George rose to his feet and paced around the small room that served as his quarters on board the Sierra, one of the five Monolith Class vessels that he had overseen the acquisition of for the Easter Transport Company. At 35, he had spent all of his adult life and almost half of his entire life working for the family. His oldest brother, Kenneth Junior (their father was also Kenneth), may have had to stay in the business for life, but George had other interests and passions and desires for his own life. He did not want to work out shipping lanes, secure jobs for Easter Transport and perform the deliveries across Federation space and beyond. He was fed up with the warp 5 trips, of not seeing home for weeks and sometimes months at a time, of having limited contact with people that weren’t workers or co-owners in the company.

From his time overseeing the establishment of the Magellan’s presence in the Infinite Fleet, and supporting the Federation’s efforts to bring some kind of stability, some kind of hope to the desperate Romulans, and to deliver some much needed supplies and shelter to them, George was interested in the building and construction of highly modular, inexpensive and yet sturdy houses and other buildings useful in the development of communities. And that was why he handed in his resignation to his brother and was out here at the edge of Federation space. He had been approved to serve as the Head of Construction and Operations on Oed V, and he was in charge of the Sierra for this last voyage.

=^= George, report to the bridge =^= came the voice of his younger sister, Natalie. She had been appointed to the role he had held in the company, and George was certain she’d do the job well.

=^= On my way, Nat, =^= he replied, and made the short trip to the bridge.

Once there, he took over the comm from her and she left the bridge. His young protege, Charles, had the navigation station at the moment, and George checked that it was all in order. It was, the lad was fastidious in his work and made sure everything was as it should be.

“Good work, Charles,” George complimented the adolescent, and received a grunt in response, the youth was totally focused on his job. At 17, Charles was finishing high school, but he took the opportunity of work experience, and he was sent with George to see to the operations of a busy transport company. Charles reminded George of himself at his age, focused and dedicated. Charles had taken the news of the change in circumstances in stride.

The door to George’s ready room opened, and out stepped a heavily pregnant blond woman. This was Doris, his PA and manager and organiser of his diary. If you wanted George, you had to go through Doris. Despite her being close to full term, she refused to not take this journey with him. If I’m not there, you’re likely to let things get into a shambles, and then it’ll be more work for me when I do arrive she told him when he raised his plans with her and asked her if she would take time off. He was relieved, she knew how he worked and how he liked his diary kept and when to bring issues up with him, and when to keep them to herself. He wasn’t looking forward to having to find and train someone else in what she did for him. She had padds at hand and a look that he knew meant, these were things that couldn’t wait. Telling Charles to get him if anything happened, George went into the conference room with Doris and went through each padd with her, signing off on decisions, and giving instructions for other items to be left with others in the company. At some point in proceedings, they were interrupted with a comm call from Charles.

=^= Mr Easter, long range sensors are picking up Oed V =^= Charles reported, =^= and they are asking for our identity. =^=

=^= Well done, Charles, =^= George answered, =^= we’ll be right there. =^=

George picked up the padds and let Doris leave the conference room first. He followed her and told her to sit down in the central chair, she did so without complaint.

“We are being hailed, Mr Easter,” Charles said, “and the request for our identity is being repeated.”

“Very well, Charles,” George replied, “open the channel.”

Charles did so, and a Federation officer in Operations Gold appeared on the screen.

=^= Oed V orbital command, this is the USS SIerra. George Easter, formerly of the Easter Transport Company in command. My crew and I are here to deliver supplies, your new Head of Construction and Operations and his staff to Oed V. The ship’s manifest and our personnel details have been submitted to you for review, and we seek permission to dock to deliver our cargo and your new personnel. =^=

=^= Very well, USS Sierra, you may dock at level 3 of our docking port. We’ll take care of your cargo. If your crew would appreciate a stop over, they are welcome to do so.
When you pass through customs at the spaceport, go to see the Governor at Government Tower. Welcome to Oed V. =^=

George closed the channel, relayed the message to his sister and asked Doris and Charles to join him in the first of their two transporter rooms on Deck 3.

• George Easter, Head of Construction & Operations