Retreat (Part 3 of 5)

Posted on 31 Aug 2019 @ 12:05pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Ensign Callin Mastrel & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde
Edited on on 31 Aug 2019 @ 12:13pm

4,663 words; about a 23 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari System, USS Galileo-A
Timeline: MD 01, 0627 hrs

Previously, on Retreat (Part 2)...

"I deem this order avoidable and therefore in breach of this regulation, furthermore under Regulation 619, I state that I believe this action is a result of yourself being emotionally charged and therefore unable to act and make rational decisions. As your Executive Officer and your friend, I can not and will not act to your order or any resulting orders that directly puts the crew in an unavoidable situation where some if not all life and ship be lost. I recommend that under the aforementioned, you Captain Saalm temporarily relieve yourself of command." Luke now looked directly to Lirha pleading she stand down either in her role as captain or in the order she has given him.

Luke felt like he had just destroyed all ounce of trust and belief the Orion had in him and doubted he'd be remaining on the ship after their tour was over. That said he was not willing to risk the lives of everyone aboard the Galileo, and he wondered if that made him the bad person.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Out of the corner of his eyes, Lake ir-Llantrisant watched Luke's proclamation unfold in abject horror. Kneeling beside Darius Lamar, Lake's posture shifted, his body shrank into himself. He felt an obligation to do something, to say something. Luke Wyatt had just relieved the Captain of duty, and Lake was the ranking medical officer within earshot. More than that, Luke had questioned Lirha's fitness for duty due to his assessment of Lirha's mental health, and Lake was the Ship's Counselor. Say something, Lake; do something.

Except, Lake had so very little information to make a rational assessment. He had exactly no information. Since the last time he'd been on the Bridge, Galileo had some under attack by Tholians. Lake hadn't witnessed any of the choices Lirha had made. He had struck his head, and been suffering the effects of a concussion until terribly recently, and even since arriving on the bridge, his attentions had been pointed at his patients, not the command crew. Worse than that, Darius Lamar's throat was bleeding all over Lake's thighs, despite Lake's best efforts to save the man. Lake managed to repair one or two blood vessels at a time, with the vascular regenerator, only to realise another two had been shredded worse than he realised.

All Lake could say was a softly curse of, "Areinnye," and he hoped no one would look at him.

Sofie, meanwhile, stayed perfectly quiet - motionless, like a small animal hoping not to be seen. Her one hand that had been fiddling with a loose strand of hair froze by her face, a tear that had been building up in one of her eyes slithered down her cheek, even her heart felt like it was stopped still. A couple of minutes earlier, when she had been trying desperately to complete the herculean task the captain had asked of her, Ullswater had been all fear at the thought of going back into the fight, tears welled up and panic set in.

But now there was something else in the air. It felt sinister, it felt heavy and black. Sofie had always thought the captain to be a bit of a maverick but she'd never expected to see this. All the boundaries crossed, authority questioned, and the chain broken. She didn't want to turn around to get a look at the captain's face, she could imagine it well enough. Instead she just sat, frozen at her station, waiting for the thunder.

In the center of the bridge, Lirha's eyes quickly filled with rage at Luke's self-proclaimed authority.

"...How dare you! There are hundreds of Starfleet crew on Trial and our own away teams are still on the surface!" she snapped back in retort. A captain's prerogative was to command their crew, and now she was being subverted by one of her own officers. A mutiny in progress.

"Mister Wyatt you are relieved!" she shouted with fury, stepping so close to him that their torsos now touched. It hadn't gone unnoticed to the captain that both of them - along with the entire bridge crew - were armed with hand phasers on their hips. "Amaranai, escort the lieutenant commander to his quarters. Now!" came her next command.

Amaranai had been watching everything with caution. Her head was pounding from her wound but she was still capable of doing her job. Her fingers were ready to fire what few torpedoes were left as soon as Lirha ordered. But the order didn't come. She strained her eyes as she focused on the words that were coming from the captain and the commander.

What the hell was Luke doing?

Amaranai watched as the two officers were now arguing, Lirha moving closer to Luke. The security officer's eyes blinked when the order to escort Luke off the bridge came. It was not the order she was ready for. She hesitated. The shout made her flinch.

Slowly, Amaranai moved down the bridge toward the captain and commander. She looked between her lover - her captain - and her direct supervisor. No matter what happened in the next few minutes, someone was going to be disappointed or angry with her actions.

