—- Shuttle Bay 1 —-

The four suited figures moved out of the Soundgarden one of the shuttle craft of the USS Seattle and began to unload the boxes. In the bulky environmental suit their actions had to be slower, deliberate and careful. Watching them, wearing the standard Starfleet uniform, was Commander Adriana Cruz who was not a fan of the Captain being one of the suited figures or going on the actual mission. Out in space they’d have to adjust for a lower gravity, darkness and even in the ideal conditions of the shuttle bay they were running short on time. While it was the best plan that they had, it was shaping up very much to be a suicide mission.

The Borg were about half an hour behind them. The jump to warp nine-point-nine had not bought them any breathing space and as if bored of this cat and mouse game the Borg where slowly advancing. Not only that they were moving quickly past any relevant star charts that they had in their computer databases, and contact with the Federation was becoming a problem. Orders could not be received in real-time, and only messages with days of delay could be sent. They were very much on their own, which annoyed the XO that the Captain was using this as a chance to play hero. 

“Okay load it back up,” Captain Hawthorne said as he removed his helmet. The three science officers nodded and began to repack the Soundgarden.

”Sir,“ Cruz said hoping to appeal to his supposed by-the-book nature, “Again I’m appealing to you, let someone else do this. The crew is going to need its Captain to get back home.”

Hawthorne smiled, “Look Adriana, you’re a better Captain than I‘ve been. You’ll get them home. You ask me who I want on that mission, you or me, it’s going to be me. You’re at the start of an amazing part of your career, I”m an old guy they keep around because I look good in meetings.”

Cruz knew he was being stupidly male because of their feelings and relationship, going on the mission to keep his First Officer off of it. It was his prerogative, and it was not like famous captain biographies weren’t filled with stories about the times they went on away missions against Starfleet protocol. It was one of the most bent and breakable rules in the fleet.

The mission was simple enough. Take the Soundgarden down to an asteroid unload some Borg transponders and then hide in a radiation field created by binary stars. The question was whether or not the Soundgarden and its crew could get back to the Seattle in time.

Lieutenant Waushborn Debub the Chief Science Officer patted Hawthorne on the back, still in his own suit, “Don’t worry Commander we’ll take good care of him.”

Cruz smiled but looked daggers at Debub, “Thank you Lieutenant.”

Debub seemed to want to add ‘your boyfiend’ but had gone with ‘him’ instead. He did not seem to realize that he was talking about the ship’s Captain, though of course he knew that. Maybe though, she was just on edge, seeing slights were there was none to see. 

“I’m going to go see if I can get you locked up in sickbay for being insane,” Cruz said, and left the shuttle bay. The Captain smiled and shook his head. He knew that Cruz was going to have a problem with this, and he did not blame her but when he thought of her in his spot, well to him there was no choice.

—- Chief Counselor’s Office ——

“It’s very mature that you recognize your external conflicts over this decision of the Captain’s,” Lieutenant Kolem said. She was not about to intercede in the Captain’s decision however, much to the chagrin of Cruz. 

“You sure you can’t do anything,” Cruz asked.

“No, I’m sorry. Look you care for the Captain, and he cares for you. That’s going to cause these tensions and that’s natural on a close knit starship even if you weren’t,” Kolem searched for a gentle term, “together.”

”Thought you might land on boinking,” Cruz joked.

”That might be an Earth term, I’m from Mars. We’re classier,” Kolem said, “The point being what he’s doing is inline with the prerogatives Starfleet gives its captains. He can go on away missions, he can hand command of the ship to basically anyone. Clearly his reasoning is sound, if not in adherence with the rules, and I can’t do anything to counter it unless it was unhinged. If he left the ship to me, for example.”

Cruz nodded, “I understand, thank you Counselor.”

“Anytime commander.”

—- Bridge —-

“The Borg cube is now twenty minutes away if we’re at full stop for the drop off and they continue to advance at the current rate,” Lieutenant Jara of Operations said.

”Any chance we can buy some more time?” Cruz asked.

Pr’Nor the Chief Flight Control Officer studied the map they were looking at and shook her head, “No, we are likely to lose time if anything. Even the most precise piloting is unlikely to buy us any additional time.”

Cruz knew that the Vulcan likely knew all the ins and outs of the maneuver she was going to have to have the USS Seattle do. The pilots had been given the geography of the area yesterday and if there was anything the senior officers and Strategic Operations who had come up with this plan were overlooking they being professional pilots would have found it. 

“Lieutenant Junior Grade Winfield will be flying the Soundgarden, he is a competent pilot,” Pr’Nor said, which equated as high praise from her to her Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer. Cruz would have preferred that the Captain was being flown by the Vulcan Chief but she understood that flying the Seattle was the more vital job. They would need both pilots to complete this mission.

“Alright anything anyone thinks of let me know, we need to increase our odds on this mission dramatically,” Cruz said, “it’s our people on the line.”

—- Holodeck 1 ——

“So are we friends now?” Lieutenant Kolem asked the Commander. She had always liked the Commander but had found her a bit difficult to figure out. Career focused she had spent most of her time with Captain Hawthorne, who now she was annoyed with.

”I needed a second person for this scenario and I was not wanting to be around Nathanial right now,” Cruz said, ”not after his pirates scenario.”

”This is not pirates?” Kolem asked, she was not familiar with ancient earth but this seemed like pirates. Both of them had been dressed in billowing blouses. Though the pants were an odd choice.

”This is Zoro, the Mexican hero, or rather California hero,” Cruz said, “He is a stylish swashbuckler but not a pirate. A hero who works against an unjust legal system in California at the time. Though a female Zoro, since in the old days all the best parts were written for men.”

”So who am I then?” Kolem asked.

”Also Zoro, I made it for two,” Cruz answered.

”So two Zoros, but I don’t know how to use a sword,” Kolem protested.

”Just fling it around, but you should also learn. Fencing is quite fun,” Cruz advised.

”Okay so those Spanish guys running at us are the bad guys?” Kolem asked.

”Yes, don your mask and let us go fight,” Cruz said tying a domino mask on her face and drawing a sword that had been at her side. This was obviously going to be therapeutic for her as she yelled something loudly in Spanish and stabbed the first hologram that approached.

Kolem decided that if she was going to be invited to more of these social outings with the Commander she should play along so she donned her own mask and rushed forward to join the other Zoro doing Zoro things.