“Uh, pardon?” Gabrielle asked, looking up from the set of keys, Atlantis’ command totem, that she’d just caught and nearly fumbled.

“You’re in charge while I’m gone,” the captain repeated, an eyebrow raised in a modicum of confusion. “That’s not a problem is it, Commander?”

“Sorry, I’ve missed something,” Gabs admitted. She’d been so intent on their latest survey work that she’d obviously missed something, either from a briefing in the last few days or announced on the bridge in the last five minutes. “Gone ma’am?”

While previous captains might have sighed at her focus and ability to miss things, expressing their displeasure or annoyance, Tikva never seemed to. Why, Gabs couldn’t say. But she suspected it might have something to do with the captain actually understanding she was immediately annoyed with herself for having done so.

After all, no one punishes you quite like yourself.

“The survey is that interesting?” Tikva asked.

“Kinda?”

Atlantis had returned from the depths of the Expanse a few weeks ago and was now thankfully spending a bit more time within easy reach of Deep Space 47. Not quite take a shuttle and jaunt on over to the station for a break distance, but close enough that near-real-time communication was a thing. And the captain, now Fleet Captain, was taking the chance with her new commands to let them all get into the swing of things working together.

One of those cooperative tasks was waving the flag in the space around Free Haven. There was some reason, Gabs was certain of that, but again, she’d not been paying too much attention. Instead, she’d been looking over the targets for their nominal survey work. The squadron was spread out in an arc, each giving a system a thorough and very unsubtle examination. The point was to be seen; she’d remembered that much.

Seen doing Starfleet does best. What she signed up for after all.

Exploring.

“Anything interesting?” Tikva followed up as she approached Gabs’ station. It wasn’t a perfunctory question she’d learned. If the captain asked, it was because she was genuinely interested.

“Respectable deposits of verterium on the third moon of that monster gas giant. And Perseus reported finding some cortenum as well.” Interesting minerals to the engineers perhaps and definitely to some planners back in the Federation eventually, but the geologists aboard Atlantis had merely flagged them as ‘interesting’. “But honestly the geological survey work that’s coming back from the away team is way more interesting.”

“We’re still not calling it Rocky IV,” Tikva said, cutting off any mention of the name for the system’s fourth world that the away team was using. And calling the survey team an away team wasn’t quite right either.

Almost all of Atlantis’ runabouts were deployed on that planet, forming a small outpost as teams of geologists, biologists and the ship’s lone ecologist had gone to survey the verdant orb. Accompanied of course with a number of security personnel and a few engineers for good measure. It had been a mission that Gabs had wanted to run herself, but the captain had opted instead to let Commander Kendris undertake it.

“Commander Kendris has suggested Saithaes,” Gabs said, making sure to enunciate the Romulan word.

The captain’s brow furrowed for a moment, eyes focusing on some undefined point in the middle distance as she mouthed the word a few times. “Tranquillity?” she asked, back in the here and now.

“Tranquil,” Gabs corrected.

“Hmm. Let’s add that to the list,” Tikva said with a smile. “Now, as I said, I’m off, you’re in charge.” The look that came over Gabs’ face was enough of a question. “To Perseus, to meet up with the other captains.”

Then it clicked. The captain was leaving to have a meeting with the other captains of the squadron. She shook her head hoping it would rattle more details loose. “Still don’t understand why they can’t come here.”

“All of their ships are in the middle of survey work too and I did promise the Commodore we’d get the work done promptly.” Then Tikva leaned in just a touch, her volume lowering somewhat conspiratorially. “And let the Breen and Tzenkethi see a bunch of new ships spread out just doing Starfleet things.”

“And bringing us all together might be a bit…provocative?” Gabs asked. “But they could still all come here, yes?”

“See, I’ll get you thinking like a command officer in no time. But as for here, well, Sagan is a bit far out. Rather not have a new captain resenting me for asking them to spend twenty-something hours in a shuttle just for a meeting. Besides, this way, I’m the one most inconvenienced and therefore showing I’m willing to suffer,” the captain said with a grin. “Vilo is an hour away at most by shuttle or a comm call away. And Ra is still nursing those engine tweaks we got.” Tikva turned to look to Tactical, pausing a moment. It was sweet how she looked at Commander Gantzmann when the situation wasn’t dire and professionalism could slip just a touch. “I’m even leaving you with Lin should you need to throw anyone out an airlock.”

“Tempting,” Gabs found herself saying with a bit more harshness than she’d have liked. “Sorry.”

“He’s an ass,” Tikva responded, both of them knowing who the person in question was. “But unfortunately he is good at his job.” Tikva waited, letting her grumble for a second. “You’ll be fine. Besides, it’s just a few days of minding the store while you finish up the survey work. I’ll probably be back before the away team finishes on the surface anyway.”

And then the captain was away after a pat on the shoulder and another spot of encouragement. A quick lap around the bridge, a whispered moment with Commander Gantzmann that left the captain with a slight blush and then she was gone, leaving the bridge to Gabs.

This wasn’t like the officer of the watch shifts she’d done previously, or even more recently with her elevation to second officer. This was something else.

At least it was to her.

She rose from her seat, walking across the bridge while staring at the centre seat. It was just a seat. She’d sat in it plenty of times. But not as the most responsible person on the entire ship. How long had she been staring at it, contemplating the responsibility a piece of furniture entailed? Long enough to be shocked when Gantzmann spoke.

“Shuttle Waihou has departed,” she said blandly. And not from Tactical either, but at Gabs’ side too. How’d she done that?

“Uh, oh, thanks,” Gabs said.

“You don’t have to sit in it,” Gantzmann said, an edge of warmth in her voice. “It is just a chair.”

“The captain’s chair,” Gab replied.

“She does trust you,” Gantzmann said after a moment. “She’d not have made you second officer if she didn’t. Or have left you in charge either.”

“I guess?” Gabs wasn’t sure herself. She knew she’d joined the crew years ago as a near-nervous wreck. Knew she’d grown with guidance from the captain and MacIntyre, now off on his own ship. But had she really?

“Don’t guess,” Lin said. “Know it. She does trust you.” From anyone else, that statement might have just been what you had to say in a situation like this. But from Lin, from the captain’s partner, it meant something else. Carried a bit more weight to it.

That and Gabs knew Lin was a straight-shooter. If she told you something, it was because she believed it or knew it was true. She could trust Lin to tell her the truth.

“Thanks.” She nodded, digesting the affirmation from Lin. “Thanks,” she repeated, more confidently this time. “If I’m in charge, and Ra is busy with engineering, I’m going to need someone nominally as my XO.” The offer, she hoped, was implied.

And it was thankfully. “Certainly Commander Camargo,” Lin said, offering one of her trademark slight smiles.

“Right.” She drew in a deep breath, centring herself and slowly letting it out. “Back to it then folks. But a slight change in plans.” She smiled, watching a few faces turn to her. “Let’s drop a few probes to finish scanning this gas giant. I want to go investigate that gravitational anomaly we spotted yesterday.”