Because, put simply, it was the greatest feeling in the world. I can hear that, Donners. LOL! This is a monster sized chapter, too! So, I'll do my best to hit all the high points and such. XD I also like that she's aware of the feelings of other commanding officers and is taking those into account in how she conducts herself, too. And MICHAEL! Nice seeing his name, gotta admit. XD

She was however, Maya had found, a little clueless when it came to social interactions with the crew. I can empathize with that! Nothing like culture shock. Still, Ssestar-Rass sounds pretty on the ball and I look forward to seeing her in action.

Once an engineer, always an engineer. How true is that! Also like the callback to warp travel possibly damaging subspace, too; fantastic little bit there. Also love the whole cultural dissonance going on there; how the non-humanoids have to band together in order to try to make sense of us. No small feat!

Ha! I love the rehash of the simulation from earlier, too. Sh'Fane is kind of sticking a foot in it, but it seems Mer'iab is holding his own there, too. Their arguments and counterarguments about what their duties are to be make for good reading, as well; they both make sense, which means it's time for someone else to break the stalemate. I think Donners did a fine job with that.

Daystrom kinda dodges her asking if he's all right. Like just blows right by it. I'm glad she kept pushing on him to open up a bit, because that kind of stoicism isn't actually good for the body. (And I write a lot of stoics and struggle with it myself, so I should know!) And she said the right things, too! Definitely good captain material! Not over yet, even with good words, but she's right: A good start.

And now back to deal with DeSoto. LOL! Somehow, I think he'd fit right in with Mistral's Shand and Torres, at least at this point. And OMG, a pet le-matya?? That's just too cool! Glad it got Allenby to quit pacing. XD And pfft! Soaked head to toe in hot water sounds perfectly good to me, excuse me! LOL!

Donners has most definitely earned her spiced Klingon coffee, yeah. Well done!

Author's Response: This one was a biggie as Donners makes her rounds to get to know her crew, or at least their myriad of issues. Since I spent most of my fan fiction "career" writing about an already well established set of characters as part of a crew, it was really interesting here to try and explore what it would look like if a newly-minted captain has to deal with one that is far rougher around the edges and which hasn't really learned to play nice with each other yet. It's an ongoing theme in this story for sure.