She Did What? (Part 1 of 5)

Posted on 04 Jan 2020 @ 3:38pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Ensign Callin Mastrel & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Commander Andreus Kohl & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kala Gorvel & Petty Officer 2nd Class Amul
Edited on on 04 Jan 2020 @ 3:38pm

3,892 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A, USS Lagrange
Timeline: MD 01, 0800 hrs

Previously, on Retreat (Part 5)...

What the hell was going on? Amaranai had targeted the shuttle's engines as ordered but did she really want to fire? If Luke ordered it, would she be able to? She couldn't even escort the captain off the bridge when he ordered her to. Would she have the guts to fire on her?

Amararnai heard the order to stand down but she waited until Luke told her. He had taken control of the bridge, so it was his word to give, not hers - regardless of how she felt.

"Power down weapons, track the shuttle for as long as we can." The now acting captain let out a long sigh and tapped his comms badge, "All heads of departments report to the briefing room in one hour with sitreps." Luke turned to Ullswater and Callin "I would like you to be present with the initial plans for the weapons we discussed so work with Lieutenant Franklin, we'll be leaving as soon as were fighting fit so time is of the essence."

Amaranai sighed heavily and removed the targeting lock from the shuttle before powering down the phaser array. She heard Luke's request for Ullswater and Callin to work with her regarding a plan with the weapons. What was that about? She nodded and began scanning systems in preparation for a report that she might not even be allowed to give.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 1, Conference Room

Luke paced the the room unsteadily stopping every once in a while gripping the back of the top seat the seat where Lirha should be occupying in a few moments time but instead she stole a shuttle and a loyal ensign to almost certain death, his knuckles turned white as the grip slowed the flow of blood and he let go turning to face the display screen behind him. "Why Lirha, why all the risks why..." he was Interrupted as the first person entered the room.

Amaranai was walking the hallway, headed to the Ready Room. She had been back to the Security office and got a debrief from the staff there. With Luke taking command, it was up to Amaranai to handle the department.

Her mind was racing. Lirha was gone. Alexander too. Amaranai was unsure how to react other than worry about her lover - not her commanding officer - and her sister. Charlotte had yet to report in to any department and it bothered Amaranai to no end. She knew her teams would find her eventually, but in what state? The reports had been given regarding casualties, injuries and any damage to important systems but her mind was elsewhere. Nodding, Amaranai took the datapads and exited, heading to bridge.

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. What the hell is going on?

Amaranai entered the Ready Room and saw Luke with his hands on the captain's chair - Lirha's chair.

"Good morning, commander," she said.

Taking a seat, Amaranai was glad no one else was in the room yet.

"I'm sorry for my inability to complete a task during our most recent engagement," she said. "I didn't follow orders and I will accept responsibility for the captain getting away instead of being confined to her quarters."

Standing up straight Luke shook his head "I never would have asked you to fire, I was hoping the Captain would back down but she is rather resilient when it comes to what she thinks is best, and I don't blame her either. Unfortunately, I didn't believe her orders were legal or medically sound and weren't willing to risk everyone's lives. We all did things on that bridge we have been second-guessing and we must deal with them now. You have nothing to apologies" He added giving her a reassuring nod.

Amaranai nodded in agreement and was glad that he didn't reprimand her.

"Thank you, sir," she said.

She knew that he must have been second guessing his own actions but wasn't going to call him out, either. Regardless of rules or command structure, there were just some things that didn't need to be restated. For Amaranai, though, even though Luke didn't feel betrayed by her own actions, the brunette felt that Lirha did.

Allyndra carefully balanced a cup of tea on top of the PaDD in her hands. She waited a moment before entering seeing Lieutenant Franklin enter. She had not been on the bridge but that did not mean that she did not get a earful of what had happened and she had been in the shuttle bay. Judging her time, she entered just in time to catch the last bit of conversation. "As to the captain's actions there is a likely medical reason involved as well. I have a copy of the medical officer's log. I will wait until the rest arrive before giving my summary." She looked at the seat at the head of the table for a moment before taking the traditional spot of the medical officer and second officer at the opposite end of the table. Technically she was again now the senior most officer but for consistency she would defer to Lirha having given command to Luke before departure. She had come to appreciate the tradition, the captain and first officer along with the counselor at one end and anchored as the sort of devil's advocate if need be by the second officer, the senior medical officer and what normally would be the senior security officer as well. The rest filling in as needed.

