Native

Posted on 15 Dec 2023 @ 1:36pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Lieutenant JG Zara Ghemora & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Ensign Amanda Turell & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral

4,161 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: IKS Praxis, USS Galileo-A
Timeline: MD 01, 1640 hrs

[ON]

IKS Praxis

Aria let out a breath as she sat in the room, waiting for the hail to be answered by Captain Tarin. Or Admiral Saalm. Whoever was in charge at the moment. Her hand was playing with the broken commbadge in her hand, her father's, her mind oddly still.

She was staying on the Praxis. And she suspected it would not be well received. She felt naked without her own badge on, but that had been necessary. She needed Kuran to trust her, if she was to accomplish what she needed. And what she needed was the truth.

The large terminal screen within Praxis war chamber flickered then displayed a new image of Commander Tarin seated in front of her desk's LCARS console within her ready room. "Lieutenant," she curtly acknowledged, grateful for her security chief's check-in report and to know the details of how Captain Kuran and Praxis were handling these new developments. At present, the Klingon warship was both Galileos' protector and guardian, for neither of the small vessels could reasonably survive combat with an enemy force consisting of larger ships of the line. "How did your briefing go?"

"Well, I am still alive, so I take it as a good sign," Aria said lightly as she watched the other woman. She took a slow, deep breath. "Captain Tarin...I understand your position, with Admiral Saalm. And that you are caught in an impossible situation. By default, so am I. We have...different views on the Federation and Starfleet. This...time...I am unable to reconcile it with the Starfleet I believe in. Breaking the Temporal Prime Directive isn't just...against it, but for all the death and destruction that has happened in 25 years, other things have happened. People have been born, relationships have started...and we are risking the death of that," she looked down, frowning. And then determination set in as she looked at the screen again, her pale blue eyes firm. "And if Saalm's plan fails, this timeline will continue. I feel that as a Starfleet officer, I need to find out the whole truth of this. And see if there is any chance of peace, any chance of a future here. If the Federation deserves to be saved, if they're the villain of this story for once," she met her eyes, taking a deeper breath. "I'm not coming back to the Galileo until I've determined that, Captain."

Tarin blinked several times and her mouth parted with incredulity. She'd listened to the words but had trouble truly processing what Rice was saying. "You...what?"

"I'm not coming back yet, Tarin," Aria repeated, her voice almost gentle. "The Praxis will not attack any Federation vessel, unless fired upon. But I need answers and I think Kuran feels the same way. We only have Admiral Saalm's point of view and considering that we've been pulled through time, I...don't trust it. We don't have all the information, Captain. And I can't follow someone who broke the Temporal Prime Directive."

The Praxis? Answers? And Rice had simply addressed her as 'Tarin' in a bizarrely calm inflection. Red alert klaxons sounded in the captain's head and her breathing quickened. "This not your decision to make - and it's not why I sent you there," Tarin sternly admonished. "Report back to Galileo immediately. We can discuss this in private and address these concerns you have."

"No," Aria said as she watched her, taking a deeper breath. But her body was calm, despite the situation. "Because the briefing showed that any concerns will be ignored. If this works and the last 25 years are undone, a lot of people may never be born. I am not going to try sabotaging Saalm's plans, but there is more going on here. The Romulans and Klingons were enemies, yet are now working together? Aren't you at all curious of how bad things must have gotten with the Federation for that to happen?"

'No'?! Tarin's worst fears were now being confirmed. Kuran had manipulated Rice by appeasing her hidden disdain for Starfleet's way of life and her naturally free-spirited Lunan worldview. It hadn't been a secret to the new Galileo captain that her chief of security was...different in those regards, and sending her on the initial officer exchange program several weeks ago had been a calculated risk. "Rice. Aria," spoke Tarin in a more measured tone to convince her to not commit career suicide, "of course I'm curious. We all are and that's why we have our entire science department aboard Galileo-B attempting to vet this timeline and find alternate solutions. If you want to find these answers, don't trust myself or Admiral Saalm - trust Ullswater and Vala and the others you've served with. Not Kuran."

