Chapter Text
First Officer's Log
Stardate 53445.22
My arrival aboard the Agamemnon two weeks ago has given me a new sense of appreciation for the diversity that Starfleet has to offer. Since being appointed to my duties, I have spent a great deal of time going over the many reports and logs that have been accumulating for over twelve months. With the tremendous assistance of Lieutenant Halley Gage, the ship is now current on its records and libraries of information necessary for the logistics of the Border Patrol service.
We've been docked at Starbase 510 for the last seventy-two hours for a complete systems analysis and review, along with some scheduled upgrades. The captain has also advised us that we will be undergoing a limited crew rotation. I must admit to being a little curious, as the service records of the crewmembers transferring aboard have not yet been made available. There is also the concern that the ship's chief tactical officer is retiring, and a replacement has not yet been assigned. A hole in the senior staff may or may not be covered by one of the officers transferring over. As executive officer, I am more than a little dismayed, though if necessary, I can handle those responsibilities in addition to my own until the Bureau of Personnel sees it convenient to provide us with a replacement officer.
If the schedule is maintained diligently, the ship should be ready to depart in under six hours.
Personal Log of Richard James
Stardate 53445.22
While I have been appalled and dismayed over the sheer lack of protocol in the past, I think I'm coming to understand why it might be necessary for the crew to drop any sense of formality. However, the captain's demeanor has changed radically over the past week, ever since his meeting with the port admiral. I have not really come to know Captain Grayum to a point where I might be concerned, but the fact is that Halley is voicing her concerns to me privately.
That brings me to another topic. In the last week, I feel like my example of protocol has been understood and even emulated. Use of given names has dropped noticeably, but that's probably due to the fact that the captain has also been given to observing a more disciplined bridge lately. I wonder if my presence aboard ship has had that much of an impact in such a short amount of time.
Though in dock, the executive officer's decision to maintain a standard bridge watch regardless went unopposed by the captain. It was a sign to the rest of the ship that Grayum supported James' decision to slowly reintroduce a higher level of discipline to the officers and crew of the Agamemnon. In turn, James also fell in line with the sense of camaraderie among the members of the bridge crew, including the use of many of their first names.
"Halley?"
The chief engineer looked up from her station on the bridge, "Yes, sir?"
"How're we doing?" Commander James leaned over the engineering station, his concern and worry illustrated in his tone.
Halley called up the current status of the systems upgrades. She reported that the engineering teams from the starbase were wrapping up and preparing to return, while voicing her excitement at the same time. "I'm just really eager to see how well these new systems perform. Augmented sensor palettes, ablative armor, upgraded shielding systems, cobalt device packages for the torpedo systems. With all of this new equipment on board, we're going to be on the cutting edge of technology."
He smiled at her enthusiasm and he honestly shared in it, "It's a lot to get done in three days. Has it really been long overdue?"
"You have no idea, sir," she said. Genuinely pleased with herself and the transformation of her ship, she returned her attention to her station.
James returned to his seat, but had very little time to settle in. He rose from the captain's chair as Grayum exited the turbolift not soon after. "Captain on the bridge," he said, out of habit. Under normal circumstances, the captain would fix a look of admonishment upon him and settle down into his chair with a quiet harrumph. His entrance onto the bridge, however, was not a solitary one.
"Ma'am, allow me to introduce my first officer," drawled Grayum to the Romulan woman accompanying him onto the bridge, "Lieutenant Commander Richard James. This here is my chief engineer Lieutenant Halley Gage." He continued to introduce the other members of the bridge crew, including Rittian. When he ran out of officers to introduce, he returned the courtesy on behalf of the Romulan. "This is, uh, khre'Arrain t'Aimne with the Romulan Star Navy."
The khre'Arrain was one of the more attractive specimens of her race. Her jet-black hair trimmed neatly at the edges, framed a very regal and tanned face. She had a set of deep blue eyes that seemed to scrutinize every detail around her. When she made eye contact with the executive officer, he felt his knees weaken and threaten to collapse him to the floor. It was the first time he had met a Romulan woman, though he had gotten to know a couple of male officers during the final push toward Cardassia in the last days of the Dominion war. "I am pleased to meet you, Lieutenant Commander James," she greeted him, bowing respectfully toward him. Her hair fell forward as much as the artificial gravity could manage to hold onto, before she returned to her standing position to greet Halley in the same manner.
