A/N: So, here is the follow-on to my previous STO fic, 'Burdens'. If you haven't read that one yet, I suggest you do so, because it introduces the characters. Hope you like it, please review!
The sleek shuttlecraft drifted slowly into the hangar, and its lone passenger gazed pensively out at the recently refurbished shuttle bay. She may have already commanded a ship, but that hadn't worked particularly well for the Steadfast or her crew. The loss of life caused by the Romulans still wore on her conscience, no matter how often others told her she did her best - as far as she was concerned, she could have done so much better.
The pilot powered down the shuttle's engines and opened the rear hatch, turning to his passenger and commanding officer.
"Ma'am?" he prompted, bringing the young Bajoran Lieutenant out of her reverie. "We're here."
"Right, right," she said quickly, rushing to get up and straighten her uniform, brushing her hair back with her fingers and trying to remember if she'd brought anything with her.
"Your personal items have been taken to your quarters already, ma'am," the crewman offered helpfully, and Kassai Lydana threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Of course it has, what was I thinking?" she said, more to herself than to her pilot. "You'd think I'd actually know what I was doing now, but...never mind." She turned away hurriedly as her cheeks heated, embarrassed at acting like the cadet she technically still was. Even after commanding the Steadfast for less than a week, and having taken a month and a half of enforced leave, she still couldn't get used to being a Lieutenant so soon after leaving the Academy, and even now she feared making a mistake that would result in the loss of her ship or crew members.
She fought back against the tears that burned in her eyes as she recalled the names of people who'd died defending the Steadfast when it was boarded by Romulans, many of whom had been her classmates on the same training cruise - R'raak, Anne Potter, Razkii, Ash, and the countless others she didn't know who were killed in action. Zarva, at least, had survived, but only just, and she was on indefinite medical leave while she worked with counsellors to overcome the trauma she'd endured.
Lydana had thought about seeking counselling herself, but she'd felt reasonably secure after spending some time back home, speaking with the Vedeks and finding renewed faith in the Prophets her people worshipped.
Besides, she doubted there was anything a counsellor could do about her nightmares.
Before her thoughts could grow any darker, she realised she'd arrived at the turbolift she needed while lost in unpleasant memories, and she reached out to hit the button to call it.
Before her finger even reached the control, however, the door hissed open, and Lydana found herself staring at a welcome sight.
"Lise!"
"Welcome to your new ship, captain," Elisa said with a smile, and Lydana rolled her eyes.
"Stop calling me that, Lise, I'm not a captain yet."
She stepped into the turbolift alongside her closest friend, ordering it to go to the bridge, and Elisa shook her head.
"Captain is a position, not just a rank, Lyddie. You know that."
"I do, and I still don't think I am one," Lydana replied bitterly. "I lost my first command and half my crew, I don't think-"
"That's enough," Elisa told her firmly. "You can't keep beating yourself up over that. You did your best and brought back as many as you could, you've earned this command."
Lydana fell silent, slipping back into her darker thoughts. Without thinking she began rubbing her nose ridges, and Elisa snorted in amusement.
"Still nervous?"
"Hm?" Lydana looked at her in mild confusion, her hand returning to her side, and Elisa chuckled.
"You've been doing that since your first day at the Academy. I thought you'd have grown out of it by now."
"I'm always nervous, Lise. You know that."
"From what I heard, you weren't nervous when you were pulling our people together in the corridors of the Steadfast, gunning down Romulans like a marine-"
"Please," Lydana said as the turbolift slowed. "Don't remind me."
The two officers walked out onto the compact bridge, and Lydana looked around with a small smile of satisfaction. She'd had chance to read up on her new crew members on the flight from Spacedock, and one of her bridge officers in particular was a welcome sight.
"T'Vrell, it's lovely to see you again," she said to her science and communications officer, and the raven-haired Vulcan inclined her head in respect.
"It is agreeable to see you again too, Lieutenant," T'Vrell stated in typical Vulcan monotone.
"Are you ever going to go back to calling me Lydana?"
"Perhaps when we are off duty, Lieutenant," T'Vrell rpelied, and Lydana scoffed.
"You're never off-duty, T'Vrell, you love your work too much," she joked, and T'Vrell gave a slow nod in response.
"Then I suppose I will continue to call you 'Lieutenant', as is appropriate."
Lydana laughed, and nodded as she conceded the point.
"We'll catch up later, T'Vrell. It's good to have you back."
"Thank you, sir."
Lydana walked to the other side of the bridge, where a short, shrivelled-looking alien was working the Ops station.
"Ensign...Bolm, is it?"
"It is, sir," he answered, sparing Lydana a brief glance.
"How is Ops looking?"
"Much like Ops usually does, sir," he answered, and Lydana bit her tongue.
"I'm sure you know what I mean, Ensign," she told him, gently stressing his rank as a reminder that, despite her youth, she was still his commanding officer.
"Yes, sir, Ops is working within normal parameters," he replied, more formally this time.
"See, this is why I don't like working with Tellarites," Lydana told him, and he looked at her carefully. "I have issues with any race that views arguing as a national sport."
"And I have issues with Bajorans, sir," Bolm countered, "I get a bit sick of the whole 'we're so hard done by, the Cardassians were mean to us' act."
Lydana felt Elisa stiffen at her side, but the young Lieutenant broke the building tension with a musical laugh.
"You'll get none of that from me," she said, patting Bolm's shoulder. "I was born after the Occupation. As you were, Ensign."
