Olivia leaned back in her chair after the two captains left, and looked at Rhys, one eyebrow raised.

He answered the unspoken question.

“They’re both wildcards,” he said, his deep voice a rumble that had always been pleasing to her. “On the surface, Riggs more than Mason… but I’d watch the other one more. Riggs is dangerous, but Mason?” He shrugged. “He’s dug in like an takavalian spider. Pulling strings around him.”

She nodded, agreeing with Rhys’s assessment. He came over as the grumpy security officer (which he was) and overly possessive of her (which he was but she’d rarely seen him express so overtly), but he was extremely observant, and picked up body language like no one else she knew.

“Riggs surprised Mason though,” she commented, sliding the tip of a shaped nail around the edge of her padd screen. “Did you see it?”

He nodded. “He’s a chameleon. Guys like that always are.”

She didn’t let her expression change even at the charged note in his voice. He was talking about Aaron, who was just as charming as Riggs and, when pushed, flipped to serious in just the same manner.

“They do tend to be.” Refusing to be drawn on that, she gathered her padds. “Okay, our new XO should be arriving shortly, but until then, let’s get on with things, shall we?”

Rhys grunted as she levered herself to her feet. She smiled down at him. “I believe you have a new department to go and scowl at.”

He stood up, deliberately looming over her, so close that her skin prickled. “You like my scowl,” he reminded her, his voice low.

“I like you,” she chuckled, pushing at his arm. It was like pushing a rock. “The scowl, maybe. The difference is, you don’t intimidate me.”

He grumbled again in the back of his throat, watching her. Even though they were alone in the briefing room, she knew he wouldn’t kiss her. He never did when they were on duty, unlike Aaron, who did whenever he thought he could get away with it.

“Don’t be late for dinner,” he told her and, turning, left the briefing room. She watched him go, appreciating the way his uniform fit since there was no one present to see her, and followed him at a slower pace.

Emerging onto the bridge, she waved down the bright spark who started to announce ‘captain on the bridge’. She’d have to rescind that protocol. Immediately.

Crossing the bridge, she settled in the center chair, aware of everyone’s eyes on her and crossed one leg elegantly over the other.

“Mr. Thayer,” she addressed the chief helm officer, even as she typed on the small console on her chair. “Lay in the following course please. Warp 6 on my mark.

“Aye, captain.” The reply was smooth, even if she caught a slight hint of surprise that she knew his name already. Which she did, just like she knew the Chief Science officer, Steele, was currently at his bridge station and that the tall woman who’d just walked through the door was Lieutenant Commander Bennett. Followed swiftly by Aaron, who winked at her. She raised an eyebrow, but then ignored him. 

“Computer, is Commander Holliday aboard yet?”

“Yes, captain. Commander Holliday reported aboard five minutes ago.”

“Excellent. Transporter room, this is the captain, have Captain’s Mason and Riggs transported over to the Resolute?”

“Aye captain. The two captain’s and a commander transported back over to the Resolute a few moments ago.”

“Thank you.” Olivia sat back in her chair. The commander would be the Resolute’s new XO, Commander Andrews. She’d scanned his record, but he was Mason’s preferred pick for the position. Seemed he’d served with Mason before and, despite the Murphy debacle, Mason had a good, if unorthodox, track record.

“Ops, open a shipwide channel please… Good morning, this is Captain Thorne speaking. As of my arrival a few hours ago, I have taken command in Captain Murphy’s absence. I would like to assure you that while I have been assigned command of the Canterbury, this does not mean the search for Captain Murphy has been abandoned. We will, working with the Resolute, be continuing the search. You have my word that we will find him.”

She nodded to the ops officer to cut the comm and said, “Please send a notification that I want to see all department heads in the conference room in one hour please.”

”Aye ma’am.”