Really, who's in charge here?

Posted on Wed Nov 30th, 2022 @ 11:07pm by Captain Freya Mannerheim & Subcommander Kaiae t'Lien

2,345 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Chapter VI: Racing the Storm
Location: Commander's Ready Room, Ourainavassa

After Mila and Ashix had left the room, Captain Mannerheim sighed, and turned to Kaiae. "You're not happy with me right now. In fact, you are furious. I have come onto your ship and supplanted your authority as its acting commanding officer. I have ordered yet another person to become part of your crew without you having any reason to trust my judgement on the matter. Especially during a crucial and highly critical phase of the operation."

"Oh, are you a telepath now; to know that?" Kaiae remarked tightly and somewhat sarcastically, one eyebrow rising slightly in challenge.

She shook her head. "You are absolutely entitled to that feeling, in fact, if the situation was reversed I would feel the same. But maybe you would like to hear my reasoning for why I made this decision, first? Of course, we can always handle this the old-fashioned way instead, if you prefer that option. I believe a duel with a blade is as acceptable a means of settling a question of honour as it is a means of settling matters of authority in the Terran Empire." A smirk found its way on the Captain's face. "Of course, in our current operational situation, a duel to the death would be one of the most idiotic things we could be doing. Should you lose, it would deprive your crew of yet another commanding officer, and should you win, it would make Commander Rogers the commanding officer of I.S.S. Amelia. Neither of which are good options, I am sure you'd agree."

Still not giving the Subcommander a moment to respond, Freya casually slipped off her uniform jacket, and continued. "Lieutenant Zirda is not going to be the last member of this vessel's crew to be added, I'm afraid. I understand that your communications officer, Lieutenant Idris, was forced to resign her position? You yourself served as a communications officer during the Dominion War, did you not? Of course, you can't perform those duties and command the vessel at the same time."

Kaiae wanted to scream at the Terran that she was not, in fact, meant to be commanding the vessel at all; and scream at the universe itself that had taken her commander and left her in this position. But not only would that be inappropriate, it would be ridiculous: While the stakes she was left charge of, and perhaps also the length of time she was left to own them, were likely rather unprecedented; it was not as if she was the first young officer to find themselves with at least a temporary battlefield promotion and command: Plenty of warbirds had lost their commanders and command crews over the centuries in wartime, and left young lieutenants or centurions to lead them for a time through subsequent battles and critical operations.

Instead, she fixed a penetrating glare on Freya. "I could, in fact, likely attempt that; though it would not be my preference as doing both would perform neither well. But that is not the point. If and when I replace personnel, my first preference is to draw on reassignment of those I already possess; and should that prove insufficient to a position or skillset, I would vet the background, trustworthiness, and allegiance of any potential additions before accepting them or allowing them on board. Something which you appear entirely unconcerned with."

Freya shook her head. "I fully understand your argument, and, in fact, I would prefer doing things the same way. But vetting new recruits takes time, which is something we do not have. Not even I, with a time travelling ship and access to records of future events. One thing, however, I am sure of. Mila is an excellent judge of character, and she would not have brought the Sikarian on board if she had believed there was a threat emanating from her. I'm sure you would like to discuss this with her at great length, but I don't think that is a good idea. You, as a Romulan, even with extensive experience working with humans, will miss things in her tone, her body language. Let me, or one of the humans on this crew, talk to her instead."

She scratched her chin in thought. "Actually, I think Doctor Gable would be excellently suited for that task, wouldn't you agree? As a physician, she must have some knowledge of psychology."

“Fine.” Kaiae practically spat out. “I’ll discuss it with the doctor. But you, as a human, are missing a point here as well: There is no such thing as an adequate judge of character at that age. Certainly not for an operation this sensitive. In bringing her aboard so abruptly with things practically already promised, the lieutenant deprived me of the opportunity to consider whether to engage or not. But it is, at least, perhaps an age-appropriate level of stupidity.”

Kaiae continued with barely more than a breath, giving Freya no opportunity to respond yet as she had been given none earlier. “In inserting yourself into things and stating a decision without even a modicum of time and distance, meanwhile, you deprived me of the opportunity to weigh the risks and benefits of taking on a completely unknown quantity, however much benefit we might derive from their skills; or for that matter to attempt to do at least a shred of due diligence first in whatever limited information could be gleaned on her from Drozana, even. Time is limited, yes; risks are taken in such circumstances that would not be taken otherwise, yes. But it is not so limited we could not have spent a day that we are already slated to still be here looking into her conduct aboard the station, and considering before making a decision. You offered the commission, without even giving me such time. As other remedies are, as you have pointed out, counterproductive, I will simply state then that she is your problem now. And if she proves a liability it will be not just the lieutenant but you I consider to have vouched for her with your life.”

Freya smiled as the Romulan began to drop her habitual veneer of calmness. "Ah, Subcommander, finally some emotion. I might have mistaken you for a Vulcan earlier with how calm you were. Alas, you are merely repeating what I already stated. Lieutenant Zirda is entirely my responsibility, even though she serves under your command. As for your thinly veiled threat just now, the Lieutenant merely provided the introduction. Should any issues arise from this new addition of the crew, surely the blame would have to be placed entirely on my head, as the one who put her there. And I understand that, from a Romulan point of view, that would constitute treason and be punishable by execution?"

