Meet the New Boss
Posted on 26 Sep 2023 @ 12:50am by Lieutenant Commander Limmi Ovim & Commander Calliope Zahn
Edited on on 26 Sep 2023 @ 4:12am
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: Obsidian Command
Timeline: concurrent with "Homecoming"
2504 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure
Wonai, who had helped the survivors to dress and prepare, had been sworn to secrecy by the staff preparing for the return. But she'd none the less hinted to her friends on the lower decks that they should try to be early to the line up at the airlock, if possible, even if she didn't say why.
Saaba had formed up in the corridor alongside Ensign Marcello Wiser and Ensign Zletze, pressing to one side so others could pass.
"Where's Kaiki?" she asked, not seeing Ensign Wonai anywhere.
"Up front, with a standby medical team," Ensign Zletze, the Flaxian pilot pointed. "Is Max coming?"
Saaba shook her head. "He can't break away. They're still securing things below decks."
"I guess it's just us three," Wiser said, frowning. Unspoken between them was the fact that Jup was in stasis, being prepared for direct transport to the station's med bay.
There was a change in the thrumming of the ship as it powered down impulse and went to maneuvering thrusters. For a minute it coasted along silently, and the activity in the corridor died down. Finally, there was a dull thud ahead and the mechanical noises of the airlock making its seal, followed by a pressurization rush.
Saaba, and a few others, leaned forward to watch them crack the Pathfinder's door, then roll back the station airlock.
There was the barking of a Marine giving an order, the sound of dozens of swords drawn simultaneously from scabbards, then the sound of trumpets and tubas, from beyond where Saaba could see.
"Guess this was what Kaiki was talking about. They laid out the welcome mat for Major Wallace," Wiser said, frowning.
Saaba looked at Wiser. "What is wrong with you lately? Can't you just be happy for them?"
"Not everyone is getting saluted for their service," Wiser sniped back at her.
As the line had begun to move, Saaba pushed ahead of Wiser. She was conflicted. Sure, she was worried about Jup, but he wasn't experiencing any pain, and being too mad about it to appreciate anything else wasn't going to make his odds any better. Marcello hadn't heard her opinion on it on the whole return trip. It wasn't going to make any difference repeating it to him now.
As she stepped out onto the station, the band was still playing, and there was a crowd of crew and officers filling the breadth of the dockyard corridor. She couldn't hear anything being said, but it looked like the brass was exchanging pleasantries with the Sunrise survivors and the Korin delegates. The honor guard still had their swords out but held close in front of them and no longer formed an arch. Saaba and the rest of the Pathfinder crew filled the passageway between the rows of honor guards and became onlookers to the event before them.
Having left behind Marcello's uncharacteristic cynicism, Saaba let her heart warm to see the survivors received back. Her eyes watered and she felt proud to have been part of recovering them. The Korin stood out from the rest, heads and shoulders taller than most of the federation species around them and covered in fur. As the formalities were wrapping up and the band played them out with a different hymn, she wondered how strange the sights and sounds would be for the Korin representatives.
Limmi's perceptions had touched upon that question and more. Though not a formal part of the reception, she nonetheless felt it worthy of support. But that wasn't her only reason for coming. She'd personally monitored the relays proximate to Pathfinder's flight path and was thus among the first to know of her impending return. Looking to further refine the station's defense contingencies, Limmi perused her mission reports as soon as they were transmitted, which were extensive save for the accounts of the space battle leading up to their retreat.
Her intent to flesh out details with her proxy was fortified by what she felt of the crew. A large groups’ thoughts rarely resided on the same wavelength, yet Admiral Sepandiyar, General MacTaryn, and others of the reception demonstrated that they could converge for common causes. In contrast, the Pathfinder crew was fragmented, curious given their collective accomplishment.
"Ensign Saaba," she called, breaking away from the delegation.
Picking out her name over the sound of the crowd breaking up, the stout Bolian woman turned, trying to place who had called her.
Limmi's acknowledging smile during her approach materialized in part from comfort in coming into another woman who didn't conform the physical mold widely assigned to them. Her empathy for the Sunrise survivors further helped. It exuded an effusiveness she couldn't help leaning into.
"I'm Lieutenant Commander Ovim, the new tactical chief," she began from behind the initial motion of a handshake. "I came in during Pathfinder's deployment."
