Tribble Repercussions (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 12 Feb 2015 @ 7:32pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Admiral Myrkul Sharr & Admiral Ajon Mox & Admiral Nathan Hawke & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Rear Admiral James Hurin

2,146 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: Starbase 84 - Deck 24, General Conference Room
Timeline: MD 43 - 1045 hrs

[CONTINUED]

Yet again, it took another very long moment for the young Orion to process what was being said to her. Reassigned? Assigned? Task Force 21? ...Rear Admiral?! Her eyes went wide when it all finally clicked in her head, and her first reaction was to slowly shake her head from side to side, her dark bangs bobbing across her cheeks.

"I... Thank you, admirals. I am very honored. But I must respectfully decline," she managed to reply. "Galileo is my home and I do not wish to leave my crew as a result of a promotion. I am not well-suited for a desk job," she attempted to explain albeit somewhat flabbergastedly.

"We never said you'd have to leave the Galileo, Admiral," Mox replied, standing so as to move around the table. "Recent years have been tumultuous. The Romulan relief efforts, the peacekeeping, the flare-ups along the border with the Klingons... They've all left Starfleet in a more precarious position than we'd like. The coming years won't see any let-up in that. We need leaders in the field, not stuck behind desks sectors away from where the decisions need to be made. We need you with the Galileo." He held out a hand to the new admiral. "Congratulations."

Hesitantly but surely, Lirha began to slowly nod and rose herself from her seat to face the admiral who had come around and presented his hand to her. She listened to his explanation -- or rather, assurance -- that she would be able to remain in command of Galileo, and it brought an obvious sigh of relief to her posture when her breath let out and her muscles relaxed.

Smiling somewhat reservedly at him, the newly appointed rear-admiral reached out with her green hand and clasped that of the admiral's before giving it a firm squeeze and shake. "Thank you, admiral. Admirals," she corrected while giving each of them a collective and polite nod of acknowledgement. She'd never considered she would be promoted to such a high rank when she first joined Starfleet, and what was currently transpiring was somewhat overwhelming. "Thank you for your confidence in me. And in Galileo."

James smiled broadly at his now former TGCO and deputy Task Force Commanding Officer. "I never had any doubt, Lirha. You're ready, and you'll do fine."

Lirha straightened up a bit, now feeling slightly more important than she had in the past. A new rank with new duties had always meant a certain amount of apprehension for her -- especially during the adjustment period -- and now much to her surprise she was being thrust into command of an entire task force. It was a daunting sensation, to say the least, and she took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"I suppose that makes me the first Orion to hold a rear-admiral rank, yes?" she smiled. The Orion colonies were not technically members of the UFP and therefore very few Orions chose to serve in Starfleet, but Lirha had done her history homework and knew she was one of only a handful of green-skins to ever hold any command position in the fleet.

"Correct" Sharr responded, "Which means you need to leady by, and set, an example, Rear-Admiral. I, for one, will be watching your career closely to see what you achieve."

Nodding with understanding, Lirha once again fell silent for a moment's pause. All of this had been quite unexpected and she was now wondering if the fellow admirals had used the cover of a debrief to actually promote her. Or something devious like that. "And the mission debrief, sirs? Did you have any other questions for me? Captain Holliday is waiting outside and perhaps he can also shed some light on the situation."

Hurin looked to the three full Admirals and waited for their answer. He had never met Captain Holliday, and was quite interested in doing so.

"We have no further questions at this time you are dismissed, Rear-Admiral" Admiral Sharr concluded "If you could send Captain Holliday in we shall be in touch to discuss your full debrief"

"Yes, sir," came the Orion's curt reply to the admiral. She quickly stood at attention for a short moment then turned on her heels and departed the conference room.

Once the doors swished closed behind her, she let out a shaky sigh and turned to John who had been waiting for his delightful opportunity to explain the events of the Lyshan incident. "It is your turn," she winked with a slight nudge of her head towards the room. "And apparently...I have been promoted."

"Promoted?" John replied dumfounded. It seemed only a few minutes ago that she had been made a Commodore and he a Captain - now to find that she had been minted as an Admiral was more than a slight shock to the Martian.

"Er, congratulations, Admiral Saalm!" He spoke again, regaining his composure. He had never been fond of Admirals, usually they didn't agree with what he had done, but to find that Lirha was now 'one of them' would take a little getting used to.

Not wishing to keep the rest of the assembled Admirals waiting, John gave Lirha a polite nod, before turning on his heels to head into the room. Passing through the still open doors, he moved to the designated position before the seated brass and stood to attention.

"Captain Jonathan Holliday reporting as ordered Sirs."

James studied the captain, then spoke. "Thank-you Captain Holliday, please sit."

John nodded in acknowledgement before taking a seat in the designated spot. He felt like a first year cadet being dragged up in front of a disciplinary board.

"To what do I owe the pleasure Admirals?"

Sharr looked to his peers and then to Hurin, giving a subtle nod as if to allow the Rear-Admiral to proceed.

