Ten days before April 12, 2401 

Standing next to the window in her ready room, Tilana stood there staring out lost in thought. They were scheduled to depart Starbase Bravo in a few hours to make their way to Earth in time for Frontier Day celebrations. Repairs were right on schedule, they were finishing up installing the new fleet formation mode onboard the Gagarin. The last few weeks had put a toll on their ship, the crew, especially her as the new commanding officer of the Gagarin. It was a place where she figured to be a few more years before she was given her first command, not how it happened.

Turning away from the window she let out a more verbal sigh then she realized, walking to her desk she sat down and worked her jaw with the stack of padds that she seemed to be procrastinating to get through. Yet another verbal sigh escaped her lips just as the door chime went off, she almost rolled her eyes at the disruption but caught herself. She contemplated ignoring it hoping that whoever was on the other end would just go away. That didn’t happen when the chime went off again a minute later, “enter.” She replied as she picked up a padd to make it look like she was just sitting there.

Aleish Trol entered with a brief smile before walking up to the chair directly in front of the desk and taking a seat. “Everything alright sir?” Aleish asked, she felt a bit odd to be the new first officer. She thought she’d be content with being chief security & tactical officer. When Than was reassigned the offer came down to her, she was honored and accepted. Though it didn’t make it feel any more strange, an adjustment would take awhile but she was confident in her ability or so she hoped.

Looking at her for a brief moment before turning her attention to the padd with the information about the new fleet formation mode. Tossing it gently across the desk towards Aleish. “I am not sure how I feel about this,” Tilana said looking at her and working her jaw for the zillionth time in the last thirty minutes before clenching it tightly.

Picking up the padd that had slid across the desk she began to read the contents. After a few moments of reading she raised an eyebrow. “What purpose is this supposed to serve?” Aleish asked, “other than to control every ship within the fleet that has this mode installed.” She added as she didn’t quite like the idea of this new mode.

“They are supposed to give a demonstration of it on Frontier Day celebrations,” Tilana added with a sigh. “On another note, repairs are on schedule and we will be able to depart from Starbase Bravo and start to make our way toward Earth to be there in time for Frontier Day,” Tilana added with a sigh as she looked at her.

“That’s good, maybe the festivities of Frontier Day will give our crew some hope for the future Despite all that we have been through,” Aleish replied though she wondered if it would though she wanted to be optimistic that things will get better.

“I hope so as well,” Tilana said in agreement.

Aleish stood up from the chair that she’d been sitting in, “you have been in her for the last few hours how about we head over to Starbase Bravo and grab some lunch?” Aleish asked Tilana trying to get her out and enjoy some relaxation before they are due to depart.

Tilana sat there looking at the padds that were piled on her desk, she blew through her cheeks thinking she should rather finish those reports. “Well I guess these reports can wait a bit longer,” Tilana said after a while of silence before standing. “Why not,” she added as they both headed out of the ready room.

Meanwhile, in engineering things were all going according to plan as Aarven Ashatia who wasn’t who she appeared to be. She continued her work putting things into place for when they arrived at Earth for Frontier Day. While other engineers were enjoying themselves it wasn’t unusual for some or even the chief to remain behind and work even though there were engineers from the station doing repairs. So no one thought anything was out of the ordinary which worked fine for her.

She had convinced the Captain that she made modifications to the transporters to help them be able to identify Changelings. Suggesting that everyone use it to make sure there weren’t any on board, which the captain had thought was a good idea since things had been happening since the start of the war with the Lost Fleet. Though her modifications were anything but that, she made it appear to give a negative to everyone including herself.

“How are things going?” Zhayva asked as she walked up to Aarven.

Looking up at the arrival, “doing fine just making some final updates to the transporters.” She replied giving her a brief look before going back to what she was doing. “Should be able to start sending everyone through here within the hour,” Ashatia added.

“That’s good, do you need any help?” Zhayva asked.

“Nope,” she said quicker than she intended. “I mean I am just about done so I can finish up here,” she added with a smile.

“Very well,” she added as she raised an eyebrow though didn’t think much of it as she was still learning to interact with others. Zhayva walked out of engineering and headed towards the mess hall to grab something to eat as Aarvan continued with her work. In a few short hours, all repairs would be complete and they are on their way to Earth to join in on the Frontier Day events.