Transfer of Responsibility

As the crew started to leave after her first briefing, she motioned for Lieutenant J'ross to stay seated. Once the crew had left, J'ross swivelled in the direction of the Captain.

"You scared the hell out of me in the Hellcat, you know. Nice name by the way." J'ross said with a slight smile

Taybar stood up and walked to the window before responding. The Hellcat was a fine shuttle, designed from scratch by a young Ensign Aki never got to meet, now long death. But it had served both Captain Devore and Captain Taybar well as well as the crew of the first two Leviathan's. It would continue it's duties when the new USS Leviathan-B was launched.

"Couldn't be helped." Aki replied. "I didn't know what the situation out here was at current. Most of our data is at least an hour old from here. And an hour can make all the difference."

The young Lieutenant was quiet for a few moments. Aki thought about just how good it felt to be in command of a starship once more, even if it wasn't the new Leviathan-B. The Taurus was a much smaller ship, with an equally smaller crew. Aki was used to having at least two senior officers as her back-up, now she only had an XO.

*I need to know more about my new XO.* She thought.

The Captain broke the silence. "So you were in command for about two weeks I noticed from your reports. And fresh out of the second officer position on the Eisenhower. Couldn't have been easy switching from a Nebula Class to a New Orleans Class ship." She said.

M'eko looked back up at her Captain, stood up and walked over to the window beside Aki. "I... just was not prepared to make all the big decisions myself. In fact I allowed that Vorta to access our comms systems without the proper safety precautions. Every command experience on the Eisenhower was in Federation territory and mainly in backwater sectors during shore leaves." She said with a little resentment in her voice.

Taybar looked back at her and said in a firm but comforting tone. "Experience is everything out here, but intuition can be a powerful tool in itself. At first, you do what you think you should do by a mix of your training and your own ideas. That's how you learn. You may have doubts, but never let your crew know it. If you believe it, then they believe it." She finished very confidently.

"You're the Captain." M'eko said with a grin. "I am looking very forward to working with you. I see I have a lot that I can learn from you."

"So am I." Aki replied. "And as for your decision to let Sabá have access to the communications array, in your situation I would maybe have done the same. That's the advantage of experience, something that most of us take years to gain."

"You sound as if you gained your experience another way." M'eko suggested.

"My command experience doesn't come from here." Aki stated, pointing at her head. "But here, from my symbiont."

"You're joined." M'eko remarked.

"For just over three years now." Aki replied. "I'm the fourth host, the previous hosts were as a member of the Symbiosis council, a wife and mother and a Starfleet Captain."

"Is it hard ?" M'eko asked. "Becoming joined with another intelligence ?"

"It's certainly a new experience." Aki stated. "Especially when you're not fully prepared. I went through the training programme, but joined Starfleet straight after. I never dreamed that I would become joined, my Starfleet career kept me far away from Trill. I only became the fourth host because there was no one else around. But that's a story for another time."

M'eko felt that she had maybe stumbled onto something that her new Captain was sensitive about. She quickly changed the subject.

"So what are you going to do about the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar." She enquired.

"I don't know." Aki admitted. "We could use the continued co-operation of the Dominion, but if they aren't going to meet us half-way and just do their own thing, then we might be better off on our own."

"I'm just glad I don't have to make that decision." M'eko admitted.

"Which reminds me." Aki suggested. "Now that we have Lieutenant Wright onboard, we should start to use him. Maybe you should go and get to know him a little better, the journey from Earth was most interesting for me."

"If there's nothing else." M'eko stated.

"No." Aki remarked, staring out of the window. "Has the Hellcat left yet ?"

"No." M'eko replied. "I think they're going to stay around until the morning, just in case the Dominion or the rogue Jem'Hadar turn up in force."

"Commander Barker." Aki stated under her breath.

"Sorry." M'eko said.

"Commander Barker." Aki said again. "My… Sorry the Leviathan's chief science officer. We've been friends for years, since we first met at the Trill evaluation course. He's my closest friend and the one person I'll miss the most now that I'm onboard the Taurus. He's obviously still worried about me, trying to protect me. But he's hoping to move on as well, leave the Leviathan behind."

"Where's he hoping to go ?" M'eko asked.

"To Jupiter station to work with Doctor Zimmermann." Aki replied. "Chu's always been big on holograms and we had an advanced hologram serving onboard until 'he' was infected with a major virus. We caught the culprit and he have the database he held, Chu wants to try and find the 'cure' so he can bring back Ensign ASHER."

"How did a hologram serve on a Starship ?" M'eko asked.

"He was no ordinary hologram, ASHER was Protector technology combined with a Mark IV EMH." Aki said. "With Doctor Zimmermann and Chu, the three of them managed to construct a mobile emitter, based on the one brought back by Voyager. He was a good officer, but I think that sometime in their joint past they fell out."

"Do you know what happened ?" M'eko asked.

"Unfortunately no." Aki admitted. "I think Chu's trying to make up for it now by trying to 'cure' ASHER. Inform the Commander that he should report to my private dining room at 20:00 hour tonight, you're invited as well."

"Thank you Captain." M'eko announced.

*Dinner with the Captain.* She thought.

"A chance to get to know each other better." Aki suggested. "I learnt the hard way that you need a good XO by your side. And the best way to know if you have one is to get to know them and let them get to know you."

"I'll go and check on Lieutenant Wright, if there's nothing else." M'eko suggested.

"No." Aki replied. "I'll see you at eight. Dress casual, no need to stand on ceremony."

M'eko left the Captain in the briefing room and headed down the corridor, searching for the quarters that had been assigned to Lieutenant Wright.