"I'm not trusting Kuran," Aria said as she watched the other woman. "I am trusting myself, Morgan, something I should have done a long time ago. If this...time travel lark works, then this will never have happened. If it doesn't, then...maybe there is something out there that is worth saving, because this is not the Starfleet I signed up for. Besides, you heard Saalm. We're dead in this time. So really..." she smiled suddenly, her eyes almost shining with the humour. "I got nothing to lose. For my own sanity, I am going to get answers."

Tarin's frustration started to boil over into mild panic. She adamantly shook her head, her loosely-curled brown hair rapidly bouncing across her freckled cheeks. "No," she firmly declared in a raised voice with hardened authority to the security officer. "Permission denied. Whatever you're planning with Kuran, it will put the rest of us in jeopardy. This is a selfish act to explore your own moral compass, not the actions of a Starfleet officer. I won't ask you again, lieutenant. Return to Galileo immediately!"

Aria's fingers toyed with the broken commbadge for a moment, her eyes drifting to it. "I am not asking for permission," she said after a long moment. "I am stating my intention. The Praxis will not attack any Federation Starship, but if we are attacked...we will defend ourselves," she met her eyes, holding them, her own filled with steely determination.

The captain's fist slammed on the desk which reverberated through the visual comm channel. Tarin's hazel eyes were now large and furious as she came to full terms with what would soon happen. "Lieutenant Aria Rice, you are in violation of direct orders and are engaging in willful insubordination and mutiny!" she shouted. Trying to reason with the young security chief had yielded no results, and so her last hope was to snap her back to reality and the proper chain of command. "I order you to return to Galileo!"

Aria didn't even flinch at the outburst, finding herself just studying the other woman. "I suggest that you're...careful, with Admiral Saalm," she said, instead. "She always had a streak in her, to do what was in her own best interest. Most of the time it was in the best interest of the ship, so it was...endearing. I am not so sure it has aged well, so for the sake of your ship...don't fall under the spell." She let out a breath, looking thoughtful. "Take care of the ship and the crew. I hope to...set foot on the Galileo-A again in not too long. Either in this time, or...well..." the smile didn't really reach her eyes. "None of this ever happened."

That was it. Rice's final words to her as an officer aboard USS Galileo. The realization soaked through Tarin's cranial membranes with permanence, then she angrily slapped her LCARS terminal's transmission button to cut the feed. There was nothing more to say to the now-former Starfleet officer, but there was one last chance to save themselves from the junior lieutenant's misguided actions. Quickly tapping her commbadge once the feed had been cut, Tarin quickly summoned the remains of her crew to the bridge.

"Tarin to Blake, Warraquim, Ghemora and all senior NCOs and officers. Report to the bridge immediately!" The curt sense of urgency in her voice revealed the necessity for due haste. She quickly departed her ready room and entered the nearby turbolift to take her one deck above into Galileo's command chamber.


USS Galileo-A - Deck 1, Bridge

The turbolift door hissed open to signal Tarin's expedited arrival. The tall and athletic Nova-class commander rapidly strode to her command station in the center well of the bridge then barked out an order. "Conn, report status of IKS Praxis."

Situated directly in front of the large main viewscreen at the helm, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius snapped his head over his shoulder when the captain suddenly arrived and spoke to him in an unusually brusque tone. "Praxis is..." he looked back to his navigational display then frowned with nothing unusual to report, "currently maintaining position off our port nacelle, approximately 50 kilometers distance."

Vansen stepped out of the turbolift, somewhat surprised to have been called. But then again, it wasn't like he had much to do as he hadn't been asked to go on an away team. He went to the Ops station, glancing over at the Captain with some curiosity as he caught the last of Darius' update on the Klingon ship.

