Aftermath

Posted on Wed Nov 25th, 2015 @ 5:53pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commander Yuna Raza & Lieutenant Commander Siivas McKenzie & Captain Patrick O'Connor
Edited on on Sat Apr 28th, 2018 @ 1:23am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Taking Chances
Location: USS Bonne Chance, various decks
Timeline: 2265
Tags: Jerkface

The Bonne Chance slowly docked at Starbase 115- the tethers and moorings connected and the ship was finally brought to a dead stop. As the docking hatches cycled, Charybdis waited somewhat pensively by the docking hatch on Deck 7. In a perfect world she should have an entire detail there to greet whomever came through, but in truth the Bonne Chance was running on a skeleton crew and she couldn’t spare the manpower.

There had been sore temptation to lay in a course for Romulus, but she hadn’t done so. Instead she had steered the Federation vessel back home, juggling multiple jobs and systems on the bridge to insure that the heavy cruiser made it home to a safe berthing. It officially made her a traitor to Romulus, but she had followed her conscience- Siivas McKenzie had saved both her and the ship, and she found she did not have it in her to betray his heroism with becoming a slave of the Star Empire. Now it fell to Starfleet to decide what was awaiting her on the other side of the airlock- would it be a heroes welcome or a security detail coming aboard to secure the ship and take her and others into custody. It was with mild shock that instead a pair of senior officers walked aboard, a dashing human captain followed by a towering and familiar Capellan commander, both in command gold uniforms.

"Which of you is Lieutenant Charybdis?" asked the human captain in an earth accent that was both melodic and unfamiliar as he looked around, apparently expecting a much larger crew reception than he was receiving.

"That would be me, sir," came the response from the lone occupant of the corridor, the voluptuous Vulcan with one eyebrow cocked quizzically at his seemingly nonsensical question.



Turning to view her, he had to catch himself upon seeing such a physically stunning Vulcan. "Ah, yes. I am Captain O'Connor, the new CO of the Bonne Chance. By order of StarFleet Command, I am relieving you of temporary command of this ship and taking my place as skipper of this fine boat."

The dark-haired head tilted slightly and the ghost of a smile played at the corners of her mouth, in a remarkably un-Vulcan-like display. But this was standard and Charybdis recognized the procedure in place. responding with the expected countersign she offered, "I stand relieved sir."

"Very good. I look forward to hearing first hand what happened out there. I have been briefed that you encountered an anomaly, one that cost the lives of a lot of good people, including the captain. A pity to be sure. I'd like to see you and the rest of the remaining senior officers that are aboard in the conference room in 30 minutes. You can get the list of officers to inform from Commander Ak'Ahar here." He pointed to the towering Capellan, then slowly walked away from her, trying to keep his composure.

“Let’s make our way to the bridge, shall we?” he called over his shoulder.

First thirty seconds on the ship and he assumes he knows who is left among the senior staff? Aren’t we just full of ourselves, Char thought to herself as he strode confidently to the turbolift. The ride passed in silence- the new captain stared at the doors, Charybdis stood sandwiched between him and the Capellan who appeared not to recognize her, and she was alone with her thoughts.

Exiting onto the bridge, Captain O’Conner engaged the first available computer console, where he entered his command codes and took control of the vessel. As Ak'Ahar had provided Charybdis a list of the other officers, fully three quarters of whom were among the missing, he came over and entered his own codes as well. Ak'Ahar then walked over and checked the helm and weapons systems, nodded towards O'Connor. As they were finishing up, the turbolift doors opened and a group of junior officers exited, along with one Lieutenant Commander. O'Connor nodded to the Lieutenant Commander, "You have the bridge, Mr. Kimble. We will be in the conference room on Deck 3 should you require us."

Conference Room

Charybdis had gathered what officers on the list provided her were still aboard the Bonne Chance. The conference room was a bit empty with the only senior officers left on the ship, which at this point was Lieutenants Charybdis, Celes, and McKenzie. The officers were talking amongst themselves, speculating on the purpose of the meeting and wondering just what Starfleet had in mind for them. Then the doors swooshed open and entered Ak'Ahar and O'Connor. The captain moved to the head of the table and sat down, and the others did the same, out of professional deference.

