“She’s beautiful.”  Lieutenant Greer Moore stared at the sight of the Canopus Class starbase from the observation lounge of the USS Douglas.  She sat across the table from Commander Miados.  Both were former Chief Engineers from the Douglas and the Dragonly, respectively.

Miados felt the memories of her symbiont reflecting on the journey.  She had left in frustration when she’d lost her department head position on the Mackenzie with a transfer to the Dragonfly.  She nearly walked away from Starfleet entirely.  A chance call from Fleet Captain Fontana had intrigued her enough to make the trip to see what he had been offering.  She and Moore had spent the trip examining the schematics for Montana Station, fascinated at the construction process and progress.  Miados commented, “She’s still in pieces, poor girl.  They’re still scrambling to get those last parts installed.”  

Greer turned back to her fellow engineer, “You haven’t said much.”  Most of their conversations had been at the technical level.  She noted how the commander had steered way from a deeper dialogue.

“They promoted me to get me out here.  Fontana called me and told me there was nobody else he wanted me out here.  He told me he’d done his research.”

Greer detected something in her tone, “You think he lied to you?”  Fontana was a lot of things, she knew, but a liar?  That was a new one.

“No.  I think he saw what happened to me and knew my dossier well enough.  I was ready to walk away from all this.  I was ready to find a quiet place to live and tinker my time away in the shade of some gentle tree in the middle of nowhere.”

Greer’s smile took a turn for the wry, “But you weren’t ready.”

Miados rolled her eyes, “I wasn’t even close to ready.  The minute that damn man called, I had to slap my hands over my mouth.  You never want to look too eager.  I got the offer of a lifetime: a Canopus class.  That’s one class down from a Starbase I.  I made him wait.”

“While you danced across your quarters?”

“You seem familiar with the move.” Miados was starting to like Greer a little more.

Greer’s smile widened, “I’m not proud of my dancing, but I did.  I was going to wait for either a station or a planet base.  Hell, I worked a few favors to see if I could hold down a desk back home.  Fontana’s call changed it all.”  Her smile faded as she confessed, “I love working out in space too much.  Station’s the next stable thing besides a starship.”

Miados agreed, “Sitting here…being this close to her…there’s something sacred with us engineers.  We feel more than we probably should about the ships and stations we work on.  I knew when I saw her…I knew I was in trouble.  I wasn’t going to be able to say no.”  She grumbled, “Damned Fontana.  He knows how to get to you.

A crisp voice echoed through the lounge, “Shuttle to Montana Station boarding now.”

Greer stood, “That’s our shuttle.”  She stood, staring with Miados at the glittering station.  “You still love it after all these years, don’t you.”

The Trill pursed her lips. “I fear the day I stop loving doing what we do, Greer.”  She took one last look, feeling the connection to the station deepen in her heart. “Let’s go meet her.”