Breakfast with the Commodore

Posted on Fri Sep 12th, 2025 @ 1:38am by Commodore Wilkan Targaryen & Chief Petty Officer Asyro sh'Voloq & Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte

2,321 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Ready Room, U.S.S. Enterprise
Timeline: 2439-06-15, 05:00

"It is zero-five-hundred hours."

Sora groaned as the alarm sounded and woke her from her short and not particularly restful sleep. After sitting in her bed for a moment to get her bearings, she picked up her glasses from her nightstand and silenced the alarm. "Lights, dimmed," she called out to the computer as she got up and, stepping around the large case of her personal belongings on the floor beside the bed, went over to the living room part of her accommodation on board Enterprise.

"Triple shot flat white", she instructed from the replicator, and took a look around after grabbing her coffee. The senior officers' accomodations on Enterprise were definitely larger and better equipped than they were on Nostradamus, Sora observed. Of course, with all her belongings still packed up, the room was rather plain. She would have to change that - and make sure that the standard setting for the lights was dimmed. First, she was expected in the Commodore's ready room, for breakfast with her new commanding officer.

"Computer, play my personalised morning playist." The Lieutenant Commander took a seat at the table in the living room as the sounds of the old Earth heavy metal band Sabaton filled the room. Their sound, she had found, was very similar to that of their counterparts in the mirror universe - only the lyrics were slightly different. "Well," Sora said to herself. "Better get myself ready. Wouldn't want to make a bad impression on my first day."

Just over an hour later, Sora was back at the table, with her third coffee of the morning. Now that she had showered, straightened her hair, and put on her signature makeup - dark eyeliner and red lipstick - she actually felt Terran. Or, rather, human, she mused, as she put away the PADD with the details of some of Enterprise's systems. All that was left was the uniform, so she stood and returned to the bedroom, where a row of freshly replicated uniforms greeted her in the wardrobe. Luckily, she had been able to get a skirt variant - and so, moments later, she was ready to go, with her black and operations gold uniform jacket over a knee-length black skirt, black tights, and ankle boots. Finally, she pinned her badge onto her chest, and made her way to the ready room.

"Right on time," Sora confirmed to herself as she arrived in front of the ready room and pressed the buzzer. "Lieutenant Commander Bernadotte, as requested. Good morning."

---

Yawning as he wandered into his Ready Room, Commodore Wilkan Targaryen couldn't believe he'd suggested a meeting so early in the day. A night owl, on any other day Wilkan was dragging himself onto the Bridge at the start of his duty shift at 07:00 hours and today he'd agreed to a breakfast meeting to get to know the new Chief Operations Officer. He was actually looking forward to speaking with her - feeling like he may not have made the best impression - but he was also hoping that he didn't fall back asleep while talking with her. Her transfer had come as a surprise to him, but he was glad to have her aboard.

Wilkan had started to read her biography it seemed like half a dozen times since Sora had reported aboard the previous night, but he still hadn't been able to get through it. There were so many other things going on that he hadn't been able to focus, chief among them the fallout of the Enterprise's mission to investigate Gaia. All their mission logs had been scrubbed to hide the truth, but he still worried that the truth would get out about the planet and the survivors. I that happened, and Aamis was correct, then the Enterprise and her crew would be directly responsible for the destruction of an entire civilization. It wasn't an appealing thought.

To his left, Wilkan heard the door to his Ready Room slide open. Turning, he was surprised to see his Yeoman, Chief Petty Officer Asyro sh'Voloq, entering the room. Noticing Wilkan there, she jumped back and nearly dropped the tray that she was carrying.

"Sir, you gave me a fright! You're never here this early."

The Commodore nodded, "You're right about that. You didn't get my message, did you?"

"I went right to the galley to pick up your breakfast," the Andorian answered.

"I don't eat breakfast, Chief," Wilkan laughed.

She nodded, "I know. I still have a breakfast tray prepared for you and here should you want it."

