[Brahms Station]

Victoria Hume made yet another face in the bathroom mirror, looking for wrinkles. Nothing new or noteworthy though she had awoken with a swore back that morning. Placing her hands atop her head she gave herself a quick and non-medically approved crack of the spine. The crack was louder than suspected but satisfying in an indescribable way. A sonic shower and brushing of teeth was next.

Like most junior officers in Starfleet Hume had grown used to living out of a suitcase. Reassignments could happen at any time and though she had been relatively consistent in her assignments thus far she knew that at a moment’s notice she could be across the galaxy on a starship scouting a gas giant star or planet side helping a team catalog rock samples.

Thus she was not making the best use out of the larger rooms that Brahms Station provided. It wasn’t as if she travelled with much, just some old style physical photos from home and an old beaten up ice hockey set that she lugged around even if she had not had the opportunity to play with real life people for years. Hold deck simulations had to make do, and could be fun or at least a chance to blow off steam. Not that she wanted to throw people into the boards and check them into submission, at least not that she was ever going to vocalize.

Dressing in her duty uniform she returned to the bathroom to apply a brief bit of makeup and then the final touches. Ensuring her rank pips were properly aligned and that each individual aspect of her appearance would pass muster if called to. A final adjustment to the hair and she pulled it back into a professional pony tail, to stay out of her face for the day. 

Stopping along the way to the Strategic Operations department Lieutenant Junior Grade Victoria Hume got herself a coffee and a bacon sandwich for breakfast. The sandwich she ate along the way, the coffee was for later. Currently her superior officer was addicted to caffeine and thus was fine with his crew drinking the stuff on duty, as long at they were professionals about it. 

Hume liked being on the station thus far, though she was still in her second week there. She’d nearly been killed aboard her last posting during Fleet Day and the ship had been (at least) temporarily decommissioned. The remaining crew had been parceled out piecemeal within Starfleet with Hume ending up on Brahms supporting the Avalon Fleet Yards. 

A drill was just finishing up as she entered. Hume slid into her desk as the Gamma shift finished simulating an attack in the region. Lights in the room came up and the digital displays cleared as things were reset and the sector was no longer being invaded by what seemed to be Gorn. The screens now displayed the actual state of the sector not the simulated exercise.

”Can you lead the stand up today?” a full lieutenant asked, her commanding officer, “I have a meeting with a few department heads.”

Victoria nodded, “Will do, what are we tracking?”

”Some Orion pirate activity in near by quadrants but nothing that’s a threat to the station of Fleet Yards has popped up overnight,” he said.

Hume nodded tapping her fingers atop the screen bringing up the sector‘s current status. It aligned with what the officer had just described. She nodded, taking it in. For the most part these status updates were unchanging though like everywhere else in Starfleet Fleet Day had been a visible and visceral reminder that things could change in an instant. As a Strategic Officer it was Hume’s responsibility. Though obviously not only hers. Still it was hard not to blame herself for the loss of life on her previous ship and feel the weight of responsibility towards her new crew.

”And when is the drill scheduled for?” she asked.

”What drill?” he said.

”Gamma shift just had one, we’ll have one,” Hume pointed out.

”We don’t announce drills before hand it defeats the purpose,” he said.

”Then suggest they happen earlier in a shift so the next shift doesn’t walk in on them,” Hume said with a smile.

”Advice noted. Thanks for handling that,” he said and headed to his office.

”Alright Alpha shift huddle up at the board let’s walk through the day,” Hume said in a loud voice as she stood and crossed over to the room’s main display. After forty minutes of walking through the changes in situation since they last worked and talking through the new strategies and challenges in the day and weeks ahead Hume dismissed the meeting now that everyone was aligned.

She returned to her own desk and worked on her own duties.

At lunch break she called her mother who was helping rebuild Starbase 1. Nearing retirement age the elder Hume liked hearing from her kids, even if just to confirm that they were all still alive and none of them had been Borgified. Connection was vital now that things had gone pair shaped, the entire universe felt far more fragile now than it had six months ago. At least to Victoria and she suspected her mother, though the woman put up a brave face.

The drill came after lunch, as Hume had predicted. This was a simulation of what would happen if the Klingons suddenly declared open warfare. When it was over her shift was over she gathered up her PADD and empty coffee cup and headed back to her room.

New to the station she had not yet made a social circle of friends to lean on. Thus after work Hume went to the gymnasium and worked out, showered and then went back to her room to watch an old Earth movie on her PADD about teenagers in the twentieth century who skip school and then steal their father’s car. It was odd, but she liked it if only because it distracted her for a bit.

A sonic shower and brushing her teeth were the last duties of the day, that was how her father had always framed them. Duties to be taken care of before a young child, or a Starfleet officer, could sleep. The next day was similar, or similar enough that there was nothing more to none. The events of Fleet Day had sent things into chaotic inertia across the Federation. Old enemies, and even long standing allies, were being looked at anew as if they might suddenly become enemies. While that did not extend to Federation members, Hume had a thought that somewhere probably on Earth, there was a group dedicated to that. It did however extend to everyone from the Romulans to the Klingons, no matter what they’d done during the Dominion War.

They’d have to be ready. While a new Enterprise was being launched, the universe and Starfleet could not wait for a bunch of retired and semi-retired admirals, captains and commodores to save them. Not for much longer.