GLaDOS stood on the Viewing deck in the Starbase, looking into the drydock, where her new ship sat. She was nearly finished her refits. Well, it was a private viewing deck. Her own personal space that she had found many years ago in her early days on the Starbase, from which she could view whatever ships were docked inside. Her personal effects had already been transferred over. The power cubicle where she could rest, a vat of inert biological material for her arm reconstruction project, testing equipment for her mechanical components, the usual.

She let out a small breath of air, then turned and headed out, back to the main corridors. On the way, she encountered Kipper, carrying a small animal case along with her. GLaDOS stopped the woman in order to peer inside, and was a little surprised to see the inhabitants of the carrier. “Chell and Wheatley?”

“Sure are. I brought them off Viking when we left, been taking care of them. Was gonna surprise you that I had them but I guess it’s a bit late for that now,” the scientist said with a small grin.

“I had lost track of them around the time that I contained the … well, you know. I thought they were still there. Thank you, Kipps,” GLaDOS put her natural hand on the woman’s shoulder and squeezed slightly, a small smile gracing the edge of her mouth. GLaDOS had to do all her emoting through her mouth and eyes, as her voice carried no tone other than monotone.

“I got a whole area set up for them in one of the labs earlier this morning. It’s turbulence safe, and it can be folded up if we need the area for something other than rabbits.”

GLaDOS and Kipper stepped through the airlock, and then they were inside the Leviathan. GLaDOS took a moment, then they headed towards the nearest turbolift that would take them to the science deck. “It’s so shiny…”

“And functional,” GLaDOS agreed.

“A nice change, for sure.”

With that, they descended into comments about the ship and other small-talk, happily passing the time until they arrived at the Science labs and properly got to work. Not all the supplies had been delivered, but what had been could be put away and organized. As they worked, L’Tee joined them, and after squealing briefly about the presence of bunnies, the Trill started helping.

• Lt. Cmdr GLaDOS and team