With things winding down and the ship taking its time getting back to Vulcan things were finally starting to get back to normal.  Rebecca stared at the latest personnel report and sighed.  Replacing Collins wasn’t going to be easy.  There was a war going on and the sad fact of the matter was it was easier to replace ships than crew.  Every ship in the fleet was operating short-handed.   The Denver was no exception.  Her XO was doing duel duty heading the intelligence department.  She had an Ensign who had been recently given a battlefield commission and promotion to Assistant Chief as a petty officer.   Young Ensign MacKenzie was a good officer,  but so green she couldn’t with any good conscience give her the Chief position. 

Now they had a hole in Security and Tactical.

Rebecca sighed and let the PADD clatter on the desk and pushed back.  Gus, unlike Aoife, had a ton of prior service. There was just one problem.  He was an Ensign and there were two junior lieutenants already in the department, but their evaluations were anything but stellar.  Lieutenant Gifford had enough service to be a Commander or even a Captain,  but he had fifteen reprimands on his record. 

Lieutenant Folly was a nice woman and even a solid Tactical officer,  but she lacked any sort of leadership skills.  The crew under walked all over her taking advantage of her leadership… or lack thereof.  That left Ensign Viat.  

“Captain Talon to Ensign Viat, please report to my ready room.”

“Viat here, Captain. On my way.” Gus said, tapping his comm badge. “Chief Petersen, take over,” Gus ordered, walking out of the training room and heading to the meeting with the CO. 

A short time later, Gus was outside the ready room door, he pressed the button, awaiting permission to enter.

“Enter,” Rebecca announced 

Gus walked through, standing at ease near the desk.

Rebecca stood and went to the replicator and materialized a fresh pot of coffee.  “You want anything, Ensign?”

“Thank you, Captain. Vulcan spice tea with milk.” He walked over retrieving the mug as he waited for Rebecca to take a seat. 

She replicated the tea and returned to her desk which she slid in Gus’s direction. Rebecca filled her cup from the fresh pot steam rising from the depths of the white ceramic. She dropped into her seat reclining slightly and as she did her gaze drifted to the tiny Christmas tree perched on the edge. It was a relic of a bygone era, a symbol of tradition that few in the Federation still acknowledged. Most had moved on, abandoning the holiday in favor of modern beliefs, but for her, it represented something more profound.

Her family, devout Catholics, still clung to their faith despite the changing times. Rebecca, however, felt a growing distance from those beliefs. She often questioned whether she was more of an atheist or agnostic, finding herself caught between the faith of her parents and her own uncertain convictions. As an only child, and her mother already gone that left her father the sole practitioner of the faith. A faith that would likely die with him since she had no intention of passing the tradition on to her children.

She took a sip of her coffee letting the heat warm her. At last she let out a long sigh. “It’s almost Christmas.  I used to love the holiday. Hell, I still do.” She let out a rueful chortle. “Been one hell of a year. I thought last year was bad with the Klingons and then the Dominion.”

“Survival can be a good reason to celebrate Captain.” Gus offered, finally sitting down. “The crew would benefit from the stress release.” He added.

“I suppose you are right,” she conceded.  She tried to hide the war weariness in her tone, but some of it escaped. “General William T. Sherman is famously quoted as saying ‘War as hell’.  That was positively British in understatement if you ask me.”

“There is also Earth’s American view from Robert E Lee ‘It is well that war is so terrible. Otherwise, we would grow too fond of it.’ ” Gus countered. 

Rebecca slid a small black box in Gus’s direction. “The reason I asked you up here was to give you this. It was one of Collins’ final acts before departing the ship.  He was impressed with you during the Battle of Betezed and you handled yourself with distinction in the Lyphirian homeworld.”

Gus’s head tilted just slightly understanding the promotion he’d just earned. 

“Congratulations Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Gus replied. placing the item aside for the moment. 

“With Collins gone, I’m counting on you to lead the department until we find a replacement. Gifford will likely push your limits, so don’t hesitate to lean on Commanders Nalam or Jeter—they’ve got your back. Keep a close eye on Lieutenant Folly. She’s out of her depth, and managing her will drain more of your time than it should. She’d be a solid fit for security on a smaller vessel, but with nearly 250 officers in the Denver’s security department, she’s in way over her head.”

Gus thought for a second then replied, “Then we give her a smaller job for the time being. She can manage a small team effectively enough on a short leash.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Ensign T’Val will be manning the tactical station on the bridge. The tactical department is her’s, but as the ranking officer you will want to monitor her as well.”

“Understood Captain.” He said. Gus made notes on the PADD he was using. It was more a habit than any need to catalog what he needed to do. He found that some people didn’t think he was paying attention unless writing things down. “I must confess, I don’t know the Ensign other than in passing. Something that will be corrected. Her performance doesn’t raise any red flags. We will ensure it remains so.”

“I am happy to hear that. Do you have anything to add Lieutenant?”

“Nothing comes to mind, Captain.” Gus offered. Then added, “Should you need a sympathetic ear or sounding board, Captain, please let me know. Had it not been for that medal, I would have been the Senior Enlisted. We’d have been spending more time together had that happened.” He mused.

“Very well,  you are dismissed Lieutenant,” Rebecca said with finality that suggested she had other tasks to take care of.

Getting up, he thanked the Captain and left.