"There's been a distress signal from Regula One," he said.
"Regula One?" Potter, of course, knew what the deal was there.
"That's a scientific outpost, isn't it, sir?" Radar said.
"I told Starfleet it was probably just garbled communications," Hawkeye said. "But they want it checked out, and - just like old times - we're the only ship in the quadrant."
Potter grimaced thoughtfully. "How good are these cadets of yours, Hawkeye? How will they stand up under real pressure?"
"There's only one way to find out." Hawkeye bit the bullet. "Of course the ship is yours."
Potter looked up, surprised. "That's not necessary."
"I'm just a teacher," said Hawkeye. "If we're going on actual duty -"
"You are a talented command officer -"
"Well, I learned from the best -"
"You were both pretty stupid," Radar interrupted, "to let yourselves get kicked upstairs like you did."
Hawkeye and Potter both stared at him as if he had bit them.
"Sorry, sirs. But it's true and you know it."
Hawkeye turned to Potter. "Well, I'm not going to argue with him."
"Hawkeye," said Potter, "the Enterprise was your ship before I even assumed command after Henry Blake."
"I didn't object then, did I?"
Potter looked from him to Radar, where he saw no help. "Oh, very well," he said. But there was a familiar spring to his step when he stood, that hadn't been there earlier.