Commissar Boarding

Posted on 18 Oct 2025 @ 9:19pm by Captain Bane Plase & Lieutenant Commander Raviran Dattek-Winters & Commander Krea Rh'Vareth

1,406 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Shakedown
Location: Transporter Room 5
Timeline: After The Ready Room

The soft hiss of the Ready Room doors parting was the only sound as Captain Bane Plase stepped onto the Bridge. The air carried the faint scent of new circuitry, that unmistakable blend of ozone, metal, and polish that only a newly refitted starship possessed, much like the new car smell (that Bane knew nothing about) of centuries past on several worlds that now called the Federation home. The Cygnus’ Bridge was alive again, every surface gleaming, every console aglow with precision and purpose.

For a moment, Bane stood just inside the threshold. His gaze drifted across the unfamiliar faces manning the stations. A helm officer he didn’t yet know, an ensign at tactical watching him with quiet awe, and a pair of engineers calibrating the new sensor array. The Bridge felt both alien and achingly familiar, a place rebuilt over the bones of the ship he’d nearly lost.

He moved slowly toward the command chair, letting his fingers brush against the edge of the console beside it. The hum beneath his fingertips felt strong, the pulse of a living vessel once again ready to meet the stars.

The memory of fire and twisted metal flickered through his thoughts: the derelict freighter, the explosion, the screams around the Bridge, including his own Executive Officer, as decks buckled and lights went out. Sixty percent of his crew — friends, comrades — gone. Yet the Cygnus had endured. They had endured.

He took one last look around the Bridge. A few officers paused in their work to glance up at him, uncertain whether to salute or simply nod. He gave them the faintest of smiles, reassurance in silence, then turned toward the turbolift.

“Deck Eleven,” he said as the doors slid shut behind him.

The lift hummed to life, descending smoothly through the decks. He clasped his hands behind his back, watching the deck indicators flash past. The quiet inside the lift gave him a moment of reflection, the kind of silence a starship captain rarely found.

The doors opened with a hiss much like his Ready Room door had made. The corridor on Deck Eleven was bright and freshly refurbished, its walls lined with newly installed EPS feeds humming with restrained energy. Crewmen passed by, stepping aside respectfully as Bane made his way toward Transporter Room 5.

The doors parted, revealing a gleaming chamber of polished alloy and cool blue light. The transporter platform stood ready, energy emitters softly pulsing in anticipation. Behind the console, a Chief Petty Officer straightened sharply at his entrance.

“Captain on deck!” she blurted, her voice crisp but nervous.

Bane lifted a hand gently. “At ease, Chief. I understand Commander Vareth’s ready for beam-up?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, quickly rechecking the console. “Signal locked from Starbase 375 — Transporter Room 2. Pattern is stable and standing by for your order.”

Bane approached the platform, hands clasped loosely behind his back. The emitters around the pad pulsed in steady rhythm, casting faint reflections across the brushed metal floor.

“Commander Vareth,” he murmured to himself. “Let’s see what surprises Starfleet Command has seen fit to send us this time.”

He gave a single nod toward the transporter chief. “Begin transport.”

“Aye, sir. Engaging transporter sequence.”

The hum of the machinery deepened, a low resonance that filled the room. Energy cascaded upward from the pads. A column of shimmering blue light coalescing into the distinct outline of a humanoid form. Within seconds, the light condensed, solidified, and Commander Vareth stood before him, the beam fading into motes of silver in the center of her chest.

Bane stepped forward, offering a measured nod. “Welcome aboard the Cygnus, Commander. I trust Starbase 375 treated you well enough?”

The Romulan woman was tall, with high cheekbones and a haughty demeanour. She was dressed with precision and her hair was pulled back and secured tightly into a regulation bun that didn't look like it would dare to put so much as a hair out of place. Her eyes were green and hard, her facial expression looked as is it had been set in concrete and even her green-tinged skin seemed taut and ungiving.

"It was adequate Captain Bane, thank you for enquiring but I feel it my duty to inform you that when introduced or addressed formally, I am Commander Rh'Vareth." she replied, recognising the CO from his file image that she had studied before coming aboard and also by the four shining pips on his collar. She felt the need to offer a thin, tight lipped smile.

"I hope to be more useful to yourself as Commanding Officer and subsequently to this ship and her crew than I was able to be on the Starbase, so it should be a better environment for me here, Sir." again with the tight, joyless smile, she went on to reassure him of her capability for the tasks in front of her:

"I AM at least refreshed and ready to start my work here, which is one good thing to be said for my stayover on the Starbase so, where would you like me to begin Sir?"

Rh'Vareth might have pulled herself to attention in reporting for duty this way, but she hadn't relaxed even one face muscle so far, apart from the mandatory forced smile, so there was nothing to straighten or present that wasn't already at full-alert status.

Bane was genuinely upset at himself that he got her name wrong. With people getting his name wrong all the time, through his whole career, he knew first hand what it meant to get the name correct. "Please, Commander Rh'Vareth," he said, ensuring he pronounced it exactly the way she had, "Accept my sincerest apology for the gaffe. You can leave your bags here. The Chief here will arrange for them to be taken to your stateroom. As a guest of Starfleet Command, you get afforded VIP quarters. For now, the Senior staff is assembling in the conference room. We have much to discuss, and I know I am very keen to have you tell us the purpose of your visit," the Captain said. He did not mean it as an insult, but more of an opportunity to learn from each other.

"It's quite alright Captain, please do not apologise, I merely corrected the information as a means of setting the record straight early and thus clearing up any misunderstanding." Rh'Vareth replied, the obligatory thin smile just slightly less rigid now that she had evened the playing field inside her own mind. It wasn't actually the case but the Commander - or Commissary as she was in this role - was a determined and over-bearing kind of character who was only secure when she felt she had bested anyone whose position or popularity bested her.

Leaving her bags as instructed, Krea Rh'Vareth checked her hair with a gentle pat so as not to disturb it, should it in fact still be in place, and followed her new Commanding Officer along corridors and to her dismay was quite lost by the time they arrived at the Briefing Room. Krea had studied the lay out of this ship at some length but she hadn't managed to memorise everything well enough for this particular route. She fought to keep the insecurity of not being in complete and total control of everything about her current situation from rising into her emotions.

She controlled her breathing and kept pace with Bane despite his long legs and deep strides but she made every effort not to show any of the effort it took her nor the discomfort she was left experiencing. She wasn't going to arrive to meet anyone else with a hair out of place nor a breath that wasn't seeming unstrained, nor an expression that gave anything at all, out of place nor revealing even the slightest sign to anyone looking at her.

During the walk up to the conference room, Bane and Rh'Vareth chatted. Plase was especially please with her knowledge of the history on R'Mor Prime and the ruins contained there. As the conference doors opened, he was saying, "Oh yes, I agree Commander. The history is quite interesting and worth further study. Ill be sure to add your vast wealth of knowledge and good taste in my official report to Starfleet."



OFF

Bane Plase, Captain
USS Cygnus, Commmanding

and

Commander Krea Rh'Vareth
Starfleet Attache
Starfleet Command

 

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