“So, I think we can all agree that this experiment has been mostly satisfactory to all parties?” asked T’Lau, peering around the meeting room table. She made a few notes on her PADD at the nods that followed.

‘Ran was there of course, looking like she’d rather be almost anywhere else, not that technically she had much of an option. She was in her holographic avatar should a quick exit be required. Captain Jules Montgomery was there as a courtesy to his XO.

Doctor Elena Cartwright was there as Ship’s Doctor, though mostly due to regulations. Anything to get out of paperwork. Lieutenant Qeem Solis was there to represent any engineering questions, even if the design of Chance’s avatar was mostly standardized and his Lieutenant Junior-grade Kim had been the one to work on her.

Both kindergarten teachers Megan Ausrich and John Jensen were in the meeting, looking a little lost. Commander T’Lau was there as her duties to the captain made her essential for the scheduling, though she had voiced her objections and suggested that perhaps the ship’s counselor Commander Kesse Ihudi, a Betazoid, would’ve been more appropriate to organize the whole thing. The counselor had politely refused, saying it was more a crew and scheduling review than a medical meeting, the latter of which wouldn’t’ve been appropriate in any event.

Kesse had agreed to sit in, but would not be offering much more than character references.

“Er, yes,” said Megan Ausrich, nodding cautiously. “Chance is a very… enthusiastic student. She completes every task given to her and the only issue we have is that she is very, um, very,” Megan trailed off, her voice drying out to a squeak.

“Precocious,” said John Jensen, clearing his throat. “She’s a sassy little Madam, but has a heart of gold. I’m happy to report that in general she gets on very well with the other children, though she does get a bit bossy at times, she takes her punishment for it well, however.”

‘Ran’s cheeks burned in a virtualized autonomic response she was too polite to stamp down on, it would have looked very strange to have her avatar glitch out and reset, and far more embarrassing.

“I will have words with her about her behavior,” Buran said faintly, but Jensen waved her off.

“No, no, if we thought there was anything serious, we’d have a meeting about it.” He coughed as he looked around the table. “A-and this isn’t about that. And we don’t need it to be. Ahem.”

“This is more, if I may be forgiven from butting in,” said Captain Montgomery, “about the proposed class trip I believe was being floated?”

“Ah, yes,” said Megan, “Astrogation identified a garden world a few lightyears away. Uninhabited, no large or dangerous animal life, no diseases. A perfect class M planet, and a very stable class G star. We would like to take the class, the whole class, for a couple of days to just… stretch their legs, have a bit of a camp-out, a-and get some field work in, you know. Collect dirt samples in jars and pick up some examples of the local flora, draw some of the fauna. Nothing that’s not already been done by a relatively recent survey team, but it’ll be fun for the kids.”

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“And we’d like to know if Chance can come with us, so seeing as there was this monthly review of her progress, it seemed a good point to hijack part of the meeting and make it a bit more…”

“Useful?” prompted Kesse, smiling.

“Yeah,” said Jensen, scratching the back of his head. “Honestly, Chance blends in well with the rest of the kids. She’s not much different, really. I’ve known kids far more precocious than her, and if I know anything about Jovians — and I don’t, not really, but I can imagine — then forcing her to do something she doesn’t enjoy at the speed she doesn’t want to run at would be tantamount to torture. She’s chafing at the restrictions placed upon her as it is, through no fault of anybody here, and it’s a safe outlet to give us another little princess to look after. Hehe. I think she honestly enjoys it.”

“I suppose we could make her acting Ensign, Captain? If you’d rather—” Kesse teased.

“NO! No, no, thank you. She’s adorable, but I already have one XO I feel is overqualified to be running her own ship. I don’t need a pint-sized princess doing a better job than me too. No offense, ‘Ran.”

“Some taken,” Buran sniffed.

“Honestly, I’ll never see what some of the sticklers do in a computer that can’t get at least a little sarcastic with you. This has been the smoothest voyage yet, Ship, I do hope you’ll stay on after this little jaunt is over. I like being able to sit back and take the credit for your excellence.”

Buran rolled her eyes. “I just do what any other Jovian would, Sir. I don’t know if I'll stay, but I’ll consider it, and put in a good word for another Mind you might find agreeable at least.”

“Be that as it may… anyway, Solis, Buran, any objections to Miss Chance accompanying the class on their little excursion?”

“Well,” replied Solis, the blue Bolian spinning his chair left and right thoughtfully, “her avatar will need a beefier power supply or some extra charging hardware, just as a matter of good practice, but otherwise I see no physical issues.”

“I will make sure she has an appropriate amount of backup Cores, Sir. Should there be any… issues, I couldn’t allow myself to not have taken the appropriate precautions for a Jovian. Any significant delay on returning would mean a fork, but—”

“There’d be two of her? Well, another reason to make sure the class trip goes off without a hitch then,” chuckled Montgomery. “How about this? If you say she’s been a bit bossy in kindergarten,” the Captain looked between Jensen and Aurich, “how about as punishment you make her organize the trip a little?”

Buran put her hand to the bridge of her nose. “Is there any reason you wish to reward her for this bad behavior of hers?”

“We don’t see it as a reward though, so let her revel in this win. Work smarter, not harder.”

Aurich and Jensen shared a Look, then shrugged.

“As you wish, sir,” Jensen said, with a nod.