Dinner, Captain?

Posted on Mon Jan 26th, 2026 @ 12:09pm by Lieutenant Brendan Dernah & Captain Taliserra Tigran & Petty Officer 1st Class Saral & Civilian Jessica Haugen

2,062 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: A marathon not a sprint
Location: Various
Timeline: after the Debrief JP

After the staff meeting, Brendan decided to check out the bridge while he waited for the Captain and the CMO to get done with their meeting. As he stepped onto the bridge for the first time, he stood agape at the design. He wasn't sure what to expect so he as shocked at the layout. He was looking forward to serving on this ship.

As he walked over to the Ops station, the enlisted person who was at the post looked up at Dernah and asked if he wanted the station. He quickly replied with a smile "No, thank you. I'm waiting for our CMO to get done with talking to Captain Tigran so I can check in."

"That officer," Petty officer Saral told him, not knowing the identity of the blue uniformed officer currently in the ready room. "has only just entered, you may be waiting for a substantial amount of time Lieutenant."

"OK, why not then. I probably need to check the ship's status," Brendan said. "Let me just slip right on in there. My last ship had a Voyager type bridge layout so I'm gonna have to get used to sitting behind a chair again." Saying that. Lieutenant Dernah slid into the chair after the petty officer moved out for him. It felt good to be behind a console again despite his desires to be a First Officer.

He tapped the panel before him to ensure that the display was up to date with the latest from Engineering. He was pleased to see that the watch officer had already done so. As his hands flew over the console, he noticed that the Petty Officer was watching him with a quizzical look. "Yes Petty Officer...??? What was your name again?

"Petty Officer 1st class Saral." The Vulcan replied as he watched what the Betazoid officer was doing.

The tall-ish Betazoid officer rose from the seat and extended his hand to the Vulcan male and said, "It's a pleasure to know and meet you, Officer Saral. I am Lieutenant Brendan Dernah, Chief of Ops."

A slight raise of his eyebrow was all Saral's body expressed at the news, he took Brendan's hand and shook it as was the expected fashion. "I was not aware we were receiving a new department head."

"Starfleet doesn't like to leave vacancies open for too long, Officer Saral," Brendan said cocking his head to the left and raised his left eyebrow. "And not being a commissioned officer might add another layer of security to the ship."

"Perhaps." Saral remarked. The sound of a door opened caught his attention, the door in question being the one to the ready room. The blue uniformed officer headed out and across the bridge to the main turbolift.

Brendan recognized the CMO and smiled. Then he sat back down behind his console and returned to work trying to set an example for the rest of the bridge staff. And also wanting to make the best first impression on his new captain.

Saral moved to one of the auxiliary stations and continued his own work.

Several long minutes after the Cmo had left the door to the ready room opened again and Taliserra strode out heading with intent towards the turbolift.

Brendan made no move to interfere with the Captain's plans, but instead continued working with Engineering to ensure that the repairs were top priority. Since their Chief Engineer had left, Dernah was pulling double duty as both Ops and Engineering not that he minded, at all.

The turbolift doors opened but Taliserra stopped for a moment to exchange a few words with a science officer before stepping inside.

When Brendan saw that she was leaving the bridge, he rose and called out to her, "Captain, if I may intrude. Allow me to introduce myself; I'm your new Operations Officer, Lieutenant Brendan Dernah. I know you have a great deal to handle and not a sufficient amount of time in which to accomplish them. I was wondering if you might be able to find some time to squeeze me in, please. If you could and would, that is."

Hearing someone called out her by rank Taliserra put her hand out to stop the turbolift doors from closing, she looked out onto the bridge and quickly noticed the Betazoid officer she'd seen at the briefing talking to her. "I'm heading to the mess hall if you want to join me Lieutenant."

Brendan looked over to Petty Officer Saral and said "Ops is yours, Mr Saral." and he slid out from his chair and followed Captain Tigran.

Taliserra held the door open until the Lieutenant caught up and joined her in the turbolift. "Deck 3." She called out and the lift began to move. "Welcome to the Wolff Lieutenant, I wish it had been under calmer circumstances."

"Had the circumstances been different I would likely not be here, Captain," Brendan smiled and retorted. "So, I'm glad to be here no matter the situation."

"This was supposed to be a simple support assignment," Taliserra remarked. "make sure the Marathon gets to Dakala intact, nothing could have been simpler."

"I would think anyone who has been in Starfleet long enough to have made it to the rank of Captain would know that there is nothing simple as any mission in the fleet," Brendan joked and giggled.

"Perhaps but you don't expect to get attacked by a squadron of hostile ships, in the middle of Federation space, in peacetime." Taliserra replied. Only having travelled two decks the turbolift journey was quite short. The doors opened and she stepped out.

Brendan slipped up and laughed a bit at her comment and replied, "I would suppose not, Captain. What happened with the hostile ships, anyway?"

