Against all the odds, especially given the way a certain Admiral felt about him, he’d been given a command. 

Again. 

RJ strode through the corridors of the Resolute, heading up to the bridge of his new ship. Not that it was technically his ship yet, he hadn’t formally taken command from the previous CO, Captain Mason yet. But tomatoes, tomartoes and all that.

He reached up as stood in the turbolift, his fingertips brushing over the pips at his collar. Four this time, not three. Somehow, not only was he not out of Starfleet after the incident with the Admiral’s daughter, but he’d gained a promotion and a ship out of it as well. 

He’d say it was a miracle, but disaster was more like it. Starfleet had been hit and hit hard on Frontier Day, and now they needed all the personnel they could get. He wasn’t arguing since that number included him, even if part of the conditions of his return were his XO being assigned to him. He hadn’t even had a chance to read the guy’s file yet. 

He took a deep breath as the lift stopped at the bridge, in that split second before the doors opened. He could do this. Whatever it took to get his ass in the big chair again. 

The doors swished open and he walked out. His gaze cut to the captain’s chair, and the familiar, broad-shouldered figure there. Mason. RJ still hadn’t worked the guy out yet. He was some kind of uber-soldier and legend on his own planet, yet for some reason, even though he knew RJ had slept with his wife, still hadn’t beaten him to a pulp for the offence. 

He walked around the balustrade behind the two command chairs, and then did a double-take. The XO’s chair was occupied, and since Mason’s XO, Burton, hadn’t survived Frontier Day, he assumed that the new guy was his XO. 

And… shit. The guy was almost as big as Mason was. Which meant he was about the size of a small mountain.

“Ahh, Captain Reese-Riggs,” Mason said as he stood. “You’re early.”

Unable to resist needling Mason a little RJ winked. “Eager to get started, you know how it is.”

Mason didn’t respond to the wink. Instead, he just gave RJ a look, his lips compressing into a thin line. 

“Attention to orders,” Mason announced, and the bridge quietened down, officers turning from their consoles to pay attention. 

Mason lifted the padd in his hand to read from, although no doubt he had the words memorized anyway. 

“Formal orders to Captain Raan Mason, Commanding Officer, USS Resolute. You are hereby requested and required to relinquish command of your vessel to Captain Ryder Reese-Riggs, Commanding Officer as of this date. Signed, Fourth Fleet Command.”

Mason handed the padd to the new officer next to him. “Computer, transfer all command codes to Captain Reese-Riggs. Voice authorization: Mason, Zebra-Delta-Three-Seven-India.”

“Transfer complete,” the dry voice of the computer confirmed. “USS Resolute now under command of Captain Ryder Reese-Riggs.”

RJ took a deep breath, steading himself, then stepped forward. “I relieve you, sir.” 

Mason nodded, “I stand relieved.” 

For a moment there was silence on the bridge, then Mason smiled and to RJ’s surprise, extended his hand. “Congratulations Captain, and welcome back to the big chair.”

“Thank you, it’s good to be back.” RJ released the breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding and shook Mason’s hand. The contact was brief, professional, but he couldn’t miss the strength in Mason’s grip. 

Letting go, Mason half turned to the officer standing next to them. “Might I introduce your new XO, Commander Thais Thane. Thane, your CO, Captain Reese-Riggs.” 

RJ smiled as he turned to the new guy, and found himself being scrutinized by a pair of sharp green-hazel eyes. They weren’t warm and for a moment he felt like he was being dissected under a microscope. Then Thane smiled and offered his hand. “A pleasure to meet you, sir.” 

“Likewise.” RJ frowned as he shook Thane’s hand, sliding a look at Mason. 

“Thane’s an excellent XO,” Mason said, filling the gaps. “And was my pick for the Resolute’s exec.”

RJ’s frown deepened. 

“Why would you get to make that decision?” he asked, forgetting he hadn’t released Thane’s hand. There was something here he was missing, the little niggles he’d had about how easy it had seemed for him to return to command coming back to haunt him. 