It wasn't much longer until Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant made his way to the conference room. He crossed to the replicator without making any pleasantries, not even a single nod or hello. He stood there, at the replicator, impassively, and he stared into the opening. Too recently, he had been concussed and then pharmaceutically recovered. He felt better than he had done, more aware and perceptive than he had before, but he felt unsettled. He felt medicated; maybe a little fuzzy but only around the edges. As much as he craved the clarity of caffeine, he suspected it would only make him feel worse.

Without ordering anything from the replicator, Lake closed the distance to his traditional chair. He sat himself down without making eye-contact with anyone. Lake had flip-flopped a couple of times, earlier, in shifting his support between Captain Saalm and Luke Wyatt's bid for command. Amaranai Franklin had questioned their legal right --and their righteousness-- to relieve Saalm of command. Allyndra had done as much the same; scolding Lake as if he were a schoolboy. Settling into his chair, Lake waggled his fingers in the air and then put them to use on a PADD. He moved as if to take notes, but mostly, he just doodled.

Kala frustratingly volunteered to attend the heads of sheds debrief for engineering, she thought it was a waste of time given the state of affairs the ship was in and argued that it was better that all the engineers were trying to fix the ship. But noooo, all departments needed a representative. As she walked into the briefing room, tool kit and coffee flask in hand she was surprised too see she wasn't last to arrive and took an empty seat next to the ship's counsellor and sat herself down into it.

Sofie had no idea what she was doing, she was the most junior officer in her department (and now that she thought about it, likely the whole ship) and now she was walking into the conference room as if she was somehow important. Even Chief Gorvel who had just walked in before her had years more experience than Sofie did and she couldn't shake the feeling that she was by far the least qualified person to be in this room.

The Ensign took a seat at the table opposite the Trill engineer and hoped dearly that this wasn't anyone's preferred seat and she hadn't just committed some gross faux pas. She felt like a mess and she likely looked like one too. All she wanted right now was for nobody to notice her and to get this over with quickly.

Having found just a few minutes to get away from all the emergencies, Callin entered late, finally in a fresh uniform. All of soot, singes, and the blood of crewmates were gone, though his hair still stood on end, wild enough that he looked electricuted. There was indeed a stunned look in his eyes as he slid wordlessly into an empty seat near Sofie, and he didn't even flash one of his usual grins her way, but stared at the wall without really seeing it.

Could they blame him? Another of the newcomers to the crew, a junior officer with basically no experience, he'd just come out the other side of a deadly battle plenty of others didn't survive. He'd failed to come up with any working strategy to counter the Tholians. Wondered if their leaders were going to take them back into what seemed certain death. He'd seen his captain removed from command, then flee the ship, while his hands kept a crewmate's lifeblood from spilling out all over the deck. Never in his worst nightmares had he imagined his first mission would be like this. Now that all the immediate danger had passed though, Callin was finding it hard to deal with the shock.

Luke had taken the command well, he had to experience commanding men when he was in the Marines and his experience was beginning to show. "Well," He waited for everyone to face him to show he had their attention before continuing. "It seems everyone is here so I don't see any point waiting any longer." Luke himself didn't sit and instead decided to stand next to the larger screen behind the captain's chair. "Commander, what is our casualty state, including MIAs off the ship?" He asked facing Allyndra the Chief Medical officer and also the highest-ranking officer, it was a bit of an odd situation they were in. Lirha had implied he was in charge but technically Allyndra would be, it was something he planned on addressing.

Allyndra nodded and figured it was time to take the elephant out of the room as well. "Yes, captain," there that should handle it for now. "Fifteen wounded of those two in critical condition, we have a total of eleven missing including the two away teams. I am not counting the personnel on the escaped shuttle. Ten of the missing are on away teams, the others presumably may have been lost with hull breaches and presumed dead. It the Tholians treat the away teams and missing shuttle as they did this ship and the Trial then it will another twelve to the casualty list." There it was simple and done and remarkably other than if they lost the three shuttle teams not as bad as it could have been. The Galileo A had been hit hard but relatively briefly before turning tail and running.

He didn't show it, at least he hoped he didn't but Luke felt every single word as the chief medical officer spoke. Each death felt like a hot prong burning through his chest and sticking him in the heart. "Let's not count out the away teams and trial out yet, we don't know what happened so I'm going to remain hopeful that with the efforts of this crew and the task force that once we're ready to get underway we'll recover our lost crewman."

