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The two officers entered the room and the doors closed silently behind them. The Captain of the ship motioned to a seat in front of her desk and the other quietly moved from the doorway. She watched as the man sat down and then absentmindedly sat in the other chair in front of her desk. The Deltan watched her and smirked slightly.
“So, this is the Solaris,” the man said to break the silence. “She is a fine ship indeed.”
Kathryn Beringer looked away and forced herself to watch the fish swimming in the fish tank. “Yes, he is. Speaking of which, I want to thank you again for your handling Captain Ricol in Club 47. I know it’s been several weeks since that incident but you really didn’t have to do that. I can take care of myself.”
Captain Daikar raised an eyebrow when Kathryn used the male gender to refer to the starship. “Well, like I said then, Ricol is a brute and a bully. It was not his place to accuse you of stealing this ship because no one owns any ship in the fleet. You were assigned to Solaris and it was that simple. Besides, if I had not interfered, I doubt I would be sitting here right now.”
Kathryn blushed slightly. “Indeed. Well I felt the need to offer my thanks again.” She looked from the fish tank back to Daikar. His bald head framed the hard features of his face. Ocean-blue eyes were stern yet inviting and his cheeks seemed to pull his full lips into a perpetually congenial smile. The strong jawline finalized a commanding presence his muscular frame exuded. Kathryn struggled slightly against Daikar’s charm. She turned toward the bar in the back of the room and realized she was not sitting behind her desk and rushed to say something to continue conversation. “May I offer you a drink?”
For his part, Daikar was patient. “Yes, actually. I’d like an Earth Scotch if possible.”
Kathryn stood and walked to the replicator. She enjoyed Scotch as well and replicated the drinks. Turning, she was surprised to see Daikar had walked to the other side of the room and was inspecting something against the wall. She recognized the item of his curiosity and met him. Daikar accepted the drink, took a sip then pointed to the object encased in glass.
“What is that?”
After a sip, Kathryn licked her lips and nodded. “It’s a piece of carpet from the floor to the aft shuttle bay of Galatea, an Exeter class and my previous command.”
Daikar raised his eye bows and took another sip to hide his surprise. “That must have an interesting story.”
Kathryn shrugged imperceptibly, turned and walked toward the edge of her desk. Leaning on it, she raised the cup to her lips and spoke without drinking. “The Galatea was shot apart by Klingons.” Daikar looked over his shoulder to her as if asking for more detail. After a slight pause, she continued with a far-away glance as she recalled the entire moment. “Nothing exciting: we were pinched between two Vor'cha looking for easy prey and got battered on the run. After limping back to ESD, Quinn personally handed me the scrapyard papers.” She took a gulp from her cup and looked into the fluid that remained. “I loved that ship with a passion.”
Daikar looked back at the token and nodded. “That’s a shame.” He sipped from his cup. “So how did this end up as a souvenir?” He walked back to his chair as Kathryn spoke.
“I was the last crew member off Galatea and by the time I reached the door to the shuttle bay I realized I had nothing but memories … I had to take something from the ship, something I could hold. So I cut that chunk out, walked into the shuttle and waited on Space Dock for a new command.” She spread her arms out as if to show off the entire ship and smiled.
Daikar returned the smile, stood and raised his glass to toast. “Well then, here’s to our ships, may they carry us across the galaxy and back safely.”
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Cast:
Kathryn Beringer - Katheryn Winnick
Daikar - Billy Zane
Mentioned but not seen:
Hassid Ricol - Matt Nable
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