Cynndle adjusted his jacket as he walked down the corridor. It was nice to be back in command red but he had gotten used to the operations yellow he had been wearing for the last few months since he arrived on Bravo. His first shift on Command track was meant to start in an hour and a half and he wasn’t quite sure what he was meant to be doing yet. 

“Deck officer on a ship is one thing but on Bravo…” he mumbled to himself as he turned a corner onto the promenade without paying much attention and walked right into a young cadet.  Quickly stepping back he shook his head, “Sorry about that, wasn’t paying attention. You ok?”

Darion was in awe of the Starbase, it was genuinely a megastructure that the Federation could be proud of, a gargantuan space city housing a little over 100,000 people, a large portion of those were even civilians giving it that true city feel. the mixed effects of the overwhelming buzz of emotions coming from the starbases inhabitants and the excitement, and unease of starting anew were gnawing at him from the insides. It was then, no surprise to Darion as he rounded a corner and plow directly into someone while he was looking over the promenade.

He quickly caught his balance as he looked up at the interloper of his thoughts “Ugh, Sorry… Lieutenant” he replied quickly snapping his eyes down to the pips on the officer’s lapel “To be fair sir, neither was I” he smiled guiltily rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

Cynndle smiled, “No need to apologise, cadet, I was completely in a different world,” he said and held out a hand. “I’m Cynndle Oin’sun, don’t believe we have met before…though given the size of this station that doesn’t mean much.” 

Darion returned the smile and took the proffered hand in the traditional greeting the humans preferred “I’m Darion Hayes, transferred over yesterday to complete my academy training” he explained releasing the lieutenant’s hand “The station is quite a marvel, the first time I’ve been aboard a Guardian Class station, although not that surprising considering this is my first tour out” he shrugged

Cynndle looked at Darion and thought back to when he first arrived for his final year of training. “Been there, the station is a bit daunting when you first arrive but once you get settled in it is pretty good,” he said and he turned and looked at the promenade. “You received your first orders yet?”

“No, not yet” he replied shaking his head part of this deployment is to help distinguish what speciality path to follow” he admitted. “I only arrived about twenty minutes ago. Not expecting anything official until tomorrow” he shrugged “According to the brief the first few days are more orientation to get used to the station”

“Ah, so completely new then.” Cynndle said with a laugh, “The next few days of orientation will be great.” He paused for a moment, “I have some time now if you aren’t wanting to get to your quarters, I need a coffee before my shift. I can tell you about the station a bit if you like?”

Darion debated this for a moment, although the emotional outpour from the station’s inhabitants was a constant, it was also mostly unintentional background noise, output by people going about their duties and everyday lives “I’d appreciate that” he replied honestly It’ll be nice to get the lay of the land by someone a little more familiar with the station he thought to himself. He gestured for the Lieutenant to take the lead “After you, I’d just end up getting us lost”

“Great, you like raktajino? There is a good coffee bar one section over on the promenade. They do basically everything.” Cynndle said and started leading the way. “That is one thing I have to admit about Bravo, never short on choices of food or things to do…work hard play hard sort of thing.”

“I do actually” Darion replied partially surprised “Though I prefer it iced over steamed” he admitted following after the lieutenant “Yeah I guess that’s a big bonus of being based on a Station” he agreed “But less adventure though, kinda have to wait for it to find you.”

At that comment, Cynndle let out a laugh. “I thought the same thing when I first started here years back and then again after I was transferred from my previous posting on a sabre-class escort. But the jobs here keep us on our toes for sure. You should have seen it a month back when all the refugees were coming through. Isn’t so much exploring but the sheer volume of movement through this station and the fleet logistics is staggering.”

A few minutes later they arrived at the coffee bar and went up to the young Klingon woman behind the counter. “Hey Ukleyr, how are you doing today? Did you have any luck tracking down that shipment of Gagh that was late?” Cynndle said. 

“Lieutenant, good morning to you, I have had no luck as of yet, the ship is late and hasn’t contacted the station yet. If my Gagh is not fresh I will take it from their hides,” Ukleyr said with a smile. “Thanks for asking. What can I get you today? The usual?”

