For a brief moment the space outside the windows lit up blinding blue before the glow faded, revealing the sleek yellow and silver Allied Fleet Service battlecruiser behind it. A short second later the comms rang through, a rough, scratchy voice belonging to a male Nausicaan speaking: "This is the A.F.S. Dukan'rex. Four to beam aboard." This was followed by faint retching. Maybe the sporehub jump had made the speaker sick. Oh, dear. (edited)

The Ferengi had been working away on her PADD, seated in one of the new central command chairs that got installed a few months back when the A.F.S. ship practically blinded the entire command staff, including herself. She closed her eyes, covering them with her free hand as she did, before opening them again a moment later with a squint as she heard the communication ring out across the deck. She looked over to her comms officer and gave them a nod, before turning back to simply carry on with her work, chuckling slightly as she did. It was a knowing chuckle. (edited)

The Communications Officer nodded in response to Dagis' nod, rubbing their eyes slightly from the blinding flash, before responding to the A.F.S. comm. "A.F.S. Dukan'rex you are clear for your party to beam aboard. Please go to holding position seventeen and keep the docking areas clear." They instructed. (edited)

A different voice came over the comms now: "Understood. Dukan'rex out." The comms then cut following what seemed like a brief spate of conversation.

It wasn't every day that the medical officer could be found up here upon the command deck but today was one of those days. Most of the time he showed up to assist work idly chat with those on duty - call it morale building - but today it had mostly been in order to see what was going on in regards to people coming aboard... And perhaps to keep out of the way of the crowds. Over the past couple of days old members of staff from the station had started arriving but today was the day that the reunion had officially been set for, leading to quite the sudden influx of people onboard. He had idly been stood behind tone of the Operations stations, watching one of the officers tick off people who had arrived and checking everything against a list which contained the likes of where they were to find their quarters, when there was a sudden flash of blinding blue from the windows beyond. For a moment he half expected a red alert to be declared but instead there was just the sound of the comms being activated and a beam-over request being made. He spent a moment trying to blink away the sudden dots of light which seemed almost burned into his vision, waiting for the formalities to be finalised before he spoke. "You see - we told you that someone would go out of their way to make some sort of spectacular entrance, didn't we?" Squinting at the design of the ship, he took note of the design and the residual faint crackling of what looked like strange blue energy from around the hull. Spore drives -- he could never understand their use, and he certainly never wanted to end up on a ship that used one. "Aren't there some sort of restrictions upon how close to an establishment that you can spore jump? I feel like there should be..." Even if it was to prevent a person from getting blinded by the ship's jumping in.

Dagis listened to what the Commander said, chuckling at the last part of his sentence. “I’m pretty sure there is, but I’d have to check protocol manuals, and you and I both I’m not going to waste my time on that. At least not right now, anyway. Tell Captains and Helmsmen off is always a fun thing to do.” She joked with another chuckle, before finally looking up from her PADD and over at the Medical Officer. “You think I could sue for retina damage?” The Ferengi joked once more with a smirk.

"Not to endorse fraud - would it come under fraud? Not to endorse fraud, but I could programme in a set of false tricorder readings if you really wanted to," he mused in return. The tone of voice conveyed how it was a joke, of course, and it was one that he wouldn't make amongst others but would here. The command deck staff seemed to have gotten used to his incessant chatter and not leaving them alone. He knew when to stop and when things were too busy for that, but for the most part they didn't mind. Most seemed to enjoy a friendlier atmosphere here... Except from this one Vulcan officer who seemed to be here to work and that was it, keeping to herself. It was on the back of her chair that Vince leaned on for a moment before the officer forcibly yanked the chair to the side, leaving him stumbling for a second before regaining his balance -- his own fault, really. Hopefully one day the officer would come around a little. "Did somebody not say that they were going to start taking bets on whether anyone would do something glamorous to arrive instead of just docking their ship normally? And I know that one of the MCPOs made that bingo card..." As he spoke he had wandered to one of the unoccupied consoles and quickly scrolled through the messages there. "Mhm... Here we are - one of the boxes states 'untoward entry to the station,' I'm sure that would count. What else have they got... 'Someone loses their child,' 'someone brags about their achievements in the last fifteen years'... If this was a drinking game then we would be in trouble at the medical bay. Everything on this card is going to happen."