She led Elisa down the small set of steps that led to her chair, leaning in close to her friend.
"If he ever brings that up again," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "you have my complete permission to punch him."
She settled into her captain's chair, slightly uneasy at how right it felt to take such a meaningful position, and Elisa dropped into the chair at her right.
"I don't know how I feel about being on a science vessel," Elisa muttered darkly. "How am I supposed to defend this ship with a pair of under-powered phasers and a single torpedo tube?"
"You aren't," Lydana answered with a grin. "You're my First Officer for real now, we have a Tactical officer to deal with those concerns. Isn't that right, Mister Rhobas?"
"Aye sir," answered the narrow Andorian from above and behind her, working his Tactical console. "What few weapons we have are fully operational, although we'd do better if we used hand phasers and harsh language."
"Well I'll let you arrange that then, I know how...passionate your people can be."
Rhobas laughed and returned to his work, and Lydana turned her attention towards the helmsman.
"Ensign Cobham, how is the helm?"
"A bit wobbly, sir," the fair-haired human answered, and Lydana frowned.
"Define 'wobbly'."
"The helm controls are fine, sir, but there's some fluctuations in the warp drive."
Lydana tapped her commbadge, her frown deepening.
"Kassai to engineering."
"Zytym here."
Lydana struggled to recall her record, even as she spoke with the officer.
"Helm is reporting some strange fluctuations in the engines, can you elaborate?"
"She's still a bit temperamental from her repairs, sir. I'm aware of the fluctuations and we're aware of the cause, we're in the process of straightening it out now. Just for safety though, I wouldn't go above Warp Four until we've sorted it."
"Thanks Zytym, do your best," Lydana acknowledged. "We may not be on a time limit, but I'd still like my engines running properly."
"You'll get them, sir, don't you worry. Zytym out."
She looked at Elisa, who was idly rubbing her new rank pip. Admiral Quinn had decided that, if Flores was going to be the First Officer, she needed the authority the position demanded, so she had been given a promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade.
"Seems like we're all set, wouldn't you say?"
"Aye sir, looks that way to me," Elisa answered, checking her chair's repeater display. "We have permission to depart from Dock Control, mooring tractors are disengaged, shuttle bay secured."
Lydana nodded approvingly.
"Very well then, Mister Cobham, take us out if you would, maximum thrusters until we clear the dock's vicinity, then take us to full impulse."
"Aye sir, any particular heading?"
"Until we have some orders-"
"Sir, we have an incoming hail from Admiral Quinn," T'Vrell announced, and Lydana suppressed the urge to laugh.
"Speak the devil's name, sir," Elisa offered quietly, and Lydana looked at her quizzically. Elisa gestured for her to ignore the comment, and Lydana stood as she ordered the transmission displayed on the main screen.
"Good morning, Lieutenant, I trust all is well?"
"Good morning Admiral, and yes it is," Lydana answered. "There seems to be a bit of a 'wobble' in the warp drive, but my engineers are locking that down now."
"Excellent, glad you've settled in. I have a mission for you, if you're ready for it."
Lydana hid a grimace, remembering the last time Quinn gave her a mission. That led to the deaths of too many good people, and many more being severely wounded, so she was unsure of how appropriate this mission would be.
"I am sir, but I would like to respectfully remind you that this is a science vessel - if we get into a fight, we'd do better to stand on the hull and throw rocks."
"I am aware, Lieutenant, and you need not worry - this mission is exactly what you and your ship specialise in." The admiral picked up a PADD from in front of him and looked over the details, explaining them to her as he did.
"We've been sent a request by the Romulan Republic, for a Federation science vessel to assist in determining the possibility of colonising Dewa Three."
"Dewa Three? But that's been uninhabitable for centuries!" she exclaimed, and Quinn nodded.
"Indeed, but recent scans by the Romulans suggest that the radiation levels have now dropped to within tolerable limits. They wanted a Federation team to assist their own efforts in verifying these scans, as part of our continued efforts to build a close working relationship with them. Naturally, I thought of you."
A science mission. Lydana had to stop herself from bouncing on her heels with excitement - it was what she had trained for, and what the newly-repaired DaVinci was built for. It was an opportunity she couldn't ignore.
"We'll get going immediately, sir. Anything else I need to know?"
"Not at present. You'll be meeting a Romulan ship in-system, and you'll work with them to investigate the value of colonising the planet."
"Do we know who our contact is?"
Lydana felt like a fool for asking, but the prospect of seeing her newest friend was too much. She'd found Loraya S'Vae to be charming, friendly and charismatic, and during her time back on Bajor she found she had missed the Romulan officer.
"I'm afraid we don't," Quinn answered, his tone suggesting he knew why she'd asked. "Needless to say, they have as much interest in working together as you do, so there should be no difficulties in accomplishing your goals. If you have any questions, you know where to find me, but I'm sure I'm giving this to the ideal captain."
"Thank you sir," Lydana said bashfully. "We'll contact you if anything comes up. DaVinci, out."
The screen returned to showing the starscape ahead of the ship, and Lydana returned to her chair in a flurry of excitement.
"Mister Cobham, set course for Dewa Three and take us to Warp four as soon as it's viable, if you don't mind," she declared, and Elisa hid a smile at how animated her friend had become.
"Aye sir, setting course for Dewa Three, Warp four in six minutes."
Lydana couldn't help herself. She'd always wanted to emulate the well-known captains, and she made a pointing gesture as she gave one declarative order.
"Engage!"
