After the crowd that had gathered for the recommissioning of the Culver City had dispersed, Lieutenant Varyn K’lev stepped aboard his vessel.  Culver City was a hive of activity; most final preparations for launch were done, with just a few final tasks to attend to.  K’lev took his time walking to the turbolift and riding to his quarters; at one point, he came across a pair of enlisted technicians working on a lighting panel that wasn’t working right, the engineer-turned-command-officer stopping a moment to lend a hand.

Once he reached his quarters, K’lev entered, opening the collar of his dress uniform as the doors swished closed.  Now alone, his posture relaxed and he made his way to the small washroom, stripping off his dress jacket as he did so; entering the washroom, he leaned against the sink counter, splashing some water in his face before looking himself in the mirror.  “Ohh, what did you get yourself into here, Varyn….  Oh boy….” he muttered, the young Orion definitely feeling a bit overwhelmed as the weight of command began to properly settle onto his shoulders.

The door chime snapped his head around, and he quickly snatched a towel to dry his face as he called “Come in!”

The doors opened, and Ensign Lotharys walked in, now in her duty uniform.  “Good speech, Varyn,” she said with a smile.  “Nice and short.”

He laughed, though almost a little distractedly.  “Thanks!  Didn’t want to bore anyone.”

She looked at him curiously.  “You okay?”

“Yeah…  well, to be honest, it’s a lot, you know?  Everything we’ve been through on this ship, and now here we are running her.”

Lotharys nodded, walking over and leaning against the washroom’s doorframe.  “Yeah…  no one I’d rather be in it with, though, I can definitely say that much.”

K’lev smiled.  “Same.  Y’know, this is just like at the Academy; us against the world,” he chuckled, and she laughed.  “Yeah!  Worked well once already, too – we did pass those classes, after all.  Think let’s ride this out, see what happens?”

He nodded.  “Sounds like a plan!”  They clasped hands, which turned them into a hug, before they parted.  “Well, I should probably get out of my dress uniform; might be a little awkward to keep it on.  See you on the bridge?”

She nodded.  “See you up there!”  With that, Lotharys left the room, though she did pause for a moment and glance back as she crossed the threshold.  The doors swished closed behind her, leaving K’lev alone in his quarters again.  Over the next few minutes, he changed out of his dress uniform into a fresh duty uniform, then took a few minutes to review the last pre-launch reports on his PADD before leaving his quarters and riding the turbolift to the bridge.  In the split second before the lift doors opened onto the bridge, K’lev took a deep breath to steady himself.  “Let’s do this,” he muttered as the doors swished open and he exited the lift.

Lieutenant K’lev stepped onto his bridge from the port side, now in his duty uniform; Chief Bong’s call of “Captain on the bridge!” set all personnel present to attention.  K’lev paused, a little surprised, before he recovered.  “As you were,” he said, moving to his command seat in the center of the bridge, though he did not sit immediately; instead, he looked around at his senior staff.  “Are we ready to go?”

A symphony of nods and “aye, sir”s arose around him.  K’lev smiled, taking his seat.  “Then let’s not keep Starbase 400 waiting.  Chief, the dockmaster, please.”

Chief Bong opened the channel, then K’lev spoke again.  “Dock control, this is Culver City, requesting clearance to depart the starbase.”

“Culver City, you are cleared to depart.  Space doors in 30 seconds,” came the reply.

“Thank you, control.  Culver City out.”  K’lev then looked back at Lotharys, receiving a nod and a smile, before facing his gaze forward.  He tapped a control on his chair’s armrest, opening an intercom channel.  “All hands, departure stations.”  K’lev closes the intercom channel, his gaze focusing now on Bong and Phillips.  “Clear all moorings, thrusters to station-keeping.”

“Automatic docking clamps retracted, umbilicals detached.  All moorings cleared.” came from Chief Bong at Ops, followed by Phillips at the helm: “Thrusters at station-keeping.”

On the viewscreen, the space doors began opening; in short order, the way was clear.  “Ari, thrusters ahead slow.  Take us out,” K’lev said.

Culver City’s docking thrusters fired, and the California-class ship began edging forward.  She drifted through the massive, open space doors, out of Starbase 86.  “We’ve cleared the doors,” Phillips said.

K’lev nodded.  “Three-quarter impulse to the outer markers, then we’ll go to warp.”

As the minutes ticked by and Culver City accelerated towards the outer markers, Lotharys leaned forward.  “Hey, Varyn, you thought about what your thing will be?” she asked in a carrying whisper.

“My thing?” he replied, confused.

“Yeah!  Your ‘go’ command.”  She grinned.  “Y’know, like ‘Engage’ or ‘Punch it.’”

“Outer markers reached; standing by for a course,” Phillips said as they looked back towards K’lev.  With a start, the Orion lieutenant realized that not just Phillips’, but every eye on the bridge was now on him; for a moment, he froze, then took a breath and forged ahead.

“Set course for Starbase 400, Ari, warp 7.5,” he said.  “Course plotted and laid in,” Phillips replied.  “Culver City awaits your command.”

K’lev looked around at his senior staff again, smiling.  “Let’s roll,” he said simply.  The senior staff grinned at each other as Phillips pressed a blinking control, and Culver City’s nacelles flared as she went to warp.