JL | Commo Ivanova & Cmdr Dahe'el | CO & XO | "Away You Rolling River"

Posted on Mon Jan 25th, 2016 @ 9:43pm by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Almar Dahe'el

2,715 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Resurgere
Location: Bridge, Pendragon

=\v/= Bridge, Pendragon, En-route to Cold Station Theta =\v/=

Sitting on the bridge of the Pendragon was a strange feeling, after being recovered by Archer and delivered, they had finished picking up the escape pods from the Vindicator, her crew was housed in emergency berths set up by the Vanguard crew in the cargobays, their expanded infirmary had come in handy for those injured, mostly minor injuries, even Commodore Ivanova was being well cared for in the advanced facilities.

To his left sat a dour Tellarite, he hadn't said much since occupying the command chair in the midst of the battle, he'd said even less since they had left the site of the battle without the former occupant of the seat, Vokar, the Vulcan that they had all followed had not returned from the Vindicator and his lifesign couldn't be detected, they'd not detected any additional escape pods or shuttles coming from the remains of the crippled ship.

Stealing away from watchful eyes had not been easy. It had come about in the middle of the night when exhaustion raked Landon over the coals and James had set about on another task - one Rochelle could only imagine either involved hard liquor or revenge, perhaps even a thick mix of both. It hadn't been easy, but she'd made it happen. Clipped wings had never been her forte, neither had listening to medical advice, and while her eyes were still a bit puffy from the mending skull fracture, she was able to navigate the halls perfectly fine. Even in civilian clothing she was left alone. The Vanguard crew simply nodded and dipped their brows as she passed. She couldn't be sure if it was in respect or in mourning - and truth be told it left her feeling more guilty for Vokar's death than empowered by the symbolic gestures of respect being paid to her as she made her way to the bridge.

It was so very like the Vindicator, as far as lay out was concerned, and yet completely and utterly alien. Where the Vindicator had been warm and highly embellished, the Pendragon was far more Spartan. It was like comparing Titanic to the Lusitania; night and day even though their sisterhood was ever so outwardly apparent. Even the bridge seemed different, if ever a war station could be considered luxurious or sparse. Even Almar seemed different there, more haggard, more weathered. From the quiet of the back of the bridge, Rochelle considered him for a moment - stealing away the split seconds it would take before he realized she was there and not tucked in bed where she was supposed to be.

"The air feels different when you're here, Rochelle," Almar said without bothering to turn to look, it caused a few sets of eyes to look up from their duty stations and towards the small redheaded woman stood towards the back of the bridge. The Cardassian allowed himself a small smile as he looked over his shoulder, "You've been told you should rest, which is why I chose to wait for you here."

"Some could say you know me too well," Rochelle found her voice. It still held grit from the assault fiber glass and other particulates had ravaged her throat and lungs with, but it rung out strong enough to be heard. At least it wasn't the whisper soft mewing it had been the first time she'd woken up from the nightmare. "others may try and accuse you of sorcery." She smiled smugly, tugging her throw tighter around her shoulders in an unconscious movement to shield herself from the small battle of wills she expected from him. He'd want her to leave, to crawl back in bed and she, bullheaded as always, would refuse him his victory. Leaving the proverbial shadows, the diminutive Commodore ignored the questioning gazes and moved to take up position beside the much taller Cardassian. The space displayed on the viewscreen was decidedly a comforting sight. The stars were still burning as they passed by them, proving that they were still alive.

"Without slipstream drive the trip to Cold Station Theta is taking a little longer than we're used to, although our host is pushing the bar out and testing the limits of their engines to get us back quicker. They're eager to return to the site of the battle and join in the search for former Captain Vokar." Almar responded as he stood from the chair and gestured towards it with wide arms, "The escorts have begun the process but their sensor suites aren't as sophisticated as the Pendragon's."

The sigh she breathed was a big one, and the rush of air burned her injured lungs. "James said there's no way he could have survived," she replied grimly, "I can't help but to hold out hope that he somehow managed to escape last second. He's hard to kill."

"The Vulcan has escaped certain death before," the Tellarite replied as he canted his head to the side, a toothy grin flashing as he spoke, "I have no doubt that we'll find the sneaky git alive and kicking somewhere."

