Giving up Command

Posted on Wed Sep 13th, 2017 @ 4:29pm by Commander Mal Xustos & Captain Enalia Telvan

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die
Location: Enalia's Private Library
Timeline: Current

A holocat maid escorted Mal to Enalia's private library and announced him.

"Princess," she said. "I present to you Commander Mal Xustos of Pomtol, Acting Captain of the USS Hera."

Mal winced. What in Hades had prompted that bipedal photonic feline to say something like that?

"Actually," he said. "That's why I'm here. We need to talk, Enalia."

Enalia nodded as she sipped from her glass of sparkling water. "Yeah I suppose we do. After all, it's not like I was close to my sister or anything. Neither was my mother, whom did not show up to her funeral and she gave birth to her. So... What specifically would you like to say?"

"I'm sorry," Mal said. "And, if you really need to sit up here and drown your sorrows in that expensive booze you drink, I'll stay in command of the Hera. As long as you need. That said, I have to point out that we have work to do, very important work, work with very serious consequences, and your place, if you don't mind my saying, and even if you do, your place is to command the Hera, not wallow in self-pity."

Mal knew he was being harsh, but someone had to give Enalia a kick in the pants.

"I'll take the day to day off of your hands for the time being," he said. "But this nonsense about you being unfit for command is...well, it's just that: nonsense."

"Booze? Is that what you think of me?" Enalia asked, standing and walking around her desk with her glass in her hand. "I haven't touched a drop of anything but water since then." She wasn't angry or raising her voice, but something about her seemed larger than normal. More powerful. "What we will need to do will need a clear head and booze prevents clear heads from prevailing even at the best of times."

Setting the glass of sparkling water aside, Enalia continued. "Then again, we could do absolutely everything perfectly and still lose. That too is life. Farenia and my sister found that out the hard way."

"I'm one of those people that refuse to accept that a no-win scenario can't be beaten though. We've made the impossible possible before and we'll do it again." Tapping Mal's chest lightly, Enalia punctuated her point. "Hence, no booze now."

"Good," Mal said. "Glad to hear it. We're going to need that attitude, that grit. Does this mean you feel fit to re-assume command of the Hera?"

"That's actually up to you," Enalia replied. "Do you think I'm more charged with Starfleet Duty or Revenge? After all, my ex-lover from the Academy was nearly killed and my sister was killed by the man we're going after, not to mention all the other damage he's done."

"Well," Mal said. "Which one are you more charged with?"

"I actually didn't know my sister had a middle name until the funeral." Enalia frowned and turned back to her glass of water and took another sip of it before continuing. "Strange as it may seem, the crew of the Hera is more of a family to me than my own blood relatives now. I still love my Artan family... Corporal Fortral... The three Baronesses that raised me... But the crew of the Hera... There's something special about them to me and my duty to them and in turn to Starfleet. I think it starts with no one calling me 'princess' and continues with treating me like a normal person..."

"You're a joined Trill married to a hologram, the sister-in-law of a hologram, and the aunt of a hologram, and head of a family of pirates," Mal said. "You are far from normal. As for not calling you Princess...I think 'Captain' is a much better fit than 'Princess', don't you?"

Enalia had to chuckle softly. "So no matter how much I want to be normal... Oh well. And yes, I prefer the title Captain as well. So...I guess as of meow, I'm resuming command of the Hera." With a sidelong glance to the catgirl maid, the maid gave a nod acknowledging the statement.

Mal smiled.

"I'll make a note of it in the log," he said. "Hermes, Daytona, Clio, T'Pral, and Schwein are on 892-IV by now. That's the home of the Magna Roman 'Empire' such as it is. A bit more of a constitutional monarchy as I understand it. Anyway, they're on radio silence at the moment. Thex says the repairs will be completed in short order, so we should be ready to leave when the time comes. Aewia is working on the Master investigation. Oh! And there's a new Chief Science Officer scheduled to arrive shortly..."

Mal looked at the PaDD he was carrying and called up the information that had been sent regarding the new addition to Hera's senior staff.

"Summers is his name," Mal said, handing Enalia the PaDD. "Lieutenant Nathan Christopher Summers. If you want to read up on him before he arrives, you can keep this PaDD."

"That's ok, I'll pull it up when I get to my ready room later. Thank you though." Enalia finished off her water and set her glass aside. "We'll have to transfer Nexi to the Hera. Make sure all the equipment we developed to work on this black blood is copied and taken aboard. Med lab nine should be suitable and should be close enough to the science lab we've been working on it already."

"Of course," Mal replied. "I'll see to her transfer myself when the time comes. We have just over a week left before we're scheduled to leave. Do you think she'd be more comfortable in the fortress medical center for now?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure she'd rather be out and about not worrying about all this at all." Enalia couldn't help but shake her head and wonder how much this time in a hospital bed bothered Nexi. "How about we leave that decision up to her? Besides that, the doctors on the Hera will be less insistent on bedrest 24/7."

"I'll take care of it," Mal replied. "Anything else?"

"What do you think of having part of the maid system here transferred to the Hera? Too much?" Enalia asked teasingly. "No, that's it, I think."

"Well..." Mal said in mock seriousness. "I remember this CGI they did of me at the academy when they thought it was funny to make CGI pornography staring me, where I was having a romp with a trio of naughty house maids in very sexy maid costumes, short skirts, garters, fishnet stockings, you know what I mean. But I don't think that would be a very fair to the straight women and gay men on the ship. Maybe if we added some sexy butlers as well? Just kidding! There's enough frigging in the rigging on the Hera as it is. Let's not add to that. So, I guess I'll be off then. I'll check back with you soon. When Clio gets back, we should enjoy another meal together, the four of us: you, Maica, Clio, and I, before things get really hectic again."

"I look forward to it," Enalia replied with a smile. "And if you need me, I think I've had enough of my own orbital fortress for now. I'm going to relocate back to the Hera."