Preliminaries And Excuses

Posted on 10 Jun 2017 @ 3:20pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Captain Amber Austin M.D.
Edited on on 12 Jun 2017 @ 4:08pm

1,998 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Earth - San Francisco, Starfleet HQ, Captain Austin's office
Timeline: MD 06, 1000

[ON]

Miraj shifted her weight from one foot to the other, intensley nervous. The summons from Captain Amber Austin's assistant the previous day had left her both relieved and anxious. Relieved that she was going to be facing a captain, and not anyone more senior, and anxious because this was still going to be part of the investigations, and just thinking about all that happened on Kreanus and on the Klingon vessel made her guts turn to scrambled egg.

But, as her father said, it was best to do a thing, than live in fear of it, so she tightened her bright pink bunches, smoothed her uniform down, reached out, and knocked on the captain's door.

Amber didnt even look up from the PADD she was reading as she spoke aloud to allow the door to open.

"Come."

Miraj strpped though into the office. The woman behind the desk didnt look too fierce, but it didnt matter, she still held the power of life and death over Miraj's future.

As the door opened she motioned to the seat across from her desk without looking up and holding up a finger to signal to the incoming person that she needed a moment. As she read taking in the information that she had recorded from a previous interview she reached a stopping point and looked up over the rims of her glasses at the newly entered officer.

"How may I help you today?" Amber asked gently.

"You asked to see me, ma'am?" Miraj explained. "I'm Miraj Derani. I was on the Galileo. "

Amber nodded "Ah, yes, sorry was busy with paperwork. Please, let us head to one of the interview rooms. But before we go, would you like something to drink?"

Miraj was too nervous to want to eat or drink anything, but she'd always been told to accept hospitality when offered. "Just some water please, ma'am." Anything more than that sheer nerves were likely to make her throw up, and that would be a disaster.

Amber made a note on her PADD and transferred it to her yeoman along with the room number she was going to take the Ensign to. Amber motioned to the door and for the Ensign to follow her. As she walked down the corridor she stopped at one of the empty interview rooms and motioned for the Ensign to enter. After she had entered Amber followed and placed her PADD down on the table and took her seat. She began with her normal opening statement modified since the Ensign had already been greeted.

"Ensign, I am Captain Amber Austin of Star Fleet Personnel Command. I will be handling your debrief after the Galileo incident. This is all regular and routine we're just here to figure out what happened." she said as she looked at the Ensign. "Now, please relax this is just a fact finding inquiry to get the recollections of the crew and piece together what happened. Please, sit."

Miraj took a seat, perching on the edge of it, too worried to sit back in a more relaxed fashion. Then she waited for the captain to continue, not sure if she should say anything or stick to answering questions.

"Thank you now, let's start from the beginning. What do you remember of the events, from your perspective, leading up to the loss of the Galileo?"

Miraj took a breath, so much had happened over the last three months it was hard to know where to begin. At the beginning was a good choice. "We picked up the distress call from the SS Recluse on the way to SB-234. When it came through, Lirha - The Admiral - asked the senior staff what they thought. Luke - COmmander Wyatt - Thought it was a trap, sent to lure people in. But at the time I said it was unlikely. My father works in Salvage. I just thought Commander Wyatt was like most people. They can't comprehend how vast space is. The truth is you have more chance of being hit by lightening on two seperate occasions on two seperate planets, that a Distress call being picked up. The Recluse was listed as missing, even though it was forty years ago. I said we had a duty to the relatives to find out what had happened. People need closure. The Admiral had already decided to go in, in accordance with Starfleet directives. But I wish we'd all listened to Luke."

Amber nodded "What happened next Ensign?" Ambers stylus danced over the PADD as the Ensign spoke.

"We went into the Paulson Nebula about twenty four hours later, we plotted the course and went in. It didn't take long, it was less than a million kilometers from the edge, and we went in at quarter impulse. Stupidly fast. Inside the Nebula there was lots of interference. Worse than most nebulae. But we got a pinpoint, and went at it at half-impulse. Took about minute to get to it. And thats when weaw Recluse and found all our signals were jammed. That's when we were hailed by Ko'raH." Miraj couldn't help the small shudder at the memory of the Klingon and his greasy fingers. "Telling us to surrender."

Amber nodded "What can you tell me about the fight between the klingons and the Galileo, specifically what thoughts the Admiral expressed as well as any objections from her command staff?"

