Star Trek Sim/ Star Trek RPG
USS Eagle, NCC 2185
CAPT Kematsopoulous, CO & CDR Tsiolkovsky, CENG
CAPTAIN'S LOGS
Title: For Everything There Is a Season
Location: The USS Eagle
Setting: A Private Room in Sickbay
The Captain entered the room where he was told his Chief Engineer was waiting.
"Hello, I am sorry to hear about your brother. How are you doing?" he said
listening carefully to her reply so he could know what part of the room she
was in. Knowing her counterpart as he did, he thought it unlikely she'd be
even sitting in the biobed.
CDR Tsiolkovsky shrugged. "I'll be fine," she said, not believing it,
but trying to sound like it.
"I am worried about you too," the Captain said.
The Chief Engineer was silent. She had finally confessed her love to him,
but wasn't sure he'd remember since he was dying in a biobed at the time.
((https://usseagle2185.tripod.com/rbwomzb15cengco2parts.html )) His reply
to her could have been from the delirium and she still didn't know what it
meant. ~ Is there any chance for us to be more than Captain and Department
Head?~ she wondered.
"You need to take some time off to rest and heal from the pace you've kept
yourself to," Captain Kematsopoulos explained.
Valentina sighed. ~ I was hoping for a different reply,~ she thought.
"Ees vhat ees needed. There ees too much that needs to be done. Are the doctors
done? I vhant to see Yev and go," she said trying to wrap up the conversation.
As much as she wanted to know if the Captain had any feelings for her, she
knew she was not in a good position to hear more bad news with her brother's
condition and how exhausted she was. She had lied to the doctors telling
them she felt fine. She knew part of the toll her pace had taken on her health,
but she refused to recognize more.
"Not yet. I've been keeping up with the repair status for both ships. It's
getting under control," he said, figuring out what part of the room she was
in. From her voice, he could tell that she was about three feet away and
standing. "We are in as much of a lull as we can get until we leave orbit."
~Unless we get attacked again,~ he thought. "We may even get the transporters
operational soon and punch through the interference. The two you assigned
to the transporter issues are doing very well. "
"Ghood," she replied.
"So I've got it. Get some rest after you are done here," the Captain said.
The Chief Engineer protested. She knew what was at stake for the ship and
mission. The CENG of the Brazil was still in critical condition. Her top
two engineers were still on restricted duties from the damage of the psychological
assaults of the wormhole aliens. There wasn't anyone she could pass
the mantle to. "No, I feel fine," she lied again.
The Captain paused a second. "We are a lot alike. You are doing the same
thing I did when I was Acting Captain and still in charge of Engineering,"
he said hoping the reference as to how he nearly collapsed before from working
himself too hard when he was in her position would get her to think about
it.
"Da, I remember. You vhouldn't rest. You just kept ghoink," she said.
"Yes, you need to slow down," he replied gently.
"I am fine," she said reasserting her lie. She did, however, think she could
keep her pace up for a few more weeks until the ships were doing better.
"Dr. Sullivan wouldn't have called me here if you were fine. They are not
sure you are strong enough to survive donating your brother a kidney," he
said.
"Really I am fine. I am not staying here and I can't donate the kidney anyway,"
she said trying to sound neutral and factual. Her voice cracked with emotion
anyway.
The Captain paused for a second. ~What does that mean? We've assumed
she wants to donate a kidney. Maybe that is not the case? I need to make
sure that is her wish,~ he wondered.
"Do you want to donate a kidney to your brother?" he asked.
She replied, "Of course, but I don't see how I can do that and keep up vhith
repairs...It vhill put me off duty too long. I know," she paused slightly
and continued, "...the mission comes first. That ees that. Just as the Vulcans
say too much, the needs of the many," she said trying to explain.
The Captain countered, "The needs of the many and .... of the one depend
on you. You're," he deliberately avoided saying in pretty bad shape, "um,
very important and you need to rest for a bit."
"Thanks Tavereesh, but I am not going to stay khere or be stuck een my quarters
vhen there ees too much to do," she said.
"You need to rest," he said more firmly.
"I vhill, later," she said making her tone more stronger sounding than his.
The Captain went back to his original plan to get her to slow down.
