Later

Her breath caught in her throat.

“I never wanted to do any of this without you,” Taes said.

In better days, the fit of her uniform had the power to bring rigidity to her posture.  That assertive posture was nowhere to be found.  She had nothing left.  Leaning over a laboratory table, Taes’ palms were braced against the surface.  Because the illumination in the secondary med bay had been reduced by half, the glow from the table was the brightest source of light in the compartment.  Backlit by the table was a black and gold Starfleet combadge.  Clearly etched on the backside of the arrowhead symbol were the words ‘RAYCO, KELLIN’ and his Starfleet serial number.

Taes held her gaze on the badge intently, just as definitively as she kept her back to the wall of stasis units behind her.

“I don’t think I ever told you,” Taes said, chuckling grimly, “I never saw the value of a Number One when I was leading science labs.  What could they consider that I hadn’t already thought of?  My expectations were clear.  My deputies existed to implement my vision.  Their opinions were not required.”

After taking a deep breath through her nose, Taes said, “Starship command has been something else entirely.  It was you and me against the galaxy on that Raven back then.  Temperamental scientists rotated through our crew each week, but we always got them where we were needed.  I thought– I thought that’s how it was always going to be.  Kellin, you were so comfortable in your role as my mentee.  You thought I could unlock every secret of starship command for you.  You thought I had so much to teach you.”

“I’m sorry; I should have tried harder to convey how much I was learning from you.“

April 12, 2401

The opening of the exterior hangar doors offered a disquieting reminder of her place in the galaxy.  After only her maiden voyage, the Constellation had found her way back to the Avalon System of her construction.  The caged framework of an orbital drydock facility was visible beyond the stern of the Constitution III-class starship.  Although Constellation had put into drydock for imperative repairs, there was something oddly menacing about the clawing curves of the drydock, as if it were a metaphorical scorpion sitting on the back of a figurative frog.

At the edge of the main shuttlebay’s deck, where a protective forcefield held in the life support, a translucent hologram obscured the view of empty space beyond.  In that intersection between atmosphere and vacuum, the reminders of a hard-won history shared space with hope for the inscrutable bright frontiers to come.  The holograms relayed live videofeeds of starships flying a parade around Sol Station at Earth, along with an honour guard of starships touring the Avalon System.  Every starship served as a testament to the boldness of Enterprise NX-01’s legendary mission of exploration that marked the re-invention of modern-day Starfleet.  

Constellation would have flown proud among that parade through the stars if Taes hadn’t failed her crew so spectacularly.  The Deneb Sector had been invaded by a time-lost fleet of Jem’Hadar under a blanket of misinformation from Starfleet Command and the Federation News Network.   After captaining mobile laboratories, Taes had been entrusted with a mission beyond Federation space to uncover the origins of that Lost Fleet.  Although she had been savvy enough to discover the secrets of the artificial wormhole, the Dominion had stolen pieces of her ship and her crew along the way.  A Changeling infiltrator had robbed her of her executive officer and chief science officer.  Her inexperience in battle had robbed her starship of reliable communications, shielding and warp drive.

That was what kept Taes aboard Constellation when the Avalon Fleet Yards repair crew had come aboard.  The vast majority of her crew had accepted shore leave.  Many of them only travelled as far as Sato City on Avalon II, while the Romulan Free State contingent returned to Romulan space.  If they returned to her crew, Taes assumed, would depend on the RFS Science Ministry’s evaluation of the events that had resulted in Taes abandoning RFS mission commander Flavia to protect the lives of the rest of Constellation’s crew.

Taes squinted up at the holographic screens.  She couldn’t hear the speeches being relayed over the din of conversation around the shuttle bay.  Of the fifty-some-odd crew members who had remained aboard the ship, Doctor Nelli had gathered them in the shuttle bay to observe the festivities that were being celebrated everywhere else.

Organized in an organic cluster over a buffet table, Taes found coupes filled with a viscous green fluid.  That was it. There was green fluid to drink and nothing else.  She raised one of the coupes to her lips and she took a sip.  The scent was bracing and it tasted of chlorophyll.  

To Doctor Nelli, Taes remarked, “When you volunteered to organize the refreshments, I had expected more variety.”

“Ormachi nectar is our favourite,” Nelli said.  Their vocoder produced the statement in its typical monotone sing-song.  If the Phylosian took offence to Taes’ statement, Nelli showed no sign.  Rather, Nelli slurped at the contents of another coupe.

Then Nelli asked, “Why would we consume anything other than the best?”

Taes smiled tightly at Nelli.  She shook her head and she sipped at the nectar.  “I can’t think of a single reason,” Taes said, raising her glass to Nelli.

Turning to face the other gathered officers, Taes announced, “There’s still time.  One last runabout could get any of you to Sato City before nightfall.  You should all be enjoying yourself.  Constellation will be in safe hands with the fleet yard crew.”

Lieutenant T’Kaal reacted to Taes’ attempt at reassurance with a tilt of her head.

“Ah, you say that, Captain Taes,” T’Kaal said, “and yet how would you explain the spatial resolution of the crystal lattice couplings in Constellation’s neutrino imaging scanners?  Their quality was substandard upon their construction in this very—“

As if she hadn’t even heard T’Kaal speaking, Yuulik interjected, “You know why I’m here.”

Shaking her head at that assertion, Taes retorted, “What?  Are you jealous?  Because I mind-melded with T’Kaal.  Are you proving yourself now?”

Scoffing at Taes, Yuulik said, “How could I be jealous of walking bohrium?”  She waggled a dismissive hand at T’Kaal.  “As soon as you mind-melded with her, you fell asleep.“

“And if Yuulik’s here,” Nova chimed in, “I’m here too.  She’s my only friend in this century.”

“What’re you talking about?” asked Ensign Dolan, in his Zaldan brusqueness.  “Doctor Nelli ordered–“

Before he could say anything else, Nova took him by the arm and dragged him away to a group of engineers on the other side of the shuttlebay.  Taes raised her eyebrows and searched the vicinity for Doctor Nelli.

“What was that?” Taes asked.

It was Cellar Door who answered, “I don’t feel much like celebrating Starfleet.”  The exocomp flight controller hovered on anti-grav boots, sweeping closer to Taes.  “I already spent enough time away from my post during the synth ban.  I’m here for you, captain, because you won’t leave Constellation.  …We all are.”