It hadn’t been all that long ago they’d been embroiled in the war raging across the Deneb Sector. Saeihr Kharth didn’t crave a peaceful life, but even she had felt exhaustion tug at her soul when she’d looked out the viewport to see Gateway Station drifting into the distance as Endeavour departed. They’d gone to warp minutes later. It was time to do something she’d been putting off for a couple of days now.

The bridge should have felt more normal. But it was a bewildering blend of past, present, and what felt like future; Airex at Science, but Thawn back at Ops, and Lindgren now sat beside her at Helm in red. The young Ithenite, Kallavasu, looked up from her post at Comms with a nervous expression, and Kharth did not offer any reassurance as she returned the look.

But Rhade had the centre seat, and Kharth moved towards him. ‘Valance is in the ready room?’

Adamant Rhade’s expression creased with that hint of disapproval he wore so often. ‘The captain’s in her ready room, yes.’

She didn’t dignify that with an answer, marching over to hit the door-chime and entering at the summons. The room had been stripped largely bare, most of Rourke’s personal touches removed by Malhotra, then the rest of that gone with him, too. While the room didn’t look brand-new, while the upholstery on the chair had been broken in and the fixtures didn’t gleam new, that made the blandness all the more unsettling. Valance was here, but she had yet to leave her mark.

‘I figured we should talk,’ came Kharth’s brusque greeting.

Valance sat at the desk with a steaming mug of raktajino beside her and a stack of PADDs. She looked up with a raised eyebrow, then gave the hint of a tired sigh. ‘Is this how it’s going to be, Kharth?’

‘For starters, I assume you don’t want me as second officer.’ Kharth helped herself to the replicator for a coffee. ‘So we can do the paperwork on that.’ When she turned back, Valance’s expression was nonplussed. ‘I’m trying to make this as easy as possible.’

Now Valance’s expression twisted cynically. ‘Are you? Is that what this is?’ She sighed heavily, stood, and pointed to the couches by the window. ‘Sit.’ At Kharth’s hesitation, she jabbed a finger. ‘Sit, Kharth.’ It was difficult to wiggle out of a blunt instruction like that. Reluctantly, she obeyed, and Valance watched her cautiously. ‘I didn’t come here to up-end everything.’

‘It’s being up-ended anyway.’ Kharth realised how confrontational that sounded and grimaced. ‘Really, Valance. I did come here to try to offer you a clean slate.’

‘If marching in with combative passive aggression gives you and me a clean slate -’

‘I mean with the ship, not with us. You and I have been through too much for us to ever start over.’ Kharth shook her head. ‘This is your crew. You have the right to make personnel decisions as you see fit. You can stick Airex in as second officer, or maybe T’Varel. I know I was Rourke’s choice, not yours.’

Valance folded her arms across her chest, watching her. ‘You and I truly got off on the wrong foot and never left it, did we.’

‘No. We just learnt how to live on the wrong foot. I think being off-balance is sometimes good for us,’ Kharth said in a dry tone. ‘Bluntly, Valance -’

‘Because this has been positively opaque so far.’

‘…if I’m still second officer, I’m acting XO, and I know you don’t want me as acting XO when we get to Teros.’

That stopped Valance short. She reached back for her coffee and sat on the couch opposite, silent for a long moment until she said softly, ‘Don’t I?’

Kharth hesitated. ‘It didn’t go well last I was there.’

‘It was going fine last you were on Teros,’ Valance recalled. ‘You were in the brig when the riot happened. When we left. I know Captain Rourke didn’t give you the chance to say goodbye to anyone on the planet. That must have been hard.’

Sympathy from Valance was, to Kharth, like the dog that barked every time you tried to sneak back after curfew coming up later to comfort you when you were grounded. ‘A lot was going on there.’ Including you stepping in to shoot that ship when I wouldn’t. When Rhade wouldn’t.

If that was on Valance’s mind, she gave no indication of it. Her hands wrapped around her mug. ‘I haven’t finalised a lot of the higher-level personnel decisions yet. But it would be short-sighted of me to remove you from a senior position when Endeavour’s operating in this region.’

Kharth’s back tensed. ‘You mean you want the Romulan giving advice on Romulans.’

But Valance frowned with a hint of confusion. ‘I mean you have a stake in this region, in what happens, and that makes you a worthwhile voice. The Federation’s presuming to have a say in shaping this sector’s future. That’s better than us leaving people behind like we did before. But it’s very easy for those good intentions to become paternalistic.’

‘Or imperialistic.’ A hint of wry humour slunk to Kharth’s lips. ‘You’re saying you want me around as your conscience.’

‘As a perspective,’ Valance said with a little sharpness, but Kharth could see the glint in her eyes at the exchange. Once, they had thought so very little of each other they would come to these conversations with blades unsheathed. Over time, they had shifted to blunted steel for sparring. That didn’t mean they always pulled their blows. ‘We’re not starting a major operation on Teros. We’re checking in. Twenty-four hours.’