"Well, today I need two," Targaryen answered. "I'm meeting with Commander Bernadotte this morning."

"Ah our new Chief Operations Officer. I had read her transfer notes this morning while I was waiting on your breakfast." She placed the tray, "I'll have the galley bring another."

"Thank you, Chief," Enterprise's Commanding Officer rose from his chair and walked over to the table, lifting the tray lid, "Groatcakes?"

Asyro nodded, "Chef got a surplus from the Rakanthan Farming Project. It's today's special."

"He outdid himself," Wilkan said as he checked the plating. The groatcakes had a slightly crispy exterior, what looked like a chewy inside, and were garnished with fresh berries. A bottle of syrup of squill was included. "My guest will be coming so they may want to hurry."

"I've notified them, Sir, they should be."

The door chime chirped. "Lieutenant Commander Bernadotte, as requested. Good morning."

"Looks like they're running a little late," Targaryen commented to his Yeoman as he turned toward the door, "Come in, Commander, and good morning. Have you met my Yeoman, Chief Petty Officer Asyro sh'Voloq?"

"Commander," the Andorian woman greeted.

Sora nodded towards the Yeoman. "Chief."

The Chief looked at the Commodore, "I'm going to go pick up that other tray. My apologies, Sir, for missing your notice."

"Quite alright, Chief, dismissed," Wilkan excused as he dismissed the Andorian. He looked to the Chief Operations Officer, "I hope that you're hungry. Chef has prepared groatcakes with syrup of squll."

The Lieutenant Commander glanced at the plate on the table. "I have to say, I am not familiar with the dish. Breakfast for me is usually just omelette, bacon, and some toast, with at least two very strong coffees. Speaking of coffee," she added, gesturing towards the replicator. "May I?"

"Actually, we have fresh coffee available as well, I can alert Chief sh'Voloq," Wilkan preferred real food over the replicated options. He was curious how Commander Bernadotte would feel about that option.

"Even better. I will have some of that, then," Sora replied with a grin. "I need caffeine to function. Especially at this early hour, with little sleep."

Wilkan nodded in agreement. It certainly was early, far earlier than he normally did things. "You don't have to worry. Outside of an emergency I rarely have meetings this early. Actually, when Alpha Watch begins at 07:00 I usually don't make it to Deck 1 until about 06:55."

The door slid open and Chief sh'Voloq reentered with a second tray and a coffee carafe. Setting the tray before the Operations Manager, she poured a cup of the coffee out as she spoke, "The chef has prepared a Firenut blend of coffee this morning. It's a little potent, or at least that's what he told me."

"Hopefully this is better than when he did the Vulcan blend a few weeks ago," the Commodore commented. "Half a dozen people ended up in Sickbay with a paralyzed nervous system and atrophy of the pancreas."

"I think he learned his lesson, Sir," the Andorian replied as she set the carafe on the table. "Speaking of which, today's tea is Vulcan Spice blend. I'll be bringing it up in a few moments."

Targaryen nodded, "Thank you." He glanced at Commander Bernadotte, "The Firenut coffee is fairly potent, just to warn you."

"Thank you, Chief," Sora said towards the Yeoman, before adding a sugar cube and a tiny splash of milk to her cup. "That Vulcan blend sounds fun," she added with a chuckle as she stirred, before finally taking a sip. "Now this, this is good coffee. Haven't had a brew this good since I was at the Academy." She shrugged. "Little place just outside the grounds, boasted he had the best coffee in the quadrant. Wasn't lying. Probably long gone by now, it's been, what, thirty-odd years?"

"Quite possibly; however, it's been a long time since I was at the Academy, roughly 130 years, give or take, for me," the Commodore answered as he accepted the kettle of Vulcan Spice Tea from the Yeoman. Pouring himself a cup of the steaming hot tea, "So, tell me about you, Commander. I'll admit I don't know much, and your transfer here came as a bit of a surprise to me." He didn't really mean to say the last part, but he believed in transparency and wondered if his new Ops Manager had assumed as much.

