The morning following the transport of the prisoners acquired in the course of the USS Century’s last mission, Captain Gar’rath had begun his duty day as he generally did any other day… by checking over the reports from the night watch and ensuring that the ship hadn’t received any special communications that required his attention. Being able to settle back into a more stable cycle of work was comforting to Gar’rath, it was something he looked forward to after an unpredictable and harrowing adventure. His happy thoughts were, however, interrupted when his desk’s holographic display was taken over by a communications window marked ‘urgent’.

Gar’rath’s features drew back in what amounted to a sneer at the sudden interruption to his mirth, but they dropped back to their neutral position by the time he entered his access code and the image shifted to that of a Starfleet Rear Admiral.

“Captain Gar’rath,” the man on the screen said in greeting, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“No Admiral, I am just sitting down to review my turnover reports in my Ready Room. How can I be of service?” the Gorn inquired.

“Starfleet is diverting the Century out past Deep Space 47 to conduct long range surveys of uncharted systems in that area. It’s high time we put your ship on a mission it was built to carry out,” the Admiral said with a smile.

“Understood, sir,” Gar’rath nodded, “When are we expected to depart?”

The man on screen paused for a moment and looked to the side, likely at a display he had open adjacent to the communications screen. A few flicks of his eyes later he returned his attention to the Captain, “Since you are already in orbit of Gateway Station, go ahead and take a week to requisition supplies and carry out any personnel transfers you have pending prior to departing for the Thomar Expanse. This will allow you to head out on your exploration mission more quickly since you won’t need to make a supply run at DS47 before moving out.”

“Very well, I will have my crew begin taking on supplies and conduct any transfers we are due before departure. Do we have a specific area of exploration assigned to us?” Gar’rath followed up.

“Nothing specific, no. Just scanning systems, cataloguing planetary compositions, and making first contact when applicable,” the Admiral remarked.

“I see,” the Gorn nodded, “And our expected return timeline?”

“I wish I could say this will be a five year expedition,” the man let out a chuckle, “But with how things keep changing from year to year, we may end up calling you back long before that. I’d say check in with Deep Space 47 every six months and see where things are.”

“I do not believe I have any further questions, Admiral, unless you have anything else for me,” Gar’rath said after a brief pause.

“I believe that’s everything, Captain. Good luck out there,” the Admiral said just before the screen went dark and then disappeared from his line of sight. Gar’rath let out a sharp sigh, his mind now switching gears from contemplating the mundane return to their patrol to the shift in mission objectives to a deep space exploration tasking. He had been wondering when such orders would finally get handed down to him, given that his ship was purpose built for exploration and scientific surveys. The fact that it had come just after they’d wrapped up what amounted to an impromptu detective mission was what he found rather odd. The timing of it, however, was less important than the fact that it had come at all.

“Commander Peters,” Gar’rath said after tapping on his commbadge, “Please meet me in my Ready Room.”

Rather than acknowledge the communication verbally, the Century’s Executive officer opted to simply move from her station on the Bridge straight into her commander’s office. The doors hissed as the woman came into view, closing again just as she made it to the chair she usually occupied whenever the pair had a meeting and began to sit down.

“I take it something happened,” Abigail said, taking the reclined posture of her Captain as a sign that he’d just been handed some manner of news that forced him into some measure of deep contemplation.

“I’ve received new orders from Starfleet Command,” Gar’rath replied to her statement.

Abby couldn’t stifle the exasperated sigh that slipped out of her, “More patrols somewhere else?”

“Not this time,” the Gorn shook his head, “We are being sent out beyond Deep Space 47, to conduct long-duration exploration and survey missions.”

Cmdr. Peters straightened her back at the news, “Seriously?! We’re actually going on a deep space assignment?”

“Yes, Commander, we are,” the reptilian smile that tugged at Gar’rath’s maw was noticeable even to Abigail, who mirrored the expression.

“When are we leaving for the Thomar Expanse?” Peters asked excitedly.

“One week,” the Captain replied, “In the interim, I want you to get with each of the departments and have them prepare equipment, supplies, and any specialist items they feel we might need for our new mission. We’ve also been asked to take care of any personnel transfers that we have before we depart. I believe there were a few departments who’d submitted transfer packages the last time you sent up the tracker.”

“Yes, a few folks from Engineering, Medical, and Flight Ops requested transfers elsewhere in the fleet after promoting last cycle. If we’re about to take on a deep space mission, it might be wise to let them depart now,” Abby nodded as she spoke.

“Will that hamper our manning at all?” Gar’rath inquired.

