XO’s Office | Deck 2 | USS Elysion – Docked at DS17

16:47 Zulu

Tarabella Borden let the padd drop from her hands and watched it fall with a clatter onto the untidy pile of similar devices on the desk in front of her. This was ridiculous. How the hells was she expected to just choose Elysion’s new chief engineer from photographs and service records? None of them were right so far. All the engineers she’d reviewed had at least one glaring reason why they would be completely unsuitable for the position.

What was the phrase that Callie had recently taught her? “Looking for a unicorn”. That was it. Bella was looking for a unicorn – and as everyone knew, unicorns only existed in story books.

She could feel the probing tendrils of a migraine beginning to tickle at the edges of her consciousness. Not now, please. She couldn’t cope with a damned migraine too. She had too much to do.

Ransom had been called back to Earth for a briefing before he took command of his new ship – a brand-new Vesta-class explorer – and he’d taken Elysion’s command chief petty officer with him. Two days later, Hobbes had been transferred without warning to supervise the shakedown cruise of some new escort vessel or other… He’d barely had time to say goodbye. That had left Elysion without a captain, a command chief petty officer and a chief engineer, plus seven additional empty billets at crewman rate. As the XO – and the only remaining member of the command staff – Bella had been left to sort everything herself as well as make sure that the ship was fully resupplied and rearmed following their last mission. There were over a dozen warp-core diagnostics that needed confirming as well. Goddess, she wished that Hobbes was still here.

She missed Hobbes. She missed his annoying way of always getting back into her good books. She missed the way that he could take any situation, break it down into manageable chunks and never get stressed or anxious about it. She missed the way that he would hold her in the darkness when they had time alone together. She missed the way that he would kiss her slowly…

Goddess! What the hells was she doing? That wasn’t why she missed him at all. She missed him because he was a damn fine engineer and second officer. And without him, Ransom and the command chief, it was down to her to sort everything. She didn’t have time to allow herself to be distracted.

Bella rubbed both temples with her fingertips. The probing tendrils of migraine were slowly becoming claws.

=XO, Quarterdeck= the sudden urgency of the security crewman’s voice over the comm startled her.

“Go ahead.”

=Commander, I have a Captain John McBride here. He has orders to come aboard to speak with you=

John McBride? Captain John McBride? Surely not? That had to be a mistake, didn’t it? There was only one John McBride that she knew. And he was – hopefully – still back on Earth.

“Understood. I’m on my way”.

In a way, Bella was relieved to have a reason – a tangible, dutiful reason – to break off from assessing potential chief engineers. And something to distract you from thinking too much about Hobbes too, eh Bella, she chided herself. She took the turbolift down to Deck 6 and made her way to the port Quarterdeck, where Elysion was attached by extendable docking corridor to the station. As she approached, she recognised the bearded grey-haired man in command red chatting amiably with the two security specialists on duty.

It was him. Her heart sank. Professor John McBride.

He glanced in her direction, and a beaming smile crossed his face as if the two of them were old friends.

“Well, well, well,” he intoned slowly in the Scots burr which had turned dozens – if not hundreds – of cadets into quivering jelly over the years. “Lieutenant Commander Borden as I live and breathe.” McBride carried an ancient-looking battered brown leather folio under one arm, and he lifted it up and crossed both arms over it across his chest as he spoke.

Bella forced a smile and said brightly, “Captain. How nice to see you. I had no idea that you were…” she fumbled for the right words.

“On active duty again?” he suggested, his head inclining slightly.

No. That you were a goddess-damned captain, she thought. “Yes,” she nodded instead, her smile broadening.

“Well, here I am,” he replied in a good-natured tone. “As large as life, and twice as handsome.”

Bella smiled at him some more. How the hells do I respond to that, she thought.

“Do you have somewhere we can talk privately, Lieutenant Commander?” he asked.

“Of course. Please, follow me.” Nodding to the two security crewmen, Bella turned and headed back towards the turbolift.

“A pleasure to meet you, gentlemen,” said McBride. “A credit to your uniforms.”

Bella rolled her eyes.

Back in her office, Bella gestured to the curved couch which ran along the wall facing her desk. McBride looked round, taking in the compartment’s details as he entered.

“Very nice, very homely,” he murmured as he crossed the room to take the proffered seat.

“Can I get you a drink, Captain?” Bella asked politely.

“You can indeed,” McBride nodded. “Kinnettle’s Gold. Thank you.”

Bella smiled and nodded. She turned to the replicator. “Kinnettle’s Gold,” she said, curious to see what would materialise in the replicator slot. She was slightly disappointed when what was apparently a cup of tea appeared. She took the cup and saucer over to the couch and set it on the clear-topped low table in front of McBride.