"Now what?" Allyndra wondered as she and several others entered the bridge area after being summoned ratherly abruptly. A Klingon warship was on the viewscreen. "Captain?" She said. "What is going on?"

Wylde moved onto the bridge with his fellow doctor, but remained silent as he came to a stand still. He had a feeling that all would be made clear...and loudly too. He glanced around the bridge, a place he wasn't all too familiar with.

Blake was only a few steps behind, her features ashen and her body coiled tight. She looked across to Tarin, the emotion rolling through the Captain palpable even with the distance between them.

Toren arrived, slightly breathless, his antennae slicked back against his hair. He straightened up as he entered and walked down to situate himself by one of the vacant science stations

Piling into the same turbolift as rest of the command team Jeysa emerged onto the bridge, she moved to stand near Tarin and watched and listened to everything that was going on.

It was a short trip for the deputy to reach the bridge. Ghemora accepted standing back to observe and learn what had been so pressing.

Amanda quickly followed Ghemora out onto the bridge eyes scanning the area trying to pick out what had caused the immediate call to the bridge, not seeing anything immediate she took up station standing beside the turbolift.

The sounds of the bridge's port entrance repeatedly hissing open and shut with new arrivals went unacknowledged by the captain. Tarin remained standing within the center of the depressed command stations with her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her attention remained vehemently focused on the viewscreen. "It's Lieutenant Rice," she answered to the blue-collared doctor and second officer. "She's refusing orders to return to Galileo. She and Captain Kuran are apparently leaving to ascertain the truth of why we're here. She's gone native." Tarin bit hard on her lower lip. "Vansen, get a transporter lock on her and beam her back immediately."

"And risk engaging a Klingon ship with two ships that are not fully functional?" Allyndra couldn't believe what she was hearing and Tarin's actions.

Tarin snapped her head back to the winged Akkadian with irate features. "I want my chief of security back on this ship, now! She is disobeying direct orders and will put us all in jeopardy with this stunt by revealing our position if they go to warp."

Toren spoke up with a firm and steady tone, "Captain, with all due respect, hauling Lt. Rice back like a wayward shuttle might just ruffle the Klingons' feathers more than we'd like. We're sitting ducks against that cruiser, and a bit of tact now might save us a heap of trouble down the line." His antennae gave a slight twitch.

"Belay that order, Petty Officer Vansen!" Allyndra shouted out and took a step forward. She focused on Tarin and knew that she had swatted the honey hornet nest. "Captain Tarin, such a move could entail endangerment to this ship, and the other Gallileo. I don't think you are thinking this through but acting on emotional impulse. Continue down this course. I will relieve you of duty for medical reasons."

Galileo-A's New York City-born captain narrowed her eyes at the doctor's blatant and public contempt for her orders. Tarin stiffened when she then heard the threat from the winged Akkadian. Obscene, reckless, insubordinate - the list of adjectives to describe the wildly inappropriate declaration were too numerous. "You have no authority to countermand my orders and you're relieved, commander," ordered Tarin to the second officer with sharp and projecting inflection. "Leave the bridge immediately and return to your quarters." There was no time for this. Every additional second Rice remained aboard Praxis was one less for the opportunity to recover her. "Vansen, you heard my order. Get a lock on her and beam her to transporter room 1, now!"

"Captain, with respect, you are operating from a position of a highly emotional response. That ship," Allyndra pointed toward the view screen, "with your actions, could fire upon this vessel and in either case, whether you gain Lt. Rice or not, could easily warp away. As both the Chief Medical Officer and the Second Officer, it is my duty to look out for the well fare of this crew. I am concerned your actions in giving that order is endangering this crew. Master Chief Toren Vral has indicated the same." Allyndra turned to face Commander Blake. "I will remove myself Commander Blake as ordered if you concur with Captain Tarin."

