In the brief intermission while he waited for Neptune to traverse the distance to rendezvous with Fairfax in orbit of the fourth planet, Alex occupied himself by taking a moment to admire the scenery from his ready room window. The luscious green and blue pearl, bathed in the white radiance of the Vraekton sun, captured his attention like the gaze of an attractive woman. He found himself entranced by its beauty, for seldom did he have the time to expend moments in such a profoundly human experience.

This was a completely alien world by modern standards, on the very edge of known space and likely never before seen by human eyes. His mind cast back to the experiences of the intrepid explorers of old: Columbus, Magellan and Archer. Distinguished in the record of history as having been the first, somewhere and boldly going where someone hadn’t been before. Then, a heartbreaking feeling of regret, that for too long, Starfleet had almost forgotten and all but abandoned its principles of exploration in the name of defence and security. Conflicted with the joy he felt was that, despite the underlying nature of their mission, in some small part, they were still explorers pushing the boundaries of knowledge and adventure. This was the part of the job he loved, and he knew much of the crew shared his feelings.

A chime at the door grounded him back in the room, “Come in,” he said, but refusing to avert his eyes from the tapestry outside his window.

Wallace stepped through the threshold. His mind in the ship, not the bigger picture. “Thought you’d like to know, the Neptune just entered orbit.”

“Hmm?” Alex vocalised, still wrapping up his thoughts and bringing his head back into the room. “Oh,” he said sharply with almost apologetic intent. “Thanks, Number one. I’ll be a minute”

Wallace wasn’t used to seeing his captain so unfocused; he half expected him to be compiling reports and not staring out the window. “You good?” he asked supportively.

“Just enjoying the view,” Alex said as he futilely tried to bottle this moment in time, “and getting lost in the possibilities.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” said Wallace, “If you want, I can head over there myself, leave you with your thoughts for a while longer,” he offered generously, sensing his captain’s desire to enjoy the moment.

Alex smiled at his X.O.’s willingness to take charge for a bit. He had come a long way in the past year, unrecognisable from the Commander he had been when he first joined his crew, which was almost afraid of the centre chair. He felt almost a similar pride to a parent watching their offspring grow into a thriving adult. He had no doubt Wallace would become a great Captain. “Nice of you to offer, but I can’t spend all day looking out the window,”

The two men made their way back out onto the bridge. Though the main screen mirrored the view out of the ready room window, it didn’t have quite the same beauty as seeing it with one’s own eyes.

Michael decided to go to his ready room while the ship made its way to meet Fairfax. This mission had already yielded some very interesting results, and it looked like things were just getting started. He wasn’t sure what the crew was going to encounter, but he trusted his crew. As he sat at his desk, there was a chime on the door, and he saw his daughter approaching.

“Dad, are you busy?” Mary asked with what seemed to be an anxious tone in her voice.
“Just thinking about the mission at hand, what’s wrong?” he asked, clearly seeing the anxiety on her face.

“Well, I wanted to see if you would let me join an away team as an observer if you are going to the planet. You know I am working on the entry process to get into Starfleet, but I really want to see what the crew sees,” she asked with a twinkle in her eye as the excitement of the unknown excited her.

Mary had been trying to get closer to her dad since she had been able to connect with him, but sometimes there felt like a disconnect. It was something she had been working to try and fix.

Michael thought about the request, as it wasn’t a normal situation; he wasn’t sure how to approach it. In most cases, civilians weren’t allowed to join missions, but Mary had gone to school to study xenobiology and was certified, and this mission could yield her help, though Xiao could also do the job. “I don’t know, Mary. This is a Starfleet mission, and because you aren’t Starfleet, I don’t know if I will have to talk with Captain Dubois and see what he thinks. So for now all I can say is maybe.”

Mary smiled at the answer, even just that response, in this case, meant her dad would actually try to get her as part of a team if they were going to go down to the planet. ”Thanks, Dad!” she said before turning to leave.

Michael smiled as he knew she would no doubt be going to her mother, who would be all for the idea. One thing about Felicity was that she wasn’t going to hold her daughter back from doing what she wanted to do.

Michael was interrupted yet again by Lexi entering the room with a smirk on her face “What did Mary want? With that look on her face, it seems like you made her happy.” Lexi knew Michael would do anything for his daughter, and she couldn’t blame him, as Mary was a great kid.

Michael stood up “Well, you know how she is, Lex, always wanting to push the limits of what I will let her do.”

Lexi nodded and smirked through the time on the ship; she had built a good relationship with Michael, and so his using her name as Lex was the equivalent of him calling her Number One. Michel did not conform to the normal way of doing things, and for Lexi, that was just fine.

“She does seem to always ask you crazier and crazier requests, but the question is, what was this one?”

Michael shook his head “She wants to join an away team if we go down to the surface.”

“Well, is that all?” Lexi laughed jokingly. “I mean, she could be of use given her degree, but then that’s not for me to say anymore.” Lexi forgot the reason for coming in until that moment because she had been sidetracked by Mary’s quick exit as she was coming to see Michael.

“Incidently, we are in orbit of Vraekton four and the Fairfax is requesting to beam over the Captain, XO, and science officer,” she said as she led the two of them back to the bridge.

Michael nodded, “Let them know we will be ready to receive them in five minutes,” he said as he changed direction, heading for the turbolift to the transporter pad.