Fried. Wrecked. Knackered. Shattered. Every extreme adjective she could come up with filed through Leo's brain as she found her way to her quarters via the locator in her uniform comlink. She'd arrived on board the Enterprise by Starfleet shuttle at 0730 and been given a quick run-through of her quarters by a nice young Ensign Whitney. Frankly she was so keyed up over her 0815 meeting with Captain Picard that not much of what the ensign told her sank in. And to be honest he led her through the basics of the various storage and technical devices as if she might already know about them. Even the replicator, which she'd managed never to use at the Academy. No longer simply dedicated to providing food and beverage, there was an additional replicator which could be used to create non-edible things such as clothing. She barely took any of it in, and by the time her container of possessions (35 kilos of books and one pair of tiger striped pajamas) arrived at her quarters she had to leave it untouched. It was 0815 and time to head up to the bridge.

Having survived what Geordi waggishly termed her "first contact" with the captain, Leo next ventured down to engineering just to wander around and get a feel for the place. She was making a conscious and mighty effort not to try to absorb too much, forcing herself instead merely to observe the crew at work and give various sections a once-over. She didn't ask any direct questions but found the engineering crew cheerfully willing to explain whatever they happened to be doing when she paused to watch. It turned out that Data was so deeply engaged in his warp particle analyses at the collection scoop processing station he barely lifted his eyes from the viewscreen to say "Welcome aboard, Lieutenant," as she passed.

At 1030 hours she reported to sick bay for her crew physical. She'd of course been examined upon her arrival on board the Avalon, and again at the Academy, but protocol demanded she have a fresh baseline medical file established on the Enterprise.

"Good morning Lieutenant O'Reilly, and welcome aboard the Enterprise," the ship's chief medical officer greeted her. "I'm Beverly Crusher, the head medical honcha. You're not healthy until I say you're healthy."

Leo couldn't help but think how casually friendly everyone was here – the captain excepted of course, but he didn't seem to be taking too long to warm up. "Call me Leo, doctor. I just can't get used to the rank thing."

"Okay, Leo, and call me Beverly. With all you've had to adjust to in the past year or so, I guess you can reach a limit. We're all friends here when the duty shift is over."

Beverly ran tricorders and various other instruments over and around Leo, and looked in eyes and ears much like the doctors she knew in her time. "The records Starfleet sent say you're allergic to some of our inoculations."

"Yeah, go figure. Only the minor stuff though. If I'd known I was coming somewhere where illness is outlawed I might have taken better care of myself. They were able to give me something that would keep me from being typhoid Mary to everyone else, though."

"Well I have a list of the 24th century things you can't be inoculated for, so we can keep you safely away from them. Your blood pressure is a little high."

"I had my first meeting with the captain not long ago."

Beverly clucked sympathetically and patted her shoulder. "Well all I can tell you is he's a lot better than his bluster. Once he gets over his adjustment anxiety, you'll wonder how you ever were intimidated by him."

Leo laughed as she got off the diagnostic bed and straightened her uniform. "Oh, I wasn't intimidated, I was pissed off. Well okay, maybe a little intimidated. But I have this unavoidable tendency to push back just a little when I get pushed. You're right though, he's much better than his bluster."

Beverly handed Leo a code chip. "This is a program that you should feed into the replicator in your quarters. Even if I can't inoculate you for some modern bugs, you can take some supplements to boost your immunity. Once a day, the doses are in the program."

She examined the chip before pocketing it. "Digital vitamins, cool. But I guess if there was any such a thing as fresh fruit in this universe I could fall back on my old healthy habits. Well you play what you're dealt. Okay, thanks doc."

"Beverly."

"Okay, Beverly."

"So Leo, do you play poker? Some of us have a game every week, rotates from quarters to quarters."

"I'm better at blackjack, but draw is my game too."

"0700 every Thursday. This week's Data's turn."

"Thanks, I'll remember that. I guess I'm not much used to socializing, even 'back in the day'."

"We're a friendly bunch, but don't worry. We won't crowd any closer than you want us to."

"I'm not worried. Maybe it's time for me to bust out anyway, you know, back to the land of the living. No matter what century." The old-fashioned Timex Leo refused to give up told her it was 1115 hours. She was due for an interview with the ship's counselor, another "baseline file" at 1130. "Jeez, I've got 15 minutes to find my way to the counselor's office. If I didn't have my comlink locator you'd wind up finding my skeleton in some service companionway."

