How Are You Holding Up
Posted on Thursday May 14th, 2026 @ 7:39pm by Commodore Carol Hogan & Lieutenant D'ana Hunter
1,611 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
VFY S9, E1: We Have A Home
Location: CO Ready Room
Location: Port Royale, CO Ready Room
Carol was in her ready room, she had another meeting scheduled. This was a meeting she was looking forward to, but also was concerned about this meeting. She was in her ready room looking out of the portal window, seeing the fleet of ships traveling back and forth in the system. She was deep in her thoughts, thinking about how her meeting went with Miss Summer Wyse, or more accurately Provisional Lieutenant Junior Grade Summer Wyse.
D'ana stepped out of the turbolift and into the operations center, crossing over to the Captain's ready room. She range the chime and stood with her hands draped behind her back.
Carol smiled, and she looked towards the door. Her new Corps of Engineering Director, was checking in. She appreciate the fact that her new director is on time. "Enter." She called out. Carol had her daughter on her mind still, she was curious how she was integrating on the station. For the moment though she had to keep down the back of her mind, because she had more meetings, even after this one.
As the doors opened, she stepped inside. "Commodore? You asked to see me?" She stood straight, hands behind her back still, but her eyes taking in everything in the room before settling on the other woman there.
"Lieutenant, good you made it." Carol said, with a warm smile on her face. Carol turned around from the portal window. "Lieutenant, please have a seat. Can I get you a drink?" Carol asked, as she walked over to the replicator. "Until the Eagles get set up or Ensign Sorrin gets some good coffee beans or tea leaves in, we are limited to replicated beverages." Carol pointed out to her.
"A glass of cold juice would be nice, thank you," D'ana said, sitting in a chair, back straight, hands in her lap. "Maybe nectarine and peach."
Carol thought to herself, that was an interesting drink choice. Most officers normally went with tea or coffee. "Coming right up." Carol said, as she told the computer the order. After a few moments, the replicator prepared her drink. "I hope its edible." Carol suggested in a teasing voice. She did not have much faith in the replicator. She handed the glass over to D'ana as she went to her desk to sit down, and take a sip from her coffee.
D'ana took a small sip and nodded. "So long as it's not poisoned, it's nutrition, my mother would say." She took another, fuller sip and sat back, crossing her legs. "What can I do for you, Ma'am?"
"I wanted to check in on you, this station is close to the front lines. I wanted to make sure this was not going to cause any conflicts for you?" Carol started to say, as she took a breath, before continuing on. "I know part of your heritage is from the Orion culture. Now granted, your not the only Orion in my care, but I want to make sure I respect any concerns you may have." Carol told her. Starfleet had a lot of Orion's still serving in Starfleet.
D'ana took a long sip of her drink, using the time to choose her words carefully. "I know you meant that in kindness, Commodore, and I'll take it as such, but the short answer is, I have as much Orion 'culture' in me as you do." She placed her glass on the desk in front of her and leveled her gaze at the woman sitting across from her. "My mother was stolen by her father and taken to Ardonis IV, where she was forced to dance and...'entertain'...until she was thirteen, when a Starfleet Admiral rescued her. She grew up on a starship under his care, adopting his ideals and beliefs. She married a human, a Starfleet officer as well. I was born and raised on a Federation starship with Federation standards and culture as well. I honestly couldn't care what any of the Great Families or the Syndicate does, so long as they don't threaten us."
"I appreciate you sharing that information. I am sorry about your mother's situation. But I wanted to make sure that your needs were considered. On that note, may I assume your accommodations and requests have been fulfilled?" Carol asked, hoping she said yes. If not, poor Ensign Vira Sorrin was going to have more work on her hands.
D'ana inclined her head in acknowledgement of the apology, but then moved past it, not wanting to dwell on the subject. "My quarters are more than comfortable, and I have everything I need, thank you, Ma'am. My mother is leading one of the current S.C.E. teams here, so she's been quick to fulfill all my engineering requests, and she had extra cargo space to transport some of my personal items. So I am rather well off right now."
"Very well. So, Lieutenant, now that all the awkward stuff's out of the way," Carol started to say as she took a quick breath before continuing on, "what's one thing you hope to accomplish while assigned to the fleet yards? I am a firm believer that we should all have some kind of goal or something that we're striving towards. I want to know what yours is, and if I can I'll help you get to it."
D'ana had expected a question along those lines, but she wasn't sure how to articulate it. "My parents, their friends and others in my life have strived to give me an upbringing that was sheltered, but not naive," she said after a moment's thought. "My parents both know first-hand what the galaxy is like without the Federation's influence, and they've left their mark on the galaxy. I'd like to do the same. Designing new ships, new technology and, in general, having the ability to stretch my wings is what I'm looking to do. So, here I am."
"Then you might be interested in meeting Mister Eagle and Mister Omek." Carol suggested, already considering her for the research and development program. "There is a classified program, and based on your past accomplishment I think you would be a good candidate for it."
D'ana raised an eyebrow in interest. "I see," she said, internally questioning how classified it was. She gave the Commodore a warm smile, relaxing her posture a bit. "Well, if it allows me to have new toys to play with, I'm most certainly interested. I'll have to drop by to meet them after I've gone through Engineering. I still have to finish inventorying everything we brought over, meet my staff and inspect the station." She gave a small chuckle. "Suffice it to say, my schedule is full for the next few days."
"Oh, the mission won't start for about another week anyway, so you have time. Plus, Commander Vox has yet to arrive. She'll head up research and development while you maintain the Corps of Engineers. Both of you will work with the Advanced Research Bureau. Until I read you in, what I can say is, the technology we find will need to be reverse engineer as soon as possible." She realized her answer was cryptic but she hadn't been read in yet, on the intelligence briefing.
D'ana's expression didn't change much, but the corner of her mouth quirked up in a bit of a smirk. "Well then, I'll have to try and be patient to learn more." She paused a moment. "May I ask a personal question, Ma'am?"
"Please." Carol said, wondering what her personal question would be. While she waited for her response. She started to think of Anastasia, and wondered how her daughter was doing. No doubt making a lot of new friends in school. She also wondered how Ian her boyfriend was doing. She assume he was getting situated on the USS Vernonia, she needed to make a point to visit him when her schedule opened up.
"What made you switch from Science to Command?" D'ana said, keeping her tone casual.
"Fleet Admiral Domingo Martinez. I swear that man has a way of reading you and getting you to do things that you would have never considered but what also never believed that you needed in your life." Carol suggested to her, realizing that she probably wasn't making much sense with that statement, but it was all true.
D'ana smiled a bit wider. "I have an Admiral in my life like that," she said. "I know exactly what you mean. He looks at you and sees right to your soul, dissects you, quantifies you and suddenly knows you better than you know yourself." She nodded. half to herself. "Well, Commodore, if there's nothing else you need from me, I think I should get to Engineering and start my inspection."
"We're good for now, but I want to have dinner with you soon. I make it a point to have dinner with all my senior staff. I'll send out a calendar invite. Just let me know if you're available then." Carol started to say as a scene starts to fade away.
"I look forward to it, Commodore," D'ana said. "If you'll excuse me, I should be getting started with my to do list."
"Dismissed, and just a heads up. In the near future I'm going to plan a dinner date for us. So try to keep your calendar open." Carol said as she stood up to shake her hand.
"Understood, Ma'am," D'ana said, standing and shaking her hand as well. "Good meeting you, Commodore," she said before giving a final nod and heading back to her duties.
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