A/N - So a few people have asked about the West Wing crossover disappearing. Originally my idea was for those characters to just be cameos. Occasionally though an idea comes to me and they pop back in as CJ does here. For a review of characters see the first chapter. This chapter also contains pieces of scenes stolen and modified from a Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2 episode, because why not keep adding more of my geekdoms to one story ;) I'm also filling in details on a few West Wing characters for those that aren't fans of the show.

Mindy stood outside the conference room door, staring at it. She took a step forward then stepped back. Shaking her head, she stepped forward once more and then froze.

"Mindy, right?" a voice asked from behind her.

Mindy jumped and spun. "Ms. Cregg."

CJ chuckled. "Call me, CJ, please."

""Yes ma… um yes CJ."

"You afraid of what's behind that door?"

Mindy shook her head. "Not really, no. What are you doing here? Sorry, that was rude. I'm a bit of a mess right now."

"I can see that," the older woman replied. "I'm here to help the Ares III crew prepare for the upcoming congressional hearings. I believe you're on my list as well."

"I am." Mindy paled. "Wait, I'm going to have to testify before Congress? Why?"

"You're the one that…"

"Figured out Mark's alive," Mindy finished the statement. "Of course. Sometimes I wish someone else had been on duty that night."

CJ raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Mindy thought for only a few seconds before sighing. "No."

"We'll talk later about your testimony. For now, what's behind that door that has you so anxious?"

"My team, the team leaders of my new department. I've got to set assignments and a schedule."

"Sounds like you have everything under control."

"I haven't had to deal with them all yet, not in this capacity."

CJ tilted her head. "Meaning what exactly?"

"I was the underling before. I've interacted with all of them in one on one situations but not as a group and certainly not as the one in charge. I jumped over several levels by taking this position."

"Leaping over some of them."

Mindy nodded.

"I know something about that," CJ replied with a knowing smile. "I was in a similar situation years ago. Remind me and I'll tell you about it sometime. Right now, get in there. The minute you walk through the door, they're your team. You have nothing to prove. You have the authority."

"Only because Dr. Astor says I do."

"It's up to you to hang on to it. Now, you'd better get in there, and Mindy, for whatever it's worth, I think you're going to do just fine, and so does Annie."

"Yes, I do. Go in there and kick some ass, Mindy," Annie said as she stepped up to the two having just overheard the last little bit of the conversation.

"Thanks," Mindy replied, straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped into the conference room.

"Looking for someone else to mentor?" Annie asked.

"Not on purpose."

"But you could help her, which means you will."

"If she lets me," CJ said. "Come on, let's go talk through your testimony."

"Mindy, uh Ms. Park," Doug said as she slid into the chair next to him in SatCon.

"Ugh, no don't call me Ms. Park," she protested.

"But you're like my boss now," he argued.

"Please just call me Mindy. How long did we work together?"

"Two years," he answered.

She nodded. "See, so just call me Mindy. How's it going? Any messages from Mark?"

"Nothing new. He's been out to clear the solar farm. He went to the MDV and the rovers, but no messages. How's the new job?"

"Ok, I guess. I probably should get back to it. I have to interview assistants, and I've never interviewed anyone before in my life."

Doug chuckled. "You'll be fine, just remember they're more nervous than you are."

"Uh huh, sure." She groaned as she stood. "Let me know if anything changes."

"Will do, boss." He gave her a mock salute.

"Always the smart ass," she muttered as she walked away, but his teasing had lightened her mood.

"Ah, there you are," Venkat said as she exited SatCon. "You have your own office now, you know."

"Another smart ass," she muttered. "I'm aware, thanks. Just doing a quick stop-in, like someone I know used to do several times a week."

"Guilty as charged," he laughed. "How was your meeting this morning?"

"It went as well as it could.

"Gentlemen, have a seat," Mindy said as the two men entered her office. "I'm Mindy Park, in case you didn't know."

"He's Chuck. I'm Morris."

"I know you had this conversation with Dr. Kapoor after we discovered Mark was alive on Mars. I apologize for the rehash, but I'm doing my best to get up to speed on every aspect of this mission. Please tell me again why Mark had to go get Pathfinder to be able to communicate with Earth."

The two men looked at each other, and each gestured for the other to speak first. They then both began to speak at the same time. Mindy bit back a sigh as the process repeated itself.

"Morris, why don't you start."

"Each crew had four communication systems," Morris answered.

"One primary and three backups," Chuck interjected.

"The radio and satellite dish in the Hab is the first," Morris continued.

"The other three were all part of the MAV's systems," added Chuck, "and it communicated through Hermes."

"So he needed Pathfinder, to take the place of the satellite dish and or the MAV."

"Yes."

"Why then didn't the satellite dish work on its own once he'd replaced the antenna and reinstalled it?" Mindy asked.

"We don't know."

Chuck shrugged. "We've tried to figure it out, but there isn't any specific reason that we can come up with that it wouldn't, other than his not installing it correctly."

"Which is highly unlikely," Morris said, "seeing as he is a mechanical engineer."

