240101.03.1300

Lieutenant Scamandrius sat cross-legged in an old-style captain’s chair in front of his console in the Bravo stations intelligence center. “Hmmmmm, let’s see if we can crack this proverbial nut.” As he pulled on what looked like an old earth headset with a microphone piece that sat an inch or so from his mouth.

“You know Scam, it is illogical to still use that.” the young Vulcan lieutenant pointed at the headset.”  when we have those one-ear communications pieces.” the Lieutenant sitting in the console next to him said rather loudly.

Scam pulled one earpiece away slightly and turned his chair towards the lieutenant using his overly large arms.”They don’t block out all the other noise as this one does. Besides it has all of the latest and greatest parts, just a setup that a friend of mine put together for me. ” He turned back toward the console’s central area and called up the holographic interface. This being his usual station the holographic interface appeared, barely at his arm’s length, in front of him as he leaned forward and blinked. 

A few hours later he felt a tap on his shoulder as Lieutenant V’Lyr stood behind him and pulled one of the earpieces away from his ear slightly. “Scam, the Beta shift is coming on. It would not be logical to pull another all-nighter if logic dictates that the work will still be here tomorrow.”

Lieutenant Scamandrius nodded and held up a hand as he started the process of closing down his console for the day. “Damn, this is a tough one to crack. But you’re right, maybe fresh ears and a clear mind will make it easier tomorrow.” He reached into a side pocket on the chair and pulled out a pair of fingerless black gloves and put them on as lowered himself onto the floor. Then he reached into a pants pocket and took a case out, took the device from inside, and attached it to the small implant beside his eye. 

“You know, logically speaking I’m sure the medical staff could fix it so you don’t have to wear that.”

“Hmpf, We have discussed it. There are too many possible problems for me that could arise. Besides, I’ve gotten used to it.” As he looked at V’Lyr. “ So are we still going to meet up at Downtime at 1900 hours.” as they started to walk out of the intelligence center toward the turbo-lift.

“Yes.”    

“Good, that will give me enough time to go to the gym, and eat something before.”

“Oh, I forgot to ask earlier, Have you heard anything back on your transfer request?”

“Not yet, but I’ve been told that there are several ships that may have intelligence officer slots opening with the new squadron program going into effect. So we shall see what tomorrow holds.”

“Logically”

Scam nodded as they made their way. “See you at 1900 then, I’m going to go hit the gym two levels down, it’s usually less busy at this hour.”

2000- DOWNTIME

For the past hour, the two lieutenants had sat with various friends as they made their way around various small groups.

“Oh geez, you have got to be kidding me,” V’lyr stated as he returned to the table.

“Scama, you didn’t tell me that Zhaishi was on Bravo.”

“She’s not.”

“Are you sure about that bud?”

“Quite”

“Who is that by the bar with those other two engineering lieutenants? Logically speaking, of course, it sure looks like her unless she has a twin you didn’t tell me about.”

Scama slowly turned his chair to directly face V’Lyr. “Look if she was here don’t you think I would know?”

“Not if she didn’t know you were here. How long has it been since you talked?”

Blinking his eye several times as he thought. “Two years give or take.”

“Uhh huh” 

“Who is Zhaishi?” a female lieutenant in science blue leaned in and asked.

V’Lyr turned and whispered. “The one who got away.”

She turned and looked at Scama. “Want me to make her jealous?”

Scama and V’lyr started to laugh.

“No way it’s her, last I heard she was on the Concord.”

“It is possible, logically speaking.” V’Lyr looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow.

“If it is her, and I’m not saying it is. This is not the time or the place.”

“Agreed, excuse us ladies and gents but what I believe Scama is saying is that it is time for us to call it an evening.”

As they exited downtime, Zhaishi noticed the duo out of the corner of her eye. “Oh shit. No no no no. Not here, not now. “she shook her head.

One of her friends looked at her and passed her a drink. “Come on, Zhaishi it’s not often that we get to celebrate someone getting the CEO position on the newest Inquiry class.”

****************************************

240101.05

“USS Brontos, this is Bravo flight control, you are cleared to dock at docking port 71 section charlie-gold 82. We are sending you the coordinates now. Thrusters only in the bay.”

“Thank you, Bravo flight control.” the Andorian ensign said from the Raven classes helm position.

“Take her in nice and slow, helm. Let’s not scratch the paint more than it is.” the redshirted betazed said from the center chair.

“Yes, Ma’am” 

“So Viameli have you heard anything further on what is to happen with the Brontos and us?” The human ensign in a yellow tunic and sitting at the operations/tactical console asked.

“I’ve heard rumors but nothing definite yet. From what I am hearing they will be putting the Brontos back into the new crew rotation so not sure exactly what that means for all of us.”

A Vulcan lieutenant in science blue turned and faced the captain from her console.” Captain, logically speaking I would think we would be assigned open positions in the fleet.”

“True Sassi, with the fleet returning from the situation in the Delta quadrant there may be some openings.”