Tarin quickly stepped out of the command well with long leg strides to stand mere inches from the blue-collared doctor. The look in her eyes was one of dismay and incredulity. This woman wasn't acting like a Starfleet command-level officer - or even an Academy cadet. "Commander Warraquim, this is a Starfleet vessel, not a democracy. You've voiced your disagreement and you may not like or agree with my decision, but I am this ship's captain and you will follow my lawful orders." Her sharp glare burned into the Akkadian's compound sapphire irises. "Now get off my bridge or I'll have you detained."

"You are correct Captain Tarin, this is not a democracy and I am not treating it as such. I am questioning as I think falls to my duty of the overall wellfare of the crew of an order which appears now to be coming from an irrational emotional response. One as I pointed out, could result in engaging with a vessel we are not equipped to deal with. You rational of said vessel warping away and revealing our position exists no matter if Lt. Rice is recovered or not. It is a higher probability of angering the Klingons by transporting a person off their vessel that the danger of our discovery is increased." Allyndra kept her voice calm. She knew she had to not rise to anger, for who knew what review might look like. Her case was best to appear calm and collected. "Our best is to find out what the reasons are and find a solution that does not risk escalation of the situation. I would urge you to consider that for the welfare of this ship and crew."

Vansen had, through this, at least tried to find Lieutenant Aria Rice on the Klingon ship without raising too much suspicion. Usually, you'd just lock onto the signal of the commbadge - that had been his initial idea - but the problem was...he couldn't find it. So he had to scan for her biosignature. Which was a delicate job on a good day that no Operations Officer would really care to let anyone know about. During his training his Instructor had described it as finding the Queen Bee without pissing off all the other bees, but the reference had no meaning for him. And then he saw it. The distinct change of all the signatures that started blending together. "The Klingon ship is cloaking, I can't get a lock," he said, loudly to cut through the conversation happening.

Blake moved around the bridge to get close to Tarin. In fact, she moved in so close to her that when she spoke, it was nothing more than a whisper, for the Captain alone to hear. In any other situation, she would have sought to speak to her in private, but that option wasn't viable with the urgency of the situation unfolding. In truth, she understood Allyndra's position, and agreed with Toren's analysis. Tarin's emotional state was clearly overriding her rational mind. But there was a difference between overly emotional responses leading to questionable judgement and being medically unfit.

There was also the expectation that a commanding officer would remove themselves from command if they were emotionally compromised to the point of not being able to make rational decisions. Whilst Blake felt that Tarin's authority vs Rice's defiance had well and truly fired up Tarin's anger enough to put the Captain into that bracket, Blake would comfortably wager a million gold-pressed latinum bars that Tarin would rather put every single one of them in the brig and sail the ship alone than remove herself from the situation for being emotionally compromised.

But more to the point...it didn't matter that there were rights and wrongs on both sides, or proving it either way...all that mattered to Blake right now was defusing the situation, regaining calm and control on the bridge, and taking them a step away from the precipice of destruction on which they now stood.

"Captain," Blake whispered to her, low enough for Tarin's ears only, her back turned to the others to form as much of a barrier as possible. "If we perpetrate an act of aggression on the Praxis, then win or lose, we lose them as an ally forever," she said bluntly. "If we let them go, and they find something of use for our mission, then the odds are good for them to come back and aid us. *Especially* if Rice is over there influencing the state of play. The only option that ends with us winning here is letting them go."

From the conn station at the fore of the bridge, Darius had sat with bewilderment while listening to the opening indicators of a full-fledged mutiny aboard Galileo. If escalations continued, he knew what he would have to do. Command protocols had been drilled into him since his early days in the Corps then subsequently during Fleet retraining, but his duty to his station came first and his console now lit up with several alerts coinciding with the operations officer's previous report. "Sirs!" he tried to bring their attention to the main viewscreen which now showed the large Klingon battlecruiser's green and gray hull fading from the visual spectrum in a waving shimmer of EM particles. With a matter of seconds, Praxis disappeared from the navigational sensors. "...She's gone," he reported, raising his hands from his LCARS console.

