Hours later they had docked their vessel, and were walking down the narrow catwalk to the main research facility. But before they made it to the double doors at the end of the hall they opened, and there stood Lal with a quizzical brow. "Commander Page."
"Captain Page now."
Lal gave a quick peevish look, knowing that this wasn't a house call. "State the nature of your emergency." She said in her best representation people figured an android would speak.
"Awwww, Lal don't demean your species. You know us Vulcan's find that most illogical."
There was a long awkward pause with this. Ten stood back, and observed this spectacle. He had heard of Lal's difficult nature, and was shocked that this was the captain's method of addressing her.
The captain and Lal shared a emotionless glare at one another, but Lal was the first to break into a laugh.
"Dammit Vai! If only I could erase the memories of your explanation on the serious Vulcan stare."
"You nearly had me this time." Vai said giving Lal a hug in greeting.
Ten marveled at this 180 degree shift in mood. And could not hide his wide eyed expression at all. It was only when Lal acknowledged him that he came back to his usual stoic expression.
"And who might this be?"
"Ah.. yes this is Commander Ten, my First Officer."
Lal gave him a quick once over. "So this is Muchara's pick?"
Via sighed, giving a quick nod.
Lal still looking him over, or rather looking through a data stream in her files, finally returned to the moment and offered her hand in greeting. "Greetings Commander Lillix Varid, or Lillix Reti?"
Ten's hand quaked for a second with this greeting, but he held his composure. "I prefer Ten." He stated with a hollow tone.
Lal kept eye contact with him during this exchange. Though she had a tiny stature, and delicate features, her eyes had a power to them. One that nearly made him buckle.
"So Captain, you can't be here just to say hi. What do you want?" Lal said looking over her shoulder to Vai.
Vai gave her a shifty smile.
Lal sighed. "Give me the files."
Vai produced a padd from her inner jacket pocket. "Wanna be my Science Officer?"
"Official as always," Lal stated with sarcasm as she quickly scanned over the padd, opening the double doors to the facility.
The room they entered was massive, with displays lining the walls, and interestingly the ceiling too.
"Guess the luxury of being here alone is you can make any adjustments you like to the facility." Vai said pointing up at the ceiling.
"Oh. That was to ensure I kept this commission… to myself." Lal answered as she began bringing up the schematics of the USS Argo.
Ten walked around looking over the screens. All of it was just logged data that was basic to most ships. It was just a data hub that bounced information throughout the galaxy. He smirked at the notion that Starfleet had one of the most advanced beings in its command operating as a glorified mailroom sorter.
"This ship is fascinating. 30 shield emitters, 300 programmable sensor arrays, and a dual warp engine capable of warp 9.9 and... a transwarp engine?"
"Interested in taking the commission?" Vai questioned with an arched eyebrow.
Lal bit at her lower lip. She would if it were a solo mission, but she abhorred large crews.
"Ships compliment will not exceed 50 personnel. The rest will be holographic temp officers and staff." Vai added, knowing she would be pushing the right buttons with this bit of information.
Lal looked over the different staff counts for each department.
"Your crew can be all holograms." Vai said as she gripped Lal's shoulders from behind, as if to give her a nice shoulder massage.
"Fine… I'll do it." Lal grumbled low.
"What was that?" Vai joked, clearly capable of hearing Ten's pulse from across the room.
"Captain Page, you have your Science Officer.
"Excellent. How soon can we leave?"
"Already sent a request for someone to fill my position. Let me just activate the temporary hologram program." Lal flicked a few keys, slid her seat over to another station. "Here we go."
A beam came down toward the main doors, and a figure appeared within it. Ten, who just happened to be closest was the first to behold this perfect copy of Lal standing in front of him. Though his first reaction was to immediately turn away due to the hologram missing all its clothes.
"Lieutenant, there might be a problem with the hologram." Ten stated as the nude hologram kept tapping his shoulder to get his attention.
"Oh right…." Lal inputted a few codes on the command line. After she did this a communicator badge appeared on the still naked holo Lal.
"You're going to leave it like that aren't ya?" Vai asked crossing her arms and smiling.
"Yup. I can't wait to get the security feed footage when my replacement arrives."
"Well… we got a few stops before we board the Argo. Better head out." Vai said now standing in front of holo Lal, so Ten could pass through the door.
Once they were all back in the transport ship Ten sat back as the Captain and Lieutenant laid in a course for DS9. He was still struck by this meeting. Yes, he heard some rumors of commander Page's exploits. But the main thing that bothered him was of his current company, his person was less colorful than a Vulcan and an Android.