And Along Comes the Dawn
Posted on Sun Sep 12th, 2010 @ 11:42am by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant Commander Eliza McAdams
3,709 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
Structured Shoreleave - Marchwiel
Location: Halliwell's Ready Room
Timeline: Current
ON:
The past three weeks had been Hell for Elsie. The Starbase 97 repair crew were almost done with attaching the new nacelle and she had spent the majority of the time dipping in and out of meetings with Admirals and the like concerning not only the recent events of the Ranger, but also her future. The order had been given to make way to Deep Space Four and Elsie allowed Commander Drake to oversee the logistics of their cargo consignment before their easy departure. Halliwell had bigger fish to fry.
She began the morning with a cool tumbler of lemon water, choosing to fast until mid-afternoon, and set about her schedule for the day. Like a dark thought that rested, looming at the fringes of her mind, one appointment had now made its way to the top of the list, and as she sat at her ready room desk, an arena where most of these daily battles had played out, she waited for storm to hit.
It had been a funny mission really.
Away missions often had an air of unexpectedness about them that made their outcome difficult to predict, it was part of the reason Commanding Officers were kept as far away from them as possible for the most part. Routine meet-and-greets could turn into a frantic dash for survival whereas situations that seemed, for all intents and purposes, destined to result in catastrophe could fizzle into an anti-climax that left a person brooding for days. Life had a funny sense of humour in that regard but if one thing could be said of Rose McAdams it was that she rarely chose her amusements from the pool of likely suspects. The bitter irony of her situation could very easily have evoked little more than a general rolling of her eyes whilst providing plenty of ammunition for future jabs at her own expense or it could have, and some would have thought it more likely, produced the foulest of dark moods that would have descended upon her staff with indiscriminate precision. The fact that she opted for neither of these reactions was testament to the woman's complicated nature but the lack of either extreme had left her subordinates uneasy. They weren't the only ones.
At the heart of her withdrawn thoughtfulness was the uncertainty of a woman who couldn't figure out herself just how she was supposed to react to the situation. She had, with all good faith, executed her duties aboard the station to the best of her abilities and had been poised to position herself in a highly volatile situation if matters had reached a point where it was required. Locating Larkin had been the easy part as it turned out, by the time she'd infiltrated Main Engineering the Science Chief had already taken the Acting Chief into his confidence and she, in turn, had already imparted what knowledge she'd amassed in regard to QAR movements and their ultimate intentions. That had been the first knock-back really, a waste of expended energy and excessive planning given that she was already a known quantity to the people she'd been trying to avoid. The second surprise was that the pair had already been discussing potential weaknesses when she was admitted into their private meeting and from that point on, Rose wasn't sure she'd ever really got control of the situation back again. Hell, she wasn't even sure just exactly what part of their plan she'd been executing when the empty cargo crate had wrecked merry havoc with her memory, the impact shattering her left leg as well as whatever train of thought she'd been experiencing at the time. Oh, she'd read Larkin's reports but their unfamiliarity had only made her brood more. Whether it had been the knock to the head or the malfunctioning holo-equipment that had caused her problems from the very onset, it didn't appear to matter now. The situation had been handled without her.
They hadn't needed her.
Leaning heavily on the cane that would be her constant companion for at least another week whilst the artificial segments of her repaired leg were assimilated by her body, the Lieutenant Commander gazed darkly at the turbolift door as the lift made its ascent up to the first deck. Loss of memory had never been an issue before, not when the feisty brunette was renown for recalling details of conversations that took place two years previous. Part of the Science Chief's reports had mentioned that she seemed distracted at times and Rose had a faint notion that there had been moments of fleeting surrealty aboard the station but the cause was uncertain and likely to remain so. Medical reports had given her the all-clear, her attending surgeon had even remarked that her recovery was slightly better than expected, far more in keeping with her usual track record in these things, but even with evidence to support her return to mental acuity, Rose wondered. Worse than that, Rose doubted. It had been Kevin who had first suggested that her holo-emitter may have been the culprit, the minor discrepancy that had seen her materialise naked in her first attempt at disguise being potentially enough to cause inaudible distraction and irritation but nobody had confirmed that. For all she knew, she'd just decided to pick the worst possible time in all of creation to have a seniors' moment. She sure felt old enough.
