Posthumous Promotions

Posted on Sun Apr 19th, 2015 @ 10:55pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Commander Angelica Fairchild

Mission: The New Sydney Fiasco
Location: Enalia's Readyroom
Timeline: After 'The Battle Commences'

Enalia sat at her desk and sighed, dreading how she was going to describe this situation to... well whoever she can get in touch with... Turning her desk computer on and tapping up her comm lines with Starfleet, the first thing she noticed was that the Hera had been marked as missing for the past 4 years. Thus she was going to have a hard time getting in touch with anyone... Changing gears, she instead decided to contact the office of temporal investigations and let them sort it all out. Typing up a report for them, it seems she couldn't get a live person before a report or request was sent in.

Thankfully, the summary of recent events was easy enough and soon she was on hold waiting on an agent.

---=An Hour Later=---

Enalia leaned back in her chair and looked over all the data streaming in that they had missed. Posthumously decorated? Presumed lost to a Borg incursion? Hopefully that agent she spoke with could get them back on the right track... For now though, they would be heading to New Sydney to await new orders and to meet up with a Temporal Investigations team there that would test the ship for... she still wasn't sure what... and to reintegrate the crew back into the universe as a whole.

Tapping her comm badge, she did have one thing to handle first before announcing all this to the crew. "Commander Fairchild to my office please."

The call to report to the ready room took Angelica by surprise, and she didn't answer right away. It took a few seconds for the call to even get her attention, and her tone was uncertain when she finally did answer. "Yes, ma'am. I'll be there in a moment." Already on the bridge, it was a short trip to the ready room, and once she'd handed the chair over to Sinek, Angelica tapped the 'call' button next to the ready room door, just to announce her presence.

"Come in," Enalia called, pulling a couple tiny black boxes out of her desk. She'd need to replicate a lot more of these...

Coming inside, Angelica immediately spotted the little black boxes and raised an eyebrow at them. "You can't be promoting me again... so what are those?"

"Starfleet promoted several of us posthumously, including you, and you and I get to keep the rank. You're also in the wrong color now." Enalia said as the door closed behind Angel. " What size do you wear?"

"I haven't exactly had time to change." Angelica barely blinked at the promotion being posthumous; she knew damn well they'd traveled forward in time... and that when they disappeared, the ship had likely been listed as lost with all hands. "My uniform's a size 10... and I'm not sure I'm ready to be promoted again so soon. I mean, to us it's only been a few weeks..."

Enalia paused in the middle of pinning her own 4th gold dot to her shirt. "So you don't want it?"

"No, I do. I just... it's weird, okay?" Time travel in general was weird, and it didn't get any less so when it thrust extra surprises in her face. Angelica laughed, just a little. "I'll take it. Just... don't expect me to be perfect right out of the gate. I was never in command before I came here."

"And from what I've heard you're not well liked on the ship. You might even be the worst choice for XO aboard." Enalia said, finishing her own uniform and pushing a black box across her desk with a dead serious expression. "But I can't think of anyone I trust more for the job. Unless you'd rather Aewia take the job. She was posthumously promoted to Captain."

"No way in hell. She's sweet and all, but unless you want to have ice cream socials and pizza parties all the time..." That prompted a real laugh, and Angelica relaxed a little as she picked up the box from Enalia's desk. "You're right though... there's not too many people on board who like me. Even fewer now that we've lost Ven..."

Punching up a new uniform top with command red on it for Angel, Enalia nodded morosely. "Yeah, we'll need to keep an eye on Amelia. They were romantically involved." As soon as the uniform finished materializing in her replicator, she handed it to Angel too.

"Aw, hell. She's such a sweet girl, to have to go through that..." Angelica sighed, not having considered that members of the crew might have been dating.

"Yeah, we're responsible for more than just the careers of this crew. Over seven hundred lives are in our hands." Enalia replied, leaning back in her chair.

"Thanks for the reminder." Angelica had a feeling this job was going to be so much harder than just handling the duties that Aelyn had been responsible for. Over seven hundred people had just lost their homes, their families, and four years out of their lives that they would never get back. "I'll talk to Amelia. Oddly enough, she seems to like me. It may soften the blow a bit."

