New Roles

Posted on Tue Mar 11th, 2025 @ 1:36pm by Lieutenant Fang Lee & Lieutenant JG Zai & Lieutenant Commander Kelly Kerrigan & Lieutenant Commander Oscar McDonald MD & Lieutenant K’Var & Lieutenant Adrianna Baciami & Lieutenant Lanna Alexander

2,641 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Stars Around the Well
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: After the Wishing well post

ON:

Fang sat in the big chair feeling uncomfortable and tired. What just happened in the briefing room, the replimatt panel just short circuiting and knocking the captain out....he blamed himself. It had been the tug of war with the probe, some logical part of his mind said that but he blamed himself for not fixing it quick enough.

He sat back waiting for K'Var, Baciami, Vali, and Zai to join him. The briefing gave everyone something to do and he hated having to add more to their plates but...the prospect of covering as CO for even a day made Fang feel sick to his stomach.

Adrianna, although busy, managed to delegate as best she could to ease the burden. She soon arrived in the ready room. The woman bypassed Fang, grabbing a coffee. Gawd knows she needed it. She sat down and smiled, giving a silent nod to Fang as a greeting as she sipped her coffee.

Before he could utter a sound the door opened and Zai walked in. "You rang?"

Fang raised an eyebrow. "I did. Caffeinate and sit."

Zai raised an eyebrow and looked over at Adri. "Fancy seeing you here."

She smiled a little, although it didn't quite reach her eyes, Baciami was more focused on caffeine.

Since we're still waiting on two I'll start with you two. As you know the doctor's report has verified that the Captain is in a coma...he doesn't know how long but as he fell he hit his head.

Zai's eyes widened. He scrubbed his hand down his face. "Well Poop."

Adrianna shook her head, "merde. Good prognosis though, right? He's just out cold?"

Fang gave a nod. "Yes. He'll be fine. Until then the CO position falls to me."

Zai gagged.

Fang raised an eyebrow. "Objections?"

Zai grinned. "No...no...of course not." He looked over and winked at Adri.

Adrianna snorted in amusement at Zai's initial response, almost choking on her coffee. After a brief second to compose herself, her eyes went back to Fang, "this is only my second ship, of which, my first was not StarFleet. It's been a while since I've had to remember the chain of command in this context-- in fact, the last time I used It was probably whilst at the academy. It makes sense that XO goes to CO when the CO is down. So, to answer your question-- no, no objections."

"Good cause K'Var, who will be here soon is now XO," He looked at her. "And you, dear adopted sister are Second Officer."

Now she did choke on her coffee. Adrianna coughed and put her coffee mug down, "I'm sorry, what?"

"K'Var will be my right hand and you my left. You're Second Officer temporarily and you," He pointed at Zai. "Are temp Chief Engineer."

Zai shook his head. "Um...." He looked at Adrianna.

"The capitano..." Adrianna posed the question, "was he the only person to knock his Cazzo di head!?"

Fang raised an eyebrow. "Funny, ha, ha. Anyway it is what it is. No room for arguing. Zai, I need you to get the ship fixed from the run in with the gravity pocket. We're going back and this time we're going through to see if there are any survivors. I need the shields, weapons, and engines an peak. Use Vance as your right hand on this, he's creative."

He turned to Adri. "You're about to have the mother of all tasks. Ready?"

Adrianna felt a little proud of her 'husband' in the moment as his skills and creativity were serving him well, especially when his creativity had been the reason for his downfall from Fleet to begin with. A smile graced her lips, but it quickly faded when the topic turned to her. She groaned a little, "no, but go on."

"I need you to prep an info dump. All the mission, and duty logs from everyone on board. I need it in a retrieval probe and sent towards starbase 2 emitting pick up signals every thirty minutes, work with science on this. This is incase something happens to the ship. This needs to go out by end of day today. We're heading in at 2300 hours so launch will be 1900 hours."

Adrianna muttered something derogatory under her breath in Italian before saying, "if you're asking for that much, in that short space of time, keeping in mind that every single person on this crew has now been awake coming up 24 hours... Am I needed for the rest of this meeting, or can I go and make a start?"

At that moment the door to the Ready Room opened and Lanna came rushing in. “I’m so sorry I’m late! Word about the Commander’s accident has gotten out, I’ve been inundated ever since. I also popped in to see him, I would have tried to reach him telepathically but given he’s in a coma it’s too risky.”