"Captain," James looked over to him with a question in his eyes, "may I ask the purpose of the khre'Arrain's visit?"
Grayum's drawl was more pronounced now, as it always did when he was under a great deal of stress. Halley recognized it, but James tried very hard to understand the words he spoke. "khre'Arrain t'Aimne has been kind enough to agree to joining our crew. Her duty station will be tactical."
James was alarmed. That was an unusually high amount of trust being given to this foreign military officer. The tactical systems aboard a Federation station were classified, and to offer them up to her could be a court-martial offense. He sputtered, "C-Captain, that's..."
"By the order of Admiral Davies, Rick," the captain finished, looking at him with a cold glare. He did not wish to be arguing in front of their guest, even if she would be interacting as a subordinate officer. "I know it's unusual..."
"Hank, you can't be serious," Halley spoke up, rising from her station.
"I am not gonna stand here and allow my bridge officers to make me look like a damned fool!" thundered Grayum. "Commander James, see to rustling up a cabin for the khre'Arrain."
The bridge fell silent. In the years that Henry Grayum had commanded the Agamemnon, he had never shown his temper before nor had he shown such contempt for his crew being casual with him. Halley was right, James understood now. There was something going on here beyond the obvious that had him in a constant state of agitation.
"Aye, aye, sir," Halley replied, returning her attention to the engineering station and sitting down.
Captain Grayum resided in his seat, after showing t'Aimne to the tactical station. She instantly began to access the controls. Every officer on the bridge had their eyes on her, as she expertly called up commands and diagnostics. He became annoyed, noticing the undue attention, "People, we have an important mission to prepare for. Commander, I want a briefing of the senior officers in one hour. See to it."
James moved his fingers over the console, reserving the conference room on deck two for the briefing. "Aye, sir," he said, having already completed the beginnings of his task. All that was left was to alert each senior officer, though the captain had carried out his own order between Halley, Rittian, and himself. He shot a quick glance toward t'Aimne, trying not to raise the captain's ire once more while also wondering if she would be included in the briefing.
"Captain, Starbase Operations is beaming aboard four classified cargo containers," said Halley.
t'Aimne spoke up immediately, "Captain Grayum, I request permission to oversee the transport and installation of my equipment at this time." She secured her station and rose from the seat to face him as she spoke.
Grayum nodded, "Go ahead. Lieutenant Gage, why don't you go down there with her and lend a hand?"
After the two officers departed the bridge, James approached his captain, waiting by his chair with his hands clasped behind his back. The captain looked up to him, smiling. "Let's go down to the wardroom for a bit, Rick."
Captain Grayum and First Officer James were already seated in the conference room when the other officers made their appearance for the scheduled briefing. t'Aimne arrived with Halley, entering in and taking an open seat at the opposite end of the conference table from the captain and first officer. Her presence on the ship had already spread rumors and gossip across every deck, but that did not prevent the other members of the senior staff to regard her with a curious or scrutinizing look.
Halley took her seat opposite James, offering him a friendly smile of acknowledgment until she realized that his expression was frozen, his eyes staring off at nothing of interest. "Rick?" she said in a quiet voice, in an attempt to gain his attention.
He blinked, looking a little disoriented, before turning his gaze toward her. "Yes, Lieutenant?"
Grayum cleared his throat, "Let's get this little meeting started. I want you all to know that before we begin, that we're all en route to a point outside Federation territory. Effective immediately, this ship'll be under X-Ray mission procedures." The dramatic effect was exactly as he intended, watching the faces of his officers harden at the news. He felt it was good for the crew to be entrusted with such an important mission after doing nothing but chasing the occasional smuggler or wayward ship for almost two years following the end of the war with the Dominion. The captain looked at the other side of the table and nodded to their guest, "khre'Arrain t'Aimne has been assigned here as a tactical officer courtesy of the Federation-Romulan treaty. She will be here to overseeing all operations regarding our new cloaking device."