“That would be great.” Cynndle said, “And whatever Darion here wants. First day on the station joining the cadets.”

“Ah, well welcome Cadet Darion to Bravo station. We have the best coffee and drinks on the station,” Ukleyr said with a smile before she grumbled, “and Gagh…usually.” 

“Thanks for the welcome, Ukleyr, In that case, I’m sure I’ll be a regular before long,” he said smiling politely inwardly grimacing imagining the worms, some days he was thankful for being able to keep a stoic face his diplomat Father taught him. Glancing over the menu above the young Klingon woman’s head he fell back to the decision he made earlier “I’ll have to try a Raktajino, iced” he said smiling again.

“Sure thing. Especially for a future regular,” Ukleyr said, “I’ll bring them over in a minute. Grab a seat.”

Cynndle nodded thanks and turned towards a nearby table and sat down. “So Darion, final year at the academy, did you specialise in anything? Command track? Tactical? Ops?”

Taking the seat opposite Cynndle, Darion could help but take a look around the station. He could feel the frustration emanating from the Klingon Woman who was busy preparing their drinks no doubt due to her late shipment. Cynndle’s question however brought him back into the present “Personally I felt a pull toward Operations, I like breaking systems down and rebuilding them to make things run smoothly logically speaking” he paused for a moment in thought “But I was encouraged to go down the tactical route, by the professors” He paused again, this time a little longer, deep in thought remembering the “So I took their advice, seems to of paid off so far” 

“Solid choice Tactical, gives you a good springboard if you want to go into command later or strategic operations.” Cynndle said as he took a drink, “I studied on the bridge officer track myself as I always wanted a ship of my own at some point but who knows,” shrugging he continued. “Though having been in Operations, if you feel a pull towards it don’t ignore it. Even if you want to stick with tactical you can look into the Ops courses; you never know. That is the nice thing about the academy here on Bravo, it is very hands-on; Hell I think I only spend two or three months in my last year on the station myself. The officer in charge of the Cadets should be able to give you more accurate advice. I hear they are a good group.”

“That’s good to hear” Darion replied deep in thought “The station sounds like a good proving grounds, what brought you back to the station this time round, part of the switch to Command track?” he asked watching a group of people out of uniform walk past talking animatedly it’d been a good few years since he’d seen civilians mixed amongst Starfleet personnel it was an unusual sight for him.

“Ah, well it wasn’t really my plan actually,” Cynndle said looking into the distance without focusing. “The Dawn was heavily damaged and with almost a quarter of the crew killed when we responded to a freighter distress call. They were attacked by an unknown ship. We destroyed it and saved the freighter but she had to be put in for repairs; still there last time I checked. The Captain promoted me and she thought it would be good for me to be here,” Shrugging he continued, “She thought getting more experience in operations and other departments would be to my benefit.” Taking a drink from his coffee he sighed, “It is a good posting here, gives you more variety in the day-to-day than onboard a ship.”

Darion could feel Cynndle’s emotions as he spoke, luckily for Darion, the constant emotional background noise of the station meant that Darion only really felt the surface emotions rather than anything too strong. “Woah” he replied not really knowing what to say to that “That’s a hell of an event to go through” Darion responded “I must say the variety of the day-to-day is why I eventually chose to leave betazed and join the Starfleet, Beats working in politics or a position at one of the temples anyway” he added grimacing at a memory

Cynndle snorted a laugh, “I bet, politics is not for me. I am sure you will do great here Darion.” Cynndle said just as his communicator beeped. “Ah, looks like that’s my queue. Need to get running, duty calls.” Finishing his drink Cynndle stood and nodded towards the cadet. “Welcome aboard, enjoy today and explore but make sure you are ready for tomorrow, that’s when the real work begins.”

“Thanks, for the meet and greet, was a pleasurable start to my tour here” Darion replied, finishing the last of his Iced Raktajino before standing up himself “Ukleyr, it looks like you won yourself a new regular after all” he called over to the Klingon who’d served them earlier. Turning back to Cynndle he smiled “Until we meet again.”