Game Changer

Posted on Thu Jan 11th, 2018 @ 11:05am by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa & Commander Christopher Samuels MDiv, PhD

Mission: S01E02 D-8 With the Devil
Location: USS Musashi | Deck 6 | Briefing Room

Her visit to the psychiatric facility to interview Kelvar Garth had turned up more questions with a side of answers. Though the man was not entirely forthcoming with where his intelligence information came from, he held up to the scrutiny. The jerry-rigged polygraph may not have been admissible in a Federation court of law and its results may have indicated some deception on certain questions, the overall results in the areas that mattered most showed no deception indicated. When asked if the he believed the Klingons were building the prototype, Garth's answers showed no deception indicated. His vital signs matched these findings and the nurse who had assisted Fig gave her professional opinion of his psychological state of mind. Fig's gut also told her that he was telling the truth. At least as far as she was concerned Garth believed in the intel he was providing. Blind faith she thought to herself in the conference room as she waited for her First Officer to arrive.

This was all going to come down to a matter of faith. She would potentially be risking her career and the lives of the crew if she ventured into this unknown. Her blind faith was all she really had to go in with. Starfleet Command was not sanctioning this operation officially, they wanted their hands clean of it. Her only backup was going to be from whomever she and Commodore Cartwright could sway in their favor to join their 'task group' which was at this point just the USS Musashi and Commodore Cartwright's starship. He had dropped a surprise on her 'doorstep' only an hour or so ago when a Federation starship intercepted the USS Musashi departing from the elba system and had orders to beam aboard a guest.

Fig had called a meeting with her First Officer to discuss what happened at the psychiatric facility, where to go from there, and now of course about the unexpected guest who had been beamed over onto the Musashi: Strategic Attache La'Quentin Cartwright. She was prepared for a bombardment of questions from her First Officer.

Ever since Fig and her team had returned from the psychiatric facility of Elba II, Christopher had been anxious to get a report. When he had greeted the commanding officer she had been mum and then directed him back to the bridge. He was going to protest, even opened his mouth to do so, but one look from the formidable woman and he promptly shut his mouth. Now, he was finally being summoned to get the report he had been waiting for. He was conflicted on this whole situation, the many hats he wore all had differing opinions on dealing with Garth, but above all else he was going to keep an open mind. He entered the briefing room. "Captain," he acknowledged, but didn't take a seat just yet.

"Commander" she replied back matching his formality. "Sit or stand, your choice. However, I would advise that you have a seat for this one, Chris" she added. This time, she deviated away from formalities and personalized it. "We have bodies in the morgue recovered from the Orbital Transit Station and after meeting with Captain Garth...well, let's just say I still am not entirely sure myself, but Garth seems to believe everything he has told us. Furthermore, I have been notified that we have received a VIP guest" she said laying everything out on the table at once. They could go over it piece by piece or however Commander Samuels wished to proceed.

Christopher did as requested and sat, and he also notated the use of his first name. He also noticed how fast Fig was talking as if she were afraid she didn't spit it all out at once, she wasn't going to get any of it out. His brow furrowed at that as he tried to compartmentalize each item himself. "Okay," he began, the one word was said slowly and drawn out. "How about we take each item at a time to make this easier on both of us." He leaned forward, crossing his arms before him. "So, what I'm gathering is Garth's story hasn't changed? I suppose the only thing I can say to that is if you say something over and over, you start to believe it yourself... that's human psyche for you, but..." His gaze fully fell on Fig, boring into her. "What were your impressions and thoughts besides that you aren't sure yourself?" He didn't know Fig that long, but he had a feeling that she had formed opinions or thoughts but Garth had muddled something in between.

"I sincerely question his sanity and state of mind, Chris" she replied flatly. "He had that lost look in his eyes. One moment he seems in the here and now of reality and then..." Fig snapped her finger "Gone into some self absorbed grandiose fantastical realm as though he's fallen down a rabbit hole and pulling up a seat at the Mad Hatters tea party" Fig said with a sigh. "But he did not deviate from the seriousness of his claims. He believes it. The tricorder polygraph supported as such that in the matter of the Klingons, no deception was indicated. I'm cautiously concerned that there is a real possibility this D-8 prototype is an actuality...and slowly but surely Commodore Cartwright's words are catching fire and more and more of the admiralty are murmuring that we need to look into this immediately."

