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DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

DAY 02:  Poker Night  [2000 hrs.] 

[ William Robert O'Connell | 2000 hrs | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy  ]   Attention:   Aisha S'Iti, Sten Covington, Jien Ives

From the day the Theurgy was commissioned, the senior enlisted men had always held a weekly poker game to down some liquor and shoot the breeze with their fellow chiefs.  Only chiefs were permitted at this game, whether you were a chief petty officer or chief warrant officer first class, if you could hold you own you were man enough to sit at this table.  This was the domain of the senior noncommissioned officers, the ones who had been serving Starfleet in the enlisted ranks since Christ was a mess cook, the ones who remembered when the fleet had been served by ships made of ceramic hulls and duranium men rather than the other way around.

Since she set sail, the USS Theurgy had suffered many casualties, but in exchange had gained a few reinforcements too, many of them from the ill-fated USS Harbinger.  The new counselor was from the Harbinger, as was a surviving a surviving pilot from Dor'GhItlh Squardon.  The one who interested Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert O'Connell the most was the Theurgy's new helmswoman, Master Chief Petty Officer S'Iti'Atukkuchi Aisha Oklahomma, AKA Master Chief Aisha S'Iti from Dorvan V. 

Master Chief S'Iti had been born right on the edge of the Cardassian Border and had grown up enduring the worst that the Cardassian-Federation conflict could offer.  She had lost both parents and had joined the anti-Cardassian pro Federation group of freedom fighters known as the Maquis ten years ago and was pardon for her crimes and allowed to enlist in Starfleet when the Dominion invaded.  From there, her legend only grew.  By the end of the Dominion War she had been battlefield promoted up to the rank of senior chief petty officer and because of both her extensive experience in space and the ribbons and commendations she had earned during the war Starfleet made it official.  

Master Chief S'Iti was something special.  She was one of the few enlisted personnel both qualified and encouraged to fly, despite the tradition of pilots always being officers.  As a matter of fact, it was thanks to her that Starfleet instituted the practice of commissioning what was known as 'third-year master chiefs', fighter pilots who weren't officers and flew Valkyries despite the fact that they hadn't completed four years in Starfleet Academy. 

Master Chief S'Iti had been the chief helmswoman of the Harbinger but had rejected Declan Vasser when it became clear that the augment had no respect for Federation values and was willing to murder Starfleet personnel to get what he wanted.  She had helped the Theurgy repel the mutiny and had manned the helm during the fight with the Calamity.  It was rumored that Captain Ives was going to install S'Iti on the bridge as a permanent replacement for the late Cale Winterbourne. 

Even though her time in Starfleet had been relatively short, there was no way Billy Bob O'Connell could resist inviting her to senior enlisted men's weekly poker game.  This woman had fought the Cardassians while serving aboard starships as a civilian and had earned the right to call herself chief and nothing or nobody would stop him from inviting her into the honorary brotherhood of senior noncommissioned officers.

Of course, it came as a surprise to learn that she was a Cardassian.  Billy must have frozen for a second when he finally met her in the flesh, because when she accepted his invitation she had a trace of a knowing smirk.  That was okay.  It was time to see how Starfleet Master Chief S'Iti really was.

"Here it is," Billy Bob announced as he led to the curvaceous Cardassian down a corridor on deck eight to one of the vacant residential quarters set aside for VIPs or families.  "Meet the fellas."

The door opened to reveal that there weren't very many of the guys here.  As the memorial service earlier today had made painfully clear, most of the regulars were dead, in sickbay, or were on duty covering for someone else who was unlucky enough to be a casualty.  As a matter of fact, only two chiefs were waiting for them; adding Aisha and Billy Bob that would make four playing poker tonight. 

Sitting where he could survey the room was Chief Warrant Officer First Class Sten 'Papa Bear' Covington, the Theurgy's chief of the flight deck.  A native of Earth's Birmingham, England, Sten Covington was a legend in certain Starfleet circles, what they called a 'man and a half'.  He was the one man who stood up to the officers and won.  It was a tribute to the way Starfleet was ran that top officers knew a secret that they never seemed to share with their junior men:  A good chief is worth his weight in latinum. 

Chief Warrant Officer Covington was an inspiration to all chiefs and any crewman who aspired to be one.  The stories about Papa Bear went from the inspirational to the ridiculous.  They said as a drill instructor he had trained the most successful Starfleet officers serving today when they were in the Academy.  They said he was on both of the teams that designed the Hammerhead and Valkyrie fighters and that he was the one who figured out how to convert the engineers' science fiction dreams into science fact reality.  They said that he had broke a Jem'Hadar's neck with his bare hands during the Dominion War and that he had killed himself a Nausicaan when he was only three.

Sten Covington never sold out and became an officer no matter how many times he was asked; there was too much work to done.  Instead he had become a warrant officer in order to stay in his beloved Starfleet doing what God had sent him there to do.  It was said that when a relative told him that his wife was leaving him if he didn't muster out he had said:  "I'm going to miss her."  If something needed doing and had to be done right the first time, Sten Covington was the man to go to.  God bless all chiefs.

