A skeleton crew still occupied the bridge of the USS Renegade. Captain Tryla Scott sat impatiently wrapping her fingers against the arm of her chair. No first officer, no chief engineer and only a quarter of the full crew's complement. Scott almost found it insulting, she'd been the fastest person in the history of Starfleet to achieve the rank of captain, and her reward was half a ship and half a crew.
Of course, she knew the rest of the crew would be joining them at Starbase 14, but they had been making do as they were for over a week, and it had been quite trying. She couldn't help but think there'd have been more emphasis on getting her crew together had it not been for the upcoming maiden voyage of the Enterprise-D, which naturally was the talk of Starfleet.
Scott had never had the pleasure of serving with or even meeting Jean Luc Picard, but she was familiar with his service record on the Stargazer, that alone was proof enough to her that he was the man to take on the Enterprise. Tryla Scott didn't need the flagship; she just wanted a ship with a full crew, which was apparently too much to ask.
Maybe she was just being ungrateful, she thought. After all, not many officers as young as she was were put in charge of a New Orleans class vessel. Well, not any actually, since she was the youngest captain in history. And it was undoubtedly a good ship, even if it was second hand.
Henry Lau had captained the Renegade for just short of two years after its initial commission in 2360. But due to his negligence, the ship was caught up in a nasty ion storm which led to extensive ship-wide damage and over thirty dead crew members. It would have been much worse, were it not for the ship's first officer, Jethro Wallace, relieving Lau of duty and taking command.
Lau was dishonourably discharged from Starfleet, and the USS Renegade was subjected to a full refit. Naturally, everyone, including Scott herself, thought that Wallace would be awarded a promotion and given the Renegade. But, while he did receive a promotion to the big chair, Starfleet thought that Scott was better suited to the Renegade and Wallace was given command of the USS Armstrong instead.
"How long to Starbase 14, Lieutenant?" Tryla asked, directing her question at the young lieutenant in the gold uniform at the helm, who was technically the second highest ranking bridge officer onboard. Her name was Victoria Lake; she was a handsome woman with jet black hair, she'd been personally recommended to Scott by a close friend, which meant the lieutenant had a lot to live up to.
"At current speed, we should be there within the hour, sir," Lake replied.
"Excellent, Lieutenant," The captain nodded.
She wished she could sit out the rest of the trip in her ready room, but with no first officer to cover her, it didn't feel appropriate to leave the bridge until she'd been on duty for at least another hour.
The captain gazed around the bridge, Ensign Carter, a stand-in for the chief of security, stood at the ops station tapping away at his padd. He looked almost as frustrated as she felt.
"Everything alright, Ensign?" She asked.
Carter turned on the spot and flushed a little with embarrassment, "Yes sir," He replied, standing stiff as a board.
"At ease, Ensign, it's alright to be nervous. You're fresh from the academy if I'm not mistaken?"
"Yes, Captain."
"What are you struggling with," Tryla asked, gesturing to the padd in Carter's hand.
Carter stepped forward and handed the padd to the captain, "I think the padd might be faulty, I was trying to make a copy of the ship's status report."
Tryla looked over the padd and tapped the screen, Carter was right; it wasn't working, "Yes, it looks as though it might be faulty."
"I'll requisition another one right away, sir," Carter said stiffly.
"No, don't trouble yourself, you can use mine for now and get another when we arrive at the Starbase," Tryla replied, smiling and handing over the padd which had been slotted into her armrest.
"Thank you, Captain," Carter nodded before returning to the ops station.
Ensign Zosa was the other temporary bridge officer; he was a Bolian, and not a very talkative one. He sat at the helm station to Lake's right and hadn't spoken since arriving on the bridge and introducing himself. Tryla has surmised that he considered himself a consummate professional and didn't have time for small talk.
This suited Scott just fine, as their first and only interaction hadn't been a particularly memorable one - if anything, Zosa seemed quite dull.
"Captain," Carter said, "Incoming subspace transmission from Admiral Quinn."
"Thank you, Ensign," Tryla said, standing up and stretching her back, patch it through to my ready room.
"Uhm," Carter said, flushing red again, "How do I..."
Scott rolled her eyes this time and walked over to the ops station, sending the transmission through to the ready room herself. As she strolled into her ready room, she saw a look flash between Lake and Carter that seemed to say 'idiot'.
"Lieutenant Lake, you have the bridge," Said Tryla, before allowing the ready room door to close behind her.
The walls of the ready room were mostly bare, as Tryla had planned to move in a few more home comforts once she'd settled in. All that hung there was a picture of her mother, father and brother and her brother's two children.
Children weren't something that particularly appealed to Tryla; she was more interested in professional pursuits. Of course, she liked her niece and nephew a lot, but ever since taking her first interstellar flight with her father as a child, she knew she wanted to explore the galaxy above all else. Her school friends would laugh as she sat in her classroom, preparing for Starfleet Academy six years before she was even eligible to attend.
But it paid off, she thought, none of those friends were starship captains. They hadn't achieved the things she had, so for her, it was all worth it.
With a somewhat self-congratulatory smile, she took a seat at her desk and pushed the button on her personal computer to accept Admiral Quinn's transmission.
"Admiral Quinn," She said with a curt nod as the rugged silver-haired admiral appeared on the screen.
"Captain Scott, a pleasure as always," Quinn replied, returning a polite nod.
"How can I help you, Admiral?"
