[snip]

Joe was more than happy to be finished with the tour. The largest part of the entire thing had been malarky as far as he concerned, and he was just longing for a hot meal a cup of coffee and maybe a piece of pie. He chided himself for making future plans when he was in the midst of a place full of people he didn’t know. Better to keep his eye on the ball. Or in this case the pod makers. It was then he caught sight of the captain and the chief engineer.

Joe approached them with an obvious, unmasked look on his face that would make any parent want to hit something because they just knew their child was going to ask,” Are we there yet?” It wasn’t much different with Joe as he walked up to Glen and said, “Well sir we finished up and none too soon, has everything been alright here?”

Lt. Cmdr. Grumpy Joe Milligan XO

Whether or not Joe was looking for a complete update, that was what Glen gave him: “Yes, we had a fruitful conversation with Dol. It was much easier without all the distractions. We have agreed to speak with their reporters and do a media thing… Oh! And I need to tell you that Tia has decided that she wants to remain behind here and help them as a kind of ambassador. I gave my permission and the Dol agreed. So, now we are looking for a new Chief Engineer. Tia has some suggestions that you could work through with her. I’ve also been in contact with the ship. Kahuna, the new Weapons Officer we promoted from Ensign seems to be working out. They have been communicating with a ship from the Sybyl Trade… Oh! I forget their exact name, but it is another First Contact race. The Dol says they are not hostile and are expected. Due to arrive in 2 days time. One thing to remember, they are very short in stature and get extremely upset if it gets mentioned. So, warn the crew about that. Oh! There does seem to have been a lot of bickering going on aboard the ship with the senior officers away. I’d like you to get to the bottom of that. Also, we have a guest: A Professor of Psychiatric Medicine, a Doctor Wong. Some pen-pushing, careerist Commodore in Starfleet Command must have sent him!”

• Glen, CO