With the physical side of medical done Luke now turned to Lake, the ships chief counsellor for the mental medical perspective. "How is the rest of the crew handling the situation, is there anything we should be worried about or anything we can do to help those in need, perhaps boost morale?"

Nodding slowly, Lake ir-Llantrisant took in a deep breath through his nose. "I've had ample time to learn the workings of this crew while we were in transit these past months," Lake said by way of preamble. Compared to some of the others around this table, Lake was the newcomer to Galileo -- perhaps even an interloper. In his sharply Romulan accent, Lake said, "For the Galileo veterans, this kind of action is their bread and butter. It's all they've known in their careers. The newer members of the crew can handle a little time in sickbay and performing repairs in the middle of the road. They have mentors they can turn to, and many of them were among us on the Hathaway and the Schofield. You have little to worry about battle scars...

"That said, I have been monitoring the repair reports," Lake continued with an edge in his timbre, "and the crew are not progressing with their usual efficiency. I'll need more time to determine if it's fatigue, or presenteeism, or lack of resources..." Lake shrugged and he folded his hands over his PADD. Instead of shifting his gaze from face to face around the room, he intentionally looked from Luke to Allyndra only.

"What I do know," Lake affirmed, "is the crew have seen members of the bridge crew question not only Captain Saalm's command, but members of the bridge crew questioned Commander Wyatt's command as well. A starship doesn't run on dilithium; it runs on faith in her Captain. We need to worry about the crew having one leader to follow. We need to worry about the crew believing in her leader."

Appreciating his words Luke looked to Allyndra, he hadn't missed her calling him Captain and as a result took it as a sign that she was happy with the current command structure despite her rank. "Thank you Counsellor, I agree with what you're saying whole heartedly, we cannot have a repeat of what has happened." Luke was now addressing them all. "For those not on the bridge I took it upon myself to relive Captain Saalm due to medical reasons, you can read the full incident in my report. With that said I do not believe anyone's actions were unlawful and I believe we can move on from here confident that the current commander structure is more than stable enough to steer us in the right direction.

"I will for the moment continue as Acting Captain until we recover Captain Lirha and she is deemed medical fit to resume her command. Of course Commander Warraquim is our highest ranking officer and at any point if she deems it necessary to take over command she can, however I believe and without speaking to much on your behalf commander, that her main concern right now is the injured crewman and their recovery"

He let out a long sigh "I look forward to reading your full review on the ships crew in due time counsellor and for now I believe your concern of command closed?"

Bobbing his head from side to side, Lake replied at first with a gentle shrug. He paused to consider what he wanted to say. "I have no concern with your command, Commander Wyatt. I don't think the crew does either; not explicitly," Lake said, in an effort to clarify. He paused again. As delicately as he could, Lake said, "What I recommend is you reflect on how you can inspire this crew."

He had to think a little hard before saying "For the moment my inspirational act will have to be getting this crew and the ship back in fighting form, I'll leave boosting morale in your capable hands. Again appreciative of the counsellors words Luke was glad to hear the matter was closed for the moment. "Now with that said what about the very thing that keeps us alive? How is the ship holding up?" Luke said his voice more upbeat in an attempt at raising the atmosphere in the room.

"Thank you chief, I appreciate your departments efforts and if you need anything more don't be afraid to ask for it" Now was the crunch question in which he turned to Amaranai and the science gurus "Lieutenant Franklin, how are our offensive and defencive capabilities and how has our efforts in weaponising an EMP device?"


USS Lagrange - Deck 1, Bridge

Slowly bobbing back and forth in his captain's chair at the center of Lagrange's bridge, the heavyset Starfleet commander -- Captain Rasmussen -- was growing impatient with the lack of updates from Galileo. His vessel had received a limited text debrief of recent events, but with the fate of USS Trial still unknown, it was his duty and priority to determine just what had happened to the two ship's he'd sent out and how to recover the lost Miranda. Not to mention the unauthorized shuttle launch they'd all detected.

A red-collared yeoman floated across his peripheral view and he quickly gestured to the young petty officer. "I'm wasting enough time here...I'm going to Galileo," he said as he rose from his chair and rubbed a frustrated hand across his Danish features. "Tell them to prepare for my arrival at once. And find Kohl...I think he used to serve with the ship's captain."

"Sir." The young 19-year old yeoman snapped to his orders and quickly started to work on his PADD while heading for the turbolift.