“So, how can I help you, Captain?” she asked, doing what she thought was a fair job of keeping the nervousness from her voice.

“Ah yes,” McBride said in response. He reached for his battered folio, taking hold of a small gold-coloured tab before drawing it around three of the sides of the folio creating a metallic repetitive sound. Bella had heard about these devices before. A zap? A zip! That was it. An ancient fastening device. She wondered idly why McBride insisted on using such an antique piece of equipment. And whether he would ever drink the tea that she’d got for him.

He glanced at her with a smile as he rummaged around inside the folio and nodded in the direction of the teacup. “I will drink it – you should always let it steep for three minutes first though,” he said as if having read her thoughts.

“Steep?” she asked.

“Ah, here we are.” McBride pulled a padd from the folio and handed it across to her as if she hadn’t spoken. Bella glanced at the screen.

To: Captain John Duncan McBride

From: Rear Admiral Rafe Eisen, Director of Fourth Fleet Logistics

Captain McBride, you will proceed to the port in which USS Elysion may be and upon arrival, report to your immediate superior in command, if present, otherwise by message, for duty as commanding officer of USS Elysion.

RADM Eisen.

Bella felt sick. She read the message through for a second time, just in case she had been mistaken the first time. She hadn’t been. And she still felt sick.

“Are you feeling quite well, Lieutenant Commander?” McBride asked with concern.

“Yes. Very well thank you sir.” She lied. Ransom gone. Hobbes gone. Now McBride was going to be her new commanding officer? She handed the padd back to him and he tucked it away inside his folio once more, as if to hide the horror contained in the words on its small screen.

He waited until she had appeared to regain her composure before speaking again.

“Lieutenant Commander Borden, I relieve you.”

“What?” she muttered, her head swimming. Her migraine had evolved into some kind of predatory beast intent on shredding the inside of her skull with its razor-sharp claws.

“I said, I relieve you,” McBride repeated.

“Oh. Yes.” Bella said quietly. “I stand relieved.”

McBride nodded with satisfaction and took a sip from his teacup. “Not bad,” he murmured.

Bella sat facing McBride, suddenly overcome with a feeling of incredible loss. It was almost as if everything that anchored her in one place in the universe had been taken away at the same instant – as if she were now floating aimlessly through space. Her captain reassigned, her friend – her lover – reassigned. And now the man who had once literally made her break down and cry in front of sixty other freshmen cadets at the Academy was now her new captain.

Nothing felt real anymore.

She gestured aimlessly towards the untidy pile of pads on her desk. “I was just reviewing potential candidates for chief engineer,” she said quietly.

“Roy Tanner,” said McBride.

“Sir?” Bella focused on McBride once more.

“Commander Roy Tanner is Elysion’s new chief engineer. He’ll be reporting aboard this evening at around 1900 Zulu. Oh, that reminds me…” He began to rummage once more inside the battered folio, this time pulling out a different padd. “I’ll be taking Deck 4, Section 6, Compartments 2, 3, 4 and 5 as my quarters. With Compartment 6 as my private dining room. Please pass these structural modifications to Commander Tanner when he comes aboard.”

“That’s one of the VIP staterooms,” Bella said as she glanced at the blueprints with a frown.

McBride returned the frown with one of his own. “One and a half, actually. And they used to be VIP staterooms. Now, do we understand each other, Lieutenant Commander?”

“Yes sir,” said Bella automatically.

“Good.” McBride said with satisfaction. “I’ll be back aboard at 0800 tomorrow morning. I’d like you to give me a full tour, meet the crew, meet the department heads before you disembark. I promise I’ll try to make it as pain-free as possible.” He gave a slight smile.

Disembark? The migraine demon gave a mighty swipe of its razor-sharp talons and Bella’s vision blurred.

“I’m not sure I… I’m the… Disembark?” she muttered quietly, her voice confused.

“Commander Vos will be my new XO,” McBride said, his voice sounding distant. “My god, they haven’t told you, have they?” His voice held real concern now.

“New XO?” Bella said, her confusion building. Her vision swam, causing the lights in the ceiling above her to blur. “They didn’t tell me,” she agreed. “They didn’t tell me…”

Darkness began to rapidly creep in at the edges of Bella’s vision and she realised with a mix of panic and relief that she was about to black out. As she began to lose consciousness, the last thing she heard was the chirp of a combadge, followed by McBride’s urgently barked words:

“Medical emergency! I need a medical team in the XO’s office now. This is a medical emergency! Sickbay respo…”

Bella’s world went black.