Mason grinned. “Because, while I might not be the CO of the Resolute anymore, I won’t be far away. The Resolute is being assigned to the Manticore Squadron.”

RJ stilled, eyebrow popping up. “The Manticore squadron? And who commands that—“

He needn’t have asked. He already knew the answer. 

Mason’s grin widened wolfishly. 

“Me.”

“Did you see him?” 

Thais managed not to flinch at the question. Mads meant well, he knew that, but even though they’d been married a long time, she still didn’t really understand the complexities of llanarian relationships. Or his other marriage. 

“Yeah. He didn’t say anything though. I guess I should be grateful he introduced me to my new CO.” 

“I’m sorry, love,” she murmured softly, a sympathetic note in her voice. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he shook his head, sitting forward and smiling at his wife. “I saw Ash before he headed over to the Manticore. He looks good, got taller!”

“Yeah. I was surprised by that when he arrived. They must have fed them well at the Academy,” she chuckled, then her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t—“

He grinned unrepentantly. “I did.”

She groaned, rolling her eyes at him. “Thais! He’s twenty-four! You can’t keep asking him if he remembered to pack underwear!”

Thais just grinned wider. “He’s lucky I asked before he reported aboard. I’m sure I’m going to end up over on the Manticore at some point. Would’ve been far worse if I’d asked him in front of everyone while he’s on duty.”

“You’re incorrigible, you know th—“ She shook her head at him, her attention caught by something off screen. He smiled fondly, recognising that look. Mads was a workaholic, and in logistics, a department that never slowed down, ever.  “Love, I’m—“

“Going to have to go,” he finished for her. “Don’t worry, you go. Just remember to send me some dates you can get leave? We’ll organise something, okay?” 

She smiled. “I will, I promise. Catch you later, love you!”

And then she was gone, leaving Thais looking at the fleet emblem rotating on screen. He smiled, knowing full well he was going to have to ask her at least three more times for those dates and would probably end up heading over to SBB on his own leave while she worked, or vice versa. He didn’t mind it, as long as they got some time together. 

“Wife, I assume?” a deep voice asked from the doorway, and Thais turned to find his new CO there, one shoulder against the doorframe. His blue eyes were focused, laserlike on Thais, and a small smile flirted with the corners of his lips. He wore the uniform of a starfleet captain but somehow made it way sexier than it should have been. For some reason Thais was surprised the jacket wasn’t undone to the waist… especially given the playboy tendencies mentioned in the captain’s personnel file. 

“Yes, sir.” Thais rose as the captain walked in, wondering how much Reese-Riggs had heard. 

“I hope you don’t mind me setting up camp in here,” he said, indicating the room. It was the smaller of the two diplomatic briefing rooms aboard. Since their current mission was listed as patrol, Thais had figured no one would need it for a while. 

“Nope, not at all,” Reese-Riggs replied stopping in front of him. For a moment Thais felt like a mouse being watched by a cat. As a llanarian, and one of the physically biggest members of any crew he’d ever been on, it wasn’t a feeling he was used to. Then Reese-Riggs smiled and the sharp look disappeared like it had never been there. 

“We didn’t get a chance to grab a chat earlier, so I thought we should catch up,” he said, dropping into the chair kitty-corner to the one Thais had claimed. “And you can tell me why Mason chose you to be my XO.”

The warning shot was straight across the bows, but delivered with such a charming smile that Thais wasn’t sure if he was being flirted with as well. 

“My service record I assume, sir,” he said honestly. “I’ve never served with Captain Mason, so it’s not from personal experience.” 

That much was true. Even though Thais had served in the army Mason had commanded in the war on their home planet, he’d been so many rungs on the ladder down, they’d never crossed paths on the battlefield. 

“Hmmm, you must be something special to get his attention. And let’s do away with the formalities.” He smiled and leaned forward to offer his hand. “Hi, I’m RJ. Pleasure to meet you.” 

