Hina had been aboard the USS Cupertino for a good few days now, and Saffiya’s (very subjective) opinion was that things were going better. At the moment, they tried their best to figure out why the Computer seemed to have a life of its own – which, as a Captain, Saffiya found inconvenient, but as an Engineer, somehow charming. 

Hina had taken some time to get adjusted to the Cupertino. Its engines had a different hum and that had given her some trouble when getting to sleep. Maybe should have to tune them up while she was here. If she could ever find the ships Chief Engineer. If it even had one. Now however she was with Saffy, talking about her computer problems.

“I guess my current main problem is that the computer gets to simply refuse certain commands. I mean I am happy to phrase them nicely – as odd as that is – but that’s as much as I want to compromise with it.”

Hina chuckled. That was more than the Saffy she had known on the Kongo would have done.

“Well… you can always try leaving it an opportunity…” she suggested.

“An opportunity? Like what? Leave it room for suggestions or interpretations?”, Saffy raised an eyebrow.

“Sure.” she said.

“I hate that idea.”

Hina sighed.

“Come on Saf… think about it for a moment.” she stated. “Let’s just assume it is alive, and I’ve no reason to assume it isn’t based on what I’ve seen of it, alright?” she continued.

“Right…” so why does it not follow orders any more?”

“Well it isn’t an officer. It’s not going to just be accustomed to following orders, and if– if it is sentient… then just like I’m here giving you suggestions… it will almost certainly have its own, and it has a huge database of knowledge to pull from.” she explained.

“So you are thinking that it… thinks… and because of that it doesn’t follow normal orders any more?”

“Yea… pretty much.” he confirmed, nodding.

“Makes sense.”, Saffiya sighed and gave a nod.

She was about to say something else when the young trill in blue-collared uniform approached carefully, and under glares from her fellow officers.

“Captain, I think we should talk.”, Velix said quietly.

Hina had recognized the Ensign that had approached from around the ship. The space aboard made it hard to not atleast notice people, even if she hadnt interacted with her yet. She was however surprised at the tone and the way everyone else seemed to not want her to say anything.

“I can step away… if you need…” she offered politely.

“Does she need to step away, Ensign Velix?”, asked Saffyia with a patience she surprised herself with. After a few days on the ship, Saffiya was starting to learn that she needed to approach the crew in certain ways, or it would be chaos for everyone involved. 

Hina shrugged, waiting to see what the Ensign needed to say to the Captain. She atleast busied herself with her tricorder for the moment, analyzing some readings she had taken of the computer. She had so far stopped short of asking Saffy to actually make friends with her ship. She didnt quite thing she would be ready to go that far… yet.

“It’s… ”, started Velix, then hesitated. Not because of the other officer present, but because of something else. She looked almost scared. “Are you familiar with the last missions under Captain Jurev?”

Saffiya nodded. Of course she had read the reports. She went through them in her head, and…. the penny dropped. 

“You encountered an articifical entity that… oh.”, she said. 

Velix just gave a slight nod. 

“I think we need to talk.”, she told Hina. “And congratulations, you’re acting First Officer now.”