“Hey, I need to talk to you.”, said Sydin as she entered sickbay. She had made her way straight to the Chief Medical Officer, and just about noted her ushering the journalist into her office. Sydin didn’t know why Captain Jurev had invited the woman here and why Captain Nassar hadn’t kicked her out, but then, the latter wasn’t exactly known for her great decision making skills.

Which, as a matter of fact, was why Sydin was here.

“Hey.”, replied Trova, who wasn’t exactly Sydin’s best friend, but the two of them were on amenable terms. The Bajoran doctor approached, and automatically looked her colleague over, expecting cuts or bruises or any other indication that implied an injury. But she found none, and instead wondered what it was Sydin wanted here.

Help, maybe? The thought almost made Trova laugh. Sydin was probably the least helpful person in Starfleet, and she only got away with it because she was a brilliant Diplomatic Officer.

“I need to talk to you.”, Sydin said and glanced past the Doctor at the CMO’s office. “But I see your office is occupied. Nothing serious, I hope?”

The Doc gave a dismissive shrug. “No, just putting people to work. What’s up?”

Sydin made a face that conveyed the absurdity of discussing such a matter in the middle of sickbay. “Can we talk anywhere private?”

Trova sighed. “I guess.” In thought, she added a ‘as private as any conversation on the Cupertino can get’, but didn’t have the need to voice it. She led her colleague out of the sickbay part of sickbay, and into an area that was predominantly used for storage and the occasional mental breakdown of her medical staff. Sydin made the face again, but this time didn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong?”, asked the Doctor, not sure if she should be worried or annoyed. She settled on a mixture of both.

“The Captain.”

There was a long pause. Trova really wasn’t the Captain’s biggest fan, but she acknowledged that they had a bad start into their working relationship, and then a miserable continuation in the form of being pulled into some kind of aperture. 

“Tell me something I don’t know.”, she said lightly.

“Will do.”, responded Sydin, who seemed to have gone over this conversation several times. “Our science team found a way to get us out of here, and the Captain declined implementing it. Not only was she the one who got us in here and then failed to alarm the crew that something was happening, but she is also actively keeping us here.”

Trova blinked once, slowly, trying to digest what Sydin had just said.

“Why isn’t the implementing the solution?”

“Too risky, apparently. As if being here isn’t risky enough.”

“What was the solution?”, asked Trova, which seemed the most logical follow-up question.

“Apparently the particles that were found in the scans pulled us in here, and they can get us out. We would have to adjust the shields, but Nassar finds it too risky.” Sydin wasn’t a scientist, but whatever got them out of this mess seemed like a good solution. She wasn’t someone who took unnecessary risks, but considering the state their ship was in, this particular one didn’t seem all that unnecessary.

“So we would have no shields. I understand why the Captain doesn’t exactly love that solution.”

“She doesn’t have to love it, but it’s not like she is coming up with anything better.”

“Because coming up with scientific solutions isn’t exactly her skillset. Or her job.”

Sydin frowned. “The longer we stay here, the more likely it is we encounter something that could harm the ship further, or worse. We don’t even have full navigational control, all we have to do is float into an asteroid field and that’s it. She wants the shields online to defend against potential threats, but that will do absolutely nothing if we can’t even move.”

The Doc nodded slowly. That was a good point, though it seemed to her that both proposed options were something miserable. But Sydin wasn’t done yet.

“And what about when sickbay runs out of supplies? And Keller? I heard she is in stasis, you know as much as I do that the chance of getting her back on her feet decreases with each passing day.”

Doctor Trova bit her lip. While Sydin’s assessment wasn’t entirely accurate – people could stay in stasis for years if need be – all it would take was another power outage to send Keller into the morgue rather than home to her family. And Keller was kind of a soft spot for her. The two of them had been friends for years, and it was one of the people she would love to consult on the matter at hand.

“So what do you suggest?”

“Let’s recap.”, started Sydin and took a deep breath. “The Captain came here and didn’t do a single thing to connect to the crew. She called in a friend of hers – that’s favouritism – and gave her the position of acting XO, which she isn’t qualified for in the slightest. She also gave her dominion over Engineering rather than relying on the Engineer who has served on the Cupertino for the past few missions. Then, she sent us on a rescue mission for someone who very likely doesn’t even need to get rescued. She failed to announce any kind of danger to the ship, resulting in countless of injuries. She incited the crew to ignore the chain of command, and damaged their trust in her leadership by telling us she doesn’t know where we are. Now she is being presented with a solution, and doesn’t implement it.”

There was another moment of silence.

“So you’re thinking she’s unfit for duty?”

More silence.

“Yes.”

“Well that’s… quite a claim, you know?”

“I do know.”

The Doctor wasn’t happy. Not with what Sydin had said, and not with the idea of declaring Nassar unfit for duty. Not only because she was sure that one could frame someone’s actions in the worst light possible to make them appear incompetent, but also because the alternative was just as problematic. The Captain’s friend was acting First Officer and would be the logical choice for taking over, but as Sydin had said, the woman had no experience.

“I think we should talk to Seta about that.”, she said eventually.

“Do you think she will agree?”

Trova frowned, realizing what else it was that was bugging her. Sydin seemed far too eager, and considering her role on the ship, she would be one of the choices of crew to take over for Nassar. That was a … how did humans call it? Red flag if she had ever seen one.

“Why, does her agreement decide whether she should be consulted?”

“Of course not. I am just curious as to what your opinion is.”

“My opinion is that a consult with the ship’s counsellor is mandatory and appropriate. I will call and her… find a better spot to have this sort of conversation.”

Because right now she felt like they were planning a mutiny, and doing so in a storage closet didn’t make it better at all. She had never been forced to declare someone unfit for duty due to incompetence or mental struggles. Mostly, it was a very black-and-white matter of ‘you’re injured, take a few days off’. But this was very different.

“As you wish.”, said Sydin, very obviously unhappy with the solution, but knowing better than to argue. After all, she needed the doctor on her side.