"And it did work to transmit information through Pathfinder."

Mindy thought for a moment. "Could it have had to do with the program rewrite that was necessary to use Pathfinder? If Mark had been able to reinstall the original program, would it have worked?"

"Possibly."

"Maybe."

"As for the MDV, is it safe to assume it wasn't an option because it requires Hermes as the MAV did?" Mindy asked.

"Yes," Chuck answered. "There was just never an option considered in planning that anyone would be on Mars without the MAV to communicate."

"And if the MAV were there," Morris put in, "then Hermes would have to be in orbit."

"All good to know." Mindy nodded. "That really doesn't matter now except in terms of the upcoming hearings, though. What I need to know now is why the communications dish and radio combo in the Ares I Hab isn't able to send a message to us. Mark is still stuck writing out Morse Code messages with rocks. We know he's activated both the Hab and the MDV systems. Why haven't we received them? I know we had to reactivate old software to get the signal from Pathfinder, however, all of the Ares sites have used the same code, correct?"

"Well yes."

"No," Chuck countered. "They each have their own signal."

"She asked about code not signal," Morris shot back.

"Oh yeah, they do use the same code."

"So why isn't it working?"

"We don't know."

"Well then gentlemen, that is your primary job right now. Determine if you can, why we haven't received a signal. See if the orbiting satellites can be used in some manner."

"We tried that before and none of them are strong enough."

"They can send us images, and receive orders to take images, but they can't send a simple message from the surface back to us?" Mindy asked. "That makes no sense. So, I suppose you have something additional to work on now.

"Ms. Park," Mindy's assistant called through the office intercom.

Mindy jumped at the sound, then shook her head, and pressed the button to respond. "Yes."

"Ms. Cregg is here to see you."

"Send her in."

"Ms.," Mindy paused. "CJ, hello. I assume you're here to prep me for Congress."

"You assume correctly," CJ replied with a smile. "The first questions you'll get will be related to discovering that Mark was alive. They're going to want to get all of the background before they question motives and what should have been done. They'll also ask you about the last images you viewed before the evacuation."

"Are they going to ask my opinion on whether or not we should have taken the images earlier?"

"They might."

Mindy grimaced. "I can't lie, and I can't tell the outright truth, so I should sidestep somehow. Say something like 'we found out Mark was alive in time to get him the supplies he needs to continue the mission until the Ares IV crew arrives on Mars, that's the most important takeaway.'"

"Nice." CJ nodded. "You've been listening to Annie's press conferences haven't you?"

The younger woman nodded.

"It's not a perfect response, but I don't have one for you yet. I'll work on it. I would say though, whenever possible answer exactly the question that was asked, nothing more, nothing less. So if they ask you if you know what time it is…"

Mindy scrunched up her face. "Um, usually I'd give them the time, but since it's Congress…" she trailed off.

"Exactly. All you need to say is yes."

"You said first they'd ask me about the images. They're also going to ask me about plans going forward and the costs aren't they?"

"Yes."

"Would it be a good or bad idea to get a feel of public opinion before then?"

"Put a poll in the field?" CJ asked.

"I suppose that's how we'd do it."

"I don't know. I'll have to think about that. No matter the results, someone in Congress is sure to get a hold of them and find a way to use them against us."

"Then maybe not," Mindy said with a sigh.

CJ held up a hand. "Don't rule it out. Let me get in contact with a poll specialist I know. Maybe they can advise us. Of course, we'll also have to run it past Annie."

"And Venkat and Melody."

"How are you adjusting to the new position?"

Mindy shrugged. "It's an adjustment is the best I can say. Some things aren't bad, some are overwhelming, and still others are a bit intimidating."

"Such as being the leader of a department instead of a small cog in the machine?"

"Yeah. You said you had experience with this. Got time to fill me in?"

"What do you know about my background?" CJ asked.

"Nothing really, sorry. I know you mentored Annie and that you worked in the White House at some point but other than that…"

"How old are you?"

"Thirty-one."

"As I figured," CJ said with a smile. "You were born while the administration I worked for was in office. I started as the press secretary for President Bartlet."

"My parents loved him. My mother still talks about him. President Young worked for him too, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did. He also worked for me."

"That sounds like a story," Mindy commented.

CJ smiled. "It's not a long one. He was President Bartlet's personal aide. It's a position often held by a college student. The president… okay for the purposes of this conversation when I say the president I mean Bartlet and I'm going to refer to President Young by his first name: Charlie. Please keep that to yourself. He wouldn't care. He's requested I call him by name, but it's a matter of respect for the office, you see."

Mindy nodded. "I understand. I won't say anything."

"Ok then, the president wanted Charlie to earn his degree. Charlie wanted to, but the president also made Charlie promise that when he graduated college he'd leave the personal aide position. Charlie didn't want to leave the West Wing however, so he asked nearly everyone for a job. I gave him one."

"That's so sweet."

"He was very smart, still is, I was glad to add him to my staff."

"Was this when you were press secretary or after this mysterious job change you haven't told me about yet?"