“Thais,” he said in reply, reaching out to shake RJ’s hand again. It was a firm shake, confident. “And I don’t know about special. You seem to have some background with him though, given he’s taken you on as a squadron captain…” 

RJ smiled as he sat back in his chair. “We do. It’s… complicated. I tried to drop a ship on him once.”

Thais blinked, his eyebrows winging up. “Okay, that… is not what I expected. How did that happen?”

“It’s a long story,” RJ grinned. “Buy me a drink and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Deal.” Thais chuckled, feeling more at ease with his CO now. 

He’d been surprised when he’d been offered the assignment, and he’d read the file on RJ before accepting. His decision had been purely pragmatic. RJ appeared to hold onto his pips by the skin of his teeth, which meant that there was a possibility that Thais would end up in the big chair himself at some point. 

“Was there anything else you wanted to know?” he asked, then grinned. “Inside leg measurement, maybe?” 

“Not today, I already commented on someone’s uniform and got threatened with the airlock, so let’s concentrate on our new orders,” he said, sitting forward and sliding a padd over the table to Thais. “We’re going to be heading out with the Manticore.”

The big chair was as comfortable as he remembered. 

RJ bit back his smile as he sat in the captain’s chair in the middle of the Resolute’s bridge. He’d been here before, of course, but not as a member of the crew, so his time on the bridge had been short, sweet, and didn’t include the chance to sit in the captain’s chair. 

He had offered to sit on Mason’s lap, but he’d been given one of those looks. The stern, dangerous ones that just made him want to ruffle Mason all the more. 

“Easy as pie,” he slid a sideways glance at his new XO, Thane, as the Resolute successfully left SB86 and headed out on its first patrol under his command. It was just the sort of mission he liked, spicy with a chance of bad guys. 

“Indeed,” Thane replied, looking at ease in the XO’s chair. He was an experienced executive officer, that much had been evident from his service record. But one element had made RJ sit up and take notice. His name wasn’t Thane. Or rather, it wasn’t just Thane.

“So,” he drawled, leaning on one arm rest of his chair. “When were you going to tell me you’re related to Captain Mason… Commander Mason-Thane?” 

Thais turned to look at him, his gaze level. “I didn’t think much on it, sir. I would have done when and if it became relevant.” 

“Hmm,” RJ grunted in the back of his throat. He didn’t like being blindsided. 

“I guess it explains why he picked you for my executive officer then. How are you related?” he looked Thais over. He should have known immediately that the guy was llanarian… they were so damn big. “You don’t look like each other… so cousins?” 

“Sir,” the comms officer broke into their conversation. “We’re being hailed by the USS Manticore. Captain Mason for you.”

RJ inclined his head and levered himself out of his chair. “I’ll take it in my ready room, please.” 

Shooting Thais a look to warn him their conversation wasn’t done yet, RJ walked through to his ready room. 

He couldn’t help the sigh of satisfaction as he walked in. His ready room, not Mason’s anymore. He sat behind the desk, and almost disappeared as the chair flipped backward. 

“Jeezuz!” he yelped, grabbing the desk to right himself just as the damn screen turned on and Mason’s face appeared on it. 

“Yeah,” the other captain said, his deep voice sending a shiver down RJ’s spine. “Should’ve warned you about that. That chair’s a bit glitchy. Probably ‘cause of taking my weight for years.” 

“Yeah, a warning would’ve been nice. About your cousin as well,” RJ groused, a little discomforted that Mason had seen him making a prime tit of himself. “Did you want something, Mason?”

Mason’s eyebrow quirked up. “Other than the respect due your squadron commander?” 

RJ blew him a kiss. To his surprise, the corner of Mason’s lips quirked. “See! I knew you had a sense of humor in there somewhere!”