"Well you're in luck," Beverly laughed, "Deanna's just up one deck." She gave her the detailed directions. "Everyone's a little lost when they get here, but you'll absorb it fast. Believe it or not starships are laid out intuitively as well as technically."

"Well I read about all that at the Academy," Leo peered doubtfully out the sick bay door in the direction of the turbolift, "but I'm not convinced. Thanks. Maybe I'll see you Thursday night."

Leo found Deanna Troi's office with no difficulty based on Beverly's instructions. Technology be damned, she still trusted more in human reasoning and word-of-mouth to get from point a to point b. A small, dark, lovely woman with extravagant black hair and unusually deep black eyes answered the door chime and immediately shook Leo's hand.

"Leora O'Reilly, welcome. I'm Deanna Troi, the ship's counselor. Come in, can I get you something? Herbal tea perhaps?"

Was that in her file? She knew that the counselor was a Betazoid but didn't think their intuition was that refined.

"Geordi mentioned you're fond of herbal tea," Deanna smiled, "I assure you I'm not a mind-reader."

"Well that's a relief. A person should be allowed to retain some mystery."

When they'd settled in the comfortably upholstered armchairs Deanna had set up in her office, she looked at Leo with a warm smile.

"So, I imagine it's too soon for me to ask how you're settling in."

"My, you Betazoids are intuitive, aren't you?" Leo laughed. "Let's just say that so far that with some assistance I'm finding my way around and so on. And I survived my first meeting with the captain." She hastened to add, "Don't worry, I didn't get an ugly first impression or anything."

"Your personnel file gives a pretty complete story of how you got to this century and how you did at the Academy. Less than two years isn't much time to adjust to an entirely new universe." It wasn't exactly a question, but Leo recognized the universal shrink-talk invitation to "share".

"If you're asking do I miss my 'old days' I'd have to say not too terribly. What I miss, I guess, is familiarity. I can learn new, and adjust to different, but it's gonna take a while to establish a comfort level. I mean, I just got used to the Academy and whoosh I'm here. I didn't realize what I'd become attached to there until I knew I was leaving, even if it was just the routine I'd established."

"You seem to be relating pretty well to the present, according to your Academy performance. Isn't there anything from your old life that you wish you could have here? Aside from the friend that you've lost, of course."

"Well yeah, I'd want him with me anywhere wouldn't I? I always sort of made my 'universe' as I went along, but if I had to distill the one thing I really miss since coming here, it's the experience of real things. Everything here is so managed, and manufactured, and what I call 'perfectly perfect'. Except for the people, ironically. I mean back in my day you could go ages before meeting anyone 'genuine'. But I really get desperate sometimes for something, anything that's not so carefully planned and synthesized. I don't know where I'll find that here on the Enterprise."

"Where did you find it at the Academy?"

Leo smiled. "A guy named Boothby, the groundskeeper. He understands 'real', I found him just a few days after I got there. He grows real live things, even about a dozen trees on the campus that aren't regenerated or artificially engineered. When I got that desperate feeling I'd go find him and we'd dig in the dirt and bitch about synthetics and 'new for new's sake'."

"You know we have gardens on board here you could have access to. They're not typically for recreational use, but I'm sure our botanical engineer wouldn't mind you visiting whenever you'd like."

"See what I mean? 'Botanical engineer'. Not gardener, not groundskeeper, it's all so sterile. Sometimes I think if I have to deal with any more synthesized anything I'll scream." She caught herself. "Except for Data of course. He really got confused when I told him he was the first real human contact I felt like I had in this new place."

"So you don't see him as artificial, or a machine?"

"Nah. Oh he can do whatever a machine might do, I guess, strength and logic and performance-wise, but there's a real difference."

"And what's that?"

"A machine doesn't aspire to be something it's not yet. Even the AI ones, that can 'learn' and adapt through experience, they can reason what they aren't yet and measure and analyze and determine what's necessary to get there. They can measure the distance, but they can't wish it were shorter."

Deanna was smiling. Leo had come to know Data very quickly indeed. "So you find Data's friendship helpful in making your adjustment. More even than the humans you've met?"

"Well yeah, because he seemed to know who I am right away. I don't know how or why but why even ask? When you connect with someone it's the connection that matters."

"Does it worry you that you're so different?"

