Ain't No Rest for the Wicked (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 21 Apr 2024 @ 2:12pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor

2,493 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 2, Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 04, 1720 hrs

Previously, on Ain't No Rest for the Wicked (Part 1)...

"I will return to duty immediately to address how best to allocate what power we have." There. That was a safe topic. Talking about the ship...well within her purview.

Tarin raised her right hand to indicate for the engineer to pause her train of thought and to change the topic. Her sharp hazel irises now focused in on Sera's own blue ones, then she leaned forward on the couch toward the Vulcan with her elbows rested atop her knees. "What is your duty here, Sera? Is it to myself, the captain? Or to this crew? Or to the mission?" she tested.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Sera raised a brow in confusion, but answered in a determined manner.

“I am not certain I understand the purpose of this line of questioning, Commander Tarin. Your inquiries are phrased in a manner that makes the presumption that these options are mutually exclusive. My duty lies within all three realms you have highlighted, but ultimately this is your ship. We are your crew. You are her captain. I serve at your pleasure."

"And the mission?" Tarin slightly tilted her head to the side with intrigue. The engineering officer hadn't commented on perhaps the most pertinent of the options presented. "If I'm killed along with others of the crew, who will you serve then? What will you serve? Do you believe in accomplishing our objective as instructed by Admiral Saalm? To return to our past to change this future?" She allowed a short verbal pause before clasping both of her hands together in her lap, then continued. "I ask because loyalties are easy to define. They were drilled into us at the Academy and we don't hesitate to fall back on them during times of peril. They're instinctual, in a sense. But understanding exactly what we are loyal to - what we are pursing as a crew and why - is more nuanced and difficult."

"What are you trying to determine by this line of questioning, captain?" Sera responded calmly as she placed the empty coffee mug on the low table near her. "I do not think it such abstract terms. You are alive. To consider such a...scenario is counterproductive and illogical."

The captain's eyes tightened. "You're a department head aboard this vessel overseeing perhaps its most critical function right now given our circumstances. Understanding how dynamic our situation is," Tarin glanced down to her mug then back up, "and the peril we face here along with our need to get back to our own time period...is the opposite of counterproductive. The opposite of illogical. It's practical, and where I come from, we call it doing due diligence. So I'll ask you again, Ensign Sera: based on what you've now witnessed, do you believe in returning to our past to change this future, and believe in this Starfleet's mission which brought us here to do so?"

Sera tilted her head to the side as she regarded Tarin with an unblinking gaze. Time ticked on and an uncomfortable silence formed between the two women.

"No. I have never believed that following the orders of Admiral Saalm were in our best interests. She sees us as a piece to move across a board in a game that has already been lost...and I am concerned at how you perceive us."

Sera saw a shift within the woman and pressed on, knowing if she did not get this out, there would not be a second opportunity.

"You have, without reservation, been exceptionally vocal against our collective--and individual--concerns regarding what is being demanded of us here. We are being asked to violate numerous Starfleet regulations, and our concerns were summarily dismissed as needing to look towards the larger picture, and yet you sit here and question if I believe in what we are doing here?"

Sera continued to press her case. "We are here because you failed in your duty as a command-level officer to follow the orders you were given to turn over classified data that is apparently the entire lynch pin to everything unfolding as it has up to this specific moment. That you are questioning me now about mine is...curious."

In a most un-Vulcan-like gesture, Sera pinched the bridge of her nose and forced a slow exhale in an attempt to re-center herself.

Tarin brought her raktajino mug back to her lips and finished the drinking the final sips of its contents. "So...you do show emotion," she remarked, observing the Vulcan's subtle yet unorthodox behavior. It wasn't meant as a critique of the engineering chief's lack of mental discipline, but rather to show acceptance aboard a starship primarily composed of Humans and other species who most all held similar sentiments. Even if they were kept in private.

"You're correct. I failed in my duty as a commanding officer by not upholding Starfleet's ideals in the past. I attempted to conceal a dangerous scientific experiment from greater exposure believing it was the best course of action at the time. I didn't speak the truth while knowing it's every Starfleet officer's duty to do so. And for that...hundreds of billions have paid the ultimate price in the future." Tarin's self-admittance and reflection of her wrongdoings weren't spoken with remorse or agitation, but matter-of-factly. "But I have always been your captain and I've tried hard to find the nuance necessary to reinforce this crew's resolve. I'm obligated to support the admiral through the chain of command but that doesn't mean I agree with her methods. Don't conflate the two of us or attempt to interpret my orders as unilateral agreement."

The red-collared captain leaned her head back and stared briefly at the ceiling again. "This situation - this future - we find ourselves in isn't simply the result of one action. It is, yet it isn't. Even if we manage to successfully go back in time and correct the past, there will still be another major event involving all the major powers which could spark another war similar to this one. We must return to our core ideals and philosophies which allowed us to come as far as we have, and now we have a second chance to do that which has never been afforded to us in the past." She shook her head at the other woman. "You believe the game's been lost? I believe we have a chance to reset the board and start over, so we don't lose again. So Ensign Mimi doesn't lose her husband for a second time, and so their daughter can grow up with their parents in a prosperous political landscape. A timeline where you, I, and everyone else here aboard Galileo are still alive 17 years in the future and can continue our exploration of space."

"The game in this time has, captain. We have been essentially kidnapped and are being strong-armed into carrying their game into ours...it is an act of desperation, in the same manner a trapped animal will gnaw off it's own limb to escape the trap only to...exsanguinate in the process?"

Raising a brow served to only serve as further punctuation.