“Yeah, yeah… I’m just deciding when to sack you in my head,” Mason threw back. “Now shut up and listen. My new XO turns out to be quite a dark horse—“

“…not the only one…”

“—and he’s listed some extra locations we need to take care of on our patrol,” Mason carried on, talking over him. “I’m sending them over now.”

RJ nodded as his console pinged to notify him of a new message. He opened it and frowned. “And these are… these are…” He looked up. “These look like black market locations. How did he get these?” 

Mason shrugged. “He has somewhat of a checkered past. He said his information is about twenty years out of date.”

RJ shook his head. “No no… if he knows what to look for, that’s invaluable. We can map previous information onto what we have, and we should get a better idea of what we’re facing out there.”

“Exactly,” Mason nodded. “I’ve altered our original route, all the details are in that file there, and I’m sending the Resolute ahead. We’ll RV at the indicated points.”

“Sounds good.” RJ scanned the mission profile. “So this first RV, we have a layover there?”

Mason inclined his head. “Yeah, the science bods want to get some scans of that system so we’re going to hole up for about twelve hours on the graveyard shift to give them a chance to get the data they need. It won’t be as expansive as from a ship with a better science department—” 

RJ snorted at that. Neither the Resolute nor the Manticore were ‘traditional’ science ships, they both had way too many guns for that. 

“—but it’ll let the people who know about these things work out if they need to send a science ship out.”

“Twelve hours?” RJ grinned. “On the graveyard? What about dinner?”

Mason sat back in his chair. “It’s a solid evening meal.”

RJ rolled his eyes. “Are you going to make me spell it out?” 

Mason grunted, but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “That depends. Can you spell?”

“Wounded!” RJ clutched at his chest overdramatic. “I am utterly wounded. And I’m asking you to dinner.”

Mason rubbed his beard. “I thought you had a drinks date with Anderson when we get back? I’d hate to step on his toes and all…”

“He threatened me with the airlock!”

“And a cold shower. But, to be fair, you were the one that mentioned handcuffs.” Mason grinned and leaned forward, reaching out.

“Wait! What about—“

Mason cut him off, “See you at the RV, Ryder.” And then he cut the comm. 

RJ sat back in his chair, remembered at the last moment to grab the desk so he didn’t flip backward and blew out a breath. 

Then he smiled. 

Mason knew his name.  His real first name.

RJ walked back onto the bridge and nodded to Thais in the centre chair.

“Nope, don’t get up,” he said, motioning for the man to stay seated. “Just passing through.”

It was the early part of their patrol. Nothing much was going to happen for the next couple of hours, so he planned to use the time to get to know his new ship. He knew some of it, specifically all the hiding places, as he and other members of the crew had found out during Frontier Day.

He suppressed his shudder. He didn’t like to think too much on the events of that day, or the clean up after. Even though he’d been due at his hearing, he’d pushed the envelope to stay and help clean up. Perhaps that was why Mason had agreed to him joining the Manticore squadron. A fact that totally surprised him. After what had happened, he’d assumed Mason would have wanted him as far away as possible.

“Mr. Rain, hand off to your assistant please,” he said as he walked by the helm console. “Let’s take a walk.”

“Aye sir.” 

Kyle logged out of his console and watched the user interface default to the standard configuration. He gave a nod to the officer at his right. “Watch the CONN till I’m back.” He got an affirmative nod in reply.

Pushing the L shaped console over so he could stand up he fell in stride with his new skipper. He fell in at RJ’s left and a half stride behind. Standard federation subordinate marching discipline as banged into his head by his father. It was one of the few things he carried from childhood into service effectively. That and his piloting. Kyle clasped his wrists behind his back waiting for RJ to speak. Kyle was known for high energy piloting, but not being a motor mouth. 

RJ slid the helm officer a sideways glance, and found himself looking at empty corridor. Looking over his shoulder, he motioned Rain forward. “We’re walking and talking, Mr. Rain, I can’t do that with you back there,” he said with a smile.