As the doors opened, Rose watched impassively as the officer waiting to leave the Bridge took a step forward and then two backwards in a hasty attempt to give her room to disembark, one eyebrow arching upwards slightly as she realised the young petty officer was valiantly avoiding eye contact whilst striving to appear polite. Any other day, that might have amused her but as she limped past the nervous youth, the Lieutenant Commander merely released a frustrated huff. Without even glancing to see who else was trying to ignore her, the brunette made her way to the door of the Ready Room and promptly whacked the door chime with her cane.
“Come in,� Elsie called out, looking up to see Rose hobble in on her support. She glanced away from her for a moment, almost as if to respect the sensitivity of the situation. She had no real sense that Rose was self-conscious about her current physical disability, but the elder “sister� knew all too well of her stubborn self-righteousness.
“Ah, Rose,� she began, once she was seated before her. “I appreciate your coming to see me.� In all honesty, the unpleasantness between the two siblings had seemed to wane a little since her return back to the ship, but Elsie was still wary of bones of discontentment that could flair up like a rocket if both did not choose their words carefully. “I have… a development to propose. One that is beneficial to both, I would hope.�
Embarrassment wasn't Rose's style and though she wasn't altogether happy with her lack of agility, it was the least of her concerns. Smashed bones were real and tangible, and identifiable problem with a solution already put in place. Besides, she hadn't lost her humour completely, not enough to have failed to realise how much more intimidating she was wielding a permanent bludgeon for all she'd only used it on door chimes and coffee mugs so far. As she eased herself into the available chair, the brunette was mostly successful in hiding the grimace of discomfort, having refused the day's dose of painkillers so far because she didn't need anything else messing up her head, and then made care to lay the cane down beside her flat. Several ungraceful attempts previously to retrieve it after it had tumbled from an upright position to one just out of reach had taught her not to bother even trying to prop it up. Thus settled, she eyed her stepsister with typical wariness.
Injured or not, Rose was reasonably well-connected, at least within certain areas of the Fleet. There were several people, slightly more successful than herself, with whom she'd remained on speaking terms over the years by some small miracle and so she had a feeling she knew what this conversation was going to be about, she just wasn't altogether sure she could predict what Elsie's reaction to it would be. The woman had as much as promised to remove the Sec/Tac Officer at the end of the mission, after all, and it was hard to believe that the outcome of events had given her less reason to view that as a good idea. Guarded though her expression was, there was less scorn in her raised eyebrow than was typical and a tired humour in her otherwise blunt tone that removed all but trace elements of the attitude she'd displayed in the past. Rose McAdams was far too tired to fight this time. "You've found a scenic spot to dump me out the airlock into?"
“In a manner of speaking, yes,� Elsie replied flatly. She inhaled shallowly, allowed her posture to relax a little and held her little chin in her slender hand in an informal manner. “Rose,� she began, adopting her first name to engender an air of newly found sibling care, “this,� she continued, waving her right hand delicately in the space between them, “doesn’t work. And we’ve tried. I’ve tried. Now, Starfleet, as I assume you are aware, have requested a department to install itself on the Ranger. A Training Division. And, I have requested that you head up that new division. As such, you will remain in active service, but be removed from the chain of command. To be honest,� she finished with, softening her face a little and presenting a mock-smile to defuse a potentially difficult situation, “I think this benefits us both.�
Normally, the implication that matters between them were bad enough to label her appointment to the Ranger a failure would have elicited some sort of retaliatory reaction from Rose but if anything made her current preoccupation completely obvious it was the lack of simmering belligerence in her eyes. She was tired, worn out, plagued with doubt and, as it happened, in a decent amount of stubbornly self-inflicted pain. She'd heard enough of the proposed division from key connections already coaxing her to push for command of it to realise that there were forces at work behind the scene making it pointedly difficult for her to refuse the transfer and though this was exactly the career diversion Rose would have chosen for herself if given the option, she still hesitated. Shrewd eyes regarded Halliwell in silence for a moment or two, guarded yet without the irritation that so often lead to inflammatory remarks wherever her stepsister was concerned. Elsie had wanted her off the ship, she'd made that abundantly clear the last time they spoke. Perfect compromise or not, it wasn't exactly going to be an improvement if the Captain was being put under the same kind of pressure to accept the arrangement.
