That Will Be Acceptable

Posted on 29 Dec 2023 @ 12:35am by Commander Morgan Tarin & Lieutenant JG Serran

2,022 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 3, Operations Office
Timeline: MD 01, 2002 hrs

[ON]

Four consecutive hours of intelligence material review combined with Galileo's chief security officer's insubordinate departure from the ship earlier in the day now left Commander Morgan Tarin dealing with not only stressful and unexpected personnel changes, but also a slowly manifesting migraine which she knew, if left untreated, would render her incapacitated within the next twelve hours. The throbbing painful pulses within the left side of her temple were still growing and getting stronger. A visit to sickbay was much needed but before she could spare the personal time to treat herself, she had one important crew member to consult with and bring into the loop of current events.

The tall and athletically-built captain walked with fast strides from the turbolift on deck 3 toward the Operations office intending to finally meet her new operations manager for the first time since their departure from Regula I. She didn't need to press the chime to announce her presence, but it was nevertheless a formal courtesy that would probably be better received than simply barging in.

Serran had pondered for some time whether to keep the aquarium in his and Theo's quarters or have it in the office In the end, he'd decided to keep it in his quarters and make the office a little more austere of business like The only exception to this were some holophotos, mostly of him and Theo, or Theo alone. There was one other photo tucked away on the corner of his desk of Finn.

Having unpacked and gotten the office just as he wanted he was in meditation when he heard the chime. Sitting up a little straighter he called out "Come."

The door swished open and Tarin stepped inside the Nova-class' familiar Operations office. It was a colorfully hued administrative chamber as a result of the multitude of LCARS monitors lining every wall and desk surface. Yellow, silver, blue, and gray user interfaces cast their respective glows while occasionally blinking and shifting to display new console readouts. The room was the heart and soul of the ship's brain in a sense because all primary, secondary, and auxiliary system observation and management were connected to this one area. Usually, the captain could expect to find the furry Nekomi ensign or one of the other petty officers tending to their duties here, but instead, she'd apparently walked in on one of the newest of Galileo's crew, the operations manager.

"Lieutenant Serran," she spoke with dry inflection to the unorthodoxly blond Vulcan who appeared to have been in the middle of some sort of private ritual. "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"It is fine, Captain," he said as he rose to his feet "I was just briefly meditating, my way of dealing preemptively dealing with stress. Especially with what is currently happening here."

"I presume this is not a social call. Is that correct?"

"No, unfortunately not," she answered after taking a deep breath and exhaling through her nose. Tarin stepped further into the room while unholstering a small silver PADD from her belt which she then offered to the department head. "I want to update you on our crew who are aboard Galileo-B, especially Ensign Mimi. According to her latest update, our engineering and operations personnel were briefed and are now getting underway with deflector coil replacements and EPS grid repairs. Estimated time to completion is still uncertain, but it shouldn't be longer than 72 hours."

Serran took the offered PADD avoiding touching her, not out of spite or animosity, simply because he disliked touching or being touched by strangers.

He scrolled through the body of the message, making calculations in his head as he read through the various reports.

"Seventy-two hours is possible if there are no more surprises. The damage is real, but not as substantial as it could have been."

He paused a moment before continuing, "If we could gather a score of volunteers that too some of basic engineering or operations courses to handle the more cosmetic issues, I would estimate we could reduce the time of completion by about 12.64%."

"Is that acceptable? If so, would you be willing to announce that on the ship's coms?"

Tarin shook her head in the negative. While she normally wouldn't hesitate to accommodate the request, the crew resources simply weren't available. "We're already stretched thin. Most of our engineers are already deployed to the -B and you're the only officer left in Ops still aboard the -A. Both our chief and deputy science officers are also aboard Admiral Saalm's vessel reviewing whatever timeline calculations have been created." It was a frustrating dilemma, managing a crew of such a small size and determining priorities with limited resources. "I can't spare anyone else at the moment without further degrading our operational status."

Serran raised one brow and gave a brief nod of assent. "I understand the predicament, Captain. We will make do do with the personnel that we have. We will make every effort to restore all systems as quickly as possible. Vulcans can go without sleep for extended periods when they have to and this certainly seems like such a time."

"What else can you tell me about our status and what is happening."

"Well," the red-collared captain again shook her head, this time lightly while she recalled the latest and most pertinent information to relay to the new department head, "Galileo - ours - is in relatively good condition considering the hull stresses the temporal vortex put onto our outer and inner hulls. A few minor microfractures have been reported but all of our systems are fully functional. The -B is in worse shape. Her primary deflector array is still offline and they're dealing with both internal EPS repairs and external emitter coil damage. For now, we're their eyes and ears."

