Well Ain't this a Kick in the Teeth
Posted on Fri Oct 25th, 2024 @ 9:42am by Captain Velasaria Azumé & Commander Roscoe Mayhew
2,325 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Mission 2: Bad Moon Rising
Location: K-17
Timeline: MD-01
Vel looked herself over in the full length mirror of her temporary quarters, every pip and squeak in its place, her combadge centered exactly five centimeters from her left shoulder... She had to look presentable today, Rear Admiral Chakrabarti had traveled all the way from Earth to meet with her and Mayhew. It had been nearly three weeks since they'd limped back from the border and the yard boys at K-17 set to work to get Amaterasu up and running again. While they waited there'd been countless funerals, wakes, parties, therapy sessions and even a wedding or two. Vel barely had time for her own duties, between the debriefings over subspace, various investigations, more and more she found herself locked in K-17's exo-biology lab to get away from the people.
Today she would have to venture out, and actually talk to Mayhew. While they'd never been close in the lead up to the incident they kept a professional bearing, now it seemed they never crossed paths. Maybe he was still pissy about their butting heads during the crisis; or maybe he took sitting around and not being aboard ship as well as she did. Either way they'd have to find a way to work together...
Admiralty meetings sucked. Mayhew had decided that long ago. It's why he had put off his uniform until the last possible moment, instead choosing to get in another lap around the K-17 promenade. Trotting along in his fitted sportswear, he cut an imposing figure. People took one look at his piercing eyes and steered clear without further encouragement.
Some of them even knew who he was. He'd taken some flack for his command decisions. But they were alive, weren't they? No further loss of life. The ship got back in one piece, even if on a wing and a prayer. What more could they ask for? Mayhew did his job and refused to do anything but lift his head high. Anybody who wanted to criticize after the fact could put both thumbs up their ass and walk on their elbows. There were a hundred ways the Amaterasu would've never made it home and he'd avoided them all.
That's why, when he saw Vel approaching, he let out a groan. What did she want? Orions weren't even Federation members. Little better than Klingons, truth be told, even if they were a fair piece smarter. This one was smart, too. Maybe too smart. Didn't know how to fall in line like a good soldier. Mayhew might have to reconsider her future on the Amaterasu once his command became official.
"Azumé." The way Mayhew said her name in passing almost sounded like profanity. It certainly held the requisite level of disdain. He kept on jogging in hopes of putting her so deep in his wake that she'd get the hint and keep walking herself.
Rolling her eyes as he jogged past as she was in the middle of greeting him the young woman took a breath before turning on her heel to follow. His pace was slow but pulling away slightly if she didn't at least pick up her step. "Running away from me huh?" She called after him as they continued around the promenade. "That's fine, I can always meet the Admiral on my own?"
Oh, that was it. Mayhew stopped on a dime and pivoted on his heel like he was doing formation drills. "You feeling froggy, Commander? Then leap." Running away from her? Bullshit. Mayhew let his eyes project that sentiment without apology.
"What does feeling like a frog have to do with... Anything?" Vel asked raising an eyebrow, her hands landing on her hips. Obviously she'd touched a nerve. Good. He deserved to have his nerves poked, with a hyperspanner. All she did was say hello, actually she hadn't even done that and he'd tried to blow her off.
"It's an expression," Mayhew said, ignoring her ignorance of common euphemisms. "What do you want? It must be important for you to stop me in the middle of PT." Unlike everyone else who managed to stay out of his way on the promenade, he thought. Just who the fuck did this woman think she was anyway?
"Right now I want to know why you're comparing me to a frog? Is it because we're both green? You've got a famous hero of Earth right, Kemmet, Kenneth...Kermie?" Vel twisted her wrist into the air as she spoke, her mind trying to remember the name of that stuffed frog.
"Kemosabe," Mayhew said, incorrectly naming the Earth figure she was referencing. "The Lone Ranger. Try reading a history book sometime. Take a whole goddamn literacy course while you're at it so you can understand a fucking metaphor when you hear one." He rolled his shoulders to burn off his excess energy and annoyance. "So did you want something or are you just out annoying people? Because I gotta' finish up here and then get changed before meeting with the admiral."
Lone Ranger? That didn't sound right, why would a frog be a ranger? And why would they be in a history book? Mayhew either had no idea and was making it up or he was messing with her. "I came to chat, see how you were doing. You know interact like colleagues rather than pretend the other doesn't exist."
"I'm peachy," Mayhew groused. "We done? I've got a command chair to claim."
Really that was all he cared about becoming Captain? Not working together, not trying to understand another species... There must be more to Mayhew than this, he couldn't have survived this long in the Fleet alone and friendless. "I guess so, I do have one more question to ask."
Did this woman ever shut up? Mayhew did try suppress his annoyed sigh. It just wasn't very successful. "I bet I'm going to hear it too."
"What does Peachy mean?" A slight smile graced her lips as her hands settled once more on hips. While there was genuine interest in another strange human idiom, she also knew she had gotten slightly under his skin.
Mayhew scoffed unintelligible under his breath.
Admiral Chakrabarti observed the hulk of Amaterasu's hull, sitting in the drydock. The large hole that has been torn off the lower engineering hull had been largely repaired. Only a small scar could still be seen behind the deflector. From what the Station's Commander said in a week, one wouldn't be even able to tell there had been damage. Frankly Miraya didn't believe it, once you saw a great ship torn open like that the image of it never quite went away
Stepping away as her alarm went off the Admiral setup at the desk preparing to meet with the pair of officers vying for Command of the ship. She still didn't quite know what way she was going but one way or another, Amaterasu would have a Captain.
"Petty Officer, when both Officers arrive please send them in."
