Darrin walked into the mess hall and saw Lieutenant Joyiru, Lieutenant O’Reilly and Lieutenant Sh’zhthrsnth sitting at a table off in the corner. They both had something to drink and were talking. He headed over and took a seat.

“Sorry I am late.” Darrin said as he looked at the two of them. “I was caught in a meeting that went over. It could not be avoided.” He grabbed something to drink and then looked at them. “How are things going in your departments?” He asked them.” Darrin had decided to start meeting with the departments in small groups, and the Commodore had agreed this was a positive move.

“The upgrades to the engines are almost completed.” Thyhl informed him. “They will be done by tomorrow. Then my team and I will run diagnostics to make certain there are no unforeseen issues.”

“Do you anticipate any issues?” Darrin asked him. He trusted Thyhl’s opinion. The Andorian knew what he was doing then it came to their engines.

“No.” Thyhl shook his head. “Lieutenant O’Reilly and I went over the Corp of engineers upgrades and made a few adjustments where we agreed they did not take certain conditions into consideration.”

“They deal with plans and blueprints.” Elsbeth spoke up. “We deal in the moment so we can see what they do not.” She smiled then. “Would it be acceptable for us to use first names in this meeting?” She asked as she looked at Lieutenant Greenwood.

“Anyone object?” Darrin looked around. “Okay that is fine then.” He looked to the transportation director next. “How are things going for you and Lieutenant Santana?”

“Very well.” Zako replied sincerely. “We have gotten to know one another and settled into a solid working relationship.” Nicorrina was not at the meeting because they both felt only one of them should be out of their departments as this was a busy time of the day for them.

“I am glad to hear that.” Darrin nodded. “I do not want to go into great detail but Commodore Coleman took all of your recommendations into consideration and has spoken with command about the upgrades.” He picked up the mug that had been set in front of him and took a drink. “We will be waiting for them to do further testing before we even consider it.”

“That is good news.” Zako said with a sigh of relief. “We are already having a busy month and I just received a notice that we will be having several starships stopping tomorrow in passing. Nicorrina and I have already adjusted the schedule to compensate for them.”

Darrin was impressed by how well they were all working together already. He had expected there to be some dissension or at the very least a bit of disagreement in things. “How will you be handling that?” He was curious.

“We will open one of the emergency docking areas.” Zako explained. “They will be here to take a few hours of relaxation while one of the captains meets with the Commodore. It should not affect us but just in case if we run into a situation we do have some docking areas to turn to.”

“Elsbeth and I are going to be doing some inter department training exercises as well.” Thyhl spoke up, he assumed they were finished. “We both see value in our officers having some experience working together. In an emergency it is all hands on deck.”

“We’ve done that in other places I have served.” Elsbeth added. “I find it works very well and though we hope we never have a situation where we need to take advantage of it, we all know that things happen.”

“It will not take away from the normal operation of your departments?” Darrin asked them.

“Not at all.” Thyhl spoke up. “We will have the normal amount of staff on duty and if something happens we will be there in no time.”

Darrin nodded and sat taking notes for a moment. He had a good memory but he did not want to forget anything.

“Have you all had anything to eat  yet?” He asked them as he saw the waiter standing off to the side.”

“We waited for you.” Zako replied. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”

“Let’s grab some food and then we can talk some more.” Darrin said. He let the other three get in line first and then grabbed his. Breakfast was his favorite meal of the day and he tended to be big. Most days he was lucky to even eat lunch. He grinned when he saw the others looking at him. “Believe it or not it will all be gone before I leave.”

“You must exercise a lot.” Thyhl said with a raised eyebrow. He thought about the eggs and sausage, biscuits and gravy with pancakes on the side.

“Not more than anyone else.” Darrin replied. “I have a high metabolism. I have always been like this. My mother used to claim I ate her out of house and home.”

“I am kind of jealous.” Elsbeth admitted. “I have a strict exercise program I have to follow.”

“I believe we are all built the way we were intended to be.” Zako said with a smile. “As long as you are happy with yourself that should be what matters.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Darrin said with a smile. “So tell me how have you all settled in on the base? I know that you all were assigned to starships before.”

“It has been fine for me.” Thyhl spoke up. “There is more responsibility but I am doing a job I love so I am good either on a ship or here on the station.”

“We get to eat in a restaurant.” Elsbeth said with a smile. “Seriously, I thought I would hate it. My dream was a starship, going out there and exploring.” She paused. “But I really like where I am at the moment so I do not spend a lot of time thinking about tomorrow and where I may go next.”

Zako sat for a long moment. “This is where I wanted to be since joining Starfleet. I enjoy the fast paced work my job entails and I have a great group of people serving under me.” He looked around at them. “And we have an excellent senior staff. Everyone seems to want to be a team.”

“There must be some needs for your departments.” Darrin said after a moment. “Would a week be enough time for you to each gather a list for me of supplies or things that would make your department more efficient?” He sat back and pushed his plate aside having finished his food.. “Even some personal things you believe the crew would like.”

“A week is more than enough time.” Zako said. “I will get to work on it.”

“I’ve already been making a list.” Elsbeth said with a grin. “I intended to ask you at the end of this meeting if I could turn it in to you.”

“You’ll have my list as well.” Thyhl nodded. “I haven’t begun to start one but it won’t take long at all.”

“Great!” Darrin said. He watched as Thyhl put an unusual amount of salt on his food. The others were staring as well.

“Are you going to leave some salt for us?” Zako asked with a smile.

Thyhl grinned, not at all bothered by his comment. “Andorians are known for their love of salt. I find it is easier to tolerate food served here if I use it a lot. It makes it more spicy which I really enjoy.”

“To each their own.” Elsbeth said as she picked up the ketchup and poured it on her eggs.

“I think we’re done with the meeting part of this.” Darrin said. “Let’s enjoy our food and get to know one another for the rest of our meal.”

Darwin watched the others for a moment and he was relieved to see how well they fit together. He thought that the commodore would be glad to hear that as well as the scene faded away.