—

The screen flickers to life showing Kirin sitting at the desk in her quarter aboard Starbase Bravo. On the wall behind her, an image of Bravo revolves slowly. She is wearing a white tank top while her uniform jacket is draped over the back of the chair. Her green hair, streaked with re dis braided on the right side of her head and pulled into a ponytail.

Picking up her mug of coffee she starts.

—

“Captains Log – Stardate 77260.72; April 5th. Lieutenant Kirin Tarken”

—

She smiles as she says this and visible shudders with excitement.

— 

“That is the First time I have said that – I like the sounds of it” 

“Today was a good day, got a lot done. And I have to admit, I really like this station; pity we won’t be here much longer. Excellent resturants and that Raktajino! I need to speak to that Klingon on the promenade to get some of those beans for the ship…almost need to see about getting a copy of some of those holodeck programmes, or visit them before we depart. They are intriguing, to say the least, especially the training ones.”

“Oh, damn. Well, that should have been in my personal log. Computer save the recording as personal log and restart”

Computer beeps twice

“Captains Log – Stardate 77260.72; April 5th. Lieutenant Kirin Tarken”

“I met with Lieutenant Thanen Th’zalnar today on the promenade at the Klingon fusion restaurant during his midday meal to get a feel for him. First impressions; he will do well. He seems to be, overall, a nice man and competent from his records it seems. We discussed the mission, the crew and the Daradax and he impressed me. That doesn’t always happen. He knows the ship, and he knows his job. That confidence will be good, you do not want an XO or any officer or enlisted personal second-guessing themselves. I think he will fit in nicely, we will about the other crew but he is easy going which will be good.”

—

She pauses for a moment tilting her head and pursing her lips in thought.

— 

 “Also, Easy on the eyes as well…not that that matters; Overall a good man to have onboard”

“Spoke about his time at the academy, and his time here on Bravo. Wasn’t sure if we may have crossed paths at the academy; the timing was close but he started a couple of years after I graduated. He has been on Bravo since with the shipyards and repair teams; both excellent skills sets to have onboard the Daradax. He is clearly respected and promoted for his work in the yards leading a team there – So good with people.

“Turns out he was assigned to the Daradax before I even had my orders, over 2 months ago. He is leading the effort to get it up and running and is impressed with it – a good sign.”

“Turns out my earlier estimates of 2 weeks to get her up and running were wrong, Thanen estimates 6-7 days.” She is a newer version of the Aerie Class – A Raven refit that has been left in the yards for some reason. She is only a decade old which is a bit odd.”

“We ate and shared a few stories and generally got to know each other before he took me to the yards and I got my first view of her, my first command. The Daradax!”

“She was more impressive than I thought – maybe because I am going to command her who knows. Due to the overhaul, she was docked so we took a quick tour. Currently, there are panels missing and wires hanging everywhere but she is a solid ship and Thanen assured me that those will be sorted in the next 36 hours.”

“With only 5 of us it will be a lot of space so we will need to think about its use; possibly turning one of the empty quarters into a gym could be good. The mess alone can hold 20 people. This again makes me wonder why only 5 of us were assigned. Though that means we each get a nice set of quarters though so cannot complain about that.”

“Deck 3 is where I expect we will spend most of our time working, the labs and such are all there though either myself or one of the others will need to be on the bridge at all times I feel.”

— 

Leaning back Kirin takes a sip of her coffee and smiles

— 

“The best part, she even has a SMALL HOLODECK! Well, holosuite I guess. So that is pretty sweet it will make downtime and training easier. Starfleet realized if you want a ship out there for extended periods it helps. Even with that unexpected addition it still leaves us with a ton of empty space. We could use a few extra crew members to add some redundancy and fill up the space. I will need to check with command on this.”

“The big question though was what survey and armament systems did it have. The shuttle will be nice, save us having to land her when we need to get planetside and the transporter isn’t an option. I was very happy to see that she has been more armaments than I thought. Phasers and 10 torpedoes; I think we could go head-to-head with a B’rel if needed. Not that we would.”

“Overall it was an excellent tour and introduction to my XO. We will meet again in two days out of work to get to know him as I need to start planning our next steps as Ensign Dawson, Mnass and Belania will arrive in three days and I need to get ready for that. 

“Computer end recording.”

— 

Kirin stifles a yawn and leans forward closing her computer before getting up.

— 

—

Thanen is sitting at the engineer station in the engine room of the Daradax, wires dangling around him and the powered down warp core visible behind him. In full uniform, wearing an engineering harness. He yawns as the time stamp shows it is late in the evening.

—

“Personal Log – Stardate 77260.72. Lieutenant Thanen Th’zalnar”

“Let us keep this short and sweet.”

“I met with my soon to be new CO, a Lieutenant Kirin Tarken. She will be taking command of the Daradax in the next few days. Though I have been told to address her as Kirin.”

“First impression?”

“In short, she will be up to the task. I would be lying if I said I had not reviewed her personnel file before the meeting. She in general seems to be easy going and relaxed but I sense she has cold iron inside her. If pushed she will push back and hard. Though I would expect that from someone who has had the last few years classified by SF Intel. The risk though, if hit just right, cold iron can be brittle if not tempered. Though that is the XO’s job I guess to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“We reviewed the crew list, it will be an odd collection for sure. At first glance, we will have an overly shy science officer with some medical background… a good thing we have the EMH…though that is another story. Our security and tactical officer is a hot-headed half Klingon and of all things a Ferengi as or pilot and navigations officer. Not many of them in Starfleet, let alone a woman. That is nice to see though. Not much on her record beyond that, she looks like a very good officer. Add that to me; fairly normal I think, and our Orion/Risan CO with a rather substantial part of her record classified I am not sure what to expect. Though we will make it work.”

“Kirin briefed me on the mission; the first time I have had this information. It is straightforward enough and opened ended. Explore, cannot be unhappy with that but I will miss the yards. We are to survey Sector Fero Psi following on from the USS Centaur. The only set order so far is a collect and drop off mission. Star Fleet is sending an observation team to watch the Hallgaerans, cannot say I know anything about them yet. We are to help them set up on the planet and ensure all is well for a few days then will act as their point of contact if things turn south.”

“If it does turn south, I can guarantee that we will be as far as possible from the planet when it happens, such is the way of things. Sure it will be fine.”

“The Daradax, where to start. She is coming along”

—

Thanen gestures behind him with his left arm as if to say look at her.

—

“I am not sure why she was in mothballs considering she is only 10, years old. Though it has made out job easier, very little to do beyond an in-depth maintenance check and some hardware and software updates. With a crew of this size, we will have lots of space and will need to fill multiple roles but it will keep us busy so that is good. There are several lab spaces that we will need Ensign Dawson to confirm what she wants them for; all the equipment is on the station so will only take a day to get them set up.”

“Kirin did suggest we take one of the empty quarters on deck 3 and turn it into a multi-purpose gym so that the holosuite doesn’t have to be used for that. I can see her logic there. That reminds me….”

“Computer remind me to file a request for gym equipment to the USS Daradax tomorrow at 9:00.

Computer beeps twice to confirm the reminder is set

“If all goes well she will be ready in less than a week, a few days of shakedown to double-check and we are good to go.”

“Computer end recording.”