"I'm sorry . . ." she started. "But with all do respect, you're going to need to exit the bridge."

There was so much going on. The Trial was in danger. Their away teams were in danger. They were in danger. What was it all for? There had to be something that could be done.

Amaranai looked between the two higher-ranked officers.

Luke didn't move he imagined Amarnai was talking to him and for the most part wasn't even mad. From his position and in his mind his actions were the ones being made for the better of the crew and the only ones lawful. Clearly through her shouting Lirha was not fit to rationally decide the fate of the crew and especially attempt a rescue mission against several tholian cruisers in a half beaten Nova class ship. It was suicide. "Amarnai, please, what is the status of the ship?"

The question took Amaranai off guard. She thought for a millisecond of going back to her console to get the ship's status, but Amaranai knew that wasn't an option. She took a deep breath and spoke as calmly as possible.

"The ship is suffering hull damage across several sections of the ship," she started. "Many major systems have been destroyed or disabled to keep other systems active. Casualties continue to climb."

Amaranai had yet to attempt to find Charlotte and wasn't sure if she wanted to or not, fearing the worse."

"And in your estimate and strategical mind what would what be the likely outcome of the Galileo, a Nova class science vessel engaging several Tholian frigate class ships." he asked in a cool mannered tone not once so far had he raised his voice to a shout unless to make his voice clear over the hissing of the ships already destroyed bridge. "And please answer quickly, time is of the essence."

Amaranai looked between Luke and Amaranai again. Her own eyes were holding back so many tears that she guessed her eyes were a desert.

"No, sir," she said quietly. "This vessel is in no shape to take on several Tholian frigates." She paused and could sense that Luke was happy his assistant chief had agreed with him. "But . . ." she added quickly. "The captain is right. They're our crewmates. Our friends. Our colleagues." She paused. "We've got to be able to do something."

"Besides," Lake ir-Llantrisant interjected snappily, "just because the Captain assessed the same information and came to a different tactical analysis..." Lake took a breath, hissing a slight oh god under his breath, when he realized he had started talking without thinking about it. He silently mouthed a, "Help me," to Alexion as he handed the vascular regenerator over to the other doctor. Lake thought he had repaired the most life-threatening of Darius' bleeders, but the man's esophagus was still a mess.

Alexion had to swallow down his frustration at the chaos playing out in front of them. Frankly, the only worse thing than a bad decision was no decision, and they were dangerously close to the purgatory of no decision and no action that could get everyone killed...on all ships and teams. He glanced to Lake with an arched eyebrow, seeing him veering towards the argument, and if he'd had a hand free, he would have caught hold of his arm to warn him against getting involved in the mess...but as it was, he had both blood covered hands full with patching Darius up the best they could to keep him stable.

Just as quickly as he had lost his nerve, Lake was overcome with emotion -- between his fear for his patient and what he was witnessing in the command well. Lake felt inflamed and emboldened by the situation again, and supposed, if he were to be questioned about he, he could blame the concussion for his actions. He hadn't exactly seen enough to deem Lirha fit for duty, but he also hadn't seen enough to declare her unfit for duty by his own authority. Speaking more quickly than he was thinking, Lake concluded with, "It doesn't mean she's hysterical, irrational, or diagnosed with a mental health condition."

The captain heard the words being spoken from the chief counselor and security deputy but her attention remained on Luke. She looked deep into his copper eyes and across his rugged Marine features. They had formed a close friendship over the years but ultimately couldn't be worlds further apart as individuals -- she, a naturally-born Orion trader who chose the Starfleet life for the simple opportunity of exploration -- and he, a London-born Human whose fitness and physique had led him through life as a soldier.

In her most subdued thoughts, she knew Luke was right. Her two years of command training at the Academy meant she was well aware of the regulations he'd cited and the article he'd invoked. But her visceral mind, the one which relied on instinct and feeling, consumed her conscious thoughts. She'd already lost one starship under her command and several of her friends. How could she now - after being given a second chance - watch more of her friends and family perish because of her (in)action? Was the chance of their success slim? Could her plan fail? She knew they could all die, but then what was the point of living life just to be afraid of the unknown?

