Call of duty

''All senior officers of the USS Artemis, this is the captain; report immediately to Starbase 10 main conference hall for senior officers briefing.''

Straightening his strikingly athletic frame and then his uniform, Captain Kheren left his ready room just as a door to his right opened to let his chief helmsman join him in the short corridor to the ship's main conference room. Lieutenant Junior Grade Aguk Snow's coppery face was almost as dark as the indigo-blue one of his Andorian commanding officer, but his obisdian eyes were darker still, while the silvery pupiless eyes of Kheren flashed like beacons under his scarred brow. They both wore their hair long, as allowed by Starfleet regulations, but where those of the Inuit helmsman were jet black, the Andorian's were as white as snow.

On top of his head, the pair of antennae that sprouted from each side wiggled with the mounting excitement otherwise masked by his frozen expression as they both entered the main meeting room of the Artemis. There, another set of antennae on top of a long, flowing white mane greeted them with the same emotion, from almost two and a half meters up the towering frame of the Artemis' current acting Chief of security and tactical, lieutenant Junior Grade Tyvya. The Andorian shen finished inputing coordinates into the two-man transporter pad installed in the confrerence room as part of the upgrade of the bridge module several months ago before she said in a voice surprisingly soft in someone of her gigantic size:

''I'll transport right after you and Mister Snow, Sir.''

And true to word, she joined them in the corridor leading to the starbase's conference hall seconds after they had materialized there. The two junior officers stepped behind their captain as he silently led the way to the vast meeting hall.

There were already several officers present and Kheren was gratified to see that his First officer, the tall, red-haired Commander Michael O'Conner, had beaten him to the finish line even when he had taken several days of leave before today's meeting. The quiet efficiency of the man never ceased to amaze the Andorian, now as much as since the first day they had met when the Artemis had launched under the Lotus Fleet banner.

Going to make a hell of a captain as they say on his planet, mused Kheren coming down to join him. And I will be loosing a hell of a First Officer when that day comes. But he can not stay in the shadows forever... not when Starfleet is in such a need of good, experienced officers... especially now. But in the meantime...

''Commander O'Conner; glad to see you could make it in time to serve with us once again,'' Kheren said, stretching his previous thoughts into his heartfelt greeting.

Tyvya and Snow sat behind them and they waited for the rest of the Artemis senior officers to join them.

He almost smiled, the rare muscles in his face barely allowing him to. Having his team present before any of the other ships was a small point of pride to him; not that it mattered any, but he was captaining the oldest, least performing vessel of the fleet; he liked to think that his crew however, stood second to none.

They certainly proved it in all of their past missions; but it was up to them to show it in the small details as much as in the big endeavors, like O'Conner exemplified so well.

And so, he sat with apparent patience but with a small trembling in his cranial appendages as he hoped to see hic science chief, his chief of operations and his chief engineer beat everyone else to the punch... and for this crucial meeting to commence.

There was a destructive force ou there that was coming inexorably towards them as they sat here, preparing to discuss how they would face it. Each and every officer of Lotus Fleet would be needed to even attempt to do so... to survive... and ultimately prevail.

And so... time was of the essence.