The upshot of the thing is... Pt1

Posted on Mon Jan 13th, 2025 @ 2:57pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis & Lieutenant Commander Kevin Kilbane & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T'ghann-Dex. Doctor

3,551 words; about a 18 minute read

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

Finchley sat in his Ready Room, mulling over a situation that he needed to decide upon. There were various people who could fill the role he had in mind, but his thoughts kept coming back to the same person.

"Well, if my gut says go for it, I best go for it" he said to himself. Tapping his COMM badge he said, "Kerr to Doctor T'ghann-Dex, can you come to my Ready Room please."

Shon had just finished up an evaluation of those members of the crew that might be called upon to perform a medical/nursing role in the case of overwhelming need. “On my way Sir,” Shon replied. On her way she wondered why he wanted to see her as she had not seen anything of him since she discharged him from her medical care. Truth be told she still missed him but when she thought of her time with Kevin it was uncluttered with any other than happy thoughts. Suddenly she was there, and she realised she had not even looked out for Karadis. She pressed the chime and waited.

"Come in" Finchley called from his desk, watching as the doors opened.

Shon walked in happy to see him. “Reporting as ordered Sir.” She had an odd idea in her head to curtesy to him and a broad smile broke out on her face.

"Well, it's always nice to see a happy member of the crew Doctor, have a seat please" Finchley replied, offering the one in front of his desk.

“ I feel happy sir” she said as she sat down in the proffered chair, crossed her legs and sat back. “What can I do do you Commodore?”

"Well, to begin with, you can tell me why you're so happy, not that it's a bad thing, I'm just curious" Finchley asked.

“I don’t mind telling you it’s Kevin..Kilbane. I am enjoying his company, he is sweet and charming and he seems, to want to care for me.” She was unwilling to give up anymore about her growing feelings for him.

"Ah, I see, you've been seduced by 'His Grace, Kevin Lord Kilbane of Sanquhar', and his...charm" Finchley replied, a smile now appearing on his own lips. "Yes, I've heard this before, on two or three occasions, I'd have thought people would have learned by now, but obviously not. Still, each to their own, not my place to...well, it's not my place, let's leave it at that."

“I was not aware he had a reputation?” She said, “Finchley, you need to tell me what you are alluding to, you cannot just say that to me and leave it there. Please, I will make up my own mind but I must know.”

He noted that Shon had slipped back into the familiarity of addressing him by his first name, but didn't say anything about it. "All I'm saying is be careful with him, make sure he's as committed to having a relationship with you as you are having one with him."

"You mean it's all about sex with him?

"No, so get that thought right out of your head" Finchley replied, "from what I have seen, long term relationships don't come easy, so just make sure there's equal commitment on both sides and not all from your side. Listen, as much as I'd like to act as Counsellor, I need to talk to you about why I asked you here."

“Sorry but you started it. Okay what do you need me for?”

"Yes, that's true, sorry" Finchley replied. "Well, the reason I've called you here is you have to be punished for the way you left the ship before. Therefore, what I've chosen is for you to be the ships new Second Officer..."

Shon spluttered and coughed. "Did I just hear you correctly?" The Blackeagle's Second Officer! a Bridge Officer......I mean yes I can, I would love to do it but what about others accepting me you know of whom I speak, and why me, why call it a punishment?"

"That's where the punishment comes in" Finchley replied, a smile now on his face, "you're going to have to work to win them over and that's not going to be easy. In life as a CO, you have to try and find the whimsical things that make things fun....this is whimsical to me."

"Ah Commodore Finchley Kerr master of whimsy. I never knew you were even aware of whimsy. Well, i can give it a try but I am NOT cleaning any blood off the bridge. It might be difficult however with my sickbay duties, did you think of that?"

"I have actually, it's called delegation of duty" Finchley replied, "when there's not an emergency and things are quiet, you can ask your Senior nurses to watch things in Sickbay, and that frees you up to, you know, do bridgy things, plus, you get to learn more about the running of the ship. Hey here's an idea, and I'm just throwing it out there, why don't I get Karadis to be your mentor, she knows as much about the running of the bridge as myself and Commander Hunter. Before you ask, no, Commander Hunter can't teach you, he has his own duties as XO to deal with. Yes, I think Karadis would be an excellent teacher."