Leo became a bit aggravated. "'Different'? You mean in age, or background, or what? What are you trying to say? That I shouldn't have connected with Data because he's not 'organic'?"

"I meant different from the people and the world you encounter here," Deanna explained calmly.

"Oh." Leo was a little embarrassed. She'd begun to remember the difficulties in her relationship with Paul, their difference in age and gender and everything else that made people pay more attention than they should, and to all the wrong things. "Well I don't know what you mean by 'worry' but I'm aware of it, sure. I suppose I feel a little distant, no matter how nice everyone is, how engaging and how excited I am about my prospects here – and I am, I mean it – I still feel the distance. It's unavoidable."

"It's 'real'."

"Yeah. No matter how assimilated I get, I'll still be different. It's not necessarily a source of grinding misery. I'll navigate it like I'll have to navigate everything else until I get more used to it."

"You seem to have a very pragmatic outlook, even as you recognize the emotional difficulties."

"What choice do I have? You can beat your head against the wall, or you can paint it the way you like. It's still gonna be a wall, but you can sort of make it your own."

"But even 'your own' wall separates you from everyone else. Do you see that as permanent?"

"Nothing's permanent. And sooner or later every wall has a door or a window. I just keep looking for it. Who knows, it could be disguised as a Starship."

"Or an android?"

Leo shrugged. "Or a captain who wrestles with change. Anything can happen. Hey, 'anything' already has."

Deanna seemed ready to conclude the meeting. "Thank you for coming, Leo. I think you'll do well here. And until you locate those windows and doors, please feel free to see me any time you'd like. Even if it's not a crisis."

"Well I hear there's a weekly poker game…are you in?" The smile on Deanna's face segued from professional to personal.

"I'm all the way in."

"Then maybe I'll see you. Thanks, Deanna. I'm glad you're not one of those 'tell me about your childhood' kind of people."

Now the counselor laughed. "Well that can be helpful for perspective in some circumstances, but it's more useful to look at 'now' than 'then'. I'm sure I'll see you on the bridge."

"You might hear the shouting through the ready room door. See you."

It was 1230 hours and nearly time for the officers' meeting. All department commanders were gathering in the conference room, and Leo would be officially introduced. Some she'd met already, Beverly, Geordi, Will and of course Data. But a few department lieutenants would also be included. She felt like some bizarre debutante. Oh well, she was to report to the captain first so he could bring her into the meeting officially. Oddly, she felt more secure seeing him first.

"Captain Picard, Lieutenant O'Reilly reporting sir."

"Come in, Lieutenant, please."

The captain was having tea at his desk as he went over some reports on his viewscreen. "Please, sit down. Can I get you something? I don't imagine you've had much time to eat."

Instinctively she looked around and saw no cooking facilities, and realized he meant the replicator. Her consternation must have showed.

"I'm aware of your attachment to natural food. We can certainly have some adaptations made in your quarters and whatever other accommodations are possible. I understand Boothby was your 'connection' at the Academy for such things."

"Boothby! How did you know about that?"

"He sent me a subspace message upon learning of your posting here. I don't have to tell you that's not a common practice, but he felt he had something important to pass on."

She couldn't imagine what. Boothby certainly wasn't a gossip, and even though she was aware of his acquaintance with Picard what could he have to share with him about her? "He told you about my food neurosis?" Picard's laugh was disarmingly warm.

"No, that was in your personnel file. And I believe it was stated as a 'preference', not a 'neurosis'. Boothby just wanted to tell me not to drive you away."

"Excuse me?" She raised an eyebrow. Was he implying she was that easily intimidated? "He thought you'd scare me off? After what I've seen and done in less than two years, after being on my own and up against all manner of sh…" she stopped herself, but didn't fool Picard a bit, "stuff here and 'back in the day', he thought I'd be scared off by a new boss?"

"No, he was afraid you'd be so annoyed that you'd request another post. Don't worry, he didn't go telling tales about you, only that you don't suffer fools gladly. So he told me 'Picard, for heaven's sake don't be a fool until later.'"

Laughing and shaking her head, Leo observed, "Honestly, that's one of the things that really drew me to him, when there's a point to be made he's never careless but he doesn't waste time."

"No mystery it's one of the things you have in common. In any case for now all I can offer is replicated refreshment."

"How about jasmine tea? Can it do that? With honey?"