Sitting with his back to the wall was Senior Chief Petty Officer Calvin 'Animal Mother' Reagar from Proxima Colony.  Cal Reagar was a veteran of both the Dominion War and the Cardassian-Federation conflict that had proceeded it.  A  rootin' tootin' phaser shootin' member of the security division, he had seen action on Bajor, Cardassia, and Dorvan V.  It was his actions with a grenade mortar on Betazed that had caused the Theurgy's chief security officer, the uncanny and unkillable Lieutenant Commander Wenn Cinn to ask for Animal Mother join the crew.  Cal Reagar claimed to be the first Terran to prove it was possible to kill a Jem'Hadar with a knife and had witnesses to back it up.  Eight years ago he had faced the Borg up close and personal and decided he didn't like it.  After that he had gotten in the habit of collecting old-school projectile shooting firearms with recoil and the dangers of ricochets. 

Right now, Cal Reagar was staring at Master Chief S'Iti as if she was from another planet because technically she was.  "Who's the new meat?" the security chief asked point blank.

Oh well.  It could have been worse.  He could have asked 'who's the spoonhead?'  That would have gone over like a fart in church.


OOC:  I've left some seats open in case new players join and make up a grizzled chief petty officer to join our ranks.  Haven't found a way to mention Aisha's mission yet, but no doubt it will come up in the dialogue.



Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #1 –
[ Sten Covington | 2000 hrs | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy  ] Attention:   Aisha S'Iti, Billy Bob O'Connell, Jien Ives

There was a concept among senior enlisted personnel that dated back centuries.  From the late twentieth century, it was known on Earth as the Old Boys Club and it was a tradition that had endured over the ages.  It was an informal gathering of a unit's most experienced soldiers and non-commissioned officers and while the Sirs and the Ma'ams were officially in charge of things, it was their senior non-coms and Warrants who made sure their wishes were made into reality.  They would coordinate work schedules and duty rosters, make informal requests from one another for personnel or assets and served as sounding boards and advisors to each other.  And on the USS Theurgy, that hallowed institution was alive and well. 

And in this case, their informal meeting was most informally held in vacant quarters.  But they had not broken in or violated any directives.  Under Starfleet regulations, nearly every space on board not directly involved in the direct operation of the ship could be booked for functions or gatherings or even private use, from holodecks to laboratories to conference rooms.  And living quarters that were unoccupied could so be requisitioned as well.  And in this case, there was a standing request that had been quietly staffed and approved through the Quartermaster's office and properly signed off by the Charged of Quarters officer of the watch, the late Ensign Yelchin at the time of approval, shortly after Theurgy left spacedocks before her trip into Romulan space.  That initiative had been led by the Chief of the Deck himself.  Granted, he was not formally the ship's seniormost enlisted man but he was the one with the most experience and the longest service.  In fact, he had joined Starfleet before a good deal of the crew was even born.  And he was what was colloquially known as 'old-school' and he was a firm believer in the brotherhood of senior non-coms.

Sten was shuffling the cards when the door opened to admit the last two people that were realistically expected to show up.  The poker game was never held on the same say of the week twice in a row as to allow maximum participation, and he made it clear that he wouldn't tolerate anyone shirking their duties just for that chance at sharing that kind of companionship.  And these two late comers were Billy Bob and the Cardassian who had flown the ship when they were engaged with that nightmare from the future.  Granted, she was new on board but she deserved to be welcomed to the Old Boys Club just the same.  And then, he just thought of something.  Between all the Chiefs and Warrants on board, there were easily a few centuries of experience and knowledge floating around, plenty to back their officers and advise them in every possible matter. 

When the Security senior non-com spoke, Sten was the one to reply.  "That's Aisha S'Ithi, who decided that bastard Vasser wasn't worth her time and we're damn glad to have her.  Have a seat, you too.  And since you're the last two in, you get to buy the first two rounds."

Then, he set down the deck and rested his hands on the table.  "Boys and girls, the game is Texas Hold 'em.  Ante up."

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #2 –
She smiled walking into the room looking around the "poker room".  she couldnt help but be a bit impressed at how they had transformed the vacant crew quarter into a psuedo lounge.  she couldnt help but laugh at the comment about fresh meat.  as she made her way towards the table, "Guess the first round is on me then then," she said sitting down at the table throwing her ante in and smirking, "So, do we have any actual bottles, or are we having to rely on that replicated synthohol stuff?" she asked  considering what she got herself into. 

On one hand sure she was one of the noncoms but she was also trying to get herself promoted to an officer as well.  Something that was practically everything this band of brothers of sorts was against.  In a certain way it was more than awkward to be here but she wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to integrate herself into a crew that given her actions before turning on Vasser had innumerable reasons to not accept her.