Halley did not react; knowing already that the cloaking device was installed and ready to test, while her colleagues ranged in their reactions from muttered outbursts to silent looks of shock. She held her gaze on James, who looked down at the conference table while the captain continued on.
"Due to the fact that the Breen have been kicking up their heels along most of the border between the Cardassian and Romulan empires, Guardian Six has ordered us to head up north and take a look around," he explained. Looking back at the Romulan woman, he asked, "If I'm right in my recollection, your rank is equivalent to a lieutenant commander, correct?"
t'Aimne replied, "That is correct, captain."
"Thought so," he nodded. "All righty. Here's how we play this. As soon as we leave Federation space, we begin testing the cloaking device. Any changes or adjustment we gotta do, we do en route. Halley, that'll be your department."
"Miss t'Aimne and I have already completed the installation, and I've already made some notes on some possible configuration possibilities to work with should the need arise, sir," Halley gave a respectful nod to t'Aimne.
"I realize that my language does not come easily to Terrans," t'Aimne stared back at Halley. She was actually thankful that the chief engineer did not make an attempt to speak her rank. The captain's drawl mangled it and she bristled inwardly every time he tried to roll it around on his tongue. "If you prefer to use your ranking system, please address me as Lieutenant Commander."
James asked, "The literal translation of khre'Arrain is Centurion, is it not?" His pronunciation was slightly accented, but it was the best she had heard so far.
"Not quite, but it is close enough," she replied, her tone did not betray her surprise at his revealed knowledge. She made a mental note to not underestimate him again.
Grayum harrumphed slightly, "We'll stick with Lieutenant Commander, then. Everyone, pass the word to your teams on that. I appreciate you trying to accommodate us, Commander t'Aimne." He used the preference immediately, making a show of it to the rest of the officers so they would understand. At her nod, he continued his briefing by calling up a tactical display of the target region. A path between Starbase 510 and the point marked simply as Epsilon sprang into existence once the map had been drawn. A point above the starbase on the path represented the ship. "Once we're certain the cloak is working, we will use it as soon as we clear Federation space. We will arrive at our objective in fifty-three hours at warp eight."
Halley opened her mouth to make a comment, but closed it immediately. James raised an eyebrow toward her in askance, but she shook her head slightly to dissuade him from calling any attention to her.
"Upon arrival, we will commence surveillance operations on any Breen ships we find, but the one we're looking for is any one ship large enough to be a mobile base," Captain Grayum smiled. "After we provide sufficient information on their technological and fleet strengths, we will provide Starbase 510 with on-site data for an assault." Finished with his briefing, he resumed his seat and looked at the collection of officers for comment.
James spoke up first, looking at Halley, "We'll need a weapons systems checklist for all the new hardware we took on board, as well as a detailed testing schedule to be accomplished by the captain's timetable, Halley." He turned his head to look down the table at Rittian, "Ensign, we're going to be counting on your best, now more than ever. I'd like for you to work with khre'Arrain t'Aimne, when her duties permit, to get a feel of maneuvering the ship while cloaked."
Halley and Rittian both responded in the affirmative as James continued on his mental checklist, "khre'Arrain, as our only tactical officer and based on your obvious familiarity with this stealth technology, I think it would be prudent to have you construct and see to the completion of tactical drills in various situations we may find ourselves in." Smiling, he inclined his head, "I'm sure we'll all be curious to see how we perform to Romulan standards."
t'Aimne replied in an even tone, "That is one way of putting it, Lieutenant Commander."
James let the matter drop. He was sure her natural air of superiority was fighting to be seen and heard. The fact that she maintained such a high degree of control over the racist remarks spoke highly of her disposition. But he knew he was pushing the envelope. Looking back to his captain, he nodded to him, "Nothing else from me, sir."
"All righty. You heard the XO, so let's make sure we follow the plan to the letter. Dismissed," Grayum said. When the room cleared out, Gage and James remained seated in their chairs. The captain looked between the both of them before leaning forward to rest on his elbows on the table. "What's on your minds, kids?"
