Blue By Name, Blue By Species
Posted on Mon Aug 17th, 2026 @ 10:00pm by Commander Kytolos Sh'reyva & Commander Saul Whitford
1,557 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Lines in the Vacuum
Location: Sentinel Station
::ON::
With Commander Whitford away on the Frontier with the remainder of Sentinel's Senior Staff, Azul Navarro was left as the ranking Operations Officer. Initially enthused, she had seized the opportunity with both hands, taking charge and making the decisions necessary to keep the station on track and functioning far from support.
She'd had a dip in confidence towards the end of her duty shift, but had been relieved to hear a senior ranking officer had come aboard the station. After pinging the Station's Main Computer for Sh'reyva's location, she had made a beeline for the Andorian and was busy stepping her way down the corridor, adjusting her dark, straight hair so it sat at mid-back like it should.
[Diplomatic Services, Deck 12]
The area assigned to the Federation's Diplomatic Services occupied a quiet, if regal, stretch of Deck 12. Here, there station's foot traffic seemed to lose interest almost as soon as the corridor's wall sconces shone brighter and brighter.
Inside the offices, there was a large outer room which had been decorated in bright colours--meant to be welcoming and stately. The emblem of the United Federation of Planets adorned the main wall, beyond which were three offices.
Kytolos Sh'reyva sat alone behind a desk in one of these offices, his brow furrowed as he examined something on his computer terminal.
He had only been aboard Sentinel Station for six hours, but he had already been inundated with several communiqués from Starfleet Command, Vulcan High Command, Andoria, and even several non-Federation worlds in the sector. All of it focused on one thing: the Nausicaans.
Ensign Spani--his Centauran adjutant--had spent a great deal of time with Kytolos, providing him with the relevant information required for his new post. It was an enormous amount of information to digest and he had yet to visit Sentinel's command center. Which might seem strange given he was currently the ranking officer on the station.
He flagged another message for deletion and sat back in the plush, ergonomic chair. He exhaled loudly and wondered exactly what a seasoned Andorian starship commander was doing behind a desk on the frontier.
Buzzing the door to the office assigned to Kytolos, Navarro glanced up and down the corridor. It was unusually quiet here, compared to the rest of the station. But that was to be expected for an area of the facility that was only part-occupied. She could see from the floorplates that the normal wear and tear had yet to scuff them giving the area a pristine aura.
"Enter."
Kytolos came to his feet easily, ready to greet--or send away--whoever had come calling.
'Good day, Commander,' Navarro began with the barest hint of her Guadalajiran accent, and a wide smile. 'I have to say it's a pleasure to have another senior officer aboard - I'm sure you've noticed a shortage of them aboard at the moment.' She slung the collection of padds into one hand, let it drop to her waist as she closed the distance to Kytolos' desk. 'Lieutenant Azul Navarro, Operations Officer, sir.'
He took her in the way he did all military personnel: rank first, posture second, everything else afterward. Starfleet uniform, Operations branch. Young enough that her shoulders weren't edged with experience, but not quite new enough to seem unsure of where she stood. And yet, there was energy in her movement that hadn't been tempered.
"Lieutenant," he said, giving her a small nod of acknowledgment. He forced himself to put aside the stoic military man and try to welcome everything that came with his new assignment. After all, sharing tea and discussing intrigue sure beat living out of a suitcase.
"I'm Commander Kytolos Sh'reyva," he added, as if it needed completing rather than repeating.
He gestured toward the chair opposite his desk, then seemed to reconsider and left it open for her to choose whether or not to take it. He absently resting a hand on the sash of his Andorian uniform while he wondered what exactly this young officer needed of him.
'Thank you sir,' Navarro replied with another small smile as she slipped into the proffered seat. Letting her gaze settle on the Commander for a moment, he smile brightened, 'I haven't seen an Andorian uniform in what seems like an age - everyone tends to wear these overalls these days. They say they're more practical, but, I don't know. They lack a certain elan.'