Cmdr. Peters thought about the question for a moment before shaking her head, “I don’t believe so. Most of the departments were over ninety percent manned to begin with. The dozen or so people who applied for transfers won’t put any one of their departments below eighty-five percent, which is more than enough to call them fully mission capable. If we can manage to squeeze in a few new folks prior to leaving, it would just be a bonus.”

“Very well, Commander. See to it,” Capt. Gar’rath said in a dismissive tone.

“I’m on it!”

A gathering had been called of all the department heads aboard the USS Century, with the notable exception of the vessel’s commanding officer. Sitting where the Captain normally would was Commander Peters, and most of the senior staff had elected to retain their normal seating arrangement despite the change in who was leading the meeting.

“I wanted to put this out to you as quickly as I could, that’s why I called you all here,” Abigail explained as she looked around the room, “The Captain received orders from on high outlining our dispatch to the Thomar Expanse to begin deep space exploration missions in that region of space. We’ve been given a week to bring aboard supplies and perform any crew rotation activities that we can during that time. I believe there are three departments that have potential transfers…” Peters picked up the PaDD sitting in front of her.

“I’ve got four in my department looking to move up in the world,” Lieutenant Commander Brak said from his seat in his usual brusque tone.

Lieutenant Khar grunted at the Tellarite’s statement before adding, “I have two who are due a transfer.”

“Our department is due to rotate one physician and two of our nurses,” Lieutenant Commander Odaim spoke up, “However I’ve already received word from the personnel who were looking to replace them that they are in the area of Starbase 23 and could be in the area as soon as tomorrow.”

“That’s good news at least,” Abby said, making a note of it on her PaDD before turning to Lieutenant Commander Sorreth, “How quickly could we stock provisions and equipment to be ready for at least a year’s worth of deep space exploration… maybe two at the most?”

The Vulcan lifted his head up slightly as he ran the numbers in his head, “I believe with the station’s support, it could be accomplished in five days, six if there are any delays in shipments of materials that cannot be sent via transporters.”

“If we shoot for a seven day departure window, that should give us more than enough time, even with any snags along the way. Also, because we will be in transit continuously until we reach at least Deep Space 47, it might be a good idea to authorize some liberty for your departments so that those aboard the ship who might have families in the nearby area can spend a bit of time with them before we begin this potentially long duration absence from Federation space,” Cmdr. Peters said.

“It certainly would boost morale to get even a day to see loved ones if they can swing it,” Dr. Odaim said with a smile and a nod.

“Will we be able to make any special requisitions for equipment we haven’t brought aboard yet in the science labs?” Lieutenant James asked from the far end of the table.

“Absolutely,” Abby nodded, “Since we’re going to be leaning fairly heavily on your department during our expedition, you’ll need to ensure that anything you anticipate might make our mission successful is something worth asking for. Be mindful that our departure isn’t all that flexible given how far we have to travel. If there is something you can’t get here, it might be wise to send a message ahead of us to Deep Space 47 and see if they can’t have it waiting for us when we make it through the Badlands.”

“I’ll start getting requests together from my team and have them up to Commander Sorreth by tomorrow morning,” Brian responded.

“I’ll gather together a list of parts we can’t replicate on our own, would like to have at least one or two spares going into uncharted territory. Never know when something might jump out at us,” Brak commented.

“A logical, if pessimistic motivation,” Sorreth remarked dryly.

The Tellarite grunted, “Only pessimistic if you’ve never been out in deep space and had strange things jump out at you and forces you to limp back home because you forgot to bring aboard one of the finicky parts of your nacelles or some such.”

Lt. Khar nodded at the comment, “He is right. It is better to assume that we will be entering potentially hostile territory at any given moment rather than assume that we will be as safe as we are inside Federation territory.”

“With that in mind,” Cmdr. Peters cut in before the argument could balloon any further, “I need each of your departments to make the preparations they need to in order to ensure that our mission is successful across the board. I would rather have things we don’t need than to need things we don’t have once we’re out beyond the reaches of explored space. Pessimism is preferred over complacency.” After saying that, Abby gave each member of the senior staff a measured look to ensure they each understood what she was trying to get across. Once she was satisfied that everyone had gotten the gist, she carried on with her brief.

“While we are on the subject of not getting complacent, we’re rapidly approaching the third quarter evaluations cycle. That means your assistants and section chiefs are due their appraisals. Make sure that while we’re in transit, these get accomplished. We’ll also hold at least one round of promotion boards during the trip, since we’ll have ample time to conduct them without interruptions. Be thinking about who you have that might be eligible you want to put forward. I’d ideally like to have packages for the Captain to review by the halfway point of our journey. Anyone have any objections to that?” Peters again swept her eyes around the gathered faces. Again, no one seemed to take issue with her plans.