Almar nodded slightly as a slight smile crossed his lips, "He's right, even our records show that Starfleet Intelligence knew that he escaped the destruction of the Vindicator C, he was picked up by the Vanguard and delivered to Starbase Versailles after a few months. Recent intelligence suggests that this was the time that the former Captain began his journey away from Starfleet."

"I know the stories." The little redhead allowed herself a small smile and dip of her head, "If anyone could do it, it would be him. Hopefully the rest of the trip to Theta is a quick one and this crew can go back to making a difference." She nodded then, as if to set her words and thoughts in concrete. Long throughout her career had she heard tales of the Vanguard and the battle hardened Vulcan that had defected from Starfleet to play some variation of Robin Hood. Many stories had been daunting. Some romantic. Others pure fantasy, but they'd all had something in common: They were inspiring. Be it hope or resentment, they made you think. To lose all of it because of her selfishness was a thought almost unbearable. Rochelle shivered then, hooking her fingers tighter into the gray fabric of her throw.

"Sit down," Almar almost ordered as he watched the young woman carefully, "I know you too well to try and get you to leave, so you might as well make yourself comfortable." he added as he stepped around her and waited to take her current position.

An eyebrow arched and fell, reporting her surprise, ire, and understanding in just a fleeting second. Rochelle knew better than to hold Almar in any form of contempt - he'd always only chosen to look after her best interests, often at the sacrifice of his own. Fighting him would be fruitless, at least as far as his mild demand would prove. The seat she lowered herself into was surprisingly comfortable; warm, deep, almost post in the way it began to mold itself to her curves in an attempt to support her feeble frame. "You're right. I won't leave." She admitted with a small, tired smile. "Too much on my mind to try and sleep again. May as well let Landon get some rest... You'd do well to do the same."

"I've been resting," Almar replied truthfully, he'd been spending some time in a cot in one of the emergency areas. Not sleep particularly but it had been restful and the Cardassian didn't need to sleep for long periods, "I'm restless without the Vindicator, however."

Her head hung in perfect understanding of what it was he was speaking of and where it was that he was coming from. The Vindicator had been his love child, the one thing that he'd thought of as giving him purpose - regardless of how much purpose he had outside of the ship and her upkeep. Losing the ship had been like losing a lover or a child, and while it tore big chunks of her heart away, she could only imagine what the big Cardassian was feeling. "You and I both." She responded softly, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"I can rebuild her. If Admiral Red gives me permission to utilize her yards, I can have a new ship built." the Cardassian replied softly, the loss hurt him deeply, something he'd spent years of his life working on, from development, to planning, to the construction, even going as far as giving up his assignment on the shipyards to remain on board as the Chief Engineer, he'd sacrificed a huge amount for the ship that became the Vindicator E.

Looking up, Rochelle studied him for a short moment while formulating her reply. They'd grant them another ship, that much was beyond a shadow of a doubt, but then came the question of whether or not they were ready for one, whether she wanted one. To deny him was out of the question. The Vindicator would rise again with or without her sitting as her Captain. "I doubt she'll say no to the request. We'll have to arrange a formal meeting with her when we arrive." She nodded, offering him a warmer smile as a small attempt to comfort him.

"There will be a meeting anyway," Almar replied with a slight frown as he lent against the railing behind him, "We lost the Vindicator, there will be an investigation into our actions and the actions of the Enterprise, especially since we were on a diplomatic mission to a new species." the Cardassian added, "I do not envy Commander Dhej in this situation."

"I know, but I don't necessarily think that such a meeting would be a good place to start negotiation for a new ship," she sighed, gingerly crossing her legs, "I could be wrong. We didn't fire first, neither did Tr'Bak, and Dhej violated a direct order made by a superior officer. The way I see it? We followed protocol and were in the middle of talking Tr'Bak down. We can't be held accountable for someone operating on their own agenda." Rochelle's lips pursed for a second and she shrugged, leaving a deep ache to cascade through her tiny form. "I can give orders. I can do my best to enforce them, but I can't force another Captain to act accordingly... I have a heavy enough amount of guilt to bear as it is, I refuse to add Dhej to that burden." She added, reminiscent of what Landon had told her when she'd tried to take on the additional weight of the Enterprise's faux pas.

