The Debrief

Posted on Mon Jan 23rd, 2023 @ 7:26am by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D & Commodore Jacob Kane & Lieutenant Alexis Ryan

Mission: Wrath of the People
Location: Ready Room.
Timeline: En Route to Earth
1774 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

As both P'rel and Ryan approached the ready room door, the Vulcan looked around the bridge. It was oddly quiet. Athena had barely had time to run at routine operations for months, and it was almost eerie to see the bridge running at a standard complement with deactivated terminals and empty seats. Heading deeper into Federation space, in itself, was an odd experience though P'rel was eager to connect with some colleagues from Starfleet Command. Having joined the Athena manifest whilst in relatively deep space, the agreement between her and the Captain was that she would stay on for a while until they were back 'home'.

Some months ago the thought of transferring off of the egregious hubris that was a Prometheus Class Starship, and returning to her field role at Starfleet Command, would have been welcome - though she had to admit that were the opportunity to arise when they reached Earth, she would have to give it far more serious thought than would have been necessary until recently.

As likely suited both of them, Ryan hadn't spoken much since leaving Sickbay. It wasn't a brooding silence, there was already purpose enough to her stride to suggest the scientist had pushed away her sense of defeat and loss for now, but it was persistent enough that it made for undemanding company. Across the Bridge, Alex made eye contact with Bailey and nodded, both in greeting and acknowledgement for the need to call a departmental meeting within the next few hours. The danger had passed but the mission itself still had plenty of loose ends as far as dealing with Athena's own accumulated data. At this rate, she might sleep some time next week.

Turning to join P'rel in waiting at the Captain's door, Ryan lifted her eyes to the ceiling before closing them, the obvious drop in her posture betraying the intentional marshalling of focus and composure.

"Come in." The Captain's voice boomed.

Kane watched the two of them enter. An unlikely partnership, he noted. How they had managed to work together this far had surprised him - but pleasantly. Finally it appeared P'rel had started to make friends. In the loosest sense of the word, of course.

"As you know, we're heading home. I'm aware that the two of you delayed your return from the Avalon to extract the last of the sensitive data from there. That's not something I'm going to reprimand you for, but I do need to remind you both that the data itself was classified as code magenta by Starfleet. I'll need you to turn it over to Admiral Jameson as soon as possible." His eyes briefly flashed to P'rel. "Without reviewing it."

Non committedly bowing her head slightly in the Captain's direction, P'rel decided it best to divert the topic away from specifics of what was or was not within her intentions for the journey back to Earth. Knowledge was, after all, power; "I believe Lieutenant Ryan and I have already consumed substantial quantities of the data during the process of recovering it sir; to say it is impressive is something of an understatement. Lieutenant Mariatis was by all indications a prodigy, and a great loss to Starfleet..." she looked over to Ryan, certain that her colleague would want to add her own commending comments.

From behind her rebuilt composure, Ryan barely flinched. Reaching out, she laid the case containing the data chips on Kane's desk and stepped back. "The sensor logs, updated schematics, radiation analysis. Combined with what the Lieutenant was able to grab of their communication and security logs, I'd say we retrieved..." Alex hesitated, wincing slightly at the inaccuracy of approximating statistical outcomes. "All priority files and probably upwards of 70% of the remaining. We ran out of time," she added, meeting the Captain's gaze with a cocked eyebrow. Stretching his orders to their limit had improved the retrieval rate well-beyond projected expectations, which would likely make his job at the other end easier. It still went without saying that the Science Chief was battling with her pragmatic side to be content with partial, if above-expectations, success.

"So did the crew of the Avalon..." Kane noted. "Which reminds me: I hear you picked yourselves up a little passenger on the way out? What can you tell me about him?"

Concurring broadly with Ryan's report, P'rel had no need to contribute further and turned her attention instead to the Captain's query; "Little", she responded truthfully. "Upon reflection, it appears he stood in the way - deliberately or not - of a disruptor shot aimed for myself..." she recalled how the Andorian had essentially appeared out of thin air in a blaze of green and pained screaming before dropping to the floor; "had the energy from the disruptor not interacted with his subspace field, it is highly probable he would have shared the same fate as Lieutenants Mariatis...my understanding is that he is a senior rating, with a specialism in sensors, highly experienced and competent if somewhat unorthodox..." she recalled his file, and how the Andorian had even served a custodial sentence whilst in-service. Smiling somewhat internally, she offered; "perhaps an ideal addition to our engineering team, should a vacancy present itself".

