The lobby area outside the Officer's Lounge of Starbase 14 was bustling with activity the likes on which it had never seen. Due to its location so close to the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Starbase was rarely host to maiden voyages, which was why today saw an abundance of Starfleet officers stood in rows waiting to be greeted by their new Captain.

A hum of low voices passed between the crew members. Ensign Ben Carter stood in a nervous silence on the third row facing an empty podium, occasionally adjusting his gold uniform, which for some reason had started to feel increasingly uncomfortable. He couldn't help but feel he'd made a fool of himself in front of Captain Scott on the journey to Starbase 14 - First impressions were important, and he'd made a bad one.

Ben suddenly gasped as he felt an elbow jab him lightly in his side. A young human woman with wavey shoulder-length blonde hair and blue-grey eyes stared at him with a concerned smile. The woman was an Ensign like Ben, in the same yellow uniform.

"You alright buddy, you look a little sweaty?" She asked, examining his face with a frown.

"Yeah," Ben gasped, frantically wiping his mildewed face with the back of his hand.

"Nervous, huh?" She said, still smiling.

"A little," Ben replied, trying his best to act cool.

"Well, you look as though you're about to fall over. Y' sure I can't get you something before the Captain gets here?" The Ensign said with a mischievous chuckle.

"Honestly, I'm fine, it's just -"Ben began, but was interrupted as Lieutenant Lake turned around and shushed him. The Captain was about to address them.

Captain Tryla Scott stepped out on to the podium with her new first officer at her side. Unlike Ben, she didn't look nervous in the slightest, she was composed and almost intimidating in her demeanour, but still maintained a modicum of swagger.

"To Captain Tryla Scott," She began, reading from the screen of the podium, "Stardate 40021. You are hereby requested and required to take command of the USS Renegade as of this date. Signed Rear Admiral Gregory Quinn, Starfleet Command."

Applause broke out among the ranks, an enthusiastic Ensign on the back row even whistled. This didn't go unnoticed by Captain Scott, who raised her eyebrow before gesturing for silence with both hands.

"For those of you that were unaware," Captain Scott began, addressing the crowd, "This is my first office Commander Janeway."

Commander Janeway gave a curt nod to the crowd. She had a strong presence, not unlike the Captain's, but something about her smile gave off a feeling warmer than that of Scott's.

"I expect all of you to treat the Commander with the same respect you will show me. Our chief engineer will be running final checks shortly, and we will be departing the Starbase in twelve hours. In the meantime, while unconventional, I have arranged for food and drink to be served in the Officer's lounge. I want my crew to be at least familiar with one another before we disembark," Captain Scott explained. She paused for a moment and looked side to side, "Well? What are you waiting for, head on in."

Row by row the present crew members began to file into the Officer's lounge. Carter followed two crewmen both in yellow uniforms like him.

The Officer's Lounge was draped in Starfleet and Federation banners, an assortment of crewmen from the Starbase were walking around with food and drink on platters. Still feeling horribly nervous, Ben ducked to his right on entering and sat down in one of the booths that ran up the side of the establishment.

The nervous Ensign took some deep breaths and gave his face another wipe, this time with his sleeve.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed as Ben sat and watched the various crew members walking back and forth, chatting, eating and drinking. The only crewman who seemed as static as him was the Bolian Ensign, Zosa, whom Ben had met on the bridge. Zosa stood very still and kept all of his conversations very brief. Perhaps he was nervous too.

"Hey, you calmed down a little?" Said the girl Ben had spoken to at the ceremony, who had peered into the booth where he was sitting.

"I wasn't... Not calm," Ben stammered.

"Sure," She replied, taking a seat across from Ben, "You're Carter, right?"

"That's right, Ben Carter. Where'd you hear that?"

"I was just talking to Lieutenant Lake, since you ditched me," She joked, "I'm Abbie, by the way, Abbie Becker."

"Nice to meet you, Ensign Becker," Said Ben with as much charisma as he could muster, reaching out a hand to shake Abbie's.

Abbie returned the handshake, "Enchante."

Ben squinted a little. Something clicked within him like deja vu when she said that.

"It's French," Abbie explained, looking at him like he was crazy.

"I know, it's just..." Ben said in a daze, "Are you? French, I mean." He knew full well that she wasn't French; it just seemed like an excellent way to move the conversation along.

"No," Abbie said, laughing again, "I was born on Earth, in California. But we moved to Utopia Planitia when I was pretty young."