"I don't see why not. All I ever have is Earl Grey but we'll give it a try," he said it as if he'd have her believe his replicator was stuck in a rut. He stood nearby its controls and announced, "Tea. Jasmine. Hot. Pot of honey." There was a glimmer and a black-handled glass of steaming golden tea appeared, alongside a smaller glass container of honey accompanied by a dipper. Picard withdrew the tray from the replicator and placed it on his desk next to Leo. "There, I think you'll find the tea acceptable."

"I guess I can pretend I'm at the automat in New York," Leo told him. His confused expression made her laugh. "Sorry, mid-20th century. Look it up sometime."

"I have a feeling I'll be looking up quite a bit until we know one another better."

Leo dipped some honey into her tea and sipped it. It was perfect. "Nice," she told him. "It can make tea, at least." She drank it in silence as Picard finished his reviews. With a glance at the chronometer set under the glass surface of his desk, he announced, "Well it's time for your unveiling." He preceded her into the conference room off the bridge where they'd had their first meeting. Seated around the long black table were Geordi and another officer she didn't recognize, Beverly Crusher, Deanna Troi, Will Riker, Data, a ruddy man with a pleasant face and curly red hair, and a very large Klingon. Not that they came in any other size, Leo supposed.

Leo stood to the captain's left (the right being reserved by protocol for the first officer), a position that would in not too long a time become as natural for her as standing inside her own shoes.

"I'm sure you're aware of an addition to the functions of Starship operations that was announced not long ago by Starfleet Command," Picard began. "Pursuant to that change and subsequent orders, I'm pleased to present the Enterprise's new Administrative Executive Officer, Lieutenant Leora Eileen O'Reilly." He knew she'd met some of those present already, but for the sake of protocol he introduced each of them separately and each nodded rather formally in turn. "Ship's First Officer Lt. Commander William Riker, Ship's Counselor Deanna Troi, Chief Medical Officer Lt. Commander Beverly Crusher, Ship's Second Officer and Chief Science Officer Lt. Commander Data, Chief Engineering Officer Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge, Engineering Officer Lt. Reginald Barkley, Chief Transporter Engineer Lt. Miles O'Brien, Chief Security Officer Lt. Commander Worf. I know you are all aware that Lt. O'Reilly comes to us from Starfleet Academy's first graduating class of certification in starship administration, but some of you may not know that prior to that she came to 24th century San Francisco from 21st century New England. I'll leave her to relate the details to you as you become acquainted. But I know the lieutenant can expect your cooperation and assistance in helping her acclimate not only to her new post, but her new life." The captain paused now and looked at Leo, indicating she should speak. She hadn't counted on this, but should have. Data's expression edged very subtly from neutral to encouraging as Leo took a step forward.

"Some of you I've met already, and some I hope to be beating soon at poker." This elicited laughter from all, and a grumble of, "We shall see," from Worf. "I apologize in advance for the incessant questions I'm going to be asking you, for the multiple times I'm going to get lost on the way to meetings, and in general for the multiple faux pas I expect to commit in 24th century knowledge and etiquette. I'm new in town in the biggest sense of the word, but with the help that I've seen coming my way already I hope to find my way into my job without melting down ship's operations or starting another Cardassian war. When I arrived at the Academy less than two years ago one of the first names I learned in my history studies was Enterprise. Even an antique like myself recognizes the stunning achievements accomplished under that name. To start my new life on such a ship and in such company is more than I ever expected when I stumbled off the Avalon. I intend to be worthy of Captain Picard's trust in me, the newest unknown, and yours as well." She paused for breath and looked at Picard.

"And I've run out of professional demeanor. Permission to shut up, sir?"

"Granted. Please note that in the official log, Number One, I have a feeling it may be the first and last time those words will be uttered by our new lieutenant."

"So noted," Riker laughed.

"Thank you all. Dismissed."

Leo turned to confront the captain, all previous hesitation forgotten. "Was that really necessary? Sir?"

He was still smiling. "Oh I'm afraid so, lieutenant. I believe in getting off to a clear and honest start."

Lt. O'Brien paused on his way past. "Speaking as a fellow descendant of God's True Chosen People, I'm pleased to invite you to join us in Ten Forward for a more casual welcome."

Noting that they had, after all, been officially dismissed, Leo replied, "And speaking as a fellow spinner of Ireland's Own Bullshit, I'd be pleased to accept."