“Sir, captain, sir! We’ve been taken off your sister and reassigned to some admiral’s brat’s division.”

Mason wanted to drop through the floor as Rennox burst into his ready room like a rhino in a steeplechase, his voice nowhere near quiet. He didn’t allow his expression to alter one iota, just flicked a glance from the screen in front of him to Rennox, who stopped dead in his tracks like he’d been poleaxed.

“Rennox, I’m on a comm call with Captain Murphy.”

Rennox’s eyes went wider than saucers, and he started to backpedal, heading for the door. “Oh, right… shit… sorry sir.”

Mason nodded, not looking at his screen to see what Captain Murphy’s reaction had been to being referred to as ‘some admiral’s brat’. The fact that he hadn’t immediately started spitting feathers was a good sign. 

“Go and see if Commander Zale needs any assistance with the departmental safety reports,” he ordered Rennox. The XO seemed to have taken the young yeoman under her wing, which was helpful.

“Yessir, right away, sir,” the yeoman said, turning to leave the room. Then, another thought seemed to occur to him, and he turned like a child’s spinning top. “Oh! I did that filing you wanted.”

Mason couldn’t help the wince. He’d only just figured out the frankly insane system Rennox had used the last time. Who on Llanar filed with the first name of the first person mentioned on the file? Rennox disappeared out of the door, and he returned his attention to the man on the screen in front of him. Murphy’s body language was relaxed as he leaned back in his chair. It wasn’t an all out slouch the way RJ would have, but he also didn’t seem to be the stick up the proverbial type either. Which boded well.

“I do apologise for that,” he said. “My yeoman is… enthusiastic at times.”

“No worries,” Captain Murphy waved off the apology with a smile. “You’re lucky to have a yeoman. I need to find a good one to get all this organised.”

He waved at his desk, which Mason couldn’t see but, given that the guy was the command captain of a division, it was probably far more paperwork than he had to deal with.

Amusement filled Mason and he snorted, relaxing a little. “Yeah… let’s just say Rennox’s talents lie elsewhere. Definitely not in administration.”

Definitely not in administration. But he had a plan outlined for Rennox to shadow all of the department heads in rotation as part of his training, to see if here was an area he showed an interest in. He still couldn’t figure out why Rennox had opted for the administrative track, but suspected it might have something to do with his twin. His now dead twin who had died during Frontier Day. Which meant Mason wasn’t going to ask. Hell no. Not yet. Perhaps not ever. Something like that, he would have to let Rennox open up to him and start talking.

Putting that thought aside, he sat forward and pulled up the info pack Murphy had sent over, scanning it quickly. “So, it looks like not much has changed. We’re still heading out to check subspace relays in sector delta-zero-four-nine and checking in on the trade outpost out that way.”

It had been the plan Harlow had decided on and registered with command. He hadn’t had an issue with it. She had sound command skills and the route made sense for the two ships. Even switching the Interceptor out for the Lamarr class Canterbury… the plan still worked.

Murphy nodded, his demeanour changing from all amiable smiles to focused captain. 

“And we’ll be stopping by the Helanis-four system as well. A ship out that way reported some odd readings coming from out that way that command want the Canterbury to take a look at.”

Mason nodded and checked their current position. If the Canterbury was still back at DS17, which seemed to be the case from the info packet, then they had a bit of a catch-up to do. It made more sense for the Resolute to press on, rather than slow down for the bigger ship to join them en-route. “Okay, well we’re already on route to the relays, so we’ll complete those checks and wait for you to rendezvous with us.”

“Sounds good. We’ll be with you in a couple of days,” Murphy nodded. “Thank you, Captain. Murphy out.”

The channel closed and the screen returned to the lazily spinning default delta.

Mason sat back in his chair, elbows on the arms as he steepled his fingers. He didn’t know Captain Murphy. He’d never met the guy. He knew of Admiral Murphy, now thankfully retired, and those stories weren’t particularly good. But something stuck in his memory somewhere. Some half remembered memory or story someone had told him somewhere.

“Gah!” he huffed when the memory wouldn’t form. He’d obviously been hit in the head one too many times. Probably should get that checked out at some point. Even as he thought it, he knew he wouldn’t. Pushing away from his desk with a sigh, he stood up, making sure to duck just before he whacked his head on the crossbeam above the desk.

“It’s good to be back,” he murmured to himself and headed to the bridge.