Just a Smidge

Posted on Sunday, 28 November 2021 - 5:15pm by Captain Pippa Whitley & Lieutenant JG Hayashi Hamura

Mission: Operation: Mirror of Madness
Location: Briefing Room | USS Standing Bear
Timeline: 2394

ON:

"Is everything alright, Lieutenant?" Pippa asked after the last of the officers had left the Briefing Room, leaving the Captain and her Chief Engineer left behind, alone to have a bit of a conversation at least briefly. "I noticed that you seemed a bit off, if you do not mind my saying. I hope that you did not feel displaced by my including you in this morning's briefing. I know being in Engineering is probably more up your avenue, but I value having the Chief Engineer in Briefings as a standard."

Hamura took a swig of the extra large coffee. "Oh I'm fine, was up late doing final prep for shove off and moving to senior quarters...and just restless in general." As if on cue a small trickle of blood came out of their nose.

"Not exactly fine," replied Pippa who gestured to her nose. "You are bleeding a bit, Lieutenant. Are you used to having nose bleeds?" The Captain was a tad bit concerned.

"Shit," Hamura pulled out the Kleenex and held it to their nose. "What are the chances you will ignore this?"

"That an officer is bleeding over the Briefing Room? Unlikely, but you can certainly make an attempt. May I inquire as to why you are bleeding? I would rather hear it from the source if you are aware of the reason rather than from Doctor Rose."

Hamura sighed. "This is not in my file, and I would like it to stay that way." Sighing again after noting that the bleeding had stopped. "A long while ago...I was near death, your first officer, Soral not Alex, saved my life by performing a Vulcan ritual in which he transferred some of his Katra to me and some of mine to him."

Hamura motioned to the nose, "This is a sign that he's not doing so good. If he dies..I will pretty much be insane and as good as a vegetable and voice vesrsa. He's injured, badly. My guess, Stillwater got to him."

"It isn't my place to share that information, but in time perhaps you will do so," Pippa replied. She was not about to go warp 9 into that drama nebula. "If Stillwater has gotten to Soral, then we will need to get a wiggle on ourselves to find them both."

Pippa paused for a moment. The reports must have been true then. "I left this out of the Briefing because it sounded completely fabricated, but there were reports about a scuffle in a monastery, that Stillwater was there and shot a Vulcan monk."

Hamura sighed. Before they could respond Oriana's voice came over the speaker. "Captain...there is a situation you should know about. It's urgent."

"On the bridge?" asked Pippa as she proceeded to the comm panel in the room. "I can be there in a moment," she added. What could this be about.

"I can patch is down to you...it's a news report from Vulcan. It comes with a direct order from Starfleet to shove off as soon as possible."

Pippa withheld a groan and simply rubbed her eyes. "Plrase kindly inform Starfleet Command that we will be getting a wiggle on shortly, and yes, do patch that through down here." She could only imagine what the news entailed.

"Yes, ma'am." The coms shut off and shortly the screen in the room lit up. A Vulcan reporter stood there his angled face an austere expression. "I draw your attention to the following video," He said as the image lit of Stillwater knocking the monk out. The feed died. "Shar of Vulcan, now known as Soral, a Starfleet Officer spoke for the Separation of Vulcan, it is believed that Stillwater was sent by Starfleet to get vengeance for Commander Soral speaking. Commander Soral's location is unknown at this time but these images were received by the news outlet."

The Screen shifted and showed pretty ragged looking Soral barely awake. There was no background just a close up.

Hamura gasped as the image shifted back to Vulcan. "All Vulcans are urged to aid in the apprehension of Captain Stillwater. That is all."

The feed faded.

Hamura groaned. "No offense but don't put me on the away team to fetch Stillwater. I am just a smidge pissed."

"You don't look Vulcan," Pippa said to Hamura. "I am not inclined to aid in the apprehension of Stillwater. Find him and invite him aboard, sure." Pippa was careful in her wording. "It is probably in his best interest to come aboard willingly than be left on a Vulcan world any longer."

"Frankly I'm not Vulcan but right now I'd turn him over to the Romulans." Hamura rubbed their head. "He hurt Soral for nothing and Starfleet will just late him skate by, right?"

Pippa chose her words carefully. "We have yet to establish that Soral is hurt. Yes, you have a connection, and I will acknowledge that, but the severity of that possible injury is unknown. Let's not skip ahead of ourselves."

The Captain proceeded cautiously. "Barret Stillwater left his uniform and communications badge behind along with those rank pips. He's no longer a Starfleet Officer and Starfleet does not tend to have jurisdiction on civilian affairs. If Barret Stillwater does anything unlawful, it will be the Federation judicial systems that will handle those matters, Vulcan included."

Hamura sighed. "You're right...I am...too close to this." They rubbed their face. "Captain you cannot imagine what this feels like. I am...confused. Soral wouldn't act like this yet we all saw the video. I mean I would be lying if I said that he doesn't feel that Vulcan would be better on its own but he would never speak out openly like this, he wrote about it from a philosophical point of view but...he would never undermine Starfleet publicly. Not just for himself but for Alex. He loves her too much to put her career in any danger."

"That has been the general consensus of the crew, Lieutenant Kingsley included," explained Pippa. "This crew knows Soral better than I do, better than anyone does. If you are all of the opinions that Soral would not normally do something like this, then I am not going to doubt this crew's intuition. I believe each of you. Our job is to keep the peace, but trying to find answers is a reasonable task. Let's also keep in mind that Barret Stillwater was Captain of this starship long enough to know his First Officer. I suspect he is seeking answers as much as anyone would be."

Hamura gave a nod. "Then there is this," They gestured to themselves. "I would not be in this state if Soral wasn't injured. I think we need to get to Vulcan as soon as we can." They sighed. "Time to push my engine room."

