The Insectoid captain marched through the corridors of Starbase 72. The crew of the USS Chico had a week of leave on the starbase while the ship is resupplied. Threxik was reaching his second year in command of the Chico, and while he missed working in the sciences, in the command seat is where he was finding what he loved to do. His First Officer had transferred to a different posting, he had served on the Chico for a few years before Threxik had taken command. He had got to command a vessel of his own. Starfleet had said that he would get a new First Officer soon. A list had been sent to him and he had given command his top three choices.
As he made his way to the observation lounge that overlooked the spacedock, he saw the three officers he was looking for sitting around a small round table. A Tellarite, Vulcan, and Trill sat, each with a drink in hand talking and laughing… everyone except the Vulcan, that is.
“Captain!” The Tellarite doctor said raising his glass, “Grab a drink and take a seat.” Doctor Kinaav Grel said motioning to the chair next him and signalling the waitress to come and take the Captain’s order.
Threxik took the empty seat and ordered a drink from the waitress. “What are we talking about?” He asked through clicks that were translated by the universal translator.
“We were discussing the logic of the command chair,” Doctor Grel explained, gesturing toward the Vulcan. “Sevek here believes that a captain’s personal feelings have no place in a command decision.”
“That is not precisely what I said,” the Vulcan replied, setting his glass on the table. “I stated that emotional attachment should not supersede a rational assessment of the available information.”
“Which is a very elegant way of saying the same thing,” the Trill remarked with a grin.
“It is not.” The Vulcan said in his flat tone.
Grel snorted into his drink. “And there it is again.”
Threxik tilted his head, his antennae shifting slightly as he considered the three officers. “And what do you believe, Lieutenant?”
Vereyn leaned back in his chair. “That depends, Captain. Are we discussing the logic of making a decision, or the logic of convincing a crew to follow it?”
For the first time since Threxik had arrived, the Vulcan turned his attention fully toward the Trill. “An interesting distinction,” the Vulcan admitted.
“Thank you. I occasionally make one.” The Trill said with a smile.
Kinaav laughed, nearly spilling his drink.
Threxik’s mandibles clicked softly. It was clear why he kept these three around the last few years.
Sevek looked at Kinaav, then to the Captain, “What is your view Captain?”
The waitress appeared with his drink and set it in front of Threxik. The Xindi took a sip of the drink through his mandibles. His clicks, once again taken over by the translator, “It depends on the situation. If it is an emotional situation, then I need to use as much logic as possible. While a captain’s personal feelings may be a part of it, there is a fine line. There have been a lot of decisions that I have made based on my personal feelings…”
“SEE!” Kinaav said not quite standing in his chair and pointing at the Vulcan who didn’t even flinch.
“…but…” The Xindi said looking at the doctor, “… I have had to use logic just as much.”
The Vulcan raised a glass to the Tellarite without saying a word.
“So it seems you were both right.” Vereyn said sipping his drink, “How do you feel about that, Doctor?” A smirk comes across his face.
Kinaav slowly sat back down, “I don’t like to lose. No Tellarite does. That’s why we make the best diplomats.”
“You chose the wrong career then.” The Trill said with a chuckle.
“My beside manner is impecible!”
“Sure. You told me the shake it off when I broke my leg last year.” Vereyn said still chuckling.
Three of the four of them started laughing.
“Ahem.” A female voice says behind the Tellarite. They all look up to see a female Edosian standing behind him. The four men settled down. “Commander T’Karna.” She turned her attention to the Xindi-Insectoid, “Captain. I am your new First Officer.”
Threxik stood up, “Hello Commander, it is a pleasure to meet you. Captain Kk’thr’xik’ch. You can call me Captain Threxik. This is Lieutenant Commander Sevek, Chief Science Officer and Second Officer. Doctor Kinaav Grel, Chief Medical Officer, and Lieutenant Vereyn Kiiz, Chief Engineer.”
“A pleasure to meet you all.” The Edosian said with a nod to each of them. “I am planning on boarding the Chico to get settled in Captain, purhaps we can meet up at another time to dicuss the expectations you have of your First Officer.”
“Of course Commander. I will be back on board later this evening and we can meet for dinner?”
“I look forward to it, sir.”
“Officer’s mess. 1900 hours?” The Captain suggested.
The Edosian nodded “Until then, Captain.” The tripedal female walked away from the table.
“What choice was she?” Kinaav asked.
“My last.” The Captain said finishing his drink.
The Tellarite doctor laughed and snorted, “Oh that’s ironic. Difficulty with Commander Thompson and now your last choice. If you need me, you know where I am. Those Edosians, esspecially the females, watch out.” The doctor’s combadge chirped, “Go ahead.”
“Doctor. This is Nurse Gabriel. There is an… acident on the holodeck… Ensign Fredricks turned off the safeties and fell off a cliff. He is pretty beat up.”
“Damned ensigned thinking they can do anything. That’s what the safeties are for. I’ll be right there.” The Tellarite tipped his head back and finished his drink. “I doctor never gets a break. See you later gentlemen.” He jumped down and walked off towards the nearest way to get back to the ship.
“We should all be going.” The Captain said, “I have a dinner to prepare for.”
“Very well Captain.” Sevek said standing up, “One of the engineers on the station have an update for our long range sensors that the Lieutenant and I were going to dicuss about implementing into the Chico.”
“Yeah, and it starts in twenty minutes, so we better be going.” Vereyn said, “Until later captain.” The Trill and Vulcan walked off towards the turbolift.
The Insectoid finished his drink and stood up. He tanked the waitress and a nod to the bartender. He turned and looked out into the spacedock and say the Chico on the far side of the dock. He walked toward the transporter room, where he would beam onto the Cali class starship. He was elated to get back out there.
