeah, it was something. I just lost myself there,” Hume said.

”Sorry I had to stun you with a phaser when you were going for the Captain in her ready room,” Flores said.

”Yeah, well I probably deserved it,” Hume admitted.

”You doing to agree with everything I say tonight?” Flores asked.

”Probably, I’m just glad to be myself again, and sorry for what I did,” Hume said.

Flores nodded, “Even cheating on your girlfriend?”

”Yeah, especially that,” Hume said sheepishly.

Flores smiled, “I can’t say I approve of you trying to brainwash the Captain, but keep to that. No more cheating okay.”

”Okay,” Hume nodded.

Flores smiled, and twirled away from him then bent her finger gesturing for him to join her on the dance floor.

Winfield received a plate of chicken wings in buffalo sauce from the waiter, and saw Lieutenant Yuhiro Kolem approach. She looked nervous.

”Hume about?” Kolem asked.

Winfield shrugged, and Sone answered, “He’s on the dance floor with Flores.”

As a unit they all saw Hume kissing Flores, both security officers seemed to be enjoying it. 

“Oh I umm,” Kolem said.

”Sorry, I was rooting for you two,” Winfield said.

”No, it’s okay. I made my choice clear to him I just wanted to say I was sorry for you know the whole alien god cult thing,” Kolem said, “I should go.”

”You’re too good for him anyway,” Winfield said, “You’ll find someone. You’re the emotionally healthiest one of us all.”

”Well, that’s not saying much,” Kolem joked.

”Ouch,” Sone said grinning, “Good night Yuhiro.”

”Good night Akane,” Kolem nodded to her, leaving the club.

—- Court Room 2 —-

The trail was rather sedate. There was a long process of describing the assault on the Bolian ambassador by Captain Shraa and then there was recorded footage of that. Captain Cruz felt that Shraa’s lawyer should be objecting more, but when she thought about it there was very little to object to. Everything was too straight forward. Nobody disagreed on the fundamental facts, just that the Bolian was angry and had a lot of sway and it looked like Shraa was either going to be drummed out of Starfleet or assigned to latrine duty on some far off station.

Finally Cruz stood up and cleared her throat, “May I speak?”

The panel of three judges whispered to each other and then one nodded, “We’ll allow it you are Captain Adriana Cruz are you not?”

”I am yes,” Cruz said and nodded, “Look Shraa is someone who I have fought with, and against my whole career. I’m not going to say she’s never bent a rule, or snuck liquor into Starfleet Academy dorms, and I can’t speak to her whole career. But I can say that at the end of the day there’s nobody I would want on my team more than her. She’s resourceful, clever, determined, and stubborn. Yes, maybe a little rough around the edges, but well she’s an asset to the Fleet and if you lose her it’ll be all of us who are poorer for it.”

”Moving words, thank you Captain Cruz, we’ll file that as a character witness,” the judge said. Then the trial moved on to the last damages, which seemed mostly that the Bolian ambassador said he had nightmares after the walloping. 

The trial moved on and then broke for a recess. Cruz made her way outside and got a coffee and bumped into Shraa’s lawyer, a thin Vulcan who looked in his 50s but was likely older.

”Do you think she has a chance?” Cruz asked him.

”Your testimony was moving, but misplaced. The facts are not the in dispute and she violated protocol,” he said, “She stuck a diplomat and unless you have some evidence that she was under some outside influence, there is not much to add.”

”I don’t think she was,” the Vulcan nodded, “Then we will likely lose. It is too bad I liked her as a captain.“

Cruz shuffled back into the court room where the trial resumed. The judges had conferred and rendered their judgement.

”We find that Captain Shraa of the USS Obama is guilty of assaulting a member of the Starfleet Diplomatic core. However it was pointed out that he expulsion from Starfleet would be a loss. Hence we will be keeping her around. She is formally stripped of her command and demoted to Commander and will be assigned as the first officer aboard the USS Seattle,” the Judge said reading from a document on a PADD, “where we hope Captain Cruz who spoke on her behalf will be able to rehabilitate her career. She may not hold command for five years.”

