—- Starbase 260, Operations —-

“Where is Captain Aike?” asked Captain Hagon Zaff the commanding officer of Starbase 260. The Bolian seemed pleasant enough, but he was also quite aware that the other captain was not present for this official visit.

“He is overseeing the repairs to the Falcon,” said Commander Ashley Attwell trying to be reassuring. Of course he was not going them himself, most likely he was readying a book or having a bath. The Starfleet rule against a captain leaving his ship did not apply to visiting safe starbases in Federation space. The fact was that the Captain thought it beneath himself, and was not one for official formalities.

The Bolian did not seem interested in drawing the matter out and simply nodded, accepting the story and not taking the slight personally. The Falcon had brought some supplies for the station, the ship’s large cargo bays had been packed with rations and materials for the station’s upkeep and crew. Attwell was there to oversee that, and do whatever performative role that the ship’s captain would usually have.

With the Falcon’s crew allowed to visit in shifts, the starbase had grown in population with an additional one hundred or so Starfleet officers joining in the local population. Apart from the station’s crew and their families, the rest of the station was largely Ferengi, as this was a popular trading hub between them and the Federation.

“Do you have many problems with the Ferengi?” Attwell asked. While they were no longer the threat they had once been, and no longer a rival military power in the days of Picard’s first Stargazer, they did not quite fit into Federation life yet.

Captain Hagon Zaff laughed, “They are spirited. I’m sure somewhere they’re trying to get the deed to the USS Falcon from your crew. But they’re not the problem.”

“The Breen?” Attwell asked.

“We haven’t seen them since the 2399 incursion, but having you here is part of making sure they don’t try again,” Zaff said cheerfully. He nodded, “It’s nice to know with the Klingons and Romulans, Cardassian and Transwarp stuff we’re not being forgotten.”

That was the danger in Starfleet, resources were so stretched that they tended to end up running from one disaster to another, and not put in the work to prevent the next one. It would be well within Starfleet’s normal tendency to ignore the Breen until they attacked again. If flying a warship past slowly was all it took to keep them at bay, then the mission would be worthwhile.

“Now if Starfleet would send us one of those new Typhoon-class ships we’ll take it,” Zaff laughed.

—- Starbase 260, Cargo Bay 5 —-

Another load materialized in the cargo bay in front of Chief Operations Officer for the starbase Lieutenant Commander Nilo Tunem. The Trill marked it down on her list as her crew began to ensure that what was delivered met the manifest. Beside her the Falcon’s own Chief of Operations Lieutenant Leylani Aka watched. She’d been on stations before, having last been stationed on Starbase 86, so she knew that on a station like this the operations chief was basically as important as the chief engineer if not actually the chief engineer as well.

“It should all be there,” Aka said, having gone over it when it was transferred aboard the Falcon.

Tunem nodded, not wanting to doubt her fellow Operations Officer, but also knowing that she needed to do her own inspection. She was known on Starbase 260 for her organization, and that was a reputation that she was proud of. It also meant not letting the simple things slip.

—- USS Falcon, Main Engineering —-

Pulling up the schematics of the Excelsior II-class vessel Chief Engineer Murf saw less flashing red alters than she had when they’d set out. That was a good sign. The bad sign was that there were still so many of them, and that systems like weapons were involved. The Falcon had taken a pounding, and unless it wanted another one her team had to work quickly. Officers were under LCARS terminals, and tracing conduits through the ship, one the face of it it looked pretty good. The team at Starbase 86 had managed to fix the exterior and replace the damaged ablative armor, but the interior still needed work.

“All replicators on deck six are offline,” an engineer at a terminal called out.

“Coordinate with operations, get them back,” Murf called in the general vicinity of the voice. She was a good engineer, her team was made up of good engineers. She just needed time, another two weeks in dock would have let them fix everything at a steady pace. Now that they were on assignment they had to hurry.

Assistant Chief Security Officer Lieutenant Junior Grade Rosa Flores entered and spotted Murf, and headed over.

“Captain says to take some time off,” the other woman said, “take a shift on the station, you have a team for a reason.”

“He sends security down to make sure I have a work-life balance?” Murf asked.

Flores shrugged, “I don’t know I think I was just on the bridge when he thought of it. But he’s not wrong, we’re at a Starfleet station, in Starfleet space. You’re not racing to save our lives, and you have a team.”

“If I don’t go what happens you arrest me?” Murf asked.

“No, I just think he’ll keep sending Lieutenant Junior Grades down here to bug you until you cave,” Flores said.

“A fate worse than death,” Murf decided after taking the threat in. She nodded and stretched. She stood and announced, “Alright, everyone I’m off until Alpha shift. Keep working the problems, I’ll be back to see how you got on in the morning.”

“Want to come with me?” Murf asked Flores as she headed out of the engineering bay, with the security officer coming with her.

“Sure, I was going to meet Hume at Quark’s,” Flores said.

“Which one,” Murf asked, as there were two Humes now.

“My boyfriend, though his sister is there too,” Flores said.

“It’s Humes all the way down,” joked Murf as they turned a corner and headed to the transporter room.