Out of the Frying Pan

Posted on 27 May 2018 @ 5:42pm by Captain Akio Tachibana & Lieutenant Commander Rafe Cassidy (Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War)

Mission: Ne Me'e Laua Na Paio - Heroes & Villains
Location: CO's Ready Room
Timeline: 1100, 3 Jan 2389

Cassidy had sat through the meeting keeping his mouth shut as best he could. The atmosphere aboard was uncomfortable, to say the least - but more important was the uncertainty in it. Uncertainty about their situation, but his own uncertainty, too, at the new ship. New faces, for him and to each other. They were in choppy waters and trust was thin on the ground.

Not on big gestures. The crew seemed very content to make those, if the Wyoming dispute was anything to go by. But in little issues. Little doubts.

So he had to do his part, and trust a little. Which brought him to the captain's ready room, hitting the door-chime and entering once he had summons.

"Skipper. Got a minute?" He tried to sound airy as he entered, and he didn't know for whose benefit that was - Tachibana's, anyone outside listening in. Himself.

"Of course, Lieutenant. What's on your mind?" Akio asked as he paused from typing.

Cassidy considered dissembling. There was a lot to talk about, and he could take the CO's temperature first. But they would have plenty of time for that, he reckoned. It wasn't why he was here.

He grimaced. "I'll be up front. I went to talk to Cortez in the brig. And this situation is a whole lot messier than I even imagined. She's being blackmailed. Someone's got it in for this ship."

Akio sat back in his seat and resisted furrowing his brow.

"That makes me a bit more comfortable with her aboard," Akio admitted. Technically, this could be interfering with the investigation, yet Akio did understand Security had their hands full. "Have you talked with anyone from Security yet?"

"No, so I know I'm due being raked over hot coals sometime. But honestly, this seemed like a delicate sort of thing, and I don't mean disrespect to Lieutenant Winchester - I don't really know Lieutenant Winchester - but 'delicate' hasn't yet seemed like his flight course." Cassidy winced. "I came to you, Skipper, because I think it's worth keeping an open mind in this. I'm not sure nothing's how it seems."

Akio took a sip of his tea and again glanced out the window. He knew this wasn't what command was like, yet something about everything so far had not been what it seemed. He had to put on a strong face though.

"I am glad I am not the only one seeing it," Akio nodded. "I have a scheduled video conference with the command staff of TF93 and our theater commander. You better believe this is on the agenda. As for your observations, I think they would be valuable to the report on Lieutenant Cortez. If you are comfortable, I would like you to draft up a supplement report to go with Security's findings. As for what Lieutenant Winchester wants to do, I've given him and his department a wide berth in this area and he may question you either way."

"Yeah, I'll deserve that," Cassidy agreed. "And I'll write up the report, no problem. Still, there's something you should see for yourself, and I know this is probably interfering by grabbing evidence of the like, but once this ended up in my hands I didn't exactly want to leave it lying around in case there's someone else suspicious on board." He pulled out a PADD and put it down on the desk, sliding it towards Tachibana. "This was sent to Cortez. You can view it yourself or I get it to security. I didn't really expect everything to get so complicated when I started asking questions." This last is a self-effacing, rather fraught confession. He'd expected Cortez to either be someone he'd completely misjudged, or someone on the edge of a breakdown. Not a victim of conspiracy.

Akio smirked as he discovered when he put on the second full pip how often questions led to unwanted or unwelcome answers. "I too wonder if life would be easier as a blissful Lieutenant Junior Grade," Akio mused, trying to lighten the mood.

That effort was quickly dashed once Akio started to read the PADD. A vein started to protrude on Akio's forehead. The plot became clearer once the video played. Cortez had known about Carson's plan and Sthilg, yet she was being used. It didn't make sense though... Cassidy just handed a dozen pieces of the puzzle to him, yet Akio didn't know how it all fit in yet.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Lieutenant," Akio said sorrowfully. He felt horribly bad for Cortez. She had to make so many hard decisions, yet Akio was still not sure where she fit in all of this mess. "I will keep an open mind, yet I hope for Lieutenant Cortez's sake, she is not wrapped up in any further schemes. Do you have any insight to how involved in this plot she was? No one seems to know her background, granted intelligence officers are usually the most quiet for applicable reasons."

