Bollwyn, accompanied by his guests, stepped into the vast Shuttlebay One. This was a part of the ship he rarely visited, and a wave of unease washed over him. His guests, the Gils, dressed in their typical Cardassian uniforms, carried their belongings in bags slung over their shoulders. Bollwyn had offered to have their items beamed directly to the Chawla, the Arrow-class runabout they would use for their survey mission near the McAllister C-5 nebula, but both politely declined, their eyes scanning the unfamiliar surroundings. 

Larman looked at Bollwyn as they approached the Chawla. “I assume we will each have our own quarters?” he asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

Bollwyn shook his head. “I’m afraid not; we will be sharing bunks. Is that okay with you?” he asked, his voice tinged with a hint of concern.

“Oh, Larman, did you really just ask such a question?” Mereska asked, shaking her head in disbelief. She turned to Bollwyn, her tone laced with a hint of annoyance. “Please excuse my colleague’s ignorance, Ensign Bollwyn.”

“Hey, it’s no issue,” Bollwyn said, remaining calm. “I’ve already given you two your own cabin with adjustable environmental controls. I know it may not be the luxury that you’re used to-”

“It will suffice, thank you,” Mereska interjected hastily, smiling to show her appreciation.

Pleased to hear that, Bollwyn approached the rest of his team, who were waiting for him. The moment he saw Clark, he felt less anxious and gave Clark a look, suggesting he was pleased to see him. “I think you both remember Ensign Matthys Clark from last night’s reception,” He said, introducing his friend to their guests. “And these two are Ensigns Nitala and Mkana, who will join us for this mission.” He gestured towards the newcomers, a smile playing on his lips.

Kneeling at the side of the runabout, Mkana was checking the engineering stats on the craft. It was going to be an interesting journey, and after the Borg space mission, Mkana didn’t want to get any funny surprises. He noticed the group coming and stood up and walked to them. “Good day, welcome…my name is Ensign Mkana, and I will join you on this journey” He gave a nod in the direction of Bollwyn. 

“Nice to see you again,” Matthys said, giving a brief and curt nod to the two Cardassian officers. His gaze then quickly returned to Bollwyn, and he smiled at his friend as if to confirm for him somehow that he had this all under control. 

Nitala nodded to the guests, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She replied in short.

“A Human, a Barzan, a Ventaxian, and a Romulan—Starfleet is certainly becoming more diverse these days,” Mereska remarked. “At this rate, who knows, you may end up recruiting Larman to join Starfleet by the end of this mission.”

“Starfleet wouldn’t know how to handle me,” Darman responded. “Can we get settled and underway?”

Realising that this mission may be extremely awkward, Bollwyn nodded and requested that his colleagues get them underway. “Nitala, if you would do the honours of bringing the Chawla fully operational, and then Mkana if you could pilot us out of the shuttlebay,” he said.

“Understood,” Mkana briefly stated as he walked to the pilot’s seat and sat down. He started to set up the navigational and engine systems. He waited for Nitala to get the ship operational before proceeding with the undocking procedure. 

“Understood,” Nitala replied before approaching one of the controls and began to bring the Chawla to operational status.

Bollwyn turned to Clark; he was already regretting volunteering them for this mission. “Matty, would you please show our guests their cabin so they can store their belongings?” 

“Of course. My pleasure.” Matthys gave Bollwyn a quick wink out of the vision of their guests and then quickly gestured to them both, “If you will be so kind to follow me.”

Bollwyn mouthed a ‘thank you’ as Clark took over from him and led their Cardassian guests inside. 

As soon as they were settled, Bollwyn entered the cockpit where Mkana and Nitala were located. “Are we good to go?”

“Engines green, navigational systems green, buoys course plotted. I just need to get clearance from Columbia for launch,” Mkana stated in the direction of Bollwyn and tapped onto the console. “Chawla to Columbia, we request clearance for launch.”

“We are fully operational and ready to launch,” Nitala shared.

Within moments, Matthys and the two Cardassian officers stood in their designated cabin. The bunks reminded Matthys of his own home on the Columbia – at least, this was a bit more private. He gestured to a small display control panel to their left, “You can manually adjust the environmental controls of the cabin using this control panel or through voice control. If adjusting temperature or humidity levels, I would suggest doing so in small increments; the environmental systems on these new runabouts are top of the line and are usually quite responsive.” 

Larman nodded his head to Clark. “Thank you, ensign,” He replied as he and Mereska placed their belongings into their private compartments. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to be present in your command centre when we depart.”

“They call it a cockpit,” Mereska corrected him.

Matthys grinned and held back a chuckle. That term had always struck him funny when someone said it, and it seemed even more amusing coming from a Cardassian, for some reason. “Of course—follow me once more,” he gestured in the other direction with his arm and then began the short journey forward.

In the cockpit, Bollwyn was about to take the co-pilot’s chair when he heard the footsteps of their guests and Clark. Turning around to face them, he offered for them to take their places at two of the aft stations. “Shall we get underway?” he asked before commanding them to depart at once. 

Their mission was underway.