James had a moment of surprise as he watched Lyngia walk out of the turbolift, hand in pocket, fumbling with something. The first thing he noticed was her blue and pink uniform, obviously custom-made and non-standard. He wasn’t going to say anything, though, because he knew it would have taken a huge amount of convincing to get that uniform authorized.

The second thing he noticed was her bright magenta hair. [i]“That’s going to take some time to get used to,”[/i] he thought. He stood up to greet her, but before he could do anything he noticed a cookie roll out of her pocket and land near his feet. After a moment of awkward staring and a quick apology from Lyngia, James lifted an eyebrow and motioned to the cookie.

“You should probably pick that up,” he said. After she grabbed the cookie, he motioned to her seat. “Please, take your station. We are departing as soon as the engines are prepped and ready.” He chose to not mention her tardiness. One moment of embarrassment was enough for the day.

He sat back down and hit the comm button. “Engineering,” he said, and the computer beeped in confirmation. He saw Steven’s face on the display. “Chief, are the engines ready? I would like to get underway as soon as possible.”