“Captain’s log, Stardate 79815.2
The Fairfax has received orders to deploy into a new frontier of exploration for the federation: the Shackleton Expanse. It’s an area of space that, until relatively recently, was all but impassable at warp drive due to the presence of some extreme spatial phenomena. We are to rendezvous with the U.S.S. Neptune en route and investigate the Vraekton system, which lies on the edge of the expanse close to the Romulan Free State’s border. Apparently, Starfleet has suspicions about a Romulan outpost in the system, which warrants further attention.”

Alex adjusted his jacket one last time, using the gloss of the turbo-lift control panel as a make-shift mirror to make sure his rank insignia were perfectly aligned. He prided himself on his attention to detail, the kind of military precision that had set the standard for his forefathers in the service of old. So much as a stray fibre of lint would have been cause for red alert at this point, as he made his final adjustments.

“You know we aren’t greeting an admiral, right?” Wallace commented in jest, his own uniform reflecting a similar high standard of maintenance.

“First impressions count, Wallace, I don’t want the Neptune’s Captain walking away thinking that Fairfax is in any way second-rate,” said Alex, sweeping his hands across his jaw, trying to feel for patches of stubble he might have missed.

“We know she’s got it where it counts; she may be old, but she’d still put half the fleet to shame in my opinion!” said Wallace as the intonation of the Turbo-lift motors wound down for a smooth union with deck 4.

“Oh, no contest, Number one!” Alex exclaimed with pride, “But call it what you will, vanity perhaps, I just like the idea of the Neptune crew looking out the port-side windows at our three nacelles and being captivated by her handcrafted curves.”

“And our uniforms? They ain’t exactly gonna be breaking out the looking glass to catch a glimpse of our dress routines,” Wallace smiled as the doors opened.

“Nothing wrong with wanting to show off,” Alex smiled back, “You never spent a day cleaning the house before a dinner party?”

“Point taken!” Wallace nodded as he followed his commanding officer to the transporter room.

As the two men stepped inside, Wallace thought of another witty remark, “Yerknow, I could easily spoof a failure of the confinement beam, if you wanted to go the extra mile and slip into your Dress uniform?”

Alex planted his feet mid gait and turned back with a jestfully serious look, “Don’t push it!” he said, cracking a sliver of a smile.

Wallace chuckled to himself at his successful use of banter before turning to the transporter technician and giving the order to energise.

The unexpected orders to rendezvous with the U.S.S. Fairfax came as a surprise to Michael. He had no problems helping other ships, but the Neptune had never been asked to assist in this manner, though he knew his crew would be up to it. The details yet to come, but exploring the unknown was what the Neptune’s crew loved. He looked at his uniform and smiled before he looked at his XO. He had informed her as soon as he got the news about what was happening.

Commander Lexi Adams was not only a capable officer, but some of the crew eyed her when she wasn’t looking. Michael trusted her with the ship in his absence and trusted her authority; while they didn’t always agree, she always made valid points. He looked at her and smiled, “Well looks as if we are going into the unknown, Lex. How do you feel?”

Lexi smiled, her excitement being palpable as they walked towards the transporter room “Let’s just say that I am glad we are getting our feet wet. Seems we haven’t had anything super interesting in a bit.”

Michael nodded, “Yeah, the refits took longer than expected, but look at the capabilities we have now. Even a shuttle refitted to do underwater exploration. It opens up so many possibilities for us. I guess the wait was worth it.” He paused as they got to the transporter room. “Have you heard anything about the Captain of the Fairfax?”

Lexi shrugged, “Not really, though I’m sure they knew nothing about us beforehand either.” She motioned to the pad. “Are you ready?”

Michael stepped onto the pad with Lexi beside him, giving the signal for the officer to energize. He watched the normal change as he appeared on an unfamiliar transporter pad. He saw the two men in front of him and smiled. Captain Michael Ryder and Commander Lexi Adams, asking for permission to board.”

Of course, he knew he could, but he followed the decorum in situations such as this.

The boatswain’s whistle sounded, about half a second too late. It was merely a tradition, one from the great explorer ships of old. But also a tradition that Alex keenly liked to observe.

