Waiting anxiously for the turbo lift at the end of deck two, Giarvar found himself tapping his foot in frustration. He wasn’t used to waiting for turbo lifts these days, especially at this late hour of the day. Such was the hour that he hadn’t even bothered to put his uniform jacket on again, opting to remain in the vest that he’d got comfortable in for the conversation he had shared with Captain Taes a short while earlier. He’d hoped to sit down and enjoy some peace after a manic day, maybe even sort through the belongings that had been dispatched to him from the Buran, but he’d had no such luck; just as he’d started, the communications array summoned him to the bridge. But he was in danger of never making it there if the turbo lift never sho…

Suddenly the doors to the lift parted, revealing a dark-haired woman who was paying no attention whilst slipping her gold jacket over her arms and tying her hair back in her usual slick ponytail.

“Commander,” Giarvar nodded to the tactical chief, who suddenly stepped aside and made way for her new commanding officer.

“Sorry sir,” Peri smiled sheepishly, dropping her arms to her side, before realising her jacket still wasn’t zipped up. A few seconds later she looked like the presentable figure he’d met earlier in the day. “I wasn’t expecting to be summoned at this time,” she told him apologetically.

“You too, huh?” Giarvar frowned, turning from the woman and looking at the door as it resumed the short journey to the bridge. Whatever had caused him to be summoned to the bridge had now piqued his curiosity thanks to the apparent need for the tactical chief to be present several hours before the start of her next shift.

When the lift arrived at its destination and spat them onto the top level of the bridge, both shared a look of confusion. They were surprised to see that the room was far from a state of chaos. There were few people at all. It was, after all, Gamma Shift and a smaller bridge crew to be expected, but given that both had been summoned, they’d expected it to be significantly busier.

The only other senior officer present was the Risan medical officer who had drawn the short straw in logging her additional experience time during the current bridge rotation. It was all part of her desire to be certified as a bridge officer, but she hadn’t expected to be running boring night shifts.

Clocking the arrival of the two other senior officers, the Commander took a step away from the Operations station. “Sorry to call you sir,” Akaria began, “but there’s a transmission from Lakota.”

“And I couldn’t read it in my quarters?” Giarvar glared at the woman, perhaps fractionally more menacing than he had intended, the woman flinching a little as she realised the mistake she’d made.

Peri remained silent as she stood, and watched, too tired to even chastise the poor medical officer for her misdemeanour.

“You better put it through,” Giarvar sighed as he stepped up to one of the tall, free-standing stations between him and the command circle. A few seconds later, Akaria had ordered the duty officer to put the message through.

As he read the wall of text, the Captain’s expression changed, from one of frustration to one of genuine concern. Watching him, Peri herself grew anxious. Something had got the Captain’s attention, and not in a good way. Perhaps they owed the medical chief an apology?

When he was done reading, Kauhn summoned Peri was a wave and stood aside to let her read the contents of the message. Just like the Captain before her, the Bajoran grew more concerned with each line of text she read.

“We should help him,” Peri told the Captain immediately after she had stopped reading. “Hypatia has a far superior medical suite than Lakota does.”

“Perhaps,” Giarvar mused, folding his arms across his chest, “but Lakota can get him to his people a lot quicker than we can. And, no disrespect to our medical team,” he nodded and smiled sheepishly at the CMO, “they know Or’uil better over there.”

Peri knew better than to challenge the Captain and nodded in respect of his words. She knew that he was just as concerned for their former colleague as she was, if not more so, given the time they had shared on the Hathaway before the Frontier Day changes. Whatever differences they had with the Fleet Captain after today’s events had been washed away with the news of Or’uil’s illness. Bygones had to be bygones when one’s health and safety were at risk; especially since all any of them were doing was to look out for their people.

“Contact the Lakota and let them know we’ll assume their position in the patrol as soon as they depart,” Giarvar told, looking towards the relief officer at Ops. “Let them know we’re here if they need anything in the meantime.” He let out a sigh, leaning on the console. “I’m heading back to my quarters. Peri, you have the bridge. When the shift is over, get some sleep. We’ll delay your next shift. Akaria,” he turned quickly, not giving the tactical chief any time to respond, “wake the XO and inform her of the change of orders. Let her know she has alpha shift and she’s to relieve Commander Peri as soon as is feasible. Then I want you to get some sleep… just in case we need you.”

“Aye Captain,” the medical officer nodded respectfully, handing over the proverbial baton of command to the Bajoran tactician before disappearing into the turbo lift with the Captain.

Out in the ocean of space, two of Starfleet’s finest starships flew in formation one final time as the Quasaris star began to emerge from behind the fourth planet in the system. As the sun’s rays lit up the heavens, the mighty Lakota veered to starboard and gradually picked up speed while Hypatia remained on course, steady and true to the end. A fitting end to the squadron and one final parting of ways between friends.