The Promenade, Starbase 24

Christmas Eve, 2375

Hanging the glittering bauble on the tree, Kehlan stepped back to admire her handiwork. The bauble itself was not handmade, but it was hand decorated. She'd spent hours painting a scene of the starbase and the fleet onto it and although she had no great artistic skill, it was at least recognisable. Studying it with a critical eye, she gave a nod of satisfaction. It would do. It was not the best ornament on the tree but neither was it the worst, and besides, it was not a competition. Every officer, enlisted crewmember and civilian on the base, regardless of culture or planet of origin, had come together to decorate the massive tree, each one of them contributing a bauble or ornament. The resultant mishmash – Terran, Klingon, Trill, Vulcan and even one Romulan – was oddly beautiful.

This was Kehlan's first Christmas and she would admit to being a little confused by the whole thing. Well, technically it was her second one, since she'd spent a Christmas on Earth as a student. But that one had been nothing special and she hadn't understood what all the fuss was about. When the holidays came round, all her fellow students, with the exception of a few fellow aliens who didn't celebrate the feast anyway, had all gone home to their families. She'd seen the decorations, heard the talk about the parties and Christmas shopping and gifts and carols and all the other things that apparently made this time of year special. But in the end, December the twenty-fifth had passed by just as any other day did.

This year was different. She was a wife now, and she had a family and friends who cared about her. And this Christmas thing was proving to be fun, even if she was first officer of the wrong ship. As far as Kehlan concerned, Endeavour, and the quarters she shared with James Mackenzie when her duty schedule allowed, were where she belonged. Athena was just the place where she worked, under the command of Captain Christopher Royce.

Royce and her husband had been at Starfleet Academy together and Mackenzie talked about him often. Kehlan could only assume that he'd changed a lot over the years since the mischievous, fun-loving cadet that he described bore no resemblance to the dour, bad-tempered captain she now served under. No doubt that was mostly down to the months he had spent as a prisoner of the Dominion.

Personally, and off the record she knew her husband agreed with her, she did not think Royce was fit to command. He was still too traumatised by those events. Starfleet had unfortunately disagreed – and in fairness, they'd lost so many captains and crew during the war that command level officers were in short supply – and had given him the Defiant Class USS Athena and Kehlan as his Number One. The problem was, Kehlan reflected ruefully, she was not the first officer he wanted.

"Looking good, Kehlan." The voice was that of Commander Hassan ibn Ahmed, Endeavour's first officer and the inadvertent source of her problems with Royce. It was supposed to have been the other way round: Kehlan on Endeavour and Ibn Ahmed with Royce. That would have pleased everyone. Except Kehlan and Mackenzie had decided to get married and Starfleet in its wisdom, had decided they couldn't serve on the same ship anymore. "Did you paint it yourself?"

"I did," Kehlan confirmed with a grin. She got on just fine with ibn Ahmed; it was just Royce who had a problem with her – and those of his senior officers who been with him in the prison camp and followed their captain's lead, resenting her as an outsider. "Have you done yours? Let's see…"

He answered her grin with one of his own. "Not until it's on the tree. Give me a moment will you – and no peeking!"

Despite her curiosity, Kehlan obediently turned round, listening to the rustle of branches as Ibn Ahmed carefully placed his own bauble on the tree. "Can I look now?"

"Go ahead." Ibn Ahmed stepped back to give her room.

Unlike Kehlan, Ibn Ahmed had not decorated a ready-made bauble, but had made use of a small piece of wood on which he had carved and then painted a desert scene. Three tiny camels crossed a vast expanse of sand and in the background, palm trees and the outline of buildings representing a small town or village. And in the sky, a comet blazed. He was an Arab, Kehlan remembered, of nomadic Bedouin descent. He had grown up in just such a desert and his intimate knowledge of that life gave an air of authenticity to the tiny scene. She looked up at him. "Oh, it's beautiful."

She might have said more, but heavy footsteps approached and a disapproving voice that she recognised as Royce's, called her name. "Commander Kehlan. You are on duty, why are you not on the bridge?"

Ignoring the sympathetic look from her fellow first officer, Kehlan bit back an angry retort that would only get her into trouble. "I am on my scheduled lunch break, sir. Commander Kal has the bridge."

Royce frowned. "Well, since she's doing you a favour, you can take her shift tonight on top of your own. You won't mind, will you? It's not a Klingon festival after all." Not bothering to wait for a reply, he hung his own ornament on the tree and went on his way, leaving the faintest trace of alcohol in the air.

Kehlan stared after him in dismay. His order meant that once her lunch break was over, she'd be on duty non-stop until tomorrow night. She'd miss the carol concert and dinner with her husband. She sighed. So much for her first Christmas.

hoping you all had a good christmas and are looking forward to the new year. This is just a short story with no major plot, just a look at the first Christmas on the starbase. A few bits are mentioned here that have not yet been covered yet by Dominion/Captain's Honour... mostly, that after Kehlan and Mackenzie get married, Kehlan is transferred to the USS Athena under the command of Christopher Royce, who was previously captain of the Poseidon and rescued from a Dominion prison along with the remnants of his first officer, Ibn Ahmed, has taken Kehlan's place on Endeavour, something which Royce resents very much.