—- USS Luna, First Officer’s Office —-

Though she rightfully could use the Ready Room just off the bridge, Commander Olivia Carrillo found it easier to keep using her own office down the hall slightly. Her files were there, and everything felt a little more familiar. Her door chimed and the said, “Come.”

The door to her office slid open and a Captain was there, not Captain Cruz the ship’s commanding officer, but rather TaskForce XO Captain Nathanial Hawthorne, a bearded man who had arrived on the scene with the ship USS Majestic. He had also been most of the crew’s captain at some point, or at least those that had carried over from first the USS Anaheim to the USS Seattle. It was there that he had been Captain Adriana Cruz’s CO and she the first officer.

”Commander Carrillo,” he said nodding, “I’ve read your reports, it sounds like your and the Luna’s arrival is what prevented more deaths.”

Carrillo nodded, “We didn’t do anything just showed up where we were told to Sir.”

”Sometimes showing up is what makes the difference,” Hawthorne said. He sureyed the office, it was sparsely decorated. Most of Carrillo’s focus had been clearing out what previous XO’s had accumulated including for some reason a collection of ancient human plastic toys from a place called McDonald’s. Hawthorne gestured to the bare shelves, “Maybe put up some models of your past ships or something. Make this look like less of a flex room that just anyone can use. More personalized.”

 “I heard you were a fan of wood Sir,” Carrillo said.

Hawthorne nodded and smiled, “I’m sure Cruz told you that, I liked to feel like I was on a real sailing ship from Earth’s past. The kind that would sail from New York harbor. You’re from New York as well, I understand.”

”Yes sir,“ Carrillo said, “But I’ve never been on a nautical vessel.”

Hawthorne looked out the window at the USS Majestic and the starbase, “Not a lot of people have these days. It was a time of exploration and adventure. Discovering new lands and new peoples.”

”Didn’t work out so well for the new peoples,” Carrillo pointed out, as with many Latin people she was a mixture of the old Earth and the new, the Europeans and who they’d conquered. 

Hawthorne nodded, “I see Cruz picked an XO who is at least aligned with her on that subject. But yes, we’re trying to be better, the Prime Directive and all.”

”I don’t mean to be argumentative at all Sir,” Carrillo said.

Hawthorne nodded, “Cruz was, but she was good at her job. The best XO I had and one of the best Captains we have in the Task Force. I don’t need you to agree with me, or anyone for that matter. You just need to do the job, and Cruz always does that job even if she’s yelling at me for being a dinosaur.”

”And stop calling me Sir,” Hawthorne said.

”Yes Sir,” Carrillo said deadpanned.

Hawthorne rolled his eyes, “Comedians. All XO’s are comedians. Did you wish to do dinner, on the station, the restaurant is open again.”

Carrillo nodded, “I would. May I take my boyfriend?”

Hawthorne nodded, “Bring him too. I’ll meet you both at the Japanese place on station at 19:00 hours.”

—- Starbase 713, ‘The Japanese Place’ —-

Lieutenant Pierre Lambert smiled, and tried not to look too distressed. Everyone in this modern time seemed to be obsessed with a Captain named Kirk who had commanded the Enterprise.  While Lambert had heard of him it was hard to grapple with the fact that for so many today the life he’d lived (and left behind) had been boiled down to simply the exploits of one starship and one captain. Lambert had heard of him, but until coming to the future he’d never been asked about him.

Captain Hawthorne however seemed to know quite a lot, which was slightly embarrassing for the Lieutenant. To Lambert Kirk was just one of the many captains in Starfleet that he did not know, but to Hawthorne it seemed he was much more. He kept asking Lambert for recollections of Kirk which not having served with him or even known him at the Academy Lambert did not have.

”I’m sorry, again I wasn’t there. I think the whale thing happened after the USS Boston was lost,” he said. He had read something about that, but that had come long after the crew of the Enterprise had lost NCC-1701. 

Hawthorne nodded, “But surely he was known at the Academy, he was the only student to beat the Kobiashi Maru.“

Lambert shrugged, “Years before I got there, but yes we were warned that anyone replicating his methods would not be allowed to pass.”

A young woman approached the table, a science officer judging from her uniform, “Captain Adriana Cruz? I’m so glad to meet you, I’m Lieutenant Commander Keyana Mason and I wanted to transfer to the Luna, after what you did to help us on the station.”

Carrillo gestured to her pips, “I’m Commander Carrillo, not Captain Cruz. I don’t control bringing on new staff, and unfortunately she’s not here but on a planet.”

The woman nodded disappointed, then Hawthorne held his hand up, “Well she may not staff up the Luna, but I have a hand in assignments. You have a Lieutenant as your Assistant Chief of Science? I think Miss Mason would fit right in. Lieutenant Commander, hand in your transfer request today and I’ll make sure it’s processed.”

Lambert was quiet, realizing that he was outranked by everyone at the table. It was clear that Carrillo was annoyed but also was not saying anything. It was not the new woman’s fault that she had been granted a post on the Luna by Hawthorne the TaskForce XO but clearly going over the First Officer’s head was not welcome.

As she departed Lambert pressed on, “Is there any particular books about Captain Kirk that you would recommend? You seem to have studied him a great deal.”

Under the table he squeezed Carrillo’s hand, wanting her to know it would be okay. Cruz knew Hawthorne and would know how to deal with surprise reassignments. Besides with the Chief Science Officer Gabriella Miller at a conference they could use some one high ranked in there for now.

She squeezed back.

”I like the one by Doctor Thaddeus Venture, the one that actually focuses on the life of Doctor McCoy,” Hawthorne said nodding, “It really captures the sense of adventure of the old days.”

Lambert was not sure about this ’sense of adventure’ he and his friends had been doing their jobs just like on the USS Luna now, and inferior shielding, sensors and other aspects of space travel was what had got them caught in the anomaly and throw across time and space. He would have traded any amount of that ‘adventure’ for safety protocols or a better rate of survival. Hell he’d have gone home if he had a home to go anywhere to, but everyone he knew was dead years ago. So he stayed out here, further away than anyone had ever gone in his day, because what little he had in his life these days was the woman sitting next to him.

”I don’t know him either,” Lambert said, then added to be diplomatic, “but it sounds like a book well worth reading.”

Carrillo smiled, also trying to be tactful around the Captain, “Pierre’s been learning about Picard and the Enterprise-D.”

”I am still trying to wrap my head around an android in Starfleet,” Lambert said. He had head of some pretty sophisticated robots but their heads usually fell off if you got them stuck in a logical loop. To let one in Starfleet and to reach the rank of Lieutenant Commander was surprising.

”Just one of the many things you’ll learn about the present,” Hawthorne said, “It’s a brave new world.”

—- USS Luna, First Officer’s Office —-

On the screen Captain Adriana Cruz pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, “That’s Hawthorne for you. I love him, but does he ever do whatever he feels in the moment. He’s in love with his own authority and it doesn’t surprise me that he threw an Assistant Chief Science Officer at you.”

”We’re departing tomorrow to get you, how is it going?” Carrillo asked.

”Not well, we managed to get Lieutenant Winfield and Lieutenant Commander Dornall out of prison,” Cruz said, “but we’re negotiating with people who are actively turning their backs on science. We can show them as many graphs as we want but as long as it’s my word against god’s they’ll back their god. I go on television tomorrow but I don’t have much hope. Maybe they’ll listen in ten years after a decade of their natural world burning down.”

”Well I hope you’re right. Good luck Ma’am,” Carrillo said ending the transmission.