LtCmdr Rennyn - A Gift From Darwin

[Ren Rennyn]

 

((USS Darwin-A, Deck 2, Conference Room))

::As Renos and Varaan explained the crew’s reassignment, Ren sat in an emotional state somewhere between shock, excitement and bliss.::

::In his career, he’d been jerked around a few times by Starfleet. But he’d been given a couple of really great opportunities, too. He wondered which end of the spectrum his new job assignment would give him, whenever he was supposed to find out what it was. Considering the region they were headed to, it didn’t really matter.::

::The Par’tha Expanse was like a second home to Ren Rennyn. His first two years in Starfleet had been spent there, galavanting around the Freeworlds Regions in carefree exploration aboard USS Atlantis. Hearing Varaan speak of the region with a kind of joyful pride that belied his usual stoic demeanor, Ren was instantly caught up in fond memories of the Expanse and all it had given him at the beginning of his career. He could read the excitement, the expectation of return that bubbled behind Varaan’s speech, because Ren felt it too. They were going back to the Par’tha Expanse, and every one of their crewmates was in for one heck of a fun ride.::

Renos: Andaris Task Force will be comprised of four vessels - the newly launched Olympic Class USS Blackwell,  the Intrepid Class USS Atlantis, the Horizon Class USS Darwin and the Defiant Class El Corazón. The Darwin’s senior staff is predominantly being reassigned to the Blackwell and Atlantis with a few individuals moving to the home station - Deep Space 26.

::It wasn’t going to be a quick journey, but Ren expected it to fly by almost instantaneously. He was practically flying out of his chair and warping on ahead of Darwin. He couldn’t wait to get there.::

::But the assignments. Get to the assignments!::

Renos: Rennyn, Kell, E’riQ, Thomas, Kalis, R’Ven and Stennes - you will be going to the Blackwell. Rhyn, Brell, Shayne, Logan, Pond, Lambert - you will be joining the Atlantis. For now though, you remain Darwinians so let’s get underway.

::Ren blinked. But the assignments. Are you getting to the assignments?::

Varaan: The Darwin should arrive at the Jenatris Corridor in approximately 18 days, 11 hours and 42 minutes at current speed. It will then take 23.78 hours to traverse the Corridor to the Expanse. In that time, if there is anyone who would like more details regarding the Par'tha Expanse, I will be available to answer any questions. Otherwise, we still have a ship to run. Dismissed.

::They were dismissed. Ren tapped at the padd he’d brought in with him. Maybe Starfleet transferred orders while they were in the meeting? Maybe Renos had sent the assignments to them each rather than spend time announcing everything out loud? He tapped and tapped. Nothing. So it was a waiting game.::

::Ren had waited patiently with Starfleet before, and it didn’t always work out so great. He started to get a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach, and it battled the joy he was feeling for dominance. He took some calming breaths. He was fine. Everyone was fine. Who knew what would happen to Darwin, but the rest of them would be just fine. The scent of adventure was on the wind, and they had the opportunity to follow it. Big things were coming their way!::

::After saying goodbye to his home in Arnmere once again, Ren was in a particularly sentimental mood. They were all going to be fine, but that wasn’t going to make it any easier to say goodbye to Darwin.::

::He’d said goodbye to ships before. Atlantis for one. And Columbia, that shining beacon in his memory. They’d made him first officer of Columbia, and he’d been vain enough to think it was because someone in Starfleet had recognized his potential. Maybe that was still true. But then Columbia was mothballed, with little explanation given. Certainly no one told any of the crew why they were made to suffer the indignity of losing their ship in that way. They’d thrown them all out, both wheat and chaff, and Ren still didn’t know which he’d been. There was no review, no feedback on his work. No one had thanked him for his service or told him it was a job well done, and no one had told him if he did anything wrong, or if he might have done better. He was back to Helm and Ops officer again. That was fine. Some of his favorite people were Helm and Ops officers.::

::It was the not knowing that brought his anxieties back. He’d been first officer of Columbia, and no one told him it was being reassigned until it happened. He found out with everyone else. They all received the same limited explanation. Now, Ren saw the same kind of limited information in front of him. They were all supposed to pick up and go on someone else’s whim. And it was fine. He was fine, they were all fine. They would do their duty to Starfleet as they had pledged to do, and it would all work out okay.::

::Ren wondered if he would be back to the helm. It was his first position in Starfleet, the one he’d trained for at the Academy, and the one he loved. The Par’tha Expanse was notoriously difficult to navigate, with its dense and varied array of spatial anomalies, and Ren was a pilot with personal experience in the region. Maybe Starfleet had remembered that about him, and wanted to leverage that experience in service of their new mission to the region.::

::But that wasn’t what Ren wanted, if his wants counted for anything. Navigating the Expanse was a unique challenge for any pilot, and one he was glad to have pursued. But he’d done that already. He’d moved on to Ops because he’d already accomplished so much as a pilot. He’d developed the PANIC system for Par’tha Navigation Control. He’d mastered the challenge, and he wanted more. New challenges on the ship while they flew to new worlds. New growth in new directions as a professional and as an officer.::

::Feeling uncertain about his near future, Ren took a few more breaths. Starfleet sure did have a way of stringing their own along sometimes. Then again, sometimes they remembered to take care of the people who dutifully served out here in the fringes of space. Renos was in charge of this new task force, and Renos had always taken care of nir own. Ren bucked himself up and prepared to face anything that was thrown at them to the best of his abilities. He was renewed after his time in Arnmere. He had a new lease on life after dealing with his feelings about Navin. He was being handed an opportunity to return to the Par’tha Expanse, where his adventures had begun. It was where Rover came from. It was where Ren truly fell in love with space travel. It was going to be an amazing adventure.::

::He wanted to speak with Varaan about their return to a region they both held dear to their hearts, but the Vulcan commander was already busy talking to the mysterious Sindrana, so Ren headed out to walk the ship.::

::Darwin had been his assignment twice in his career, and both times it had managed to heal him of what ailed him. The heartbreaks of a career in Starfleet were soothed by the magical feeling of being on a magnificent ship like this one, with a truly remarkable crew like the one Ren was honored to serve with.::

::It was going to be a long journey to the Par’tha Expanse, and once they got there, everything would be new all over again. Except that they would have each other, a team forged in battle and adventure throughout the galaxy. A team that was one, even on multiple assignments. They’d been brought together by this beautiful science ship under the command of Captain Renos, and they’d become stronger together than they ever were apart. It was a lesson that would go with them to their next adventure. It was a gift from Darwin.::

LtCmdr Ren Rennyn

Chief Ops & Helm Officer

USS Darwin NCC-99312-A

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