He continued, “There is also the case of the unanswered ushaan. The Andorian security forces are here to arrest Shraa and we will turn her over to their custody where she will be taken back to Andoria for trial or to fulfill what is required of her.“

Four armed Andorians came forward and the Starfleet officers transferred her to them. They surrounded Shraa and marched her out of the court room. Cruz stood, Shraa was now out of the frying pan and into the fire, as the old expression went.

—- Docking Bay ——

“How soon can we be ready to leave?” Cruz asked Lieutenant Commander James Young who was beneath the warp core adjusting things.

”A week?” he guessed.

”I was thinking like six hours,” Cruz said.

”You gave everyone shore leave for the week and I took out the dilithium crystals. I can be ready in mabye three days,” Young said.

”I need to get to Andoria, I’ve got to save our First Officer,” Cruz said.

”I though he retired to run a brewery,” Young said.

“Winery, but I mean our other First Officer,” Captain Cruz said.

”We have the Nirvana, it’s not as fast as the ship, but it can get you to Andoria,” Young said.

”Where are we going?” Lieutenant Claudia Jara the Chief of Security asked.

”I’m going to Andoria to get our XO,” Cruz said.

”Okay, I’m coming. Station’s too safe for my taste,” Jara said.

”What ever you do can you please do it somewhere else, I’m trying to focus,” Young said.

Cruz went towards her quarters to pack, “Fine, grab a bag I’ll meet you at the Nirvana. We’ll leave in an hour.”

When the got to the Waverider shuttle she found Lieutenant Pr’Nor and Lieutenant Commander Tashai had also joined them. 

“I am your pilot,” Pr’Nor said, “I can get there faster than you.”

Tashai added, “And I’ve never been to Andoria, should be fun.”

”Well we’re going for a fight to the death,” Cruz said.

”Sounds delightful,” Tashai said, “And humans do dumb things too. Lighten up Captain, think of this as a vacation. To an ice moon.”

”I brought some of the old Commander’s stock of wine,” Jara said, “So it’ll be fun.”

”Alright, fine. I can already see the longer we wait here the bigger this away team will get. Pr’Nor take us to Andoria. Jara, did you pack a coat none of you did did you. Okay start replicating coats Tashai, and let’s start learning Andorian law,” Cruz said giving in to her crew. 

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

—- Nirvana —- 

The Nrivana approached Andorian territory and dropped out of warp establishing a stable orbit around the moon that had been a founding member of the Federation and Starfleet. As she was finishing up her checks before leaving the ship in orbit, Pr’Nor turned, “We are being hailed Captain.”

“On screen,” Captain Cruz said, as the crew fastened up the buttons on their uniforms preparing to beam down to the moon’s lunar surface. They had decided on dress uniforms, since they were unsure of how formal the ushaan process was. A woman in a normal Starfleet uniform was on screen, her rank pips identifying her as a Lieutenant Junior Grade. She was human, not Andorian.

”Ma’am,” the Lieutenant said, “I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Diya Acharya of the Starfleet Diplomatic Corp, and I’ve been assigned to ensure you do not cause an incident here.”

“We’re doing our best to stay out of trouble Lieutenant,” Cruz promised. She felt sympathy towards the woman, remembering when she was tasked with corralling captains and rogue commodores as a junior officer. While the Andorians were founding members of Starfleet, there remained the very real possibility to a diplomatic incident if they did something wrong trying to intervene in Shraa’s ushaan.

”Yes, well I’d feel better if you remained on your umm, ship,” Acharya said.

”Better yet accompany us to the ushaan, and ensure we don’t break any local laws,” Cruz said, “You know keep us in line.”

The woman looked pained, she definitely had other work planned for the day, but keeping a Starfleet Captain from getting herself arrested was more important. She nodded reluctantly in agreement with Cruz’s plan, “Yes ma’am. I’ll send you coordinates for Commander Shraa’s ushaan and meet you there.”

The screen went dark.

