B'hava'el System
Tempasa Militia Base, Bajor

Captain Bhan Larina glanced around the room at her officers, feeling a pang of anticipation at what she would say at this meeting, which was an uncomfortable feeling for her. As the commanding officers of one of the best companies in the Infantry, if not the entire Bajoran Militia, it took a lot to make her feel as nervous as she felt at that moment.

As they had been trained to do, all of her officers and non-commissioned officers were waiting patiently for her to begin talking, albeit not at attention. As effectively as they had that trained into them, she trained it out of them. The last thing she wanted when on a mission was for one of her officers or soldiers to snap to attention or shout out her rank when the enemy was around. There was no better way to get shot at than to let the enemy know they had a commanding officer in their presence.

She studied each of the officers and NCOs in the room, taking the time to meet each with eye contact and a slight nod. She was proud to see that if they were as nervous as she, they were hiding it well. She turned to her executive officer, who nodded deeply for her to begin. He was the only other one who knew what Colonel Jena had told her a few days before.

"Thanks for coming," she began, turning her head slightly to nod to her first sergeant, the most senior NCO in her company. He had been a close advisor to her since she graduated from the Bajoran Military Academy, a scared second lieutenant who tried to mask that fear in false bravado. He had quickly informed her that the soldiers could sense her nervousness, and they would never respect her as an authority figure until she could respect herself in that role. As she rose through the ranks, he rose with her. "I had a meeting with Colonel Jena the other day regarding the future of Kejal Company," she began.

"Are you being transferred?" First Lieutenant Liro Rehaq interrupted. She fixed the reconnaissance platoon commander with a cold look.

"No, Lieutenant, I am not," she said, her voice icy. He swallowed deeply; they knew she did not like to be interrupted while giving a briefing. "We are being transferred. The entire company will be deployed to serve with Starfleet on the U.S.S. James T. Kirk." She held up a hand to stop the questions, seeing several mouths opening. "Before you ask for any specifics, let me finish. The Kirk is scheduled to arrive in a little less than three weeks. We have been given two decks of the ship, which includes quarters for the officers and berths for the soldiers. We also have our own dining facilities, training facilities, and shuttle bays. Starfleet was kind enough to donate shuttles and runabouts for our transportation.

"We are to be the ground unit for the Kirk," she continued. "In this respect, our mission will be unchanged from what it is now. We will engage the enemy on the ground and deploy planet-side for reconnaissance and to take out any necessary infrastructure, just as we do now. The only difference will be that instead of being stationed on Bajor, we'll be stationed on the Kirk."

"Do our orders still come from Colonel Jena?" Second Lieutenant Whall Janese asked.

"Your orders still come from me," Bhan replied. "You don't have to be concerned with where my orders come from."

Lt. Liro scoffed. "If we wanted to serve on a Starfleet ship, we would have joined Starfleet."

"If the Federation ever gets around to accepting our membership application, we will be in Starfleet," Second Lieutenant Yer Aleen commented.

"If you ever paid attention in your history courses, Aleen, you'd know that it was Bajor, not the Federation, that withdrew the application thirty years ago," Lt. Whall shot back. "You can't blame them for the fact that we're not a member."

"Is any of this relevant to our mission?" Bhan asked sarcastically. "Because, if it is, continue, by all means. If it's not, maybe you'd like to ask me some questions that are." She hadn't always been so blunt; when she had taken her first position as an infantry platoon commander, she had the philosophy that you could catch more flies with honey than vinegar, and tried to be polite to everyone she worked with, which didn't always come naturally to her. However, it didn't take her long to realize that both soldiers and officers were underestimating her, treating her more like the deferential, petite, blond woman she was being than the commanding officer of an Infantry platoon. To make matters worse, Bajorans never did have the reputation of being all that aggressive, even among other Bajorans. So she changed her way of interacting with people, and was pleased to see her reputation improve almost overnight. Sometimes, she still felt like she was being too hard on her junior officers; after all, it wasn't too long ago that had been a rifle platoon commander, then a reconnaissance platoon commander, before being a company executive officer and then company commander. However, she didn't get there by being coddled, and neither would they. When they made mistakes, it was her obligation to let them know. If she didn't, they would not only fail to learn, they would likely fail to survive the next mistake.

"How long are we going to be gone?" First Lieutenant Peran Heyab asked quietly. He was a soft-spoken man, the heavy weapons platoon commander. Despite his reputation from his last posting, Bhan hadn't thought much of him at first, mistaking one who didn't speak much for one who didn't have much to say. His first time in battle, however, he quickly proved her wrong. His leadership skills were amazing, and his tactical thinking was on par with, if not exceeding, her own.

"We're starting with a year," Bhan replied. "After that, we'll reassess and see how things are going before deciding how much longer we'll be gone. Obviously, if this doesn't work at all and proves to be a bad idea for our company, we'll come back early."

Peran frowned at the news. "My daughter turned four months two days ago," he said.

"I know, Lieutenant. I visited her and your wife in the hospital after she was born," Bhan pointed out.

"I would be missing her first words, first steps," he mused.

"At least your wife will be there to see them," Bhan said harshly. Her own father had also been a career Militia officer, first in the Occupation and remaining afterwards to fight against the Dominion. Bhan had been born after both of those conflicts, but she could still remember long stretches of time when her father was gone for his military obligations. Since her mother had died a few days after Bhan's birth, most of those absences had been spent in boarding schools, but Vedeks were a poor substitute for the father she always worked hard to impress.

She softened, realizing that not everyone had the same views as she did. "I know it's a lot to ask, of all of you. If you do not want to take this posting, I will do my best to find a replacement for you before our departure in three weeks. However, with that short time, I can't guarantee that I will be successful."

Silence fell over the room before Lt. Whall spoke up. "I'm in," she said with a small grin.

"So am I, Captain," Lt. Liro added. One by one, each of the other officers and non-commissioned officers nodded their heads.

Captain Bhan nodded. "Thank you," she said to them. Turning to her first sergeant, she asked, "Antos?"

He also nodded. "Somebody has to keep an eye on you, Captain," he replied, his deep voice resonant. She smiled back before turning to face the others again.

"Thank you, again. This will not be easy, on any of us, but I believe that we will be successful. In the meantime, I requested and was granted three weeks of leave for each of you. Use it however you wish, but I do want to caution you against taking it too easy. We will resume our training as soon as the Kirk arrives." She paused before smiling thinly; they all knew exactly what allowing themselves to fall out of shape would result in. "Enjoy. I'll see you in three weeks."