“Alright, thank you everyone,” Peters said, prompting the gathered officers to start heading toward the door leading back to the bridge. “Oh, and Mister Sorreth, I’d like to see a requisition draft from you by eleven hundred tomorrow morning,” Peters said as a parting shot to the Operations officer, who nodded before disappearing out of the Observation Lounge.

Lieutenant Commander Brak stepped off the turbolift after leaving the Bridge’s Observation Lounge and entered the Main Engineering section of the Century. The Tellarite watched his team moving about the space, performing the necessary work that kept the ship running in peak condition. Their performance and efficiency was something to be lauded, and generally would have been under anyone else as Chief Engineer. And privately, the Tellarite in question did appreciate their hard work and efforts each and every day. That did not, however, translate well through his words. Outwardly, in true form to his particular species, he could always find something to complain about.

“Gather ’round, everyone. We need to have a quick meeting,” Brak called out to everyone currently occupying the space. As the various officers began to filter in, forming a circle around the shorter Commander, the man folded his arms across his chest and muttered, “Took you long enough.”

Once he knew he had the attention of his staff he began to explain the purpose for the sudden work stoppage, “Just came down from a meeting with the XO. We’re about to head out to uncharted space in the next week, and we need to get together a list of everything we think we’re going to need, and throw in a few nice to have things just to keep the Ops department on their toes. If your section head isn’t hear, pass the word to ’em as soon as you can and make sure I have something to route up before the end of the shift.”

The group gathered around him started to discuss the topic at hand amongst themselves, though no one had really moved from where they’d been to do so. Lt. Cmdr. Brak let out a sharp huff of air before exclaiming, “Alright, you layabouts, chit chat while you move those hands. Maintenance doesn’t do itself, even on these automation heavy ships!”

The engineers chuckled at his statement and set about their tasks while still discussing the information they’d been given. Brak, for his part, headed over to the master console that sat just outside the main warp core chamber, pulling up the inventory of items that they already had on hand while comparing it to what he already had in his head of what they might want extras of. 

“I thought I felt a change in gravity down here,” a feminine voice from behind the Tellarite drew his attention. The owner of the voice turned out to be his Assistant, Lieutenant Alicia Tanner, a somewhat shorter than average Human with fairly short, sandy colored hair.

“Where’ve you been, kid? Had a meeting without you,” Brak grumbled.

“Doing work,” the young Lieutenant replied, “These engines don’t tune themselves, now do they?”

The Tellarite snorted in approval, “They certainly do not. Set the tools down for a second and take a look at this here with me. Need a fresh set of eyes, want to make sure I’m not missing anything right in front of my snout.”

Alicia nodded and set the tool kit she’d been shouldering down on a nearby stool before moving over to stand beside him. Brak scrolled through the list he’d compiled, stopping just long enough for Tanner’s eyes to catch everything before moving on. It took less than a minute for him to reach the end of his scroll before the Tellarite gave the woman an expectant look.

“You forgot a spare dilithium intermix chamber assembly,” Lacy said offhandedly.

The Lieutenant Commander frowned, flipping through the list again before grunting, “So I did. Good catch.”

The woman ran her knuckle under her chin in thought for a moment before asking, “Are we going to give the night crew a chance to submit inputs? Some of the issues they seem to run into tend to differ from what we tackle, so it might be worth giving them a chance to pitch in.”

“Don’t think I mentioned getting the word to them, just the section heads…” Brak admitted in a surly tone, “Couldn’t hurt to give them a stab at it.”

“Sounds good, I’ll put it in the pass down log for them. Give them until shift change to have their version back to you?”

The Tellarite pondered the question for a second before nodding, “Yeah, that works. XO wants a list from Ops by 1100, so if you come in on the early relief rotation and get that from them, I can have it out of here way ahead of time. Should work just fine.”

“As good a plan as any,” Tanner said, pushing herself away from the console, “I’ll go hunt down the section chiefs and find out where they are with their lists, see if I can help speed the process along.”

Brak nodded, “Fine. I’ll see if we have the time to shut down the warp core and do some conduit maintenance before we head out since we’re probably going to be running at high warp for a month straight, give or take.”

Lacy’s face drew down into a pensive look, “That could work if we were docked with the starbase, but I haven’t heard that being the plan. We’d first have to make sure all of our backup generators were given a serious once over before we tried that, and seven days isn’t a lot of time to do both.”

The Tellarite frowned and stroked his chin for a moment before nodding, “I see your point. How about we do a thorough once over of the backup power grid, make sure if something happens with the warp core, we can at least limp around without worrying about starving or suffocating while we patch ourselves up.”