"No, please, unless you supervise a meeting between the two of us? you are just being mean." Shon was truly scared now as she knew what Karadis would do, and that was not in any way mentoring. Why are you torturing me like this?"

"What's life without whimsy?" Finchley replied, "and you shouldn't think of it as me being mean or torturing you, you should look at it an an 'opportunity' to be positive and mend bridges. Think of it as your first duty as the new Second Officer, build positive relations with those you'll be working alongside. Remember, you've accepted the job, no backsies!"

Shon was becoming a little angry and defensive. "How can you expect me to learn from a mentor that hates me and wishes me dead, surely you can see there is no wisdom in this, something that, at a critical moment might endanger the ship?"

"Try appealing to her good side" Finchley replied, "she does have one, so I'm told..."

"Very well" she sighed. "I can see that you are not serious about this, nor do you care for me. I will do what you want but may resort to my Vulcan side. If she kills me it's your fault." She stood, "have you finished with me...Sir?"

"For the time being, yes, but...", and he looked at the chronometer on his desk, "...I do believe that Karadis is now on shift so she'll be on the bridge. Why don't you go and speak with her now. After all, there's an old say 'no time like the present', why not see how it goes."

"Does she know sir?"

"About you being Second Officer...no. That's something you can tell her, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear the news" Finchley replied.

"I should not have forgotten you could be like this," Shon said already using her Vulcan side as she turned around and walked out onto the bridge.

Finchley watched as Shon left the room. It would be her first big ask as the ships new Second Officer, if she could past this particular hurdle, she would be able to face just about anything he thought.

[Bridge]

Karadis stood by the Tactical station, checking over the ships restock of quantum torpedoes and phase array updates. Her heightened senses told her someone was approaching her and she turned to see Shon.

Shon looked around to see if there were any allies but neither Commander Hunter nor Kilbane were on the bridge. "Commander may I have a private word with you?" she said calmly her face a mask.

Karadis looked around and saw that there was only one other person nearby, at the Science station, so she said to them, "Take a walk."

"But I'm supposed to be..." they protested.

"I said, take a walk!" Karadis reiterated fiercely.

"Yes Commander, of course, right away" the Science officer replied, immediately standing up and moving off.

Looking at Shon she said "Be quick, what do you want half breed?"

Shon was becoming calmer as she fought to bring her Vulcan side to the fore. "I have just come from a meeting with the Commodore and he has offered, and I have accepted the Second Officer's position as well as Head of sickbay. However...he has chosen that you be my mentor in this endeavour. " Shon stood calmly hands clasped behind her back.

"Ha, right!" Karadis replied, laughing heartily, "Like he'd do something as stupid as that, then have you come and tell me."

She saw that Shon wasn't laughing, and she stopped, "wait a minute, you're being serious aren't you..."

"Yes Commander, I am being serious and conversely so is the Commodore. " Shon continued to stand there a drop of sweat beginning to track down her neck.

"Well he can go and fu..." Karadis began.

"Yes Karadis, I can go and what?" a voice said from across the bridge.

Karadis swivelled round and saw the Commodore standing there, "You can go and fuck off Bird, you're allowing your second brain to take charge, I'm not mentoring her!" she said, pointing at Shon.

Finchley calmly walked across the bridge and stood nose to nose with Karadis. "No Commander, you can go and fuck off, you will mentor the Lieutenant here and you will like it."

Turning to Shon he said, "Forgive me, I was a little remiss in the Ready Room, I forgot to tell you that, whilst a physician and you prefer to be referred to as Doctor when Chief Medical Officer, when you're on duty as Second Officer you'll be referred to as Lieutenant T'ghann-Dex, that is after all the SFI rank you hold."

Turning back to Karadis he added, "Not only will you like mentoring the Lieutenant here, you're going to show her this supposed good side you're meant to have."

"What good side?" Karadis asked, looking angry and puzzled at the same time.

"Apparently, according to folk lore, you have actually been seen to smile and laugh, occasionally even joke" Finchley said, "so I want you to try and be like that whilst you carry out your mentoring duties. Am I being perfectly clear or would you like it in form of an order?"

