The Diplomat & The Warrior

Posted on 07 Aug 2012 @ 3:43am by Ensign Rhett Brubwick & Captain Jonathan Holliday

1,745 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2 - XO's Office
Timeline: MD08 - 0800hrs

ON

Rhett woke early on his second day aboard the Galileo. The last day had been eventful, and today didn't seem like it would be any different. As he cleaned his teeth he looked at his to-do list and shook his head. It was abysmally long. He set the PaDD on the counter and stepped into the sonic shower. Three minutes later he stepped out and climbed into a freshly replicated uniform.

He replicated some eggs, bread, and a frying pan. He pulled a small box full of his very own precious spices out of his duffel bag. He heated the pan, dropped the bread on it to toast. "I'll see the XO first, I think," he mused as he pulled the browned toast from the stove and cracked eggs. He sprinkled the uncooked egg with salt, pepper, and cayenne. He replicated a spatula and flipped the eggs with well-practiced dexterity.

He popped his over-medium eggs on his toast and sat on the couch for some light reading. Today's journal was Entropic Engineering Monthly. Although there were some interesting articles, they were all way over the diplomat's head. He finished his eggs and toast, cleaned his hands in the small sonic sanitizer and left his room. It had barely reached 0800.

It didn't take him long to find the Executive Officer's office on deck two. He approached and pressed the chime.

A chime so early in the morning was certainly not out of place aboard such a small ship as the Galileo - in fact as the complexity and detail of this mission had developed, John had found himself being called upon earlier and earlier each day. Setting the PADD that even this early in the morning had been firmly fixed in his hand down on the desk, he called out to his visitor.

"Come in, it's open."

Rhett entered the office. It was well appointed and the man behind the desk seemed completely at ease there. "Good afternoon, sir," the diplomat began, "Ensign Rhett Brubwick reporting in." He smiled. Although he stood at attention, it seemed more relaxed than many new officers were comfortable being.

"Now that's what I like to see - a proper introduction" John acknowledged as the young man in front of him formally gave his details across. Proper protocol was definitely something that had a place on any starship, be it Starfleet or civillian.

"Come in, take a seat.....I trust your transfer to Galileo went smoothly enough?"

Rhett nodded and sat in one of the chairs across the table from the commander. "Yes, and no." The diplomat adjusted in his seat, "Whatever is going on over at one-five-two is pretty heavy. They're really intense about it."

"Indeed" John acknowledged, not wanting to give away more than he absolutely had to regarding the Sienna project. He had no idea exactly how much the Ensign sat opposite him knew about what the purpose of the starbase had really been, or what exactly Galileo was here for.

"Suffice to say, we should hopefully have everything and everyone aboard shortly and be heading back to the Sol system....just a quick drive around the block in galactic terms I suppose....looking forward to a little time on Earth?"

"Not really, sir." Rhett couldn't help but laugh. "I actually just finished OCS at the academy. I was trucked out here, only to find out I probably could have just waited on Earth for you all. Not the most efficient process, if you pardon my saying so, sir."

"Starfleet is anything but efficient when it puts its mind to it unfortunately....I ended up coming all the way back from Romulus to Earth just to ship out here to Klingon space so trust me, I understand your pain."

John laughed to himself a moment as he reminisced on the start of this journey. For a while, he had been anything but satisfied with his posting, but with the most recent events aboard ship having changed his mind on the merits of a scientific posting slightly, for now, he was content to serve.

"It just seems that with each new year of cadets they decide to make something new go wrong....keeps us from getting too complacent though I find" he replied with a joking tone to his voice.

The diplomat visibly relaxed. "They do a good job." Although it wasn't something he should probably ask about, Rhett forged ahead anyway. "Excuse me sir, is there something I should know about the red alert last night? You know, with all the Klingons? What do we have that is so important to them?"

The firefight of yesterday was something that John would rather try and have forgotten. The battle between the Galileo and her adversaries had left more than a few scars amongst both the crew and the ship herself. Not that the XO was in any more of a position to give away the information he had at his disposal now than he had been a short while ago.

