The 602 Club
Mill Valley, Earth
April 12, 2156

The group sat tensely around the table. Sato, Mayweather, Archer, Tucker and T'Pol; all waiting for the PADDs before Tucker and T'Pol to beep. You could cut the tension with a knife. It was April 12th and Starfleet closed for normal business in the next five minutes. If an offer wasn't posted before then there wouldn't be one.

"Should be any minute." Tucker said.'

Everyone waited. And waited some more. Trip began to seriously consider the offer he'd been so confident about getting wasn't going to come through after all.

Then his PADD beeped.

He snatched it up immediately and checked the post. Then he grinned.

"I got it." He said, happily.

Everyone breathed a tentative sigh of relief. The posting meant that Trip had been offered his own command aboard the NX-03 Challenger, but whether or not T'Pol got her own offer would decide everything. They were a package deal.

T'Pol's PADD beeped. She checked the post.

"I have been offered the positions of Science Department Head and Executive Officer for the Challenger." She announced.

Now everyone cheered, even before T'Pol finished her sentence. Nevertheless she looked beside her to Trip, so that they could both thumb their acceptance on their PADDs at the same time. And so it was done. Archer even reached across the table to shake Trip's hand and slap him on the shoulder.

"I'm so damn proud of you, Trip." He said.

"Thanks Jon." Trip replied. "And I'm glad for you putting in a good word for me. I'm sure it made all the difference."

"Don't sell yourself short." Archer responded. "You've served above and beyond."

Drinks were consumed, entrees eaten. And Archer got down to brass tacks.

"Asha Feral." He said. "I assume you've heard of her."

"Sure," Trip said. "The naturalized Orion girl from Texas. Hellcat on tactical, from what I've heard."

"Well, I managed to get her reassigned to the Challenger for you." Archer said, "Along with Rex P'Trell for your Flight Control Officer and Savok of Vulcan for your Medical Officer. The rest you'll have to fill in yourself."

"I can't wait." Trip grinned. "If I can do half as well as you have, I'll have a stellar crew."

Mayweather interrupted, "You know you'll have to take the Long Walk with your new alpha bridge crew, right?"

"The Long Walk. I've heard about that." Trip said. "What's it all about?"

"Well, it's a new tradition." Mayweather said. "You touchdown on Centauri's smaller moon, then hike in EVA suits to the old UES space probe that crashed there, then on to a second waypoint where you stack a stone on the big pile of rocks holding up the Centauri flag. After that you hike on to the extraction point."

"Sounds easy enough. Trip replied. "What's the catch?"

"The catch is you've got a ten hour oxygen supply and a ten hour hike." Mayweather said. "So you can't take your time and you can't hurry up either, since both will eat through your supply."

"Has anyone ever died?" Trip asked.'

"Not so far." Mayweather answered.

"Then me and my crew should be able to handle it." Trip said, confidently.

"Indeed," said T'Pol. "EVA suits typically carry slightly more than ten hours of air supply, a fact that isn't commonly known."

"That's the trick then," Trip said. "Doesn't sound like it's going to be a problem."

"If it's not that dangerous," Sato Interjected. "Then I'll go ahead and recommend someone for your Communications Officer. Lou Chang is currently serving on Starbase One, but he'd love to get out and explore. Being stuck behind a desk is driving him crazy. He's not a natural linguist but he can operate a translator and he's very good at countermeasures."

""If he's got your recommendation," Trip said. "Then consider him recruited."

"What about your Chief Engineer?" Archer asked.

"Well, I mean to try and snatch someone from Captain Hernandez's crew." Trip said. "But it remains to be seen whether she'll fight me on that. Hopefully not."

"One more thing I think we should touch on.:" Archer said. "And I know you're not comfortable talking about this, T'Pol. Command surely knows about the two of you but I doubt they know you're bonded. You've been discreet until now, so you should probably keep it up. We don't want them trying to split you up."

"Neither of us wants that.." Trip said. "And we've already discussed it. If it does somehow come to that then we'll resign our commissions and go to work in the private sector."

"Let's not let it come to that." Archer said. "But I think command doesn't want to know you two are together, so it should be a simple matter not to make it public enough that they feel they have to act."

"That should not be a problem." T'Pol said, confidently.

More drinks were consumed, until everyone but T'Pol was well and tipsy. More talk was had as everyone congratulated the two of them on their achievements and grieved that they would soon be on their way elsewhere in the galaxy. Stories were shared, reminiscing about old adventures, until the hours grew long and it was time to go their separate ways.

T'Pol used the Ryde app on her PADD to order a lift to the nearby hotel where they shared connecting rooms. Once there she put the somewhat inebriated Trip to bed before crawling in herself to snuggle comfortably with him.

Monday would come soon enough so they had two days of freedom before reporting to their new duty stations about the NX-03 Challenger. T'Pol intended to spend them in private with her bondmate before then.