Karadis fist clenched and unclenched a few times, and through gritted teeth she replied, "No Commodore, your being perfectly clear!"

Turning back to Shon Finchley said, "See, Karadis can be reasonable, I hope you learn a lot from her" and with that he returned to his Ready Room.

Shon stood silent for a moment waiting for Karadis to blow. When she did not Shon said, "Well Commander what is next?"

Karadis looked Shon up and down, then said, "Let's start with what you know. What experience do you have of carrying out bridge duties and what's you're understanding of being a Second Officer?"

Shon sighed inside, she knew she was not going to enjoy the next few hours. “I have experience of con and ops and was assigned con on a Vulcan ship when the bridge crew on the Virruk collided with a cosmic string fragment. The second officer is the third command officer after the Captain and the XO. The second officer normally takes over if the others are incapacitated and it is normally the second officer that accompanies the away teams. The second officer will also take on other tasks as asked by the XO and Captain. I also acted as weapons officer on the Ohio when I was an Ensign.”

"Very good Lieutenant, that's correct, except it's the XO who normally accompanies the away teams, the 2XO is there if the Captain deems it necessary...which in most cases he would anyway" Karadis replied. "What bridge battle experience do you have, baring in mind I'm a level eight SFI officer and I can look it up if I feel it's warranted, there's nothing hidden, failing that I can always get the Commodore to look it up and there's definately nothing hidden from him, he's a triple 'A' SFI officer and the only things hidden from him are SFI Council member records...though he has gotten round that on occasion, I wish I knew how."

"I have to admit I have very little battle bridge experience. The last time I was on this vessel I looked the console over."

"Then we'll need to run simulations in the holodeck" Karadis replied, "you need to be able to think tactically if the ships under attack and you find yourself either as the temporary XO or even temporary Captain."

At that moment, Kilbane wandered out of the turbolift onto the bridge. He caught what Karadis said about running simulations in the holodeck and asked, "What's happening, why do you need to run simulations on the holodeck?"

Shon smiled glad to see him, "I have been promoted to 2XO, and the Captain has asked Commander Karadis to mentor me." She decided not to put an emphasis on 'mentor me'. "Good news huh?"

"Mmmmmmm..." Kilbane replied, then looking at Karadis he said, "Can I steal Lieutenant T'ghann-Dex for a moment Commander, I need to have a personal word with her on a private matter that's rather urgent?"

Karadis looked angry, but didn't refuse his request, "Make it quick Kilbane."

"Thank you" Kilbane replied, guiding Shon over to the other side of the bridge. Standing in front of Shon with his back to Karadis, he said "If she gives you grief during her mentoring of you, use this piece of information against her. Ask her how she was once taken hostage by a Ferengi, an old Ferengi at that, when she was in a bar on Proxima Prime. The true answer is that he bet her he could kidnap her and keep her hostage for three days and nights. The bet was that if he lost, he'd give her five bars of gold pressed latinum, if she lost, she had to be his slave for a week. She laughed at him because she couldn't contemplate in her wildest dreams she could be beaten by an old Ferengi and stupidly took the bet. All this was witnessed of course by those in the bar, SFI officers included...and I was one. When the bet was started, he snapped his fingers and five Klingon warriors attacked her from behind, got the better of her and tied her up. When she protested that the Ferengi cheated, he said he didn't say he'd do it alone, he'd worded it very carefully. Well, a bet's a bet, she lost and had to be his slave for a week. Let me tell you, she was humiliated 'big time' that whole week, again, I know because I asked the Ferengi if I could come along and enjoy watching her week in purgatory. She swore she'd kill anyone who told the story, but hey, at least I'd die laughing!"

Shon was silent for a moment trying to silence the belly laugh that was building. “Really!?” She mouthed. “I know I know but I would rather do the work, put in the time and take what she gives me and come out of the end a wunderkind, or if not that at least a competent bridge officer.” She whispered. “Although I would like to drive her mad a little. Will I see you later?”

"If you want to drive her mad, call her 'ass harden shirk', it's an anagram of her name" he grinned. "She absolutely hates it when Bird and I do it, but hey, you've got to have some fun in life, right. Oh yes, we'll see each other later once you're done with AHS...her anagram name..." he added.