"Oh, it's nothing really, I just wanted to check in and see if everything was on schedule. I'm very sorry about the mix up with the crew," Quinn explained.
"No need to apologise, sir," Tryla said, "The crewmen we do have are doing an excellent job."
"How's Lieutenant Lake?" Quinn asked - it had been he who had suggested her for the crew - being an old friend of Lake's father.
"She's settling in nicely, she seems to be a very competent officer," Tryla told him.
"Good, Good, her father will be pleased to hear that," Quinn said. The old man looked down at his feet and took a short pause, before sighing.
Tryla knew precisely what he was going to say.
"There's still time for you to -" Quinn began.
"No," Tryla said, "My decision is final, sir." Quinn was referring to Dexter Remmick, a lieutenant commander with whom she was familiar. Remmick had become something of a protege to Quinn, who had been pushing for Tryla to take Remmick on as her first officer.
"Alright, alright, that's the last time I'll mention it, I promise," Quinn assured her, "Who was it you decided upon again?"
"Her name is Janeway, she was the science officer on the Al-Batani," Tryla explained.
"Ah yes, Owen Paris's ship. He's a good judge of character, I'm sure she'll do a fine job," He said, trying and failing to hide the wounded look on his face.
"Was there anything else, sir?" Asked Scott, trying not to sound impatient.
"No, no I've taken up enough of your time already. Again, I'm sorry about the lack of fanfare - we're making sure to pull out all the stops at Starbase 14. We'll call this little trip a test run; the real maiden voyage is still to come!" He said with a chortle.
"Right you are, sir," Tryla said with a smile, "I'll see you shortly."
"Quinn out," The Admiral said finally, and he disappeared, leaving the screen filled with the United Federation of Planets emblem.
Scott sat back in her chair and sighed with relief. She'd inclined that Quinn would try and push Remmick on her again, but once they'd actually set foot on the ship, she assumed he would have given up. It wasn't that Tryla disliked Remmick, she'd met him on a few occasions, and he seemed perfectly capable. There were quite a few officers who didn't like him, but that had no bearing on her decision either.
Quite frankly, from everything she'd read and everyone she'd spoken to, Janeway was the superior officer, and that was that.
Kathryn Janeway stood sternly at the viewport and stared into the vast abyss before her. There were no planets to be seen, but she knew she was looking in the direction of Styris IV from the information displayed on the panel to her right. She'd hoped to get a look at the USS Renegade as it pulled in to dock.
Catching sight of the third golden pip on her uniform in the reflection of the viewport caused Janeway to swell with pride. She'd enjoyed her tenure as Chief Science Officer on the Al-Batani, but command was always where her heart lay. And now she was a step closer to her own command.
"Do you mind if I join you, Commander?" Came a familiar voice from behind her.
"Of course," She replied with a smile, turning to greet Lieutenant Commander Remmick.
Remmick straightened up his blonde hair in the reflection and adjusted his uniform as he stood to Janeway's left.
"Congratulations on the promotion, Commander," He said.
"Thank you, Mr Remmick," Janeway replied.
"Captain Paris seemed sad to lose you, what made you switch to command?" Asked Remmick.
"It was always the plan, it just seemed like the right time," Janeway explained, "Though I wasn't expecting to find a ship so soon."
A flash of emotion crossed Remmick's face as if he'd just suffered a pang of some kind, but he readjusted his expression almost instantly, "Between you and I, I overheard Admiral Quinn speaking to Starfleet command a few weeks ago, I don't think Captain Paris will be a Captain for much longer."
"Oh?" Janeway replied.
"Indeed, he's up for a promotion. They said he'd turned them down twice before, but they seemed confident he'll accept this time. What do you think?"
"Sounds like him. I couldn't say for sure, but Starfleet would be gaining a wonderful Admiral... And losing a wonderful captain," Janeway said with a chuckle, "What about you anyway, aren't you looking to get yourself on a ship?"
"Well," Remmick said, pausing awkwardly, "I actually applied for the posting on the Renegade."
"I see," Janeway said, trying not to convey emotion one way or another - she didn't want to offend Remmick.
"There will be other ships of course," Remmick said, "Captain Scott has gained an excellent first officer."
Janeway smiled and nodded gratefully, "Have you applied elsewhere?"
Shaking his head, Remmick said, "I think I'm going to stick with the Inspector General's office for the time being."
"Waiting for the right ship. You always were meticulous, Dexter."
"Why do you think I've had so much success in my current posting?" He laughed.
"Not making too many friends from what I hear."
"I investigate other Starfleet officers; it's not a particularly friendly job," Remmick explained.
"I think your methods might be where the issue lies," Janeway said. She'd heard a lot about Remmick's aggressive approach to investigation.
"Haven't you heard of that old earth phrase - good cop, bad cop?" Asked Remmick.
"I'd hardly say that applies; there's no good cop for a start."
"True. But so far my methods have gotten results. The officers I interrogate might see me as harsh, they may even hate me, but my duty is to the truth."
Janeway rolled her eyes, playfully, "Just don't get carried away."
"I'll keep that in mind," Remmick said. Janeway knew full well that he wouldn't, that was just who he was.
The next few minutes passed silently as the two officers gazed off into the distant stars. Then, as if it knew the conversation had reached its natural conclusion, the New-Orleans class frigate burst out of warp.
"NCC-63102, the USS Renegade," Remmick said with a smile, "She's going to be lucky to have you, Kathryn."
