An Admiral's Surprise

Posted on Sat Jul 20th, 2019 @ 5:05pm by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa

Mission: S01E04 The Outpost Has Eyes
Location: Briefing Room
Timeline: Current

ON:

Having finished his sickbay check-up, having had the tour with the XO he made his way to the bridge. Figueroa had called him on her own time. He had to smile at that.

He straightened his uniform and waited to be called in after he rang the chime.

Captain Donatella Figueroa was trying to get a handle on all the paperwork that follows a Commanding Officer. She had other matters to tend to, one of which was this meeting. She had summoned him. She was not thrilled with it, but it was a necessary evil. When the chime rang, she nearly shot from her seat, but instead remained at her desk.

"Enter" she replied and reached for a control panel that permitted the doorway to unlock and the doors to whoosh aside, opening them. If you must she thought to herself. When the man stood there at the threshold, she remained seated. "Glad you found your way here," she said with a small smirk.

"Yes well, it took a while. Hell, I would have done the same if an Admiral came poking on my ship," he said as he entered. He didn't wait to be invited but sat down. "So. We meet in person."

Fig snickered at his unveiled jab about them finally meeting in person. "Respectfully, you are more than welcomed to poke and prod any starship you wish to, my own included. That is one of the dirty dozen powers of authority you have once you surpass the Captain barrier, not that I'm eager to surpass it myself" she said. "I apologize if the wait was too much for you. Unfortunately, I am in the middle of an assignment, and things are not going as smoothly as a cushy desk job" added Fig.

He grinned, "You assume too much. I gave up command of my ship to be here and ensure that the brass doesn't mess with your ship. Think of me as a science officer, advisor when needed and overall protector of the Musashi and her crew...some more than others of course." They'd had a conversation about Seleya. "So. Basically, I'm here to help not to meddle in how you run your ship."

"My crew is part of my ship, Admiral Essex" she replied sharply with suspicion. "You gave up your command...but have you retired? Have you resigned from Starfleet, or are simply an Admiral taking an extended vacation with the luxury of having my starship at your disposal?" Captain Figueroa laid out a barrage of non-rhetorical and rhetorical questions before she pushed up her metaphorical sleeves and came out swinging. "Bull shit you are here as a science officer and advisor. 'Not here to meddle in my ship', but I know damn well why you are here Admiral "And meddling in my Chief Medical Officer is not going to win you over in my eyes."

There was a moment of silence and then it was broken by Essex's laugh. "Damn it Donatella. You are as passionate as the brass says although not in the bad way they say it." He sighed, "Alright, leveling it all out. I am here as a science officer and advisor. I am not retired I still hold my rank and the brass only allowed my...vacation, as you put it because they want me to spy on you, which I won't do by the way. Yes, I am here for Seleya....things have changed. The head of Starfleet science has heard about her abilities thanks to a medical officer who, thanks to me now, is working in a prison colony and this Admiral is not interested in keeping Seleya safe. He's more interested in making her a lab experiment. I will not allow that." He laid it all out. "I'm not here to win you over. I genuinely want to help Seleya, you, the ship." He pointed to her shoulder. "That chip there has to fall off. Not everyone is against you, Captain."

Donatella glared immensely with such intensity, her eyes locked onto Admiral Essex without a sign of wavering away. "I do not have a chip on my shoulder, Admiral. I have a Federation starship in the middle of a prolonged conflict with the Klingons, being taken to the depths of known space to investigate a missing Federation colony, and now I'm missing a member of my own crew" commented Fig. "You want to help Seleya? Stay out of her way. That's my advice to you, but whatever you decide to do, do it knowing I'll be here monitoring your every move."

"I don't doubt it. Now, how can I, a humble science officer, help with your mission." He saw her expression and resisted the childish urge to stick his tongue out at her.

Donatella sighed. "How can't you" she replied shaking her head and resting it into her palms for a moment. "My Chief Science Officer was my First Officer. I still have vacancies and the Department has no leadership at the moment, nobody to rally the junior science officers and keep things going. I need a working Science Department right now... research. I need them researching this region of space. It's lightly charted."

"Perfect. With your permission, I'll hold a staff meeting. I want to get the staff working and gathering data. I can have a few probes ready to go and transmitting data." He was glad to be back in the thick of things and shucking the shackles of command. "I can have a research plan for you within the hour."

There was a smugness about Donatella at that moment, a sense of conquering the patriarchy that even centuries ago had tried to suppress and oppress, attempted to keep the voices of certain sex and genders from being heard on Earth. Sure, the Federation was a bubble of opportunity and equality, but even within that bubble, there were areas that were significantly harder for some to occupy. Names liked Erika Hernandez and Phillipa Georgiou had laid the groundwork and starting to truly pave the way; However, for every Phillipa Georgiou, there were a dozen of Christopher Pike.

There were plenty of women in Starfleet, a bunch making the rank of Captain or holding the position of Commanding Officer, but what of them? What of their place in the Federation historical texts? Hernandez commanded the NX-02 Columbia, but Columbia did not get as much attention in the historical records as the NX-01 Enterprise. In fact, with Captain Christopher Pike carrying on the legacy of the Enterprise, Fig could foresee the name being slapped onto the hull of several starships. Maybe one day a woman would be 'worthy' enough to command her.

"Permission granted" Fig replied. She knew that he outranked her, but this was her starship and unless she was removed from command, she was going to take this as an opportunity to show Admiral Essex she was the USS Musashi's Commanding Officer and that nobody would be replacing her any time soon. "Have that research plan on my desk within an hour. Take whoever you need from the Science Department and place them with duty assignments of your choosing. You have oversight of the department for the time being, but I want to be kept up to date on everything."

He gave a nod. She needed this, he could tell. The brass in the fleet has misgivings about her command but he didn't Her record spoke for itself. "Within the hour. With your leave." He said standing.

She gave a simple yet effective nod. "Dismissed" she added naturally, being so used to someone ranked lower than her.