You Are Relieved

Posted on Mon Jun 5th, 2023 @ 6:31am by Commander M'Mira & Commander Ba'zra Channe

2,292 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 4 - Like a Thunderbolt
Location: Faltan Station
Timeline: MD05 - 1000

Having seen Candy's report 24 hours ago, M'MIra was left completely speechless. Her command had been questioned. Everything she did was made out to be useless. Did she not work out a mutual defense pact with the Romulan Ambassador? Did she not keep peace? Did she not even use Candy to protect the station? So why? Why was this happening?

M'Mira was not stupid, when the call came only a few hours later, she knew what was coming. She was going to be replaced. The admiralty expressed their sympathy and assured her that she did nothing wrong but they had to do this for public relations. She would still be the 2XO at the new station. After all, she was invaluable regarding all of the politics in the Raeyan Block. She had survived three previous captains and had steadily moved up the chain of command through attrition. In the end, though, none of that was enough. She was a scapegoat.

Usually, she took her White Russians with extra cream as synthahol. For her last night, she was going to use real alcohol. She personally had a bartender come and serve her until she passed out.

When she woke, with a splitting headache, she drank some water and realized that this might be a blessing in disguise. Now, she would not have to make all the difficult decisions. And because of that, she would likely have more cat naps. More cat naps, more happy! And who knew, maybe some well off, strapping young Caitian male would come and sweep her off her feet. She laughed at that out loud, which caused her to put her hand to her head to try and soothe the headache.

Many hours later, though, she had sobered and the hangover had passed. Who were these new two people coming to replace her? They were coming from a Starship. Would they be able to handle the complicated politics? She did not know, but it was not fully her problem now: well, not unless they screwed up, and she put 50-50 odds on it that they would, given the history of everything here.

He'd spent most of the trip reading reports, none of them containing good news, and his trip through the station served to reinforce what he had learned. The station was brand new and only just now coming online two days after the attack. A minor point but one that he would want answered once he met his Chief of Engineering.

Ronan, with Baz at his side, approached the Ready Room which was located at the rear of the station's Operations Center, and, seeing that the door was already open, knocked on the frame. "Commander M'Mira," he asked as he looked at the diminutive Caitian.

M'MIra by now had learned the name of her replacements. She looked at both of them. They seemed like a very odd couple. The new Captain seemed to have a calm about him whereas Ba'zra seemed to be wearing a permanent scowl. And why was she reaching for a weird knife at her side. Did Ba'zra think that she was going to kill M'Mira?

"Perrrfect," M'Mira replied with her "r" being rolled in something resembling a purr. "You must be Misterrr and Misses Channe, the new CO and XO. I suppose that we should get thrrrough the forrrmalities, no? And once that is completed, I can brrrief you, if you would like." Her tail swished rigidly from side to side.

Ba'zra simply looked to her husband and then back at M'Mira. He was more diplomatic than she and already, she had a feeling that she was not going to like the soon-to-be former commanding officer.

"That would be Captain and Commander," Ronan said mildly as he entered the Ready Room. "If you like." He picked up the PADD and began to read.

"To Commander M'Mira, commanding officer, Faltan Station, Stardate 66021.7. You are hereby requested and required to relinquish command of your station to Captain Ronan Channe, formerly first officer of the USS Columbia-A, as of this date. Signed Admiral Nelson Havisham. "

M'Mira responded, as expected, "Computerrr trrransfer all command codes to Captain Rrronan Channe. Voice authorization: Commanderrr M'Mira, sigma alpha 3 9 1 6 theta 8."

The computer responded, which was from the reports Ronan had read, something of a surprise. "Transfer complete. USS Faltan Station now under the command of Captain Ronan Channe."

With that done, Ronan said, "I relieve you, Commander."

The Caitian's tail hung lower, and her face reflected the exact statement she uttered, "I stand rrrelieved."

"And now that that's out of the way, where's your first officer? They should be part of this as well," Ronan said.

M'Mira answered. "Afterrr the attack on the station, my first officerrr went missing. It might be incorrrrrrect to say that she went missing afterrr the attack, though. Computerrrs do not show herrr on the scene of the attack. It is quite likely that she was abducted. Forrr what rrreasons, I do not know. We simply have not had the ability to look into it, with so many killed on the planet and while trrrying to get this new station operrrable." M'Mira's tail drooped further as she felt helpless in this situation.

"I see," Ronan said. "Alright then, just the three of us." He perched on the edge of the desk. "How is that going then? Getting the station operable. I know that it's brand-new and ready to bring online. What's the hold up?"

"It goes as best as can be expected with whateverrr remains from the planetarrry station here and people like yourrrrselves filterrring in," M'Mira started to explain.

Ba'zra interrupted, "In other words, you've done next to nothing."

M'Mira shot Ba'zra a fiery look but said nothing. "I used to be the Chief of Ops on the planetarrry station and worrrked my tail off to get to wherrre I am. Now, with you two herrre, I can finally starrrt doing some non-administrrrative worrrk and get this station functional. You arrre both frrree to deal with paperworrrk."

"Oh, that's not at all how this is going to work," Ronan said, his expression going from mild to steely in the blink of an eye. "I outrank you and I am in charge so that was your last ... ever ... attempt to give me an order, however indirectly put. Are we clear on that?"

The Caitian looked up at Ronan and responded carefully, "I have been in charrrge forrr almost a yearrr. I have become used to giving orrrderrrs. I am not trrrying to challenge yourrr authorrrity. I am just trrrying to do what needs to be done." After a moment's pause, she added, "Sir."

"What I need, Commander," Ronan said, "is a clear understanding of what's going on. One that you have not yet provided. It's been three days since your ... retreat ... from the planetary base. Plenty of time to get a rudimentary assessment of what's going on."