Lirha dug her fingers into her palms and her voice turned severe as she again spoke to Luke. "...You would rather play it safe...retreat and risk other people's lives rather than your own," she accused. Her anger rose and burst through the confines of her control. Her right hand lashed out with force and struck the side of his face, snapping his jaw slightly to the left and leaving four red scratches from her sharp Orion nails across his cheek. "You are a coward!"

His hand raised to his cheek, his finger tips caressing the lines she had just marked across his face. Pulling his hand away blood spotted the tips. "I am many things but a coward is not one of them." Luke said his voice low and harsh surly now the bridge crew would see, had to see she was not in control of her emotions and putting all their lives at risk. Even lake who had so dutifully pointed out that she had not been hysterical could see she was the very definition of which. "You would have a damaged vessel, with injured crew go up against several heavily armoured and fresh cruisers, if you think I am a coward then you are a fool.

"I have seen my fair share of fools, I have seen my fair share of heroic sacrifice but we'll all die in vein, the Trail's crew will die in vein if we go back to fight the Tholians. Their last transmission, their last act was to allow us the time to escape if we were in their shoes we'd have done the same no doubt about that and if they knew the discussion we were having now? About going back and throwing away what they did for us then we might as well be spitting on their graves and digging our own." Luke let out a shallow sigh. "Sometimes the brave thing to do is walk away and fight another day, I don't want a repeat of the last time we bite of more than we chew because that changed us forever... It changed you forever."

The lieutenant commander's calm demeanor and robust words further infuriated the captain. Saalm glanced back to the tactical display on the command chair console and noticed they had less than twenty seconds before they dropped out of warp at the convoy's position. Her head spun back to Wyatt as her personal stress started to consume her. He was trying to waste their time.

"I am the captain of this ship!" she yelled back in her Orion language, her words translated through the UT in a final and desperate attempt to assert her authority.

Before Lirha shrieked at Luke in her native tongue, Lake was figuratively stunned by what he saw. His body tensed up, freezing himself in place like a statue or a tableau. His breath caught in his chest as he watched Lirha strike Luke Wyatt, and he thought his chest might explode when she called him a coward too. Clearly, Lake supposed, she was just barely rational enough to aim straight for emasculating Wyatt. When Wyatt spoke, Lake finally realized he had backed the wrong horse here, but there wasn't terribly much he could do while he still had patients depending on him and Alexion. Without stepping any closer to the command well, Lake straightened his posture, raised his rib caged, and squared his shoulders.

To only himself (and perhaps Darius and Alexion), Lake muttered, "She's going to shoot me again..."

Then Lake spoke up, and he used stage elocution to make certain his voice was being recorded for the logs, recorded by the Computer for its awareness of the ship's chain of command, and for anybody in earshot. "For the record," Lake declared, "You are not the Captain of this ship. Not anymore. As Chief Counselor, I hereby invoke Starfleet Order 104, Section C, to relieve you of duty, Captain Lirha Saalm. Having witnessing you strike a fellow officer and in support of the Chief Security Officer's earlier actions, I find you medically unfit for duty -- pending a full medical evaluation, a board of inquiry, or we're blown out of the sky by the Tholians. Whichever comes first."

Lirha's eyes almost became bloodshot when she heard the uninvited opinion of the Romulan counselor attempting to interject his authority into command matters. Her head snapped to look at him then she pointed a stern green finger in his direction. "You...," she hissed. "Stay out of this, Lake. It is not your place," she admonished as she would an adolescent teenager acting up.

"Amaranai," Lirha called out again. "You have your orders. Now relieve Commander Wyatt from the bridge and take him below," she paused then looked across Luke's eyes and scarred face once again, "...on charges of mutiny." She put her right hand in the air and motioned for Ops to move forward to the front bridge stations. "Mister Alexander, take the conn!"

Amaranai had stood there for several minutes witnessing Lirha's meltdown. Her orders were sound but not practical. She wanted to save the Trial. She wanted to save the Away Team. The ship was not capable. Lake's voice and his backing of Luke was enough to make Amaranai question Luke's motives. Lirha stopped Lake's attempts to side with Luke and then she was startled by Lirha. The stronger voice caught Amaranai off guard. She didn't want to do this to either of her friends and was stalling as much as possible in case someone else could come up with another idea.

Ryan was a bit surprised at the exchange between Commander Wyatt and Captain Saalm, not to mention Lake. At best, the call would be assault, mentally unfit? Ya, right. Ryan thought to himself in disbelief. The whole situation on the bridge felt more like a mutiny rather than a disagreement between officers. His loyalty was to Starfleet and the Captain, and he felt that the Captain still had those interests as her primary focus.