"Good luck. I'll unlock her personnel file so you can see all the other crap she's been through." Enalia said, still waiting for Angel to change uniforms.

"Oh lord, there's more?" Angelica looked at Enalia, seeing the expectant look on the other woman's face. "...let me change first so you quit giving me the 'fix that shit' look. Mind if I borrow your bathroom?"

"What bathroom?" Enalia asked blankly. "I have to use the one behind the bridge."

"Uh huh." Angelica pointed at the extra door, on a separate wall from the door to the bridge. "What's that then, a personal closet for your pet cat?"

Looking at the door in mock surprise, Enalia exclaimed, "Goodness, is that a restroom? Wherever did that come from? I guess you can change in there."

"Either you're the universe's biggest troll or you're really unobservant." Angelica chuckled a little, slipping through the bathroom door and locking it behind her. She knew now that Enalia was the worst prankster on the ship, and she wasn't taking the chance that the door would suddenly fly open while she was changing. She took her time, transferring all three golden pips to the collar of her new tunic before putting on the new uniform and glancing in the mirror. The red looked strange on her... not bad, just odd. Maybe she would get used to it. Giving her old yellow uniform a somewhat wistful look, she gently folded it and set it in the clothing replicator, recycling it before heading back out into the ready room. "This feels weird, wearing red."

"I think it suits you," Enalia said, clicking her computer back off. She had been looking over a few things while Angel was changing. "I'll need you to find a replacement for Security Chief, first off. Then find room for a court martial and the Temporal Investigations team. We've been ordered to report to New Sydney, an independent colony world. I'm to arrest another Captain and we'll get some shore leave during the proceedings."

"I'll see who I have that's up to the task... for now the young man at tactical will have to do. His name's Fredrickson, good kid just not much experience." And who was Angelica to be talking about experience? She barely had any command level experience, and here she was, first officer of a starship. "As for room for the court martial... we've got several large conference rooms that should work, and I can get cabins for the investigation team. I know of at least two that are empty now, maybe three."

"Give them the biggest conference room we have and have the holoemitters and recorders deactivated. We'll be strained on guest quarters, but I'm sure you'll find the room somewhere." Enalia continued. "Temporal Investigations will be working on our reintegration back into things so we'll need to afford them all the courtesies we can. And be patient if they interview you. They like asking the same question over and over throughout an interview."

"I'm not so good at being patient." Angelica cringed slightly at the thought of being asked the same question repeatedly in the same interview. "But I'll do my best."

"Thank you." Enalia said, finally relaxing a bit, leaning back in her chair. "Would you also mind too terribly much if I asked you to make sure I wasn't disturbed for an hour or two? I haven't slept in at least two days I think... depending on how you count time..."

"Oh god, don't remind me." She'd be fine until Enalia mentioned lack of sleep, and then the exhaustion hit Angelica like a brick to her face. "I can make sure no one bothers you, but I can't promise I'll stay awake."

"Then how about we make an announcement to the crew and both go get some sleep. Want to join me in my quarters? I have a nice big, soft bed." Enalia teased.

"And give you the opportunity to take holo-pics and send them out to the crew? No thanks." Angelica grinned a bit crookedly. "I appreciate the offer, but I think I'll go to my own bed. Suppose I'll have to move into Aelyn's old place soon, but I'm too tired to mess with that."

Enalia raised her hands in defeat. "Fair enough." Then her mood sank, remembering the people they had lost. Ven in particular was a good friend and confidant. "Ven was there for the entire refit of the Hera. I'd like you to put Amelia in charge of those records now since she's the only other one besides me that knows them all."

"I'll do that before I head home. It will keep her busy... keep her mind off losing Ven..." Suddenly the mood in the room was somber again, and Angelica found she was fighting tears for the first time since all the insanity had started.

"I hope we don't lose anyone else." Enalia muttered, staring at her hands in her lap and trying to hold back tears of her own.