Yet Another XO? (part 2)

Posted on Sun Jul 19th, 2015 @ 11:58am by Commodore Samantha York & Sergeant Amarylis Beckinsale
Edited on on Sun Jul 19th, 2015 @ 12:01pm

1,154 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Deadly Diplomacy
Location: Ready Room

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

"I believe there is something amiss and it roots from Starfleet Command. Commander Storm, not a peep of him since he left the Calypso. No one seems to really know or care what happened to him. Morat, Alexandra, the negotiations, no one is talking. It's like you guys have literally fallen off the Starfleet radar so to speak. It's just business as usual. I...we." Jennifer pointed back and forth between Jethro and herself. "Believe someone, possibly Morat herself has it out for you. Commander Storm was the first."

[NEW]


"There is information you are not currently privy to," Sam said. "Admiral Constantine has basically cut us off. We are on our own." She wasn't going to mention that she knew for a fact there were people in Starfleet Command working for Morat. That was currently in the hands of Admirals Hunter and Panthera.

Jethro would interject once again. "What the Commander is trying to say is simply put they can't be trusted. And as long as Starfleet Command can't be trusted you cannot hope to get an XO you can trust, not unless you promote from within but I'm not so sure Munich wants this long term. So I took it upon myself to find you a possible replacement. Hunter can handle the paperwork and Jennifer here should serve you well if you'll have her."

Jennifer just smiled to Samantha hopefully.

"With all due respect, Mr. Vance, I do not trust you," Sam replied. "Nor is it your place to choose my Executive Officer." She turned to the woman. "And much as I grew to like Alexandra, she is by no means someone to fawn over or put on a pedestal. I will not work with someone who thinks the sun rises and sets on what Alexandra did or thought."

Jethro scowled as his eyes narrowed and his skin instantly gained color. He wanted to reach across the desk and slap her across the face but that would serve him no good. At the same time he cursed himself for not knowing better and bringing Hunter along. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled with the same intensity regaining his composure. "My apologies Commodore, it won't happen again. I will be on the next shuttle out of here and I will leave you and your crew to your own devices. Good day, Come now Jennifer let's have dinner before we depart."

Jennifer's gaze did not leave Samantha. The petite woman was fuming from head to toe like a volcano ready to erupt. She had never been insulted so intensely in her life and especially by someone whom never even took the moment to get to know her before passing judgement.

"Jennifer." Jethro asked once again trying to beckon the woman out of the room.

Her breathing intensified as she continued to stare through York. "No....No you just wait a damn minute you pompous....How dare you disrespect her like that. You ungrateful....." Jennifer choked on her words as she struggled to maintain her deportment before a flag officer. "This man just lost his daugther, YOUR XO and that's how you honor her? You just spit in her face, her father's face? A man who has done nothing but try to extend an olive branch and serve those in a battle he knows all too well? He's been nothing but accomodating when other's have turned their backs on you. His daugther DIED on your watch, it was YOUR job to protect her and you let her die and STILL he wants to help you." She began to tear up as her voice had raised considerably.

Jethro placed her hand over Tate's torso. "Enough Jennifer, this is not your fight."

Jennifer slapped his hands off her chest and glared at him. "No...If you won't defend your daughter then I will. It's about damn time someone starts doing it around here." She turned back to Samantha. She began to point at Samantha pursing her lips as tears free-flowed now. "So what now huh?" she said in a much softer tone. "Who do you trust? Is everyone the enemy? Every fresh new face that comes along some spy for Morat? Hell maybe Jethro here got his daugther killed, maybe he isn't even her father you should get Hunter to look into that."

She cleared her throat and leaned down on the desk bringing her eyes to Samantha's level. "This is exactly what Morat wants, to alienate you and you're letting her win and it's hurting your crew. How long before they burn out? How long before you burn out? How long can you last out here all alone?"

Jennifer returned to an at ease stance looking ahead of her instead of at York. "And like he said. I'm Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate. I'm my own person and I dont let others tell me where my sun rises and sets. I admire Alexandra because she was loyal to those she cared for and I have over fifty people who would've died for that woman. Maybe she just didn't trust you...."

"Mr. Vance has NOT tried to extend an olive brance. H e came onto my ship without forewarning and demanded that I tell him everything I knew about his daughter. He refused to give any information or security clearance and yet he expected me to divulge classified information on his say so. Even with Admirals Burke and Hunter on board, he wouldn't go to the effort to get the requisit authorization. He has been uncooperative, surly and diffident. I would hardly call that helpful," Sam retorted, her voice growing cold. "I asked him to help Amarylis Beckinsale and to my knowledge he visited her once, but has done nothing to help the woman who was like a daughter to him and Alexandra's best friend."

"As for you," Sam said, turning to the other woman, "I don't need someone to guide me or my ship. I need a First Officer, one I can trust to be my right hand, not my moral compass. As for Alexandra, I refused to transfer her off this ship. She left without my permission or authorization and her shuttle was destroyed by Cardassians. It is not my fault that she disobeyed my orders. Nor is it her fault that Morat has decided, for whatever reason, to make destroying Alexandra and Amarylis her pet project. That, too, is not my fault as I've never crossed paths with the woman until the trial." She stood a little taller and her eyes flashed. "Nor do I owe you an explanation for my actions. I report to Admiral Burke, not to you or Mr. Vance."

"Hold on wait one minute." Jennifer said holding her hand up to York turning to Jethro. "You didn't tell her?"

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate
Potential XO

Jethro Vance
Alexandra's Father

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

 

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