Lucy finally boarded the Vacaville – this was her first time being on a Starfleet ship, let alone captaining one.

An officer greeted her.

O1: “Welcome aboard the Vacaville, Captain.”
Lucy: “Thank you, Officer. At ease.”

She then spent part of the day getting used to everything and catching up on protocols – she had a feeling she’d need all this information. Lucy then sat in the Captain’s chair, pondering about her luck and her thoughts.

This is… magnificent. Me being the Captain of a starship? Who would’ve expected that? And as for the Vacaville herself? She is a beauty, despite being a California-class ship., she thought to herself.

Just then, a male Security Officer arrived.

SO1: “Captain Nurdan, our two guests have arrived. They’ve setup their shared guest quarters.”
Lucy: “Excellent. Call them to my quarters.”
SO2: “Yes, Ma’am.”

Well, going to have to get used to people calling me Ma’am/Captain as well., she chuckled to herself before leaving the Bridge.

Yajat and Erwin had setup their guest quarters, with all their belongings placed correctly, in record time. The ship had already left Starbase 4 for Earth at this point, having completed its repairs.

Then, the doorbell chimed.

“Come in.”, Yajat answered.

A female Security officer arrived.

SO2: “The Captain has called for you 2.”, glaring at Yajat.

Erwin was about to say something, but Yajat instinctively, and quite quickly, pivoted his right arm, from his elbow, upwards, with his middle and index fingers being the only fingers raised.

Yajat: “We’ll be on our way.”
SO2: “Very well.”, contempt laced in her voice.

As the officer left and the doors of the quarters closed, Erwin turned to Yajat.

“What was that for?!”, he asked, clearly angry.

“That Security Officer either knows about my past or is related to it. As for silencing you, we don’t want to get kicked off the Vacaville, now, do we?”, Yajat said calmly.

Erwin thought about it before calmly responding: “Yeah, you were right. Sorry about that. Now, let’s not keep the Captain of the ship waiting.”

With that, both of them left their quarters.

Lucy was in her quarters when the doorbell chime rang.

“Come in.”, she said.

Yajat and Erwin walked in.

“Ah, Mr. Shamji and Mr. Rydenberg. I’ve been expecting you. Please, take a seat.”, she said, motioning to a sofa.

They both walked over and sat down.

“So, from my understanding, you’re travelling with us to Earth, yes?”, Lucy asked.

“That is correct.”, Erwin answered whilst Yajat simply nodded.

“I see.”, Lucy responded. “And why not just take a commercial ship back to Earth? Why a Starfleet ship?”, she probed.

Erwin jumped straight in, explaining everything about some of their belongings. Meanwhile, Lucy noticed that Yajat hadn’t spoke much.

Once done, Lucy said: “OK, now I understand why. Mr. Shamji, you haven’t spoken much.”

Yajat simply responded: “Respectfully, when there’s a question that I know only I can answer, then I will speak, Captain.”, all said with the same cold, dark and detached undertone on display during his meeting with Counselor Jinean.

Erwin looked at him and thought: This is new – I have never heard such… detached words from him.

Meanwhile, Lucy simply nodded, but she was mentally rattled. This is something I need to look into., she thought to herself.

The rest of the meeting was uneventful – they were told what sections of the ship were off-limits and other standard pieces of information. Yajat and Erwin then left Lucy’s quarters.

Yajat and Erwin then entered the guest quarters. Once the door spoke, Erwin spoke.

“Dude, what was that?! That sentence felt so… unnatural.”, he said, a little angry yet curious.

Yajat sighed before saying: “It was part of my old self resurfacing. Not going to be easy to hold it down.”

Erwin just placed a hand on Yajat’s shoulder. “We’ll get through this. Together.”, solemnly acknowledging this.

Lucy, in the night, was wide awake and was looking at the psychological profile of Yajat.

How in the hell did he manage to stay in Starfleet Academy for 3 weeks before being removed? Personally, he should have never gotten past the psyche tests pre-admittance., she thought to herself.

Then, the doorbell chimed.

“Come in.”, Lucy answered.

The security officer who had contempt towards Yajat entered.

“Officer Haincourt. What can I do for you?”, Lucy said.

“I need to talk about… something personal, Captain.”, she responded.

“Of course. Sit.”, Lucy replied, motioning her towards the sofa.

The Security Officer sat.

“So, I see you’re looking at him.”, Haincourt said with a disgusted tone.

“Mr. Shamji? So, I presume you know him?”, Lucy said in an inquisitive tone.

Silence permeated for a few minutes.

“Captain, permission to be frank?”, Haincourt eventually responded, her voice trembling.

“Of course.”, Lucy said, empathy ringing in those two words.

“He ruined my life by winning that damned legal case! Because I never got any love after that all because my family were too busy consoling my brother. What’s more, I believe at least the unauthorised weapon charge should have stood – I mean, who the hell carries around a custom phaser that they just built themselves?!”, she said, almost on the verge of tears.

Lucy just stood up and hugged her security officer before wiping away her tears,

“Captain, I…”, Haincourt tried to speak but couldn’t.

“It’s OK.”, Lucy said with a smile.

Once Haincourt calmed down, they resumed the conversation.

“A custom phaser? It’s not properly on his profile – there is no schematics or blueprints. All there is are mentions of it.”, Lucy quizzically said.

“One of my brother’s friends, Eric, said that before he got shot by it, he saw a glimpse of the phaser – it was very high-tech, with lots of slots for some form of isolinear chips and several consoles on it. The colour was navy blue. But that’s all he remembered.”, Haincourt said.

“Hmm. You’ll be assigned to their quarters – I don’t trust him.”, Lucy responds.

“Consider it done, Captain. Permission to leave?”, she replies.

Lucy nods, and so Haincourt leaves her quarters.

Once the door closes, Lucy thought to herself: This is going to be one interesting journey to Earth.

With that, she went back to analysing Yajat’s psychological profile before doing some astronomy and some stargazing before going to bed.

And so, the journey of the Vacaville begins…