Fang gave a nod. "Not late at all." He motioned for her to sit and then looked over at Adri. "Go get started." He looked at Zai. "You too. Same deadline."

Zai gave a nod and stood. He greeted the counselor and then left. Fang stood. "Drink," he asked the counselor.

Adrianna stood up, downing the rest of her coffee and left with a nod and a bit of a groan. She smiled and greeted Lanna on the way out.

Lanna offered both Zai and Adrianna a warm smile as they departed the room. “Please” Lanna smiled at Fang. “A Vulcan tea please.”

K'Var entered the ready room as requested and mouthed "apologies" to Fang who was now running the show. She was usually never tardy and would take the scolding if it came, but she had gotten tied up on her way to deck one.

"Welcome. K'Var what are you drinking?" He asked as he poured and handed a tea to Lanna.

“Water is fine for me” the Caitian answered with a smile.

Kelly stepped through the doorway of his Ready Room and found it more crowded than he had anticipated, not knowing that Fang was making use of it while he had been in Sickbay. "Have room for one more I hope?" He smiled and helped himself to a mug of tea, this time not having the device go on the fritz and arc some sparks his way.

"Well, my death was exaggerated if you are all here plotting a good eulogy," he said sipping his mug of tea. Fang had naturally begun to to stir to surrender the Captain's typical seat. Kelly gave a dismissive wave. "Doc hasn't cleared me for duty yet. I'm just stretching my legs and getting tea. So, don't tattle on me. That old grump is probably searching the ship already for me."

"Oh thank Madonna, I wasn't ready for that promotion," Adrianna murmured before leaving properly.

Kelly smiled. "It will come in time, but it is going to take a bit more that some faulty wiring or surge of energy to keep me down."

Kerrigan looked at Fang. "We lost our probe, but it gave us some worthwhile information. That transmission...Adrianna?" Kelly looked at her again.

Adrianna paused before leaving, "si, Capitano, I had to listen to it a few times, but it is most definitely Federation. There was something else as well, something a bit more crude, but it's the same voice-- I'd put money on it. I'm still trying to confirm a few parts, but for the majority-- I can confirm it is federation and it's a plea for help."


"Federation not, we have an obligation," Kelly said taking a deep breath. This meant wherever their probe had ended up going once it 'vanished,' it was likely there with this starship perhaps several of them that had been part of the missing cargo convoy. "Since the earliest days of ships before they sailed among the stars and were underneath them on unyielding waters, braving storms in the name of exploration...the duty to assist ships in distress has always been a fundamental principle of international maritime law. It remains the case in intergalactic space travel."

Kelly looked at the Caitian Security Chief. "I don't see where we have much choice in the matter but to assemble a landing party, the problem is we have no known coordinates to lock onto. There is nothing out there but that anomaly that potentially...goes somewhere."

As the conversation continued, the doors opened and Doctor McDonald stormed in. He paused for a moment, raising an eyebrow at the realization a meeting he had not been privy to was in progress. Yet his eyes narrowed at the sight of his patient, confirming the reports that the captain had headed in this direction was all too true.

“This is not the medical bay, nor is it resting,” he scowled.

Alas freedom cut short thought Kelly. "I was just stretching my legs and getting some tea. You did say that was permitted, but I stumbled upon this little social gathering."

“The tea was permitted and our intern would bring it to you,” McDonald sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. A captain being a difficult patient… how surprising. “I’m sure everyone in this room is capable of dealing with the situation in your temporary absence.”

"I'm more than willing to help you get the Capitano back to medical," Adrianna grinned at the doctor, insinuating something much darker in humour.

"They are more than capable, yes. Can I at least get caught up on reading? I need to do something to feel useful."

“Oh you have been useful, for one thing, I now know some of my staff are incapable of keeping a patient under observation…” McDonald muttered. “Reading is fine. You can use my office.”

"You'd be surprised the charm a young fit Captain has on your nursing staff" said Kerrigan taking a sip of tea.

The relief that hit Fang when he saw Kerrigan was immediate like a cold bucket of water. He sighed inwardly. "Captain please rest. We'll get the away team ready and we're going in. Temporary roles still stand. Everyone to work..." He looked at the doctor. "Might I have a world with the captain before you drag him away?"