"Time is a strange thing, isn't it," Sora remarked as she cut a piece off one of the groatcakes. "I come from an independent colony world, quite some way outside the Federation. My parents ran a cargo shipping operation, but were killed in a pirate attack, so my sister and I were raised by our grandfather. We both decided to join Starfleet, her as a linguist, me as a technician. Of course, both our courses ended up very different. I ended up in Ops, she ended up in Command." She took a bite. "These are excellent. Anyway, I don't know how much of my service record you've read, since Temporal classified quite some of it?"

"Very little I'm afraid," Wilkan answered as he maneuvered the groatcake across the plate with his fork and cut it. The sweetness from the sugar and fruit were a little stronger than he'd anticipated. They were also a little crispy, but with a chewy inside that was very filling. "Your transfer came as a surprise, as I'd said, and I didn't get much time to review your dossier this morning. So, anything that I'd find surprising about your service record and history or is it going to be fairly standard?" If Sora mentioned her service jacket then the Commodore assumed there'd be something of interest, but would she share it with the class or try to walk back?

Sora shrugged. After her crossover, some of her real service history had been replaced with a variety of mundane assignments, but most of it had been classified. "Graduated the academy, did my cadet cruise, nothing out of the ordinary there. You will find a large section of my service record classified, however, due to my work with Temporal Investigations. And the fact that I was timeslipped thirty years into the future from my original timeline. Sir."

"Fascinating," Wilkan said with a smile. He had some experience with that, having been temporally displaced once before himself. He hadn't been displaced as long as the Ops Officer had been, and he was returned to his own time, but it had been disconcerting. "So, considering I have level ten clearance, what's under that classified period that I'm not supposed to know about?"

The Lieutenant Commander chuckled. "That, sir, is classified. Like most things that Temporal Investigations does. I have been instructed to share absolutely nothing about my temporal displacement other than the fact that it happened, unless it is absolutely necessary."

"One of the few areas in which I haven't worked," the Commodore answered, slightly impressed that the Commander didn't choose to answer his question. In the long run it didn't really matter. If he wanted to know he'd find out and, for the time being, he didn't need to know. "As long as you're rated to serve as the Ops Officer aboard this ship you'll have no concerns from me.

Taking a sip of his tea, "So, what are you looking for from your assignment here?"

Sora finished off her groatcakes as she pondered the question. "Really, the assignment came as much as a surprise to me as it did you, sir. I am just looking to serve Starfleet where I can best utilise my skills." Musing back to her experience in the service of the Terran Empire, she added, "I have plenty of experience in crisis and conflict situations, which is probably one reason that Command decided to put me here. A ship like Enterprise is bound to run into trouble on occasion."

"More often than you'd expect so far, Commander. So far, in the short time we've been out here, we've encountered a rogue Tosk, a Q that was caretaker for an entire world, that whole business with the former Gaia colony, and we discovered the progenitor of the Founders." He paused a moment as he reflected upon the number of missions they'd been on that had been more than routine. "Even I forget how wondrous space can be sometimes, especially when you're braving new worlds no one had traveled to before. We really are quite blessed to be the ones out here."

He pushed his plate forward, "I am glad that you're here, Commander, and welcome to the Enterprise."

Sora nodded, and finished her coffee. "It is quite the honour to be posted to such an illustrious vessel. I intend to earn that honour. Thank you for breakfast, sir. Is there anything else, or may I get back to unpacking?"

"Just remember that Alpha Shift begins at 07:00," he answered quickly, "I'd hate for you to be late on your first day. We are working from the Battle Bridge too. Commander Randall is working on a retrofit of the Bridge."

The Ops officer checked her old-fashioned watch and chuckled. "In that case, sir, we better hurry or we will be late. Would you be so kind to lead the way?"

"That we should," the Commodore answered as he rose from his chair and motioned toward the exit, "After you."

 

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