Dagis continued to smirk in response to Vincent's jokes, but rolled her eyes when the Vulcan nearly made him fall over. She was used to having to deal with the Vulcan-ness that eradiated off that officer, but that reaction seemed a little harsh. As the CMO moved onto the talk of bets Dagis almost instinctively pulled up a different screen on her PADD, a realisation coming to her like a smack on the face. When she had the opportunity to spoke she did, looking back at the man with a grin. It was a very familiar grin, that only he and the Command deck staff knew about. It was the grin of victory. "I just won twenty strips." She said, a very rare hint of a Ferengi's lust for Latinum slipping into her tone. "Number One is not gonna be happy to hear she just lost our bet. Flashy entrances do pay, it seems." The woman added with a smirk.

"You know that she won't be impressed," he mused in return and turned back to face the centre of the room, leaning against the back of an unoccupied chair this time. "But you're right - the temporary blindness did have a benefit. We'll have our good Captain Ughaz'udan to thank for that. How strange it is how different things work for the Jem'hadar. For most species we would never trust a seventeen year old to captain a starship, never mind be entrusted with a spore drive. ...I know it's all just to do with biology, but it is impressive." From beside him you could practically feel the Vulcan roll her eyes. Despite trying to remain neutral she seemed to be a touch more emotional than other Vulcans... But the only emotions conveyed were frustration, disgruntlement, irritation... It seemed that she was quick to become annoyed with a person's actions and every time you could all but feel the tension radiating from her -- it didn't even take a Betazoid to notice the shift. This happened every time the idle chatter up here began. He had tried to coax her into counselling about it but it had been declined. His colleagues had ended up with the same result. It wasn't as if he liked to name problematic officers, but she was one. "Petty Officer... I know you don't enjoy people talking about anything outside of work, but I do advise that you relax a little before that tension ends in you breaking something. There isn't anything wrong with building morale. This is a workplace but we also spend all of our time aboard this station - we understand your desire to remain distanced, but for some staying distanced would feel unwelcoming. We need to be mindful of what one another wants, no?"

"It sounded like the spore drive is doing what it's known to do. And by that I mean the person who came over comms sounded unwell." Dagis mused. She had never understood why they were used as much as they were. She quietly listened to what Vincent said to the Petty Officer, nodding her head in agreement. "Besides, I think those of us who aren't Vulcan would be bored out our minds if we weren't allowed any idle chatter. I don't think it's fair to make people sit in silence observing their consoles all shift." The Ferengi added, before standing up and deciding to stretch her legs a little. She began walking around the Command deck in a counter-clockwise fashion, glancing between her PADD and the consoles as she did. She came to a stop briefly behind the console of the officer marking off the arriving guests, reading who was yet to arrive, before continuing. "Sooner or later I'll have to show my face. I mean, I'm literally the one that invited them all here." She said with a chuckle, the comment clearly aimed at the CMO more than anyone else.

It was easy to tell by the Vulcan's silence that she hadn't been impressed with an answer. It was always hard to tell what her response would be. Some days you could end up unintentionally drawing her into a debate (and it didn't take much either,) but on other days it seemed she simply couldn't be bothered. Everyone up here had such a different dynamic - and that was what made it interesting. It made it obvious of why Vince often ventured up here instead of remaining hidden away within the medical bay. While the majority of the staff got along well, being up here and watching the work they put in could be quite interesting. Still leaning against the back of that chair he watched Dagis pace the outside of the room. It seemed to be some sort of thing that commanding officers did instinctively, he had noticed. His gaze kept up with her strides, almost zoning out a little to the repetitive motion of the CO walking. "You are going to have to - and are we still going to go ahead with some sort official formal gathering night? People are going to find out about one another being here naturally but it would be good to get them together in one place, no? As long as we make it better than that high school reunion I went to... Dios, it was bad."

