“Captain Nassar?” He raised his PADD and offered it to her. “Lieutenant Junior Grade Silveira reporting for duty.”

Saffyia looked up from the cup of coffee she had been nursing, offering the newcomer an easy smile before reaching for the PADD he held out to her. “Ah, Lieutenant. Pleasure to meet you, and not a second too early.”

Vitor smiled.

“The pleasure is mine Captain. I am glad to be part of your crew. I wasn’t aware that my arrival was so well timed.”

“We are due to embark on a sort of… rescue mission. Walk with me.”, she said, climbing out of her chair.

Vitor resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow, and took a side step as the Captain raised from her seat.

“Of course Captain. What can I help you with?”

“Tell me about yourself. I will admit I did not have time to review your personnel file as of yet, so I am curious as to what you can tell me.”

He shrugged and kept smiling. Vitor was still young and although he had served for some time, there wasn’t much to tell.

“What can I say Captain? I graduated in the class of 98 in Security and Tactical, served on the Adelaide for a few years, transferred to the Sovereign, and now I am here. I prefer serving as a Tactical Officer, but I can do almost anything you might order me.” He again shrugged and recalled that old running joke, that lasted beyond his Academy days into his service. “And I cook.”

“Cook?”, the Captain asked, confused by state statement. When she had asked about what her newest officer could tell her, it certainly wasn’t what she had expected to serve as response.

Vitor smiled and blushed slightly.

“Actually Captain that is a bit of a running joke. During my time at the Academy I earned a reputation for being a sort of Chef. Later my Department Chief in the Adelaide dug that old story and teasing me he did actually added to my duty post Cook. I am not that bad, but believe me, my reputation is far greater than my actual skill.”

“Well, we will see about that.”, she smiled. “As for me… you might know know – or not, I won’t judge – that I only took over the Cupertino recently. I have served as First Officer on a medical vessel, and as Engineer on the USS Kongo before that. And I can’t cook.”

“I won’t take that against you Captain. And congratulations for your recent command. Is the crew also newly assigned?”

“We have had quite a few recent transfers.”, she nodded.

Vitor nodded, so he wasn’t the only new face on the ship. He wondered where they were going, and he couldn’t resist asking that imposing question.

“Captain, if you permit me to ask, you mentioned a rescue mission?”

She gave a nod. “There will be a briefing shortly, as soon as we have secured the room. It’s a… somewhat sensitive issue.”

She led him off the bridge and toward her ready room, where several officers were already waiting. There was tension in the air, and Silveira got the impression that this was a crew that was still in the process of figuring out how to work with each other. 

But what better way to achieve that than a common goal?