The vacation passed far too quickly, Traven was surprised how much he wished for a few more days, though the Mente was calling. There was a lot of work to do before it’s first full shakedown cruise. The refit and recommissioning had been a long road.

He thought back to when he first arrived here, who’d have thought that the crew dinners would be full of so much laughter. For the first time in what seemed like months, no one was checking their chronometers or fretting about some system or another not being ready.

He was glad he accompanied them on the first the hike and had met for multiple breakfasts. A late afternoon strategy game with Zoral and Brunak that ended in a draw which no one had argued about. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was definitely a massive step forward.

So when Lieutenant Kree asked permission to take a short sunset flight around the area in a rented local shuttle, Traven didn’t mind and authorised the activity.

“Make sure to keep it under thirty minutes, and make sure to bring it back in one piece.” He warned him in jest with a slight smile.

Dr Paldor and Saell were joining him, the two officers who needed some sky under them after a few to many days on the ground. Traven saw the vessel rise from behind the southern end of the resort. Quickly vanishing in a glint of light behind the treetops.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a bustle of energy and an alarm in the distance.

An alert came through to the resort’s main communications hub at 1921 hours.

Traven was in his room halfway through packing up ready to head back to the Mente, hearing the alarm he tapped a few buttons on his PADD and listened into the communication. The transmission was garbled, but the voice was unmistakable, it was Kree, a forced landing. The shuttlecraft was downed somewhere in the northern woodland.

He was already heading out the door before the end of the communication.

By the time he reached Foyer, Zoral and Brunak were already there, Brunak snapped his tricorder shut “the Doc’s with them, but we’ve grabbed a couple of medkits from the staff, not great but at least it’s something” he said “the resort staff had started their emergency protocols”

“We have coordinates,” Zoral jumped in, “the Transponder shows a hard landing near Ridge Point Basin. “dense forest, uneven rocky ground, no easy landing area.”

“Prep a second shuttle,” Traven ordered. “I’m going in with you.”

“You’re leading the away team?” Zoral asked but no answer came, Traven just moved toward the door.

As their shuttle arrived at the crash site they could see that the crashed vessel was half-hidden beneath the dense canopy, angled against a slope of the mountain, one of the nacelles was ripped off and buried in a thick cluster of brush nearby.

Traven jumped from the open shuttle door before it touched the ground, boots thudding onto the rocky ground below. Brunak and Zoral followed immediately and headed toward the crash site

Zoral stayed in the rear, tapping a few buttons on his tricorder. “I’m picking up three life signs sir”

Paldor was the closest. Traven found her slumped against the shuttle’s hull, bleeding from the scalp, Brunak assisted him and they pulled her onto her feet.

“the Stabilizers failed mid-turn,” she said. “Kree tried to keep her steady but the dammed thing handled like a brick”

“Save your poetry,” Traven replied, pressing a dermal patch against his temple. “Can you walk?”

“Not gracefully.”

Saell was in a trickier spot trapped halfway under a bent strut, her arm pinned. Brunak worked carefully with a microtorch while Zoral kept her steady, “don’t worry Rima, we’ll get you out” he told her

Kree was the worst off. He’d been flung during the impact, landing several meters from the craft further up the bank. Traven reached him personally, he was face down and not moving. He got out his tricorder and checked for internal injuries, he was no doctor but it looked like he’d had a lucky escape. He stirred, the young Lieutenant was groggy and his breaths were shallow.

“I’ve got you,” Traven said, more softly than he expected. “You’re going to be fine.”

The rescue felt like mere moments but it took nearly forty-five minutes, and every second of it reminded Traven why they trained for this. Starfleet wasn’t just built for war or exploration, it was for moments like this. Moments where a crew would come together, be there when someone needed them, no matter who they were.

Here, on the side of a mountain, surrounded by smoke and foliage and stress, the Mente held together. Not one of his senior staff froze, they came together and moved like a single organism, all be in a wounded one, but one alive and working together.

By the time the evac shuttle lifted off, Traven sat with Paldor’s head on his shoulder and Saell’s splinted arm resting across his leg.

The shuttle touched down back at the resort just after 2030 hours.

The resorts Medical staff assisted the disembarkation, they were efficient and seemed to know what they were doing. Traven followed to the Medical facility and stayed through the initial assessments, there were no critical injuries, just a fractured clavicle, some bruised ribs, mild neural trauma. He sighed in relief, after everything the crew didn’t need trauma on a vacation.

Everyone drifted out of the Medical facility a few hours later, Traven remained in the medical area for a moment longer, Paldor approached him

“They’ll be alright.” she said

“I know,” Traven replied

“Thank you, you did well.” She smiled

“I didn’t do anything any of you wouldn’t have done.”

“Exactly, you should join us,” she added. “They’re already building a fire down at the south pit. final night and all that, I’m sure someone would be telling the story of the crash within the hour.”

“I’m sure it’ll be wildly inaccurate,” he said

Ten minutes later, Traven walked down the winding path, he could hear the crew in the distance. He walked with his hands in his jacket pockets.

He could see the glow at the far edge of the path, close to the start of the trail where he’d med them on the first morning. There were logs in a rough circle surrounding the fire and someone had already managed to rig up device to play music. Paldor was laughing, with her head still bandaged. Kree waved his hands as he retold the “two-nacelle death spiral” in increasingly exaggerated tones. Saell, with her arm in a sling, was dozing with her head against Zoral’s shoulder.

Nobody noticed Traven arrive at first.

He paused at the edge, still a little unsure if he should interrupt. But then Brunak spotted him, he raised a skewer of half-melted marshmallows toward him, he’d clearly being enjoying them himself as there was almost a whole marshmallow in his beard.

Some of the others noticed this and turned toward him, but no one made a fuss.

Traven walked forward, took the skewer without a word, and sat on the nearest log. The fire crackled in front of him, warmth soaking into his palms.

He’d never really liked marshmallows but he took a bite anyway.

“Thanks,” he said.

Paldor gave him a nudge with her foot. “we were just saying, if you’d gotten to Kree any faster, you’d have time-travelled.”

Brunak grunted. “She’s downplaying it. Pilot or not, the kid needs a ship to fly and you caught him mid-air!”

A few chuckles followed around the group, firelight dancing on their faces.

For the first time in a while, he wasn’t thinking about reports, crew transfers or regrets he couldn’t repair. He wasn’t commanding his ship or avoiding spending time with the crew. He was simply here.

When the next laugh rippled through the group, he didn’t just listen.

He smiled and this time, around the fire pit amongst them, he didn’t feel like a guest. He felt like their captain.