Chapter Text
The stars twinkled outside the Voyager lounge’s windows, and, for whatever reason, Ensign Seldred felt farther away than all those little points of light.
“Why don’t they assign this mission to the flagship?” someone was asking.
Seldred turned towards the small cluster of fellow officers all smiling over their drinks and a large plate of sweet pastries.
Hoba Levania, the Zakdorn bartender, leaned ostentatiously towards them as they walked by with another table’s drink orders. “Don’t complain! This ship needs fresh blood.”
The Bajoran engineer, Lesseen Frae rolled her eyes. “But these are academics, not officers.”
Levania shook their head, bustled over to the other table and delivered the drinks with a smile, and then returned, holding the tray like a potential weapon. “Exactly! They’re academics. They live in archives and institutions. They aren’t used to the energy and possibility of a starship. Believe me, this is going to be a wonderful conference.”
Troy Mendelssohn, the human chief engineer, grabbed a pastry from the tray and began tearing off a buttery piece. “Plus, I think it’s great that Starfleet is giving us this mission. I mean, come on! An academic conference? That’s something you see on big ships and starbases. Us? We do the science and then our eggheads go and talk about it elsewhere.” He popped the piece of pastry into his mouth and chewed smiling. “Now, we get to show these folks how it’s done.”
Lesseen bobbed her head in a way that wasn’t quite a nod. “I suppose. I just like how streamlined things are, here. There’s a good division between the officers and the scientists. We both work well together and we don’t step on each other’s toes.”
Tonin Twarek, one of Dr. Mukogh’s nurses, leaned forward, joining the conversation. “Do you find yourself frequently stepping on the toes of the scientists?”
Lesseen met the Vulcan’s eyes with an ironic look. “Yes. I literally step on their toes. All the time. Starfleet should reinforce their uniform boot toes with titanium.”
Twarek leaned back and folded his arms in front of him. “If you are going to subscribe to the stereotype that Vulcans do not understand sarcasm, might I remind you that my father was Betazoid.”
Lesseen’s wry expression didn’t change, but she did raise an eyebrow. “And…you could sense that I was being sarcastic?”
Twarek met her gaze. “A child raised by wild animals on a remote jungle planet with no concept of sentient body language and vocal tone could have sensed that you were being sarcastic.”
“Seldred, help me out, here,” Lesseen asked, waving at xim.
Seldred blinked, feeling as though xe was suddenly dragged back to consciousness. “I…I think it was obvious that you were being sarcastic.”
“Vindication,” Twarek said simply.
Lesseen turned to Mendelssohn. “Alright, they’re ganging up on me. I think we should go back to Engineering before the nerds flood this ship.”
“I merely meant that the Starfleet officers and civilian scientists coexist quite well on this ship as it is,” Twarek said. “A few more couldn’t negatively affect the flow of shipboard operations that strongly.”
“But it throws off the balance,” Lesseen insisted.
“Senior Staff report to the conference room,” came the businesslike tone of the ship’s first officer, Nani Rakal, over the comms.
As everyone rose, Seldred had a momentary pang of what felt like guilt, as though xe had been eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation. Xe knew Mendelssohn had invited xim over, but a small voice told xim that it had been done out of obligation, not genuine friendship. As much as xe wanted to dismiss that small voice, xe couldn’t help but believe it.
*****
Acting Captain Nani Rakal terrified Seldred. She was courteous, professional, and well-respected by the entire crew, but her eyes spoke of depths that Seldred had no desire to plumb. Perhaps it was a deep dark secret that she kept tightly locked down. Equally likely was a fierce temper that could rise up and strike at anyone who wronged her. Whatever the reason, Seldred treated her like a towering iceberg whose icy mass remained submerged in chilly depths. As xe sat in xis chair, feeling as out of place among the senior staff as xe had in the crew lounge, xe tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
“Now, it’s not surprising that the specialist contingent will be taking centre stage, here,” Rakal explained, gesturing to the three Specialist Chiefs in attendance.
“I can’t wait,” the Cardassian anthropologist Enellen Dral said, her eyes bright with excitement. “I know most of them will be biologists, but the authors of one of my favourite xenoanthropological papers are going to be attending, and I need to speak with them.”
The Selay xenobiologist, Dr. Prain gave a graceful gesture with his right hand to denote excitement. “We are going to be using the ship’s garden as a lecture hall. There’s enough green space to fit fifty attendants, so if any of the crew would like to sit in on any talks, please speak to me as soon as you can. My staff is organizing a sign-up program to accommodate the limited space.”
“Voyager isn't really equipped for this kind of thing,” helm officer Farrault Nix blurted out. “I don’t understand why Starfleet assigned this conference to us.”
“Buddy,” Mendelssohn said, leaning over to the Dar-sha, “it’s a publicity stunt. Don’t overthink it.”
“Publicity stunt or not,” Rakal said, fixing Nix with a sharp look, “Voyager is something of the poster child for Starfleet’s new peacekeeping initiative. We have a large contingent of civilian scholars and researchers on board, and it makes sense for us to host this sort of event. Discovery was also considered, but with their unique spore drive, they need to be available to help in case of an emergency. Plus, I know captain Jirrok specifically requested to host this event months ago.”
“Any news on when she’s coming back?” Nix asked.
Rakal shook her head. “I am not going to speculate. The captain will return from her leave when she chooses. Discussion on that topic ends now.” She let a few heartbeats pass before she continued. “Now, Dr. Mukogh, you mentioned you had something to add, before.”
The portly Klingon rose, his expressive face alight with fiery warmth. “Yes, thank you! I have allocated the primary medical research lab to the conference organizers. They are going to be demonstrating some fascinating new advances in vaccines. But that means that anyone who has been using that lab for ongoing experiments will be transferred to the auxiliary lab on Deck 4. Please notify your staff.”
“Thank you, Doctor. And, now, turning to our final topic of discussion, I am assigning Ensign Seldred to be the academic liaison to the bridge during the conference.”
Seldred jerked in xis seat as though electrocuted. All eyes swung toward xim. “Um, yes, I can do that,” xe said.
“I know it’s going to be a lot of work, Ensign, but I have faith in you. Plus, I don’t foresee us being in need of any complex transporter acrobatics. Unless,” she added with a subtle curve of her lips, “someone gets angry in a lecture and beams someone out into space. But that hardly ever happens.”
Seldred stared for a few seconds, unsure if Rakal had just made a joke, but when xis eyes flitted about the table, xe could see chuckles passing through the group.
“I trust your judgement to bring concerns to me only if they are genuinely important.” She followed this with a wink that Seldred almost missed. “Now, if no one else has anything to add, you are all dismissed.”
The crew rose, conversations sprouting like mushrooms among the various clusters that naturally formed in these moments. Seldred stayed in xis seat for a few more moments, suddenly overwhelmed with the idea of what needed to be done.
Nix popped over. “I don’t envy you,” he said. “You’re going to do great, though!”
“Thank you,” Seldred said, not believing what had been said to xim one bit.