Christopher didn't say anything at first, he wanted to allow Fig's words to sink in before he said anything. He didn't want to have one of those knee-jerk reactions and words just come tumbling out. Now he had wished he would have went down to the psychiatric facility as well. He also knew that Fig and Garth had a past, he wasn't sure what type of past the two had, but a past nevertheless. So would Fig's judgement be compromised or clouded? He didn't think so, but it would be something he would have to watch. "Well... history has proven to us that the Klingon's are more than capable in building bigger and better. If it wasn't for Garth's designs and tactical know-how, we may not even be here discussing this. Garth has been credible before when it came to the Klingons, there is no reason to believe he wouldn't be this time." He shrugged. "Except the fact he has been certified as mentally unstable, and I suppose therein lies the issue, right? Though, something in my gut tells me we should listen to him."

“Good then I don’t have to twist your arm about this” she said with a nod. “The USS Perry is serving as our tactical escort on this. We are to proceed to the Klingon shipyards and ensure the Klingons do not finish that prototype” she explained. “We were sent a Strategic attaché compliments of Commodore Cartwright, but that’s only one problem” she said.

Christopher's left eyebrow lifted at this. "Who is the strategic attache and why is this a problem?" he asked, clearly perplexed by the notion. He already figured the Musashi crew would be watched, that only seemed like the smart thing to do.

"His last name is Cartwright" she said rolling her eyes as bit. "The good Commodore sent his own blood for this one. I do not like the thought of him here, Chris. For a few reasons. His relationship to the Commodore is one things, but he's always a civilian" she added. "Undoubtedly the Commodore will want him heavily involved in this and I do not want a civilian making any blunders."

This certainly was a quandary. Christopher could honestly say that he hardly ever agreed with Fig on anything, but this time he found himself agreeing with the commanding officer. The first question that popped into his head was how in the world did any of this get approved, but he also knew better. Starfleet was a great organization, it offered a lot of opportunities, but the organization sometimes made questionable decisions when it came to Federation safety. "Well, this is certainly something," Christopher said. This Strategic Attache Cartwright being a civilian wasn't totally the issue, Starfleet contracted civilians all the time... but this? This needed someone with fleet and military experience. "And this is certainly a problem. Commodore Cartwright is already a very large thorn, having a blood relation here does not bode well for us."

"No, Chris, it most certainly does not" Fig replied shaking her head. "I am willing to accept his advice, meet with him as needed, and let him do the work he is here to do. However, he is not a member of this crew and a civilian. I plan to restrict his access" she said with a small smirk. "I imagine he may not be pleased with that, but I do think it is best. On that note...we lost our Security Chief to meddling from above. They've pulled her and reassigned her to a special assignment. I was not about to let them assign anyone. I hope that I have your support in this, but I moved Shras from navigation to head Security and I would like to make young Mister Marquez our new Chief Navigator."

Dang, there had been a lot of changes in such a short amount of time. This was what happened in Starfleet though, sometimes things moved at a snails pace and other times you didn't know if you were coming or going. He wondered if things like that would ever change, he had doubt , Starfleet was a military organization after all and military organizations were infamously notorious for issues like these. He also wasn't sad to know the Vulcan ensign was gone, as open-minded as he was, he knew he could do without Vulcan logic. Other than that, he was fine with the decisions Fig had made decided who what when were. "I support it," Christopher said, adding a quick nod. "Though, isn't Ensign Marquez a little young? If I recall he is even younger than the typical Academy graduate." He recalled the young man's file, he was only twenty, but yet quite brilliant in a lot of the mathematics, astrophysics, and the navigational sciences.

“He is incredibly young yet brilliant. He has no signs of insubordination or any questionable conduct” she replied. “I normally would not put anyone so...green into such a position. However, I’ve been at navigation myself. He catches things that navigators with more years underneath them still miss. His calculations and course corrections are about as flawless as you can get. He does have a lot left to learn, but I do not believe he can learn anything more without facing the challenges of the deep end.”

Though he was uneasy about this, Christopher could see the merit in Fig's argument. He was all for giving someone a chance, but someone who was only twenty? That just seemed a little unsettling to him, but then again who was he to judge? He knew Marquez was brilliant and being a scientist, Christopher understood some of the astronavigational stuff, but Fig was also right in that Marquez's calculations and course corrections were pretty much flawless. He also had talked to the young man briefly, the ensign had a mind like no other he had ever dealt with. Yet, there was still so much to learn and the lad would certainly face some backlash from others who were higher in rank and more experienced. That happened though, just like he was sure there were some who objected to his promotion of first officer. "Alright," he nodded slowly, "I suppose we can see how it all plays out."