He paused in front of a replicator. “Now… I would offer you a choice of drinks, but the Resolute’s replicators seem to have a mind of their own. You’ll get sprinkles whatever you order. So… what’ll it be?”

Kyle blinked at the statement. The idea of breaking decorum not even a thought. “Oh. Right, sorry.” 

After being offered a drink with the stipulation of sprinkles, his brow furrowed. What tasted good with sprinkles? Sprinkles typically weren’t his thing. He folded his arms and pursed his lips, staring a hole into the area where the replicator would materialize the drink, as if willing his desire into existence and rendering the machine obsolete.

“Uh..Computer,” Kyle cleared his throat and continued, “I’ll take a hot chocolate, with whipped cream.” Usually he was an iced coffee with milk and sugar kind of guy but he wasn’t sure he wanted to be scared off his preferred drink because of a replicator quirk. 

RJ waited for the drink to materialise and sure enough, there were sprinkles.

“And I’ll take a mocha-choco-latte,” he added, turning to Rain as he waited. “So… I thought this would be a good time to catch up. Since we’re both new transplants to the Resolute. Tell me a little about yourself, Mr. Rain.”

Kyle fished his mug out of the replicator once it finished materializing in. He blew on it a few times to cool before risking a sip. He paused testing the burn in his mouth. He shrugged. Cool enough. He glanced up at the skipper and nodded. He could get down with this. 

“Well sir, not much to say that my file probably doesn’t already. I’m the middle of three boys. Also the best looking, don’t let Tiberius lie. What else. I was top of my class in the academy and led Nova Squad during my senior year at the academy. After that I ran a shuttle on the Thunderchild and served as a backup valkyrie pilot. Then I bumped over to the conn, won the lucky lottery and promoted out. Just in time by the sounds of it.”

Kyle frowned. He missed most of the excitement with the fleet and borg throwing a big party together. He was on a solo shuttle alone. He also needed to get out. Get away from his old man’s shadow. Be his own man sort of thing. He loved to fly but the old man expected him in a command chair eventually. Kyle just wasn’t sure that was for him. He certainly wasn’t in any rush for that matter. He just liked to make ships dance, that was all. And damn could he could make them dance. Granted, he wasn’t likely to make friends in engineering if things got ugly though. But he’d cross those bridges when they came. The Resolute came with a tough crew, so he’d do his best to keep them that way.

“I’m not a fan of violence, but I’m not against defending myself. Let the other guy swing first, and end the fight. Also a fan of Akido, running, and beer.” He ticked the last three off on fingers and nodded with a grin that made him look more like his old man than he realized. He paused for the skipper to chime in with questions or comments. 

RJ taking a sip from his drink carefully so he didn’t end up with cream and sprinkles in his moustache, then chuckled at Rain’s comment about being the best looking of his brothers. That was confidence right there, and he liked confidence. Especially in a pilot.

“Sounds like they picked the perfect pilot for my chief helm then,” he commented lightly. “So what do you think of the Resolute so far?”

“She’s a nice little bird. Like a kestrel. Only not quite as heavily armed as one. So maybe more like a hummingbird? Haven’t had a chance to really put her through her paces and see how she can flex her wings. Though I expect given our assignment to the region, the opportunity will come along eventually. My old man used to say that service was 99% boredom while waiting for that 1% of excitement. Though he often wondered whether that 1% was also contributed by the universe in some kind of need to stir shit up.” 

Kyle shrugged. Philosophy wasn’t so much his jam. He could leave that to Tib and his pop. 

RJ chuckled. “With the reputation the Resolute has, it won’t be long before the universe throws something at us,” he replied. “But hummingbird, I like that. She’s an elegant looking thing, isn’t she?” And next to the Manticore, delicate like a hummingbird really fit.

Kyle grinned and nodded. “And with me at the controls? We’ll be dancing circles around anyone crazy enough to look at us cross eyed.” 

