Xiang was sitting in her quarters relaxing after a long day, she thought about going over to Scott’s quarters to hang out as they did a lot. They had been good friends since they were cadets going through Starfleet Training Command together. She was about to get up when she received a message. “Wonder what that could be?” Xiang asked herself as she opened it and began to read it.

Raising an eyebrow as she read that she was going to be transferred to the Endeavour once the Poseidon caught up with the ship. Looking sad not knowing that Scott would receive the same transfer orders as well.

She definitely decided to go over to his quarters and share the news, she headed out of her quarters though she shared it with one other officer that worked the graveyard shift so she basically had the quarters to herself. Walking down the corridor, once she arrived she pressed the door chime and waited for a response.

In the midst of listening to some classical music, Scott had just finished reading the second chapter of his original leather-bound copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War when the chime rang. It was a gift from his grandfather. He’d not read it in some time, and it was a fantastic piece of literature. He bookmarked his place and set the book down on the shelf just inside his bunk space of his three-by-four and a half-meter shared cabin before standing up to answer the door. Since he was off duty and wasn’t expecting anyone, he had just been lounging around in his undergarments.

He reached for the panel nearest the door and pressed the door release button. He was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Xiang at the door and not the captain or the first officer conducting a surprise inspection. “Mei Mei! What are you doing here? I mean, it’s good to see you, but what brings you by?”

Walking in, she took a seat on his bed, “Sparky…” She began as she looked at him not caring if he was in his undergarments, that didn’t phase her at all. “Can we talk?” She asked, looking at him. She wasn’t sure how to take the news, whether to be happy as it would be an advancement in her career or be sad because she would be transferring to a different ship and not have her best friend with her anymore.

Scott had known Xiang long enough to know that the tone of her voice meant what she had to say wasn’t going to be good. He closed the door and took a half-cross-legged seat on the edge of the bed next to her and took her left hand in his before asking rhetorically, “How long have we known each other? You know you can talk to me about anything. What’s bugging you?”

“I know,” she replied, looking at him for a moment before speaking. “I just got orders that I am being transferred to the Endeavour as the ship’s new Chief Engineer,” she replied. “I know that is a good thing, but I am sad that we will be separated again,” Xiang replied with a sigh as she laid her head on his shoulder, to anyone new they would probably think they were a couple when in reality they were just really good friends that did everything together. This war was taking a toll on everyone and having her best friend by her side made things more bearable.

Scott’s heart sank. He felt like he had just got his friend back with his transfer to the Poseidon, and now she was about to leave him again. For a moment quicker than it took to jump to warp three, selfish thoughts of him worrying about how this news would affect him crossed his mind when he should have been focusing on her feelings. However, as quick as they were to enter his mind, they left and he snapped back to reality. He knew that this was a great step forward in her career and they would just have to cope with it as they had when they last got separated. “That’s great news Mei Mei! I’m sure they could use your talents over there. And hey…you know you can call me day or night. I’ll always be there for you.” he replied, wrapping his arm around her to comfort her.

She nodded, “I know. Just wish you were coming with me.” She replied with a sigh, a thought popped in her head “did you hear your computer beep by chance?” She asked though the likelihood of them both getting transfers to the same ship again was slim, though she only hoped that it would be her lucky day.

Did he receive any messages? He thought to himself. In all likelihood, if he had, he probably didn’t hear it over the music and deep concentration in his book earlier, and quite frankly with him being off duty any message could have waited or people could contact him directly if it was urgent. “I’ll be honest. I didn’t even notice, but if it’ll make you feel better I can take a look.”

Seeing the glimmer of hope in her eyes when he said that, he got up and went and checked the computer terminal on his desk. There were a few messages in his inbox; a couple of shift reports from subordinate officers, one from a former shipmate now stationed at Luna colony, and one marked urgent from Starfleet Command. He opened the last message and couldn’t believe his eyes. Xiang was going to feel like she had won a lottery when he told her. “You’re not going to believe this. They want me on the Endeavour too! Apparently, I’m to replace their former Chief Armoury Officer.”

She almost jumped off the bed in excitement, “Oh my god!” Xiang replied with excitement as she jumped in his arms for a hug, “According to the message the ship is rendezvousing with the Endeavour in about an hour or so.” She replied as they would both need to start packing, she had a million things run through her head as she thought of their new assignment.

“Well…I guess we’d better get packing,” he said, feeling better that his friend wasn’t sad any longer.

“Indeed,” she said with excitement as she hugged him again before almost bolting out of his quarters and headed back towards hers to pack. Other crew members wondered what the rush was for like there was some kind of emergency going on in engineering or something as they moved out of her way.

After she finished packing she looked around the room one more time to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything, she then left a note for her roommate that she was being transferred and that she enjoyed getting to know her over the past year. Once satisfied that she didn’t leave anything behind she had sent all her things but one bag to the cargo transporter to have them sent to the Endeavour that the ship just docked with.

It took Scott nearly forty-five minutes to gather all of his belongings and make sure his room was in order before making his way to the docking port. He took one look at his storage container and suddenly realized he had more belongings than he last remembered. How could someone amass so many things in a year? He thought. He closed the lid and secured it before attempting to pick it up, but it was also a lot heavier than it looked. Instead, he decided to lift it by the handle on one end and drag it to the docking port. He probably should have taken it to the cargo transporter but it was further to drag it there than it was to the port itself. Starfleet assured its personnel that the transporters were safe, but he still didn’t trust those machines, even with non-organic material. He was just about to reach Xiang’s quarters when she emerged from them.

When she walked out to notice Scott was carrying his stuff she kind of chuckled, “why do you always have to do things the hard way when you can easily have had your stuff sent to the cargo transporter.” Xiang said as she had one bag with her that she never left out of her sight as it had valuable items in that she didn’t want anyone stealing. “I don’t get why you’re so afraid of using the transporters.” She teased as they began to walk down the corridor towards the docking port where they would board the Endeavour.

Even though he knew she was joking, he glared at her. “You know…instead of mocking me, you could always give me a hand. Besides, as an Engineer, I would expect you of all people to know why I don’t trust those things. I know Archer and his crew have used them personally, and Starfleet has been using them for a while for cargo transport but they take things apart molecule by molecule and reassemble them. That’s just not something I’m prepared to deal with right now.”

Scott could have talked endlessly about his dislike for transporters and probably would have, but before he knew it the two of them were standing in front of the docking port doors. He felt a sudden uneasiness in his stomach. In just a short period of time, they would be greeting yet another new Captain and he would be put in charge of an entire department.

She couldn’t help but chuckle for a moment as she would help him with his belongings, once they arrived at the port doors she looked back thinking how she would actually miss serving on the ship. It’s been an amazing ride even with the war going on, things on board seemed to be less stressful and now they were about to begin their new journey on the Endeavour in charge of an entire department which was a big step for her and Scott both. She looked at him with a smile knowing that they were in this together, “well here goes nothing.” Xiang said as they both headed on board the ship, and found their quarters which were across from each other. Now they would get settled and meet their new Captain.