Because She's The Captain

Posted on Sun Jan 5th, 2020 @ 6:39pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Kodria Mizu & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox
Edited on on Sat Jan 11th, 2020 @ 2:16pm

Mission: Neutral Zone Neutrality
Location: USS Hera, Deck 1, Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: 2397

New Year's Day was not particularly a holiday of the Artans- at least, not on the Earth calendar. For them the celebration was tied to the Trill calendar, which fell on April 15th for Rita. Who might be the only person on the starship Hera who kept track of the Earth calendar, rather than the far more logical stardate measurement of time.

It helped her feel a connection to her homeworld, so far out in space, she'd found. And to not lose yourself amongst the stars, you needed to stay grounded, Rita Paris had long ago realized. Sonak gave her strength, support, and a fixed point in the universe which she loved with all her heart. But the world of her birth, Earth... that crazed, industrious melting pot that had reached out to the stars in friendship, and in doing so changed the face of the galaxy. No matter how far she roamed or how much it changed, it would always be important to Rita to retain that connection to her homeworld.

Which was a pleasant distraction from the duty she was now required to perform. Having uncovered a problem onboard the USS Hera, as first officer it was her duty to find said problems, then present them to the captain with a proposed solution. If she was particularly stumped, she might bring in more of the senior staff. After all, they were all brilliant, capable individuals who were each highly accomplished in their respective fields. While Rita herself was a throwback who seldom understood the technology involved, so she deal in broad concepts, which seemed to work for her.

In the jaws of the current dilemma, she was uncertain just exactly how to proceed. But this matter was highly sensitive, and until Captain Telvan said otherwise, it was classified. Tapping at the PaDD in her hand, she sent the recording of the meeting she had just taken with Kodria in her office, and sent it to Enalia with a high priority tag to draw her attention. Checking a few more reports and rosters to give her spotted captain time to review the file, Rita rose and headed up one deck to the Bridge, where she was unsurprised to see Lieutenant Commander Dox in the command seat.

Which meant that, true to form, upon receiving a high priority encrypted file from her first officer, the captain had retreated to the cramped closet she called her Ready Room to review it in privacy. After all, they were a Starfleet Intelligence vessel. Secrets were a rather large part of their business. Thus Commander Rita Paris strode confidently to the doorway inset off the port side of the Bridge, and tabbed the door chime.

It took several seconds for the seals on the ready room door to power down before they'd open, but once they did, Enalia called out in her usually semi-chipper voice "Come in!" doing her best to hide the fact that she'd just been looking over something she considered beyond classified. "I had a feeling it would be you. Please, have a seat. I'll pour you a cup of tea if you like. I think today's is from Earth, actually. Darjeeling?"

"Sure, as you like, Captain. I assume you got the file I sent and have had time to review it?" Paris asked as she strode in, took a seat and crossed her legs at the knee, folding her hands in her lap.

As she poured a second cup of the aromatic tea and handed it off to Rita, Enalia nodded. "Most of it. I was trying to make out what those screens about her head were displaying, but it looks like raw code in the recording. I mean, it's bad that there's a copy of her aboard, even if it's partial, but good that we're aware that she's done so. What I want to know is how much she's aware of and how much can she plan out."

"For the full answer to that you'd have to ask her and Maru, as they are clearly in cooperation here," Rita paused to take a sip of the tea, savoring the flavor. "As for what she can plan out... galactic events will still come to pass. Her changing the outcome of the tribunal by meddling in the timeline generally won't change the historical events like Praxis exploding. So what she knows is dangerous, but what she can affect is far more limited. I'm still trying to figure out just how to deal with this one, Captain. We can't just leave her in there, but unless Maru cooperated we'd never get her out of there. She can't be left to direct the timeline as she sees fit, but we can't just shut her off from all contact, either. So we've a bit of a challenge with this one."