Ryan typed in a few commands onto his console before motioning for Goldie to take his post. "Aye ma'am." Ryan said as he moved across the bridge to take the conn. He spent a moment taking in the console and made a few minor adjustments to make the controls a better fit for him. Throughout the exchange on the bridge, Ryan couldn't help but be disappointed at the actions of his fellow officers.

Callin had retreated out of the way once others had taken over saving Darius' life, shaking and silent. Blood from his colleague dripped from his fingertips as he stood open-mouthed and stunned at the play and counter-play between his Captain and Commander Wyatt, but it was the surge of rage that really kept him from saying anything. The words shouted back and forth didn't mean half as much as the feelings. He was confused and upset, and for the moment more afraid of both Saalm and Wyatt than he'd been for the Tholians.

Wylde knelt back on his feet as he caught his breath, his eyes wide and shining a dark violet colour as he watched the unfolding drama. What in *the fires* was going on? They didn't have time for this. No one had time for this. And he would be well and truly pissed off if his cause of death was 'inaction'. He shook his head to himself...frankly, there was no argument to be had. The Counsellor had just relieved the Captain of duty on medical grounds. Case closed...they needed to move.

Silently --practically telepathically-- Lake found himself agreeing with Wylde. He couldn't help the unfolding situation with phasers or force; he had backed both sides of this internal conflict, which meant he had equal opportunities to be dragged over the coals or praised. It didn't matter now. Digging through his medikit, he applied another painkiller to Darius by hypospray and he snatched up a disc-shaped steri-field generator. Lake thumbed the activator toggle and began swiping the steri-fields over Darius' open throat to lower the risk of infection.

Luke didn't react at first to the ensign's actions, absolutely baffled by what he was seeing. With all the regulations against Lirha, this was far past a small debate, they were getting towards court Martialable offenses and Luke knew that they wouldn't be heading into his direction not only has the XO deemed the captain unfit but also the ranking Counsellor and wanted to avoid any official action being taken, Lirha was still his friend and still owed her but that didn't change the fact at hand.

"Ensign Alexander, if you tap one more button on that console in the wrong direction not only will you be disobeying orders but also breaching Starfleet regulation. Not only have I as acting XO but also the ranking counselor has deemed the Captain mentally unfit for duty. You may believe you're doing the right thing here by acting to your captain's orders, and I understand your loyalty, but you are seriously misjudging this situation."

This time he focused his gaze to the chief security officer who had yet moved and he had yet to give a clear direct order. "Lieutenant Amaranai, please politely ensure the captain is escorted to the medical bay for medical attention, this temporary relief of command is until we return to the convoy and once Captain Saalm has been checked over by both the chief medical officer and the counselor and an appropriate recovery plan has been co-ordinated with the fleet.

"Word of this will NOT, I repeat will NOT leave this bridge, do I make myself clear." Luke's voice was surprisingly calm but extremely authoritative as if the chief JAG himself was saying them. To cross Luke now would certainly mean disciplinary action, the secrecy was more to save Lirha's face. As always he was thinking for her best interests even when they disagreed.

Amaranai couldn't move. Either option was a clear betrayal. She couldn't win. She almost hoped the Tholians would notice and fire on them and put them all out of their misery. Luke was stern and to the point. His order needed to be followed. For the safety of everyone left.

But what about everyone else?

The thought ran through her head. She couldn't just abandon Lirha at this moment. She had to stand up for herself.

"Sir," she finally said. "These actions taken by you and the actions attempted by the captain are incorrect.

Was she really doing this?"

"Yes, the counsellor has agreed with you and so have I. But I also agree with the captain. We cannot run and we cannot fight. Something else has to be done and though I don't agree with going into a fight we cannot win, I will trust her decisions to save our colleagues."

While Lake continued to sterilize the wound in Darius' neck --the wound that Alexion Wylde was healing with each passing moment-- Lake craned his neck to glimpse Amaranai while she spoke. Bile rose in Lake's throat at the complete lack of cohesion between Galileo's senior staff. They could hardly communicate with one another, let alone reach consensus on anything as important as the chain of command. "You're answering the wrong question," Lake announced, his voice rising with frustration. "The question is not who has the best plan. Lirha has a perfectly serviceable plan. I may have been wrong in my decision. I am an imperfect behind. Given her experience, Lirha's plan is probably even the better plan. Honestly, it probably is...

