Actions Unbecoming of a Captain

Posted on 05 Sep 2014 @ 2:56pm by Captain Jonathan Holliday & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm
Edited on on 05 Sep 2014 @ 2:56pm

1,391 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Administrative Office
Timeline: MD 09 - 0755 hrs

[ON]

Having just finished sending out a ship-wide reply to Holliday's tribble-extermination message, Lirha leaned back in her chair and let out a loud huff of anger. The soft cooing sounds of the fluffy critters sounded all around her in her private office, once again reminding her of their adorable yet persistent nature. She bit her bottom lip and replayed John's words over and over in her head. "All non-inhabited and non-essential sections are to be deactivated, quarantined and decompressed immediately"... How inappropriate! She briefly wondered if he was even aware of Starfleet policy regarding the ethical treatment of non-sentient lifeforms, but surely he had to be. Every commanding officer in the fleet had been lectured on the topic early on in their careers, which annoyed Lirha even further. Tapping her commbadge in an attempt to figure out what was running through the man's mind, Lirha summoned Galileo's CO.

"Saalm to Holliday. Report to my office immediately," she said through the comm with unmistakable terseness in her light voice.

Holliday took less than a minute to make his way across the ship to the Commodore's office. He had no doubt she had summoned him under her position as his senior officer, and not as a friend - the tone in her voice made that painfully apparent. After waiting for a moment at the door, he pressed the chime and waited.

"Enter!" answered Lirha from inside the room, fully expecting it to be Holliday outside.

Dutifully John stepped through the doorway, and like a first year Cadet positioned himself ahead of the Commodore's desk and brought himself up to his full height and stood to attention.

"Captain Jonathan Holliday reporting as ordered ma'am."

Lirha looked at the captain with narrowed and judgmental eyes when he entered. At least his punctuality had not kept her waiting. Picking up a PADD from her desk which contained his recent message to the ship, she impatiently held it out for him to see and waggled it at him. "What is this all about?" she half-demanded. "Decompressing tribbles?!"

John resisted the urge to drop his attentiive stance and argue with his superior. He could see that she was not pleased with his decision, and he had not expected her to be - nevertheless, he was the captain and he had to answer for his thoughts.

"Ma'am. I made the decision in order to best protect this vessel and it's crew. Our systems are compromised, our attempts to contain the tribbles have failed - the last remaining option was the use of deadly force. For the record Commodore I do not appreciate you countermanding my order when you are here as an Advisor."

Lirha huffed again, this time with even more brewing anger. "Yes, precisely. I am this vessel's mission advisor and it is my job to advise you when I see a blatant violation of Starfleet protocol! You cannot order the mass killing of tribbles simply because you cannot think of any other alternatives. And...what would that accomplish, really? Maybe you would eliminate half of the tribbles on board, at best, but we both know they are everywhere on this ship, even the habitable decks! What have we turned into? Klingons?! We are not at war with the tribbles, John, and we cannot simply begin executing them." How could anyone execute a tribble, she wondered. They were so adorable...

"With all due respect Commodore - if I have to choose between the tribbles, and the welfare of this crew, well the damn tribbles can float into orbit around Lyshan III for all I care!"

John retorted with an anger of his own. He knew full well what the protocols said about dealing with this kind of situation, but he had never been one for protocols. As far as he was concerned his crew was in danger and it was his job to rectify the problem, however it was deemed necessary.

"If you have a better idea ma'am I would be more than willing to entertain it! However if not, then I will march onto the Bridge and begin the decompression sequence myself!"

On yet another occasion, Holliday had ended up in a war of words with a flag officer - he had almost missed the thrill of the argument, the joy of the power of language. The Commandant at the Academy had been a little soft when it came to arguing, however John could virtually feel the heat from the fire in the Orion's belly as she protested her case to him.

"The ship and the crew comes first - that's rule number 1 in my book!"

"There is always a better way... just because we have not found one does not mean it does not exist," Lirha rebuked. "You will not decompress any tribbles into space. It is wrong. End of discussion! Do I need to cite Starfleet regulation for the ethical treatment of animals?" she threatened while quickly standing from her chair and waving a green finger at him.

It would have given John no greater pleasure to not only start the decompression sequence, but to throw Lirha in along with the tribbles. His frustration was building, but there was no way he was going to win without breaching a direct order from a Commodore.

"No ma'am." John replied, deciding that discretion would be the better part of valour in this instance.

"Will there be anything else?"

A brown and white-speckled tribble that had been clinging to the ceiling above Holliday's head suddenly lost its grip and fell, landing ceremoniously on top of the CO's head where its sticky underbelly stuck to John's hair. It cooed softly and snuggled itself into the Human's warm fur patch, quite content that it had found a new temporary home.

The Captain went scarlet with both rage and embarrassment that a pet had landed him in such a humiliating position ahead of his superior officer. Looking up and grunting with disgust, the Captain reached up with an aim to throw the creature into the nearest waste disposal unit.

Lirha tilted her head and silently watched with intrigue at the captain's new pet, then quickly spoke before the man did anything to harm the creature. "Don't move it!" she instructed, "It is your new companion for the day and you are hereby charged with caring for it for the next twenty-four hours. And...in light of your recent rage against the tribbles, I am ordering you to a one-hour sensitivity training session with Lieutenant Carlisle at 1330. And you will bring your tribble with you!" There. That would hopefully soften him up and quell his urge to commit genocide upon the helpless animals.

"You must be joking Commodore?!" John replied incredulously. He had a ship to command, a crew to look after - he wasn't a petsitter and he certainly didn't want a damn tribble clinging to his side for the day.

"Absolutely not," said Lirha with firmness before pointing towards her own features. "This is my serious face... but I can make it an order if you like?"

"You realise that I will lodge a formal complaint in my log about this?" John replied, deftly lifting the tribble from his crown and begrudgingly holding it with a soft grip so as not to earn any further wrath from the Orion.

"Yes, yes, very well," the commodore said with a dismissive reaction almost exactly akin to how her mother used to speak to her when she really didn't care. "In the meantime, your tribble needs care and attention, and I am sure you have bridge duties to attend to that do not involve the murder of defenseless animals. Now, dismissed!" she said, shooing him out of her office with several flicks of her wrist and waves of the back of her emerald hand.

Snapping back to attention, and quietly seething inside, John turned on his heels and marched out of the office carrying the small fluffball in his right hand. He already knew his destination - his Ready Room - perhaps at least there he could find a way to get out of this predicament.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

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