“Sure, I’ll talk to the reactor maintenance team while I’m making my rounds and see what they can make happen while we’re prepping to leave,” Tanner said, making her way to the rear of the engineering compartment to carry out their agreed upon plan.

Lieutenant James walked into the largest of the science labs on the USS Century, the room filled with all of the various heads of each of the various disciplines represented aboard the ship. They were seated at various points around the room, either engaging in idle conversation with one another or absorbed in monitoring an experiment that was currently in the works in their respective laboratories around the ship. Brian took a second to clear his throat, grabbing the attention of most of the scientists gathered in the space, with one or two exceptions.

“Thank you for gathering on such short notices, folks, I know there’s a lot of tests and simulations being run that you want to get back to so I promise not to take up too much of your time,” James started the meeting off, his words finally pulling the stragglers away from their work.

“First of all, I want to let everyone know that we’re being called upon to play our specialties out beyond the Thomar Expanse, an excellent opportunity for each and every discipline on this ship to make wonderful discoveries and contribute to the sum of our knowledge about the galaxy we like in,” Brian said in an attempt to pull his audience in. He gazed at the collective officers and could already see the gears in their minds turning away, making measured calculations regarding what they might be able to accomplish while on a deep space expedition.

“We have a week to prepare for the journey out there, which means that we have less than a week to make any upgrades or additions to our already robust suite of laboratories prior to heading out into the unknown. While even I admit that our department has been generously provided for in terms of equipment and facilities, that was before we were expected to step into the spotlight and take on the lion’s share of tasks. We’ll have the luxury of priority resource allocations once we reach our first uncharted star system or nebula… whatever we encounter first to sink out teeth into. That means that we need to think ahead to what we might like to have brought aboard prior to leaving Starbase 23. I have some ideas of my own, but I want you all to reach out to your sections and get some inputs from them as well. The more prepared we are now, the better our future discoveries stand to be,” Lt. James said at length.

The men and women gathered in the lab began to chatter amongst their small groups, excitedly discussing the mission at hand and all the myriad things they might wish to ask for round out the already impressive array of scientific equipment aboard the ship. The soft murmur was starting to balloon into a more thunderous cacophony when Lt. James spoke up over the thrum of noise in the room.

“One last piece of business before you all go back to your labs and start plotting expansions in earnest,” the man said with a smirk, “I’d like to address the vacancy we’ve had in the department since Lieutenant Vier left us a few months ago to start her family. Unlike some of the other departments aboard, we haven’t really been hampered by my… let’s call it… cautious approach to filling the vacant assistant position. If our mission had remained what it was before, I probably would have continued to shelve the topic in favor of simply keeping things as they were as it was working just fine as is. Now that we’ll be spearheading a great deal more, I will have to spend the majority of my time on the Bridge going forward, providing the command staff with up-to-the-minute information regarding our department’s efforts, so I won’t be able to handle any of the more routine things that pop up for us in the trenches.”

“I say all that to say this. Lieutenant Grant, come on over here real fast,” Brian beckoned to the woman who had been in charge of the small stellar cartography section. Lily’s face drew up into a happy smile as she hopped off the stool she’d been perched on and came up beside Lt. James.

“During our last mission, Lilian’s efforts were pivotal in our counterparts’ efforts to bring a swift end to a smuggling operations and in recovering stole cargo before it had a chance to disappear into the black market. Even our Captain had nothing but complimentary words for the work carried out by everyone on her team. And with all that in mind, I’ve decided to have her step up and take over for our departed assistant,” Brian said before reaching out and shaking Lt. Grant’s hand, “Congratulations, Lily.”

Grant grinned from ear to ear at the news, giving her boss’ hand several excited shakes before she turned to the collection of colleagues around her, “I don’t know what to say. This is so exciting!”

“Speech!” one of the scientists near the back of the room called out.

Lily frowned in mock annoyance, “Oh shush, Victor. You know if I get started I won’t stop for another hour. So I’ll just say thank you to Lieutenant James for the opportunity, and I look forward to helping each of our divisions perform at their best in the coming weeks and months ahead of us.”

Brian chuckled and gave her ‘speech’ a short applause before returning his attention to the group at large, “Alright, that’s all there is. Take this information back to your various labs and have a wish list to me before the end of the day. I owe it to Commander Sorreth before 1100 tomorrow.”

The collected scientists all nodded or responded their acknowledgement before filtering out of the labs to begin planning in earnest for the discovers just over the next horizon.