"That depends on what you want, Captain," M'Mira answered as best as she felt she could. "The rrruning of a station does not just involve the station. I can tell you of things I suspect orrr just the cold facts as I underrrstand them. I can tell you of what agrrrements I have had, though I do not know if they will continue to be accepted with me not being the commanding officerrr. So, wherrre would you like me to starrrt or begin explaining 'what's going on'?"

The Ready Room layout had two directions - to the right, was his desk and seating while to the left was a small seating area. He went left and sat in one of the chairs and gestured for her to take a seat on the sofa. While she settled, he continued. "Let's start with the attack. Did that occur on Falta Base or elsewhere in the city?"

"On base," M'Mira answered simply, lounging lazily on the couch. Oh, if I could just spread out on this.... So comfy. She did not want to elaborate too much as she got the impression that Ronan wanted to ask things his way.

Ba'zra, however, had no patience. She growled at M'MIra, "This is not a game of 20 questions. Don't make us sit and wait for answers."

The Caitian's hair stood on end as she straightened up on the couch. "What we know is that someone apparently was able to beam in. None of the security cameras picked up this person before he exploded from whatever the contagion was."

"Who was present at the time," Ronan continued. "I know it was a conference so I'm presuming a mix of people?"

"It was a rrrather larrrge affairrr. Anyone who was anyone was therrre," M'Mira informed Ronan. "All the ambassadorrrs. All the brrrass. I just do not rrrememberrr seeing the Goverrrnorrr. Taga did things herrr own way."

Ba'zra looked over at Ronan and sighed. "This seems pretty easy to me. What about you?"

"So, ambassadors from the other planets in system and I assume, the Romulan Ambassador as well," Ronan said, his expression turning thoughtful as he worked it through in his mind. "Were there Faltans there as well? Or just Starfleet and the Ambassadors?"

"I do not rrrememberrr whetherrr Union and Rrraeya werrre therrre. The Rrromulan Ambassadorrr was and the Rrromulans werrre most helpful in the evacuation. I have an understanding with them. Starrrfleet was all therrre, as well."

"All of the base personnel and the Romulan Ambassador but no one from Falta or the other two worlds, Raeya and Union. That's interesting," Ronan said. "We'll get to the agreement in a bit but for now, what did you do ... exactly ... when the bomb went off?"

"I don't know that I would call it a bomb," M'Mira answered. "I do know that the Faltean gave a speech and then exploded. Everrry bit of his vicerrra that landed on someone else caused them to get the same thing and explode. It occurrrrred overrr and overrr. It was all I could do to orrrderrr an evacuation and get as many people to safety as possible. It was awful," M'Mira responded forlorn.

Ronan leaned forward, his expression softening, in response to her obvious pain. "I know what that's like," he said, "how hard it is to move forward. Like a piece of you lives in that moment ... "

Ba'zra looked over at her husband and rolled her eyes, emitting a frustrated sigh. He was too kind. The Caitian was fairly useless as far as she was concerned.

The Caitian, on the other hand, bent her head and said, "I did not have time to think about it. Not until I learned that I would no longerrr command Faltan Station. I suspect that I will have much morrre now.

"Not as much as you might think," Ronan said gently. "But I get your point. You need time to grieve, to ... feel ... something I didn't do when it happened to me. But that's your decision. Whether you keep going or take some time to yourself, I'll respect your choice either way."

"Staying busy has helped," M'Mira admitted. "I worrrk until I collapse. Then I do not have to worrrrry."

"Okay then," Ronan said. "We'll work ... or if you like ... we'll hunt. Because someone attacked us and that will not stand."

M'Mira favored Ronan with a toothy grin. "I would rrratherrr be predatorrr than prrrey," she admitted.

Ba'zra looked at Ronan wonderingly. "Look, the Caitian actually has a spine in there...."

"As would I," Ronan said. "As would I. For now, we have a lot of people to get settled into quarters and a station to get up and running. Then, I want to hold a senior staff meeting and deal with the first order of business ... returning to Faltan Base."

"Rrreturrrning?" M'Mira asked surprised. "But the contagion? And our staff shorrrtage. How do you plan on doing this? I know Starrrfleet wanted this base rrratherrr than the planetarrry station but afterrr the attack, I had no leverrrage to fight Starrrfleet anymore."

"We have to go back," Ronan said. "For two reasons, we need a sample of whatever it is that caused this and secondly, we need to do something about the base. The way it is now, the Faltans have access. Even under the best of circumstances, I wouldn't allow that. For now though, if you don't mind, I'd appreciate your help in getting everyone settled into quarters. I'll call a staff meeting in a bit to introduce myself and get the planning going for our trip back to Falta Base."

Ba'zra gave M'Mira as menacing grin as she could with pearly white human teeth. The fact that she did that and did not think herself as human probably did not bother her in the least.

M'Mira responded, "Of course. I would expect that you would call a staff meeting. I'll get everrryone coming in sorted. Would you mind if I also did some ops worrrk while we arrre waiting for a new Chief of Ops?"

Ba'zra looked first at M'Mira then her husband. The Caitian really seems to love her mechanics. That's not really something I would have fully expected "When are the next shuttles arriving?" Ba'zra asked bored.

"I expect one at least everrry couple of hours. We'rrre rrratherrr shorrrt on staff."

"That works," Ronan said. "You can handle Ops until Starfleet sees fit to send us more personnel. Why don't you go ahead and get started on that unless there's something else?"

"No sirrr. Just let me know what else you need or want me to do" M'Mira started looking towards the door anxiously.

"You're dismissed then, Commander," Ronan said. "And if the Chief Engineer shows up, let them know I want to talk to them."

 

RSS Feed