Saffiya paced through her office, mot entirely sure that she had figured things out, but fairly sure that she was on the right track – and at the same time utterly unsure what she was going to do about it. 
She glanced at the door when her new acting XO entered, giving a somewhat tight smile. 

Hina hadnt even been in the ready room for more than a second after the doors had closed before Saffy had started talking. In truth she was only heared every third word or so still a bit in shock of the bombshell the Captain had dropped on her before walking off.

“I think this is more of a mess than I initially thought.”, she sighed, rubbing her temples after she took a seat in her usual chair behind the desk. “And I don’t like that at all.”

Hina blinked. Oh she didnt like it?

“Youre telling me…”

”Despite the ship being what it is, the Cupertino always had a track record of completing missions successfully. With one of the last ones being an encounter with a program referred to as B.L.A.D.E – a Defense engine that took over several civilian vessels to bolster the firepower of the colony that designed it. You might have heard of it.”

Hina had been about to ask her own questions but stopped when she had heard the name.

“Yea… I read something about it on the way here actually… interesting piece of tech from what I could see.” she stated.

“I tried to get in touch with Captain Jurev, but I didn’t reach him. I know he wanted to retire, but he never made it home. Exact same thing with the First Officer, aside the fact that she never wanted to retire but logs indicate that she accompanied Jurev when he left via shuttle.“, Saffiya explained.

“And you think–” Hina paused. No wait, Saffiya was purposefully trying to keep her going in one direction so she couldn’t think about the other thing. “–Saf… we need to talk about what just happened… about what you just did.” she stated, putting the brakes on the other talk for the moment.

”… huh?”

“Saf… I cant be your XO… I’m just a Lieutenant… and perhaps more importantly… I don’t want it…” she stated as if the last part was actually more important than the rank thing.

”Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want.”, Saffy shrugged. Truth be told, she needed someone she could work with, and she needed that someone to be a capable Engineer. 

Hina sighed, pacing a bit herself.

“You’re kidding me right? I have zero command ambition… I was… literally… still on a ship that was decommissioned when you called!” she pointed out, slightly more exasperated than she actually meant to be. Had this Captain been anyone else other than an old friend it might have actually seemed disrespectful.

”But you came here to support me, and that’s the support I need right now.”, Saffiya frowned. She hadn’t expected Hina to like her decision, but she hadn’t expected her to hate it that much either. 

Hina pointed toward the door.

“And did you stop to consider that there are people on this ship who might resent you now, for promoting someone who just arrived to XO… even in an acting capacity? That they might resent me for it?” she asked.

Oh, for that, Saffiya had a retort. “I have. And I have decided that it doesn’t matter.”, she stated bluntly. “Now sit down. You’re not hearing me. And I need you to listen to me, okay?”

Hina sighed. It was clear that her friend and Captain was locked in on a course. She plopped into one of the chairs across from her.

“Okay…”

Saffy took a deep breath. “Look at the situation we’re in. The computer is acting up, and that seems a little too much in line with the B.L.A.D.E mission to make it coincidental.  It’s like getting a cold after you’ve spent time with people with runny noses. In either case, that there was an infection spreading is too likely to just dismiss it. Agreed?”

“Ok… I follow…” she said. “It is a bit of a coincidence.” she admitted.

”Then, you saw that the crew is like, and how they treat me. They don’t trust me, and I don’t trust them. I kept thinking it’s something I did, but… their very well liked captain basically vanished. When Velix approached me, the others disapproved. What if it’s all connected?”

“I mean… it was weird that they seemed angry that she even wanted to talk to you… but… now you’ve lost me. The crew not liking you could be as simple as you being new here.” she stated. She left out that her most recent choice could have quite possibly made the crews feelings of dislike even stronger.

“What we know for sure is a missing shuttle and a Captain who never made it home. An FO who wanted to accompany him, and also disappeared. I mean sure, maybe they went AWOL and eloped, but with the computer being what it is, and the crew not wanting to say a word…”

Hina was still a bit lost. She wasn’t sure what Saffiya was suggesting. She let her continue to speak.