"After, it's a bit of a long story. I'll do my best to shorten it. Leo McGarry…" CJ smiled sadly. "Leo had been our chief of staff the entire presidency. Actually other than Sam, that would be current senator Sam Seaborn, we'd all been on staff since the beginning. That's really unusual for a presidency, especially one in its second term. Some positions have to be filled more than once in a single term. Anyway, we had just finished up with peace talks between Israel and Pakistan when Leo had a major heart attack. Obviously, he wouldn't have been able to continue as Chief of Staff."

"And you got the job," Mindy guessed.

"Yes, over Toby Ziegler and Josh Lyman who both had been with Bartlet longer than I had. Toby was the one that brought me into the campaign. As I said, I was the press secretary; he was my boss. He was the head of the communications department. Josh was the Deputy Chief of Staff. The president chose me over both of them. I was terrified and completely overwhelmed for the first few days, weeks even. I settled in though, and you will too," CJ assured the other woman. "It's all a matter of confidence and believing in yourself. There's also finding someone who you think does a good job at the same or similar position and asking what they would do in a situation when you're feeling lost."

"So you asked yourself 'what would Leo do'?"

Again CJ smiled. "I did, many times until I felt comfortable in the job. Even then, there were times I sought out his advice. To whom could you go? Whom could you ask 'what would they do' about any given situation?"

Mindy considered for a moment. "I suppose Dr. Kapoor has the closest position to mine that I know well."

"He is your direct superior in the chain of command as well, right?"

"Yes."

"So he's the logical one to go to for advice," CJ said. "Now, whose tactics might you think about before you tackle a situation?"

Again Mindy thought, chewing on her lip. "I have an idea, but it's probably crazy."

"As I understand it, crazy is often a great thing around here, especially when it comes to this mission. So, who is it?"

"Mark himself," Mindy replied. "I know he's never been in my position, but he's come up with so many possibilities already. He never seems to give up. He just keeps trying."

"Then ask yourself 'What would Mark do?' when you're feeling stuck."

"I can do that."

"Ms. Park," her assistant's voice came from the intercom.

Mindy sighed and pressed the button. "Yes?"

"Sorry to interrupt ma'am, but there are two gentlemen here from Mars communications here to speak with you. They say it's important."

"Would they be Chuck and Morris?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Send them in. Thank you," Mindy said and turned to CJ. "I'm sorry but…"

"But this could be something truly important. I understand. I'll come to talk to you again before you have to actually go before the Congressional committee."

"Thank you," Mindy replied.

"Just doing my job," CJ responded.

"More than and thanks again," Mindy said as the two men entered the office. "Now what have you found out? Am I safe in assuming it's good news since the need to see me was so urgent?"

"Yes," Morris answered.

"You asked why the Hab hadn't communicated with us through the satellite dish and radio," Chuck began.

"They are designed to after all." Morris interjected.

Chuck scowled. "Not that we ever expected we'd have the need to communicate with the astronauts without Hermes in orbit. Even when it's on the back side of the planet it's a short loss of signal."

"Not much more than the ninety-minute communication blackout from the backside of the moon," Morris said. "The Hab being able to communicate directly with Earth eliminated that gap in communications. That's why Mark couldn't talk to us at first. He should have been able to once he replaced the satellite dish and its antenna. The best we can figure is that the code we had him enter changed the communication path and he would have had to have changed it back."

"So the long and short of it is that he should be able to communicate with us now," Mindy summarized.

"Yeah," both men said.

"So why hasn't he?"

Chuck shrugged. "Maybe he hasn't thought of it."

"But can we send him a signal? The Hab is powered up. He's been living in it for days. The computers are obviously on. Can't we send a signal or remotely activate the cameras somehow?" Mindy asked.

"We should be able to send a signal of some sort," Morris replied.

"So go do it!" Mindy nearly shouted. "Send a message or turn on the cameras or something."

"We might have to send an update to the software first," Chuck told her.

Mindy took a deep breath. "Go do that then. Send a signal, send the software update or patch or whatever, and let me know when you're done. I'll have whichever astronaut is on capcom duty send a message."

"Yes ma'am."

Mindy watched the two men leave then dropped into her chair, shaking her head. "Have we really overlooked the simplest solution? How dumb can we all be that we didn't think to even try?"

Log entry Sol 584

I've been looking at the Mars maps. We've littered this place with rovers. I still have Pathfinder even though it's useless, but I could retrieve another rover and use it the same way. The closest one is Curiousity, and it's halfway to Schiaparelli. I really don't want to make that trip. Still, if it means… Hold on…

Log entry Sol 584 (2)

The cameras are on. They're moving and I didn't turn them on. Holy shit! That means NASA can send me a signal through the comms array. Holy shit! Why didn't I think of that? I tried using the MDV, and sending a message to the MDV, but I never tried sending one to Earth. Holy shit! I'm a dumbass!

HAB [20:22]: Hello out there! Anybody listening?

A/N: headed off on vacation soon and don't want to worry about updating then so I'm updating now