The roar of the storm overtook the homely yurt as a petite young woman in a thick winter parka stepped through the door. With a hard yank, she pulled it shut against the howling winds before cold completely overtook the place, and then she reached up and let her hood down.

“Ah, captain,” Fleet Admiral Reyes smiled genuinely as she turned to greet the young commander of the USS Kennedy. “I’m so glad you were able to make it.”

“I had offered to stay behind to assist Ambassador Drake with the banquet, but he was quite insistent…” Captain Alleyne began to say, but then it dawned on her that it might be taken as her being ungrateful. “That is… I mean… I’m honored to have been invited, ma’am.” It was her first invite ever of this kind, and as much as her sense of responsibility almost caused her to decline the invite, she still felt quite honored to have even been considered.

“I know what you meant,” Fleet Admiral Reyes assured her. “But after the walk from the shuttle, I imagine you’re wishing you’d told Michael to shove it, huh?” The storm had come in just before her shuttle touched down, and it had brought with it a biting wind that’d chill you to your core.

Captain Alleyne looked uncertain how to reply. Telling Michael Drake to shove it was not something she’d ever have considered doing. He was too kind for that, let alone that he was a full admiral and the head of a diplomatic mission. “I… umm… ma’am.”

“A joke, Ria,” Fleet Admiral Reyes replied, noting how tense the captain looked. “The storm will pass in a bit. What we’re witnessing now is just the result of a convective gradient that forms along the pelagic boundary at the peak of the diurnal heating cycle, but by nightfall, we should have clear skies and our first look at the auroras of Colludia V.”

Captain Alleyne had followed the first bit, and the last, but that whole middle bit about diurnal heating cycles and pelagic boundaries, it was all gibberish to her, and her face said as much.

“You can drag a scientist from the lab and stick some pips on her, but she’s still a scientist at heart,” Commodore Larsen said jokingly, but there was truth in her words too. Navigating her position had been complicated by the fact Fleet Admiral Reyes still insisted on being in the lab with them more often than not.

“Give her a cause worthy of martyring a few ships, though, and she’ll forget everything else, science included,” Rear Admiral Sharpe added snarkily, a bite to her words.

“Command is a multi-faceted endeavour,” Fleet Admiral Reyes said without acknowledging the other admiral’s tone. “Depending on the needs of the moment, we are called on to wear many different hats.” She looked at Captain Alleyne. “After your time on the frontier, I can imagine you’ve quite figured that out by now, haven’t you, Ria?”

“Yes… I…” Captain Alleyne replied uncomfortably, glancing between them, sensing there was something more there than either had said, and trying not to get in the middle of it.

But Fleet Admiral Reyes just continued as if was nothing. “Since we’re bunking together, I suppose some introductions are in order.” With a gesture towards the commodore. “Captain Alleyne, I believe you and Commodore Larsen already sort of know each other.”

“Only over comms,” Captain Alleyne replied as she glanced over at the commodore. “But it’s good to finally meet you in person, ma’am.”

“Anglesia, right?” Commodore Larsen recalled. “That was the last time, if memory serves me?” The Kennedy had been part of the response Fleet Admiral Reyes had mustered.

“Yes, that’s right,” Captain Alleyne nodded. The crisis on Anglesia had occurred right after the Obena had replaced the aging Norway that’d previously carried the Kennedy name, and they hadn’t even had time to take on their full complement before suddenly they were thrust into a sector-wide deployment to evacuate a planet that was tearing itself apart. They’d been losing the race too, right up until the commodore had devised a plan to stabilize the crust. “Truly a feat of magic you cooked up, ma’am. So many owe their lives to you.”

“It was the wizbangs in the lab that deserve all the credit,” Commodore Larsen acknowledged before glancing over at Fleet Admiral Reyes. “And Allison, too, for being crazy enough to put that eclectic group of mad scientists all in one place.” Never had she seen a unit quite like the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity, and it was why she’d taken the job.

“You discredit your own role, Liv,” Fleet Admiral Reyes offered. “Making those unstable geniuses produce something of value is no small task.” Those types didn’t always play well in the sandbox together. The same could be said for admirals, too, she thought to herself as her gaze drifted to the admiral she’d never wanted. “And this is Rear Admiral Nikki Sharpe, fresh from HQ, here because they think we could use some help getting organized.”

“As the flotilla’s new Deputy Commander of At-Large Operations, I suspect you and I will be working quite closely,” Rear Admiral Sharpe clarified as she stepped forward and shook Captain Alleyne’s hand. “Together, we will optimize for operational outcomes.”

“A pleasure, ma’am,” Captain Alleyne replied uncomfortably, the undertone between the two flag officers quite evident. “I gather Fleet Captain Devreux and the others are holed up waiting out the storm too?”

“Gérard?” Fleet Admiral Reyes chuckled. “Not a chance. He’d hardly dropped his bags in the boys’ tent before he raced off to explore the island.”

Captain Alleyne glanced out the window at the storm still raging just beyond their walls. “In that?”

“A little snow ain’t gonna stop his adventurer’s spirit,” Fleet Admiral Reyes smirked. “He needs that fresh, crisp air to recharge his batteries. I do feel bad for the others though.”

“The others?” Captain Alleyne asked.

“Only Knight had the sense to stay put,” Fleet Admiral Reyes shared. “Romero and Manning, they followed right after him.” Commander Romero, the Ingenuity‘s executive officer, was quite adventurous himself, but she wondered if Captain Manning, the new commanding officer of the Palisades, had any idea what he was signing up for.