“Thank you for the smile and the information, I had better get back to her.”

He smiled at Shon then turned to leave, stopped, turned back to her and said, "Just an FYI, an anagram of my name is 'enviable kink', make of that what you will" he winked, then turned and walked back towards Karadis.

As he passed her he said, "Thank you Commander, I apologise for the interruption" and kept on walking. Karadis looked after him, then back at Shon, "Can we get on now?"

She waked back to her. “Yes, of course Commander.”

"Right, there's also mundane jobs for the 2XO such as shift rotas, for all departments, not just medical like you're used to doing. There's also inventory checks, log reports, daily report filings etc etc, but that can wait for now, we need to get you up to speed on what happens 'if' the CO and XO are incapacitated and you end up in charge of the ship. Your first call is you designate a temporary XO, who would you choose?"

Probably yourself Commander or Lieutenant Drevas as he has Tactical knowledge."

"No, I wouldn't accept it, but I'd act as an advisor" Karadis answered, and Drevas doesn't have the requisite total bridge experience. Tactical yes, as a stand in Counsellor, yes given his experiences recorded on his Strarfleet record. No, Kilbane is your choice as he has bridge experience in all the departments...though his flying skills are scary as all hell. However, we need to get your Tactical skills upped. Let's go to the holodeck now, I want to test you in some scenarios, see how you react."

Shon had wondered whether or not to say Kilbane as she thought him the most qualified. However she thought that saying his name would bring some acerbic words from the Klingon. “I should have gone with my gut!” She said not meaning to say it aloud. She hurriedly said “Yes Commander" hoping she had not heard.

"Yes, perhaps you should have" Karadis replied, "but that's also something you have to learn as Second Officer, to trust your instinct or trust your gut, it's a fine line."

She headed towards the turbolift and as the doors opened allowing access, she turned to Shon and said, "So, what's the deal with you and Kilbane anyway?"

"Respectfully it does not really have anything to do with you Commander but he's nice, a friend if you will."

"Fair enough" Karadis replied, "and you're not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes, you're more than just friends, you can tell by your body language every time you're in the same room or area together."

She remained silent for the rest of the short 'lift journey and soon they both arrived at the chosen holodeck. "Computer, select training programme Karadis one."

==^==Programme Karadis one selected, enter when ready==^==

Karadis moved forward and the doors parted. Once inside, they were in a simulated version of the Blackeagle's bridge, though bereft for the moment of any other people. Turning to Shon, Karadis said, "Ok, in this first simulation the ship is being attacked by two Romulan Warbirds. Our shields are down to eighteen percent, one warp nacelle is damaged, the Captain is dead and the XO is injured, conscious but unable to be moved due to injuries sustained. You are on the bridge tending to the injured as you're there in your capacity as Chief Medical Officer. I'm going to tell the computer to give a ten second countdown then the programme will start up, it's then up to you as to how you react. Computer, ten second countdown then run programme."

==^==Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one==^==

Then Karadis stood back as the programme began...

The bridge rocked as the Warbird fired once again and outside a warbird was directly in front of them. Glancing quickly around at the injured Shon made the only decision she could. they needed treatment especially the XO but he seemed stable on the floor where he was. If she did not take charge they would all die.

"Engineering status of warp drive, any chance of gaining some movement if only evasive?

Divert power from the rest of the ship, everything apart from life support to go to the shields."

"status of weapons?"

The report from Engineering came back "Bridge, warp drive's offline after the port nacelle was hit in the last salvo. Engine's are down to sixty three percent, I can get you main phasers, but they may cut out if power drops drops below sixty percent. Photon torpedoes are available but again, they may cut out if the power drops. We'll divert everything we can to main shields."

"Con scan for other Federation vessels in the area and hail the warbird."

"There's no other Federation vessels in the immediate area Sir, the nearest vessel is the USS Pearson, she's a science vessel but she's three hours away at her maximum warp" Con replied.

"Con look for places we might be able to hide whilst we make immediate repairs?"

"Tactical hail the lead warbird! I want to know why they are doing this? maybe give us some time?"

TBC...

 

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