On the other side of that turbolift ride, Commander Andreus Kohl was waiting for the Captain in transporter room one. The anxious energy coursing through the Argelian's veins was plain to see by anyone with eyes. Not only was Kohl pacing around the LCARS pedestal, but he was absentmindedly picking at the red stripe on his uniform cuffs. As soon as the double doors hissed apart, Kohl's head snapped towards the opening. He straightened up his posture and he stopped in his tracks. "Captain," Kohl said with some urgency. "Have we received any word? On the state of Trial... or Galileo?"

"Kohl!" he gruffly exclaimed. An aura of grumpiness surrounded the older captain who looked to Andreus with limited emotion. "We wouldn't be going there if we had. I don't know what the hell's going on but we have one ship MIA and the other responsible for an unauthorized shuttle launch." He paused then stared coldly into the commander's eyes. "I want answers!"

Still a bundle of nervous energy, Kohl took a literal hop, and a skip and a jump to climb the steps of the transporter platform. He shuffled the rest of the way to the centre of one of the transporter pads. "I completed my level three interrogation certification last month," Kohl remarked. With the long-duration of their transit, he spoke to one of the holodeck training courses he'd undertaken with the crew. "I'll finally have an opportunity," Kohl said, clasping his hands together, "to test it out."

Behind the LCARS pedestal, the transporter operator turned away to hide her eye-roll. That punchline reeked of Andreus Kohl. On the face of it, there was the absurdism of Nurse-turned-Executive Officer Kohl interrogating a starship Captain, of all people. At the same time, this hardly seemed the time for Kohl to show off his overachievement to an authority figure. And yet, here they were.

The Lagrange's captain smirked then stepped up onto the transporter pad next to his first officer. Rasmussen nodded to the transporter operator then gave Andreus a final glance before bright shimmers of light encompassed their vision. The two senior officers disappeared in cerulean transporter particles and almost-instantly re-materialized in Galileo's transporter room. The cycle took several seconds to complete, and when finished, Rasmussen observed the small room on the Nova-class with only one gold-collared crew member present.


USS Galileo - Deck 3, Transporter Room 1

Petty Officer Amul finished the transport cycle then stepped out from behind his console to stand at attention. "Captain, commander. Welcome aboard Galil--"

"At ease," Rasmussen curtly interjected, now stepping off the transporter pad and heading toward the exit door. "Where's Captain Saalm?" he asked as he walked.

"..Umm.." Amul now scrambled to follow the task group commanding officer and inadvertently bumped into Kohl. "Sorry, sir." He tried his best to answer a question he knew little about. "I don't know where the captain is. I think there's an officer briefing in the conference room right now. Deck 1."

Shaking his head, Kohl frowned at Amul in a chiding manner. His every syllable was elongated by sheer incredulity, when Kohl asked, "How can you not know..." But Kohl stopped himself. He let the question hang in the air. A couple of disturbing possibilities came to mind and, suddenly, Kohl didn't know if he was ready to hear an answer to his own question.

Lagrange's captain looked behind him back to Kohl then motioned for the Galileo Ops crewman to take both of them there. The door swished open and the three quickly departed into the corridor towards the turbolift. The senior captain was surprised by what he now saw as he walked down the main corridor on Deck 3 -- cracked bulkheads, exposed plasma relays, blood stains on the deck carpets, smoke and haze from failed environmental systems... The aftermath of a combat engagement.

Following half a pace behind the two men, Kohl was similarly staring at the overhead, at the bulkheads... He was looking everywhere but where he was going. He tripped over his own feet and managed to right himself, before he might fall or make a scene of himself. Looking around, Kohl was searching for some semblance of familiarity. The classic Galileo had been his home for years, but that tough little ship was gone. This ship was... something else. Seeing the corridor in such a damaged state, three words from an old Captain's log ran in his ears. The context was different, entirely different, but the sentiment felt all the same. Aggressive. Adversarial. Malevolent. Kohl’s father had died the same day he stepped aboard the first Galileo. He prayed this would prove a different experience.

Kohl looked straight ahead and he hardened his gaze. He stopped looking for his childhood home between the panels of upholstery and duranium. Kohl just looked at the back of Rasmussen's head and he followed him into a turbolift.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Second and Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

Commander Andreus Kohl
Acting Captain
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC ir-Llantrisant]

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

CAPT Rasmussen
Commanding Officer
USS Lagrange
[PNPC Saalm]

LT Amaranai Franklin
Deputy Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Callin Mastrel
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO2 Amul
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[NPC Saalm]

CPO Kala Gorvel
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Wyatt]

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