"Captain, I have little career experience with only one other assignment was on a prototype ship which did not leave the safety of the core, but is obeying arbitrarily more prevalent on the frontier? If so, that sets a most fascinating precedence. I can think of a specific number of regulations I would find agreeable to no longer abide by as well."

Sera's assessment of their situation was rational but lacked the perspective and intricacy Tarin had privately come to terms with over the past three days. Violating Starfleet's Temporal Prime Directive was certainly a court-martial-able offense which the captain held no doubts about. But to potentially save the Alpha and Beta Quadrants from this apocalyptic future? How could she deny all of the deceased a different future, one not caused by her own moral failures? Maybe it was a mixture of guilt and remorse which now influenced Tarin's decision. Maybe it was her commitment to duty and passion to see the ideals of the Federation prosper into the future. Or some amalgamation of them, along with pride and stubbornness.

The captain's hazel eyes steeled themselves and focused on the engineer. "We'll do what must be done to ensure the future of our species' and that of the Federation. We - I - failed in the past, but I'll ensure we don't make that same mistake again. Maybe one day...later in your career, you'll earn your own command. If that happens, I hope you're never put into a situation similar to that which I now face, or have to navigate these moral quandaries while being haunted by past decisions and carrying this personal burden."

Tarin's words forced Sera to consider her own future. There had been no personal considerations of her own advancement in Starfleet. With Viruk's death--and her refusal to return home and allow herself to be bound to another--her life had a countdown timer attached to it, and the path she had chosen had been to perform her duties acceptably until that ambiguous timer ran out. It might not be logical, but it was her choice. How naive that it all would be so...simple.

Nonetheless, Sera understood Tarin's sentiment far on a far more personal level than what the captain realized. She spoke of the most important lesson a leader could learn. The one who stands at the greatest height is the loneliest person in the realm.

They were surrounded by ramifications of their choices. Shackled by the responsibilities held over others lives, the games with the ever shifting rules and allegiances, and remembering innumerable details so that one did not get caught up in a web of their own creation and die upon the sands...that had been one of the first lessons she had been ever taught.

Sera had no response to her statement. She did not think Tarin's words merited a reply other than acknowledgement. She dipped her head deferentially to her captain, and then raised a brow as a thought did come to her.

Some words of wisdom, from one far wiser than herself.

"Captain, your words remind of poet and philosopher that lived during The Time of Awakening on Vulcan by the name of S'Task. It was said he was one of Surak's...closest friends."

"How beautiful life is and how sad! How fleeting, with no past and no future, only a limitless now." Sera hoped that the captain understood what was she was trying to convey by the recitation.

Tarin sat in silence while processing the words of the ancient philosopher. "The beginning is contaminated, and force will not avail you, or it," she recalled from her Starfleet teachings of Vulcan history. How prophetic he had been. Was this entire venture futile, as the Borg often claimed? She shook her head again. "He was a great man with great wisdom. But I won't succumb to a mindset of futility. None of us can. Understood?"

Sera opened her mouth to correct the captain's erroneous focus, but remembered how well humans accepted such correction.

"I understand." Sera responded instead.

Another moment of silence passed without words during which Tarin reached up to push her loosely-curled brown hair back from one side of her face. She then bit down on her lower lip while deep in thought. It was time to address the more practical matters Galileo now faced which were more difficult to address than philosophizing. "With our warp core gone, we need to start operating in reduced power mode to conserve what little power the impulse reactor can produce. I want a full review from you of our power output status within one hour, along with ways to mitigate the drain. Any non-essential systems? I want them shut down. Holodecks, transporters, replicators, sonic showers, recreational areas, any science and medical labs we're not using," she listed off the top of her head. "We need to prioritize our defensive capabilities - shields, weapons and ECM/ECCM suites if we're going to survive another attack."

It was quite an ask, but at least not out of the realm of possibility. "That can be provided, captain. I will personally see that all non-esssential ships' systems are deactivated and all power transferred to necessary areas. However, sir? Might I suggest we not get into another battle?"

The Vulcan sense of humor. Often so untimely and apparent that it became comical. Perhaps if the situation their starship was currently embroiled in wasn't so perilous and dire, Tarin might have laughed. Instead, she emoted a small smirk from one corner of her lips. "Of course. I'll hail the Romulan scout vessel which escaped immediately then politely request they refrain from sharing our location with their allies until we've finished attempting to change this timeline and prevent their war victories from ever existing." The captain's sarcasm grated through the air in the room before she curtly shook her head and returned to a more professional tone. "We need to be ready for anything, ensign. And my gut instinct tells me we'll have more company soon. Do everything you can with the limited resources we have. Check in with Commander Blake after your initial assessment."

Sera had been around humans long enough that the rather outrageous statement coupled with a lower tone of voice and unique intonation indicated sarcasm, which meant she was conveying a sentiment in direct opposition to what was being said.

When the captain discussed her intuitive feeling, Sera straightened. Although humans were listed as psi-null, she had personally witnessed on more than one occasion humans make such outrageous declarations without substantive data to back up their 'feelings' that had come to pass. Sera personally chose to accept such irrational things as a visible demonstration of IDIC.

"I will perform this assignment most expediently, captain, and report to Commander Blake within the hour regarding my recommendations for power redistribution."

"Good. Get to work, then. We have more long days ahead of us - and if you need more coffee to stay sharp while the replicators are down, come see me and I'll teach you how to make it from scratch. Dismissed."

Sera stood and dipped her head in acknowledgement. Perhaps one day she would ask the captain how to make the bitter coffee brew, but today was not that day. Tarin's orders clear, Sera left the captain's office, already her mind on how to go about reducing power usage on the ship to meet the requirements of the captain's orders...

[OFF]

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Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Acting Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

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