Ship's Business, Part 2: Up To Speed

Posted on Tue Feb 14th, 2023 @ 10:11am by Captain Tristan Faust & Lieutenant Commander John Stryker II & Lieutenant Thraxina

1,246 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 2: Rendezvous At Starbase 10
Location: Starbase 10: Promenade
Timeline: M2 MD04 (2268.6.06) 1310

Thraxina maintained her serious, stoical 'on duty' façade, but this intelligence piqued her interest deeply: the well-groomed, casual (a little too casual for her taste, perhaps) debonair playboy of a Captain had dealings with the deeply dark world of slave traders and criminal operators? She noted it and filed it away in her knowledge banks.

She looked from Faust to Stryker and to Faust again. "But Captain, dealing with criminal types like this Xon, is that not quite allowed?" she asked with a serious frown, playing the innocent. She was more interested in digging for more information on this sort of thing from either of the more experienced men.

"I dealt with him before when I was on the Ticonderoga. Although I'm sure he didn't enjoy the prison sentence which resulted from the last time," Tristan explained, "And this time once we figured out the hostages were being taken to Station Exar, I messaged him to see if he had any information. Always helps to have informants in areas of space like this. I have a feeling he's pissed that the station is gone."

"Interesting, Captain. This Xon, he's more of an informant I take it, that is from what you said. And these others, the ones that kidnaped your people? What, rather who were they, and have you figured out why they took your people?" Stryker questioned, wondering if they would be dealing with them again.

He hadn't heard of this sort of thing happening to Starfleet personnel in some time, but again, different quadrant, different problems to sort out and deal with. He was interested in just what the ship's mission was, and what the dangers were. All he had known was that he was being transferred to the Midway. He didn't bother reading his transfer orders, the Midway was where he was assigned to, no need to read his orders.

"Alright, so a Federation colony ship was attacked and its crew and compliment of colonists were kidnapped by a group of Orion Pirates to be sold into slavery," the Captain explained, "We tracked them down, the Orions disabled the Midway using an EMP pulse device. They boarded us, we repelled them but they took a dozen personnel back with them. We tracked them down but we had no idea where they would be and how the station was run... So I reached out to Xon for some information... He took it further and rescued several of our captive crew members. We retrieved all Starfleet personnel but we couldn't find all of the colonists..."

"Wow, yeah, sounds like quite the mission." He said, impressed. In fact, it was reminiscent of several of the away missions he had been on, a rescue or two, that was nothing compared to Captain Faust's escapade. "So this Xon is not the enemy I perceived him to be initially, and he sounds like a good source to have when you need him." Sad that some colonists were not recovered, but that did not overshadow the success of the mission. He was going to like it aboard the Midway.

"No, he is an independent trader who generally opperates in the grey area of Federation law, of course Station Exar is... was in neutral territory so technically his slave trading... Although morally repugnant isn't illegal," Tristan responded with a sigh, "Still he is a sly devil and one never to be trusted.

"Slave trading, hard to believe it's legal anywhere in the galaxy, but I guess, where there's a market, there's a buyer and a seller. Not something I could tolerate, well, if I was in a position to do away with it. But then again, I can see his value in certain situations, hard to deny that." Stryker mused.

He looked at Thraxina, as if to ask her opinion of the subject. "It's just inhuman, or does that only apply to humans? Sorry sir, just a sore subject I guess."

“Your disquiet is quite understandable, commander” nodded Thraxina, soothingly. No one on the ship had ever quizzed her about her own planet’s social system where the Troglodyte underclass were slaves in all but name. The Federation had tried to end it, but unsuccessfully: being the only known source of Zenite gave Andara, or rather Stratos City, the political clout to hold on to its own ‘Peculiar Institution’

"Change can be slow," Tristan responded, "Even if the subject is important." He took a sip from his cup of coffee. "Frankly I've heard rumblings that we didn't do enough to get the rest of the colonists back and I would tend to agree... Although not everything turns out the way we hope."

Lt. Thraxina frowned.

"Captain, may I remind you that the only mistakes made on that mission were those of the Captain and crew of the Defiant. Your conduct and that of the crew were exemplary, had you gone after the remaining slavers, you would have been breaking Fleet Command directives and putting those you had rescued at further risk."

She looked at Stryker now. "Our only problem during the mission was that we lacked an experienced line-of-command officer on the bridge while the Captain was on the Station. With the addition of you to the crew, Commander, I feel that that will no longer be an issue."

It was one of Thraxina's more remarkable talents that she could simultaneously suck up to two superior officers in the same room at the same time.

"You have me at a true disadvantage, Lieutenant, while it is true that I participated in any number of away missions while aboard the Talon, as well as standing in when we were short an XO, I'm sure the midway's First Officer is more than competent as the line-of-command officer."

He was not sure what brought that up, he was a navigator, and whatever the duties called for, he would comply up to and including being in a position of command in the absence of the Commanding, First, and Second officers. Something he simply did not see occurring any time soon.

"Let me provide some context Commander," the Captain responded, "Commander Heartfilia our executive officer was one of the hostages. Our second officer is our chief medical officer and our third officer was our chief engineer who has now left the ship. So as of right now you are the third most senior officer aboard ship."

"Oh, well, pardon me, I was unaware of your situation here, Sir. In such case, yes I would be in line to take command of the ship." He apologized. "That makes quite a difference. Sort of open mouth, insert foot."

"That's fine commander," the Captain responded, "It's our job to get you up to speed as quickly as possible. A lot has happened in the past few weeks." He leaned back, "I'm trying to think of what else you need to know. We also had our unbalanced ship's psychiatrist removed, which wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone."

"Say, you have had your hands full. Well, I will do my best to fit in and help wherever I can, whenever I can." He offered, "It is good to be here Captain, and I hope to be here for some time to come. Though I have long understood that officers and crew members are always subject to transfer."

"Glad to hear it Commander," Tristan responded, "So far all of the transfers have been voluntary."

To Be Continued...

 

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