"The division will be a detachment," she replied eventually, speaking slowly as if to give the weight of her meaning time to sink in. "In matters that affect the crew and ship, it will have to defer to your ruling but you won't have any authority over the programs themselves, both in terms of content and administration. Whoever they put in charge will have to liaise with you but you'll essentially have limited jurisdiction to interfere." She raised an eyebrow. "You're all right with that?"
“You’ve been briefed already, I see,� was her simple reply. She inhaled again and raised a knowing eyebrow to Rose. “Whoever is to take charge of this detachment will continue to be under my command in so much that they are still onboard my ship, but yes, it will be organised outside of my direct control.�
She knew that Rose understood her loss of influence in this matter, and perhaps, she did hope, would sympathise with her. “This has been brought about to correct a problem for both of us, and I believe it will work should we both be agreeable.�
"I'll be frank," Rose said, as if there was any doubt to the contrary. For once, however, her honesty was delivered without the aggression that normally made it so hard to digest. "This is something I can do. This is something I can do well," she amended after a brief pause. "Problem-solver though this may seem, StarFleet's not about to concoct something this significant to save you from the delights of my company and they sure as hell aren't going to pull any favours on my behalf. I can do this but there's still a question mark over whether we can do this."
Rose stared at her stepsister in silence for the several beats it took for a multitude of unspoken nuances to be exchanged. Regardless of her many faults, Rose always shot straight from the hip and, as a result, could rarely be accused of being duplicitous. Having to guess what was on the brunette's mind wasn't something people were usually forced to do because Rose was more than happy to tell people what she was thinking, even going as far as to trim it down to the shortest, most succinct method of expression available most of the time. Those who knew how to handle her were the ones who had figure out how to deal it right back at her, on the personally familiar level she tended to operate on. Rose was self-aware enough, at least at this point in time when self-analysis was a high preoccupation, to realise this little trick to 'managing' her. Perhaps it was time to share it with Elsie.
"If we do this, then this...thing," she started, waving her finger vaguely back and forth between them, "The whole hiding behind rank thing that you do, really has to go. Not because I think your Captaincy isn't important," she added, holding the hand up palm-first in a defensive gesture. "I get rank structure, Elsie, I live and potentially die by it on a daily basis but you get pissed with me on a personal level and there's no way that's going anywhere if you keep trying to deal with it professionally." Rose looked her stepsister directly in the eye. "You don't like me. I can't say that the 1% of yourself that you're prepared to share with the rest of us is all that appealing to me either but that doesn't mean I think you're incapable of doing your job. Point is, though, there's more than the job here. I could go to the other side of the quadrant and there's nothing going to change the fact that we're family now. Just like nothing can change the fact that we tick each other off on a level that has nothing to do with rank. Me being under your command gave you a way to ignore all that; it's still gonna be there when we're playing in different corners."
Elsie sighed.
She could recognise the element of truth that seemed to thread its way through Rose’s speech but hiding behind her pips or not, Elsie was still the superior officer and had to genuinely consider how her ‘personal’ relationship with Rose affected her ‘professional’ association with the Lieutenant Commander, and more importantly how that was interpreted by the crew.
