Steve Darkan smiled at Pushkin when the circular airlock opened allowing the diminutive Russian to enter the Foscari. "Мой капитан! (My captain!)" said the helmsman when he recognized the man before him. "What are you doing here? I thought you were assigned to Earth duties or something."
"Good to see you, too, Mr. Pushkin," Darkan said, shaking the man's hand. "That's all been settled, thankfully, though I could've used a little more shore leave," he said, smiling wistfully at fond memories. "But I have returned none too soon I hope. Captain Stonn keeping everything ship-shape I'm sure." Turning to his escort. "Thank your captain again for me, both for the ride and the assistance. You are all to be commended for your action." Getting on board, Darkan bids farewell to the Foscari and awaits the final journey back to his ship. "Please keep my presence low-key, I don't want to interfere too much with the resolution of what is going on on the Columbia."
"No problem, Captain. I won't say anything to anyone until you say otherwise." Pushkin hit a command on his console, "Columbia, this is the travel pod, we are in transit." The Russian turned to his passenger, "Sir, if you want to take a seat - this will take a few minutes to get us back home."
The Captain of the Foscari said his goodbyes and the airlock closed. The travel pod was given its green light to disengage and Pushkin did it adroitly. The small corvette began to quickly diminish behind them and the Columbia grew, as the helmsman increased the pod's speed. It was not capable of warp speed - it could not approach luminal speed, let alone supra-luminal - but its small impulse engine carried it across the distance of empty space quite efficiently. Pushkin even did his Captain a favor and flew a transit over the starship's large round forward hull just a few meters over the ships identifying number, NCC-1850 and her name. Darkan could see the dome of the bridge and the forward phaser arrays and his heart sung to be back.
Crossing over her hull, Pushkin did a quick turn and dropped forty meters in relation to the Columbia and they saw the forward docking port three bay doors still open and waiting. Once more, Pushkin slowed the ship, made a 180 degree turn and then allowed the Columbia's docking bay team to take control of the pod to guide it into the collar. He sat back with controls relinquished and looked to Darkan, "You want anyone here to meet you, sir?"
"No, I'll take my time getting to bridge. I would like to ease back into this at the moment. No need to confuse the command structure in the middle of a crisis. Thanks for the ride, you better get back to your post. Inform Captain Stonn that his 'guest' will be along shortly."
Darkan walked back onto the Columbia. He heard and felt the thrum of her power coursing through her. He felt whole again. It had been nice on Earth, with Mia, and he desperately missed his fiance, but a starship in space was truly home. Steve waited a moment for the turbolift to arrive - on this lower deck level, it was the only way to get from one area to the next whether it was a vertical or horizontal move. Moments later the doors hissed open and he stepped inside; Pushkin followed behind. "I am bridge bound, sir. Where to for you?"
"My quarters I think, I'll follow along shortly."
Pushkin smiled and nodded and the two men took the turbolift first to deck five where Darkan disembarked. The helmsman gave a informal salute, something that Starfleet was not a big stickler about, and the doors closed. Steven followed the circular corridor around until he came at last to the Captain's quarters. He was surprised when the doors opened at his voice command. It seemed the ship's new captain had not taken up residence yet - in fact, all of Darkan's things were still where he had left them almost a year ago.
The man moved to his desk and sat down. The picture of Mia still sat there looking back at him. Questions stirred once more on decisions made. What didn't cross Darkan's mind was the fact that his presence in the chamber was being noticed by the ship's new Operations Officer.