The dynamic within the mess hall of the USS Pulsar shifted after the meal had finished and the cadets found themselves with an abundance of time and a shortage of things to do. The table that had once been occupied by all of the cadets had been abandoned in favor of more intimate seating at various locations around the compartment.

Cadet Sella Zh’Ranni found a stool at the bar the Hospitality Hologram usually used as his ‘base of operations’, nursing an ice filled glass of water that closely matched the composition of water from her home world. She was sitting quietly alone, the EHH not far away on the small but unlikely chance that she wanted a conversation.

In the far forward section of the mess hall, Cadets Lyra Solan, Tovaan Minali, and T’Ven occupied a half booth, the Vulcan sitting in a chair she’d moved from an adjacent table. The three young women were engaged in conversation, though their voices were low and didn’t reach much farther than the table they occupied.

“Are you… um… pleased… with your assignment as a member of the senior staff, T’Ven?” Lyra asked, stumbling over how to phrase her question in light of her companion’s lineage.

“I find the assignment to be agreeable,” T’Ven responded, “It was unexpected, but it seemed to be a logical decision given the lack of science personnel or holographic mentors in that specialty.”

“Do you think you can manage it without help?” the Bajoran cadet asked.

“Given that I have nearly completed my studies at the Academy and the fact that this is a small scout vessel with limited scientific facilities and capabilities, I do not believe I will encounter any significant difficulties with this assignment. I view it as an effective test of my abilities and welcome the experience that I believe I shall gain from it,” the Vulcan replied.

“Maybe,” Minali remarked softly, “But are you looking at the bigger picture when you say that? I agree that the ship is small, but for some reason the Prophets have seen fit to place us on a ship with very strange circumstances during a period of conflict. It would be unwise to dismiss this as something as simple as a pre-graduation cadet cruise.”

T’Ven shifted slightly in her seat, “While your assertion that our circumstances are the result of divine intervention is not grounded in logic… I must concede that the current situation does not conform to standard protocol as we have studied it.”

“Speaking of strange things… what do you think about our new… Captain?” Lyra asked, purposely lowering her tone a bit further than normal.

“He seems…” T’Ven began before finding herself at a loss of how to characterize the man without it sounding like insubordination.

“He doesn’t have much confidence,” Minali injected her own assessment while the Vulcan hesitated, “I saw him look at the Command Hologram a few times as if he was lost and needed his help.”

T’Ven nodded, “I noticed that as well. However, he did frame this as a vessel meant to provide mentorship to those aboard. Perhaps he, himself, is being mentored.”

Lyra folded her arms across her chest, “But why would Starfleet put him in charge of a starship? I could see it if he was… maybe a Lieutenant… and the Pulsar was being used as a… a testbed for people to see if they are command material a little earlier in their careers… but an Ensign?”

“The story he told during his introduction may hold some clue as to why,” T’Ven commented.

“Ah yes…” Minali said as she recalled some of the fragments of his introductory speech, “He did say that he would have been alone aboard the ship if not for the holograms… But what could that mean?”

“Did the rest of the crew… um… die?” Lyra speculated in a whisper.

“No one died aboard this ship,” the Hospitality Hologram’s voice pierced through the hushed conversation and drew startled jerks from the more emotional members of the table, “At least… no one from the Federation…”

Lyra looked up at the hologram with a sheepish look, much akin to a child getting caught gossiping in class by a teacher. Minali stared at her small glass of juice that she’d had sitting in front of her, trying very hard not to look up while the embarrassment she felt was still plainly displayed on her face.

“May I ask what you mean by no one from the Federation?” T’Ven turned around, looking up at hologram that had managed to sneak up behind her.

“You can ask,” the EHH said with a smirk, “But I believe you’ve already been told the answer already. I would like to say, however, that while I don’t believe a little mess hall gossip isn’t healthy from time to time… you may want to refrain from making some more… tasteless assumptions. Until you and your companions around the room joined us, Ensign Adler was our only crewmember aboard. It was a situation born of a mix of happenstance and miscalculations, that much is true. But to dismiss the important contributions our… and now your… Captain has made in the short time he has commanded this vessel does him a great disservice. Might I recommend, humble waiter though I may be, that you approach this assignment with the same open mind and willing heart that the Ensign did when he first came aboard? You might be surprised just how well it works out for you.”