"Mars? Wow, what was that like?"

"Pretty red," She laughed, "Where are you from?"

"North Carolina, most of my family on my mother's side live on the same street," Ben joked.

"Why'd you sign up for Starfleet?"

"My stepfather was an officer," Ben explained, "I guess I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

"Was an officer?" Abbie asked.

"He went missing three years ago," Said Ben.

Abbie gave a sympathetic smile. Ben allowed it to hang in the air for a moment before changing the subject, "What's your assignment?"

"I'm in engineering. What about you?"

"Trainee tactical officer..."

At this, Abbie snorted and covered her mouth.

"What?" Ben asked, looking offended.

"Nothing, nothing," Said Abbie, trying to suppress laughter, "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. It's just, y' know, the nerves, the sweating. What are you gonna be like when you're in a battle situation?"

"I'm not usually like this... Or at least... I didn't think I was. It's just..." Ben stopped once he realised Abbie was no longer listening. She had started to watch some of the officers walking by; she was curling a strand of hair around her finger absent-mindedly.

It took Ben a moment to realise, but she was staring at a specific person in the crowd - A very handsome human man in a gold uniform with flowing black hair. The man was laughing with what appeared to be the ship's chief medical Officer, a Vulcan woman with a typically logical facial expression.

"You see that guy?" Abbie whispered, leaning closer to Ben but not taking her eyes off the man.

"The one you've been gazing at, sure," Ben replied, still wounded from having been ignored.

"I was not gazing. Don't you know who he is?" She asked, still not looking at Ben.

"Not a clue, should I?"

"Lieutenant Commander Narinder Patil, he's the ship's chief engineer, my new boss," Abbie explained.

"Should I know who that is?" Asked Ben.

"Uh, yeah?" Abbie said, turning to Ben and looking at him as if he were an idiot, "He's basically a genius, what he doesn't know about warp technology isn't worth knowing! He graduated the Academy in two years."

"Wow, that is impressive," Said Ben. Having barely scraped through his final year at the Academy, Ben thought that Patil must have been brilliant.

"He requested me personally," Abbie said, puffing out her chest impressively, "Said my graduating thesis was the best he'd read that year."

Ben saw a mischievous smile curl across Patil's face as he looked down at one of the rather attractive ensigns laughed somewhat exaggeratedly at his joke, and wondered if he really had thought much of Abbie's thesis.

"He worked with that Kosinski guy, you know?" Abbie went on as if Ben really wanted to Patil's life story.

"Kosinski?" Ben said, feigning interest. However, he had realised his sour mood had done wonders for his confidence, so that was something.

"Oh you might not have read about it, he's this warp field expert, he's got this nuts theory that he can use our current tech to exceed warp ten and reach the edges of the galaxy in seconds."

"Wow..." Ben said, looking out into the crowd again.

The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Abbie cleared her throat to grab Ben's attention. When Ben turned to look at her, she had a softer expression on her face than before, as if she'd realised how rude she'd been.

"Look," She began, "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you."

If anything, the words made Ben feel even worse, like he was tiny, and she was patting him on the top of his head. His anxiety about the whole situation seemed to grab him again.

"I guess," Abbie went on, "It's a little overwhelming for me too, I'm trying to take it all in. Our first starship commission, y' know?"

"Yeah, I know, don't worry about it," Ben said.

"We should stick together though, you and me; we might be the only class of '63ers on board."

"That's true," Ben nodded, smiling at her.

"Shall we go mingle with the rest of them, if you're up to it?" Abbie asked, beaming sweetly back at him.

"I don't know, I..." Ben hesitated.

"Come on," She laughed, reaching out and grabbing his hand, "I'll look after you."


Narinder Patil left the party early with a smug, self-satisfied look on his face, one that Captain Scott clocked immediately as he stepped through the door. Scott's piercing stare may as well have been a photon torpedo, blasting the smirk from the chief engineer's face.

"Commander," Scott said with a respectful tilt of the head, "If you'd follow me, please."

"Yes sir," Patil replied, his voice much more professional than Scott had expected.

"I'm surprised you didn't come over to pay your respects at the party, Mr Patil," Scott said scathingly as the two began to walk down the empty corridor.

"My apologies, Captain, I didn't think it an appropriate atmosphere, and I was, as you instructed, getting to know the crew," He said with a smile that some might have said were charming, the word that came to Tryla's mind was more nauseating.