As the duty day aboard the USS Century drew to a close, a throng of people gathered in one of the smaller mess facilities on deck 20 of the ship. Some of the personnel in attendance were still wearing their uniforms, while others had already changed into more casual attire prior to their arrival. The one thing each person standing in the mess had in common was that they were all medical professionals aboard the ship, and they were all there for one purpose; to give several of their fellows a warm send off. Spearheading the efforts was the ship’s Chief Medical officer, who was standing near the rear of the room holding a small glass of synthetic champagne. Using a small spoon from a nearby table, Reli tapped the glass just hard enough to send out a sharp chiming sound to curb the boisterous conversations being had around the room.

“Thank you for coming, everyone,” Dr. Odaim said with a smile as she set the spoon down, “I know this was very short notice for some of you, while others have been in on this for about a month or so. As I’m sure you’ve heard from our patients, we’re getting ready to depart for deep space. That means, among other things, that we will be saying goodbye to some of our colleagues who have requested a transfer in the coming days.” Reli beckoned to a gathering of four people, who made their way from a small table near the door to where the Betazoid was standing. “Doctor Hollister, along with Nurses Jo, Rammal, and Falsi will be departing in the next few days to continue their journey in the medical field in positions of greater responsibility throughout the Fleet.”

Reli lifted her glass, “Please join me in wishing them the best as they depart our staff.”

“Here here!” several members of the party called out as the room raised their glasses in response.

“Now, before I let you all enjoy the party, I wanted to do a quick presentation. As I’m sure everyone has heard at least once since coming aboard,” Dr. Odaim said with a chuckle, “Doctor Hollister hails from a long, proud family of physicians and explorers, some of them doing both of those things at the same time.”

The room joined in the Betazoid’s laughter at that comment, each and every person having heard at least once from the man himself about his family history. While his pride in his family was not unfounded, he did take his storytelling tendencies to the extreme at times as he regaled people in his section with countless iterations of his linage and family triumphs.

“Poking fun at him aside,” Reli continued, “I did do a little research into some of the customs from the era he loves to recount the most. And in those bygone times…” Again the room laughed as the woman paused for dramatic effect before retrieving a large object from behind the small service bar, “It was customary to present the departing crew with plaques representing the vessel they served on, signed by the people who worked with them. So… unbeknownst to you, Randell, I went around to everyone and had them sign this commemorative plaque for you so you can hang it up in your office when you take over as Chief Medical Officer of your next ship.”

Dr. Odaim handed the large plaque over to the man, who began to tear up as he looked over all the signatures and little messages of well-wishing that covered the dark blue areas around an artistic rendition of the Century, as well as a small plaque listing his name and the stardates that he served aboard. 

“Thank you, doctor,” the man said, struggling to hold back the flood of emotions.

“It wasn’t easy, let me tell you,” Reli said, clapping the man affectionately on the shoulder, “Not only did I have to take a crash course in Earth history I was not ready for, I also had to get Nurse Tansie to paint that portrait without letting it leak out. You know how she love to show off her work.”

Dr. Hollister looked over at the nurse in question and thanked her silently, his voice having dried up in the midst of all the emotion he was dealing with. 

“And so as not to leave anyone out, I had similar plaques,” Reli said, grabbing three more smaller plaques to hand over to the nurses who were standing with her. Each of them took the plaque with their name emblazoned on it and thanked everyone for their gift.

“Alright everyone, that’s enough business. Enjoy the party, and I’ll see those of you still on the rotation bright and early tomorrow,” Dr. Odaim said, earning a round of applause before the gathered medical professionals began to celebrate in earnest amongst themselves.

Lieutenant Khar approached the door to his partner’s quarters, having been summoned just as his shift on the Bridge had ended. The contents of the message, sent through written communication rather than over the comm system proper, were vague and left much to be desired in terms of a concrete reason for such a break in their usual routine. Even with that thought in the back of his mind, Khar wasn’t so rigid as to avoid their routine being uprooted every now and again. This thought lingered in his mind as his hand reached out and pressed the door chime of Lieutenant Grant’s quarters. With less than a second of lag time, the door to Lily’s domicile slid open and the occupant herself came leaping out of the doorway, a huge grin plastered on her face as she threw her arms around Khar’s neck.

In his semi-distracted state, the Klingon had not been prepared to be leapt upon by the woman, and it took him three full back steps before he managed to regain his balance and steady the figure clinging to his neck enough to keep her from slipping out of his arms.

“What prompted this sudden ambush?” Khar asked.

Lily looked up at the man with a devilish grin, “I got some really good news today, and I wanted to tell you about it while I was still excited.”

“I see,” the Klingon said in a huff of exasperation, “Then perhaps instead of you hanging off my neck, we can sit down in your quarters and discuss this good news.”