‘I’ll try to consult locals who might not go right back to rioting at the sight of us,’ Kharth sighed. She wasn’t looking forward to it. She’d been accused of abandoning the people of Teros when she’d left for Starfleet. It was unlikely Endeavour’s abrupt departure eighteen months ago had covered her in glory.

‘Good.’ Valance stood, depositing her mug in the replicator, and crossed the office. ‘What happened here?’

Kharth looked up, bemused at the shift in topic, until she saw Valance pick up the framed canvas picture propped up against the bulkhead. ‘Oh,’ she said, and rolled her eyes. ‘Malhotra happened.’

‘He took it down?’ Valance sounded gently scandalous as she turned the copy of Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, the painting that had sat on the walls of a USS Endeavour since Captain Leonidas MacCallister had commanded her years ago; the painting that had sat on the walls of a USS Endeavour since there had been a Valance on her decks.

‘Yeah.’ Kharth stood, not bothering to hide her disapproval for the man they’d had to forcibly remove from command at the Battle of Izar. He’d been young and wholly unprepared for the situation Fleet Captain Jericho had put him in, but he’d also refused to see his own limitations and endangered lives. ‘He said one of the fastenings was broken or something.’

Valance turned the painting around to see the rear and reached down. ‘Not broken.’ There was a click a moment later, then she lifted it and set it back on the wall. ‘Just out of place.’

Kharth padded over. Both women stood there for a moment regarding the painting. She sipped her coffee. ‘This is gonna be weird.’

Valance sighed and set her hands on her hips. ‘I expect I’m not your first choice of captain.’

Kharth looked at her. ‘Rourke is my first choice of captain,’ she said staunchly. ‘And it’s bullshit he’s eating the political consequences for what Jericho did. But after him, who the hell do you think I’d prefer?’ That came with enough vehemence to surprise them both.

It was certainly enough vehemence to cut off any mollification or self-pity that Valance might have been tempted by. She shifted her feet, eyes back on the painting, and said, at length, ‘I wouldn’t choose a different Security Chief. I know you were Rourke’s right-hand man when I wasn’t.’

‘Rourke and I had… some similar views on the universe. I know it’s not one we share. That’s not a criticism; you being different to him was partly why you were a good XO.’

Again, Valance sounded hesitant. ‘Was Shepherd?’

Kharth winced. ‘Shep’s my friend. I think. She’s a good officer.’ She turned to Valance and looked her straight on. ‘But I don’t think what went down in Deneb would have happened if you’d still been Endeavour’s XO. I don’t think you need my validation or whatever, Valance, but life moves on. Times change. I expect Rourke’s not coming back, however bullshit that is. This is your ship now. And it should be.’

Valance watched her. Then looked back to the painting, swallowed, and said, at length, ‘Have you heard from Isa?’

That probably hurt to ask. Kharth sucked her teeth. ‘Still at Izar. Still helping them patch their systems back together. It’s definitely not a forever job for her SCE Team.’ It was ridiculous, she thought, that Jericho’s assignments had torn them apart only for Valance to come back to Endeavour. But Valance had still chosen to leave, and she knew that had triggered tensions between them and their relationship Kharth didn’t want to dive into. She swallowed. ‘T’Varel’s a pain in the ass. You’ll like her.’

Valance gave a gentle scoff at that. ‘I approve already.’ She turned away and headed back to the desk. ‘I’ll let you get back to work, Kharth.’

Kharth nodded and turned back to the doors. Then hesitated. ‘Tell me it’s a bad rumour, Valance, that you’re sleeping in the break room back there.’ She nodded to the small door to the side of the office, little more than a glorified storage pod, where she knew Rourke had sometimes kept a cot if he wanted to be immediately on hand in a crisis. But Valance was notably silent at this, expressionless, and Kharth rolled her eyes. ‘Move into the captain’s quarters.’

Valance kept her gaze studied, even though she’d been caught out on something a little childish. Eventually, she said, quietly, ‘I will.’

Change takes time. Kharth was going to push the point, but after the openness of the conversation to this point, that felt like a bridge of personal engagement too far. Valance could continue to be emotionally twisted up inside if she liked. She sighed and shook her head. ‘You’ve always got to make things difficult, don’t you? Captain.’

‘If I’m making things difficult for you, Commander, then I think I’m doing my job right,’ came Valance’s even response. For a moment, it was like old times – not that either of them had much enjoyed being together in old times – but Kharth could feel the difference at the edges. The rank. The desk between them. It was one thing for XO and Security Chief to go at each other, hammer-and-tongs.

This was different. Not simply that they knew it had to be. It just was.

Kharth’s eyes landed on the painting, back in its rightful place on the wall. Then she looked back to the desk. ‘I think,’ she said as she headed out the door, with an intentionally provocative tone but no animosity, ‘I’ll be the judge of that.’