Only a momentary pause ensued before the helm station once again received an important notification. Darius shifted his attention from the viewscreen back to his console then reported, "I'm detecting a warp signature buildup from Praxis' last known position." On the bridge's main viewer, a sudden puff of cosmic dust was the only visual indicator of the Klingon ship's departure. "They've gone to warp." His dark fingertips quickly tapped across his console to attempt a course extrapolation with limited sensor data. "Best predicted heading is...021-mark-00," he swiveled his chair to face the commanders and other crew, "toward Klingon space."

With Blake standing intimately close to her, the only initial reaction Tarin could display was to glower at the large holographic viewscreen with contempt for some of her senior officers' refractoriness. Rice was now gone and so was Praxis; and along with them, a much-needed senior officer and the Galileos' only hopes for operational stealth and protection. She tightened both of her hands into fists and dug her short fingernails into her palms before turning to Blake, Warraquim and Vral with cold and hard eyes, judging one of them for their perfidious conduct. "Commander Warraquim and Master Chief Vral," Tarin ordered, "go to my ready room immediately and wait for me there." She then flicked her eyes to the security officer ensign then gestured with a quick tilt of her head toward the turbolift. "Turell, escort them." The next priority was to contact the other Galileo and inform them of what had just occurred. "Blake, find Admiral Saalm and notify her of this...new development."

Blake had managed to keep her breath of relief - at the Praxis managing to leave before shots were fired - both silent and imperceptible. But it had definitely been there. "Aye, Captain," she nodded to Tarin, striding briskly to get to her office so she could put the call in to Lirha.

Vansen let out a soft breath before he cleared and filed the data before him. The data told him there wasn't a signature anywhere within reach matching Aria Rice's biosignature, so he removed the request so not to confuse the computer.

Allyndra turned and left without another word, expression or action other than to exude a sense of calm. There was nothing further to argue about. The ship was gone and that was that.

Toren gave a nod of acknowledgement to the Captain, his expression impassive, then followed the Akkadian out of the doors.

"Aye Sir." Amanda waited until Allyndra and Toren had passed her before falling into step behind them. From Tarin's attitude it felt like she was escorting the condemned already.

Having stayed silent and quietly observed the entire incident, the Cardassian had seemingly been overlooked in the small spot nearest the Mission Ops station. Normally such a thing wasn't common, especially given her unique features, but Ghemora didn't mind it this time. As everyone else made their exit, the DSEC waited for orders, but none came. Turning to face the station, using her unremarkable hair and common-colored collar as a disguise of sorts, the Cardassian seemed to 'blend into the background' as Tarin seemed to finally take a breath before deciding the fate of whomever was left.

When the bridge's exit door finally ceased swishing open and closed, Tarin found herself the only remaining senior officer within the small Nova-class' bridge. In contrast to the near-calamity which had just ensued, the silence of standard operating procedures and soft LCARS chirps emanating from the various consoles was a welcome yet brief change in atmosphere. "All of you, as you were. Continue to monitor our situation and inform me of any changes. Zeror, note this incident in the ship's log and come with me. Darius, you have the bridge."

The dark-skinned chief warrant officer straightened his posture and repeated the captain's declaration. "I have the bridge, captain."

Jeysa began to follow Tarin, she stayed quite for now. The woman's blood was up and she was hesitant to say anything in defense or persecution of Aria's or Allyndra's actions.

Tarin then quickly paced to the command center's exit and the turbolift just beyond the short corridor with her yeoman in tow behind her. The door swished shut behind the two tall red-collared officers leaving Galileo-A's bridge as it once was.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

Lieutenant Aria Rice
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Constantin Vansen
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

Ensign Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

Po3 Jeysa Zeror
Captain's Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

MCPO Toren Vral
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]

LTJG Zara Ghemora
Deputy Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

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

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

CWO3 Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

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