Tarin then clasped her hands professionally behind her waist and slowly paced through the operations office while continuing her update. "Given the nature of our...predicament," she chose the word carefully, "I get the sense many of the crew are on edge, to put it lightly. To suddenly be pulled 25 years into the future only to learn the Federation is suffering catastrophic defeat at the hands of a Romulan-Klingon alliance where hundreds of billions of lives have already been lost - including our own - is going to take its mental toll."

"If I said I was unaffected, that would not be the truth. It is difficult for anyone. But my mental discipline does give me something of an edge. It has been really difficult for my son, however. He is dealing with multiple issues."

"But, that is a personal matter. It won't affect my performance. Have simulations been run to see how we might get back to our own time?"

"Ullswater and the rest of her science team are currently working with Commander Wyatt aboard the -B to vet these proposed timeline changes," answered Tarin. "But between you and I, I don't get the sense a lot of this crew trusts her or even believes this new reality to be true. 'Temporal detachment' is what we called it in the Academy if you remember - the affliction of not processing future or past events in the same manner as the present." She observed the yellow-collared Vulcan in more detail, this time adding a slight hint of softness to her orthodoxly dry and curt inflection. "I won't judge anyone for what they're experiencing and certainly not your child. Teddy, is it?" she tried to recall the youth's name from her memory of the personnel manifest.

"Theo," he replied drily. "He does not care for the name Teddy."

"Yes, I do recall those classes. It was all theoretical back then. I had no idea I'd be facing a situation such as that in reality."

"I find myself in a quandary. There is irrefutable, empirical data that proves we are in a new reality, but it is still a difficult concept to grasp."

"Logic tells me one thing, my emotions tell me something different. It is difficult for me to grasp how humans and others who are ruled by their emotions more often than not are dealing with it."

"Apparently, not easily," the captain shook her head gently in acknowledgment of the Vulcan's observation. Theo. She made a mental note of that for her first encounter with the boy. "For now, we have our priorities and tasks to complete. I'm hoping we can use our duties to stay focused and return to our own time. Repairing The Galileo-B is...apparently our only hope of that. The ship was fitted with the appropriate technology to generate the temporal vortex that brought us here. If we can repair the admiral's ship before it's too late, she's promised to send us back. On the condition we - I," Tarin corrected herself, "reverse a previous decision I made handling classified scientific information."

"I wasn't here whenever you made that decision and it's not my place to ask what it was. However, if you feel it is wise to change that decision, that would be your prerogative."

"I will focus on my job of overseeing the repairs."

Tarin privately appreciated the senior officer's position on the sensitive matter. It was one that recently invoked strong opinions and subtle hints toward insubordination among the ship's company, but Serran seemed much more measured in his approach. More reasonable and open to understanding the unknown than the other Vulcans aboard the vessel. "I don't have meditation rituals to guide my logic because I'm a Human - we can't suppress our emotions, as ideal of an idea as that might sound right now. I'll...need to think about this some more. In my own private time," was her candid reply. "I'm grateful for your understanding and diligence. For now, though, there are no repairs for me to task you to. Instead, I want you to find a way to squeeze every ounce of power you can find from our impulse and warp reactors to reinforce our primary and secondary systems. We're operating here in the 25th century with a comparatively antiquated starship and we'll need every edge we can get in the coming days just to keep up."

"I will give it my full attention Captain and make it a priority, not that it was going to be otherwise under my watch."

"I will say though that meditation is not exclusively a Vulcan practice. Anyone can learn to do so I could show you sometime if you would like.

"Later, when you have time, I would be glad to lend you my copy of the works of Surak."

Surak. One of the greatest philosophers to have ever lived; the founder of modern Vulcan civilization. His works were well-studied and promoted within Starfleet Academy and had been for centuries ever since Earth created its first warp-capable fleets of starships with assistance from the Vulcans. "I have a copy of my own," she replied, "but it's been years since I cracked its binder open. Maybe...now's as good a time as ever," she accepted with a simple nod. "Let's get through our current predicament here first, then I'll be happy to sit with you for lessons."

"That will be acceptable. Is there anything more that you need from me, ma'am?"

There was, of course, a great deal more to discuss. Not just between Tarin and her crew, but perhaps for years to come if they survived this future timeline. Yet as far as practicality extended itself, time was their new opponent which didn't afford them any such luxuries. She curtly shook her head, her stray dark brown hair locks bobbing against the side of her cheeks. "No, that's all. Keep me informed of your progress with updates every two hours. And Mister Serran...call me 'captain'."

"Yes, Captain," he replied, his expression unreadable.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lt. (jg)Serran
Operations Manager
USS Galileo</>A

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