—- Meeting Room 2, USS Andromeda —-

They were already underway. The turnaround time from arriving back in Federation space, and at Starbase 86 had been scant. Not even enough time for a proper debrief or some rest and relaxation. They’d docked, been introduced to their new Division vessel, and departed for the Shackleton Expanse.

The dropping of what was being called the Shroud had opened up a wide array of world’s to explore and new cultures to meet. The Andromeda had been given a direction and sent off along with what seemed like every spare vessel in the fleet. 

Gone was the USS Adelaide, sent off to be recrewed. Instead now they had the RRW Tomal joining them, a vessel that was crewed by a team of both Romulans and Vulcans. Captain Olivia Carrillo did not know much about how that worked, but the former commanding officer of the Adelaide was now the first officer and Chief Science officer on the Romulan ship. 

Commander Sok has been a competent enough officer, and while still a bit green for his own command would have been a good Starfleet XO. The move to a Romulan ship, even though he was technically still in Starfleet was surprising. Carrillo wondered what challenges he was going to encounter serving there, alongside the bifurcated crew. 

She also wondered what challenges she was going to face, as the senior officer on this mission. Or at least the senior Starfleet officer, given that she was in command of the Romulan ship, even if their captain was significantly more seasoned than her.

Commander Mneiyen s’Llhevir was at least fifty years her senior, though it was hard to tell with Romulans. He looked old for a human, which meant he was even older for a Romulan. His service file had been partially erased during the supernova. 

Which was either true or a convenient excuse to obscure his past from his new Federation allies. He also seemed to be the only non-scientist on the Tomal, though both Starfleet and Carrillo expected that at least a few of the scientists were spooks. 

Old habits died hard. 

There had been a few transfers to the Andromeda and one of them was new Chief Flight Control Officer Lieutenant Thomas Winfield who had replaced Lieutenant Pr’Nor who had been sent to serve on the Tomal.

“Welcome Mister Winfield,” Carrillo grinned, “it’s good to have you aboard.”

He had been with the crew on the USS Luna and was now at least temporarily rejoining them. 

After a few jokes and a period of personal conversation, that went on longer then usual in part due to the Andromeda’s lack of Vulcans who were now mostly serving to bolster the ranks of the Tomal.

“Next combined staff meeting we’ll have someone from the Tomal here,” Carrillo said, “Probably at the very least Commander Sok.”

Commander Kan Th’kaotross the Andorian first officer of the Andromeda looked uncertain as to whether adding Romulans to their staff meeting would be a good idea. It was a hesitation that he expressed, “Do you think that’s a good idea? Romulans are, underhanded.”

Doctor T’Rala Mathews leaned forward, a small smile on her face, “I’m a Romulan Commander.”

“Raised by humans,” was the gruff reply from the XO.

“It’s a science vessel, a joint Romulan and Vulcan endeavour to promote peace, and test the waters for future cooperation. It’s diplomatic, we’re a diplomatic ship, so we’re going to play nice. Got it,” Carrillo said. While she was not against entertaining other viewpoints she was also not about to let her senior staff set Starfleet policy. They were on a ship that acted as a representative of the Federation and they could not have the same mindset that they might have had on an Inquiry-class vessel or something more defensive.

“Miller coordinate our science teams with the Tomal. Once we both get to our destination make sure we’re deploying probes, and look for life. It’d be nice to handle a first contact. Check Starfleet’s assignments and plot a course that’s not going to take us into anyone else’s path,” Carrillo said to her Chief Science Officer.

With that the meeting came to an end, and it was time to prepare to seek out new worlds and new civilizations.