"Bring the quantum slipstream drive online. We will use it when we are clear out in the open. It will cut our journey down significantly. Though I'm not one to abuse QSD, this seems like a reasonable situation to bring it online."

Hamura smiled, "Sounds great." Hamura studied the Captain. "There is one more thing...thought I'd give you a heads up."

"Always appreciated," replied Pippa. "What is it?"

Hamura sighed, "My...." They sat up. "Well I don't know what to call her. Your Yeoman, I mean. We're....sort of an item....I think." Hamura blinked rubbing the bridge of their nose. "I don't know...it's complicated but she has a fan girl crush on you. I swear every word is. The captain this and the captain that....I just kind of want am confused by my own jealousy... I mean I swore off relationships and then....she happened... and this...whatever we're going to define it as happened."

"Sounds like something that you will want to communicate with her. Don't take it personally nor romantically. I have a tendency to acquire a bit of a cult-like following" explained Pippa. "If it reassures you, I am not seeking to pursue a relationship outside of platonic with any of the crew."

Hamura smiled, "Oh i'm not worried. Ori is special...she'd not the cheating kind but she does have star eyes so just wanted to give ya heads up on having a fan girl. Grinning Hamura sighed. "That being said there are also tensions between myself and a few of the … senior staff."

"That was certainly noticeable," Pippa replied. "From your perspective, why do you believe that is?"

"Alex is easy. She's intelligent, she's strong, she's capable BUT she doesn't have faith in herself or her abilities. She needs that if she's going to be a good XO one day. Soral recognized that in her and he's asked me to needle her until she finds her voice. She needs to stand up to me and tell me she's the boss and my ass is grass if I don't smarten up but to do that and to be good for you and the ship in Soral's absence she needs to realize her own strength...I'm helping bring that out of her in my annoying way. I really do like her she has issues with me but hell I share a Katra with her husband so... some of his more charming characteristics are mine and vice versa poor girl doesn't know what to do with it." Hamura smiled. "But she'll find her feet. So yeah I needle her to bring out her inner lion, it's not personal I just see what Soral sees in her and she needs to see it herself."

Hamura paused to pour some water and drain the glass looking pale. "As for the other one, your Chief intel. she's a walking oxymoron in my opinion. She has a dangerous streak where she doesn't play nice with people and thinks she's the only one whose been through crap. She doesn't trust easy, her family, I get it but she's got a chip on her shoulder and I won't risk the lives of people around me because of her chip."

"I suspect some would counter argue that you have a bit of a standoffish and sometimes boarish personality," the Captain offered. "I appreciate the insight. I'll have my own way of approaching Lieutenant Kingsley, but it will be circumstances and situations that will help her grow the most."

Pippa took the next issue. "Ad odd man out. Petty Officer Eberhardt is in a similar situation as you were, if not further in the deep. As someone who does not have a commissioned officer rank, to hold a department together even if it is tiny. I suspect the two of you are oil and water, but I want to avoid throwing a lit match onto it. This crew will need more cohesion."

Hamura gave a nod. "Yeah well it's not boarish it's the old I don't suffer fools or some such saying like that. Anywho I know I can be an ass but I also know I ask for help when I need it. Yeah she doesn't have a rank but she could run that department back and forth. That girl doesn't accept help nor can she ask for it. Yeah we're oil and water for sure I don't think we'll ever get along so I stay out of her way as much as I can. As for cohesion..that comes when a crew knows one another well."

Hamura sat back and sighed. "Right now though, I don't think my attitude will improve at least not until this thing with Soral is sorted out. His...mental and physical wellbeing affect me a lot." Hamura sat forward. "That being said I think I just need to go to Engineering and do my job now. I got to get us ready for anything. Vulcans and Romulans are more alike then they like to admit, you know." Hamura smiled. "You know something? You're an okay duck Cappy!"

That would be Admiral Burke thought Pippa hearing the engineer mention duck. "I am not sure about bring an 'okay duck,' but I believe you and the crew will find me a suitable Captain. I'm not Stillwater, and I won't try to be. I am myself and I'll do things the way I know to."

Hamura gave a nod. "That brings us to one final topic. What do you prefer by way of pronouns...I suspect we have that in common."

"Captain," replied Pippa. "If you want to count that as a pronoun. Otherwise, I prefer Sir over ma'am. However, she/her is perfectly acceptable."

"I'm easy myself..." Hamura sat up blushing. "Not that way! I mean I prefer they, or them he or she is okay depending on the day. There are days I feel like a he and there are days I feel like she but mostly I feel like both or neither...hard to explain to some but they is the preferred term. "

"They/them is casual preference, but she/her is acceptable. I grew up with that. I am not one for traditional masculine pronouns myself, I tend to keep my appearance more masculine by Human standards, but that is primarily to keep a sense of authority. "

Hamura gave a nod. "Go it, sir." They sighed. "I guess I should run by medical before I get to work."

Pippa nodded. "And I should begin all the 'paperwork' to explain why I opted to use the QSD to arrive at Vulcan ahead of time."

Hamura smiled, "You can blame it on the Engineer and I can total pass this extra pip back." Hamura gave an eye flutter knowing the process it had taken for them to accept the promotion.

"Not needed," Pippa stated. "We need to speed this short trip along regardless. The longer we take, the more time for things to go even further astray."

Hamura gave a nod. "Yeah." they looked at Pippa. "Thanks cappy. You seem really cool. Soral and you would get on well."

Let's hope so Pippa thought. Simply offering a nod. "Dismissed, Lieutenant. Keep me updated on the QSD."

"Aye sir." Hamura stood and dusted off their salute. It was time to get to work.

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