“Aww…” Lily groaned with an exaggerated look of disappointment, “You’re no fun…”

Khar shook his head at the woman’s comment and herded her into her quarters as several of the crew passed by, their faces drawn up in amused smirks at the exchange they had witnessed. Once behind the closed door, Khar made his way to the small sitting area in the room and sank down into the two person couch, followed swiftly by Lily, who entwined her arms around Khar’s right one and pressed her head against his shoulder.

“Guess what happened today!” the woman demanded of him not even a heartbeat after they’d gotten comfortable.

“How am I meant to make any educated guesses without even the slightest hint of information?” the Klingon frowned.

“Just one little, uneducated guess… for me,” Lillian said as she looked up at Khar through her eyelashes.

The man couldn’t help but shift about in his seat for a moment as he wrestled with his annoyance at being made to play some silly game Lily had concocted and his desire to make his partner happy despite being put on the spot in a rather abrupt manner. His affection for her won out, and he settled in to think of all of the things that might make her so uproariously giddy.

“You…” Khar started before frowning and chewing on his thoughts a bit further before continuing, “had one of your scientific papers published?”

Lily let out a giggle at his attempt, “No, but that probably would have made me pretty happy too. Not a bad guess. Ok… so here’s a hint. It has to do with where I’m working on the ship.”

“Hrm…” Khar muttered thoughtfully before asking, “did you get put in charge of a new project?”

The woman shook her head with a playful grin, “Not quite, but you’re a lot closer than the last one.”

The Klingon gave it a bit more thought before asking, “Didn’t your department still have the assistant position vacant?”

“It did…” the woman replied in a drawn out manner, the smirk on her face blossoming into a full smile.

“I see…” Khar murmured before finally declaring, “You were asked to take over as Assistant Chief Science Officer.”

“Yes!” Lily said, giving the man’s arm a powerful squeeze. The Klingon let out a hearty laugh and pulled himself free of her grip only to then gather her into a tight embrace. “Congratulations! I know you had been wondering if you might be in the running for it since it had been vacant for so long.”

“I’m pretty sure my discovery when we were looking for those missing ships is what got me the job,” Lily said with a proud smile, “And it doesn’t hurt that we’re going to need that spot filled now that we’re heading into deep space. The best part is, I can still work out of the stellar cartography lab when I’m not doing assistant type work, so I don’t even have to shelve any of my experiments!”

“That is indeed a good thing,” Khar nodded along, “I am certain that before long, you will be considered for a department head position of your own.”

“Heh… yeah, maybe in a year or two,” Lily said with a shrug, “But for now, I’m just happy I get to help run the Science team here.”

“What should we do in honor of this great occasion? I have some blood wine stashed away for such a monumental occasion if you like,” the Klingon offered.

“No… I appreciate the thought, but you know I can’t hold my blood wine…” Lily shook her head at the notion.

“Ah… yes… my apologies…” Khar said as he remembered the last incident that had occurred as a result of her imbibing a little more blood wine than she could handle. 

“How about…” the woman said, leaning heavily into Khar’s chest, “We just spend a quiet evening here, and we can replicate something for dinner and maybe watch one of those crappy holodramas Ensign Greer always talks about in the lab.”

“If that is how you wish to celebrate, we will find the crappiest holodrama in the archives and conquer it from the sofa while ingesting the greasiest of foods,” the Klingon declared.

“Yay! I’ll go grab a blanket!” Lily rushed off the couch to prep for their bizarre night in.

Commander Peters sat behind the desk residing in her office, a place she infrequently visited while the ship was carrying out its normal operations. Their visit to Gateway Station had afforded her the rare but welcomed opportunity to use her office during her usual allotted time on the Bridge to attend to the various paperwork that never seemed to end no matter how much time she devoted to it. Her current workload was fraught with evaluation reports from the various departments, all of which had to be looked over and edited before being passed up to the Captain for his approval. 

It was in the midst of this slog through the administrative mines that the chime to her office door pulled Abigail’s attention from the endless series of letters that had started to blur together. She let out an unconscious sigh of relief as her muscles seemed to suddenly loosen up. “Enter,” came the response, her eyes struggling to refocus after having adjusted to reading at a near distance for a protracted period of time.

The one responsible for her reprieve was Lieutenant Commander Sorreth, who moved into the space quickly and without commentary, taking up a position just behind the chairs set up in front of her desk. Abby motioned for the Vulcan to take a seat before taking the opportunity to banish the holographic projections of the various reports she’d been almost mindlessly reviewing.

Peters leaned against her desk, inquiring, “What do you have for me, Mister Sorreth?”