"If the Doctor doesn't protest to me having a word, then I would love to" quipped Kelly. Commander Kerrigan's brown eyes shot over to Doctor McDonald, a puppy dog expression.

McDonald rolled his eyes in exasperation, turning on his heels, “I used to have to marry people for them to pay so little attention to what I say,” he grumbled as he headed out, adding, “you have five minutes, not a second more.”

Kerrigan looked around the room. Most had departed like Doctor McDonald though some others lingered. He was uncertain what Lieutenant Lee wanted to discuss, but it was safer to presume that privacy was required. "If you wouldn't mind giving Fang and I the room," Kelly said gently with a verbal nudge. He looked at the lieutenant who had taken his place in the interim. Kelly still felt uncomfortable seated there, he could only imagine how Fang felt.

Fang, who'd stood up when Kerrigan walked in and hadn't sat down since, stepped to the side as the last of the group trickled out orders in hand. He knew the doc would be right outside. "I... I am glad that you are alright." He paused as if searching for the right words. "I... would understand if you wished Lieutenant K'Var to take the post I could always keep the XO post until you are well enough to take the chair."

"Lieutenant K'Var is a fine officer, experienced and certainly capable of leading security forces when necessary. These aren't one of those times and what the crew needs is leadership through diplomacy, encouragement, and someone to listen to all options before making decisions."

Kelly looked at Fang and crossed his arms, keeping hold of his mug of tea, balancing it delicately with his fingers. "They have that with you. I chose you to be my First Officer. So, none of this self-doubting malarkey. You try and you do. Don't worry about how you're doing. What's important is we have a good crew and a fine ship."

He sighed. "Okay. I technically still haven't passed all the tests." He paused again. "I think that there is more to all this then we're seeing I would like your permission to assign you a tact guard while you're in sickbay."

"Preposterous!" exclaimed Kelly. He lowered his voice realizing that the Doctor was likely only an ear's shot away. "Guard for what reason? We have a scientific anomaly and missing cargo ships. Nothing, nobody has attacked the ship. You needn't pass all the tests to be put through the trials of command. Case and point here we are."

Lieutenant Commander Kerrigan sighed. "If you plan on taking the ship into whatever that is out there, if there is something on the other side, I should take the landing party."

Fang looked horrified. "You're the Captain! It's forbidden the Captain to be on a landing party. I will be taking the landing party....you will be in sickbay protected. You are the ships greatest resource. That is why I want the guard there to ensure if something goes wrong they get you to the bridge and you all get out safe. I have a bad feeling about all this...call it something left over from my days in the Klingon war but I smell it in the air. This ship and you and your crew are too valuable. I will take a small party and once we're off the ship we'll be expendable." He thought...."Maybe I could take a shuttle in the ship can stay here..." His protective instinct was kicking in and perhaps he was trying to atone for a few things that had happened as of late.

"Forbid" Kelly scoffed. "It is hardly a rule nor regulation, a guideline at best. One day they probably will have the sense of mind to make it a rule, but for the time being I stand by what I said, Fang."

Fang sighed. Kelly was right. There was no rule but he'd lobby for one if they got out alive. Captain's should stay on the ship.

Kelly shook his head. "We don't know for any certainty if a shuttlecraft will survive. Our probe stopped transmitting. A shuttle is not much larger. I will not lose you to a fools errand. We would be better off taking the ship. Either we survive or we don't, but I am hoping for survive."

Fang thought a moment. He sighed. "Fine...but technically I'm still the temporary CO while you recover right?"

Begrudgingly, Kelly nodded. "Technically, yes. You are in command temporarily."

He grinned. "Guard in sickbay it is. As you Human's say, By Jolly! I've made a command decision."

Kelly muttered something and sighed. He approached his desk, set his mug down, leaned across it and touched his lips to the Capellan. A few moments of contact and slowly retracting from the physical expression.

"You've won the battle, Fang, but not the war" Kelly said softly. "Fine. You can post a guard but once Doc clears me for duty I'll be back on the bridge."

Fang's eyes widened at the kiss but as Kerrigan pulled back Fang smiled. "Deal...oh and by the way. I have to report a death on the ship." He paused. "The replicator. The very one that dared zap the captain has been...ripped out of the wall. Nobody knows how it happened. Total mystery."

"Those damn synthesizers," commented Kelly. "I will certainly be careful every time I order key from now on."

OFF:

 

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