"See, even we can agree on things" she said a bit teasingly. "Engineering" continued Fig as she practically bolded it out verbally as she transitioned from department news to department news. "Lieutenant McGowan is remaining behind on the Orbital Transit Facility to begin repair work and 'hold down the fort' until we can get a Federation repair ship there. She will not be returning to the Musashi, Chris. I think it is time that she give Lieutenant Garcia the room to shine. I would like to keep him as Assistant Chief Engineer pending and a performance evaluation, name him Chief Engineer. However, in the time being, perhaps you can break the news to him and give him some reassurance. I want him to feel like Engineering is his until further notice. So, if that means tacking on Acting Chief Engineer to his personnel file...see to it that it gets done"

Ah the extremely tall one who I feel like is always going to bump his head, Christopher mused to himself. He had heard that the tall engineer and Fig had a bit of history and the request seemed to make sense even though that left him uneasy. Just like with Marquez, Christopher was fine with giving a chance but he just didn't know enough about these people to make an informed decision. Though, Fig he knew, was a capable CO and there were a lot of changes that happened to the Musashi in a very short amount of time. He didn't have anything to add, Garcia was doing a good job thus far, and he knew the man had quite an extensive engineering background which included an advance degree. "Alright," he replied, "I'll take care of it."

She then cleared her throat "I have another Engineering amendment" she said shaking her head. "Starfleet Command sent a transfer over from the Perry to help our understaffed Engineering Department. Lieutenant K'Niras has helped him get assigned quarters and gave him a basic tour of the starship, but I do not think I made the best first impression on him and I may need you to fix one of my blunders...Cadet Bartowski may need some reassurance that I'm not a Tarcassian razor beast" she said almost blushing.

"A Tarcassian razor beast, eh? That's a new one," Christopher said, the corners of his lips tugging upward into a smirk. He was fairly certain Fig had been called many names--he himself had a few names for the woman--but he was fairly certain a Tarcassian razor beast was a new one. "I could say I'm probably not the best person to reassure him in that regard, but I'll handle it nevertheless."

She glared at her First Officer. “Oh come now. I am not that terrible and you know it. Just because I held your career back and did not feel you were right for a command of your own at the time doesn’t make me a razor beast” she said with a sigh. “It just makes me narrow minded and in the wrong in hindsight. You would be a fine Captain, Chris. Your command style is far from my own, but you’ve proven yourself.”

There had been a subtle change in their relationship, a couple of months ago that would have never been the case, but things were different. Christopher would have never been able to joke, and he would have never received a compliment such as he did from the woman. "Thank you, Fig," he said. It was also nice to hear because he had given up his marriage for this posting, and he was glad he didn't walk away from it for nothing. The Musashi wasn't a bust. "I'll speak with the cadet, I'll be sure to smooth things over. It's what I do."

Fig nodded. "Yes, you would seem to be a specialist in smoothing things over albeit I would expect that from the Ship's Chaplain" she said with a smile. "It is also a very good trait in a First Officer. Thank you. I am sure you will be able to help Newt feel more at ease about me" she said unintentionally referring to Cadet Bartowski by the nickname she had given him. "Also, do not be alarmed if you see a strange woman with blue hair roaming about the starship. She's a Catullan psychiatric nurse from Elba II whom I've requested to join the crew. Our Medical Department was in need of a nurse and she has the degrees and criteria necessary...I am hoping that Lieutenant Aeryn Vinia will be able to remain aboard as Head Nurse."

Christopher returned the smile but it quickly fell into a thin line upon hearing another crew member was joining them. A psychiatric nurse? Great, just great! "Alright, well a nurse is always a good thing and we need the medical staff," Christopher said, he was a bit exasperated at this point. Why so many changes? "I'll be sure to meet her as well?" His schedule was starting to become full. When am I going to actually have time to be a scientist? he thought.

"Right" replied the Captain. "Now that all of that has been taken care of, I need to get some food in me. Accompany me to the Roosevelt if you would like. We can talk shop more or just discuss anything else on your mind" she offered as she gestured towards the door and stood up from her seat at the table.