"Captain Holliday," began Hurin, "How would you describe the command teams handling of the Tribbles, and was the safest course taken to secure or eliminate them from the ship, in your opinion?"

John thought for a moment before clearing his throat. He remembered the mission well, or more specifically, the disagreement he had gone through with the then-Commodore during his plans to clear out the tribbles that had taken up a large volume of the ship's interior space.

"Successful" John replied, cocking his head for a moment before adding a "Sir." to the end of his sentence.

"The tribbles were dealt with and the ship was saved - Admiral Saalm gave her orders, and we carried them out. Had we done nothing, then I do not think I would be here to be giving my report."

"Was Admiral Saalm's orders taken without question, or were there any other options, Captain?"

John furrowed his brow for a moment - it was true that he had decided on an alternative course of action, but had been countermanded at the last moment by a superior officer. He had not been happy at the time - but there was very little he could do about it now.

"I..did not agree with the Admiral's order at the time, no. My preference was to perform a decompression of the affect decks - the Admiral overruled my order, at which time I saw no choice but to follow those orders from a superior. Whilst I may have disagreed with her - the outcome was the same, the ship was preserved."

While the two conversed Admiral Sharr had taken notes, watched the Captain's body language and compared what was said to the reports that had been given before he decided to start his own line of questioning, "Captain" he greeted, "could you tell us what is the current status of the tribbles?"

John raised an eyebrow - surely the Admirals would already be aware of their current situation, both from his own report, and from Lirha's debrief that happened only moments ago.

"As the board of Admirals are already aware - the tribbles were transported to the planet's surface and are currently being used as a corporeal host for the lifeforms encountered there. Apparently their more simplistic biology makes the tribbles a better host than other organic beings."

"Let me rephrase" Sharr said without a lot of emotion, "Can you tell us of the Tribble's fate? How are they faring being inhabited by non-corporeal entities?"

"With all due respect Admiral - unless Starfleet has developed temporal travel technology, how can anyone answer that question?" John replied, unphased by the emotionless response from his superior.

"The ship was in danger, action was taken and that danger was mitigated. Or would it have been preferable to lose the Galileo with all hands in order to protect said tribbles?"

"You are condoning the actions of the Galileo to hand over the Tribble's to another lifeform for their own physical desires, without thought to the true fate of these creatures. Can you say without doubt that you knew the true intentions of this non-corporeal civilisation? You could have handed them to a long and agonising fate to save your own skin, Captain."

"And I'd do it again Admiral. My duty is to the ship and to my crew. Tell me - what exactly would you have done in my place?"

John was getting annoyed - he was used to Admirals trying to bully the lower ranks with their own high-and-mighty opinions of how things had to be done. The truth was, as far as he was concerned, that most of them spent their careers sat behind desks, and probably wouldn't be able to find the Captain's chair even if it was magnetically attached to their asses.

"If we are having this discussion then I presume, sir, that there was an alternative course of action I must have ignored that gave a far superior outcome?"

Sharr watched as the Captain decided to turn the question around, a predictable tactic but one Sharr decided he would end before it started, "We are not here to question, or discuss, what I would have done, Captain. It would also be foolish for you to presume my line of questioning is leading to a alternative course which I would then point out for your superior outcome. So back to my question; can you say without doubt that you knew the true intentions of this non-corporeal civilisation?"

John titlted his head - Sharr obviously knew his way around the rules of debating. In another place the Captain might have enjoyed heating this up a little further, but he had neither the time nor the patience to endure a grilling by an Admiralty board.

"No. No I cannot Admiral. All I can say is that my crew is alive and well, my ship is intact, and I am here to accept this most gracious grilling from the esteemed Admirals ahead of me. I would however, be quite happy to return to the planet and assess the situation further, with your permission sir?"

Sharr simply nodded, "I have read the reports on this species and they will be studied further. That said a decision was made which, at the time, saved the ship and the souls aboard as well as those of the Tribbles. I have no further questions at this time, I have all the information I need." Through the whole stone cold soul that he had he understood the actions taken and he let a very small curl at the edge of his mouth to help show a sign of respect and approval on his own part.

John nodded curtly, both in acknowledgement and in deference to the debating skill of his adversary in this case across the room from him - Sharr knew his way around an argument, Holliday could not argue with that.

"Very good sir. Is there anything else you require of me from this debriefing?"

Hurin shook his head, "I have no further questions, but I do have a quick statement, for the Captain. Captain Holliday, I think you handle yourself very well, and you seem to allow the chain of command to work. Furthermore, wiht the strong tactical background you have, I must admit that your placement and success aboard a science vessel has been both impressive and enlightening." Hurin turned to the other Admirals. "I have nothing further."

Sharr simply mouthed the words "Suck up" to Hurin with a wry smile before bringing a close to the debriefing.

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

RADM James Hurin
TF-72 Commanding Officer

Admiral Myrkul Sharr
Joint Fleet Command | Obsidian Fleet

Admiral Ajon Mox
Joint Fleet Command | Obsidian Fleet

Admiral Nathan Hawke
Joint Fleet Command | Obsidian Fleet

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