Edwards sat in the center seat watching the stars flow past his ship as he pushed the warp engines and the core as hard as he could. He knew that he had very little time to get to the last known location of the USS Heracles. Tommy stood behind the operations officer; shadowing the woman that stood there. Taylor sat next to Edwards in the guest seat.

“You’re worried aren’t you,” Taylor asked as she looked at the Captain.

He turned his head to her and smiled. “Not at all,” he stated in a tone that tried to hide the fact that he was terrified to know the fate of the Heracles and for that matter his own ship.

Taylor shook her head, “You know for a man who is normally calm, cool, and completely collected; you suck at lying.”

Reynald leaned forward and lowered his voice, “Is it that obvious?”

Taylor looked around quickly and replied, “Maybe not to your crew but for someone like me I can tell when someone is lying.”

A soft and quiet sigh left Reynald’s lips as he sat back in his seat. He looked at Taylor and could see a little bit of Derki in her. Though he was curious if she knew that the Admiral was her uncle.

A few hours later

Tommy walked beside a slightly older woman and the two were talking about the ship and its capabilities.

“Commander if the input was increased by .006 microns, I believe that the efficiency would be nearly double what it currently is,” Tommy said as he looked up from a PADD that he had in his hands.

“How so mister Parks,” Ali asked as they stepped off of a lift into the Engineering bay.

Tommy handed her his PADD, “Like this.” he stated.

Ali took the PADD and looked at his figures. She nodded as they both stopped in front of a terminal. “Not bad, Cadet, however, if you figure in the ratio mixture you will see that your calculations will have exceeded the core protocols by 3%,” she shows him on the terminal.

Tommy stood there for a moment as he looked at the computer calculations with his figures added in. He could see the error in his calculations and shook his head. “I see why you are the operations officer,” he said in a humble tone. “Don’t worry, mister Parks. You have plenty of time to make mistakes. Just be sure to own up to them,” she said as she cleared the terminal, “Your figures by the way are sound, but just 3% off,” she teased as she turned and hunted down the Engineering Chief.

Officers Lounge – a few hours later

Tommy sat across from his sister as the two ate lunch; both silent as they ate. It was a training exercise that their survival teacher had taught them; listen and observe their surroundings and then discuss what they had heard and seen. For Taylor it had been an easy assignment as she absorbed everything around her, as for Tommy he found the challenge acceptable and for the most part was able to keep up with his sister; though from time to time he found that he missed a few things here and there that his sister had picked up on.

Today was no different. Tommy was in deep thought instead of listening to what the weapons officers were talking about with one of the security officers, and when Taylor asked him what they had discussed, Tommy was unable to answer. Taylor let out a frustrated sigh and scowled at her little brother.

“Tommy, how are you going to pass your Intel gathering class if you do not pay attention to your surroundings?” she asked him.

Tommy looked at her with a confused look on his face. It was then that Taylor realized her error.

“You finished that two semesters ago, didn’t you,” she stated as she brought up a hand to her forehead.

Tommy reached over and placed a hand on her forearm. “A wise mentor told me to not worry that I have plenty of time to make mistakes.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ali grin as she heard the comment. He also saw her shake her head; he couldn’t help the grin that crossed his lips.

“Easy for you to say, Cadet,” Taylor teased as she looked at her brother and his shit-eating grin, “I have already completed the Academy and am expected to…,” she was cut off by a throat clearing and she looked to see who had made the noise.

Ali and Reynald looked at the two and both of them stood up and walked over to their table.

“Mind if we sit?” Reynald said as he and Ali took the two empty seats.

“We couldn’t help but hear your conversation,” Ali said as she kicked Tommy under the table.

He stifled the yelp but the pain was evident on his face. Reynald looked at Ali as he knew why she had delivered the strike. “Your brother is correct,” he said as he looked over at Taylor. “Even though you are a Lieutenant in Starfleet, you are still young and still have some leeway to make mistakes.”

Taylor looked at him for a moment. “What about you, Captain?” she asked.

“Me…well I’m the Captain, my decisions are my orders, however, I keep an open mind. Should one of my subordinates, officer or enlisted, come to me with a suggestion to an order, I take it under advisement and later examine what that person or group has brought to me. If it is sound I implement it and privately acknowledge that person or group,” he stated, “However do I make mistakes? Of course, I’m human and as such am full of flaws. That is why I have a crew to help me as I help them.”

Taylor could see the wisdom in his indirect counseling and she shook her head. Tommy once again had his shit-eating grin on his face, since he had basically told her that. Ali looked at Tommy and stood up.

“Times up mister Parks.”

The grin disappeared and he stood up and turned to leave but not before he looked back at his sister. “Keep a chin up sis, no need to stress over all the details. Leave some for the rest of us,” he teased as he walked off.

Captain’s Ready Room

Reynald and Taylor sat in silence going over incoming messages from some of the hyperspace network satellites that they had passed by on their way to the Heracles. A sigh left Taylor’s mouth as she set her current PADD down; she reached up and rubbed her eyes.

“I am not looking forward to this part of the job,” she confessed as she stretched.

“Oh?” Reynald said as he watched her stretch. “Why is that?” he asked her.

“Well for one thing. We have been reading through PADD after PADD of comm’s chatter for the last several hours, and my eyes are killing me,” she stated as she looked at Reynald and realized the man wasn’t the slightest bit tired, or at least wasn’t showing it.

“It comes with the territory and someday you will get a chance to see how we ‘Captain’s’ do it,” he said as he stifled a chuckle at her comment. “However, you are correct, it wouldn’t kill me to take a break from time to time,” he stated as he set down the PADD on the desk. He then stood up and walked over to the room’s replicator, “Tea or something else?” He asked her as he stood next to the machine.

“Earl Grey with a hint of spice and honey, hot, please,” she said looking over at Reynald.

He repeated the order and a glass mug materialized. As he picked it up in his left hand the rim of the mug steamed up. “One Earl Grey with a hint of spice and honey,” Reynald stated as he set the mug in a clear spot on the desk in front of her.

With a smile, Taylor reached over and took the drink from the desk. A sigh left her lips as the hot liquid slid down her throat. “That’s just what I needed,” she said as she set the mug down.

As she was about to reach for another PADD a hand came down on her’s, “No more for tonight, Lieutenant,” Reynald said, “It’s nearly 2400 hours and we both need some sleep. So off to bed.”

Taylor couldn’t disagree, “Can I at least finish my drink before I leave?”

Reynald chuckled, “Of course.”