The clink of champagne glasses and chatter rang through the air in toast to the Vallejo. The venerable ship sat as the backdrop to the festivities, docked in full regalia matching those attending her recommissioning. Her hull gleamed with new vigor following a more thorough seeing to than the hasty refit that she had seen just a couple of years prior. A freshly emblazoned Starfleet delta on the underside of the saucer stood as testament to that.

Arcadia was satisfied to take in the sights and sounds. She was never one for the political nuances of the job. Having to navigate the byzantine bureaucracy of the back offices of Starfleet Command was one of the reasons precisely that she had wanted to get away from the desk job and back to the frontier.

It did have its uses though. Building camaraderie amongst her senior staff was key, and inviting them to enjoy this ceremony was a good start. Harry had seen to making sure that they were on the guest list.

“Sir.”

Ari was knocked out of her day dreaming by the blunt tone of the tellarite that now stood beside her in his yellow topped dress uniform.

“Lieutenant Commander Gax. An honour to meet you in person for the first time.”

The bearded, stout fellow in front of her looked a little nonplussed.

“An honour indeed, but I was hoping you would remember me at the lecture you made at the Academy. I was there on the advanced tactics class a few years ago…”

Ari felt he had the disadvantage of her but quickly avoided the temptation of biting her lip and instead smiled.

“My apologies Gax. I’m sure you can forgive me. Many great students such as yourself came through those doors.” She fixed him with an assertive stare “What I shall say is that I’m honoured to have the chance to get to know you better in person. I’m confident that together we can keep our crew safe and unharmed.”

He took a sip of his saurian brandy, a particularly strong vintage, then raised the glass. “I will drink to that sir.”

–

“So what do you think she’s going to say then?”

“What?”

Chief Petty Officer Ross was starting to get used to Trevix’s effervescent nature already. Facilitating the needs of the crew was, in her view, one of her prime directives, but the trill knew how to throw out a spur of the moment curve ball.

“Her warp command? Make it so? Do it? Make best sp-.”

“I think you’re giving this way too much thought Lieutenant.”

She took a deep chug of her synthehol. She had to indulge her superior somewhat, although of course, in terms of experience and influence on her future vessel, she would outweigh Trevix substantially, at least for now.

“Maybe we could take bets.”

“You’re lucky to be in here Malco, don’t let me hear you spouting that nonsense.”

The trill went rigid at the sound of Commander Barnes’s voice. The XO gave a hearty chuckle and patted him on the back with his free hand whilst balancing his champagne glass in the other.

“At ease Lieutenant, I’m not going to get you put on court martial for some light banter.” He took a quick sip of his flute then nodded to Ross. “Good to see you Chief. Make sure this one behaves himself you hear.”

“Aye aye sir. Trying…”

Trevix looked up at the commander attentively. “Sir, you have known the captain for some time. Are you able to share some guidance on how best to work with her?”

Harry grinned, then placed down the glass on the table they had congregated around. “Well first of all, definitely don’t call her Ari until you get to know her. She’s Captain Davidson-Garnier, if you need to call her by her first name, she’s Arcadia.” Harry stared at Trevix directly. “Unless you’re interested in some time in the brig, don’t call her Arkady, for gods sake…”

“Arkady? Weird nickname…” Trevix was desperately trying to detach Harry from his eye line as soon as he blurted out the comment, so the commander looked up at the chief instead. “Her father was a fan of a classical human author, a guy by the name of Asimov I believe, she owes her name to that, Arcadia was apparently a great explorer of some kind.” His eyes shifted over to see her approaching the ceremony podium, presumably in preparation for the conclusion of the festivities. “Frankly, given all she’s been through, I can’t think of anybody more fitting of the name.”

–

A round of applause marked the formal completion of the command transfer. Arcadia stepped up to the podium and placed her PADD of prepared remarks. “Thank you, Captain Renora, for those kind comments…” She slipped on a particularly ornate, perhaps antique, set of silver framed glasses, balancing them on the tip of her nose so she could both see the notes beneath her and the crowd before her.

“Those of you who know me know I’m not one for long emotional speeches, so I’ll try to be brief…” a chuckle from the crowd broke the silence. She took a swig of water from the podium and then returned her eyes to her notes. “Myself and my crew look forward to continuing the proud heritage of the Fourth Fleet, and of Starfleet as a whole, during our ongoing diplomatic operations and peacekeeping mission”

She raised her arms up slightly, beckoning to the crowd. “I would especially like to thank you all for attending this ceremony. This vessel which I am now proud to call my command, was first commissioned in 2368. At the time, I hadn’t even got my Cadet pips, which should give those of you who might think I’m too old to have my first command some pause.” The crowd gave off a larger laugh and some applause.

“The truth is, this ship was once like me, she was decommissioned with honour, as I was, and then returned to service, as I have also done.” she looked up at the ship and then across the crowd. “It seems that the universe has its own way of calling back not just starships, but people too. For that, I feel that we are kindred spirits.”

“With that, I would like to express once more the dedication to which this vessel was made, which we should all bear witness and dedication to. ‘Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding’.”

With her last words, clapping began to ripple throughout the crowd, slowly turning into thunderous applause.