“Not the full house then?” Lieutenant Commander Ra-tesh’mi Velan, Atlantis’ Efrosian chief engineer asked as he entered the conference room tailed by his next in line, Lieutenant Gérard Maxwell.

Already present were the captain, Lieutenant Commander Adelinde Gantzmann and Lieutenant Rrr’mmm’bal’rrr (who was doing a remarkable impression of a hull panel by one of the windows), tilting the room heavily in favour of yellow versus red. And then his eyes settled on the other, and new, red-shouldered person present, sitting right at the captain’s left-hand side and he stopped, forcing Gérard to have to sidestep him.

“Uh, what’s going on?” he asked, eyes still locked on Kendris. She saw him, offered a brief smile, a wink directed at him when no one was looking, then put on a mask of impassivity as people noticed where he was looking and took stock of Kendris one more.

While most seemed oblivious, it was Rrr, that mountain of gossip and trouble, who broke the awkward silence. “Don’t look at me,” they rumbled. “I couldn’t have organised this better if I tried. And I never said a word. Blame MacIntyre.”

“Oh,” Tikva said quietly. “Oh!” she repeated louder right away. “Oh,” thrice again, this time drawn out and quieter. “I swear Ra, I had nothing to do with this,” Tikva pleaded to her chief engineer, holding her hands up. After a moment she indicated two of the empty seats for Ra and Gérard, motioning them to sit.

“Right, now we’re all here,” Tikva continued, “I’d like to introduce properly to everyone present Sub-Commander Vilo Kendris of the Romulan Republic Navy, who will be serving on exchange with us for three months. She’s being afforded the rank of Commander while with Starfleet and will be serving as executive officer while she’s with us.”

There was a round of welcomes from around the table before Tikva cut it off. “And the reason I’ve called everyone here is because Atlantis has been assigned a new mission. Nothing glamourous, but critical and a chance to stretch a few muscles we haven’t used lately.” She then turned to Kendris, who offered a brief nod in understanding.

The tall Romulan woman, not quite as tall as Gantzmann, but certainly in the same category, stood and approached the large display on the wall opposite the windows. A single tap brought up an image of their ultimate destination – relay station CR-718. Another tap and a map of the Badlands appeared, placing CR-718 on the far side and four other dots in a line across the multi-lightyear-wide plasma fields.

“We’ve been tasked with maintenance work,” Kendris said, keeping a professional tone. “Station CR-718 has been reporting some minor technical difficulties over the last twenty-four hours and we’re to proceed there and render assistance. The captain and I have also decided we’ll stop along the way long enough to dispatch shuttle crews to undertake routine maintenance ahead of schedule on the unmanned relay stations throughout the Badlands.”

No one in the room complained, not even a little, at the suggestion of Atlantis doing maintenance work. Both Velan and Maxwell’s brows furrowed at the situation, Velan also going so far as to stroke his beard in thought. “These malfunctions, how critical are they?” Velan asked.

“And are the unmanned relays reporting anything?” Maxwell asked. “Or are we just wanting to get ahead of the curve here?”

“The last report from Lieutenant Matt Conway stated he’s had no success in identifying the source of the malfunctions on CR-718,” Kendris continued. “The malfunctions are impacting the station and growing, but currently no loss of services as of yet.”

“Well those Marconi-class relay stations were built with a fair bit of redundancy,” Velan added.

Kendris nodded in acceptance of Velan’s out-loud thought. “As for the unmanned relays in the Badlands, no malfunctions were reported. But they are due for regular maintenance in three months. Atlantis is more than capable of seeing to it now, yes?”

“Certainly,” both Velan and Maxwell said at the same time. “I’ll draw up a list of crews we can dispatch,” Maxwell continued. “Send them out in the Danube’s?”

“Rodinia is out,” Rrr grumbled from their seat. “Flight Operations let me know this morning they’re starting a full hardware check of it. But the other three are configured for crew comfort at the moment. Ideal if we drop off teams for a few days.”

“Each runabout is going to need a pilot and I want a medic on each as well,” Tikva said to Rrr, who nodded in response, then looked to Maxwell and nodded – the silent agreement to get together after this meeting and sort out the away teams.

“Atlantis will respond to CR-718 herself and we’ll send over a full engineering team to assist Lieutenant Conway in diagnosing issues and resolving them as quickly as possible.” Kendris tapped at the image of the station, which cleared the screen and replaced it with a schematic of the station. “We’ll also undertake refuelling of the station’s reactor mass and any other issues until the station is fully operational with no outstanding maintenance issues.”

“Seems pretty standard to me,” Velan said, a nod in agreement from his assistant. “Get in, fix the problems, clear out Conway’s maintenance log for him, spring clean while we’re at it. Do they need a fresh coat of paint?” His tone turned jovial at the end, finding an element of humour in the task before them.