"Agreed," Enalia replied immediately before taking a sip of her own tea. "She's too precious to just ignore like some program. Maru can handle the lack of attention, but Kodria... She's different. She's... Damn it, my daughter's still in diapers and I have to worry about the mental health of my granddaughter already. It's not fair, Rita. What are we supposed to do? What can we do?" The stress of family life on top of getting older was clearly starting to get to her as moisture was starting to build up in her eyes.

Looking up and reading it all- the stress of suddenly being the parent of a newborn, even as Maica tried to cope with it. Now the added responsibility of her granddaughter, returned as another problem she had to find a way to deal with, another life for which she was, in an odd way, directly responsible. On top of sleeper agents and sneaking around the Romulans and the long missions away from home. They hadn't spent Christmas at her familial fortress, but in space, waiting in specific positions at specific times to receive reports. Worrying about her senior staff on an away mission while she waited to see if they were going to start an intergalactic war, or broker some sort of impossible solution to the problem of reunification between the Romulans and the Vulcans.

All beyond her concerns over what such a reunification of two very powerful and potent races as one might mean for the galaxy- for at heart, Rita knew Enalia Telvan was a pragmatist.

What the captain needed was a solution, not another problem. And a break. Brow furrowing, the lost navigator cast about for an idea, throwing out whatever popped into her head. Acting, as her logical spouse would likely observe, solely on intuition, as she often did.

"We could... give her limited interactivity with the crew. At least the senior staff. And she is.... okay, how to say this and not sound speciesist..." Rita stroked her chin for a second, thinking. Setting the tea down on the desk, she stood, and began to pace in the narrow space.

"We could put some sort of a muzzle on her. No knowledge of the future is allowed- like, she literally has a condition installed, preferably of her own accord." Rita spun in place, then took another measured, careful step in the cramped space as she paced. "Basically she tries to blab the future, she goes mute in whatever form of communication it is, and she stays muted for 10 seconds to think about that. I don't know, ah... she's purely holographic, which that isn't a problem on the Hera. Unless we build her a body, but that is really a pretty huge step and I don't think that option should be on the table for a while, honestly. Let's see how she does just having the people she knows as company and see how well she can do without blabbing."

"Honestly I don't have an objection to changing the future," Paris pulled out that wagging finger she'd inherited from her father that she still employed, as did he, as a lecturing tool. "I'm only worried about the futures I live in, not the ones that will yet to come. Physical, original Kodria is still on ice, so regardless of what changes may come to the universe between now and then, she'll be fine. We did our duty, and insured her safety."

"This Kodria... this is a ghost of her that she left behind, a bit of her to help us and recalculate the possibilities to steer us clear of hazards in the timeline as she perceived them... ahhh, THAT's what you meant by how much she can plan out.... how much she can prognosticate from available data. Ideally she would need to keep that to herself, except in perhaps situations of dire peril? Another consideration that there should be a threshold- good point, ma'am..." The ancient astronaut stopped pacing to place her hands on the back of the chair and lean on it.

"I've come to report we have a stowaway, Captain. It's another lost child of the universe that, yes ma'am, we are somehow now responsible. As I don't believe you put in for a cabin girl, the choice as to how to proceed is yours, but I say we let the lass sign on- IN a limited capacity," the old-school officer emphasized. "We'll see how it goes from there. After all, Ops seems to be a bit understaffed. But again, that would be a discussion for later. For now, I propose limited freedoms and a gag order with a threshold, but... what do you say you give the kid a chance, Cap'n."

As Rita went on, the Trill woman started to relax a little, relieved at the realization that she wasn't facing this alone. Indeed, she had failed to realize that not all of these decisions had to be made by her. Once her first officer was finished and there was a pause in the conversation, Enalia reached across the desk and took Rita's hand in her own, squeezing it tightly. "Thank you, Rita. That actually sounds like a wonderful idea."

