On her way to the Valkyrie, it was a short stop, but one Saffiya found important. She had been relieved to hear that the USS Mariner had made its way out of the aperture, and she wanted to keep her promise of thanking them for assisting them with the Cardassians. 

Even if not voluntarily. A piece of the Mariner’s hull had hit the Cardassian vessel and disabled them, turning the tides in their altercation. Saffiya was grateful, and since she had a week or so in between leaving the Cupertino and having to arrive on the Valkyrie, she decided to thank them in person. 

Setting up a meeting with Captain Kobahl had been simple enough, and Saffiya greeted her in a friendly but formal manner. “Captain.”, she said. “Thank you for meeting me. It’s probably a little unexpected, but I come to say thank you.”

Looking over her shoulder, Sazra looked tired, as the last few days had her buried in paperwork. She saw Saffiya and gave her a soft smile. “Captain Nassar, you are welcome.” Finally, turning her body in the direction of the young captain, she said, “So what can I do for you? But also why the thank you?”

Saffiya sat the gift basket onto the Captain’s desk. Yes, an actual gift basked, and she had made an effort. It contained small food items from different cultures, and the beans that were ground into the life-sustaining substance that was coffee. 

“Your ship… well, let’s say, it helped us out.”, she explained. 

Looking at the gift, basked a bit confused and inspecting what it was. She looked up from it. “Alright, you got my interest. Because I think….this is traditional for a gift? And as far as I know, we have not yet met,” Sazra “Sitting down in her chair.”So spill the beans, what is this about”

Saffiya nodded and took a seat. “We encountered a semi-hostile Cardassian vessel. It seems that a piece of the Mariner’s hull somehow made its way through the subspace tunnels and to our locations.”, she paused and smiled. “Knocked their weapons offline.”

Blinking at the summary, she briefly looked outside her window and back. “You were in the subspace, close to my position?” Sazra leans back in her chair. “So indirectly, we helped. Quite the story you got there, Captain. How did you end up in underspace?” Sazra softly smiled in her direction, “Because we ended up being dragged with half a colony when that gate of hell opened.”

“I am not even sure how close we really were, but our sensors were barely working as it was.”, Saffiya sighed. “We were on a… well, rescue mission. Then encountered the phenomenon, of course went investigating, a then got sucked into the aperture.”, Saffiya said, then paused. “Half a colony?”

“Half a colony,” Sazra repeated, tapping her finger on the desk. “We were on a resupply mission in the neutral zone between the remnants of the Romulan Empire and the Klingons. We arrived, delivered the goods…and before we knew it, the aperture appeared within the colony, taking us by surprise.” Sazra shrugged a bit. “I lost quite a good portion of good people during that event….almost myself and Captain Ruslanovna”

Saffiya nodded. “We had plenty of casualties, and some fatalities. It was… difficult to deal with. A vessel like the Cupertino doesn’t usually find itself in such a situation.”

“What is the status of your ship?” Sazra looked at her, interested to hear the whole story “Mariner will.. be in repairs for weeks if not months due to the shady infrastructure of its engine’s stability”

“The Cupertino is being repaired, the crew is on shore leave. Well-deserved, and absolutely necessary after this ordeal.”

Giving a brief nod, Sazra said, “That sounds like a good deal. Sadly, I don’t have that luxury, as I have a new command to worry about, crew transfers, and death certificates to administer and write to their families.” Sazra looked at the pile of PADDs that were still lying there. “But you seem to talk about the ship as if it’s a past tense. You got a new assignment?”

“I have.”, Saffiya confirmed. “I will be transferring to the Valkyrie. The Cupertino’s former Captain was… involuntarily retired and sent to a vacation on Risa, and now that that’s cleared up, he has returned.” There was another pause. “I didn’t love letting him handle the death certificates and what comes with it, but he’s been their Captain for years. I had only been there a few weeks. It didn’t feel right to pretend I had the time to get to know them.”

Sazra remembers her days as a starting captain and the bumpy road that got her where she is now and nods to Saffiya. “So how would you….describe your experience with this first ride? Did you learn or improve something? To the crew and yourself?”

“Oh, I learned plenty. More than I wanted to.”, she smiled. “I learned to communicate more, and take more time for people. When I arrived on the Cupertino, the situation certainly wasn’t ideal, but I also didn’t make it any better. Called on old friends and mentors rather than talking about what actually bothered me. I will definitely do that differently in the future.”

“This ship was only the first of many experiences you might encounter. Sure it was brief, but you learned from it and understood the foundation that a ship is unique by its crew personality.” She rose a finger “Shaped by the person leading them” Sazra smiled. 

“Did you have similar experiences?”

Nodding to her question, “I have experienced learning curves throughout my command, be it from the Jaxartes, Damascus, or now the Mariner. I have seen quite a lot that the universe had to offer or threw right in my face. The galaxy is as beautiful as it is frightening, as it will test you on every step throughout your career. Be it internal with your crew or external with one crisis to another diplomatic mundane mission.” Sazra smiled. “I will miss traveling through the stars, so I envy you. Due to my medical condition, I am stuck at Hecate station and let others explore this universe for me.”

Saffiya tilted her head. “Is this going to be something that can be fixed? I’m an Engineer at heart, if I see something that’s not working, I fix it. I learned most medical staff thinks the same way.”

Leaning back in her chair, she thinks about the question, “Not at the moment. Who knows? I might enter a starship in the future. But for now, I am the welcoming face of this station. Enjoy the far reaches of the unknown, Captain, because before you know it, you will be stuck in some remote location wishing you were still out there.” Sazra shrugs a bit but gives a soft smile. 

Saffiya inclined her head. Those were wise words, and she found that all too often, one didn’t appreciate one’s privilege until they were lost. 

And who really knows what the future brings?