I’ve never met a single one of them before,he thought, pausing near the hangar’s inner doors. Certainly, the calamitous events on Dokaalan, Delta Sigma IV, and Tezwa had claimed the lives of large numbers of Enterprisesecurity personnel; but a large proportion of engineers, medics, and others had died during those harrowing missions as well, and the presence of so many new faces here served as a stark reminder of that painful fact. It also brought to mind the more recent battle against mad Shinzon, whose failed attempt to annihilate Earth with a forbidden thalaron weapon had claimed the lives of dozens more of Riker’s former shipmates.

Including Data,Riker thought.

“May I help you, Captain?” said a familiar voice behind him.

Riker turned and saw the grinning visage of Geordi La Forge. Behind him stood Lieutenant Commander Worf, a sly half smile slightly contorting his characteristic dour expression as he towered over the Enterprise’s chief engineer.

Riker returned the grin and grasped Geordi’s extended hand. The handshake immediately became an unabashedly sentimental bear hug. Releasing La Forge, Riker took a half step backward and regarded them both.

“Did I look lost?” Riker said in answer to Geordi’s question as he released the engineer.

“Not lost, sir,” Worf said. “But you do appear…nostalgic.” The Klingon officer relaxed his posture, apparently satisfied that Riker wasn’t going to try to hug him as well.

Riker beamed at Worf. “Commander, one of my final acts as this ship’s executive officer was to recommend you as Counselor Troi’s replacement. Your sensitivity shows me that my judgment was sound.” He considered commenting on the stray cat hairs he saw clinging to Worf’s metallic baldric, but held his tongue; he knew that Data’s cat Spot was now sharing Worf’s quarters, an arrangement that was surely a significant imposition on the loyal yet solitary Klingon.

Worf’s passing look of confusion gave way almost immediately to one of comprehension. Riker recalled that when he had first come aboard the Enterprise-D fifteen years ago, human jokes had left Worf utterly at sea. Though he would never be the life of the party, the utterly humorless warrior Worf had been in those days was no more.

“I regret that circumstances have forced me to settle for other duties instead, Captain,” Worf said dryly.

“There are always other jobs in the fleet if this one doesn’t work out, Worf,” La Forge deadpanned to Worf. “I know that Titanalready has a pretty darned good head counselor. But from what I hear, the exec position there is still open. Maybe there’s still time to change your mind.” He turned his blue-white optical implants back on Riker with an insouciant wink.

Riker allowed his smile to fall ever so slightly. Geordi would know if Christine had changed her mind about not taking the job. If I can’t persuade her this time, I’m just going to have to move on. Go through the candidate list again, and then settle for someone else.

He hated to settle. And he’d already been thwarted on this particular quest too many times.

“Actually my ongoing executive-officer audition is one of the reasons I’m here,” Riker said aloud. “Titanwon’t ship out for almost two whole weeks, so I have that long to finish filling out my roster. But don’t worry. I’m not going to try to steal either of you again.”

La Forge chuckled at that, no doubt recalling that he had been Riker’s first choice for the exec job. Geordi had opted instead to remain aboard the Enterpriseas chief engineer, a job to which he felt better suited. Worf, who had been prematurely invited to take Titan’s exec job by Admiral Ross, had looked forward to serving under Riker’s command…until Picard, following Data’s death, had sought Worf’s permanent assignment to the Enterprise.The change in circumstances had led Riker to make his second overture to Vale, which she proceeded to turn down again.

La Forge’s tone grew suddenly serious. “Do you think she’ll say ‘yes’ this time, Commander?”

Riker shrugged. “I’ll let you know. But if later you see me scowling in a dark corner of the crew lounge, order me another drink, stat.”

And with that, he stepped through the inner hangar doors and into the corridor that led to the rest of deck six. A few moments later he entered a turbolift, which he momentarily placed on pause.

“Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Christine Vale.”

The door chime sounded, startling her.

Seated cross-legged on the low sofa in her quarters, Christine Vale set the replicated hard-copy book she had been reading down on her lap. The volume, a biography of Thelian, the Federation’s president during the time of Cardassian First Contact, wasn’t succeeding in holding her interest. At last count, she’d read the same paragraph five times.

Is it already time?

“Come,” she said to the closed door. Already aware of her visitor’s identity, she moved the book onto the coffee table and rose from the sofa, only belatedly becoming aware that her boots lay in a heap beside her bed. Though her uniform was otherwise virtually inspection-ready, her feet were bare.

The tall form of William Riker stepped confidently into the room. “Hello, Christine.”

“Hello, Captain,” she said, trying not to let her lack of footwear make her feel awkward, even though she was entitled to be comfortable in her own quarters. She reminded herself that he had once seen her lying on a South Pacific beach wearing nothing but a skimpy swimsuit. But today we had a meeting scheduled, and I lost track of time. Not a very auspicious start for a prospective first officer.

Finger-combing her short, sandy-hued hair, Vale gestured to a nearby chair. “Would you like anything to drink, Captain?”

“No, thank you,” he said, taking the offered seat. “And you can call me Will. Why don’t you have a seat yourself?”

Nodding, Vale resumed her place on the sofa and tried very hard not to fidget. Silence stretched between them.

“So,” Riker said finally.

“So.”

Throats cleared. More silence followed. Once again, Riker was the one to break it. “Titanwon’t head out for another thirteen days, Christine. I’d still like to have you aboard as my exec.”

She inhaled, then released her breath in a long, nearly inaudible sigh. “The last time you asked me to my face, I gave you a ‘no.’ ”

“But when I called you again a little later, you revised it to an ‘I need to think about it some more.’ Unfortunately, I really can’t wait any longer. So have you given my offer any more thought?”

She nodded. If she were to be completely candid, she would have to admit that she had found it difficult lately to think about much of anything else.

“Rimward through the Orion Arm, beyond where anyone’s been before,” she said before another conversational lacuna could develop. “The idea certainly sounds…exciting.” She knew she was keeping her reaction under restraint, hiding her cards, as it were. The job sounded even better than exciting—it sounded perfect.Pure exploration was the dream of virtually every officer in Starfleet, at least at some point in their careers. Even for someone who never really wanted to be anything other than a cop.

And another ship, a vessel with a wholly new mission, might allow her to put some distance between herself and the ghosts of Tezwa.

She watched as he shook his head gently, his expression taking on a somewhat wistful cast. “I’m afraid I’ve been forced to set aside the Orion Arm mission, at least temporarily. Instead, our maiden voyage will take us to the Romulan Neutral Zone, and probably to Romulus itself. We’ll be heading up a special task force. Extending an olive branch while helping the Romulans maintain order until they can get their government back up and running.”