Three Captains

Posted on 05 Dec 2023 @ 10:16pm by Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater

553 words; about a 3 minute read

Marin Vasile was not the first person I had ever seen die. He was, however, the first Starfleet officer that I, Ensign Sofie Ullswater, saw die in the line of duty. As he was pulled from the seat where he died the captain pointed to it and it became my seat. The panel, whose explosion had killed him, still flickered menacingly, threatening another power surge.

That day changed a lot for me. Called to the bridge by a captain I didn't know to aid her warship in battle. By the end of the day I felt like I did know her, Evry Navrin. She was f-cough-ing majestic. That feeling on the opening night of a new performance, when the conductor gives you that look and you would do anything in the world to make sure you got this right: that's what I was feeling there. I knew I needed to get things right, for her, for Captain Navrin. If she'd asked I would have found a way to move mountains that day. She was beautiful, poised, in complete control of her world and able to turn that grace into the deadly expression of battle.

I don't really know why I turned her down when she asked me to stay. I mean, I remember my reason well enough, but I was wrong. I should be on Kali... Not stuck in this nightmare future of Cold Stations and temporal kidnapping.

Maybe if I could go back and change it I would but we can't. As much as this current situation says we can, there is no turning back the clock. And Morgan Tarin needs me. I know she isn't the most popular captain but I think I see the real her. The person beneath all this bravado is, I think, insecure. This is her first command, she's muddling her way through, and I know she needs someone she can trust. I want to be that person, I want to be someone she can confide in, someone who can get the job done, someone who won't go behind her back...

I say, as we are going behind her back. What can I say, I'm nothing if not a hypocrite.

Hypocrites. Morgan Tarin might not be Navrin but I can see in her that she wants to be like that. She wants to be trusted by her crew, she wants to push them to their best. Lihra Saalm, present, future or past, is nothing like Captain Navrin.

Where was Saalm when Marin Vasile died? We don't really know, she ran off somewhere, wouldn't be the last time. The rumours are just rumours but what I can state as fact is that during the second battle the Tholians had suddenly gained knowledge of our tactical capabilities, the range of our weapons. Then, immediately after, we saw Saalm aboard a Tholian ship having negotiated a deal. Did Lihra Saalm kill Marin Vasile? no, at least I don't think so, but it makes you ask the question.

What I do know is that Saalm is a person who revels in keeping her own people in the dark, will trick and manipulate whenever she can. What I know is that she can't be trusted. Not now, not in the past and not in the future.

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