“‘Treason’, no; I don’t believe there actually is an equivalent concept or understanding under Federation law and culture.” Kaiae stopped far short of explaining that even a civilian would have grounds to attempt the death of someone who had vouched for another who had then proven false; it was simply much more straightforward for a commander and those in their charge.

The smile grew into a smirk as Freya casually put a hand on the dagger on her belt. "You're more than welcome to try, Subcommander. It would be a shame, though, I have come to be rather fond of our working relationship. One recommendation, though. If you do decide to try and execute me, better make sure you blow up Amelia first."

“If you truly agree with me that it would be counterproductive for us to fight a challenge at this time; you will take your hand off the weapon and get out of this room, now.” Kaiae’s voice was tightly controlled but also tightly coiled with anger, like a spring wound too far, a hand positioned just-so by the edge of her own tunic where a concealed dagger of her own lay.

The Captain shook her head. "We did not get the chance to finish our initial conversation when Lieutenant Lynn showed up." Instead of letting go of her dagger, she was now gripping it tightly. "And I still believe that fighting would be counterproductive, I agree. Fighting to the death, that is. There is, however, an old duelling code on Earth, where victory would simply be decided by whoever is first to draw blood."

Kaiae resisted any outward reaction; considering that point for later use if need be, and wondering how the human rules did or did not align; for while dire issues were met to the death, a more minor one might indeed simply be fought to first blood, or for certain social groups, to give the participants a way to both publicly demonstrate that they had saved face in an issue before going on with their lives.

Freya, hand remaining on the dagger, shook her head again. "Kaiae, we are on the same side. If your patience is so easily tested, then what's coming next will be more difficult than I expected." With her other hand, she reached for her jacket, and clicked her tricom badge. "We can fight, or you can listen what I have to say. But I won't be the first one to let go of my weapon."

“As I do not tend to consider myself a fool, nor will I.” Kaiae kept her hand where it was as well, but didn’t complete actually drawing a weapon; that would likely begin what they theoretically both hoped to avoid. “My patience is not what is tested here.” In truth it somewhat was; but it simply was a secondary casualty to the main issues. “You in effect undermined my command, and placed an unknown quantity and potential risk on my bridge. I have therefore simply informed you of what the consequences for that will be if things go badly on that account in the future. That is a good deal more patience than many commanders would have. So. What is it you have to say, then?”

"My instructors at the Imperial Academy would have hated you, you know," Freya replied. "Always up for a fight, always standing your ground. That in itself makes me actually like you, in a way." She clicked her badge a second time, and a voice recording began to play.

"Commander Rogers, this is Admiral von Schneider. We have discovered evidence that your current commanding officer, Captain Freya Mannerheim, is conspiring with the crew of the Romulan vessel Orinavassa to delay our action against the Hobus installation. You are hereby ordered to apprehend Mannerheim on charges of treason, and capture the Romulan vessel. Should that not be possible, you are to destroy it."

"Thanks to the virus created by Miss Nakai, I was able to intercept this message and prevent it from reaching the Commander," Freya explained. "We need to act fast, Subcommander. Move the evacuation flotilla to another location, as soon as possible. And then, we need to use the schematics I have given you, and the fact that I can override Amelia's computer remotely, even if for a limited time. Locate Commander Rogers, and eliminate her. And destroy I.S.S. Amelia."

Kaiae took a moment to consider the possibility, given what had directly proceeded all this, that Freya had arranged for Zirda to join the crew as part of some larger sabotage, and then concocted the message as an excuse to now enact some other plan, of which her suggestions would further. She could not, unfortunately, rule it out. But nor could she, equally unfortunately, afford to rule out that the message was genuine, and the threat and the need to counter it as suggested as well.

By taking the evacuation ships to a second location, she would be splitting off a significant portion of her crew, leaving the Ourainavassa and those who remained extremely vulnerable to the Terrans, whether the threat came from Rogers, Mannerheim, or both. By leaving them, she risked their destruction if the treat from von Schneider was real, however. So. She would move the ships, and pull their assigned crew to move with them; leaving behind those she and Hatham had selected to remain to counter such a possible threat as might now be playing out, even if their numbers might then be insufficient to save them from the Terrans. Because every man and woman who had followed Areinnye or Dorvaela here (and now followed her in poor replacement of) would be the first to offer up their own lives for the lives of their families that they hoped to save.

Which brought up the next issue, that Kaiae had to tamp down firmly her emotions on for later: That same set of plans had her going with the evacuation ships; and Hatham remaining behind to counter Commander Rogers. She knew she had come to depend on him as a defacto second; and that such a separation would leave her uneasy, but she had not expected it to come this soon or this abruptly, and wondered for the barest moment if this was somewhat of how Areinnye had felt leaving her behind months ago.

Kaiae's fingers played across a communication panel, keeping her motions slower and more deliberate than normal considering both of them had hands at or near weapons. "Lieutenant Hatham report to the commander's office." Once she had made the request she closed the channel, threw the switch on her little jamming device once more just in case, and looked back at Freya. "He will need to know what you have told me on this threat as well; to effect that plan." And later, she thought quietly to herself, she would have to warn him about the new complication of the uncertainty of the Sikarian, as well.

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