“C’mon Commander, only a couple of pages left.” Gunny put a clipboard down on my makeshift desk in the cargo hold. I had put the shark on a chair next to me with the bag hanging from it as well. I myself was just sitting on top of a crate which was apparently filled with spare engine parts.

“Oh my Goddess. We should have gone for the drinks first.” I sighed deeply and put a mark next to one of the lines on my piece of paper.

“Need anything else checked?”

“Hmm…” I went over the next couple of pages. “We got all the weapons?”

“Yes, everything is accounted for.”

“Check. Okay, then, can you look at holding area d24 to see if our spare ammo replicator is there. The crate should be labelled as ‘ar-sp’.”

Gunny nodded and quickly ran down the aisle and stopped to look at some crates. Soon after which he stuck up his thumb to me.

“Alright, check.”

“Is that it?” Gunny asked once he had covered the distance back to me.

“Yeah, the rest is mostly just signatures and dates.” I continued filling in the last couple of pages. Luckily all this was the last piece of extensive bureaucracy I had to do before departure.

“Oh, Commander Davis. Fancy seeing you here. Is that a new crew member?” A gentle female voice spoke to me.

I turned around. “Ah, Doctor Winter. Here to do some last check-ups too?”

She nodded. “I wouldn’t want to leave without a surgery kit because someone forgot to declare it. But still, what’s the shark for?”

“Just a welcoming gift for the new XO.”

“Ah, right. Lieutenant-Commander Luna Moore wasn’t it?”

“Mhmm.” I nodded as I signed off on a couple more lines.

Doctor Winter came closer to the shark and petted it. “Wow, so soft. I might have to get one myself too.”

“They get hats too.” I took a second and nodded at the bag.

“Do they have nurse hats?”

“Yeah, and I think I saw those armbands too.”

“Interesting.” She fluffed the shark again.

“If you want to, you can buy it with my card. See it as a present, too.”

“Ah, don’t worry.” She waved my offer away. “I have plenty of money. And I might buy a couple.”

“If it keeps going like this, we will have more shark plushies than actual people on board.” Gunny joked. “Also, hello Doctor.”

“Hello, Gunnery Sergeant Turner.” They shook each other's hands.

“Would you like to go and grab a drink after we are done here, Doctor?” I asked, having finally completed my own checklist.

“Yeah, sounds good to me.” She smiled.

“Okay, then we will help you, so it’s done a bit faster.”

Many hands make short work, as they say, and soon we’d finished the doctor’s checklist as well. It did help that the medical wing didn’t have as many components and that we could make a lot ourselves.

“I’ll tell Ensign Yuigahama we are going on board, so she can meet us there.”

“Who’s that?” Winter asked.

“Just someone the Commander picked up earlier. She was getting attacked by her fellow crew members.”

“Are they okay?”

“I think she is, yes.” I nodded and took my holostick from my belt, right at that moment it blipped. “Oh, looks like she got to me first. She says she’s just done with the MP’s.”

“Then we should probably get going.” Gunny gathered the shark and my bag and brought them over to me.

“Let’s go.” I took over the shark, and together we headed towards the terminal.

Ensign Yuigahama greeted us with a customary salute.

“Hello there, Ensign, let’s complete your transfer aboard the ship.”

“O-oh, alright.” She lowered her hand.

“This lady here is Lieutenant Eva Winters, she’s the ship’s doctor.”

“Nice to meet you, Ensign.” Doctor Winters saluted the Ensign quickly with a smile.

“You already know Gunnery Sergeant Turner.”

Yuki nodded and started walking with us on the jet bridge leading to the first deck of our ship.

“If I might ask, Commander, why are we doing this aboard the ship?”

“Mainly because the Commander wanted to grab something to drink.” Gunny clarified.

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s true. That entire situation in the cafeteria sapped me off my energy.”

“Oh.”

“You seem surprised, Ensign? Didn’t expect THE Commander Lauren Davis to be a human, just like you and I?” Doctor Winter asked.

“I guess… It's sometimes hard to think of people who are portrayed as such amazing heroes as people…”

“Today I learned I am, in fact, not a person.” I laughed.

“That’s not wh-what I meant!”

“I know what you meant, Ensign. Don’t worry.” I looked back and smiled. “It’s like seeing a movie star eating in a place you frequent. Like that one time I saw Madeline Osaka back in my hometown.”

“Who’s that?” Ensign Yuigahama tilted her head.