A slight sigh passed through his lips as he opened them to speak before closing them again, he took another few moments to make up his mind before he actually replied, "Admiral Red will make the Commander regret his actions."

"Of that..." She paused, allowing her eyes to drift back towards her stalwart guardian, "I have no doubt."

"How're you feeling at any rate? How's the head?" Almar asked as he regarded her gaze, his eyes meeting hers slowly as he shifted his weight around slightly.

Rochelle knew that any combination of the words 'I', 'Am', and 'Fine' would only yield poor results and a look of scorn. He knew her and knew the situation well enough to realize that she was anything but 'fine' - and for once that was alright. No one would be 'fine' given the circumstances, not a single one of them. "I'm a little sore," she admitted, "headache comes and goes, vision is getting better since my eyelids aren't as puffy." The best she could do was offer him another half smile, hoping her quiet honesty would pass inspection. The physical worst of it would take a few days longer to heal, even with the modern marvels of medical science. It would be the emotional toll that would take so much longer, and it went without need of being spoken.

"You surprise me, Rochelle." Almar replied, a smile crossing his lips and a chuckle rumbling deep in his chest, "I was expecting you to avoid honestly, if I had asked the very same question a couple of months ago, you would have said you were fine, a typical answer from any Captain in the face of their own mortality."

To that statement, she gave a little shrug. "Sometimes honesty and clarity is needed... Now, perhaps, more than ever."

"There is hope for you yet." The Cardassian replied with another light chuckle as he slid a padd out of his jacket and thumbed open a few documents, searching for one he'd put together earlier. Finding it took moments and he offered the padd with his left hand, "I thought you'd want this as soon as possible, all crew have been accounted for, some injuries being tended to but nothing major."

Pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off the beginning tingles of what was sure to be the beginning of a migraine, Rochelle held out her unoccupied hand. "Everyone who evacuated was picked up?" She asked, forcing herself to release the tender flesh between her eyes in an attempt to be useful and begin thumbing through the report he'd come up with.

"Tr'Bak didn't want to risk launching into a fight with the Vanguard, he could take the Vindicator on her own, but not a ship her size accompanied by several escorts." the Cardassian recalled as smoothed his hair back down against his head, "Escape pods were picked up by the Pendragon en-masse, stragglers were collected by the escorts, everyone has been transferred to emergency berths in the Pendragon cargobays."

"Tr'Bak isn't a stupid man." The young Commodore nodded, "I'm just glad that the Pendragon decided to pay us a visit when she did." And then there was silence for a moment as she considered the events and how to break them down and process them, "How long until we reach Theta?"

"A day at most," the Cardassian replied as he handed a second padd to the Commodore, this one had a singular listing on it, "The Tellarite wants to leave as soon as the crew have been returned to Theta, Vokar didn't make it off the Vindicator and they're convinced he's still alive."

"We have no hold over the Pendragon or her crew." Rochelle responded quietly, "Allowing them to try and seek closure is the least we can offer them."

A nod was all the reply that Almar issued as he turned to look over his shoulder at the Tellarite as he made his way around his crew stations, "We have to make note of it, for official records, of course." he added with a slight sigh, "They want to be docked for as little time as possible, while their actions may be sanctioned by the Vulcan government, for now they are still considered a rouge faction."

"Make it so. Admiral Red may be ruthless, but she's not cruel. She knows there's a debt of gratitude to be repaid to this crew." Her eyes followed the Cardassian's as he watched the Tellarite move about the bridge, "See to it that the survivors are ready to depart as soon as we reach Theta. There shouldn't be an extensive turn around time."

"Your will be done," Almar replied with a slight mocking edge to his voice, "Just remember that you're supposed to be resting and off duty, Commodore." he added before pushing himself out of the chair and smoothing his obsidian hair back to his head, "If you need me, I'll be in the Ops office, checking the disembarkation schedule."

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm resting and enjoying the view." Rochelle chuckled lightly. "It'll be good to be back on home turf. Thank you for keeping things steady."

The respectful bow was small, no words were spoken as the Cardassian turned and allowed himself a small smile, his walk carrying him into the turbolift to head down to the office.

(End Log.)

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E (destroyed)

&

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC 78213-E (Destroyed)

 

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