Delighted to enjoy some downtime, Doctor Uknare was making her way along the corridor wearing just her civilian clothing. A simple white blouse with black leggings and comfortable faux leather boots. She had added a gold chain around her neck and a few bracelets. She looked forward to the downtime she had organised for the senior staff. After successfully getting the Sikarians to understand where they were coming from, the crew removed the enhancements that Mala had created and destroyed her research. T’Penni’s engineers had fixed the warp core, and now they were underway, heading back to the Swallow Nebula region. Before they left Fabula, they had sent an unmanned probe through the spatial projector towards the area the Constitution had been taken from. The smaller device would transmit a data stream to the nearest Starfleet buoy. Captain McCallister hoped that his brother’s ship, the Odyssey (or even the Themis), would pick it up. Within the datastream held a report from him about what had happened, and everyone on the crew had prepared messages for loved ones. 

Uknare took the decision to see the next three years (if they didn’t find a shortcut before then) as an extension of the ship’s deep space exploration mission it was meant to take with the other ships in the squadron. It was a positive way of looking at it, and it was the same vibe that everyone was promoting across the ship. And once Lieutenant Ethav had fixed their hyper-subspace communication array, they would be in touch with Starfleet in no time.

She walked into The Establishment, the crew bar, ready to get things sorted for the private event, to find Thaustin and Jarata sitting at a table in a dimly lit corner, sharing a bottle of bourbon. The bar was quiet and empty, except for the two officers. 

As Uknare approached the bar, she noticed the flickering candlelight reflecting off the crystal glassware and casting a warm glow on the table, illuminating the faces of the two officers. Thaustin was leaning forward, his elbows on the table, and Jarata was nodding slowly. They were discussing the early days of their service on the Constitution, and Thaustin was admitting to Jarata that he had acted out of line. He hadn’t been happy with Captain McCallister’s decision to promote him to lieutenant commander and had taken his frustrations out through his behaviour. Uknare smirked to herself about this. She was pleased that Thaustin was owning his mistakes from the start; she had seen something similar happen with Kazlaf and the other junior officers. Maybe things were improving, she thought. She returned her attention to the two men, who had not noticed her arrival.

 Jarata listened intently, his eyes fixed on Thaustin’s face. When Thaustin finished speaking, Jarata shrugged and reached for his glass. “It’s okay,” he said. “I didn’t even notice.”

Thaustin looked relieved, and he leaned back in his chair. “You mean that?” He asked, which prompted a nod from Jarata. “Thanks, I just wanted to get that off my chest.”

Realising she was witnessing something that may be more than she realised, Uknare cleared her throat just as they were about to share an intimate moment and stopped them from embarrassing themselves in front of the other senior staff, who she was sure wouldn’t be too far behind her. 

Instantly, Thaustin and Jarata stopped moving closer to one another and turned to look at her, their faces flushing with mortification.

Uknare smiled at them and took a seat at the bar. She watched as Thaustin and Jarata composed themselves, taking sips of their drinks and avoiding each other’s eyes. She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt for interrupting what was clearly an important moment between the two officers.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I won’t tell anyone. But you might want to remember that the senior staff are gathering here for drinks in a few minutes.”

Thaustin and Jarata looked at each other, then back at Uknare. 

“Thanks, Doc,” Thaustin said, his voice hoarse.

As Uknare went around the bar to grab a drink, she heard Thaustin and Jarata laughing together, their voices low and intimate. Uknare couldn’t help but feel that she had interrupted something special. She made a mental note to herself to give the two officers some privacy in the future.

At that point, the doors opened, and Captain McCallister led the others who were missing into the bar. “Seems you guys have started the party without us!” He said to Uknare.

“Indeed,” She said with a smirk and a cheeky wink at Thaustin, who had got out of the table he had been sharing with Jarata to greet the captain.

Maybe, she thought, this won’t be such a bad trip.