“As requested, I have compiled the requisitions that each department, my own included, has made for your review,” Sorreth replied, proffering the PaDD he’d been holding to the Commander. Abigail took the device and sank back into her chair while she glanced over it. First on the list was the requests that the Operations department had made, all of which fell safely within the confines of reasonable and necessary for mission readiness. It wasn’t a hard decision on her part to give the Operations department carte blanche. Then the next list popped up on the screen, causing a frown to grace her features before she’d even realized she’d done it.

“I see you have encountered the science department’s contributions,” Sorreth observed after seeing the woman’s face change dramatically.

“I don’t even recognize half of this stuff,” Abby commented, her brow still drawn down in a mixture of exasperation and confusion, “Is anything on this list even something we could requisition?”

“Roughly sixty percent of their inventory of desired items would require us to conduct a minor overhaul of the science laboratories just to accommodate the equipment they are asking for. It is not a realistic list, though I am certain it was compiled with the expectation that the more unattainable items would be rejected,” the man replied.

“Talk about shooting for the moon…” Cmdr. Peters muttered.

Sorreth’s right eyebrow drifted upward at the statement, “I do not believe I am familiar with that metaphor.”

“Hmm?” Abby responded before she’d processed the comment fully, “Oh, right… It basically means that they had a lot of ambition when generating the list, sort of like our ancestors did when they were first looking to leave Earth and reach the Moon.”

“If that is true, would that particular metaphor be somewhat inaccurate, as humanity did indeed reach their moon?” the Vulcan inquired.

“Well, not entirely, no,” Abby paused before explaining, “The part I said was only a piece of the whole metaphor I learned growing up. ‘Shoot for the moon… be happy if you make it into the atmosphere.’”

“I see,” Sorreth nodded in comprehension, “The additional information does make your statement more logical.”

“Yes, I suppose it does. It’s easy to forget that not everyone’s heard that phrase before,” the woman said with a small chuckle, “But getting back to the list, have you already picked out what we could reasonably acquire in the few days we have before we depart for the Thomar Expanse?”

“I have,” the Vulcan replied, “I have changed the text colors in conjunction with what I have assessed to be achievable versus those items that would be impossible to implement with the number of days we have remaining before we need to begin our journey across the quadrant. All requests colored red are outside of our capability and should be denied. Orange text indicates equipment or modification that are not impossible to arrange, however there may be a delay to our departure should anything fall behind schedule for any reason. I recommend only approving one or two of those requests if you are inclined to do so at all. Any requests  I have colored green are of a routine nature and would not warrant any amount of caution regarding their procurement as it will not require more than a few hours to move them from the starbase to our ship.”

“Of the ones you’ve highlight orange,” Abby asked, scrolling through the list several times to compare them, “Is their any particular project that you would recommend we actually execute to make our exploration mission more successful in the long run, even if there’s a delay?”

Sorreth folded his arms as he gave the question some thought, “If we operate under the assumption that only one project will be approved in that category, I would suggest that we approve the conversion of the geology and archeology lab. The equipment there will not require a complete overhaul to replace, however what we currently have would prove lacking when confronted with any sort of long term survey conducted by that branch of the science department. If we are to operate with a high degree of autonomy for a protracted period of time, this would give us that maximum return on our invested time and resources.”

“Fine, then let’s go forward with that project, scrap all of the ones in red without comment, and everything else we can provide, let’s go ahead with those as well,” Cmdr. Peters stated as she handed the PaDD back to the Operations officer.

“Very well, Commander. I will see to this list at once,” the Vulcan said, pushing himself out of the chair in preparation to depart the office.

“Thank you for the inputs,” Abby said with a smile, “I’m glad you were able to do some of the groundwork on what was actually realistic from the science folks. I’m afraid being a pilot for most of my career didn’t grace me with much in the way of scientific prowess.”

“Your gratitude is not necessary, Commander. It would have been remiss of me to provide an unedited list given the… ambitious mindset our science crew seemed to have when composing their inputs,” Sorreth remarked.

“Still, I appreciate your efforts as always.”

“I see…” the Vulcan said with a bit of pause before nodding to the woman in farewell and departing the room.

Time slipped by aboard the USS Century as the various departments went about the business of preparing to depart the Beta Quadrant for the Alpha. Several changes had been made to the decks of the ship containing science labs, a few minor repairs and stress tests had been conducted by the engineers, and supplies had made a steady appearance in all of the cargo holds around the ship. The Century was, in almost every way imaginable, ready to strike out on its own for as long as the Federation might need her to. 

Sitting across from one another in the Captain’s Ready Room, Captain Gar’rath and Commander Peters carried out the last discussion they would have prior to departure. There wasn’t a hit of levity in the air, nor did the room feel overly tense. The importance of what was being discussed simply demanded a level of decorum beyond the usual tempo for the two officers.