"The first two were destroyed," Taliserra didn't mention that Dokken had used the second ship as a projectile against them. "The last one led by this Dokken nearly crippled us before the London and Tigris showed up, he cloaked and escaped just before they dropped out of warp. We couldn't track him"

"Ah, I see," he said unsure of where to go or what to say next. "I guess I shall need to read the ship's logs before my first shift, then. It appears that I'll be very busy for the foreseeable future, wouldn't you say?" he smiled as he finished.

"We all will be busy, I don't doubt we'll probably see them again in the future, he's working towards some goal." Taliserra explained as they continued walking. "It may be a strange to hope for, but I hope when they're finally taken down we're right there at the head of the force that does it."

"Alright, I don't have to feel left out or put upon then," Brendan replied. "And i, for one, don't think that's all that strange to hope for, Captain. Not strange at all."

Their walking eventually led them to their destination, the Wolff's main lounge. It bustled with activity though there were decidedly more blue and red uniforms there than yellow. "Captain, good to see you." A voice called out, that of the resident lounge manager.

"Evening Jessica," Taliserra called back as the woman approached. "Have you met Lieutenant Dernah yet? Our new Chief of operations."

"Good evening, that new officer would be me. Hi, hello, it's a pleasure to meet you," Brendan said while extending his hand.

Jessica took the Betazoids hand and gently shook it. "Pleasure to meet you too."

"Jessica has held down our lounge since I was just the Xo of the Wolff," Taliserra told Brendan. "Kept us going through thick and thin."

"And mighty hard it has been." Jessica said with a smile. "I've mixed up enough spaghetti bolognaise for the whole crew if you both want a portion?" She gave a little side eye to Brendan. "Nice and hearty seeing as I know you haven't eaten since this morning Captain."

"I would love a bowl of it, Miss Haugen," Brendan said. Turning to the Captain, he asked "Where would you like to sit, sir?"

"I'll take some too." She told Jessica before motioning towards the large window that dominated the lounge. "Best seat in the house is by the main window."

"Very well then, after you," Brendan gestured for the Captain to go ahead and then walked after her. His adoptive parents taught him to be cordial with everyone and he was nothing if not polite When they had taken their seats around the table, he asked her about Lieutenant, Jg Binea. "Captain, I noticed a little friction between Lieutenant Binea and myself and wanted to ask you if you knew anything about it."

If she wasn't as tired as she was Taliserra may have laughed, instead she exhaled fairly heavily through her nose. "Binea has held up practically the entire department since before I took command of the Wolff, she's ready for the promotion but fleet command insists on sending me officers rather than letting me promote her." She didn't fail to notice that it was one of those officers asking her about the issue right now. "This is the first I've heard of her directly being unhappy with it, perhaps the stress of the day got to her." As Jessica arrived with their food she looked up slightly and thanked her.

"Perhaps, I suppose I'm letting the weight of the state of the ship get to me," Brendan said. "On a lighter note, this spaghetti bolognaise is extraordinary! "Captain, where do we go from here? Just curious," Brendan asked his dining partner.

"Priority is getting ourselves and the Marathon underway again, our warp engines are in reasonable condition but the Marathon will need some work." Taliserra paused for a moment to twirl some of the spaghetti around her fork. "After the London and Tigris leave us we're vulnerable again but by the we'll be almost at our destination."

"Ah, is that all then?" he smiled and chuckled when he said that. "Was there anything else you wanted to know that you don't already?"

"Why did you pick my ship over your other options?" Taliserra asked. "The Wolff isn't exactly a cutting edge ship anymore."

"That is a heavy question, Captain," Brendan sighed. "I was acting FO on the USS Damocles before coming too your ship. Shortly after my appointment, we learned that our ship was being decommissioned. I was informed of this decision, which was well out of my CO's hands, by Captain Montholme. We weren't allowed to inform the senior staff and could only meet in closed doors until we reached the Sol System.

"I was given the option of being promoted to First Officer of another ship or remaining an Operations Officer. I began thinking about my choices and met with both Captain Montholme and our counselor, Lieutenant Chaada Lett, a Bajoran. I decided I would like to try my hand at being promoted. After a few weeks in space, I had changed my mind several times. Once we had reached Earth and after two weeks, I had picked my ship, the USS Kidd and was on my way. At the last moment, I had a change of heart.

"And chose to remain at my current position and your ship had an Ops Officer position available. Luckily, my runabout was equipped for the short hop from my then current location in space to yours. And thus my decision was made. Now as to why your ship, Captain. It was the only ship in range," and with that Brendan smiled and sat back in his chair.

Taliserra's eyebrow's raised slightly as Brendan answered her question. "Not many people would turn down a first officer posting, though not many ops officers get offered them so you must have done something right. Why did you change your mind?"

"You know, I've been asking myself that exact question ever since I did," and then he laughed loudly.

Somewhat more confused Taliserra put her cutlery down for a moment. "When you come to an answer tell me, it will be interesting to know."

"You'll be the first to know, Captain. And I think I'm going to like it here," and he smiled at his new captain.

End:



Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding officer

Lieutenant Brendan Dernah
Chief operations officer

Jessica Haugen
Lounge manager
[Pnpc Taliserra]

PO1 Saral
Operations
[Pnpc Taliserra]

 

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