Beneath the surface Kane felt the pitch of that. He'd only spoken to Lt Commander Keating a few hours ago and that hadn't gone well. Perhaps a vacancy was more available than they knew.

"We'll see." He looked between the two of them expectantly. "Anything else?"

It was at that moment that Alex recognised her own fatigue. It would take a while to process the outcome of the mission, from both a professional and personal standpoint. Having achieved a result beyond expectations for their specific scenario wouldn't ultimately spare her from rehashing alternatives she'd missed but that was a private struggle that would eventually resolve itself because there was no magic wand to take them back for a second try. There might be cause for further input once they were in position to hand over the recovered data and there had been information dotted throughout Mariatis' personal logs that might require action eventually, but for the time being, the Lieutenant couldn't see any point in downloading on the Captain. She shook her head. "Nothing urgent, sir."

Looking first to Ryan and then back to Kane, P'rel responded by looking the man in the eye to let him know she had something important to convey. "Perhaps, Captain..." she turned back to Ryan and nodded politely, "...in private, if I may?". This conversation was going to be interesting, not least given where they had both started those brief years ago. A reluctant team, one not wanting to stay and the other not entirely sure he didn't want her to leave.

There was nothing about Ryan's impassive regard that suggested she'd taken offense, or that she was even overtly curious as to the Lieutenant's motives. Ultimately, the only expectancy came from a pair of raised eyebrows directed at Kane as the Science Chief waited for her permission to leave.

Kane gave his Science Officer a short sharp nod of the head to permit her to leave. Once the door was closed, he fixed P'rel with a look of intrigue.

"Well? Something on your mind?"

As an eyebrow arched, the Vulcan was minded to combatively barb back at the Captain for his brusqueness, before deciding it was actually something about him she rather respected. "I have been offered another assignment, sir" she began without giving anything away. She wanted, and intended, to stay; but she would let him lead the direction that pathway took.

"I see." His eye twitched in response to her eyebrow raise. Almost mirroring the action but not quite. "Well, I must admit I had forgotten the temporary nature of this arrangement. I shall make sure that I provide your new superiors with a full briefing regarding your exemplary conduct and contribution during your stay with us," he said.

Her poise faltering for just a moment, she was taken aback by his total lack of resistance to the idea; given how hard he'd lobbied her to stay in the first place she had believed the Captain would be at least a little reluctant to let her go. "I see." she said simply. "I had not yet decided to accept the assignment". She left it in the air for him, the pair of them probably equally stubborn and unwilling to make the first overture at remaining aboard.

"Oh." He realised immediately that he'd misunderstood. A silence hung in the air for a few seconds as he contemplated her reason for wanting to speak to him. And privately. "To be honest, replacing someone of your unique talents would be extremely difficult," he said, backtracking rather rapidly. "Not to mention the professional understanding we seem to have developed. Trust is...hard to win." For both of them, it seemed. And yet it was there, unspoken. "Is it your intention to take up that offered assignment?" he finally asked, wondering if her poker face might yet change.

Marginally enjoying Kane's obvious fumbling, P'rel did not break her stoic look and composure. He was correct, regardless of how much he was saying to backtrack his initial remark; they did work well together and there very much seemed to be an unspoken mutual understanding of how each would operate. They gave each other wide berths and considerable latitude; Kane moreso being the senior officer, though she had adapted to his way of doing things as well. "No sir. It is not" she finally answered, leaving sufficient silence to further exacerbate Kane's apparent awkwardness; a side she had never seen.

He might have smiled at that. In fact, she would probably spot the faintest curl of his lips. "Well, that saves me writing a recommendation then," he noted with a nod of his head. "Good Intelligence officers are hard to find after all."

It was almost imperceptible - almost - but there was just the slightest of smiles flickering across Kane's face. "With all due respect sir; that is the idea", she joked.

P'rel, making a joke. Perhaps it was a sign of the end times. "Well then, Lieutenant," he noted, an eyebrow flicked upwards. "Carry on."

"Sir" P'rel said curtly with a nod, turning on her right heel and leaving the ready room. Though she had fortunately turned around and obscured Kane's view - she would never have done otherwise - a small smile equally twitched at her lips as she crossed the quiet bridge towards the turbolift.