“I was thinking a ball, but it might be too cliche… Also the Ops Chief would kill me for giving such short notice to set something like that up…” Dagis said, now internally pondering as she continued to pace the deck. After a short moment she finally stopped, looking up from her PADD as she did. “…Unless it was on the holodeck. That could work. Find a generic ballroom program, run it, invite people. That would fix the logistics!” She declared almost entirely triumphantly, before looking over at Vincent. “I mean, unless you have any other suggestions for something less… formal? I’d rather it be relaxed and people not have to worry about fancy attire.”

"You wouldn't want to have Operations plan something so large-scale at such a late date - it wouldn't be fair on them. A holodeck would work... But for a ball people should probably have been told beforehand. Do we know if they brought formalwear? Wait - we have replicators, so that would solve that problem... Of course it would solve that problem. I don't think my brain is working today." He huffed and gave a short shrug before running a hand through his hair which had turned a collage of greys over the years, still trying to think of something that would work in terms of short notice. "What about some form of cocktail party? We could rent out Iota for the night so they provide the staff and service. Normally they do the decor for functions themselves, and they have that dance floor so it's somewhat along the same lines... And not to be dramatic, but I could be doing with a well-made sangria."

The Ferengi listened intently to what Vincent said, nodding along as he spoke, before clicking her fingers and pointing at him when he suggested the cocktail party, grinning and nodding her head as he continued to speak. "That's perfect! When do you think we should do it? They'll want to know when I contact them to book it." She said, already pulling up something on her PADD. "And do we want it to be family-friendly? I know we have an influx of kids visiting right now, and they're all connected to the folks I invited to this shindig. Did I say that right? "Shin-dig"? That's a really weird word and I've only ever read it before. Standard is weird." She said with a laugh.

"Ay, how is it that as time goes on you seem to evolve to act more like an old man from Earth instead of anything else, Captain Dagis?" He enquired whilst shaking his head, although the way his lips twitched upwards betrayed the smile of amusement. He would have commented further on the use of 'shindig' of all words when one of the Bolian science officers offered 'hootenanny' as an alternative, leaving one of the tactical officers wheezing with laughter and Vince himself praying for his own sanity (although really, he did live for this sort of fun banter that they had up here.) "Horrible Standard words aside - what about the likes of the Thursday? Gives people a chance to get settled, gives them time afterwards so they're not struggling to pack up and leave. And as for family friendly... I suppose it would have to be, unless you want to search for a volunteer for babysitting them. How old are they all anyway? I can't imagine it - all of our old colleagues having settled down somewhat, having families..."

Dagis chuckled in response to Vincent’s comment about her acting like an old man. Her chuckle quickly turned into a full blown and very loud laugh when the Bolian suggested ‘hootenanny’ as an alternative to what she said. She wiped a few tears from her eyes as she finished listening to what the CMO said, nodding along with a grin on her face as she did. Needless to say she was struggling to not start laughing again at just how silly these Standard words were. “Thursday works. As for the kids… I’d say anywhere between maybe five years old and straight up teenagers. I don’t have exact numbers off hand. I think we either need to drag in a babysitting service or make sure there’s a kids table and some fun stuff for them to do. I’d offer suggestions for that but Ferengi children enjoy business studies and pretending to make their parents buy things. I don’t think either of those are useful for this current situation.” She said with a chuckle, pausing for a moment to think. “It is weird though, isn’t it? It doesn’t feel that long ago when we were all, you know, young. Not that we’re old mind you.”