"Oh!" Saaba connected the name she had seen come across the comms links associated with department reports in the past couple of days with the new face. She shook her hand. "An actual department head to report to. Not that I mind working with Lieutenant Danzer." She quickly amended. "Welcome to Obsidian Command, Ma'am."
"Thank you. I know you're just getting back from a difficult mission, but I want to touch base with you, and this is likely our best opportunity," Limmi implied of the R&R Saaba was entitled to. Few starships had the personnel to maintain a four-shift duty rotation and Pathfinder was far from being one of them. "Can I take a few minutes of your time?"
"Of course, Commander." Saaba had traveled so light that she hadn't any baggage at all. Everything she required she had replicated or transferred as data. "I haven't any other commitments, or anything to arrange."
Limmi nodded an acknowledgement and indicated a furniture set intended to facilitate comfortable viewing of the carnivorous dock's operations.
"Are you looking to resume your normal duty schedule or are you favoring some recuperation?" she asked as she sat. "You can choose either per regulations. Regardless of what you might read or hear, there's no pressing need for you to come back. I'll support whatever you decide."
Saaba sat comfortably enough, but with a posture that was upright and still grounded down to her feet. It wasn't so much tense as it was that the ready stance had been inculcated into her such that slouching was anathema. She found it curious that the new tactical chief wasn't demanding all possible hours from all personnel. She seemed to understand that quality of attendance was as key as quantity, something that not all senior officers seemed to ascribe to as a philosophy. "I would take advantage of a couple days, but I'm otherwise prepared to serve, Ma'am."
Limmi brandished the tablet she'd been carrying beneath an arm and processed Saaba's request. "Take the days, Ensign," she said of Saaba's lingering sense of obligation through a smile intended to reassure her. "We'll be fine. I know how to find you if I'm wrong."
"Thank you." Saaba was already considering the new morning routine she wanted to try out and had a short list of people in mind to check in with. If she was feeling especially decadent, she'd even indulge in a couple of naps and a new audio book.
"How'd you feel about being Alpha shift primary on the Pathfinder?" Limmi knew of Saaba's prolonged trajectory as a junior staffer, suspecting it a testament to a pitfall of competence. Throughout the ranks, senior officers held onto rather than advance subordinates because they valued the stability they helped exact. It wasn't inherently wrong: some were content to serve, and good leaders moderated change as they were able so also to not destabilize that over which they had agency. The problem was when it was assumed that those who weren't forward with their aspirations had none. Sometimes, they didn't know when or how to speak up.
Saaba looked thoughtful. She'd drilled extensively lately, particularly with scenarios surrounding the Pathfinder and the Pyrryx. And when their department head had left Marshal Steiner in charge, she'd done much support work for him, particularly on the tactical side of the combined department. "I'm confident I can man alpha shifts," she decided.
"Do you want to?" It was important to Limmi that Saaba felt at least as much volition for the idea as she did obligation.
"Of course. I would relish the opportunity. A patrol vessel with a station attachment is the best of both worlds. I would have the leadership opportunity and continued training here. It's swimming out past the shallows within barking distance," Saaba evaluated out-loud.
"Excellent," Limmi laughed as she input a notation. "I won't guarantee it since I've yet to meet the decision makers, but I do know you made a big fan out of Commander Zahn." She stopped her insight short of Zahn's promotion recommendation despite her certainty of its approval, feeling it best expressed by Zahn. "I think this is a conversation she'll be receptive to."
Saaba sussed that out to mean Commander Zahn had given her a good review. There were a lot of complicated feelings surrounding her engineer husband and his actions, particularly as some of those actions had put her friend Jup in stasis in medical, but Saaba still had respect for Zahn. For a moment, her mind wandered before she snapped her attention back, intentionally homing in on being present. "Commander Zahn oversaw the mission preparations. I liked working with her."
That string of thoughts—punctuated by Saaba's pause—didn't go unnoticed.
"That says a lot given how much the mission deviated from plan. That can test a crew, especially when they don't have much experience together."
