"Lunch, then Reports, Arda's Point of View" by Lt Arda Kaje SD 49801.08

Arda sighed as she walked out of the meeting room. She and Epic had tried for a descent conversation about the shuttles and what her objective would be on this mission, but they were abruptly interrupted. She herumphed to herself and mentally sought out her daughter.

Kaede was down in the nursery. All Galaxy class starships had them. There, a holonanny program was watching over her, being the only child on the ship at the time. Arda grinned. Kaede was aparantly bored and was crying for no reason, driving the holonanny's programming nuts. Arda hurried before the program locked up and was useless.

She walked in to find the nanny cradling Kaede and trying to console her. The hologram looked up upon Arda's arrival.

"Oh, Lt Arda, I don't know what to do with her. She won't stop crying."

"That's okay. I'll take her." Arda took her daughter into her arms and held her close, thinking sweet nothings at her and taking her into another room to feed her. Kaede immediately stopped crying.

After lunch, Arda had some time before the meeting started again. She took her daughter down to the shuttle bay.

"This is where Mommy will be working, Kaede." The tiny girl looked around with wide eyes at the gleaming shuttles. Two shuttles and three runabouts. There was a lot of room in the bay to fit them. Arda ran her fingers along the edge of one of the shuttles. She knew how to pilot this one for sure. She had a crash course trying to escape Xzarre's ship.

Kaede wimpered, Arda's hatred for Xzarre manifesting itself in her tiny mind. Kaje shushed her child and kissed her forehead, the small Cardassian ridge showing her heritage.

The Type VI shuttlecraft were extremely maneuverable. Small craft capable of warp speed for short amounts of time. Not good for long journeys, but they were capable of serving their purpose of short jumps from ship to planet or other such trips. She glanced at the sides, noting the names of famous Terrans scribed there. The USS Columbus and the USS

Magellan. Two people in Earth's ancient turbulent history of exploration and discovery.

The three Danube class runabouts sat side by side a little ways down from the two shuttles. Each were named after large rivers on Earth. She never understood Federation naming conventions, but they chose them, she didn't. The USS Thames, Nile, and Orinoco were also manueverable craft, their bigger size giving them advantages over the shuttlecraft, such as endurance for long trips and larger nacelles for sustained warp travel and higher speeds. Arda stood on her toes and peeked in the window like a child looking in a toy store. She hadn't had much experience with them, but now was her chance to familiarize herself with the controls. Drills should be run to prepare her crew and herself for any emergency anyway. A sound caused her to turn.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm Ens Yohann Strauss, one of the shuttle pilots on this doomed tub here. You are?" He glanced at the uniform and pips, suddenly regreting what he had said.

"Lt Arda Kaje, *chief* shuttle pilot on this 'doomed tub'."

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't realize-"

"Think before you open your mouth, okay?"

"Of course, sir. Understood."

"Good." She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "I have to run. The senior staff meeting is about to continue. I'll be back down with my shift rotations shortly. Please gather the rest of the pilots for a meeting. I'll notify you when I'm out of the meeting upstairs."

"Aye, Lt." Strauss left. Kaede gurgled up at her mother.

"Time to return you to the nanny." Kaede wimpered, sending thoughts of boredom to her mother. "I know dear. I'm hoping these meetings won't last too long." They departed for the nursery.

After a loving goodbye with her daughter, Kaje headed back up to the meeting room just off the bridge. She caught sight of the view screen as she stepped off the turbolift and crossed behind the tactical console. There was a view of Earth, the Grail having stopped here to pick up more crew. Arda had met the Grail here after her transport from Lerins had dropped her off. She had been glad to leave the Nova, but saddened. She had made some friends there, but there were too many ghosts, some of which had come with her, but too many ghosts just the same. She stepped into the conference room.

Epic smiled as she entered. She sat to the right of Cara Hatcher. Logan Castle half-rose from his seat and acknowledged her with a nod. She returned the nod and then glanced at the PADD she had picked up on the way from the nursery. As she rode in the turbolift, Arda had started writing up her shift schedule. She quickly thought to download the schedule to the console in her quarters as she finished it up so she'd have a copy to post in the bay. She then sat straight and waited patiently. Epic smiled even wider, lowering his face to hide it. Arda found herself thinking about school. But she had never really attended, having been born and raised in a labor camp during the occupation. Suddenly inquisitive, she looked up, her eyes drawn to Epic. He looked up and met her gaze. She smiled slightly, letting the question on her face show. He merely continued to watch the people come in.

Kaje followed his example and waited. The first part of the meeting had been long and she felt that this part would be as well. She hoped all meetings wouldn't be this way.

With everyone finally present, Epic stood and addressed them.

"First, allow me to introduce Lt. Lorelei of Delta IV. She has transferred from DS5 to join us."

Most of the expressions seemed surprised, but each nodded or spoke a quick greeting.

"Next, I must address the many serious looks I'm seeing. So, I will dispense with protocols and open the table up." Epic looked at each of them and said, "All right. Who's first? What is going on?"

Arda blinked. He had to know she was okay. So, Ens Strauss had been a little confrontational. That was easily delt with in her own department by her. That was her job. The upper part of command didn't need to worry about that. She glanced around the table, noting a few somber expressions of anger and upset. She decided to let those go first. They seemed a bit more important.