“I understand that you ‘get’ command structure, Rose, but you don’t always openly respect it. You know that should anybody else harbour such a blatant disagreeable attitude toward a ranking officer, they would have been off-ship immediately.� She inhaled again, allowing the moment to hang between them; to dissipate. “That’s not to say that you’re not a good officer. But that, on this ship, regardless of our personal attachments, I am the captain above all else.�
"You know," Rose said after a moment's pause, shifting slightly forward in her chair, as much as her leg would allow. "There's a point that needs to be made at this juncture because I'm not sure it's something you've ever fully understood." Settling her tired gaze on the older woman, the brunette continued, "I may have only had one parent all these years but there's no shortage of extended family in my life. Aunts, uncles, cousins, pain-in-the-ass grandparents... Oh, they're scattered about the place and Daddy and I sure travelled enough to avoid putting up with them more than a few times a year but they're family nevertheless. I get what that means, I grew up knowing what that means and though lord knows I realise we've not had the same up-bringing, it's taken me a while to realise that...I just don't think you get it. As an officer, you are my Commander in Chief. As your Security Chief, you are my top priority. Someone points a weapon at you then it's me they might as well be aiming for because there's not a force in all creation that's going to stop me trying to take that shot for you. That's my job, my duty, it's what I signed on for and, on that level, you totally get it. You're consumed by that knowledge because you seem to live your whole life on that one tack. What you don't get is that it doesn't matter. I could leave service tomorrow, you could retire, we could both be shown the door for bad behaviour and it wouldn't change my reaction. Like, dislike, you're still family. Someone targets you then they target all of us and you can kick and scream and call me all the names under the sun, it won't change a thing. You got a McAdams at your back now; we're damn difficult to shift."
Elsie’s face noticeably relaxed at Rose’s words. Despite their disagreements, they were family and there was no amount of rank, procedure or due process that could remove either woman from that thought. It seemed to Elsie, for the first time, that her and Rose had found equal footing in their relationship.
“I’m officially offering the position of Training Division Officer to you. I’d... like you to take it.� She looked away out of the window for a moment and then returned her look back to Rose. “I think that this arrangement could be conducive to both our benefit.�
"I'll take it," Rose responded after a brief pause, "It's either that or another transfer since I know my replacement is already en route." Rather than look annoyed, Rose actually smiled, an expression that was perhaps more smirk than anything else but not in any snide sense. "Word travels fast," she added, perhaps unnecessarily but it seemed important that the Captain realise her ex-Security Chief had come into the meeting already knowing what the limits of her choices were. Aware as she had been that there was no position on the Ranger's crew for her anymore, the Lieutenant Commander had remained cautious and open to the possibility that this change of direction might not be for the best. Already knowing that she was being replaced, Rose hadn't accepted hastily and certainly hadn't agreed to the transfer simply because it allowed her to remain and become a thorn in her stepsister's side that would be far more difficult to dislodge. Somewhere, buried deep within actions that called no direct attention to themselves, lay a measure of the respect Elsie feared her younger stepsibling was incapable of displaying. It didn't falter as she reached sideways for her cane and pulled herself painfully back onto her feet.
"They'll drag me off-ship for a proper debriefing. Judging by who they've put in charge of designing this, we'll be dealing with pretty set ideas on structure and content but if you've got any specific requests or stipulations, you better get them to me before I go." Wincing as she shifted her weight until she could bear it comfortably, Rose added unexpectedly, "You might want to send Larkin along as your official representative." She arched an eyebrow, almost challenging the Captain to express surprise at her sudden inclusion of the man she had been so scathing about initially. "Good chance to put him through some administrative paces, he needs the experience before I can comfortably sign him off."
She conceded and smiled at Rose, nodding to her and sitting back in her chair in a more comfortable and relaxed fashion. “I trust your judgement,� was all she said, her tone now laced with the familiar. “But,� she continued, with respect to any additional requests I have for the department, I have none. As long as it doesn’t interfere with ship-operations, and I doubt that it will, then I’m comfortable with what Command has in mind for the Ranger.� She brought her hand up to her face and smiled, then, extending it out across the desk, uttered “To new beginnings, Rose�.
Rose regarded the older woman for a moment, a deeply thoughtful gaze that almost hinted at a reflective side to the brunette oft buried beneath her candid methods but as her eyes lowered for a moment to take in the reality of the cane currently supporting the bulk of her weight, there was a sparkle of humour in her expression as she looked back at Elsie that revealed the moment was little more than an observance of her inability to accept the proferred hand without falling flat on her face. Affording her stepsister a measure of camaradarie for once, Rose winked instead and steeled herself for movement by shuffling on the spot in the awkward manner she had found best for turning. "Just don't go getting yourself blown up again." Giving an exaggerated groan as she heaved herself towards the door, she added blithely, "I think my sprinting days are over."
Changing posts and attitudes brought to you by:
Captain Elsie Halliwell
Commanding Officer
USS Ranger
and
Lt. Commander Rose McAdams
Training Division Coordinator
USS Ranger
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