"That's very true." Saaba agreed, as simply as possible. She was sure that the difference in performance and attitude between Commanders Quinn and Zahn would make it unlikely for Zahn to accept any future assignments with him. At least that had been the scuttlebutt surrounding some that claimed the couple had been heard arguing loudly enough to be heard from behind closed doors. For her part, that would mean she wouldn't have to worry about a repeat performance from him, should she happen to be assigned to Zahn's CoC in the future. "Do you know if Commander Zahn is taking another assignment? She was the station's Executive Officer when I first arrived, but then she was some kind of advisor? All I can get is rumor and what amounts to tall tales."
Limmi didn't know of the XO shuffle until her tactical planning meeting with Admiral Sepandiyar and Commander Zayne, during which she was given more details on Pathfinder's mission. Zahn was a frequent element in her extrasensory riffling since, and the Pryyrx threat's idle in the week since granted Limmi the pastime of discreetly piecing together her situation. She couldn't definitively answer Saaba's question, yet her knowledge and experience suggested that Zahn wasn't going anywhere unless she wanted to.
Her smile broadened.
"Are you asking me to break decorum, Ensign?"
"I..." Saaba tried to choose her words carefully. "I just mean that no one below deck knows what capacity Commander Zahn will serve next."
"So that's a yes."
Saaba looked mildly uncomfortable, caught between Commander Ovim's direct comment about decorum and by contrast her growing Cheshire cat grin.
Merely curious as to how much Saaba would pursue the matter, Limmi chuckled away her gravity. "It isn't a matter the admiral has seen fit to discuss." Nor did she expect him to. "I have no more idea about what will happen to her than you."
Saaba gave her own grin of relieved embarrassment. "I understand." Saaba thought of something else she was hoping to ask. It would be easier now, having tested out the amiability of her new department head. "Commander? If you're given access to the Korin computer core we brought back, I would like to help analyze the deep space scans." Saaba wasn't given direct access on the return trip, but she knew its recovery was in the manifest, and that Limmi was likely to be given access as Tactical head, unless the brass saw some reason to lock it down.
"I'll consider it," Limmi answered in a tone like that with which she parried Saaba's inquiry into Zahn. With the encapsulated words more neutral this time around, the younger woman might've noticed it more arch than stern. "I have questions about the circumstances leading up to its arrival."
"Of course," Saaba said, agreeably. Reports had been sent but questions were to be expected.
"I suppose I misphrased that. I'm actually hoping you'll provide more detail on the retreat from Korix." Limmi deliberately refrained from opining on that already provided, not wanting to give either of them tangential thoughts to sift through.
"Yes. We did retreat." Saaba confirmed.
"Have you determined the cause of the EM pulse attributed to the Pathfinder's sensor malfunction?"
"No, ma'am." Simple answers seemed best, even if they weren't exactly flattering. Saaba didn't like lying by omission, all the same, and she felt sure she couldn't reserve her own displeasure in appearing incompetent. "I did not."
"Why not?" Limmi would've had reservations about chalking it up to incompetence even if she weren't able to perceive some of the machinations behind Saaba's words. It just wasn't a credible progression for someone who'd otherwise been so painstaking. Not to mention that it was strange for an EM pulse to be so specific in its effect.
"Because...." Here she seemed to be searching until she mentally found a piece of solid reasoning to ground on again. "Because I was not at the primary tactical station when it occurred. Lt. Tahriik, from the Theseus assumed my station after we recovered his shuttle following the ground encounter. There wasn't very much I could ascertain after the fact as the records were non-existent."
"Understood. Still, I'm curious as to why you didn't think it warranted greater emphasis in your report?" Even if there was no ostensible cause at the incidence, it was sufficiently unusual to warrant follow-up.
"I guess, it just felt like there was nothing concrete enough to emphasize, ma'am." Saaba shrugged helplessly.
"Same for everyone else it seems," sighed Limmi, laying her tablet in her lap after seemingly browsing other accounts. In truth, she was mulling Saaba's answers. They were acceptable within the context of the mission accounts, but unconvincing in that they arose from places other than confidence. . .
"Go." The Betazoid's smile reemerged, and she stood, extending a hand. The toll beading everything she'd gathered about the situation was imposing convinced Limmi that Saaba's presence was surplus to her need now. "Put that uniform in deep refresh. I'll see you in two days."
Returning the smile, Saaba stood and tried not to seem as though she was rushing to escape. "Yes, Ma'am."
