The Two Captains

Posted on 30 Nov 2025 @ 1:45pm by Captain Threlox

666 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Opening Transmission
Location: Starbase 12
Timeline: Stardate 1823.4
Tags: Starbase 12, Proteus, Threlox, Okonkwo, Aryabhata

[ Starbase 12; K-type Orbital Facility ]
[ Observation Lounge, Deck 4 ]

"Captain," Threlox's Denobulan smile came across his face. His dimples rose greatly, and he raised his head to warmly greet Captain Sarah Okonkwo, who approached him in the Observation Lounge. Behind them was a large viewport of Haven IV and the docking ring with the Constitution-class U.S.S. Aryabhata in berth five with the Proteus in the adjacent berth.

"Sarah, Threlox. It's just Sarah now," Okonkwo replied warmly in her soft Nigerian accent. She placed her hand on his left arm, "It's definitely an adjustment for both of us in the coming days."

She withdrew her hand after she was finished speaking. She took a sip of her champagne, waiting for Captain Threlox's response.

Threlox touched both the Denobulan family ring and the heavy Tellarite clan signet in both his left and right hands respectfully while his now retired Captain spoke about their acclimatisation in their own lives. He was freshly promoted to Captain and given his first command, and she had now just retired from Starfleet after thirty-five years in the service.

"Sarah," the Denobulan-Tellarite hybrid said out loud to himself while he tried to come to terms with her request. His finger now rolled around the signet ring of his Tellarite clan, while he had made his choice, "With much respect, Captain Okwonko - simply calling you Sarah erases your thirty-five years in Starfleet."

"You're correct that you're no longer my captain, but you were my captain for the past two years, and it seems to disrespect you to call you anything less than not addressing you with your former rank."

Sarah couldn't help herself but placed her free hand on her stomach and released a boisterous belly-filled laugh that most of the Observation Lounge could hear, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help but laugh there. You Tellarites' needs for hierarchy."

"You're not disrespecting me in the slightest, Captain Threlox. We're peers now. Calling me 'Captain' puts distance between us that doesn't need to be there anymore. That has made you a good officer—respect matters. I'm requesting that you continue to respect my wishes to address me by my own preference, and that's Sarah."

The Denobulan-Tellarite couldn't contain his smile as it widened across his facial features, "I apologise for the misunderstanding."

"Please, Threlox. There's no need to apologise."

Chukwudi Okonkwo approached them. He raised his hands to greet both of them warmly, "I thought I was the only man to ever make you laugh, awkwa m*."

Sarah laughed lightly at her husband's joke. He embraced his wife with a small peck on the cheek.

She returned with a light kiss on his lips before he moved to stand beside his wife.

Okonkwo's hand reached over to Threlox, "You must be Commander Threlox."

"Captain Threlox now," she corrected her husband.

"My apologies, Captain Threlox. My wife has been in Starfleet for thirty-five years, and I never could keep up with the rank designs. Not like the prefab colony infrastructure projects I have built with my very own hands. Ah, yes. I have failed to introduce myself. I'm Chukwudi Okonkwo, you can call me Chuck."

The Captain's Denobulan smile remained across his face while the spouse of his former captain spoke. In the two years Captain Okonkwo and he served on the Aryabhata. Sarah spoke often of Chuck, how he followed her around the galaxy with their children to be close while he took on projects across Federation-controlled space, "An introduction wasn't necessary."

"Oh? Airing our old laundry, Sarah?" Chuck inquired in a love-and-teasing way when his wife waved it off in a swoosh of her hand.

Sarah chuckled at her husband's comment, "Pay him no mind, Threlox."

OFF:

Captain Threlox
Commanding Officer, USS Proteus

also as

Captain (Rt'd) Sarah Okonkwo

and as her husband,

Chukwudi Okonkwo

* Common Igbo word for lover, tranlates into my egg in English.

 

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