"A piece of technology....something that would make a huge difference to whoever has it...and the Klingons managed to find out about it"

Rhett looked a little sheepish as he began speaking again. "I can't help but think that there might have been a diplomatic solution to this, sir. So I hope I'm not stepping out of line, but why wasn't I consulted? I know I don't have your experience, however, I am the diplomatic officer aboard."

"The entire of yesterday had been one disaster after another. Having to leave the starbase so quickly, being chased by Klingons, hiding in a nebula, and well...the rest. John still couldn't believe how quickly the situation had gone pear-shaped, and even he, the eternal soldier, had wished that there could have been a more peaceful solution.

Taking a moment to sit back in his chair, John rubbed his face with both open palms, before folding them back neatly in front of him and summing up his reply.

"In all honesty? Off the record? I didn't think I needed a diplomatic solution....Klingons respect aggression, power, honour....I didn't want to distort that by trying to speak with them diplomatically....I guess the mistake was mine. And it's not often I admit I'm wrong Mr. Brubwick."

Rhett nodded, thoughtfully. "Understood, sir." He bit his lip for a moment before he shrugged, "Diplomacy is a strange beast, and hind-sight is 20/20. If it's not out of line, did you deny the existence of the technology, did you accept it and throw another accusation right in their face, or something else?" Klingons were touchy, it was true. But from one case study Rhett had done, regarding a starfleet diplomat's success at reconciling a violent Klingon rebel with the High Council, he thought it might have been better to fight fire with fire. He didn't know that, but it was possible, barring a single response to his question.

"I...called their bluff....told them we had no idea what they were on about and that 152 was just a resupply station....seemed like the best idea at the time"

The events of the past few hours had left the Commander shaken, in fact visibly so. It had been him who was in charge of the initial response, he who had given the Klingons their target, and now him that was in charge of undoing the damage that had been caused, and setting everything straight again. He had failed his CO, now he just wanted the chance to correct that error.

"I just hope that everything pans out better than it did the first time....otherwise I might have to consider whether or not I'm the right man to sit in that chair!"

Rhett was taken aback by the outburst. "I didn't mean to question your qualifications, sir. I was just trying to get a read on the situation." The diplomat wasn't sure how to react to this. "I'm sure you did the best possible job under the circumstances."

"We'll have to wait and see on that one....I assume that if we manage to get out of this in one piece and a diplomatic option presents itself I can count on your assistance?"

"Of course, sir." Rhett nodded without reservation. "It's why I joined Starfleet. I'm here to help where I can. I would just ask that you try to remember that I'm an asset at your disposal at any time of the day or night."

"It seems with all the damage to Galileo, we're going to be working around the clock - so I might take you up on that offer..." John acknowledged with a smile as he surveyed the pile of PADDs on his desk covered with casualty reports, damage surveys and expected repair schedules.

"Hard to believe this ship was fresh out of the yard only a few weeks ago....the boys at Spacedock are going to have my guts when they find out what we've done to their latest creation....I might need you to come and save me from a 'diplomatic incident' about then too"

John couldnt help but laugh as he finished his sentence, it was becoming more and more apparent that they were only all going to get through this situation if they worked together, and humour, as it had done so many times in life, tended to help diffuse a generally negative situation.

Rhett nodded, "I'm here any time, day or night. I'm not the most experienced diplomatic officer, but I'd like to think that I can help with some things." He paused, "Although engineers aren't exactly my strong suit."

"I don't think anyone knows an engineer quite as well as another engineer...one of the final frontiers of the Federation can be found in the mind of the guy with the hyperspanner tinkering with a warp engine...but I'll keep the offer in mind."

The XO replied, trying to muster a smile at the very least as he read through page after page of damaged systems, missing crewmembers, and the amount of work needed to get Galileo ready to go back into the field.

"This is gonna take a while....mind if I cut our meeting short?"

Rhett shook his head. "Not at all, sir. It has been a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise Ensign, carry on."

[OFF]

Lt Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

and

Ensign Rhett Brubwick
Acting Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

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