A Small Request

Posted on 16 Feb 2013 @ 2:55am by Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Captain Jonathan Holliday

1,640 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2- XO's Office
Timeline: MD 02, 1300

Evelyn walked down the corridor, her conversation with Stone being replayed in her head. Closure, perhaps I do need closure.... she thought to herself. She halted when she saw the markings on the door signifying Holliday's office. She inhaled a deep breath before pressing the door chime.

Upon hearing his voice, Evelyn promptly walked in, "Commander, hope I am not disturbing you."


"...Computer pause log."

The XO muttered quietly before looking up from his desk. Up until now he had been deep in thought reciting his log entry back to the computer, having lapsed in his most recent reports a little further behind than he might have liked.

"Lieutenant Commander. What can I do for you?"

Evelyn walked in and took a seat in the empty chair in front of his desk. "I...well originally I came here to file a complaint however things have changed in a few hours."

"Let me guess....Lieutenant Stone either pulled a phaser on you, tried to strike you, threatened to have you relieved of duty or generally managed to piss you off?"

"Stone?" She echoed before shaking her head, "No, Lieutenant Stone and I are on good terms, hell you can say we've become friends. He's a very...unique individual." She mused.

"Unique is not the word.....he's starting to become more trouble than he's worth as far as I'm concerned."

John sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before leaning back in his chair. Usually he would have disciplined one of his officers for simply walking into his office and sitting down, but Coleman wasn't just another officer, she was the only one on board who he had given any indication as to his past to.

"He's walking a fine line."

Evelyn shrugged, "Who doesn't." She replied casually, "It's a typical round peg into a square hole scenario. The crew expects Stone to behave as a typical Terran officer, that would be a mistake."

"The crew expects Stone to act as a senior officer on a starship should - you've been around long enough to know that there needs to be a certain degree of flexibility in any command level officer."

Evelyn leaned back in her chair, "Commander, I didn't come here to discuss Stone, however; he's not a bad person. He spent half a decade in a Cardassian Prison, you don't simply come out of that all honky-dory. Hell people who spent mere days in one ended up needing months of psychological treatments. He still has short term memory issues which is why he's dependent on his Data PADD. Only thing he understands is structure, and that is why he's a walking code book."

"Walking code books have no place in the fleet. They're not flexible, they're not adaptable, and in my opinion they're a liability!"

John took a breath to control his temper as the heat of argument began to flare up inside him. As far as he was concerned, if someone had been marked down as so damaged, then they should never have been allowed back to active duty outside of a calm facility outside of mainstream operations.

"But as you say...you're not here to discuss Stone....so what did you want to discuss?"

Evelyn bit her tongue, before she and the Executive Officer got into a verbal argument over Stone. "Well....I would like permission to borrow a shuttle and leave the ship once we arrive at the Rojar system."

"For what purpose?" The XO replied. He was intrigued as to why a senior member of the Galileo's crew would want to leave the ship outside of mission parameters. Whilst John might have made the same request to his Captain only a short while ago, that was during shore leave, and to visit a known location - this request was entirely different however.

She looked at him, "I want want to visit a star system less than a parsec away from Rojar. I'll be gone for about a day."

"A charted system I hope? I would have a hard time authorizing you to take a shuttle to go to a system that we know nothing about...I've still got to think about crew safety."

"No the star system I want to go to hasn't been cataloged by the Federation yet. But it's for personal reasons that I make this request. I can use my own shuttle if you don't want to risk lending me one." Eve replied looking down at her hands.

"There's something you aren't telling Lieutenant Commander. Care to elaborate?"

John didn't want to press the issue, but his commitment to duty meant that he wasn't going to let one of his crewmembers disappear into the unknown without at least some idea that they were going to be safe. Evelyn had helped him deal with his own personal demons, it was about time the First Officer returned the favour.

"You...members of this crew, never been in this region of space. Never passed through the Rojar system. I have. I haven't been in this part of the galaxy for over a hundred years, yet I'm still affected by..." Evelyn closed her eyes, not wanting to get emotional in front of her superior. She inhaled a deep breath, opened her eyes to look directly into John's and confessed, "the El-Aurian system is a couple light-years away from Rojar."

"The El-Auria system?" John had to think back on his galactic history a short while to jog his memory of the history of their second officer's species. It only took a moment for the cold feeling of dread to descend into his stomach.

"If I remember that system was...attacked..by the Borg...it seems a little risky to go there in nothing more than a shuttle?"

Eve sighed, "I need to see to for myself. I wasn't there when the Borg attacked. My people are scattered across the galaxy. I don't have a homeworld to go to anymore, John. I don't have a family I can visit. And the other El-Aurian survivors I know don't practice our customs anymore." Eve tore her eyes away from Holliday. "I thought I came to terms with my situation a long time ago, but the truth is, it hurts every damn day. I haven't been back here in... I just need to see it for myself. Guess you can say I need closure...."

"And you're sure that you would be safe? The Galileo might not be a warship but she's a damn sight safer than a shuttlecraft if anything goes wrong?"

John knew the importance of closure. He was in no way about to stop a member of his crew dealing with a personal event that needed to be resolved, but at the same time, he had to be able to live with himself if anything went wrong.

"John, I'll be fine with a shuttle. I'm a better pilot than you." She smirked, "however, if you're concerned for my safety, I can use my own shuttle. It's in that small box I have in my closet."

"No. If you're going off the ship, you go on a Federation vessel. That's my condition. And you file a flight plan. And you check in regularly. And you stay safe.....understood Commander?"

John realised that he wasn't going to get his own way on this matter, and the only solution he could think of would be to make the situation as safe as possible, at least that way he would know if something had gone wrong and could send help if it became necessary.

"Understood." Evelyn nodded, feeling grateful he didn't offer any strong objection for this request. "Is there any other conditions?" She asked him. "Do I need to bring someone with me?"

John hesitated for a moment. The Second Officer had sacrificed part of her own shore leave in order to journey with him back to Mars, and given the choice he would happily return the favour this time and travel to her homeworld.

"If....if there is opportunity....I will accompany you myself if you wish."

Evelyn smiled, "I appreciate the offer, however you are needed on the Galileo. We can't have both the XO and 2XO be off the ship. Lieutenant Stone had volunteered to go with me. Hell Jeremy is the one that made me think about going there in the first place."

"Having my second officer and my security chief off the ship at the same time is hardly a good idea either - the captain is going to ask questions you know?"

John was hardly comfortable with the idea of lying to his commanding officer, but knew that if push came to shove he would be able to account for the absence of two of his officers wi relative ease, he simply didn't appreciate that such a situation might end up necessary.

"I trust it would be a short detour?"

Evelyn sighed, "I only intend to be gone a day. And truthfully I'd prefer to go alone."

"I'm not going to convince you otherwise am I? Either I allow you to take a Federation vessel or you'll just sneak out on your own...and I'm not about to confine you to the Brig until we leave this sector....Permission granted Lieutenant Commander."

Eve rose from her seat, "If you were to have denied my request, Commander, I wouldn't have disobeyed those orders."

"I know Miss Coleman...I know...dismissed."

John replied with a smile, and a warm feeling in his heart that one of his officers had such loyalty as to follow his orders regardless of their own personal feelings.

Evelyn gave him a firm nod before walking out of his office.

[OFF]


CMDR Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Cmdr. Evelyn Coleman
Chief Intelligence Officer/ 2XO
USS Galileo

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