—- USS Luna, Bridge —-

Commander Olivia Carrillo glanced at her Chief Flight Control Officer seated at comms and then to her right at the Chief Operations Officer, “Miss Tashai, please retract the gangway, and release docking clamps.”

The officer nodded and worked at that, finally after a minute indicating, “We’re free from the station ma’am.”

To the officer at the Conn Station she said, “Pr’Nor please set a course for the anomaly we’ll be investigating.”

“Course laid in,” the Vulcan said calmly.

“Warp six please. Engage,” Carrillo said, and the ship leapt out of the vicinity of the space dock and into open space. The crew could manage undocking themselves, and the only reason a captain, or a commander in this instance, needed to be there was for support. Captain Cruz had done a fine job in drilling the team, so much so that on uneventful missions like this Carrillo felt like a bit of dead weight.

“Open a channel to the full ship,” Carrillo said, and then once that was done by the communications officer she addressed the ship, “I know most of you know that Captain Cruz is on leave after her injury. I’ll be taking us out, to explore one of the entrances to the underspace that have popped up. While I’m not anticipating anything we don’t know what’s on the other end of the tunnel we’ll be entering. So we have to be ready for anything. This is a fantastic crew, and Cruz has trained us all well, we’ll get through this together, we just need to trust each other. Together we’re boldly going where the Federation had not gone before, but we’ll be alright, because we’re together.”

Signaling the communications officer Carrillo ended her speech, and after a look around the bridge decided to catch up on some of her paperwork that she had to do as first officer, “I’ll be in the captain’s ready room.”

After having sat down and begun crew evaluations, the door chime interrupted her. Signaling that the caller at the door should enter she saw her First Officer, normally the Third Officer, Chief Counsellor Yuhiro Kolem. The woman entered and Carrillo gestured to a chair across from her.

“How’d the speech go over, too sappy?” Carrillo asked.

The half-Betazoid Counsellor shook her head, “The crew liked it for the most part. Concern for the captain is high, they liked being assured that they’re capable. For a first captain’s speech it was pretty good.”

“I’m not a captain,” Carrillo said.

“Neither was Captain Cruz, but she stepped up for us when she had to, just like you’re doing. Starfleet needs captains, they’ve already offered you a posting haven’t they?” Kolem asked.

“An Excelsior II-class opened up, they tried to get me to go for it. I need more training, more experience, I’m not ready. Besides you don’t want me to leave, then you’re First Officer,” Carrillo said.

“Reading motivations is supposed to be my job not yours,” Kolem said, “But yes two years out of the Academy is too soon for me. I know Fleet Day fast tracked a lot of people, but I never had command on my career list. I just owe Captain Cruz, that’s why I’m 2XO.”

“I know you have counsellor stuff, but as the First Officer I need you to check in with the departments. Get everyone to run a full diagnostic of their equipment before we arrive,” Carrillo said, “And be ready. Everyone should have departmental orders from Starfleet, but we don’t actually know what we’ll find, so while likely it’s just some interesting plants or something we’ve got to be ready for anything.”

“And your paperwork?” Kolem said gesturing to the crew evaluations.

“I’ll keep up on that for now” Carrillo said, “Just make sure we’re ready to go, things may have been broken during our repairs that we don’t want to overlook.”

Kolem nodded, “Will do, let me know what else I can do ma’am.”

—- USS Luna, Science Lab 6 —-

Lieutenant Setiv adjusted the lens on the probe and then shut the compartment door. She used the control panel to run a quick diagnostic and said, “The second probe is ready.”

Over at the replicator on the wall Lieutenant Junior Grade Sverin was creating the next probe casing. The probes would act as a series of data collection points that the Luna could leave behind and then collect on their way back. Nobody yet quite understood underspace and the more data that Starfleet was able to compile the more likelihood of discovering something that might be a key to understanding it.

The blue haired half Vulcan and half Human Keyana Mason entered and asked, “You all good?”

“Define good,” Setiv said, “We are operating at our duties at the anticipated pace of progression.”

Mason sighed, she always forgot how frustrating Vulcans were, even though her mother had been one. She had been raised human and was not about to ask for the definition of “ya’ll good.”

She tried another question, “You two need anything before we get there?”

Sverin seemed to consider the question, “We do not, at least not that can be provided by you. I anticipate that the replicators and waste management system can take care of all of our needs prior to arrival.”

The Assistant Chief Science Officer nodded, realizing that the Vulcan had taken what she’d asked and taken it too far but deciding not to correct him being obstinate which he was probably being on purpose. The two had been brought on board last mission to study the rifts and had stayed on now that they were returning to underspace.

“Right well let me know if you do need anything,” Mason said and left the lab.

—- USS Luna, Arboretum —-

Lieutenant Commander Gabriella Miller pulled at the weed that had grown up in the shade of the small oak tree. As a botanist she took the maintenance of the ship’s natural planet life in its arboretum very seriously.  Perhaps there were more vitally important things that she did as the ship’s Chief Science Officer, but it was the growing of plant life from all over the galaxy that was closest to her heart.

Chief Security Officer and her girlfriend Lieutenant Claudia Jara did not need the computer locator to find Miller. She was here on all most all of her free time, and if she was not in a science lab or asleep this is where she was.

“You want to do dinner?” Jara asked, giving a small wave as the entered to see her girlfriend digging in the soil with a small trowel in her hand. Miller, wearing gloves, yanked at another weed and once she had removed it from the dirt tossed it onto the small pile of weeds that she had started to build up on the stone pathway.

“I thought you were running security drills,” Miller said, crawling towards another clump of weeds that had sprung up since she had last tended to the planet life in there.