Miraj cast her mind back to that horrendous few minutes. "She refused of course, cited the Khitomer accords, but he insisted. The Chief Research Officer suggested making a run for the nebula, and he could put out fake trail to hide us. The admiral said to plot a course, but then Klingons uncloaked. They had us in a cross fire, but only on a single plane. Everyone forgets space is three dimensional. She ordered evasive manouvres, so I went straight up, twisted round to present a narrower broadside. But their torpedoes were good, and adapted for the nebula. I couldn't shake them, and we could barely see them. And then another ship uncloaked. They loosed their own torpedoes, and they hit. Thats when the helm blew up on me. The feedback had been so much, it shattered the whole thing, there was glas and polycarbonate everywhere. I got cut a lot." Miraj paused, thought back some more. "The Admiral ordered Commander Wyatt to return fire, and we managed to take out one. But the other torpedoes had done so much damage. We'd lost main power, most of the shields, The admiral sent damage crews out, but it was impossible to fix. I went to ops and they managed to rewire the Helm to there, but Warp was down, the impulse was out. I didn't even had thrusters. I had a dead stick."

Amber nodded and the stylus danced. "How soon after this was the abandon ship order given?"

Miraj thought for a long time. It had seemed like forever. "I'm not sure. The klingons boarded us first. The admiral ordered Wyatt and the XO, Wiggins, to repel boarders. Security had a running battle down there. We'd managed to get flight back, but only quarter impulse and some thrusters. We tried to run, but i couldn't out fly them." There was a tone of surprise and disbelief in that comment. She was angry and confused about that. She'd never been outflown. It was a blow to her pride. She should have been able to fly out of that.

"But another torpedo took us in Deck 8, hit the warp core. We ejected it, but it hadn't got far enough. We lost half the ship at that point. That's when the Abandon Ship was called. It must have taken half an hour from Ko'raH demanding surrender and then."

Amber nodded "So you went into the nebula what precautions did you take when answering the distress call?"

Miraj's blue eyes glazed over as she thought back. "The science department adapted some probes to act as whiskers, to try and boost sensors. The nebula really didn't play nicely with them, our range was down to a couple of hundred meters. They might as well not have been there." She couldn't think of anything else. What else could they have done?

Amber nodded "Probes to boost sensors. Tell me what happened after the crew was captured."

Miraj shuddered. She couldn't help it. Of everything that happened since the destruction of Galileo, this was the one that still gave her restless nights. "They put us in the brig whilst they took us to Kreanus. And then they took some of us out and asked her questions. They asked me about the route we had been taking, how we'd found them. Did anyone know we were here. They..." she took a deep breath,"tortured us." She stared at the floor, not wanting to say any more, and confess how it hadn't taken her much to tell them everything they had wanted to know.

Amber nodded and jotted down some notes. "Are you having any I'll effects from the interogations Ensign?" She asked softly cuing to something there but outside of her wheelhouse.

"Nightmares occasionally. Nothing major." Miraj shook her head, setting her pink bunches swinging around her youthful face. Nothing compared to what had happened since. Nothing compared to what was still happening.

"I see have you spoken to anyone about the nightmares?" Amber asked softly her concern for the mental well being of the Ensign over riding her inquiry. She was a medical officer after all.

Miraj shook her head again. "There wasn't really a counselor on Kreanus. And so much happened since, a few bad dreams kind of seemed lame. And plenty of other people had a bad time too. It seemed a bit selfish."

Amber smiled knowingly at the Ensign "That may be so but you need to talk to someone. I would suggest a counselor here on HQ. Traumatic experiences like what you went through have a way of coming back and sitting on your chest until you work through them. I can give you the name of a counselor that I trust if that will help?"

"The only thing that will help is getting to fly again," Miraj said. "Its the only thing I'm good at it, its what I've always done. Thank you for the offer, but until I get my flight clearance back." She didn't want to think for a moment that she should have said If. "There's no real point. Once I can fly, everything gets better."

Amber nodded "As you wish but you should speak to someone, perhaps when the ban is lifted you can talk to your ship's councilor." Amber took a deep breath and made a few notes on her PADD "I think that's enough for today Ensign, I'll be in touch to schedule a follow up interview if I need to." she smiled as she began to stand.

Miraj breathed a sigh of relief., glad it had been so brief, and thankful that it hadn't touched on all the horrible things that had happened once they got to Kreanus, and afterward. "Thank you Ma'am"

At the door she turned, "One last thing ma'am. I'm having surgery tomorrow. Its quite... intense. I'd like permission to contact some of my friends, let them know what's happening. Just in case. Please?"

Amber looked down and made a note "I am not able to authorize that but I will speak to the Admiral and get back to you on that matter later today." she smiled as she looked up and hoped it was reassuring.

Miraj had been hoping for an instant yes. She was desperate to tell Luke, and Amaranai that she was going into dangerous surgery. She'd just have to hope it would come out the way she wanted. "Thank you, Ma'am."

[OFF]

Ensign Miraj Derani


&

Amber Austin, M.D.
Captain
Senior Investigator
Star Fleet Personnel Department

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