A new world order, well, Starship anyway...

Posted on Tue Sep 24th, 2024 @ 6:04pm by Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Savette & Commodore Finchley Kerr

1,186 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The 'Eagle continues.
Location: Sickbay, USS Blackeagle.
Timeline: Current.

It had been a whirlwind few hours for Finchley, his head was still spinning from the news. There were changes to be made, personnel to be re-assigned, hence him arriving at Sickbay.

On entering, he began looking around for Isabelle, he wanted to give her the news in person, and see her reaction.

Isabelle was lending a hand with stock check, a PADD in hand going over supplies in cupboards to make sure everything was accounted for. Peering around the corner she smiled as she saw Finchley. “Commander, are you looking for someone?”

Finchley looked at his rank pips, "When was I demoted?" he laughed.

“What!?” Isabelle looked closer. “Captain!” She smiled. “Congratulations Sir! Were you looking for someone in particular?”

"I was actually looking for you Commander, I need a moment of your time, is there somewhere private we can talk?" he said.

Isabelle nodded. “We can use one of the private offices” she motioned him to a nearby office.

"Thank you" Finchley replied, stepping into the officer offered. Once the door was closed, he turned to Isabelle and said "This is strictly between us for the moment Commander. I received a communique that Captain Solwick and her XO were re-assigned by Starfleet HQ, I don't know why, they just were. Whatever the reason, it required them to leave quickly and this left Starfleet with a bit of an issue, they didn't have anyone to replace them. They obviously knew I'd been CO here previously, so, and without my asking, they offered the Command of the Blackeagle back to me. I wasn't sure I wanted it though, almost all of the previous crew that were here when I commanded were gone, re-assigned to other ships. They were pretty persuasive though, and they talked me round, I've accepted the Captaincy and so once more, the USS Blackeagle is mine. I had one proviso though. I got to choose my own Executive Officer, this they agreed to. This is where you come in, I'm offering you the position of Executive Officer onboard, do you accept?
If it eases your decision, you'll still carry on as Chief Counsellor, no point in wasting your talent there, but you'll be my XO."

Isabelle opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as she absorbed the information she’d just been given. “Executive Officer? Me!?” She hadn’t been expecting that when Finchley had walked in. “I don’t have any experience as an Exec, how do you know I’d be any good?”

"You're level headed and you think things through, you offer opinions but also know how follow orders, but most of all, I believe that having a Chief Counsellor as my XO gives me the best of all things, someone who can reason" Finchley replied, "look, I know it's a bit sudden, you don't have to give me your answer right now, but within the next twenty four hours would be appreciated."

Isabelle wasn’t one for standing on ceremony, or taking a long time to make up her mind. “I’ll do it, I can at least give it a good go. If you have faith that I can do it, then that gives me good reason to say yes.” She smiled warmly.

"I'm very happy to hear that Commander" Finchley replied, "you do realise that your primary role now is as Executive Officer and that being Chief Counsellor is your secondary role?"

Isabelle nodded. “In that case we’re going to need an extra member in the counselling staff at some point to help with the workload. I’d hate to have to give up being part of the Counselling staff.”

"That can be your first act as XO then, I'll leave it up to you as to who you take on,just keep me in the loop please" Finchley answered. He was just about to go, but stopped himself, "Tell me Commander, what's your take on the Romulan situation, should we be helping them?"

“The Romulan situation? To be honest I haven’t heard a lot about it, but then as ship’s Counsellor I was only privy to information I needed to know. That’s obviously going to change now I’m Exec. Starting with filling me in on the whole Romulan situation.”

"In a nutshell, Romulus is dying, the Romulan's need help and the Federation has offered it. There's rescue armada being set up by Admiral Picard, they'll take the Romulan's off Romulus and relocate them to Rator III where they'll set up a new home world. However, there's a fly in the ointment, not all the Romulan High Command are in agreement, and there's been unrest, a breakaway faction believe Romulus can still be saved and they want to stop any help getting to their world. I don't have much in the way of details of the full story, but, the President of the Federation has been invited to Romulus...and that makes me uneasy" Finchley replied.

Isabelle nodded. “I can’t say I blame you, but given what’s happening to Romulus it seems a good thing to do. Starfleet has been preaching good intentions for years, now when it’s needed the most it’s time for Starfleet to step up. As for the breakaway faction, surely they have to realise that their world and therefore their people are dying.”

"You would think so" Finchley replied, "but it depends on which part of the Romulan High Command have broken off. If it's the political side, we could be ok, but if it's the Command side, we could be in all sorts of trouble. I need you to reach out to SFIHQ, get the last set of communiques from the the Romulan High Command, let's see if we can fathom it out. If you get any hold back from SFIHQ regarding the information you're requesting, tell them you're on Admiral Picard's strength, that'll put them on the back foot."

“Understood Sir” Isabelle nodded. “Does Starfleet know that you’re asking me to be your First Officer? I’m sure they’ll disagree with your decision, it’s not like I have prior command experience.”

"I was given carte blanche to make my own choice Commander" Finchley replied, "and I chose you for the reasons I just gave you, they'll accept my choice, rest assured."

Isabelle nodded her understanding. “Very well Sir. In that case I guess it’s a good job I didn’t unpack everything yet, I’ll have new quarters to move into.” She offered a wry smile.

"Already assigned to you Commander, just contact the Operations department for the information, I took a guess you'd say yes to taking the position" Finchley smiled back.

"Right, well, thank you for your time and for your prompt answer" Finchley said, "I guess I'll let you finish up here and then get moved into your new quarters. I'll be calling a Senior Staff meeting shortly, I'll see you there."

With a nod, he about turned and exited Sickbay, glad to get this part of the ships Command structure set up.

 

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