"But, the question, we must ask ourselves is this," Lake concluded, "Who is in command? Because it's not Captain Saalm. Not legally. Not until she has satisfied the clauses of Starfleet Order 104, Section C. Commander Allyndra is rightfully in command of Galileo until that time."

Hearing Lake's plea for rationality finally got Callin moving. The Counselor was right, as much as it twisted his stomach into knots; by Starfleet regulations Captain Saalm had been relieved, and as an ensign who was he to break Starfleet law. Her anger washed over him, through him, and he shivered once again. Still, he couldn't help but cast a guilty and pleading look at the Orion woman as he spoke up, swallowing hard in the middle of his words to get the lump out of his throat, "I'm sorry, Captain. We have to act now, and sort all of this...out later. I know you feel that you know what's best, but we have to follow their orders now." Callin felt a rush of shame, his own feeling this time, knowing he was turning against his first commanding officer. Then he dropped his eyes as he walked back to his ruined station, wiped Darius' blood off his hands onto his tunic as best he could, and set to work at trying to bring Science II back online.

Unlike Callin Sofie felt no guilt over what she'd just seen or any pity for the disgraced captain. She felt relief though - following the captain's orders had been the last thing she wanted to do. The ensign didn't want to offer up any words or add to personal conflicts here she just sat slumped in her chair, all too aware that the conflict was far from over yet. It was clear they'd been defeated, on every possible level. The ship was broken and now perhaps her captain and crew too.

Time seemed to pass on the bridge in orders of hours as opposed to seconds. The internal conflict within the command center made the air thick with tension, sweat, and smokey haze from a lingering exposed power conduit. Suddenly, a distinctive computer chirp sounded and cut through the silence. Galileo had arrived at its destination after a short burst at Warp 1 and they now approached the rest of the Federation convoy at its staging position just outside of the star system. The hull breaches on the starboard side of the Nova-class' primary hull leaked electrical flames from exposed EPS relays while the emergency force fields flickered and did their best to contain the extensive damage.

The large main viewscreen at the fore of the bridge showed the streaking stars quickly slow then become fixed in space as the distant shapes of an Akira-class and Lagrange-class heavy cruiser came into view.

Saalm's thoughts snapped from her enraged haze and now took note of the reality that they'd just returned to the convoy. She'd run out of time. Her plan to turn the ship around had failed. By now, it would take at least several minutes to re-spool the warp drive in their damaged state, and whatever the Tholians had planned to do to the Trial was already well underway.

The captain's shoulders visibly sunk and her eyes now turned to the carpet while she worked through the wide range of emotions now assaulting her. She felt intense anger at Luke and Lake for their usurpery, and primal betrayal from Amaranai's inaction. Lirha looked up with the rage of a thousand Orions in her eyes while she glared at each of them. "...What have you done?"

At some point in the next several microseconds, Lirha's rational mind resurfaced and began to assert it authority. She slowly looked up and around the bridge then finally processed the severity of what had - and was still - happening. Half of her bridge crew appeared wilted while others stood defiantly against her. Instead of executing a timely tactical decision, they'd done nothing.

What have I done? What have they done? Lirha lamented. There was no point in arguing anymore. Luke had gotten his way whether intentionally or unintentionally and the ship was now at impulse to rejoin the convoy in less than a minute. She reached down to her right hip and her green fingers grasped the handle of her sidearm.

The Orion captain pulled her Type-2 phaser free from its holster then unexpectedly flipped it around in her palm to present the grip to yellow-collared lieutenant commander. She stared up into Luke's hard eyes then shoved her weapon forcefully into his hand. "This is what you want? Then take it. If anything happens to our away teams or the Trial..." she pulled her commbadge from her chest and tossed it angrily into the captain's chair, "...their blood is on your hands."

With that, Captain Saalm informally relinquished her own command and angrily pushed past Wyatt toward the bridge's side exit. She stopped just as the door to the Deck 1 corridor opened and turned back to look at her bridge crew one last time.

"You are not ready for the chair yet," Lirha admonished the now-acting-captain. "You don't have the strength to make tough decisions." She then disappeared down the corridor and the door hissed shut behind her.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

All Crew
Various Positions
USS Galileo-A

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