Being outnumbered was not something that Tikva Theodoras liked at all. She never liked it as a kid growing up. Never liked it in sports, or exercises at the Academy. And she certainly didn’t like it at Leonis. Deneb, only a few short days later, was a turn of the tables and she did like outnumbering the enemy in isolated packets.

And despite the myriad of Others, and their protests in the contrary, she was outnumbered right now.

“I don’t like it,” she said, countering the most recent round of infuriatingly well-reasoned and cogent arguments that were being presented to her.

Lin’s preparing another argument!

She’d look good in red. Admit it!

She’d look good in –

NO! No. Stop that. This is serious.

They have a point though.

“Liking something, Fleet Captain, and accepting it are two separate things.” Lieutenant Commander Adelinde Gantzmann and Lin might as well be two separate people. At least from outwards presentations. And right now, Commander Gantzmann was making a rather audacious career move. She was presenting it as ‘just a logical move’, supported with reasoned arguments, support from fellow crew members and most damning of all a recorded message from that vile traitor MacIntyre.

The real telling would come in finding out who the idea originated from—Lin herself, or one of the other conspirators arrayed before her in the conference room. Vilo sat to her left, Gabs to her right. Lin was next to Vilo while Ra had vacated his seat to perch on a windowsill, back to the vastness of the cosmos as it warped past them. Terax had excused himself from the meeting a while ago, when the normal business had come to an end.

Ra was all cheerful amusement, finding the situation hilarious and wanting to distance himself from any potential fallout. But Vilo, Gabs and Lin were presenting a rather unified front on this matter. Gabs was likely not part of any coordination, but she recognised a good idea when she saw one and jumped on it immediately.

“And you have to admit Captain,” Gabs interceded, “we’re not just one ship out and about any more. We’re starting to form a right gaggle of ships.”

“This is one more step on the path to someone putting me behind a desk somewhere watching blips on a board,” Tikva grumbled. “Strategic Operations. Pah. We’re explorers.”

Vilo cleared her throat, a smirk forming before she spoke. “As the odd woman out in this discussion, I can’t help but notice that Starfleet has been forced to undertake numerous operations in the last few years of, shall we say, strategic importance. You are no longer merely receiving orders to action from now on, Fleet Captain, but are likely to be tasked with shaping orders and issuing them. You will need someone on your staff whose job it is to have a holistic view of events and be able to advise you as need be.”

“Staff?” Tikva asked, stressing the singular word.

You could just taste the brass implications on that word, couldn’t you?

Fleet Captain, then Commodore, then some dusty Admiral’s office where you get knifed by a Tal Shiar agent or a Changeling, or end up forming some conspiracy.

Please…we couldn’t form a conspiracy if we wanted to.

No one spoke, not even to answer the question. Vilo just smiled infuriatingly at her. The woman was becoming imminently punchable right now. A staff meeting turned ambush that damned if it wasn’t a good idea.

“I’m not agreeing to anything just yet.” Those words caused both Vilo and Lin to explode in that mental taste of lemon essence that she always associated with self-satisfaction. She wasn’t surrendering to their point, but seemingly just agreeing to step on the path was the victory they were willing to settle for. “But I will agree to review the full proposal and I will agree to a limited trial to see if such a position is merited in my command structure.”

“Thank you, Fleet Captain,” Gantzmann replied.

“But you’ll still primarily be the tactical officer of this ship,” Tikva continued.

“So still in yellow,” Ra quipped. “Congrats on talking yourself into more work, Gantzmann.”

With a final round to ensure there were no other points to raise or discuss, dismissal was granted and everyone filed out of the conference room, save for Gantzmann. As the door closed, just the two of them left, Lin reached up and removed her commbadge, setting it down on the table before her. Her posture relaxed and the faint smile grew in magnitude.

“Happy?” Tikva asked once she had repeated the little ritual herself.

“Please,” Lin chided. “It was going to happen, eventually. Either you’d have realised it yourself, or someone would have assigned a strategic operations officer to you. At least this way you know who it is you’re getting. And can use me as a way of fighting off any attempts at assigning someone to the crew.”

“Still don’t like it.”

“Of course not,” Lin said as she stood, walked the few paces that separated them, then leaned in to plant a kiss on Tikva’s forehead. “Besides, I’ve basically been doing the job for a while now. It’ll look good for me to have the title, no?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now, dinner tonight, my quarters.”

“Want me to bring anything?”

“Something to drink and the last of those Cassiopeian chocolates I know you’re hiding.”

“Oh…” was all the response Tikva gave.

The delay in returning to the bridge after Lin herself had was just enough for Tikva to catch her breath, recenter herself and get out any residual grumbling about having been outmanoeuvred by her senior staff. She could still grumble, it was her right. Even if they were right, and she’d ultimately have to admit it.

“Message for you Fleet Captain,” Stirling Fightmaster said as the door from the conference room to the bridge slid open.

“How long have you been waiting there for?” she asked, accepting the padd he was offering her.

“Not long ma’am. I didn’t want to intrude.”

Seriously, he is too proper.

Nonsense.

Yeah, he’s useful.

“Thank you,” she offered finally, then turned her attention to the padd, reading, then rereading the message. “I’m going to guess you’ve already pulled Captain Escribano’s profile for me? And whatever you can find on this Sundiver?”

“Did someone say Sundiver?” came a question from the bridge, Tikva’s eyes flicking up to see Samantha Michaels turning in her seat at Ops.

“I did Lieutenant,” Tikva answered. “What do you know?”

“Oh, um, well, my mother served on the Sundiver shortly after it was first built. Lamarr-class, ma’am. Beautiful ship.”

“We’ll see about getting you a tour then, Lieutenant.” Tikva turned to Stirling, who answered her earlier question with a nod of his head, indicating the padd she held. “As for you Lieutenant,” she tapped Stirling in the chest with the padd. “Have you arranged someone to cover while you’re away?”

“Lieutenant Tabaaha expressed interest and will cover my normal duties while I’m away.”

“Damn good pilot, starting to volunteer for all sorts of duty assignments. This should be interesting.”

“I believe she’s taking inspiration from your own career, ma’am,” Stirling responded.

“Hmm. I’d hate to see her leave Atlantis, but it’ll happen eventually, won’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, let’s make sure she’s as well rounded an officer as we can before then. Now, when is Silver Team departing?”

“As soon as we enter the Badlands and Engineering finishes modifying Laurentia for us. Still need to make the runabout look like an older version while maintaining our rigorous maintenance standards.”

Tikva’s eyes went to the viewscreen, blank with streaks of stars whistling past with an orange smear spread across the middle, growing with each second. Soon enough they’d slow, soon enough they’d be in amongst the plasma storms of the Badlands.

Soon enough, she’d be sending a team of her people off on a mission while she sat back and waited.

“Go get ready then,” she told Stirling. “And call me before you leave. I want to come and see you all off.”

She didn’t wait for a response as she stalked across the bridge to her ready room, sparing one more glance at the storm ahead of them. Both the literal Badlands, the mission ahead and the future her career seemed to taking.

Hey, modern Starfleet can’t afford to take good folks out of the captain’s seat right now.

Besides, you only just got promoted in the grand scheme. You’ll be a Fleet Captain for years. Nothing to worry about.

So why are we so worried then?