“Just some extremely obscure movie star she likes.” Gunny explained.

“I’ll let you know she’s the most famous actress of the Antarctic Region when it comes to LGBTQ+ movies.”

“My point still stands.”

“Now, the Commander is the most well-known movie star from her region.” Doctor Winter smirked.

“Please tell me you haven’t seen those awful movies.”

“Is there anyone who hasn’t? You were so incredibly bad at acting in them that it became an internet meme overnight. And it definitely helped with troop morale too.”

“I-I don’t think they were that bad, Commander!” Yuki tried to console me.

“So you have seen them?”

“Yes…”

“Urgh…, I think I’m going to get a double whiskey…”

“B-but it really wasn’t that bad!”

“Kid, sometimes it’s best to know when to call it a day.” Gunny laughed as we finally reached the airlock.

After I confirmed my identity, the airlock opened with a beep and a psshh, granting us access to the interior of the ship. The interior lighting was already up and running. The grays and blues of the floors and walls giving off a stoic and professional vibe.

“I hope the bar is a bit more inviting than this.” Gunny looked around.

“Is this your first time on the ship?” Ensign Yuigahama asked.

“I just arrived today. The Doctor and the Commander have already been on the ship a couple of times for checks.” Turner replied.

I patted Turner on the shoulder with my gloved hand, “The bars, lounges and personal spaces are highly customizable. I put the officer’s bar in a bordeaux red last time I visited.”

“W-wait, so we are going to be the first people who are going to take a drink at the bar?”

“Well… yes?”

“I-is that r-really o-okay for me…?”

“You are going to be an officer on board this ship, so what’s the hold-up?” I smiled and put my other hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine, you are allowed to be here. I know it’s hard to be confident after what happened today. But don’t let those fucknuggets get to you. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished and about who you are.”

“Y-yes ma’am!” She straightened her back and saluted enthusiastically.

“Good, let’s go.” I patted her shoulder twice and started walking ahead towards one of the ship’s elevators, with the others following closely behind me.

We took the elevator up a floor towards the deck that was mostly used for the officers’ living spaces. The main lounge with the bar was calmly lit with warm lighting against the bordeaux walls. The mission’s emblem beautifully lit up against the back wall with its holographic neon lighting. The ship’s name was stencilled on the opposing wall.

“You made it quite cosy, Lauren.” Doctor Winter dropped herself in one of the low black sofas that were dotted around in groups of two.

“I only did the lighting, you can thank the Federation’s design team for the furniture.”

Gunny sat down the shark in one of the chairs and sat down next to Doctor Winter. “Just a beer for me.”

“Okay, and for you, Doc?”

“A strawberry margarita if you would be so kind.”

“Alright, and Yuki?”

“U-uh… is it okay if I don’t drink alcohol?”

“Of course.” I nodded. “Noone is going to judge you.”

“Then I’ll just have some orange soda, please.” She hesitantly sat down on the other side of Doctor Winter.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” I walked behind the bar and started making the different drinks. Luckily these synth machines had an incredibly wide selection and if you wanted to experiment with ingredients you could do that too. I poured out a double whiskey for myself and with all the glasses on a tray went back to the table everyone was seated at.

“Thank you, Commander.” Ensign Yuigahama slowly took her drink off the plate and sipped from it, while the others more confidently started to drink as well.

“Finally, some rest.” I sat down on the opposing sofa and leaned back into it with the glass of whiskey in my hand.

“Don’t forget to do her transfer.”

“I can do that with a glass in hand, Gunny.” I said as I swiftly took my holostick back and started typing with one hand. “It’s a pretty trivial procedure.” I took a swig from my whiskey and then continued. “Do you need to bring more stuff over to the ship, Yuki?”

“No, ma’am. I have all my possessions already. The MPs unloaded them from the other ship.”

“Okay, then I’ll just make sure it gets put in your new room.” I pressed a couple of buttons and then looked back up at our new Ensign. “And one more thing. When we are in private like this, please call me Lauren. We’re going to be on this ship for a long time. Being in work-mode all the time isn’t healthy.”

“Ah… I’ll try.”

Gunny did raise his finger. “Except for me, I’d prefer Gunny instead.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t like being called Robert.” I nodded.

Gunny glared at me.

“See?” I laughed.

“That’s true, LauLau.” Gunny swiftly took his revenge.

“Please, Goddess, no. Everything but that.”

Yuki looked at us for a bit and then began to smile at our little skit. At least she was getting a bit more relaxed.