There had still been a scattered bout of laughter across the command deck's central stations as people now threw about different words in Standard; now having deviated for just words for a gathering, they chimed in with anything that sounded silly. From his place at one side of the structure Vince lapsed into silence, zoning out of whatever Dagis said next. His gaze wandered over those gathered there: the Vulcan officer who didn't seem impressed by the joking at all, the Bolian officer frantically trying to find a dictionary of words that sounded dumb, Dagis who was almost crying of laughter with the sudden hysterics that they had all ended in. Suddenly he was struck by the atmosphere here - how everyone was comfortable with one another, familiar, caring. When people said that life within Starfleet led to colleagues being more like family, this was what they meant. He tuned back in eventually and found that the nostalgia made quite the contrast - but it wasn't a bad one. "No, we're not," he replied, gaze having taken on a look of bittersweet melancholy that felt like it belonged to the present more than the past, and finding himself having to clear his throat before speaking again. "But fifteen years is still a long time. It is good to reflect on what we had back then, and how times have changed... And be appreciative of what we have now."

Dagis nodded again in agreement with what Vincent said, taking a short moment to actually think about everything she had: Family, friends, colleagues, Latinum… Wait no that one isn’t relevant. The Ferengi smiled rather fondly, but instead of saying something genuine, she instead chose to come out with the best joke she had for the scenario at hand. She moved back to her chair and sat down in it before speaking. “Oh I’m very appreciative of what I have. This chair is great! Far better than standing all day!” She said, keeping the straightest face possible, before practically bursting out laughing again just like earlier. She clearly hadn’t gotten it out of her system yet. After another short spout of laughter she finally sighed with a smile, before glancing down at her PADD and back at Vincent. “Times have certainly changed.” Don’t make another chair joke. Don’t make another chair joke. “I remember a time I had to sit in the most uncomfortable office chair. Command clearly wants us on our feet and working, because that thing hurt if you sat in it for more than half an hour.” She said with a chuckle. So much for not making another chair joke.

He could only help but sigh and shake his head but that amused smile still remained, clearly unimpressed with the sudden bout of chair jokes but not exactly frustrated with them... It was more of an entertained exasperation. Trust him to be the one being legitimate and seriously nostalgic and Dagis to be the one making some random jokes. He wasn't certain if it was just part of this sudden laughing fit that had swept over the deck -- the alternative was that it was intentional, because Dagis knew what he was like and knew what would distract him. Instead of mock telling the CO off for the sudden bout of jokes (only himself and a select few others would get away with doing that of course), he just shook his head. "Perhaps they did it on purpose," he called over while checking the chronometer (and subsequently offering it an unimpressed look,) "standing now and again while working will do your back wonders instead of staying hunched over all of the time - it's such a common issue with people here and very much easily fixable. Now -- I should be getting back to the medical bay... But if there is anything I can do to help in arranging this gathering then you will let me know, Captain, yes? But if not-" he paused and finally hauled himself from the chair he had leaned against to make a slow wander towards the exit. "-Then I'll see you on Thursday night... Or before, should I feel the need to come and annoy you all beforehand."

"I have a feeling that sitting in an uncomfortable chair with little-to-no back support would counteract any standing someone might do during a shift." Dagis said with a chuckle, before looking down at the chronometer on her PADD, and then back up at Vincent. "I have a feeling you'll need to be my, how do I word it... Federation entertainment representative. Stars knows I have no clue how to entertain a bunch of people and their kids for however long." She said with a laugh as the man slowly made his way towards the exit. "The Command deck is always open to friendly annoyances!" She responded jokingly with a grin. "I'll message you later with some details about the party."

He would have been the least helpful option for being allocated as a 'Federation entertainment representative' considering he didn't know how to host an event at all, so in return he turned to walk backwards out the door instead, offering a halfhearted shrug and a smile as he went. "We'll work it out, no worries - and besides, people will be busy speaking with one another. We probably won't need any input. Let me know if you need anything, and I'll see you then!" He then added before turning to face the right way again, heading out of the doors.