She stopped herself, took a breath and shook away the thought. 'Apologies, I'm not here to waste your time. Commander Whitford thought you might want some station orienteering, furniture requisitions for your personal quarters, and a face to tide you over before he's back from duties off-station.' Navarro's expression turned grave, 'he was very disappointed to learn he would not be here to greet you in person.'
Kytolos finished reading the PADD he'd occupied himself prior to the unannounced visit while he listened to Navarro, setting the device aside and giving her his full attention again.
"I do appreciate the visit," the Andorian said coolly. "And your consideration for my time."
Federation officers always seemed to concern themselves with comfort, Kytolos considered. On the one hand, he wasn't against having a helping hand to orient him on Sentinel Station, but Starfleet could be annoyingly considerate.
"Let's not mince words: you were ordered to babysit the Andorian."
She blinked for a moment, then pushed a smile as she shook her head. 'Babysit is perhaps the wrong word,' Navarro said smoothly. 'Ease in, provide a reference point might be better phrasing for it. The K-Sevens are large facilities and it can help to have a guide for the first few days perhaps?'
Kytolos regarded her for a moment before the corner of his mouth surrendered the tiniest hint of a smile. Despite its faintness, it began to soften the hard lines that had been carved into his face over time.
"You've just corrected a superior officer," he said. "With diplomacy."
Nothing in his words or tone suggested rebuke. If anything, it sounded faintly approving in a very Andorian way.
Navarro smiled again, more self-consciously this time. She shook her head, and looked away from the hinted smile. 'Perhaps. But Operations can't just be moving requisitioned cargo and equipment around Federation space. We're a support service, and that includes our fellow Starfleet personnel, and the guests aboard this station.'
He listened to her. He had known officers just like her in the Guard. Young enough to feel that every task deserved to be done well, even the small ones.
His gaze drifted to the terminal on his desk and the stack of data PADDs haphazardly piled next to it.
"I've spent the afternoon reviewing resupply schedules from Vega and Coridan," he said. "There are docking assignments waiting to be confirmed, quartering requests for three diplomatic delegations, and a Tellarite commercial guild that has already lodged a complaint over cargo bay allocations before its freighter has even entered the system."
Kytolos looked back to Navarro. "All of this is useful and normal, but I have yet to receive a proper briefing on Captain Greene's whereabouts or where the Frontier departed to."
A flash of mirth sparked in Navarro's eyes. 'Well ... Captain Greene is aboard the Frontier, Sir.' She pulled up a PADD and passed it across, balancing it apologetically on top of the sizeable pillar of bureaucracy he had already alluded to. 'The Frontier is on a standard patrol, keeping the Nausicaans on their toes, and letting any Federation vessels out there know we're close by. It shouldn't be long before they check in with a more precise status update.'
The blue-skinned commander smirked and narrowed his eyes at Azul. "'Flying the flag' as you humans call it?"
'That's right,' Navarro chuckled. 'You know the theory. Show people we're here and they'll think we mean business and will give us some breathing room.' She shrugged, 'I'm not so sure it'll be that simple, you know? The galaxy's a rough place and there'll be some shooting before we're done.'
Kytolos grunted, more to acknowledge Navarro's explanation than anything else. He was about to make a comment on the lack of senior officers remaining on Sentinel Station while the Frontier was engaged, but the comm opened before he could speak.
[Operations to Commander Kytolos. There is a subspace communication from Captain Greene for you, sir.]
"Please have it routed here."
He looked down at his terminal's display and then back to Navarro. "I should probably take this, Lieutenant. I appreciated the visit. I'm certain we will see one another again."
'Yes, Sir,' Navarro replied, stepping up from the chair smoothly and giving him a nod. 'If you need anything - anything at all - please send a message. Or just holler. Operations is here to make sure things go smoothly for our fellow Fleeters.' Flashing him a smile, she smoothed out her uniform jumpsuit and headed for the door, wondering how they'd ended up with such an interesting liaison officer.
Commander Kytolos Sh'reyva
Diplomatic Liaison Officer
Sentinel Station
Ensign Azul Navarro
Operations Officer
Sentinel Station
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