”I like her can we keep her?” Tashai asked.

”We don’t have a diplomatic officer,” Cruz mused, considering the request.

”We should inform her before adopting her like a pet,” Pr’Nor said.

”As always Pr’Nor’s right. We’ll have to see if she wants to join the ship, given our last diplomatic mission ended with half the crew being incapacitated, I think we need the help,” Cruz said as she took the team toward the transporter pad. 

”Let’s go get out new first officer,” Jara said.

—- Andoria, Arena —-

“Will you marry me?” Cruz asked former Captain Shraa.

The Andorian smiled, “No, but I know you read somewhere that if we got married I wouldn’t have to figh a ushaan until we had a kid. So thank you but if we got married I’d want it to mean something.”

”Jara could fight for you,” Cruz said, a proxy fighters were allowed.

”She’d lose,” Shraa said, “Look I need to do this, once it’s done if I’m still alive we get to be together on the Seattle. You know how I first caught a crush on you? It was when we fought when you came in to the dorms and saw me making out with your boyfriend. You didn’t dance around and try to wear me out like most humans do when fighting Andorians. You just tackled me and started trying to pound the living snow out of me.”

”And you broke my arms,” Cruz said.

”Yeah well it was a fight and you started it. But I was still figuring myself out then, and you doing that helped. I saw a woman could be strong and brave and dumb too,” Shraa said.

“Excuse me ma’ams,” Diplomatic Officer Acharya said, trying not to sound too meek, “Commander Shraa needs to go to the fight now.”

“It’s Commander Th'risris I’m taking back my last name now,” she said and kissed Cruz headed to the main field where her opponent was waiting for her.

”Your girlfriend is very scary ma’am,” Acharya said.

”Yes she is,” Cruz agreed.

Cruz made her was into the stands which were sparsely populated. She did not know enough about Andorians to be able to spot Shraa’s family, if she had any there. So she sat with her crew members as Shraa was bound to the other fighter, an older Andorian woman.

”What’s this about anyway?” Cruz asked Acharya.

”I understand that Commander Shraa had an affair with the woman’s husband some years ago,” Acharya said in hushed tones.

”Sounds like her,” Cruz said.

Cruz watched as Shraa was tethered to a woman who was larger and at least a decade older. The two women were given what Cruz recognized as ushaan-tors or ice miner’s blades. The two then broke and moved as far as the tether would allow from one and another. They then rushed one and other, their blades colliding. The second woman seemed physically stronger, and twister and tossed Shraa to the ground, stabbing at where she had been. Shraa however seemed to be agile, rolling out of the way, and then using the tether to trip her opponent. 

Cruz watched anxiously as the fighting continued. Andorians tended to have less stamina than humans, hence a human would generally dodge and weave until they tired out the Andorian, yet both women seemed to get only stronger and more fierce as the fight went on.

“I like our new First Officer,” Jara said, even though she had met Shraa previously.

”Shhh,” Cruz said, shushing her and trying to focus on the fight before her. 

The ushaan-tor was a small blade. A cutting tool for mining, but also something that required close quarters to do its work. It made the tools that Klingons used seem distant and impersonal, which was hard to do since killing someone with a bat’leth was not exactly surgical. Yet as the fight wore on it was Shraa who won the upper hand, knocking her opponent down and then cutting into her foe’s neck with her blade.

There was a verbal exchange that Cruz could not hear between the two combatants, and then Shraa rolled off and fell to the ground to catch her breath.

”What happened?” Cruz asked.

”I assume her opponent is too injured to continue or stood down and conceded the fight,” Acarya said.

”Andorians remain difficult to understand,” Pr’Nor said, clearly not that impressed with the fight. Cruz was pretty sure that the female Vulcan would extend that to humans, even if there was not any ritual combat that humans engaged in the way there was for Andorians.

Cut free of her tether Shraa made her way over to the others, and Cruz hugged her sweaty, and bleeding self.

”You okay? Cruz asked.

”I will be, before we leave, I need to visit my parents. If I’m reclaiming my name, I should see them. You can all come,” Shraa said.

