The main shuttlebay aboard the USS Republic was quite literally the definition of brand new. Everything was squeaky clean, the floor looked polished to a deadly precision, and everything was in its place and filed away. Shuttles, fighters and toolboxes alike were all in their places. With everything being so new and not used since coming aboard, no active maintenance teams were going over anything, giving the bay a rather empty feeling as well. A few deck personnel were doing odd jobs, but the only people in the bay to greet the newly arrived shuttle were Republic’s current senior officers.

“I still haven’t seen a personnel jacket for this XO,” Lieutenant Commander Matt Lake said, standing in between his two colleagues. “When I inquired with Operations all I got was ‘Will forward when able’ as a reply.”

“Probably means we’re getting some spook,” Lieutenant Commander Evan Malcolm grumbled to Matt’s left. “And someone just wants to withhold information until they can’t withhold it anymore.”

“That is certainly a possibility,” Lieutenant Selu Levne added to the conversation. “The other is that no decision was made until a few hours ago and therefore there was no personnel jacket to send along until recently.”

“When did you last ask?” Evan asked.

“Last night,” Matt answered. “Haven’t had a chance this morning, what with signing off on transfer requests and cargo forms. Including I might add a request regarding a series of engineering spares that were only requested last night.”

Evan chuckled lightly at that, but it sounded more exasperated than anything. “I was reading the reports from Titan and thought to order a few spares so we don’t get stuck in a similar situation.”

“Well I’m just a science nerd, so I’ll take your word for it,” Matt replied, giving the chief engineer a wry smile. “Though maybe an explanation attached to the request might help in the future?”

“Never had to before,” Evan grumbled.

“Because your superiors were also in starship construction and knew you would only be ordering parts or work done because it needed to be done for deadlines. Trust me, out there in the active Fleet, you’ll need to explain yourself.” Matt offered a slight smile to counter Evan’s disapproval. “Though as an engineer I bet you’ll be able to get away with ‘because if I don’t, we all die’ on your requests unlike me.”

“Huh.” Evan’s disapproving glare evaporated just as the shuttle’s rear hatch finally hissed as seals broke. “Here we go. Money on Andorian.”

“Human,” Matt countered. “Just on demographics in the fleet.”

As they both turned to look at Selu, she looked at them both briefly, with no emotion on her face, then turned her attention back to the shuttle. “Horta brood mother, her minders and no less than five hatchlings.”

“Not on my damn ship,” Evan grumbled. “I just built this ship, I’m not letting someone literally eat it.”

Matt however wasn’t arguing the point like Evan, but instead staring sideways at the Orion to his side. “Horta brood mother?”

Selu once more looked to him, this time with a slight smile. “The odds are not great I will admit.”

“I think Lieutenant, if that’s your idea of a joke, we’re going to get along just fine.”

As the shuttle’s hatch clinked against the deck plates, an inner door opened from the flight deck to the rear compartment. A young Bajoran woman in Operations yellow was the first through the door, followed by another woman in Special Services silver, both chatting with each other amicably. And following them came an Orion woman, a sliver shorter than Republic’s already extant Orion officer and decidedly more extroverted. The three silver pips on her collar announced just who she was as if the red shoulders of her uniform didn’t already.

“Commander Lake, I’m Commander Sidda,” she introduced herself, offering a hand for a surprisingly firm handshake.

“Commander Sidda Sadovu,” the young woman in silver spoke up, her tone correcting and placing emphasis on the last name.

“What she said,” Sidda responded in a light-hearted manner as she offered the woman a wink. She held out a hand, the Bajoran woman producing a padd, which Sidda then handed over to Matt. “Orders, confirmations, security codes and all the attendant paperwork to verify I am who I say I am and that I am the assigned executive officer for USS Republic and nominally in command until such time as we pick up our commanding officer.”

Matt gave the padd a look over, being required to type in an access code he’d only been given yesterday to unlock documents on it. A quick flick through the most relevant and then he too was handing the padd off to Selu. “I stand relieved Commander Sadovu. Welcome to the Republic. This is Lieutenant Commander Evan Malcolm, our chief engineer, and Lieutenant Selu Levne, our chief of security.”

Sidda nodded to each in turn. “Nice to meet you all. This is Lieutenant Jenu Trid, who will be our operations chief, and this is…Crewman Revin.”

“Crewman Revin Sadovu-th’Ven,” Revin said, correcting Sidda once more and seemingly taking no small amount of pride in either the double-barreled last name or the uniform she was wearing.

“th’Ven?” asked Selu almost immediately. “A Romulan family name, yes?”

“Indeed,” Revin answered. “But completely irrelevant I can assure you.”

“Right!” Sidda interjected. “Introductions all around complete, perhaps we can save life stories for a senior staff dinner tonight perhaps?” She clapped her hands once, not waiting for a response. “Fantastic. Now, which way to the bridge? We need to get this young lady on the move.”

“This way boss,” Trid answered. A held-out arm indicated the main doors and soon enough she, Commander Sadovu and Crewman Sadovu-th’Ven were on their way.

Leaving the other three standing there, both Matt and Evan looking a little flabbergasted.

“Aren’t officers assuming command supposed to want a tour of the ship, or to see their quarters first?” Matt asked.

“Haven’t I heard that name before somewhere?” Evan asked.

“Which? Sadovu? There’s a Captain Sadovu on the Sunshine Coast.” Matt shrugged as Evan looked to him. “All I’ve got.”

“I meant Sidda. I know I’ve heard it somewhere.”

“Indeed you likely have.” Selu turned the padd in her hands around and offered it to Evan, who made to snatch it, but stopped himself at the last moment, accepting it with a mouthed apology. “Captain Sidda…Vondem Rose…Battle of Archanis…anti-piracy operations…Starfleet Intelligence. By order of Commodore Sudari-Kravchik. They have put a goddamn spook on our ship.”

“Ours is not to reason why,” Matt quoted as he started to walk toward the main doors back into the ship proper himself. “Besides, sounds like it’ll be the next best thing to serving on a pirate ship without you know…going pirate.”

Evan glared at the padd a moment more, then at Selu. “I’ll take that Horta brood-mother now.”

“Alas, we have our Executive Officer for now,” she answered and then made to follow Matt, catching up quickly with him. “We should head to the bridge and ensure a smooth transition, yes?”

“Maybe even ask if she knows who the captain is going to be,” Matt added. “Before Commander Sadovu hoists a jolly roger.”