An Unfortunate Accident

Posted on Wed Apr 15th, 2020 @ 11:59am by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Farizah Alani

Mission: Dead Moon
Location: Captain's Ready Room

The Ts'usugi Shipmaster had barely been gone twenty minutes and Abigail was already back at her desk, going through paperwork. There were a million decisions that needed to be made, thankfully she had the time to make them. She also knew that before any decisions were finalised, she needed to head back to Earth.

It had been an agonizing decision, but she knew that she needed to return to Starfleet Command. Even after all these years, the thought of going up against him made her feel sick, physically sick. She could feel her palms sweating already and quickly brushed them against her uniform.

Having him on her ship, even for the short amount of time before it all went to hell in a handbasket gave her the briefest of hints as to what could have been. The feeling of pride that came with an Admiral on her arm as she walked the corridors of her ship. The same way she felt as a brand new Ensign, green as the spring grass when she walked the corridors of the Getttysberg, Captain Lockwood's hand in her back as he guided her through the ship, talking to her, not as a commanding officer, but as a peer.

"I'm not the same person I used to be James, I grew up and I grew a conscience."

The sound of her own words echoed in her mind. Even her words were a far cry from those in her youth. All those years ago it was more like "I'm just an Ensign, who would believe me? He's a decorated Starfleet Officer, I'm a nobody. He supports Mark, he wants Mark to succeed, isn't that important? I don't have enough proof..."

It had been years, so many years. She wasn't an Ensign anymore, she was a different person now. She was a Starfleet Captain in her own right and she had the smoking gun.

In her heart, Abigail knew she had to hand him in, she had a chance to right a past wrong and she needed to take it.

"Computer, open a secured channel to Starfleet Command," she ordered quietly. "Request a personal communication with Admiral T'Lara."


=/\= Two Hours Later =/\=

The arrangements had been made. Admiral T'Lara had agreed to see her. She had already given the orders to Lieutenant Rogers to lay in a course for Earth, maximum warp as long as was sustainable. She wanted this over and done with as quickly as possible.

With the arrangements in place, she could feel her stress levels easing. The plans were made. They were going back to Earth. The crew would get some much needed R&R while she dealt with Starfleet Command. Once that was done, well, what happened next would depend on the outcomes.

The annunciator to her ready room chimed, startling her from her thoughts. "Enter!" she called, looking up at the door.

As the doors parted a young officer in gold entered, offering a quick, shy smile. "Sorry to bother you Ma'am, Lieutenant Alani asked me to come?" he said quietly.

Abigail tipped her head to one side slightly. "Oh, you're from security?" there was a hopeful tone to her voice as she spoke.

"Aye Ma'am, Lieutenant Junior Grade Spencer Catello. Lieutenant Alani asked me to bring this to you..." he stepped forward and dropped the small disc on the desk in front of her before he started speaking again. "Ma'am, I'm really sorry. There was some kind of malfunction in the computer matrix when we tried to duplicate it. All the data is corrupted beyond retrieval."

Abigail stared at the disc for a long moment before she looked up at him. "Are you sure?" she finally asked quietly.

"I'm very sure Ma'am, Lieutenant Alani double checked it herself. She's very sorry she couldn't come to tell you herself but she is dealing with a situation in security."

"I see," Abigail said quietly. "Thank you Lieutenant, you're dismissed."

Waiting just long enough for the doors to close, Abigail let out a choked sob as she leaned forward onto the desk, covering her face with her hands.

Even if he hadn't tried to, he'd won again.

Lieutenant Farizah Alani had a situation in security to deal with. So, she had sent one of her own to deliver the news to the Captain; however, Farizah was very much about following through and ensuring that she took the fault when things went ary. Unfortunately, things did go south and she felt the need to speak with the Captain personally.

She did not announce her visit beforehand. Farizah simply arrived outside the woman's ready room and pressed the chime. She took a deep breath, a PaDD in hand as she waited for the Captain to approve her entry into the Captain's sanctuary.

"Enter," Abigail called, rubbing her hands over her face quickly and forcing herself to sit up straight in her seat as she looked toward the door. "Lieutenant Alani, what can I do for you?" she asked softly.

The Bolian entered the room and took a seat across the the Captain. "Tell me that I am a terrible technician and programmer" she said with an exhausted sigh. She did not wait for a response. "Simple answer, I'm not. I'm a Bolian. I may not be a thoroughly educated engineer or computer programmer, but I know how to put a bug together and get what I need" she added.

"I will presume Catello already came by the report we experienced a malfunction and got nothing," said Farizah. "Some may call it bad luck or fate, but I believe we make our own" added the Bolian.

"It is what it is," Abigail said with a slight shrug. "There's no point getting upset about things that are out of our control. All we can do is move on." She offered a smile, a faint smile, but still a smile. "We're heading back to Earth, I have an appointment with Starfleet Command, then we'll determine what happens next.'

Farizah shook her head. She did not agree with this one bit. "No, Captain. We had that slimy bastard right where we wanted him. I know I did not mess up. That device was working perfectly when it was placed in there" the Security Chief asserted. "They would not have found it even with the best tricorder. I masked its signal into the background energy emissions of the replicator. I will not rest until I have answers. Permission to use resources outside of my department to proceed with my investigation?"

Abigail nodded slightly. "You think this was something more than an unfortunate accident?" she asked quietly, almost hesitantly.

"I'm meticulous about my work, Captain" replied Farizah "More than your average Bolian. I do not believe in unfortunate accidents when I am a factor. My messing up is something I do not want to admit, but if I did then I want to know how" explained the Bolian. "If this was not some overlook or mistake on my part, then I dare not utter the word brewing in the back of my mind right now."

"Use whatever resources you need to determine what happened," Abigail said quietly. "Just let me know when you find out."

"You will be the first to know" replied Farizah. The Bolian stood from her seat and looked at the Captain. "I will not leave any stone unturned. We will have answers one way or another."