Marching in first, Mayhew took bold strides toward Chakrabarti and stopped a meter away. "Admiral," he said with a nod before striking a sharp stance at attention. "Commander Roscoe Mayhew, reporting as ordered."
Velesaria followed Mayhew in, her eyes rolling at the exaggerated almost marching strides he took. "Commander Velesaria Azumé reporting as Ordered Ma'am."
Chakrabarti's gaze appraised the two officers who stood before her. Uniforms immaculate. Her expression was Stony, contemplative. It dig deep at each without giving anything away. In her fourth plus years in the Fleet no one could say the Admiral wasn't a practiced observer.
"Well, haven't the two of you landed us all in a right mess."
"Ma'am?" Vel's eyebrows rased, her 'question lingering in the air.
Chakrabarti stood. Her hands clasping behind her back as she stared out the window at the Amaterasu hanging in the distance. "Be seated, Commanders."
Mayhew preferred to stand but he wasn't going to disobey a direct order. He sat down, his shoulders still square and his palms resting on his knees. This was a time for decorum, when his hard work would finally be rewarded. He would receive it graciously and humbly as befitting any soldier and officer of Starfleet.
"The Galaxy stands at a crossroads Commanders," The Admiral said still looking out the window. "we're on the verge of peace, and the brink of war. A single step in either direction will set forth a series of events that will shape the balance of power in this quadrant for the next hundred years. The Amaterasu is going to have a leading role in that guiding us into that future if I have anything to say about it."
Chakrabarti turned, leaning over her desk a steely gaze fixed first Azumé, then Mayhew. "The problem is no one can agree which one of the two of you can Lead this ship into that future without screwing it all up!"
This conversation was beginning to take an uncomfortable turn. Mayhew gripped the arms of his chair as he listened.
"Too many think you're weak, too idealistic," The Admiral looked the Orion up and down. "That your naivety will be taken advantage of." She turned to focus on Mayhew. "And you. Too stubborn, quick to fight, that you'd only be home as a part of the MACOs of a bygone era. And you know what, they're right. Neither of you are ready to take us into that future alone. So you're going to do it together."
Mayhew didn't like the sound of it at all. "So the commander is remaining aboard the ship," he said cautiously. "I can live with that."
"I'm glad to hear that, Commander Mayhew, it gives me hope that this won't be a foolhardy mission." Chakrabarti glanced between the pair once more. "Because yes she will be staying, as Captain, and you as her First Officer."
Vel's eye's opened widely, her own hands suddenly feeling clammy, gripping the arm rests of her chair tightly. She couldn't have heard that right? Captain? No, this had to be a mistake, she was so sure it would be Mayhew, or maybe someone from another posting, a senior Officer off of one of the Constitutions, Noonien-Singh, or Sidhu. But her? No this had to be some mistake, people like Mayhew, that's who got command of front line vessels.
"Sir?"
Mayhew could only echo Vel's sentiments. "First Officer... Me?" His mouth opened and closed a few times before his bulging veins finally compelled a more substantive response. "I... I don't understand, Admiral. I'm already acting captain."
"And you served admirably," if recklessly, went unsaid. "In that position Commander, you brought the ship home and that hasn't gone unrecognized by Command. However you're also the Captain who attacked a Klingon Vessel. The balance of that situation cannot be ignored."
"Relations with the Klingons are tenuous enough, I don't need them targeting this ship because it's Captain decided to shed Klingon blood." Decided seemed like the operative word. The Klingons had claimed that they only crossed the border to assist the stricken vessel. While she didn't totally believe them, Starfleet had to play the game, politics may be the only thing that would save them from entering another devastating war with their old adversary.
"They fired on us!" Mayhew said. "Unprovoked!" That was a matter of perspective at best but Mayhew wasn't backing down. "Klingons respect two things: strength and honor. I showed them strength. Denying me the captain's chair is dishonor. If anything, it's a step backward in our relations with the Klingons."
"Commander, I understand this is a shock for you, so I will forgive your outburst and lack of decorum. This time," Chakrabarti said, her tone sharp, as if she'd drawn a blade from her waist and pointed it at him. She might have been compassionate, and understanding, but she was still an Admiral. "That being said, I will not let your bruised honor take us into another war. The Klingons will see that we will not rise to their bait, if what happened was even an attack upon us."
If? This Admiral Chakrabarti was a rutting fool. Mayhew seethed at the sheer stupidity of a flag officer who denies an obvious field report.
"Now if you're quite done proving my point for me, lets get down to business."
Mayhew will the bulging vein in his forehead to go down. "Yes, Admiral..."
"Your mission, Captain." Chakrabarti said turning to Velesaria. "You are to get Amaterasu ship-shape, You will assemble a crew, and you will get back into space as soon as possible. We will show the Klingons, the Romulans and anyone else that Starfleet's newest ships are not to be trifled with."
"Will we be returning to the Klingon Border?" Vel asked, trying to keep her focus on what was ahead instead of all that had just happened.
"No, you will be heading to the Betazoid Frontier in the Alpha Quadrant, we don't want you running into the Klingons right away incase they are out for blood. I'll have a full briefing for you in a few days, but the broad strokes can be found here." Chakrabarti handed over a PADD to each officer, the information locked behind a biometric scanner.
"I understand this is a lot, Captain, and you two will have quite a bit of adjusting to do. But you're going to have to find a way to work together. I will not accept either of your failures to this mission, to Starfleet and most importantly to your crew. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," Vel replied her eyes widening a moment before she refocused.
"Understood," Mayhew confirmed. "Permission to leave?"
"You may Commander, please begin provisioning the ship and making a list of all positions that need to be filled. I have some more mission details to share with the Captain." Chakrabarti said, taking a seat and passing over an encrypted PADD to Vel.
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