“Let’s leave something for the Los Malinos to do when they swing back around in a few months.” Tikva stood from her seat. “Rrr, Maxwell, get those team recommendations to Commander Kendris by lunch. Commander Gantzmann, with me please.” And with that, Tikva turned for the door that would lead back to the bridge.

“Commander Velan, a moment,” Kendris said as everyone else stood, the implicit dismissal at the captain’s departure evident for all. She waited, long enough for Rrr and Maxwell to leave before she spoke again, her tone less formal this time. “You trimmed your beard.”

“Only a little,” he replied. “What are you doing here?”

“Exchange officer,” she replied, as innocently as she could with a crooked smile growing on her face. Pulling out the seat directly opposite Velan, she sat down and locked eyes with him.

“Seriously, just that? Pure coincidence you ended up here?”

“Well,” she demurred momentarily. “The exchange offer came up, and I volunteered. Then made polite suggestions to certain individuals in order to be assigned to Atlantis. Citing such things as previous working experience with the ship’s command crew, fought alongside at Deneb, good working relationship – “

“A chief engineer you wanted to see again?” Ra challenged.

Kendris nodded in agreement, a brief waggle of her eyebrows to accompany. “It was certainly a consideration in my manipulations to be assigned here. I admit, I wasn’t expecting to be placed as the ship’s executive officer though.”

“The captain knows.” Ra watched her for a moment, caught the momentary surprise, subtle as it was. “The whole ‘I swear’ thing.”

“I thought she was picking up some sort of discomfort on your behalf.”

“Oh she was,” he said. “But she knows about us. Rrr would have told Mac, who would have told her. I’m going to tell her as well just to be safe.”

“Us?” Kendris teased. “There’s an us?”

“That’s not…what I meant was…” he stuttered, then stopped and glared at her. “You’re teasing me again.”

“It worked so well last time.”

“Spirits above and below I hate you,” he grumbled. “Look, I’ve got work to do today. How about when we’re both off duty we get a meal at Port Royal? The ship’s social space,” he added after seeing her momentary confusion. “And maybe I give you a proper engineer’s tour this time.”

“Depends,” Kendris said, getting to her feet and adopting once more that veneer of professionalism that rivalled the one Ra knew Gantzmann employed, “Does it finish in the same place as the last tour?” And with that, she left a flustered and blushing Ra-tesh’mi Velan alone in the conference room.

“Well?” Tikva asked as soon as the ready room doors closed on her and Gantzman. “Morning Stirling,” she said without any thought to the young lieutenant seated in front of her desk, a padd in his lap, one in his hands and a third within easy reach on the desk.

“Morning Captain, Commander,” the yeoman offered.

“I like her,” Adelinde answered the question, offering a nod to Stirling as she took up station behind the other empty chair. “Professional, to the point. I will be keeping an eye on her though and won’t be letting her into my team’s offices without accompaniment though.”

“You don’t let me into the Tactical offices without accompaniment,” Tikva complained, though more like a whine.

“That’s because Commander Gantzmann and her team have a filing system, ma’am, that they don’t want disturbed,” Stirling said as he set his padd down, even clearing the one from his lap. “Starfleet Intelligence’s dossier on Sub-Commander Kendris, her Republic Navy dossier and the Federation Intelligence Bureau’s dossier on her as well,” he said, pushing the stack of padds closer to his captain. “I’ve highlighted relevant sections already.”

Tikva glared at her yeoman for a moment. “It’s a good thing Lieutenant you are so very, very good at your job.” She collected the padds. “Comments like that might get a lesser officer left behind on an away mission, or used as an ad-hoc torpedo.”

“How did you survive without a yeoman before?” Gantzmann asked.

“The old Atlantis had what, 200 crew members? It was my biggest ship to date. I could handle the paperwork for a ship that big easily.” Tikva picked up one of the padds and glanced at the contents on screen briefly before setting it down.

“Gut feeling, is she a spy?” Tikv asked.

“Yes,” both Gantzmann and Stirling replied in unison.

“Can we trust her?”

“I believe so,” Fightmaster answered.

“I will want to read those dossiers for myself, if I have clearance that is, before I make that call,” Gantzmann said a moment later.

“You do Commander.” Fightmaster pulled out a small padd, from between his leg and the chair’s arm, tapping at it briefly before setting it down in his lap. “I have forwarded them to your inbox.”

Tikva smiled, then indicated for Lin to sit down in the seat she was standing behind. “Well then, how about Lieutenant, while I fully intend to read these dossiers, today even, you give Commander Gantzmann and I the cliff notes version?”