“Have all the crew arrangements been made? Are we still waiting for anyone to depart the ship before we leave?” Gar’rath inquired of his Executive officer.

“Everyone due to depart has done so as of yesterday morning. All inbound personnel were aboard and have already reported to their respective departments for duty,” Abigail responded firmly.

“And our supply status?”

Peters nodded, “We’re fully stocked and Mister Sorreth reports that we should be able to operate at above normal for at least three years without having to reevaluate our consumption rates.”

“Excellent,” the Gorn said before asking, “What about the upgrades and repairs? Has Engineering wrapped everything up?”

“Commander Brak has already wrapped up the last batch of repairs to the ship and has reported we are ready to engage warp engines at your command.”

Capt. Gar’rath sank back into his chair, leaning to his right side as he perched his elbow on the armrest and his head on his curled fist. Having monitored the situation from his office over the last week, he’d anticipated the reports that Cmdr. Peters had just provided him. His dilemma, if you could even really call it that, came from the standpoint of the readiness of the crew to undertake such a long term mission. While it wasn’t exactly up for debate, it still occupied at least a portion of his thoughts as to whether his crew was apprehensive about the journey to come.

Without shifting his position, Gar’rath gave voice to his concerns, “How is the crew itself doing? Has anyone come to you with any concerns, doubts, or anything of the like?”

Abby crossed her arms and lifted her head to look at the ceiling above her as she considered his question, “Most of the conversations I’ve had with the crew seem to be positive with regards to our pending deployment. A few have stated that they aren’t keen to leave loved ones behind, but it hasn’t been such an imposition on them that they’ve requested to transfer off to stay with them. I think we’re in about the best place we can be, from the morale standpoint.”

Gar’rath closed his eyes as he listened to the woman explain their personnel situation, allowing them to slide back open by the time she’d finished to remark, “I had wondered if there would be last minute requests to depart. Given our inability to house families, there were a few people in particular I was worried would depart.”

“You mean Lieutenant James?” Abby said with a smirk.

“Among others, yes,” the Gorn nodded, “It is difficult to find talented officers who excel not just in their fields but at leading departments. While his department is full of capable scientists, I don’t believe many would be able to fill his position should he have wished to depart.”

“I happen to agree with you, Captain. And I’m going to tell him you said that.”

“Feel free to, Commander,” Gar’rath waved her comment off with his free hand, “It isn’t as if I wished to keep my thoughts on his competence a secret from anyone. I was also more than a little concerned that you would decide to depart the ship.”

“Me? Why?” Peters blinked rapidly, trying to understand why he’d had such a worry.

The Captain pointed to himself, “Because I am in command.”

“I don’t have a problem with you being in command…” Abby said, her face still contorted in a confused expression.

“It is less about me specifically and more about the misgivings you’ve shared with me in the past… or rather, those that Doctor Odaim practically forced out of you.”

Her expression rippled into one of understanding as she slowly nodded, “I suppose that would make anyone a little apprehensive about what was going to happen.” Abigail let out a sigh and sagged down in her chair a bit. While she wasn’t sure she could announce with all confidence that she’d gotten over all of her issues with the being sitting across from her, she also wasn’t the least bit put off by the very notion of it as she might have seemed after the incident in Romulan space. 

“I suppose at the end of the day, I’ve accepted that we won’t always agree on everything but that running from the challenges I might face because of it are less palatable to me than staying around and seeing this tour through to the end. Reli did make some very strong arguments that day, and I’ve done what I can to reconcile them with how I was feeling about everything. So no, I had no plans of leaving the Century until either Starfleet asks me to move on, or I decide I no longer wish to be a part of this crew because I can’t keep up with everyone anymore,” the smile that crept onto her face as she finished her small but passionate speech gave her words a bit more depth of meaning.

Capt. Gar’rath pulled himself upright from his relaxed position and faced the woman fully, “I appreciate your willingness to continue to serve aboard this ship with me, Commander. Of the Executive officers I’ve served with up to this point, I have found you the most capable. I am pleased to know I will not have to navigate training a new XO while having to navigate the unknown in the depths of the Alpha Quadrant.”

“Thank you for that, sir,” Cmdr. Peters features scrunched up in a mixture of embarrassment and happiness before she latched on to the last thing he’d said, “Speaking of the Alpha Quadrant, should we start the long journey in that direction?”

Gar’rath sucked in a breath deep into his rather massive lungs, holding the air for a long moment before exhaling and giving the woman a nod, “Yes, I believe it is time.”