He knew that escalating the situation with her would likely make it worse
so he tried a different approach. "I was handed an important report on key
elements of the ship's systems." He tapped the keys and pretended to listen
to the report. "Yes, everything is proceeding well," he said very confident
and upbeat. "You should be glad to hear that ... hmm no....one potential
major problem," he said changing his voice deliberately to accentuate a shift
to the negative and get her attention focused where he needed it. He also
knew she'd want to hear something negative so she could continuing doing
what she thought was best for the ship, but not for herself or her brother.
"Vhat ees eet?" she asked.
"Flux compensator efficiency is dropping on PlasmaRS2. Projections of the
overload are two days max at current rate of use. Seems the part was due
for inspection for replacement a month ago, but with everything else going
on, it got missed," he explained trying to sound thoughtful.
"Vhee should swap eet out to be on the safe side and test eet that way. Shouldn't
khave eet fry itself out een an emergency. It'll take too long to replace
een a crisis," she said without thinking. That was standard protocol for
things like this. "I can get to vhork on that as soon as I leave khere."
"I agree," he said, handing her the datapadd with her medical records that
included her prognosis of collapse in two days.
The CENG took the datapadd, read the open file and realized she had been
tricked. "You think you are clever don't you," she said.
"I've been told that from time to time and hoping I am having another of
those moments," he said wryly.
"Nyet. I am not slowing down until the ship ees out of danger," she said
stubbornly. ~How can he think there is any other choice for me? This is best
for the ship and mission. If there is no one to take over engineering right
now, there isn't anything else than can be done. I buy the ship a few more
days or weeks and hope those two can take over by then.~
"Val, that is not going to be for a long time, and we both know it. You can't
keep driving yourself into the ground because that's where you'll end up,"
Nouri explained.
"Ess necessary. I can rest later," she said.
"There is no later. You need to rest now," he said, wondering how she can
be so stubborn. Then again she was the only daughter of Admirals Tereshkova
and Tsiolkovsky with four older brothers. There wasn't a lot of choice for
her to be anything else.
"Nyet (Russian -No)," she said folding her arms. ~How can he be so stubborn?
There is no other course of action,~ she thought.
"Da," said the Captain hearing her movement and mimicking the defiant tone
in her voice. He turned on one of his devices to process what was going on
visually for him. The other device in his ear relayed what the change of
posture was. He did his best to affect the same change for emphasis and folded
his arms. Then he softened his voice considerably, but it was stern and serious.
"I'll do what I need to do to keep you well. This is not a request. There
are several options here: The docs relieve you of duty; you are remanded
SIQ (Sick in Quarters: off duty and restricted to quarters due to illness);
you stay here; or I relieve you of duty."
"You vhouldnt dare. You are making one of those bluffs of yours..." she started
to sputter.
"I'd dare a lot to keep you well. Call me on it and see," he said forcing
merriment to play across his face to further his bluff.
"Fine," the CENG muttered. She couldn't always tell when the CO was
bluffing, but she knew it was usually a mistake to call the bluff.
The Captain unfolded his arms. " Val, we need you. I need you," he said.
Title: For Everything There Is a Season, Part Two
Location: The USS Eagle
Setting: A Private Room in Sickbay
The CENG was thrown off a bit by his last line catching his wall of a poker
face of his starting to drop. "What do you mean 'you need me' ?" she asked
hesitantly.
"I mean all of us on the ship need you," he said trying to avoid any other
topic.
"That's eet? Nothing more?" she said, bitterly hurt and turning away.
"I...I don't know," Nouri stammered uncertainly, surprised by her reaction
and a change in his feelings towards her.
"What do you mean you don't know," she said pushing it. "Ees there a chance
for us?"
"I...," he started to say. ~I don't know how the other Nouri sees this
or what he wants. I don't want to ruin his life. What am I to do? ~ he wondered.
Valentina didn't wait for him. She could tell he was vulnerable, so she shot
straight to the heart of the matter as she saw it. This was her opening and
chance. She regretted deeply not taking the other ones she had missed. ~All
or nothing,~ she thought.
"Nouri, eet's been ten to thirteen years for you since your vhife died.
Eet's time for you to move on. Eef not vhith me, then someone else ," she
said gently.
"It's been less than two years by Federation time since it happened. Her
. . . body was never found. There is still some hope," he replied recalling
the details he had read for this universe in which he found himself. They
were very similar to his.
Valentina moved closer and put her hand on his shoulder. "Someone told me
she died in your arms," she said softly.
"Yes," he said. Nouri looked away in pain. He was only thinking of himself
now, not his counterpart. His T'Nar died in his arms. He didn't reach her
in time when their transport shuttle collided with an anomaly. The causalities
were high. He had saved others, but not her.