The small crew watched as the station’s tracking beams brought them the final few feet into the docking port.

“And there we go ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Bravo station. If we do not see each other over the next few days, please remember you will always be my first crew and it has been a pleasure working with all of you.”

She continued to sit in the center chair as the rest of her small crew finished their preparations to shut down the Raven class ship and prepare it for station operations.

^^” Afternoon dear sister, nice to see that you and the Brontos have made it back to Bravo safely. The Mogrus docked three days ago and I assumed that you would be returning soon.  Have you heard anything? Most of my crew have been reassigned already, only my doctor and I have not.”

“Hello Sustram, a few close scrapes with some privateers during our last mission slowed us down a bit. No, I haven’t heard anything for sure. Though, I have had a few inquiries from some ships on a few of my crew over the last couple of days.”

“Hmmmm that’s something, I guess. How about we meet up for dinner at 2000 hours? Probably too late to get a table at Vandorin’s, how about “The Gate Inn” it’s relatively new and I’ve heard it’s not too bad.”

“That’s fine, I’ll meet you there at 2000 hours.”^^

Over the next couple of days, the twins were kept busy finishing up reports and working with the Bravo stations docking bay engineering teams as they prepared the two ships for future assignments and crew.

((beep)) “Lieutenant Dromi, This is Lieutenant Commander Ch’ishraannorh with Bravo fleets Chief of Staff Office assignments section. Please report to my office at your earliest convenience.”

The twins looked at each other over their breakfast and both reached up to tap on their combadges. “ Yes sir, On my way.” they quickly finished the last few bites of their food and grabbed their coffee cups as they made their way out of the restaurant.

“Morning chief, Lieutenant Commander Ch’ishraannorh said he wanted to speak with us.”

“Ahhh yes, Lieutenant Dormi. I’ll let him know you are both here.” As she got up and poked her head into an office door.

Coming back to her desk, “He is ready for you.” and pointed at the door.

The two lieutenants made their way into the Lieutenant Commander’s office. “Sir, you wanted to see us.”

“Good morning Lieutenants, and yes. Looks like I may have an assignment for one of you and possibly for both of you. Take a seat and I’ll go through the issue we have.

The two lieutenants look at each other, nod, and take a seat in the two chairs in front of the Commander’s desk. “Ok commander, so what’s the problem?”

The commander took a PADD from a pile on his desk and handed it to Viameli. “Lieutenant, those are orders for the USS Dragon, the latest inquiry class ships to join the fleet, assigned to Task Force 47. You will be the Chief Flight Control Officer on board.”

Her eyes went wide at the mention of an Inquiry class ship as she accepted the PADD from the commander.

“You will also find promotion orders to the rank of Lieutenant in there as well .” As he reached into a desk drawer and handed her brother a small black box. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if her brother pinned her new rank on.”

Sustram looked at his sister and smiled. “Congrats sis, err lieutenant.” he removed the ring Pip from her collar and added the full pip in its place.

The commander looked at Sustram and picked up the next two PADDs. “And these.” He held up the two PADDS. “Is why I called you in. Lieutenant Dormi, Sustram we have a bit of a decision to make regarding you and your next assignment. Reading your file you, like the Lieutenant here “ he pointed at Viameli ” are quite an exceptional flight control officer and did well in commanding the Mogrus. However, you are also a stellar cartographer which brings us to the heart of the issue. On one Padd I have orders for an Assistant Science Department Chief and lead of the stellar cartography/astrometrics lab on the USS Ark Royal, a Sutherland Class.“

Sustram looked at his sister, winced, and nodded. “And the other one, sir?”

The commander put the first PADD down on his desk. “This one, this one is a bit weird. This slot is not normal,  technically it was retired quite a few years ago. What I have, I would call a specialist slot. This one is also for the USS Dragon. However, it is not a department head position, as the Science Chief has already been assigned and as you just saw your sister is the newly assigned Chief Flight Control Officer. What I do have is a Navigator /Flight Control Officer slot. Let me explain, the Navigator position was retired quite a bit ago however with Task Force forty-seven’s assigned region being the Thomar Expanse we thought having someone educated and experienced in stellar cartography might be a good thing. The other role deals with the Dragon needing a flight operations officer for the Mission Support Squadron that is, at this moment, being stood up and readied for deployment. The slot is not part of the squadron, it is part of the Dragon’s command staff.”

He looked at the commander and then at his sister.

^^” should I? Will you be ok having your brother around all the time?”^^

She nodded in reply.

He looked back at the Commander, took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Sir, I’ll take the USS Dragon assignment. Something about it is piquing my interest and in some ways is speaking to me.”

“I thought you would, but I had to offer you the choice. Oh, this one also comes with a promotion to Lieutenant, we need the officer in this position to have a bit of clout behind them.” He reached down into the desk drawer, pulled out another small black box, and handed it to Lieutenant Viameli. “ You may do the honors, Lieutenant.”

As Viemeli did the same thing to her brother as he did for her a few minutes ago.