[Starbase 72]

The senior crew of the USS Anaheim sat uncomfortably in the briefing room. It was a nice room but the starbase’s senior staff being there was not a good sign, and on top of that their Chief Medical officer was missing and nobody had said why. It was the kind of meeting that never ended well, and they all felt it.

Commander Melissa Vane was gesturing to a schematic of the ship, “Repairs to the warp nacelles will have to be more extensive than we thought. At best we can push and get them done in two moths, maybe.”

The crew groaned. 

Commodore Jalian raised her hands to quiet the complaining. Lieutenant Young who had been overseeing the repairs for the ship had known that this was coming, even if he didn’t know what was next. He looked even more depressed than the rest of the senior staff, this was his ship after all and it had been badly hurt.

“Which is why I spoke with Captain Hawthorne and Commander Cruz earlier today to put this idea forward,” Jalian said, “Captan?”

Captain Hawthorne nodded, “The crew is going to be broken up, there’s ships that need people and Starfleet can’t have hundreds of them just sitting around for months. But us, well. Commander Cruz and I have accepted command of a Rhode Island Class ship the USS Seattle. I am allowed to offer you all jobs, your jobs on my new command.”

The crew was surprised, that was almost good news.

“How about Doctor Mueller,” inquired Doctor Va’Tok, the current Assistant Chief Medical Officer.

“She is being offered another role,” the Commodore said.

“You are the new Chief Medical Officer, if you want it,” Hawthorne said.

“Intriguing. I will accept that role on the USS Seattle,” Va’Tok said, the first to confirm he was coming over.

One by one the rest of the senior staff agreed to it. It was a better ship, at least on paper, and other than the medical staff there was little allure to staying on the Anaheim when as Rode Island Class ship was the alternative option. That was of course if they were even able to stay, and weren’t just scattered across the Federation serving on Starfleet vessels all over the place. So the USS Seattle it was, and it was likely a fine ship though none of them had seen it.

The Flight Control Officers were happy that they’d have something more fun to fly. Not that they were expecting to get into dog fights at every turn, but it was exciting to have a ship class that had a reputation for being one of the fastest in the fleet at their disposal as opposed to what was basically a cargo wagon.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Hume was not sure that his security role was going to change significantly, but his goal was to end up on the same ship as Lieutenant Kolem. All in all there was a general enthusiasm from the senior crew, though a few such as Va’Tok were concerned about the loss of Doctor Mueller.

“We ship out in two days,” Hathorne said.

“We will also be supplementing your crew with a few extra department heads, so expect them to arrive tomorrow,” the Commodore said.

The crew of the USS Anaheim, now Seattle nodded. Two days.