"I don't know," Cassidy admitted. "Our conversation suggested this had come a bit out of the blue, that she'd got this message and was flying blind. But I didn't have much information to cross-examine her. She might be pulling wool over my eyes. But at the least I reckon keeping her around gives us a thread to pull on with all this cloak and dagger stuff."

"Well, even without this information, I was not exactly going to blow her out to space, even if she sided with Carson," Akio replied bluntly. "I appreciate it nonetheless and I am sure Security will also appreciate the additional investigation lead."

"I'll bring it to them, then, sir. Just thought you should be informed." Cassidy tried to not frown. He was not looking forwards to having this conversation with Security. He'd hope to be wrong, but if he wasn't, he was going to get more territorialism than he particularly enjoyed.

"Is there anything else?" Akio asked.

Cassidy hesitated, then said, "No, sir."

"I do have one item to discuss. We are headed to XFY next, although Lieutenant Hunter is incapacitated. I am moving Ensign Jones to Chief Operations because we are pretty limited in crew currently. Do you think you will be able to navigate effectively still?" Akio inquired.

Navigation was largely nested in the Operations Department while Flight Control generally flew the ship. Often, the duties would overlap though, the former being the technical experts while the latter the practical ones.

"That I can handle," said Cassidy, shrugging. "I'll send some of my staff down to help Ops with the navigational issues, we should have enough training overlap on that front. Might slow down some of our journey while we grease the wheels but that's only a guess, but you'll know for sure as soon as I do. And I'll check in with Jones."

"Very well," Akio acknowledged. "Considering what we've been through, I'm sure XFY will understand. Dismissed, Lieutenant."

Cassidy again hesitated. "Actually, there was something. Not much sure how to phrase this, apart from: are you alright, Skipper? Only it was a lot that went down, Wyoming included." He winced at the inadvertent pun. "I mean, ship seems tense, and you've had a lot of new staff get their loyalty tested, to you and each other. Just feels like not everything's settled."

Akio tilted his head. Cassidy was one of the ones who actually stood by Akio when tension almost turned into disaster.

"All things considered, I think I am doing well," Akio gave a small smile. "I do appreciate what the crew had done considering this is our first taste of combat and we are so short staffed."

Akio looked up and into Cassidy's eyes, "I also thank you for what you did back there. I know you just arrived aboard recently. I've been here since we were commissioned last month, so I think we are all still getting... settled, I think."

Cassidy shifted his weight uncomfortably. "I wasn't going to fight the Wyoming staff if at all possible. And I mean no disrespect, Skipper, but I stood by you because Carson was wrong. But that means you were right, and that's worth a lot. The situation was sticky all round, but for what it's worth, I support your choices."

He grew more earnest as he spoke, because he still wasn't sure if he'd have fought had the confrontation in the conference room turned violent, though he'd been ready to defend himself. But with the time he'd had to reflect, even if his stomach churned at the thought of the Wyoming's destruction, he didn't know what could have been done different.

Akio nodded, "That does mean a lot and I appreciate it. I am sure the Major was willing to fight them all for us if I said the word. I just hope higher headquarters agrees, especially when I made the decision to retreat while Carson chose to fight."

"I don't think we'll ever know why he turned a Steamrunner on that thing." Cassidy shook his head. "For my money, either he was completely mad or he was covering our escape. I expect lessons will come out of the last few days but we're here, alive, and that's not nothing."

"I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. We owe our lives to the Wyoming," Akio said solemnly.

"Yeah. That we do." Cassidy grimaced, then rocked on his heels. "Well, that was all I was getting at, Skipper. I'll go talk to Security, leave you to your work."

"Sounds good, Lieutenant," Akio said as Cassidy turned. "Oh, and Lieutenant?" Cassidy paused and turned his head. "Good flying out there."

OFF:

Akio Tachibana, CDR, SF
CO

Rafe Cassidy, LT, SF
CONN