U.S.S. Vonnegut [Legacy-Class]

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"Serenity Station, this Vonnegut Operations...requesting permission to dock."

The Vonnegut had been out to the Romulan Neutral Zone for the last ten months without contact with the rest of the fleet. Her assignment was to keep an eye on the refugee fleets coming across the Neutral Zone, keeping opportunistic Nausicaans, Ferengii, Klingons, Orions, and others from 'making their bones' with the blood of innocent/unarmed 'non-combatants'. The Vonnegut's twin sister-ships, the Mandela and the Exeter are assigned to other parts of the Federation/Romulan and the Federation/Klingon borders, respectively. The alien "coyotes" only sniffing around periodically to note our patrol schedule or if there's a gap in our patrol loops big enough to fire through an occasional fast smuggler ship to a secure location in Klingon space, via a convenient S.O.S. from the convoy.

Captain Morgan Bateson was just coming on-duty from a late lunch in ten forward as I logged out of the computer, gathered the PADD's gathered on my lap and offered them to him for review before I officially went off-duty with the Captain's permission. I looked forward to the two weeks of accrued Shore Leave i'd purposely banked and requested to spend all at once at Serenity Station. We were just a day from spacedock at Warp Five. The highlight of my vacation -- a genuine, authentic, non-holographic white sandy beach. Sarongs, Bikini-tops, wave machines, frosty drinks with mango juice, and palm-fronds at a theme park on the recreational deck.

"Thank you for taking care of my ship, Lieutenant Hauck. Your temporary duty as Acting-Captain shall go on your permanent record as exemplary."

"Thank you, sir."

"You stand relieved, Mister Hauck."

"I stand relieved. Computer - transfer back all command authority to Captain Morgan Bateson."

"All command authority has been successfully transferred. Goodnight, Lieutenant Hauck. Your mango tea will be ready in your quarters upon your arrival, sir."

Ensign P'raya, our Operations Officer had been tinkering with a "manners" and "anticipation" algorithm for the replicators and interactive features throughout the ship. The only ship in Starfleet that says "Thank you for clearing your dishes. Have a wonderful day/evening." or "Your holodeck program is ready and running. Thank you for spending your time with me. Enter when ready."