More Responsive Responsibilities

Posted on Fri Feb 27th, 2015 @ 2:56am by Captain Enalia Telvan & Commander Angelica Fairchild
Edited on on Sat Feb 28th, 2015 @ 11:05pm

Mission: Temporal Kickback
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: After "To Catch a Deltan"

Finishing typing up the short and brief message, Enalia fired it off to Angel's terminal. It wasn't anything special, but she had rearranged the chain of command after herself and Aelyn and felt she should at least inform her new second officer that they were indeed now a second officer. With the old Intel Chief now back at HQ acting as a liaison and with recent changes in settling responsibility placements, She felt her Security Chief, with all her ties, would be a good 2O. She just hoped she wouldn't get an earful for not telling her in person, especially having just seen her a short time ago.

A console in the security center beeped, breaking Angel's concentration and causing her to drop the PaDD she was holding. Looking around to be sure no one saw her, she scooped it back up and found the beeping console. An unread message sat there waiting, and she opened it. Her eyes widened rapidly as she read over its contents, twice just to make sure. That woman is going to be the death of me. Caught in a strange mix of elation and annoyance, she fired off a reply that basically amounted to 'thanks, but why didn't you tell me earlier,' though she refrained from tacking on any sarcastic comments. She didn't know how Enalia would respond to that sort of sarcasm over a text communication, and she wasn't about to try finding out!

Grinning at the response that interrupted her game of solitaire, Enalia typed up a quick reply of her own. I didn't feel it was worth bothering you with at the time and the paperwork wasn't done. Did I mention you're also at risk of being promoted? Enalia figured that would give her something to think about, grinning widely in expectation.

Angelica stared at that response for longer than she would have liked, completely at a loss for a response. She hadn't expected a promotion; actually, she thought her next one was still a few years off. After a few minutes she sheepishly sent a brief 'thank you' message, worded a bit more nicely than her previous reply. I appreciate your confidence, ma'am.

Grinning, Enalia couldn't help but toss some more fuel on the fire. You're very welcome. How goes the search for that Deltan, by the way?

Angelica groaned at the mention of the Deltan woman, rolling her eyes since Enalia couldn't see her and she could get away with it. For a few moments, she contemplated not answering but finally she typed back, She's in the brig.

Excellent. Your office or mine? Enalia typed back before pulling a small black box out of her desk.

And what did that mean? Angelica stared at the message for a moment, not really catching on to what Enalia was saying. Finally she tapped in, I'll come up there. It didn't take long to drop the PaDD she carried on her desk and find a turbolift, but the wait for the next car felt like forever, giving Angelica plenty of time to wonder what exactly was going on. The thought that it might be a good reason to meet didn't cross her mind until the turbolift reached the bridge and she was halfway across to the ready room. Trying not to laugh at her own apprehension, she rang the chime and waited to be admitted inside.

"Come in," Enalia called out, a serious look on her face. She expected this to take no more than a few minutes, though with the questions she had to ask... "Lieutenant Fairchild, please have a seat. I had some questions on your report concerning the recent away mission."

Oh boy. Again, thoughts of positivity fled as Angelica sank into an empty chair. So much had gone wrong on that away mission, and she knew how that must look. "Of course, ma'am."

Picking up a PaDD and glancing it over, Enalia let silence fill the small office for a moment before starting. "My first question is this... what are your personal feelings on the loss of so many of your team and professionally, what do you think could have been done to prevent these losses?" Finished asking the question, Enalia looked up into Angel's eyes and set the PaDD back down.

"The only way to prevent those losses would have been not to go on that mission," Angelica replied firmly, ignoring how her heart seemed to flutter in her chest. "Cooper and Jones died doing their jobs. In fact, Jones gave his life to save Nexi and myself from those creatures, and he deserves a commendation and a few medals. And the doctor..." She sighed, remembering how Trevor had slipped from the ladder when the turbolift car had rushed past them. "His death was an accident, and I do feel terrible about it. But there was nothing I could do. I was above him on the ladder, and the others tried to catch him. It was just too late."

"Cooper and Jones will be posthumously promoted and awarded medals of valor. As for the doctor, Starfleet already has a candidate for his replacement en route. He's our 3rd CMO in as many months so I'd like to not lose him too." Enalia paused and gazed at Angel, waiting to see what her response would be to that knowledge.

"Thank you, their families deserve that bit of comfort." Enalia's steady gaze was getting to be unnerving, and Angelica shifted just slightly in her chair, wanting to look away but not daring to, lest Enalia think she was being disrespectful. "I'm sorry about Doctor St. John. Really, I am. And I have no intention of taking the medical chief on any more away missions."

Enalia sighed softly and broke her composure just slightly, leaning back in her chair. "You may not get too many more away missions at all after that one." She was almost done testing Angel...

At that, Angelica winced. It wasn't something anyone wanted to hear, but she had lost half of her team. And the remained half had nearly been eaten or assimilated by the zombie things. As she was considering what Enalia had just said, her thoughts went back to the conversation they'd been having via text communications... and then it dawned on her that something wasn't quite adding up. "I see..."

Holding up the small black box that had previously been out of sight in her lap, Enalia had to ask one last question. "Do you feel you deserve a promotion or a demotion after all that?"

Angelica made a tiny distressed noise, finally looking away from Enalia as she tried to figure out just what was going on. She knew that either Enalia had been taunting her over the text communications or was taunting her now, but she didn't know which it was. And she didn't like that feeling of not knowing. "I don't think that's my decision, ma'am."

"You're right, Lieutenant Commander," Enalia said, finally relaxing and setting the small box in front of Angel. "It's my decision."

"I... what... that was cruel!" Angelica glared fiercely at Enalia for a moment, trying to decide if she was amused or pissed at the clever trick the commander had pulled on her. "Commander Telvan, you are a devious, twisted woman..."

"And one that wants a background check on the two hundred plus people that came in on the USS Bacon." Enalia was grinning widely now, having enjoyed the game and glad that Angel had passed her little test so well. "Is there any reason we can't jettison that Deltan in an escape pod? Or find some remote world to dump her on?"

"Beyond it being unethical, immoral, and just plain wrong?" Angelica sighed, picking up the tiny box with a bit of a grin. "Not that I can think of. And I'll get the background checks as soon as possible."

"I'll leave her up to you then. Do what you see fit." Enalia said, her grin fading slightly. "Congratulations, Commander. You pulled off a suicide mission and got a promotion out of it. Whether you feel you deserve it or not, you came out ahead."

"Thank you, ma'am. And you honestly have no idea how bad that mission was."

Enalia became serious again, an eyebrow raising in curiosity. "If your report is complete and your suit recorders weren't tampered with, I should have a pretty good idea. Is your report complete?"

"I may have left out the minor detail of throwing up all over the inside of my helmet once we got back into the shuttle," Angelica admitted sheepishly, her cheeks flushing bright red.

"Considering the suits were destroyed anyway, I don't think that's an issue." Enalia said, her mood lightening back up.

"Still embarrassing," Angelica mumbled, not quite looking at her.

Enalia could only nod at that. She could pretend to respect her embarrassment. "If you have nothing for me, I guess you're dismissed. Good luck."

"Thank you. I have a feeling I'll need it." Making sure to take the little box with her, Angelica got up to leave and headed for the door. Someday she'd figure out how to tell when Enalia was screwing with her...