He finished his hot chocolate and placed it back into the replicator space to be reclaimed. He’d heard rumors of something being wrong with the system. He’d have to experiment with that later. Kyle wasn’t much of a scientist, that was more of his little brother Danny’s thing. But he was a firm believer in seeing for yourself when it came to making conclusions. Not big on the idea of faith.

“So uh…any advice for the stupid new guy?” He asked his new captain.

“Don’t be stupider than the captain.” RJ offered a self-deprecating smile and reached out to clap Kyle on the shoulder. “Other than that, you’ll do just fine. Now, I have a date with an engineer. Think you can find your way back up to the bridge? This massive ship and all… it would be easy to get lost.”

“Just a left at Albuquerque right?” Kyle chuckled as the Captain strode off to continue his walk of the ship. Back on the bridge he slid back into his chair and sighed, tracing his hands across the edges of the console affectionately. 

“Miss me?” He whispered as he logged back in to resume his shift. 

Like with the rest of his crew, RJ had no idea what to expect when he headed down to engineering to meet his new Chief Engineer. Given Mason’s hand in his crew, he’d half expected another llanarian. He certainly didn’t expect the stunningly beautiful woman standing in the middle of the space, a padd in the crook of her arm and a fierce look on her face.

“Good work people! Lockdown protocols were enacted well within the guidelines. Keep this up and I’ll buy you all a pint in the pit later,” she called out, her voice melodious, with an odd burr in it that raised the hairs on the back of his neck. 

RJ stayed in the shadows of the doorway, arms folded over his chest as he watched her. She was tiny, but her stance made her seem bigger… almost amazonian, so much so that his brain kept trying to rewrite what he was seeing and make her bigger. 

He blinked and shook the impression off, stepping forward. “Hey there…”

The woman held a hand up, finger raised as she appeared to be counting down, looking at the padd screen she held. RJ blinked, but held position, charmed rather than annoyed at being made to wait. One thing he had learned growing up on a cargo transporter was that the chief engineer was basically god in their domain. 

“Okay,” she said, folding her padd into the crook of her arm and turning to face him. “What can I do for you…” 

Her silver-grey eyes dropped to the pips on his collar and her smile set, just a little. Most people wouldn’t have noticed it, but RJ wasn’t most people, especially when it came to a woman this beautiful. 

“…Captain?” she asked, that burr in her voice sending a shiver down his spine. He managed to suppress the reaction and offered her a winning smile. 

“Just making the rounds and introducing myself to my new crew. Although,” he admitted in a low voice, leaning in a little. “It’s so I can see the ship as well. I’m as new aboard as you are,” 

She watched him levelly. “If you say so, sir.” 

Okay, she was going to be a tough cookie to crack. It was a challenge, but he was more than up to it. He moved on quickly. “So, do you have everything you need? I hope the previous chief left everything in good order for you.”

She nodded, just once. “He did. At the very least, things about here aren’t as screwed as they normally are when I arrive on a ship.” 

He blinked at the blunt comment and tilted his head. “Just a question. You’re not a close personal friend of Captain Mason or anything, are you?”

She frowned. “Who? No, I don’t know a Captain Mason. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. No reason at all.” RJ’s grin grew wider. So Mason didn’t have his claws quite as deeply into the Resolute as it seemed. “Since you seem to have things in order around here, I’ll carry on my tour. Pleasure to meet you, Chief, I’m looking forward to working with you.”

She nodded, watching him as he turned and headed for the door. With each step, the skin between his shoulder blades itched and his hackles rose. He beat the feeling down and cast a glance over his shoulder when he reached the door. The chief was still watching him, her expression unreadable. 

Then she nodded and turned away, and suddenly, he could breathe freely again. He watched her stalk away to her office, a predatory grace to her movements that was fascinating to watch. 

He snapped himself out of it, and left engineering, a spring in his step. A new ship, a new crew and both a dinner date and a drinks date somewhere in his future… things were looking up.