Jara offered a shrug, “We finished. So come on, we’ll get washed up and go get some food.”

Miller felt better while working with plants that she typically did with people. Not only that but on a mission like this where the brief was to mostly deal with the sciencing of interstellar phenomena she felt useless. She was a botanist and had only a basic knowledge of portals, and wormholes, and underspace. This, plants, was what she knew about.

Jara understood her girlfriend’s hesitation, and they had tried to talk about it but neither woman could quite say what they meant, or maybe what they meant to say was not what they needed to say. Jara had had a rough childhood, and saw Miller as a port in the storm, a calm woman who offered a degree of normalcy. She had never quite figured out what in turn she offered Miller though she seemed to like her well enough.

“Look there’s always going to be weeds,” Jara pointed out, “You’ll only be able to get them if you take care of yourself too. Come and get food, they’re not going to take your scientist’s license away just because we’re looking at portals for a few weeks.”

Miller sighed, took off her gloves and climbed back to her feet, brushing off her hands.

Jara approached and hugged her, “See you still have that scientist’s license.”

Miller sighed, “That was a pretty good line, but don’t be too proud of it.”

“Come on I told Pr’Nor and Tashai we’d meet them in the lounge,” Jara said.

—- USS Luna, Tranquility Base Lounge —-

The Vulcan and the El-Aurian were already there. With gamma shift on most of the department heads were off, and with at least a day to go until they reached the Triangle, they could relax a little. The Chief Operations Officer and the Chief Flight Control Officer were engaged in a public display of affection when the other couple entered. Miller was always surprised at how much Lieutenant Commander Tashai had managed to make the Vulcan come out of her naturally reserved shell and display affection.

“Get a room you two,” Jara joked sitting down, and signaling the bartender for two drinks.

Pr’Nor looked, not confused as such but indignant, “I have quarters.”

“It’s a human joke,” Miller pointed out.

“Humans get uncomfortable when they see two people displaying affection,” Tashai explained in a way that the Vulcan would get.

Pr’Nor looked quizzical, “Why would two women kissing make anyone else feel uncomfortable? Unless you are romantically involved in the activity, or those participating it has no logical affect on you.”

“You’d think right,” Jara said.

“Us humans, well we have a history of being really interested in what other people do,” Miller pointed out.

Tashai, who had lived through more than a little of humanity’s nonsense nodded, “They used to get really creepy about it. So, everyone excited to go through another portal?”

“It is not logical to be excited to go through a portal,” Pr’Nor said, “Likely we will simply find more unknown space, we have seen a great deal of that on this side of the portal.”

Miller collected her drink as a server brought over the beverages that Jara had signaled for. Jara took one that looks like it might be Romulan ale, but was definitely not Romulan ale.

“We should not have stopped at Earth,” Pr’Nor said, seriously though by now Tashai knew that she was pulling the others’ legs, “Humans are still not ready for First Contact.”

“Think how insufferable you Vulcans would be if we weren’t there to mix things up and make it interesting though,” Jara said, “You’d be like the Borg, just booming around the galaxy boring everyone to death.”

—- USS Luna, Sickbay 1 —-

The Romulan T’Rala Matthews ran diagnostics on the equipment, possibly for the third time. She’d been away for so long the crew had been assigned to a new ship, and her mentor and friend had passed on leaving her as the Chief Medical Officer on the USS Luna. Her assistant was a much younger human doctor, who despite being brilliant seemed to be lacking in bedside manner. And considering her last CMO had been a Vulcan that was quite a thing to say.

“You don’t need to do that you know,” said Doctor Elordi, “I ran checks on them weekly while you were gone.”

T’Rala shrugged, “Just something to do, since everyone is still healthy at the moment.”

“Like the ship?” Elordi asked, he had not been on the USS Seattle, and so had not had to deal with the somewhat cramped Rhode Island-class medical bay nor had he been on the world where the lost Romulans had been, and so had not had to practice medicine with little more than a crate of supplies in the woods.

“It’s nice, and big,” T’Rala said.

“I was on an Odyssey-class before this,” Elordi said, adding, “that’s big.”

T’Rala nodded, “This is big enough for me.”

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

Commander Olivia Carrillo slipped into the bubbly water. Though not the most efficient way to get clean she had installed a bath in her bathroom to relax in, and after a day acting as the captain of the ship she felt that she was owed this, as if fate had given her permission to slip into a warm, relaxing bubble bath.

Lieutenant Pierre Lambert was already submerged in the water, with bubbles up to his chin. Lambert was not bothered by Carrillo’s more north eastern American modesty, though he had respected her initial desire to remain celebrate until after they had gotten married, an old fashioned desire that he did not quite understand. The Frenchman watched as his fiancé dipped into the warm water and submerged herself in bubbles.

“Your parents take the news well,” he asked as given how fast everything had happened with Captain Cruz being sent on leave after losing her leg, and Commander Carrillo being made acting commanding officer of the Luna they had not yet had time to talk.

“They excited,” Carrillo said leaning back, adding, “They like you.”

“I’m a likeable guy,” Lambert said, “It’s that 23rd century charm.”

Carrillo splashed him, “Shush, just let me lay here until I fall asleep.”

“You’re not supposed to fall asleep in the bath, you’ll drown,” Lambert pointed out.

“Carry me back to bed once I’m asleep,” Carrillo replied.

“You excited your own command, even if temporarily,” Lambert asked.

“I like being a First Officer, having someone else make the hard calls,” Carrillo said, “I’m not ready for this.”

Lambert shrugged, “I doubt anyone is ready for it. You just have to do what you’re best at, and you’d good at this.”

Closing her eyes, Olivia Carrillo wondered if that would be enough.