Cruz smiled, “We will, also this is Lieutenant Junior Grade Acarya she’s out chaperone.”

”Well the ushaan is done so I am done. You should be fine from here on out,” the junior officer said.

”Actually, I was going to put in a request to have you transferred to the Seattle, if you want,” Cruz said.

”We’re adopting you,“ Tashai said.

”But not like a puppy,” Pr’Nor pointed out.

”Exactly like a puppy,” Tashai said.

”I don’t want to unpack what that means, but I would like to see more of space. I’d be happy to serve onboard the Seattle,” the human said.

”Perfect, I’ll put in the transfer, we’ll leave in two days,” Cruz said, “Tashai, get her quarters aboard the Nirvana and work on getting her a room on our ship. Nice to have you on board Lieutenant.”

”Lieutenant Junior Grade,” she corrected Cruz.

”You’re my new Chief Diplomatic Officer, so Lieutenant,” Cruz said.

—- Th’risris Family Home —-

“So you’re the girlfriend? A bit skinny,” Shraa’s father said sizing up Captain Cruz as the pair entered the house.

Cruz who was wearing a puffy jacket did not feel skinny, but knew that this was more a judgement on her apparent strength.

”I beat Shraa up at the Academy,” she said feeling defensive. She had never ‘gone home to meet the parents’ before.

”I broke both of your arms,” Shraa said.

“Whose side are you on here?” Cruz whispered to her.

“At least you finally did your ushaan. You’ve had that hanging over you for a lot of years now,” her father said, nodding approvingly.

”It was very exciting watching her fight,” Cruz said.

”Go easy on her, you know Shraa’s liked her since the Academy,” her mother tutted swatting her father with what seemed like a tea towel, though likely had another name. 

The domestic nature of everything seemed foreign to Cruz who had never been close to her own mother, or known her father until after his death. It was different, more confrontational, than a human family may have been (or not she did not know) but it was loving in its own way. The crew that had accompanied her had decided to see the rest of Andoria and then return to the ship, so she was on her own with the three Andorians.

The father made an harumph sound but did not press it. 

“You can stay here tonight, both of you, we have your old room Shraa and the guest room,” her mother said.

”That would be lovely thank you Mrs. Th’risris,” Captain Cruz said.

”Anything for a real Starfleet Captain,” Mrs. Th’risris said.

”Shraa was a Starfleet Captain, until she hit an ambassador,” Cruz said.

”Really, well if he couldn’t deal with getting hit why was he on a starship,” Mr. Th’risris said.

”Exactly my point,” Shraa said.

Cruz felt both that this was not a very good point, that just being on a starship should not get you punched but that there was no point in making the counter argument, and so she just was quiet.

Finally Mr. Th’risris eyed Cruz, “Heh, for a human she could have done worse. Even if you’re Starfleet and not Andorian security services.”

Cruz decided to take that as a compliment.

—- Nirvana, Open Space —-

Two days and some hours later she lay beside Shraa on the bed, watching the other woman fix a few bandages. Pr’Nor had offered to use a First Aid kit to heal the wounds, but to an Andorian wounds should be healed through time. Scars were badges of honour, and if she had to have fought an ushaan, then she was going to display her badges of honour.

”I don’t think your parents liked me,” Cruz said.

”Are you kidding, they loved you, trust me. When I’d bring home boys from military school they always hated them, they thought you were great,” Shraa said.

”Well now I’ll just have a swollen head for the next few days,” Cruz said.

Shraa finished affixing her last bandage and climbed into the bunk next to Cruz, “So Captain. This is going to be odd, us living and working together all of a sudden.”

”Not quite how I planned it, but you had to hit an ambassador,” Cruz said.

”You kept me from being sent to some weird science station on the edge of nowhere. So if this gets a bit awkward, well I’m thankful for that,” Shraa said.

Cruz kissed her, “Just keep telling yourself that as you get used to a Rhode Island-class accommodations.”

Shraa smiled and turned off the room’s lights.