Commander Najan Osho’s Personal Log, Stardate 2401.7

 

Captain Sitar is certainly an impressive officer. Without her skill at the helm today, I’m not sure we would have survived our mission to Dendrion IV. Even with all of my experience with Romulans, it still strikes me as odd to see a Vulcan smile—though I realize that isn’t all she is. I didn’t expect serving under a member of her species to require managing up. In many ways, I’m still hoping to learn as much as I can from her as a captain and as an officer. But, clearly, her long service record was not the sign I thought it was that she’d prefer to stay on the ship.

Momentarily satisfied that Captain Sitar wasn’t going to be forcing her way onto every away mission but still not quite sure what to make of her, Commander Najan left the captain’s ready room and entered the atrium lounge. This space, aft of the bridge and spanning the space between the captain’s ready room and the first officer’s office, had large skylights that showed the streaking stars and slight distortion from the ship’s warp field. Intended for both crew recreation and diplomatic functions, the atrium was a cross between an arboretum and a crew lounge and had beds of flowers and plants from across the Federation, along with several sunken seating areas—one of the small nods to luxury aboard the ship that reminded Najan of the optimistic (and perhaps naïve) grandiosity of the 2360s that now survived on in the larger Odyssey.

The first officer passed through the atrium and returned to the bridge through its single aft entrance to relieve Lieutenant Commander Windsor. The two of them had served together before on the Arcturus, but she still found herself taken aback by the young man’s height—there must have been something in the water on Penthara IV.

The bridge was sleek and modern, as befit the command center for a brand-new ship like the Pallas: science and operations were on either side of the bridge, with the helm and tactical stations forward. It was a novel, experimental design with a standard viewscreen forward and white lighting panels wrapping the curved walls of the forward command area, a step down from the mission operations area aft. When so ordered, those panels could project a holographic display of the area all around the ship, making it seem as though the bridge crew were fully immersed in the stars. Instruments pulsed and chirped softly. Najan found Windsor leaning over the science station, studying something with Lieutenant Commander Zaos Sarcaryn, the ship’s science officer.

“Report, gentlemen,” Najan requested; the two men stopped their conversation, and Sarcaryn sat up straighter when he noticed her presence.

“Commander, we have picked up a gravitational anomaly 3 degrees off of our present course,” Windsor replied, stepping aside so that Najan could see the console more readily over the Risian scientist’s head. There were several oscillating graphs that Najan couldn’t immediately interpret until Windsor clarified. “We believe it’s a rogue planet.”

Najan was surprised—rogue planets weren’t the rarest phenomenon in the galaxy, but she’d never encountered one, let alone been part of one’s discovery. They were tricky to detect because they didn’t generally emit any radiation of their own, so often, their gravity or reflected light were the only ways of spotting them.

“Spectrographic readings indicate that there may be carbon-based lifeforms on the planet,” Sarcaryn added. Najan’s eyes settled into the navigation data being presented and saw that it wasn’t too far out of their way. “I think it’s worth investigating.”

That was an understatement—as rare as they were in the first place, a rogue planet that could also support life was a true unicorn. Najan found herself wondering what type of beings might exist there. She also briefly thought that perhaps the photophobic lifeforms on Dendrion IV would be a lot happier on a planet with no sun at all.

“Najan to the captain,” Najan said.

“Go ahead, commander.”

“Sir, Mr. Windsor and Mr. Sarcaryn believe they have discovered a rogue planet capable of supporting life. It’s a twelve-hour detour. Should we alter course?”

“Affirmative. We should at least flag it with a marker buoy to avoid any navigational hazards. Have Mr. Sarcaryn continue his analysis and prepare to brief the senior staff in eleven hours,” Captain Sitar agreed immediately.

“Understood. Bridge out,” Najan said. She turned to Windsor. “You heard the captain. Let’s go check out this rogue planet of yours.”

Windsor smiled, all dimples and easy enthusiasm. After a career with Starfleet Intelligence, Najan found Windsor’s lack of apparent guile to be refreshing.

“Yes, sir,” the helmsman confirmed before moving down to relieve the ensign at the flight control station. With a few taps on the panel, Windsor altered the ship’s course while Najan took the command chair. “We will intercept the rogue planet in eleven hours, fifty-seven minutes.”

“Do you think they’ll let us name it?” Lieutenant Hidalgo piped up from the operations station. “If it’s never been seen before, it doesn’t even have an alphanumeric designation. Maybe we should call it Sarcaryn Prime since he spotted it.”

Sarcaryn chuckled. “I believe, in technical terms, it’s the captain of a starship that would receive such an honor, as we all work for her,” he demurred.

“True, true,” the operations officer said. “Sitar Prime is a good name, too.”

“I think for something to be ‘Prime,’ there has to be more than one of them,” Najan interjected. She was willing to entertain some silliness on the bridge, but she could tell that the young men under her command would need some coaching to stay professional—all of them except Lieutenant Andretti at tactical, at least, since he didn’t seem to say much. “And that, gentlemen, is a good reason for all of us to dust off the protocols for surveying rogue planets.”

“Aye, Commander,” Sarcaryn and Hidalgo replied in unison.

“Commander, permission to work from the planetology lab?” Sarcaryn asked.

“Granted, Mr. Sarcaryn,” Najan replied. “Don’t stay up too late—I want you to get at least a few hours of sleep between now and our intercept.”

Time of day was always a difficult thing to internalize on a starship, given that you were just as likely to run into a red alert or a black hole at midnight as noon, but this time, they at least had at least twelve hours of notice before an unknown mystery presented itself at four in the morning. No sooner had the crew settled back down did the shift change chimes sound, marking the end of alpha shift and beginning of beta shift. The relief crew entered from the turbolift, and Captain Sitar herself stepped onto the bridge.

“It is very nice of the universe to give us time to do our homework, is it not?” the captain asked.

Najan wasn’t truly religious, but that comment made her wonder if they were being given time to prepare for something if beings like the Prophets really did impact the comings and goings of temporal lifeforms. She also hoped that it wasn’t a sign that they were about to be jinxed.

“It’s a rare concession from the powers of fate,” Najan replied diplomatically. “I’ll keep you updated on our progress.”

“I appreciate that, commander, but I would like to hold the bridge myself for beta shift,” Sitar said. Najan blanched, and the captain clearly noticed. “It is not a reflection on your abilities to monitor long-range communications. As mostly a Vulcan, I simply need less rest than you do, and I want you sharp for 0300 briefing.”

That comment made Najan laugh involuntarily. She cleared her throat and stepped out of the command seat for Sitar. In her experience, most captains didn’t appreciate being laughed at.

“My apologies, Captain. I’ve just never heard someone describe themselves as ‘mostly Vulcan’ before,” the first officer admitted.

Sitar smiled. “Unlike many of my genetic peers, I am quite comfortable being both Human and Vulcan—though my Vulcan traits are genetically dominant, so I don’t think I can really label myself the other way. Not with these ears,” the captain quipped. “You’re relieved, commander. Try to have a pleasant evening.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Najan said before following the rest of alpha shift off of the bridge.