"Maru will have to police her for any slips, but I don't think a full gag subroutine will be necessary. Especially since she seems to be much more mature now. In fact, she might already have one in place, if my guess is right. So yes, limited contact with the senior staff. And... possibly our VIP guests if needed."

"I'd feel better if she started with a gag order- self imposed," Rita pressed for this one, because she felt it was important. "If she never trips it, no one else will ever be aware of it. I trust her not to slip up, I genuinely do- she has kept communication with us to a minimum and been very sparing in her contact, showing considerable restraint and good judgment. Still, I'd like some assurance. Eventually all of this is going to come out in a DTI report, and we're going to have to explain and justify our actions to the bureaucrats of time and space. It's not like we're asking anything unreasonable of her nor impugning her liberties as we seek to expand them."

"Ok, fair enough. Then that's what we'll ask her to do. Otherwise, she remains a ghost in the system with Maru." Enalia nodded and conceded the point. "Do you want to handle communications with her?"

"Well, you do realize she's been listening to this entire conversation, ma'am?" Paris pointed out. "I didn't bother sealing the room or taking any additional precautions other than your standard ready room, because she's well aware of the situation and she's been waiting on pins and needles, watching this meeting to see how it would go and what would be the outcome. She knew I would bring this to you straightaway, and now she's excited and nervous."

"So," Paris continued, offering insight while hopefully not sounding pedantic, "how about if the Captain's authorization for our little stowaway to come on board in a limited capacity is officially ordered by the Captain herself? I suspect it would mean the world to her... after all, you and this situation are unknowns, x-factors to her, as we are already part of a divergent timeline than the one she knows. Thus her foreknowledge doesn't apply at all here... and like any young person who has been caught doing what they know they should not, she's afraid of the potential punishment an authority figure might bring to bear upon her. So while I'll be happy to manage Kodria's access, perhaps a word from her once and future grandmama might go a long ways to helping ease her anxiety in this matter...?"

The spotted woman took a deep breath and composed herself, realizing that she'd been wearing her emotions on her sleeve a bit too much for her taste. "Then I do so hereby give the order. Kodria, dear... Permission to come aboard officially granted. We're not going to punish you or anything like that. I think you've likely punished yourself quite enough."

After a few seconds, the same holographic representation of Kodria formed in Enalia's ready room, holo-screens of scrolling raw data bobbing about her and all. "Um... hey, grandma. Thank you. Sorry about leaving a copy of part of myself behind."

"That's perfectly fine, kiddo. I think I probably would have done the same thing." As Enalia took in the young holographic representation of her android granddaughter now before her, she slowly stood and came around her desk, a soft smile on her face as she pulled the shorter girl into a tender hug. "You know, this is the third form I've seen you in? Some temporal shenanigans let me slip a peak of you the day you were born."

"I know a bit about temporal shenanigans, grandma," Kodria replied with a giggle as she hugged back. "As for your questions earlier... I've already put in place a block about talking about future events. I'll still give you the warnings I already planned, though since aunt Dox didn't get stuck on Romulus... I'm not sure if really any of them are even still applicable anymore, really."

Taking in the scene, the meeting of two separate generations that never would have otherwise met, Rita Paris couldn’t help but smile. The irrepressible young woman from the future needed contact with people, and she needed to be able to do so unafraid. Once she’d deduced the truth, Rita had debated what to do about it, and while one crisis after another had loomed, she’d put off the decision.

Now, seeing the two generations that had never truly known one another embracing, she couldn’t help but smile. It would be tricky trying to incorporate Kodria into the crew, explaining it to Starfleet Command would be trickier still, and keeping DTI from locking her up for the next 90 years or so would be an even greater challenge. But right here, right now, seeing the young woman hugging the young grandmother she’d never known, Rita Paris knew she’d find a way.

This was an innocent thrust into circumstances beyond her control, who needed help.

They were Starfleet… and Starfleet never turned their backs on those in need.

Particularly one of their own.