“I’m sorry…” Lyra half-whispered as her eyes drifted downward.

“It’s quite alright, my dear,” the hologram smiled genially, “Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of late-night chatter. I just wanted to make sure you ladies were armed with facts rather than fiction. Does anyone need a refill?”

The three young women shook their heads as if they were all of one mind. The EHH gave them all a quick nod and a wink before wandering away from the table. The three waited for a few moments after he’d left before returning their attention toward each other.

“He just came out of nowhere…” Lyra complained with a pout.

“He wasn’t wrong…” Minali muttered in a sulking tone, “We were taking things in a bit of a morbid direction.”

T’Ven steepled her hands in front of her, “His comments were logical. We lack the needed information to make informed suppositions.”

“Should we… maybe… find our bunks?” Lyra asked, looking between her two companions.

Minali straightened up, “I think we should. It might be nice to get our things unpacked, take our minds off of… you know…”

T’Ven stood up from her seat silently, which prompted the other two to hurriedly scramble from their booth seat to follow. From across the mess hall, they could see the other group of cadets chatting away excitedly as Cadet Rixx sat on the backrest of the booth they were in, half pressed against the large window.

“Jaya,” Cadet Graal growled at the Trill, “Why can’t you sit in a chair properly?”

“Torven, she isn’t hurting anything,” Cadet Dex said with a genial grin, “Let her have a little fun.”

“Hmm?” Jaya murmured before tearing her gaze off the scene out beyond the ship’s hull, “Sorry, did you say something?”

“I said…” Torven began again before letting out an exasperated huff, “Oh, never mind. What’s so fascinating out there anyway?”

The Trill cocked her head to the side for a moment before declaring, “Everything!”

“That’s as helpful as a phaser with a broken emitter crystal…” the Tellarite groused.

“Yet it encapsulates our dear Jaya perfectly, don’t you think?” Arven said with a chuckle, “Though I do wonder if we shouldn’t invite our Andorian friend over as well.”

“Leave her,” Torven said without even looking up from the small cup of tea he’d reached for a second prior, “She’s not the social type.”

“And you are?” the Denobulan asked with a playful smirk.

“Stuff it.”

Arven started laughing, his mirth interrupted when Jaya finally slid down into the booth and declared, “I really like it here. I bet we’re going to have so much fun while we’re assigned here. We can go all over the galaxy together, see really neat things no one else has ever seen… And our Captain isn’t too much older than us, so he won’t be anywhere near as stuffy as some old crusty Captain that’s been in Starfleet forever and forgot how to have fun.”

“Fun?!” Torven snorted, “We’re in the middle of a war, girl. How are we supposed to have fun when we could be blown to oblivion the minute we set out?”

“So?” the Trill blinked in confusion.

Torven’s head sank to the table with a thud, tea slouching out of his glass. Arven again just chuckled happily at the exchange, giving both of his companion a look similar to an older sibling watching the younger ones play around.

“What do you think, Arven?” Jaya asked when the Tellarite failed to raise his head from the table to answer her.

The Denobulan sank back into the booth and gave the question some exaggerated thought, “Well… I’d say we will have no shortage of experiences while we’re here. Fun may not be the order of the day each and every moment we’re here… But I’m inclined to agree with you. I think it will be a memorable assignment that we’ll all look back on fondly when we’ve been in Starfleet forever and forget how to have fun.”

The Trill crossed her arms in a huff, “I’m never going to get so old that I forget how to have fun.”

Torven lifted his head up just enough to complain, “That’s what you get mad about?” before his head sank back down.

Over at the bar, Cadet Zh’Ranni glared over her shoulder at the group of boisterous cadets, her scowl obscured from view by her shoulder.

“Idiots…” she grumbled to no one in particular before swiveling in her stool and hopping lightly to the deck, leaving without further commentary.