LCDR Varyn K’lev was sitting in his ready room when the message came in.  A humble chime from his console heralded it; curious, he opened the message to find orders from Command, for himself and the rest of his senior staff.  He read the message twice, to make sure he’d read it right the first time.  The first part of the message was a welcome surprise; in gratitude for his efforts leading the Culver City during the Rhontaka incident, and in the Shackleton Expanse, he was being promoted to Commander, and Lt. Lotharys was also promoted, now Lieutenant Commander Lotharys.  The second part, though, brought him up short; he, and his entire senior staff, were being transferred off of Culver City.  While Command appreciated the work they’d done, they were needed elsewhere, so the venerable California-class starship would now be passing into the care of a new commanding officer after she completed her maintenance availability; crew from SB86 would be reporting shortly to transfer their effects to temporary quarters aboard the starbase, pending their new assignment.

He sighed heavily; when he first took command of the Culver City, K’lev was eye-wateringly nervous about it, especially as such a junior officer, but after all that he’d been through on the ship – Frontier Day, the Vaadwaur, Rhontaka, the Shackleton Expanse – he almost couldn’t imagine leaving.  But, orders were orders, and he couldn’t well disobey these.

He tapped his combadge.  “K’lev to Lotharys.  Lia, could you come to the ready room for a moment?”

“Sure thing, Var,” she answered.

When she arrived, K’lev invited Lotharys to join him behind the desk.  She took a seat on his lap, then started reading the message on the screen.  When she was done reading, she looked back at him.  “We’re leaving the Culver City?” she asked softly.

“Seems that way,” he replied with a sigh.  “It feels… weird, like breaking up a family, almost.”

She nodded.  “So many memories… not all of them good, but some certainly are,” she finished, leaning into him.

The young couple – also captain and first officer, though now seemingly without a ship at least for the moment – spent a moment there, simply close to each other, before Lotharys stood.  “I guess it’s time to pack?”

K’lev nodded.  “Guess so.  I’ll let the others know, so they can get ready, too.”

“Okay,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek before standing and leaving the ready room.

K’lev composed a message to the rest of his senior staff, notifying them all of the group’s collective detachment for reassignment, and sent it to their PADDs.  He then picked up a PADD himself, spending several moments to compose a brief letter; when he left the ready room, he left the PADD lying on the desk, screen-up but asleep.

Over the next few hours, the now-former senior staff of the Culver City informed the crew, said their goodbyes, and packed up their quarters.  Eventually, the detail from the starbase came aboard to retrieve their effects, and then it was time to disembark.  The octet gathered near their old quarters, to walk out together; as they began the trek to the airlock and the boarding gantry to the station, they found the corridors lined with members of the crew, seeing them off in a display of the “California camaraderie” that K’lev and the others had come to love in their time aboard, in spite of the fact that virtually the entire crew were technically on leave at the moment.  Many of the crew, as the officers walked by, clapped their shoulders or shook their hands or some such, sharing their best wishes.

When the octet made it to the airlock, K’lev turned; many of the crew had begun to follow them through the ship’s corridors after they passed, and now gathered, crowding the juncture and the passages that fed into it.  Seeing the crowd gathered brought a tear to K’lev’s eye, which he wiped away before speaking.  “Crew of the Culver City!” he said.  “I know I speak for all of us when I say how much of an honor it’s been to serve with you all.  We’ve left our mark on the galaxy, certainly, in the lives of those we’ve helped, and it’s a mark you all should be proud of.  We may be leaving, but we know that you all will go on to do even more great things, and I for one look forward to hearing those stories, to learning of the ever-growing legend of this fine ship and her incredible crew.  We look forward to seeing you all out there again in the future!”

A second-class petty officer standing by the airlock called “Eyes up for our senior staff!” and all assembled stood to attention; K’lev and the other officers stood to as well.  “Godspeed, Culver City, and may the solar winds be ever at your backs,” K’lev said, then the octet turned and headed down the gantry into starbase.

In the captain’s ready room, on the PADD that K’lev had left on the desk, a short note had been typed.  It read:

“To My Successor,

“Starfleet has called me and my senior staff to move on, but before I do I wanted to welcome you and yours aboard the Culver City.  She may not be a long-range deep-space explorer, a front-line fighter, or a vessel whose scientific discoveries will reshape our understanding of the universe, but in my time aboard I have come to realize that it is perhaps in the ‘less-glamorous’ missions that some of the greatest differences can be made, and this is where this ship truly shines.  After all, what is our job as Starfleet officers if not to make better the lives of those around us?

“If I might make one request to you, it’s this: please take good care of this ship and her crew.  Culver City‘s a mighty fine ship, and her crew are exemplary; treat them right, and there’ll be nothing you won’t be able to do together.  Treat them right, and they’ll always get you home again, no matter what comes your way.

“Congratulations, Captain, on your new command!  I look forward to seeing you out there, should fate ordain that our paths cross among the stars.

“I am, most cordially,

“Commander Varyn K’lev

“Former Commanding Officer

“USS Culver City NCC-75573″