When Captain Saffiya Nassar made her way back to the bridge, she had a spring in her step. The burden she was carrying seemed lighter, and for the first time since they had hit the aperture, the darkness that had surrounded her finally seemed to brighten. 

The conversation with Lieutenant Seta, one of the Cupertino’s Counsellors, in which Saffy had learned to concentrate on what she was good at and on utilising what others were good at, had certainly helped her. She was still a tad apprehensive of counsellors in general – a very common response to someone wanting to talk about, ugh, feelings – but had to admit that she could absolutely see herself consulting Lieutenant Seta more frequently in the future. It was nice to have someone to confide in, and even more nice when that someone was professionally trained to give advise and look at things objectively. 

Hina, who Saffiya sometimes felt wasn’t getting nearly enough appreciation for what she was doing, was in many ways the opposite.  She, too, gave sound advise, but had a tendency to be a little more emotional when she was involved. That had definitely shown when Saffiya had made her acting First Officer without consulting her first, and got her into this messy situation by inviting her to the Cupertino as an engineering consult. 

But from the looks of it, Hina was doing well. She and Lieutenant Vargas – the Engineer Saffiya should actually have consulted on any matters regarding the ship – were working well together and had even found a solution to rid the system of a hostile program that had lodged itself into the main computer. 

Saffiya smiled. Hostile? Well, B.L.A.D.E was certainly nothing that should be within their computer and making decisions rather than following orders, but a self-aware computer was something she had always dreamed of encountering. She hadn’t lied when she had told the AI, now restricted to the holodeck and appearing as an aspiring cadet, that she would try to make things work out in its favour. 

She had decided to group it up with her scientists, most notably Ensign Velix and Lieutenant Pereira. Despite the unconventional decision to make the Ensign team lead, the two had come up with a quite interesting solution to their reduced navigational capacities, and Saffyia approved – even if she hadn’t implemented it. 

It was risky, and at the moment, it was too risky. But she kept it in the back of her mind, ready to implement if need be. Perhaps she should have made that more clear when the two science officers introduced their concept. Ah well, she obviously still had a lot to learn. 

One of the most surprising connections was her first conversation with Vivienne Claybrook. The young woman was a journalist and had, by all means, no business being on the Cupertino. Saffiya had wanted her gone because she didn’t want to take responsibility for a civilian – and because she didn’t want her name featured in “Star Crossed”, a tabloid Saffiya had never read. Really. 

Now, the Betazoid-Human hybrid didn’t bother the Captain any more, and Saffy noticed that she had already decided to make sure Vivienne succeeded her next entry exam and became an actual cadet. 

Saffy stepped into the turbolift, reflecting on the mistakes she had made, but also the suggestions she had taken on board, and the decision she was proud of. 

Next up: Learning her crews names. 

It came as a surprise to her, but she wanted to get to know them. All of them, as much as that was humanly possible. And preferably after they had gotten out of this… what had Vivienne called it? Subspace tunnel? 

Saffiya would certainly need more information on it, but the idea of a network of shortcuts seemed both enticing and very frightening at the same time. The possibility to travel into the furthest reaches of the galaxy, or – in more practical terms – improve trade routes and emergency response to threats of any kind was… enticing. 

The idea that they would get out of this place and find themselves on the other end of the galaxy was… well, less enticing. Especially considering the current state of the ship, and in particular the dwindling medical supplies. 

But they would cross that bridge when they got there, which was hopefully never. 

The doors to the bridge swished open, and Saffiya stepped out of the turbolift. Silveira was manning the tactical console, and their pilot – she really had to ask him what his name was – was doing pilot things. Definitely a good start. 

“How are we doing?”, she asked lightly. Perhaps too lightly. Lightly enough to immediately regret the question as one of the other officers turned around to her. 

“We were actually just about to contact you….”