"Died, Nouri. The explosion after that vhas very bad. Even eef there was
somehow a chance to have resuscitated her, even then no one alive could have
survived," she said.
Nouristao pulled away. "I was found and thought to be dead for a year," he
said speaking about what he read about his counterpart.
She was pained by him pulling away instead of reaching out to her. If nothing
else, she wanted to be close friends and comfort him and get him through
this. "Yes, by the Vhahnharae (Wahnharae), but they didn't rescue anyone
else, just you," she said not to be mean, but to lay it open for him.
~I wish I knew who they were and how to contact them, so I could ask them
to feel more certain about that. I don't have enough to go on from his notes
and essays about any chance they might know if T'Nar was found. Maybe I could
use that too find my T'Nar also?~ he hoped.
"All survivors vhere found. Eet's terrible so many died, but that ees vhat
happened. You have to accept that. You can't bring her back. You lived. She
did not. You must go on. She vhould vhant that."
"How can you say that? How do you know what she wanted?" he said. He knew
she was right, but did not like her speaking for T'Nar.
"She'd vhant you to be happy," Val said simply. "Just like I vhant you to
be happy, even eef eet ees not vhith me."
"Some people and species have just one mate, even with death, I..I never
considered a life with anyone else. It's hard for me to imagine otherwise,"
he replied. Nouri had only loved one person like that his whole life. It
was hard for him to think ever being able to love that deeply and completely
again even if Val was starting to mean more to him than he wanted to admit.
"Da, that ees the problem you must feex (fix), like you tell me about the
flux compensator. Only you are transtator een (in) storage for decade.
Ten years, Nouri. Eet's time. Love vhon't be the same vhith someone else,
but eet can be good," she avoided saying 'just as good', figuring he would
fight her on that level.
"Val, I just don't know. It's not no. . . I just am . . . not myself right
now. I can't make such a decision now, even if I wasn't put in the position
of Captain, and we didn't have such a challenging mission to focus on."
Val moved her hand back on his shoulder, hoping it wasn't going to be a serious
mistake.
"I just vhant to know now eef there ees a chance. You don't khaff to take
eet now. You don't khaff to ever take eet," she paused before completing
her thought. "I just vhant to know eef there ees a chance," she finished.
He reached up, pressed her hand gently into his shoulder and said, "Yes."
Title: For Everything There Is a Season, Part Three
Location: The USS Eagle
Setting: A Private Room in Sickbay
Valentina put her other hand on top of Nouristao's, squeezed it gently and
exhaled. She had waited so long for this.
"Then you will slow down?" he said returning to the topic for which he had
come in and taking his turn to hit the center of the matter.
"I vhill try," she said, trying to choose her words to be truthful.
"Good, but this is not one of the times where I say trying your best is enough.
You must really do it Val," he said.
She fidgeted, not sure what to say. She didn't think she needed to or could
rest as much as they said she should. There was just too much to do and she
didn't think she was as sick as they said.
"I mean it Val. I will do what I need to keep you well," he said a bit sternly.
"All right, I'll get some good sleep tonight," she replied. There was a lot
to do, but she'd give herself more than four hours to sleep, maybe even make
it up to six hours of sleep.
"Not good enough. If the ship's status stays the same, you have one, two
hours tops, to do the turnover," Nouri said. "Then you are off to eat well
and sleep well," he ordered.
"That's not enough time," she protested. "I need a day or half of a day at
least to turn things over right."
"Considering your condition and what's at stake, that's all I can give you.
If I don't feel you will follow orders and rest in your quarters, I will
relieve you from duty and you can stay in Sickbay," he said making sure she
knew he was serious. He knew if he gave her four hours, she'd try and take
eight and she couldn't continue another eight hours like this. He bent his
fingers around to hold her hand on his shoulder to soften the orders and
help cinch her cooperation.
She wanted to protest some more but didn't. ~At least I can catch up on the
admin ((paperwork)),~ she thought. "All right," she said trying to study
his face. ~He is so hard to read sometimes and been acting so differently
since the cargo bay accident. I can't tell if he believes me,~ she thought.
"Good," he replied, happy at the reply but not believing her. ~I'll have
to check up on her or get someone else to. She's going to try and circumvent
this somehow. I don't have to have to be able to see or hear an expression
on her face to know that,~ he thought.
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