“Those are the applications for various shops on the promenade.  I’ve removed five of them for not following the brief.  That leaves five for your review.”  Ensign Deborah Porter handed her CO, Fleet Captain Geronimo Fontana, the PADD.  “There will be more to come as the station comes together.”

Geronimo scanned the offerings, “West Yellowstone Coffee.  Glasgow Steakhouse.  Billings Confectionary.  Fort Peck Pub.”  He mused, “They got the names right, at least.”

Deborah smiled thinly, “Most of their business plans and operational systems are functional within standards, but I’d like some leeway to ensure they operate beyond standards.”

He waited for her to continue, gesturing at her hesitance, “Explain.”

“I want whatever I work on or wherever I serve to be the best, sir.  I came here to push to make this a place people talk about, even back on Earth.  I didn’t make many friends in that process…but it’s important to me – whatever I am a part of, I want to make it shine.” She shifted on her feet, “You giving me the chance to stay is what I’ve needed.  I’ve never been anywhere long enough to really, well…do anything beyond preparation work before they shipped me onto the next.”

Geronimo steepled his fingers, “You really want this, don’t you.”  She gave a barely restrained nod in reply.  “We’ve got a long way to get to where we’re known back on Earth…I’ll settle for being one of the lighthouses in the rimward spaces out here.”  He picked up a PADD. “Speaking of – it looks like they recently transferred operational control of the Joint Base Dathon to our Task Force.  It’s us, them, Starbase 400, and Deep Space 20 – not as crowded as it is back home, but the sky seems to be filling up around here.”

She frowned, “That’s the Children of Tama station.”

“A problem?”

Grace pursed her lips in thought.  It had been a year since she’d been there.  “I…don’t imagine it will be.  I ran up against a few mid-level engineering and operations teams a year ago on assignment.”

He replied, “I don’t think I’ll have reason to send you there in the near future. It’s a long trip out there.”

A voice from his desk broke through, “Fleet Captain Fontana, we have a priority one message from the Perseverance on an encrypted channel in Central Command Operations.”

“On our way.”

He walked down the stairs and hit the ground moving, reaching the DEP CMDR section of the expansive operations center.  He nodded to his newly assigned XO, Captain Peter Crawford, who monitored the situation.  “Put them through.”

The large screen at the station flickered, and Captain Wren Walton appeared, sitting on her bridge, “Fontana.”  She gave him the rundown and the details that they had.  “Our initial evaluation is that it’s not intended as a tactical or defensive structure.  Commander Park thinks they’re looking to have a way to see what we’re up to over here.  Lieutenant Albright is in agreeance.  We’ve attempted to contact the station or the Tholians for the last hour, but nothing yet.”

Geronimo turned to Crawford, “Thanks for coming into this so quickly – I know you didn’t expect to tackle something right when you arrived.  Evaluation?”

Peter tapped at the consoles, adjusting the screens, “Perservence is a science ship – she’s got a lot of ways to look and see.  It’s been some time since we scanned that part of space anyway.  Gives us a few days to circle back around to see what progress they’ve made.”

Fontana turned to Walton on the screen, “Let’s give it three days, captain.  Plot a scanning map of the area and see what that new ship can see and identify.” Wren nodded and closed the channel. Her face had filled in her silence.  Fontana knew she wasn’t happy about being thrown into the deep end.  She was a complicated case sometimes.  She was still damned good at doing her job.  He turned to Crawford, “Harris Transport is expected in a few hours – I’ll take the CONN for a bit.”

Peter chuckled, “You don’t want to deal with Rachel Harris.”

“She’ll appreciate meeting you, I think.”  Crawford stood at attention and departed, and Fontana returned his eyes to the station.  He wasn’t about to admit it, but the connection to her son made meeting her complicated.