The Auction House - Aftermath

Posted on 11/08/2020 @ 2:35am by Captain Cian D'Anvers

Mission: S2E2: The Auction House
Location: Captain's Ready Room, USS Crazy Horse
Timeline: Day 41 at 1630

Cian had a pot of fresh-brewed coffee ready when his first officer arrived. He was sitting on the sofa again and leaned forward to pour them both a cup as he said, "Come on and sit down. I'd like to hear from you what happened down there."

Lieutenant Jodon Joral had entered the Captain's Ready Room expecting those words to come out of Cian's mouth, and as much time as J.J. had while traveling back via shuttle and waiting for an 'all clear' from medical that he was not a threat to anyone on the starship, the Crazy Horse' First Officer struggled to find verbal footing. Lieutenant Larissa Syndel had left J.J. out of a shale cliff edge dangling with his small amount of up body strength teetering between life and death metaphorically. No amount of time could have provided Jodon with an ampleness to be prepared.

"I..." J.J. began before taking a seat on the sofa next to Cian, mug of coffee in hand. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. How the hell do I even say this he thought to himself. He took a sip of coffee before casting the mug aside and focusing on his Commanding Officer's anticipating eyes. J.J. felt they were judging, but no more him than the situation broadly. "I fucked up," Jodon said bluntly. It was not like him to speak so candidly. "I'm sorry. I should not have said that, Sir," he added apologizing for his pointedly crude choice of vocabulary.

Jodon looked at Cian and shook his head. "I'm not ready for this," Jodon added. "You should have been assigned a more competent Executive Officer, not a joined Trill that has some eureka joining and Starfleet pushes through command courses. I messed up over there, Captain, and I lost control of the situation. We found the Chief's body, and she...she just, oh Captain, Syndel just shot an Orion guard, killed him, and no, he was not a threat. He was already stunned and was not reaching for a weapon."

Cian blanched, a visceral reaction to an unbelievable statement, closing his eyes as he shook his head. However, as was often the case with his first officer, different thoughts tended to come out on top of each other, both needing and deserving his attention. He took a sip of coffee, ordered his thoughts and pushed aside the idea of one of his officers outright killing someone, and then set his coffee mug down. "People do unspeakable things," he said quietly. "And quite often, they come as a complete surprise. You trusted a member of your away team to act as a professional. That doesn't make you unfit for your position. Far from it. So, tell me, was there any indication that this would happen?"

"I understand that you can never account for the unpredictive nature of things," replied Jodon with a small short-lived smile. "As a scientist, I understand this. There are always laws and principles, but when you take a leap of scientific faith into the dark waters of an alien world, you do not know what lurks beneath the surface," he added. "Likewise, encountering an anomaly that previously was just theory brings about complete unpredictability" asserted the First Officer.

He shook his head. "You're right, but I would have anticipated this sort of unorthodox and unpredictable outburst from someone like Lieutenant Cash, not from Lieutenant Syndel," countered J.J. "I thought more highly of her personally and professionally. Clearly, my faith in her was misplaced and I made a poor judgment call. There was no indication as far as I am aware. She knew the Chief, but I do not believe she knew him any more nor less than I did" deduced the Trill. "She pushed Lieutenant Gallagher out of the way and was emotionally disturbed by the Chief's remains. It was then she increased the setting of her phaser, took aim at one of the Orion guards, and killed him. There was no need for it, and that killing was not justified in my professional opinion."

"Lieutenant Syndel is responsible for her actions, not you," Cian said quietly. "If you made a poor judgement call then so did I. I interviewed her. I made her by Chief of Operations. I had faith in her as a Starfleet officer."

"My official report including a separate incident report has been completed. I began working on it immediately, I did not want to forget any details," explained J.J. He looked at Cian nervously. "They are going to want her for this, Cian. They will investigate this thoroughly. Criminal Investigative Services will see to it she's turned over and JAG will reach. Starfleet Command is not going to be pleased. I've already drafted my resignation...should you want it."

The question of how to disentangle the two thoughts in his first officer's mind arose and Cian mulled it over as he took a sip of coffee and then it occurred to him that quite likely the entire away team would be feeling something similar. They had been there and had not been able to either predict nor prevent the Lieutenant's reprehensible actions. Assumption of guilt was a natural reaction however unwarranted.

