Location: USS Paso Robles, CO Ready Room

Renato asked for Mira to join him in his ready room. He had just completed his call with Commodore Elsie Coleman and Captain Byron Coleman. He smiled as he watched her walk into his ready room. “Please have a seat, skip formality.” 

Mira walked over to the chair, and took a seat. “How is it going Captain? I take it the Commodore mission, is what you thought it would be?” Mira asked, with a curious look on her face. She had no idea, why the Captain wanted to meet with her. But she knew, that he was going to tell her why shortly. 

“It is, and I believe the crew is ready.” Renato said to Mira, as he waited for her response. He was very proud of her abilities as first officer, and how fast she got the crew in order. They acted like they had served together for years. Well discipline machine. 

“They are Captain, we have completed several simulations, and went over procedures on how to prevent the Romulan’s from taking this ship, in a worse case scenario.” Mira suggested to him. Ever since the Vaadwaur attacked, they had been preparing for another major offensive. 

“I am happy to hear that.” Renato said, as he decided to change to the topic. “Since we have a little down time, I realize that I do not know alot about you, and I wanted to change that.” He said, with a big warm smile on his face. 

Mira was a little surprised by his comment, this definitely caught her off guard. “What would you like to know, Captain?” Mira asked, as she looked to Renato. She was not sure what he wanted to know. She assumed something to do with her command track record. 

“I read in your file that you have a family. However, I do not see a request for them to join you on the USS Paso Robles.” Renato said, as he came directly to the point. He did not want to beat around the bush, his motivation for her family joining was done on purpose. 

“I was not sure if that was going to be allowed, since we are a utility cruiser.” Mira said as she waited for Renato to continue on. She did not want to assume, that he was going to allow them to board the USS Paso Robles. 

“Family is important, you have seen my two girls around, dont you have a Husband and two kids? Both girls, if my memory serves correctly.” Renato asked, as he waited for her response. 

“Yes Captain, my husband is Ayn Solwick, and two daughters Liora and Nerrina.” Mira said, a little surprised that he recalled that information. Clearly he was studying up on her, but she was not sure why. Maybe it was a good thing, she hoped it was. 

“What does Ayn do, I did not review his file thoroughly.” Renato said, with a warm smile on his face. He meant to, but he got a little distracted with this new mission. 

“He is an operations officer, currently a department chief.” The kids and him are doing well on the USS Amica. Mira said, wondering how the children and he were doing. It had been a couple of days since they talked. The Blackout made communications a pain, now it was cleared, subspace chatter was starting to return. She had no doubt, that he was busy with maintenance calls. 

“Do you think he would be interested in a transfer to the Paso Robles? I can give him the Chief Operations Officer position and make Lieutenant O’Connell just be a second officer.” Renato suggested it to Mira. 

“That is very sweet of you, Captain. But I could not ask Reeve to do that for my sake.” Mira said, feeling honored, but did not want to take the role away from Reeve. 

“Crew Moral, is my concern. You are part of the crew.” Renato pointed out to her, then he went on. “Plus my girls could use some friends.” He said, with a big grin on his face. 

“I can see the advantage in that for the girls.” Mira said, as she thought about it for a moment. But the girls, had friends on the Amica, but this was a chance for them all to be together again. 

“And the advantage for you, to see your family.” Renato pointed out to her again. He was trying to appeal to the mother in her, to take his offer. He hoped she would not challenge him to hard on the idea. She seemed reasonable, and he figured that she would say no, to be fair and just. But this was not the time to be fair and just. 

“I will talk to them tonight, fair enough?” Mira asked, knowing the Captain was not going to let this go, till they had some type of resolution. 

“Please do, dont try to pull my leg on this one.” Renato suggested to her as he gave her a serious look. 

“I can talk with them, but I really do not want to upset Lieutenant O’Connell.” Mira suggested to her captain. She wanted every officer to be on good terms with her. 

“You worry to much Number One, I got this. Don’t worry about it okay. It will work out.” Renato suggested to her as he gave her a serious look again. He wanted her to see how serious he was. 

“Okay.” Mira said, half convinced by his attempts at trying to convince her to accept the possibility that her family could come aboard. He would not tell her, but he had ulterior motives for wanting her family to come aboard. 

“Let me worry about him. It will all work out in the end.” Renato suggested to her. “Now I have to convince you’re husband, I fear he may be as stubborn as his better half.” Renato said, with a big teasing grin on his face. 

Mira smiled, as she said. “I think he would jump onboard with the idea. I bet the girls are driving him stiry crazy.” She said, as the scene starts to fade away. 

Location: USS Paso Robles, Counseling Office

Malek walked into the counseling office, he was a bit nervous. His heightened senses, could tell that the room was sterile and quiet. He could not even here any humming from the ships hull. How did she manage to do that? he wondered, how that was even possible. The ships should be well insulated.  

His office had a bad vibration bouncing off the hull. It slightly bothered him, but he did not want to bother the first officer, with a minor annoyance like a vibration hull effect in his room. These old California class ships have a mind of their own. 

Malek looked around the room as Zara stood up to meet him. “Hello Chief, how are you doing?” Zara asked with a big smile on her face. She motioned with her hand for him to take a seat. She was looking forward to sitting down with the Chief of the Boat.

“This room is very functional Ma’am, for a small fee I can make this room feel lively, and give it some flair.” Malek said, as he looked around the room. “Starfleet drab, is a look but I feel that a counselor’s office needs a little more attention seeking and soothing tones.” 

Zara thought to herself, that sounded like a contradiction. She smiled as she said, “I will take that into consideration.I like the idea though. We should probably talk a little bit later on.” Zara said, trying to redshift the focus of the conversation on him. 

“I look forward to it, Ma’am.” Malek said, as he looked around a little nervous. He was not sure what to do next. He debated about sitting on the sofa. 

“Please have a seat, sofa or the chair. Whatever you prefer.” Zara said, with a warm and inviting smile on her face. She was trying to make him feel welcomed and at home.  

Malek takes a seat on the sofa, its a standard Starfleet couch, its functional but lacks any type of flair. He needed to help her change that image, as soon as possible. “So you asked for this meeting, Ma’am.” He said, as he decided to get down to business. Sitting around talking was not profitable. 

“I wanted to see how you were doing, and if you have any concerns for the crew.” Zara said, as she decided to cut straight to the point as well. 

“I am doing well, and the crew. Well most of them are recouping after the incident regarding the Vaadwaur. Last year the Borg, this year the Vaadwaur. What a scary time.” Malek said, trying to express his crew’s fears to the counselor.