“Fleet Captain’s log stardate seven-eight-five-zero-zero. We have been conducting a mapping mission in the Verkien system for over six days now. Though not critical to our operations, our Benthan friends suggested it as a place to lay low for a while. Our previous engagement with the Malon has heightened our profile in the Kotaba Expanse. Furthermore, keeping quiet and out of trouble from the Borg is also a welcome change. Conducting scientific investigations and exploring a new star system has been a pleasant shift in pace for the crew.”

Sitting quietly on the sofa in his ready room, Fleet Captain McCallister was enjoying the chance to finally catch up on paperwork. He could feel his stomach grumbling at him, earning for some lunch, but he was more bothered about getting ahead of his admin work while everything was quiet on the ship. When the Odyssey was engaged in routine exploration assignments, it brought some downtime for the crew. It gave everyone a chance to slow down, recharge their batteries and enjoy what their jobs were meant to be. 

Explorers. 

That all said, McCallister had been feeling giddy all morning. He was waiting to hear from the Themis on the mission he had sent them on. Cambil was meant to have reported in by now, so McCallister was giving his former first officer a wide berth for now. However, his patience had limits, and like a child eager on Christmas morning, he wanted to open up his presents sooner rather than later.

The door chime went off, which caused McCallister to look up from the PADD he had in his hands and towards the door’s direction. “Come in.” 

The door parted open, and Lieutenant Jonarom stepped in. “Sorry to disturb you, sir, but I’ve heard from the Themis.” He said. The young Ardanan communications officer held an isolinear chip in his hands. Appearing awkward as he did it, Jonarom attempted to soften the blow. “Captain Cambil has transmitted her latest update. Unfortunately, a nearby anomaly is preventing the Themis from completing their attempts to contact the Constitution. I’m sorry, sir.”

McCallister didn’t blame Jonarom for that news; nevertheless, it did not stop him from rolling his eyes and sighing. His time in Starfleet had taught him that fate liked to play pranks on them, and if it wasn’t the end of universe stuff happening, it was a spatial anomaly that liked to throw a spanner in the works. He took the chip and thanked the lieutenant for the brief update. Like McCallister, Jonarom had people on the Constitution he was fond of and after the Themis had discovered a log buoy of theirs over a month ago after they had gone missing, the hope to find them alive and well was at the forefront of so many of the things they were doing right now. In a bold bid to reconnect with their lost comrades, McCallister had sent the Themis off to attempt to create a micro-wormhole from a class B itinerant pulsar they had detected on long-range sensors. 

“Sir, I’m not giving up hope on the Constitution’s crew,” Jonarom remarked. “Especially as your brother commands her.”

McCallister had come to really like Jonarom these past few months. He was pleased he was with them. The young officer was always optimistic and a hard worker. No-one had a bad thing to complain about him. “My brother will certainly not give up,” McCallister confirmed.

“And we shouldn’t either, sir,” Jonarom stated.

McCallister nodded in agreement. “Absolutely, lieutenant,” He agreed wholeheartedly. 

The door chime then went off again, interrupting their conversation. McCallister apologised to Jonarom before replying to his next guest to come in. Stepping in was his wife, Captain Reyas, alongside Commander Jirani. 

“Sorry to interrupt your meeting,” Reyas said as she made her way over.

McCallister waved her apology away, citing they weren’t disturbing. “What can I do for you both.”

Reyas looked at her deputy before returning to her husband with a PADD that she had been carrying in her hands behind her back. “Approve permission to take the Telemachus out for a spin.”

McCallister hesisted at first before he took the PADD and started to skim over the request. He had been initially reluctant to approve such a submission from his wife. It was more from a professional stance before he had realised that things were different. From his perspective, the last time his wife had taken the ship’s Aquarius-class escort, it had got lost while trying to save the ship from a temporal anomaly. However, it turned out that it wasn’t her and instead it was a Changeling infilfitrator. He had got a headache from just trying to understand all of the temporal mechanics that it had created. Instead, he had left it with the DTI operatives back home to ponder over and deal with.

Reading on, he started to see what his wife hand in mind. “You want to take the cadets out on a training cruise?”

“Training excursion, sir. This will only last a few days, not as long as a training cruise.” Jirani corrected him. The tall Bajoran woman appeared quite pleased with herself over their plan. 

“With us so planning to remain in the system for another week or so, we thought this would be a safe place to take the cadets out and get them to do something more involved than just delivering PADDs around the ship or undertaking the low-level work,” Reyas shared. “The Telemachus was meant to be our training vessel and they’ve not had the chance to do anything since we returned to the Delta Quadrant in it. Plus, we’re not going far.”

“A M-class moon orbits one of the larger gas giants in this system. Besides vegetation, there’s barely any other life on the planet. It will be a simple survey mission, which would allow us to put the cadets through their paces beyond the holodecks,” Jirani said as she accessed one of the holographic display controls in the room. A sensor scan of the moon she spoke of appeared between them and McCallister. “Once we conducted closer scans, we want to locate suitable places to undertaking survival training.”

McCallister looked back at the PADD and then back to the moon. “You’ll need a few more officers to help you, I’m not sure we have many that are free who aren’t engaged already in other tasks.”

“I knew you were going to say that,” Reyas said with a smirk. “Check the bottom of that proposal with a list of who I’ve already recruited to help. They are officers who are not engaged in active participation in other aspects of mapping the system.”

“You don’t have a science officer,” McCallister pointed out.

Reyas winced at that. “Well, no, but as this ship’s former science officer, I was hoping-”

“Captain, do I need to remind you of Starfleet regulations when it comes to taking cadets out in active field training?” McCallister pointed out to his wife, not trying to undermine or annoy her in front of the other two.

Jirani then looked at the young officer beside her. “Jonarom can come with us.”

“I can?” Jonarom asked, sounding surprised.

“You can,” Jirani said with a nod. The two of them had served together on the Bellerophon before being posted to the Odyssey. “You were the former chief science officer on the Bellerophon, so you’re more than qualified.”

Reyas smirked at that idea and then turned back to her husband. McCallister knew he had no choice in denying the request. Before she said another work, he pressed the approve button and gave it his blessing. “Good luck,” He looked at Jonarom. “To you all!”

The two women both smiled at their accomplishment before leaving the ready room promptly.

“Umm, sir, what about my work in monitoring the Themis’ efforts?” Jonarom questioned after they had left the room.

McCallister considered the point for a second before replying. “Hand it over to Commander Court, I’m sure Tobias has plenty of free time.”

“I’ll make sure to tell him you said that, sir,” Jonarom replied, grinning. 

“Oh do!” McCallister said before dismissing the lieutenant.