As Wallace shot a disapproving look across the room to the petty officer holding the whistle, Alex stepped forward, letting the slight stumble go and maintaining his composure. “Granted,” he said elatiously, extending his hand out to Michael for a firm handshake.

The size of his hands almost completely enveloped the Neptune captain’s own, and Alex had to hold back on his grip; the perfect calibration of firmness, but he had to remind himself that his grip trainers needed to be replaced every few months due to metal fatigue.
“Welcome aboard, Captain,” Alex smiled, “This is my first officer, Commander Wallace Jones.”

The size of the captain’s hands made Michael feel small, but he had to respect the man that was in front of him. He was a captain of a starship vessel, and that alone commended some great respect. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” He said as he faced the man to acknowledge him.

“Apologies for having to rendezvous in the middle of nowhere. We weren’t initially informed that The Neptune would be joining us on this survey,” Alex commented regrettably.

Michael shrugged, “We all know that Starfleet likes to throw surprises in our normal day, and so this is normal. Not anything to worry about on your end.” Michael was sure this would not be the last time that Starfleet tried to surprise him. “Let’s just do our best to accomplish whatever goals that Starfleet has for us in the mission ahead.” 

A sense of relief washed over Alex; first impressions seemed to be holding. Between command’s late change of orders and the petty officer’s cock-up with the timing of the whistle, he had been a little worried it would have conveyed the message that the Fairfax crew were a little disorganised. “Commander Jones would be delighted to give you the whistle-stop tour, after lunch,” Alex said, volunteering his second-in-command on the spot, “We’re quite fortunate to have a Michelin-starred chef on board.”

“Food sounds delicious, don’t you agree, Lexi?” he looked at his XO with a twinkle in his eye. He always liked good food, and a Michelin-starred chef would be an amazing change from his ship’s cook. Lexi nodded, “I have to say my stomach has been grumbling all day, so the thought of food is a pleasant surprise for a meeting.”

Alex was delighted that his subtle invitation to the dinner table was accepted with such enthusiasm. “Good to hear it!” he expressed with a smile, “Chef makes a mean Tourtière!” extending his arm towards the door. 

Wallace wrapped up a few words to the petty officer and patted him on the back before rejoining the party, “So, Vesta class,” he said, “So long as we’re handing out tours, I’d love to touch base with your chief engineer sometime. I hear they’re pretty much the fastest ships in the fleet!”

Michael looked at Wallace and nodded, “I am sure that can be arranged. Blade loves to brag about the ship’s capabilities, though, being a prototype ship, the amount of maintenance on the Neptune can be quite a bundle for the crew to handle.” 

*****************

A seldom-seen feature of modern starships, the Fairfax’s dining room was a luxurious space intended for entertaining admiralty and hosting diplomatic functions. It was sometimes hard to realise that Fairfax was originally designed and constructed during the Ambassador Class era and shared a great deal of her design lineage, before receiving upgrades conceived during the Galaxy Class construction project.

The dining table was almost a work of art, carved meticulously from the trunk of a sugar maple tree. Around the room, trinkets and artefacts told the story of the ship’s history and that of her namesake, including an original daguerreotype of President Chester A. Arthur; mounted in a hermetically sealed case, below an equally significant painting of the same man.

The windows to fore looked out over the bow of the ship, and from his seat at the table, Wallace caught a glimpse of the U.S.S. Neptune in all her glory.

Alex cleared his plate of the last remains of his lunch, politely placed his knife and fork down and used his napkin to wipe his mouth before addressing the elephant in the room. “So, Captain,” He forced down his last mouthful. “Did Starfleet brief you on the nature of our mission before you left port?”

Michael hadn’t had such fine French cuisine since his childhood. Though it’s not like he expected Starfleet to have the constant cuisine he had during his childhood. He needed a chef like this, though he had to admit it was a delicious meal. He also liked the aesthetic of the room and the view out of the window he glimpsed the nacelles of his beautiful vessel.

He wiped his mouth with the napkin and shook his head “I was not made aware of the mission’s details, just that I was to meet with the Fairfax and proceed into the Shackleton Expanse. I suspect it has to be scientific in nature for the Neptune to be asked for assistance.”