As he began to speak, O'Connor had his best poker face on. Internally he thought it would be a bit of fun for the surviving crew to imagine the fate in store for them. "I am certain that those of you that were summoned here are wondering what this is about,” he began, which led to glances between the trio of officers. They all assumed this would be a debriefing, but apparently that was not on the new captain’s agenda. “A lot of strange goings on happened while you were deployed, including but not limited to the loss of most of the crew, including the captain. I have been in contact with Admiral Mullen of Starfleet Security, JAG branch, and after speaking at length have managed to avoid any legal action be taken against any of you at this time. Based on the evidence provided by both the personal logs and sensor readings, along with the fact that 4 other vessel encountered similar issues in the area the Bonne Chance reported, along with a letter speaking to the character of you Lieutenant Charybdis from a Lieutenant Suval, you are all free to return to duty. It also might be noteworthy to know that I personally asked that the crew remain intact. Those of you that survived this ordeal have proven that you can work together as a crew, as a family so to speak, and we are going to need just that as we venture into the unknown."

Bring the crippled vessel out of a subspace distortion that killed three quarters of the crew and pilot the crippled vessel back home, so the debriefing was just to inform them that they would not be disciplined over it? And Suval had that much pull at Starfleet, and had vouched for Charybdis? None of this made a lick of sense to the pointy-eared scientist. The security officer from another ship who had been sucked halfway across the galaxy to find herself in this predicament was similarly confused, while the Deltan doctor, ever the voice of calm reason, spoke up. "To be clear sir, you are saying that no disciplinary actions or charges are being held against us and that we are to remain at our current postings as if nothing had happened. Is that correct?" asked McKenzie, spoon feeding the new captain exactly what he wanted to hear.

"That is exactly what I am saying. Understand, some up in the ranks want somebody held responsible for the loss of so many, but the evidence points to the fact that you did what you needed to do to save the ship and as many of the crew as you could. The fact that so many were lost is tragic, but space travel is by its nature dangerous, and this was one of those unknown hazards. Personally, I think you are all heroes, and I don't use that word lightly. I have served in StarFleet for a very long time, and based on the sensor data and log reports, I must say you came up with one hell of an inventive solution. It warmed my engineer's heart to see such cunning and guile under pressure."

Yet he painted Command as villains who wanted someone punished, and apparently not the absent likely dead captain, upon whose shoulders this would most certainly rest were he still aboard. Instead the new captain was offering the carrot and the stick, without the carrot. He wanted them to see that it was solely through his largesse that they were not to be spending time in a penal colony, apparently, which left a sour taste in all three of the surviving officer’s mouth. The tone for Captain O’Conner’s command was a sour note indeed.

"Do we have orders then sir?" asked Charybdis blankly, her practiced ‘Vulcan’ face betraying none of her thoughts nor her burgeoning opinion of the commanding officer who was already not winning any points with her.

"All senior officers will see to their stations and departments as we will be taking on new crew here at the starbase. Once we have gathered all supplies and personnel and repairs are effected throughout the ship, we will be leaving. No one is to go aboard the starbase without permission from either myself or Commander Ak'Ahar. StarFleet wants us ready to go in 24, and I intend to make that happen. Dismissed."

The Irish officer stood and made his way out of the room, the towering XO following behind him. Everyone else slowly eyed one another, a bit surprised by the information he had provided them, his demeanor, his approach, and in all his puzzling behavior. No debriefing, no getting to know just who they were- instead a brusque explanation that they would not be prosecuted for heroically saving the ship. One thing was certain, the captain seemed to think that had some pull high up and he had apparently used it to keep the survivors of the Bonne Chance tragedy aboard, and clearly he wanted to be ready to depart very soon. It was a new mystery for the senior officers to deal with, this new captain.

For her part, right this moment Charybdis was reconsidering not having driven her prize capture to Romulus...

 

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