"JJ," Cian said as he leaned forward. "Look at me, please."

Jodon did not want to resign, far from it. What he was in his own way, trying to do was save face. He did not want Command seeing what happened as a blemish on Cian. "Yes, Captain?" asked J.J. as his head turned and eyes met Cian's.

"Not your fault," Cian said quietly, he caught his first officer's gaze and held it with his own, his expression earnest and sincere. "And I don't need you falling on your sword either. It won't be easy but we'll get through this ... together. We clear on that?"

Jodon nodded. "I will endeavor not to fall onto my sword, Captain, but I am worried. They will come after her for this. I have no doubt about that, but I fear for her. The lieutenant was out of line. What she did was inexcusable. I also know her to be a good officer, great at Ops, and she has a personality that is well-liked among the crew" explained J.J. He sighed. "I do not see how she walks away from this unscathed."

"Nor should she," Cian said quietly. "Come away unscathed, that is. She killed someone." His brow furrowed, he leaned back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. "Think about that. If she had fired without thinking, that would be one thing but no, she changed the setting and then fired. Deliberately. She's a Starfleet officer. Where was all her training and discipline? Honestly, I don't care how well liked she was among the crew or how well she did her job." He returned his attention to his first officer. "I'm ... I don't know ... appalled ... horrified ... still in shock? Not sure how to describe what I"m feeling."

"That is what I am struggling with myself," replied Jodon. "Cian, she was under my command on the away team. She's someone I have worked with daily, on the bridge and elsewhere. She filed reports to me and I've spent some time with her." J.J. shook his head. "All of that does not matter. She did what she did and if I had to sit on that jury I would see to it she was convicted. How do I forgive her for what she's done? Can I even forgive her?"

Cian let out a long sigh. "After everything happened on my home world, I struggled with this. The whole idea of forgiveness. And then someone told me that forgiveness doesn't mean that one approves of what's happened." He shook his head slightly more at his younger self than anyone else. "Took me a long time to understand that. Longer still, to embrace the idea. Forgiveness is a way of ... unchaining? ... yourself from those actions. Doesn't mean you have to be friends or anything like that. It's just a way of letting go of the anger but like I said, not an easy thing to do."

J.J. nodded "You're right and as always, I appreciate you taking the time to discuss this with me, to be a sounding board when I need someone to present me with a second opinion," replied the Crazy Horse's First Officer. "I truly value your opinion and I will endeavor to grow as XO and come to be someone you can depend on. I know...you are going to tell me that I am doing a great job, but I know that I have a lot to learn yet. At least a lot to learn in this lifetime."

"I can't imagine how hard that must be," Cian said. "Learning and growing when you have that presence in your mind whose already done everything. Already learned the lessons. It would be like having a parent hovering over your shoulder whenever you're trying to do something ..." He shook his head and then offered up a wry smile. "I admire you for taking that on. Being able to made those adjustments, however bumpy the process is."

Jodon laughed and sighed. "It is a very bumpy road and I am going through the growing pains of it," he added. "Your analogy is accurate. My symbiont having been joined to its previous host for so many years has a bit of a vice grip on how I...we...should command. I don't always agree with my 'gut' about things. As the symbiont and I grow together, the symbiosis will become more apparent. It is already a far cry from where we were initially" explained Lieutenant Joral.

"Shame there's not a way that you two can talk it out, come to some sort of an ... understanding .. I don't know. Not really my area of expertise," Cian said with a slight shake of his head.

"Technically..." J.J. began but didn't finish that thought. "Yes, it would make things easier. However, it gets better with time. Thank you for the encouragement, Captain."

"My pleasure, JJ," Cian said softly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a small mountain of work to get done still. Unless there's something else?"

"Not tonight, Sir," Jodon replied with a small smile. His face flushed, nearly warm. Spending time and having Cian show such trust and belief in him made the Trill happy. It helped bring him back off a metaphorical cliff. "Try to get some rest. You don't want to overwork yourself," noted Jodon as he proceeded to the doors and flashed a parting glance and subtle nod at his Commanding Officer.

A post by:

Captain Cian' D'Anvers
Commanding Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

Lieutenant Jodon Joral
First Officer
USS Crazy Horse