Alex took a sip of his wine, ‘Are they for real?’ he thought to himself. He’d been a captain now for several years, and he was accustomed to the occasional detail being left out of his orders now and then. But this was just negligent; it shouldn’t be his responsibility to brief anyone but his crew on the mission ahead. “Right you are… In a sense.” He said, setting his glass back down on the table.

“In a sense?” he asked, wondering exactly what the Captain meant. “This sounds like more than a ‘simple’ mission. What are we getting ourselves into, Captain?”

Alex leant forward, resting his elbows on the table and clamping his palms together, “Around eighteen months ago, Starfleet intelligence intercepted a communique from the Romulan Free State. It alluded to the presence of an outpost on the fourth planet in the Vraekton system.” Alex explained.

Michael looked at the Captain “So, do we know if this station is active or if Romulans are causing issues?” He wondered what the situation was.

“Well, that’s just the thing,” Alex said, reaching for his glass again. “The outpost seems to have gone dark, no transmissions in or out of the system for over a month.” He took another small sip of his wine, refreshing his palate. “What’s more, Starfleet suspected that the outpost might have experienced some difficulty; the ambassador even offered to help… the Romulans disavowed all knowledge of the outpost’s existence.”

Michael thought for a moment, “I think we need to be very cautious. This sounds like a very dangerous situation, and something had to have caused the Romulans to go dark. Romulans don’t give up easily. I fought a Romulan captain, and she nearly destroyed my previous command. And to make matters worse, she is still alive.”

“I agree, whatever has happened, it can’t be good,” Alex agreed, “relations with the free state haven’t been exactly cordial recently, I think command is worried they might be up to something.” Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out an Isolinear memory device, and slid it across the table to Michael. “Officially, we are cataloguing gaseous anomalies and conducting a mining survey for new sources of Dilithium.”

“Unofficially,” Wallace jumped in, “Starfleet wants us to take a peek under our Romulan neighbours’ fence… all while trying not to make it obvious we’re really calling them out on their bullshit!”

Michael grabbed the chip and slid it into his pocket “Well, I think we should be able to shake some trees and discover something between the two ships we have!”

“I think the presence of an advanced explorer like the Neptune lends a lot of weight to a scientific survey, and we always appreciate the extra firepower!” Wallace quipped.

Lexi nodded at Wallace “It’s true the Neptune can fight, but we tend to avoid that as we are best used for relaying the information of what is going on, though we did have a fight or two when Oliver was causing issues for us.” She stopped and looked at Michael, who shook his head as if to dismiss the conversation.

Wallace immediately caught Lexi’s glance at her C.O. and grew suspicious, “Something wrong?” he asked politely. He didn’t much like inter-crew secrets, which is where he felt this conversation had run into and been abruptly turned away at the border.

Michael shook his head “It’s a sore subject, but suffice it to say it was an old friend who we had to eliminate. She tried to destroy us, though we have been told she has an island somewhere full of information that would be great to get our hands on.”

“Sounds like she cashed in on some retirement plans if you ask me.” Wallace Jested.

Lexi looked at Michael and decided not to make a comment here, instead letting Michael answer the remark, “Michelle was a good Starfleet officer and a friend, but things led her down a dark path, so in the end I did my duty.”

Wallace feigned a smile, though behind it, Michael’s words did nothing to allay the sour taste that there was something more to that story that he probably wouldn’t like the sound of if he heard it. “Say no more.” 

Alex finished his glass and handed it to the server, declining another serving, “Well, Captain, Commander… I have to say this has been great! I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Commander Jones. If you’ll excuse me, I have other duties to attend to.” He gave a subtle bow of respect as he stood from the table to take his leave. 

Michael nodded and stood in respect as the Captain departed before looking over to Lexi, “I think the tour will have to wait. I want to do some studying of this system, at least the small amount we have, and to determine where we really might need to have the Neptune deploy. I always like to think ahead.”

Lexi looked at Wallace and smiled, “We will make sure that tour occurs whenever time allows, though it might be after the mission. We promise to have you and the Captain on the Neptune for dinner and a show.”

“I’ll hold you to it, Commander,” Wallace grinned as he stood up from the table and shook hands.