Teila had felt out of place since she and Jeesa had arrived on the Gagarin, not knowing anyone but the captain. She had decided to head towards cargo bay one to see if they needed help checking in the medical supplies, wanting to keep busy to keep her mind occupied. Walking down the corridor, officers would look at her briefly before nodding and moving on. This made her feel even more awkward, upon arriving she entered looking around until she saw two officers in a teal uniform. One was the Caitian which she recognized, the other was a Denobulan man she had yet to meet yet.

The cargo bay was busy with others making sure the supplies got to where they needed to be. Teila took a moment before she decided to walk up to the two that were talking, “I hope I am not interrupting anything.” Teila finally spoke up as the two officers looked at her.

Grex looked at her and gave a huge Denobulan smile, “welcome Doctor Zoran.” Grex replied, “I am Lieutenant Commander Grex, the ship’s Assistant Chief Medical Officer.” Grex introduced himself as he extended his hand toward her.

She took the extended hand and shook it with a smile, “a pleasure.” Teila replied before letting go of the handshake and looking at Commander Kriia.

“Is there something I can help you with?” Kriia asked with a small smile.

“I have nothing to do at the moment so thought I’d come down here to see if you could use some help,” Teila replied as she shifted on her feet.

“Sure, could always use the help.” Kriia replied, “you can help me check in all the medical supplies and the medicine. Grex here is going to be checking the other supplies that are being sent to make sure all is accounted for before we depart.” She added looking at the commander.

Grex nodded to the two before heading off in the opposite direction, the two watched him for a brief moment before Kriia turned her attention back to Teila. “Shall we?” She asked gesturing with her hand towards the many crates off to one side of the cargo bay. They were lucky that it wasn’t only them assisting with checking the supplies, it would take hours if it were with how much was here.

“That is a lot of crates,” Teila commented as they both received a padd that had all the information about what was in every crate. Kriia nodded in agreement before they got to work verifying each one of them.

Silence had filled the air between them as they worked, not knowing what to talk about they had just remained quiet. After a while Kriia spoke up, “so how are you settling in?” She asked as she continued her work.

“Settling in alright,” Teila replied.

“So how is it like living on a moving city like the Odyssey-class ship,” Kriia asked out of curiosity and wanted to know what it was like to live on a ship of that caliber. They were well-sought-after assignments for officers, the only other one that was a sought-after assignment that she had the pleasure of being assigned was the Vesta. Though it wasn’t as magnificent as the Odyssey was.

“Other than it being a huge ship, capable of handling multi-missions. It is just like any other ship that I have served on, just have more responsibility as the ship’s senior chief.” Teila replied looking at her for a moment, “with Saratoga’s mission mainly being that of humanitarian aid we are kept pretty busy.” She added before she turned back to her work.

Kriia nodded as she to went back to her work wondering what else they could talk about but nothing was coming to mind. This time Teila spoke up, “what are you thinking of the Gagarin?” Teila asked as she knew she had served on Starbase 93 for over a year and now she’s been reassigned to a heavy escort.

“She is a fine ship, though smaller than the station that is for sure.” Kriia responded, “though I got to admit it will be good to be back traveling through space than remaining stationary all the time.” She added before seeing Grex walk up to them, they had just finished checking everything in.

“Everything is accounted for,” Grex said after coming to a stop in front of them.

“So is everything here,” Kriia responded.

“Wonderful,” Teila replied.

Kriia tapped her badge, “Kriia to Captain Derohl.”

“Go ahead Commander,” Tajir said.

“Supplies have arrived and everything is accounted for,” Kriia said after a brief moment of silence.

“Thank you, Commander,” Tajir replied before the channel was closed.

“How about we go grab something to eat and you can fill us in on the people of Rhijun?” Kriia said as it was about lunchtime and she was getting hungry.

“Sounds good to me,” Grex replied as Teila nodded in agreement. They all headed out of the cargo bay and headed towards the lounge where they would eat and chat about what they could expect when they arrived at the planet they are being sent to help.

Lieutenant Thomas McDermott had arrived on board a few hours ago along with other members of the Crimson Knights. Standing at a nearby window, looking at the different ships coming and going from the Starbase. He had noticed that an Odyssey-class ship had just docked at one of the many drydocks. “USS Saratoga,” he quietly said as he saw the registry as it moved into position.

He had learned that the Gagarin was assigned to a squadron led by Fleet Captain Azras Dex of the Saratoga. Seemed fitting to have a heavy escort being assigned to a floating city like the Odyssey-class explorer.

As he was standing there just staring out his commbadge went off letting him know to come to one of the forward shuttlebays. Standing there for a few seconds longer he began to make his journey toward the shuttlebay. Upon arrival, he walked up to the young ensign that was standing at one of the consoles.

“Sir, the Valkyrie-class fighters are being loaded into the shuttlebay as we speak,” the ensign spoke up after seeing him walk in.

“Great,” Thomas replied as he walked over to the window of the control room and began to watch the fighters come in one by one. He has extensive experience leading and flying Valkyrie-class ships alongside his formal training as a flight control officer. He would be able to fill in with that department if needed, when not flying his fighter.

After a while, all of the ships arrived and were placed in their positions where they could quickly depart when they needed to. The ship also made things easier upon retrieval of the fighters as well as to not make things complicated if they needed to return for a quick departure of the Gagarin. He had let the bridge know that the fighters had arrived and are secured.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Tilana looked at Tajir “the Valkyrie-class fighters have arrived and are secured in the forward shuttlebay.” She said as she looked at him as it seemed they were now ready to depart.

Tajir turned to Khadija, “open a channel to Starbase 93.” Tajir ordered.

“Aye sir,” she said as she tapped a few buttons. “Channel open sir,” Khadija replied looking over at him.

“USS Gagarin to Starbase 93, requesting permission to disembark from the station,” Tajir said as the line was silent for a few seconds before he got a response.

“Gagarin you are cleared for departure, safe journey Captain.” Came the voice of the operation officer on the station before the channel closed.

“Lieutenant Raro, disengage all station mornings and reverse at one-quarter impulse until we are clear of the station. The set course for Rhijun at maximum warp,” Tajir ordered.

“Aye sir,” Raro replied with a smile as she tapped a few buttons. The station’s mornings retracted and they had felt the ship back up slowly from the station, watching from the view screen. They watched as once the ship was clear it turned in the direction it wanted to go. “Sir we have cleared the station and course and speed laid in,” Zann replied looking at him.

“Engage,” Tajir replied.

“Aye sir,” Zann replied a short time later the ship jumped to warp heading towards Rhijun.

“We will arrive at Rhijun in four hours,” Zilen from the ops station replied.

“Thank you,” Tajir replied as they all went on with their work as they traveled making sure everything was prepared for when they arrived. He decided to head to his ready room to continue to review everything they had about those of Rhijun and of the plague they were currently experiencing. The rest of the bridge kept busy as this was their maiden voyage, a great way to break in a new ship. They made sure that the ship ran smoothly during their journey making sure nothing would go wrong that would stop them from getting to their destination.