"Getting to know the women of the crew," Tryla said, raising an eyebrow. Narinder opened his mouth to speak, but the Captain continued, "I'd like you to, where possible, keep your eyes off the ensigns and your eyes on the engines."

"Yes, Captain," Narinder said defeatedly.

"We've received our first set of orders from Starfleet," Scott explained, "I'm going to need a full systems diagnostic run and completed within six hours."

"Six hours, sir?" He replied, a quiver in his voice.

Scott stopped abruptly, "That's right; you are capable of that aren't you, commander?"

"Of course, of course," Narinder said, a less convincing but equally slimy smile curling in the corner of his mouth.

Gesturing forward, the Captain said with a smile, "Very good; the ship is that way."

Patil nodded and walked the remainder of the corridor by himself. Once the chief engineer was out of sight, Tryla let her smiling facade drop into a scowl.

"Scott to Commander Janeway," The Captain said, tapping her comm badge, "When you're ready, I'd like to see you in my ready room."


A deep breath was all the preparation Commander Kathryn Janeway needed before stepping from the turbolift and on to the bridge of the USS Renegade. Looking around, she thought that this was likely to be the only time she would see the bridge empty for quite some time. Unlike her previous posting, the bridge of the Renegade had a warmer feel to it.

The tactical station sat directly behind and above the three command chairs and had a somewhat homely wood-finish which Janeway found to be quaint. Directly in front of the command station were the two helm stations where the ship's conn and operations officers would be seated. And in front of them, the enormous panoramic viewscreen which was currently inactive.

Janeway ran her hand along the tactical station and walked the width of the bridge, observing the various other stations behind it as she went. Her previous post, the science terminal, gave her a strangely warm sensation. The slow lap of the bridge met with Janeway's approval, and once satisfied that she'd seen enough, she headed to the Captain's ready room and politely buzzed on the door.

"Enter," Captain Scott's voice said, and the door opened immediately.

"Captain," Janeway nodded, standing before Scott's desk.

With a focused look on her face, the Captain was staring down at her padd and sipping on a hot cup of coffee. She looked up and gestured to the seat in front of Janeway. Scott's eyes travelled back and forth along what must have been the last sentence of whatever she was reading, and she finally looked up from the padd.

"They never get it quite right for my tastes," Scott said, taking another sip of the coffee, "The blend is a little off no matter how hard I try."

"I've never met a coffee I didn't like," Janeway said with a laugh.

Scott laughed too, and put down the cup, "Feel free to help yourself," she said, tilting her head towards the replicator alcove on the wall.

"Oh, thank you," Janeway smiled, getting up and walking to the alcove, "Coffee, black" She commanded.

"You know, Owen Paris and I had a chat the other day, it seems he regrets writing such a glowing recommendation for you. His new science officer hasn't got a patch on you, apparently. Are you that good?"

Janeway didn't speak; she simply smiled and took a satisfied sip of her coffee before sitting back down.

"I'll take that as a yes," Scott replied, looking satisfied, "Did you meet many of the crew at the party?"

"Yes, I met the doctor and most of the bridge crew, I didn't get a chance to speak to the chief engineer, he seemed a little preoccupied," Janeway explained.

"Indeed. I was speaking to him on the way down here; his record is exemplary..."

"But?"

"But, I get the feeling his ego might outweigh his brilliance," Scott continued.

"I can't say I know that much about him, I've only seen his record."

"That's the problem with picking a crew out of files I suppose, I'd rather have conducted face to face interviews, but that's not a luxury I was afforded," Scott said, then remembering who she was talking to she added: "You seem to be precisely what was promised, so far"

Janeway laughed and took another deep sip of coffee, "Do we know anything about our first assignment?"

"We do actually, here," Scott passed over the padd she had been reading.

The summary read: Warp signatures detected, leaving and returning to the atmosphere of planet Turnus II. On the last survey in 2330, it was believed the planet was hundreds if years from achieving warp travel.

"Interesting, we could be looking at a First Contact situation," Janeway said, looking up at the Captain.

"Indeed. I've had the full briefing sent over to you; the Turnu are certainly an interesting culture from what we know. But how they'd possibly go from hunting with bows and arrows to harnessing warp technology is anyone's guess," Scott said.

"At least we'll get the chance to test our chief engineer's warp knowledge," Janeway said with a smirk.