As soon as he’d been alerted that the Olympic was entering orbit, Anand had tossed a “you have the bridge” over his shoulder to Bohkat and dashed into his ready room. If he were the first one to send out a greeting, then he wouldn’t have to listen to Szarka at communications announce an incoming message from Captain Nassar and ask if he’d like to take it in his ‘Ready Closet’. Or perhaps it was ‘Ready Vestibule’ this week.

But more than that, he needed a moment to compose himself and get rid of the broad smile that would be almost impossible to speak through. The prospect of seeing his friend in-person for the first time since mandatory shore leave back in July was making him giddy. They only had to wade through a bit of business first.

“Computer,” he said, as he gently prodded the holographic screen into the optimal position, “Please open a channel to Captain Nassar aboard the USS Olympic.”

The computer chirped in compliance, and he wiped a hand over his face and fixed his posture while he waited. There, Business Mode engaged.

It took a good few moments until the federation seal dissolved into Saffiya Nassar’s face. Not because she had wanted to let him wait, but because the distance between bridge and Ready Room seemed to increase proportionally to just how much Saffiya’s feet hurt.

Still, she had embarked upon this journey joyously and might have done so with a skip in her step if physically able to do so. Even Valdes’s perpetually sour expression and their involuntary marriage to the USS Meridian, whose temporary assignment as their temporary escort appeared to have become a permanent assignment, couldn’t dim her excitement. They were… here.

Exploring strange new worlds, and putting their research labs to use beyond feeding Quence’s ego. And, as if divined by universal providence, the USS Babylon was here too! Which meant Anand was here!

Which also meant that Saffiya did not manage to resolve her face into a professional expression, and instead greeted Anand with a very unprofessional:

“Ahlan! – I mean, hi.”

Business Mode immediately crashed at the first sign of Saffiya’s excited smile.

“Saffy! Hi!” Anand leaned forward over his desk. “How was the journey through the Expanse? How are you feeling? Is–”

Anand paused and lowered his voice, trying to scan the background over Saffiya’s shoulders for any sign of eavesdroppers despite being quite sure that she’d taken the call in private. “Is your brig still empty?” he asked with a meaningful quirk of his eyebrows.

Despite the room indeed being empty, Saffiya lowered her voice to a conspiratory whisper. “For now. Because, unfortunately, I can’t throw someone into the brig for being agitating. Disappointing, really.”

Anand hummed thoughtfully. “If that were a punishable offense, they would need to start building much bigger brigs.”

He noticed a slight downturn to her smile, and wondered whether it was due to the agitating crewmember or a hint of something deeper. He kept his voice light despite the weight of his concern. “Speaking of brigs, are you still trying to escape?”

Saffiya shook her head at the question. “No, I’ve come to like it here–really. I still miss the Valkyrie, but now that we’re not stuck traveling from A to B and hosting a bunch of self-important researchers, I can’t complain.”

Anand scanned her face for any hint of deception, self- or otherwise. He found no tightness in her smile, noticed no darting of her sparkling eyes. He smiled in relief. “Good!”

“So…” Saffiya smirked. “Shall we get the business part out of the way? Did you practise your business-face?”

“Ah, right!” Anand rubbed his face with both hands this time. “Now I have to re-combobulate.”

He fixed his posture again and clasped his hands in front of him on the desk. “Captain Nassar, I’d like to make a formal request on behalf of my medical personnel to observe the Olympic’s study of the Varjokh dream state. At least, for as long as the Babylon is stationed here.”

“Hey I just got the self-important researchers off my ship, didn’t you listen?” Saffiya frowned, though it was fairly obvious she wasn’t actually complaining. “But fine. Do you mean observing-observing, or observing but totally not staying quietly tucked in a corner? Both works for me, I just need to know what I’m working with.”

“Hmm.” Anand tried to imagine how his two top medical personnel might behave. Certainly Dvinak would have a plethora of questions (and judgements), but Ang tended to hang back and psychoanalyze. “Probably one of each,” he concluded.

Saffiya sighed. “Fair. Your crew is welcome here–for research, or otherwise.”

Of course the Babylon wasn’t as sparse as the Meridian, and of course Saffiya understood Rattler’s reasoning, but… well. She had a fancy ship. She wanted to share it.

“Anyway!” Anand waved his hand, as if to brush the conversation away. “Will you be beaming down to meet the ambassador soon? Because I was just about to return to the planet myself.”

“I…” Saffiya hesitated. “Yes. My CMO advises me to stay up here, but… well. I certainly can’t send Valdes.”

Anand looked ready to argue that point for a moment, but then shook his head. “No, I suppose not. That would escalate from ‘funny’ to ‘diplomatic incident’ too quickly.”

Saffiya–somehow–managed to simultaneously nod and shake her head. “Either way, are you joining us or have you already gotten the diplomacy-part out of the way?”

“I have, but I’ll be joining you anyway,” said Anand. “I think I made a good enough impression on the ambassador that they wouldn’t be adverse to seeing my face again. And besides, I owe you a hug!”