The lieutenant deferred to the lieutenant commander, tilting her head to indicate so. James nodded his thanks, and turned his chair to face the captain, "Hank, I have some concerns about putting a Romulan at the tactical station."
"I'm not going to go into dramatics over it, Rick. I don't much care for it, either, but orders are orders," said Hank. He inhaled and exhaled loudly, "If it'll set your mind at ease, then why don't you take her in hand, make sure she doesn't get into any trouble."
Halley offered, "I don't think you'll have much to worry about. She seems pretty nice on a personal level. I'll admit at first, I had reservations, but working with her in installing the cloaking device and the other... equipment..."
James inquired, very curious about that, "What other equipment?"
She looked at Grayum hesitantly.
The captain sighed, "Might as well tell him."
"With all due respect, Hank, I think I'm entitled to know," said James in a more annoyed tone than her would have liked.
"I will let you know what I think you're entitled to, Commander," snapped Grayum quickly.
Halley dropped her eyes to the table as James flinched. Despite that, he didn't let up, "What is going on here, Captain?" There was more here than a high priority mission, James knew by the way the captain was acting.
Grayum pushed away from the conference table, walking toward the viewscreen with his arms folded across his chest. "Have things changed that much? Have I really become as big an asshole as I think I have?"
Replying first, Gage rose from her chair, but made no move toward her captain, "Hank, we care about you. You know that. We're concerned."
"Ah, Halley," chuckled Hank. "You always did find a way to sidestep a direct question. I guess you wouldn't like to answer any more than I wanna hear it. But listen," he turned around to face his two officers, "the fact is that I'm getting' to be too damn old for this job. I've been talking about retiring my commission within the next couple of years. The admiral is throwing me an opportunity to prove myself worthy of a fourth pip. If I can get it, retirement on a captain's pension is much better than a commander's."
It all fell into place for Halley. Sure, the old man had been talking about retiring, but that was never taken as anything more than a dream out of reach. All skippers talk about retiring on some pleasure planet somewhere, with a boat of their own and a pretty woman (or two) to keep them company. But his recent behavior, the change in his mannerisms, even the rise in discipline made sense to her. He was not simply backing James' seemingly unyielding sense of protocol; he was trying to make sure that everything went by the book, so to speak, to maximize their chances of success. When the shock subsided, she was left with the sense of loss over his decision to leave the ship. She would miss him greatly.
James allowed the silence to drag on, before he decided to move onto the business at hand. "What other equipment did she have, Halley?"
She broke out of her own train of thought to return to the present long enough to answer the question. Halley described several buoys and probes, all modified with cloaking devices and all of them appearing to be primarily used for various ranges of surveillance missions. "There were also four smaller crates, marked for Commander t'Aimne's personal use. All of them were locked with a voiceprint verification system."
Grayum leaned against the back of his chair, while in a mock accusatorial tone he asked, "You were snooping around her stuff?"
"Of course not. She explained how they worked when we opened up the cargo containers," Halley replied, a little offended. "You make me out to be some kind of a sneak. Anyway, she told me that it was mostly just clothing, some personal food items, and other perishables."
James absorbed that, nodding. He looked to Grayum, "One thing I think we do need to determine, Hank, is where our new friend fits into our ragtag group."
"How do you mean?" Grayum asked.
"Is she going to assume a link in the chain of command?"
The captain brought his hand up to scratch at an itch on his cheek. "I know it's a little strange to have a foreigner sitting in a position where she might be called upon to command, but I don't see any way around it. As far as I'm concerned, she'll sit as our Number Two."
"Second Officer?" James whispered, not trusting his voice to keep from screaming.
"Hank!" Halley blurted it out at the same time, clearly distressed with that decision.
A small bit of Grayum's temper made an appearance once more, "Knock it off, both of you. She's a light commander, and she's a key officer." He looked at Gage, "I'm not saying that you need to start calling her ‘sir,' or anything like that. Just that if anything happens to me or Rick, you know who's next. So far, she seems to be taking her cues from us and you, Halley, so I wouldn't worry about a power struggle or a mutiny. One Romulan against the whole ship doesn't make for very good odds."