“So tell me again how an experienced engineer and someone outside the crew isn’t exactly what is needed at the moment, and how we can sort this mess without giving you the necessary privileges.”

“Ok… look, I agree that you needed outside eyes… and given your paranoia here, that perhaps you need someone actually on the crew you can trust.” she stated. “But if your goal is to solve this situation, whatever it is… you just made your job, and mine about ten times harder.” Hina pointed out.

“Maybe.”, she conceded. 

“You just very publicly announced that an outsider was being made XO. Anyone who doesn’t like you… for whatever their reason… has now even more reason to dislike you… and oh by the way now has reason to dislike the person you field promoted.” she pointed out. “If something is going on with the crew or the computer… related to their last mission… and its being hidden, or whatever… no one involved is going to want to talk to me now… you’ve just put me on your side. I was there anyway, but now everyone knows it.”

“I am just… trying, okay?”

Hina nodded.

“You could have made me Chief Engineer… they seem to be absent as well, I certainly haven’t seen them anyway… I’d have had just as much access… maybe even more, and I don’t think anyone would have cared.” she pointed out.

And now Saffyia felt a little stupid. Perhaps that would indeed have been better.

Hina sat back. Their course had been decided.

“But we are where we are… so lay this out for me again… you think the old Captain and XO disappearing, the computer, and the crew’s dislike of you are connected?

“I do.”, she nodded. 

“How? Exactly.” she prompted.

“Okay so… there was a situation on the Saint Raphael that was a little similar. I might absolutely be reading too much into it, I will admit as much. But I can’t go from much else than experience, and this is something I have experienced.”

“Sure sure…” Hina commented, nodding.

“There was a situation in which we got a bunch of new doctors, and a new Chief Medical Officer with it. There wasn’t any ill feeling towards him personally, but trust is something that has to be built and doesn’t come with a track record.” She paused, then continued. “One of our very well-liked senior officers got injured, and what happened was that the part of sickbay’s staff that wasn’t new was very… protective.”

“Ok?” she asked wanting her to continue.

She sighed. “Protective to the extent that they didn’t inform the CMO although those injuries were his main field of expertise, and excluded the new doctors from the medical treatment of that person.”

“Ohh I think I see now…” she said as she started realizing where Saffiya was going.

Saffiya nodded. “So, and this is just a hypothesis – I realise that – let’s say that the very beloved Captain of the Kongo is in trouble. The trusted FO has left together with him, and now you suddenly get a new Commanding Officer who… is inexperienced, new to the chair and the ship, and doesn’t have a clue what is going on. I…”, she hesitated, and then admitted. “I think I wouldn’t trust them. Just like I don’t quite trust the crew here. And just like I ambushed you and made you my First Officer for the time being, I think I would seek out trusted colleagues and try to work on rescuing the Captain.”

“So you think theyre trying to solve the problem by working around you?” she asked.

“I think so, yes. And trying to work around whatever is going on with the Computer.”

Hina nodded. One thing bothered her however.

“Saf… couldn’t you just go to the crew and tell them? Like… they want to rescue their Captain… you would have no reason to not want to assist with that.” she said. “Starfleet clearly promoted you to Cpatain… you were gonna get a ship anyway.”

“… Maybe.”

“Or are you worried about the computer hearing you?” she asked.

“Well there is a reason I disconnected it from this room.”, she sighed. Yeah okay, maybe she was indeed a little paranoid. 

“I will speak to the crew, I have another transfer coming in today, and then I will speak to them.”

“Good. How will you make it look to them?” she asked.

“I think I will make it look like it was my idea to begin with. I won’t claim I know what they are doing, because I really do not. So I will approach them, tell them of my worries about the Captain, and we’ll go from there. And in addition… well, we’ll need to find a way to make friends with the Computer, I think.”

“Make friends with the computer thats potentially plotting something?” Hina asked.

She smirked. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Hina could think of several things that could go wrong, and none of them ended pleasntly. Still she chose to keep that to herself.

“Yea I think I can work on befriending the computer atleast…” she said. “Guess we should get to work…”