Instead of weighing herself down with future concerns she just looked over to what made up their "bar" and asked.  "So, what will you boys have to drink?"

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #3 –
[ William Robert O'Connell | 2000 hrs | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy  ]   Attention:   Aisha S'Iti, Sten Covington, Jien Ives

"Here's a little something I got from the bar the day before the Loh- the Loh-... that Risan festival we had on the holodeck.  It's um... green!" he stammered before brandishing the bottle of emerald colored whiskey in triumph.  "We won't even have to override the replicators to have some of the real stuff!" he proudly declared as he grinned like a weasel in a henhouse.

O'Connell had been planning to save it as a trade item in his never ending scrounge for favors, parts, and equipment but adding a new chief to the ranks was always a cause for celebration.  He did his best to make Aisha welcome but had a feeling his was overdoing it.  

The sad fact was the Aisha was the FNG, the friggin' new gal.  Three of these people were kind of the same, but one of them was different.  Aisha S'Ithi hadn't been in Starfleet since Christ was a mess cook the way the others had.  Currently was the only woman at the table, and the only extraterrestrial as well.  Not being born on Earth meant nothing in this day and age, but the fact that she was a spoonhead... er... a full blooded Cardassian was a mite disconcerting to someone who had gotten used to her people being the bad guys since the day he had enlisted. 

O'Connell poured his shipmates each two fingers of the green whiskey and sat down and accepted his cards.  Reagar was looking at the Aisha as if he was trying to decided if he'd have to kill her, but since that was his poker face, it meant nothing.  Sten Covington was mastering the art of showing no expression at all, so O'Connell cleared his mind, cleared his face of dumb looks and settled into the game. 

With a careless grace that only comes from years of practice, he deftly lifted the edges of his cards to catch a glimpse of them.  A five and a nine, both hearts.  Five and nine weren't the best cards to start with but at least they were in the same suit.  It hardly mattered anyway, because this was only the first hand. 

"Raise," Reagar muttered.  That meant nothing.  Reagar always raised before getting any cards in the first hand.   If he didn't raise that would mean something, but since he did it only meant that it was poker night.  O'Connell automatically tossed a second chip in.  Nine times out of ten, Reagar only raised one chip in the first hand.

Frowning, O'Connell glanced around the table.  It was as quiet as a church on a sports day.  That would normally be fine, but Aisha was new.  All this silence was no way to get to know someone.  Time to get some small talk going.  "So how was your day honey?" he smiled at the security chief sitting to his left.

Reagar looked at O'Connell but didn't dignify the question with a response.

"Anyone?" O'Connell smiled disarmingly as he glanced around the table.


OOC:  Opening things up for small talk if anybody is interested.  Either Auctor Lucan or Zenozine can play Reagar if he decides to share what security is up to (Maybe he'll talk about how Commander Cinn managed to come back from the dead).  Otherwise Reagar will only respond with grunts.  Aisha has lots of conversation starters under her belt and Covington can always tell us what the pilots are up to.  Or everyone can just concentrate on the game.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #4 –
[ SCPO Calvin Reagar | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 08 ] Suggested order: 1) Covington 2) S'Iti 3) O'Connell

Reagar suffered the awkward silence for as long as he could, which was precisely three seconds before cleared his throat and shifted his seat a bit. He sucked a breath through his teeth and raised his eyebrows, idly trying to appear like he was considering the ramifications that his two-of-hearts and six-of-spades held down the line, but instead grasping for the first topic that came to mind. No, that won't work. Not with a lady present. Snake-lady, sure. Those tits shout 'lady' nonetheless. Perhaps... No. Offensive too. Oh, I know.

"So... Ahem," he said and shifted his seat again, "Wenn's back. Though he shouldn't be. He died. Everyone knows it. Still, he is. Well, the Deputy transferred to the Harbinger but she came back after ramming her new ship up that nightmare-ships tight ass. Despite what she did at Niga, I kind of trust her a bit more now. Wenn, he just walked off a shuttle from the Archeron. I mean, isn't it obvious he has been planted here? He killed Vasser, though, but I still can't say I trust him now. I mean we all take his orders. Us in security do not dare do otherwise. But we're watching him, always, trying to see if he is trying to communicate with the fleet. I just can't make any sense of it. How the hell can Ives trust him? What does he, or she, know that we don't?"

Pouring himself some of the Aldebaran whiskey, he kept frowning at his dealt hand with one raised eyebrow.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #5 –
Aisha couldn't help but smirk.  "Already trying to make the pot hot are ya?"  she said looking down at her cards seeing an unsuited 2 and 7"  the infamous worst possible hand.  Even though the odds were against this hand for some reason she had been blessed with a certain uncanny luck when she was dealt it and she felt the right air about them.  Today was one of those days.  Looking down at her chips she matched the raise and smirked.  "I'll call it."

She then added answering the man. "As for why the captain would believe the Bajoran? The better question is why our enemy would use the security chief's explanation as a cover.  If you are going to infiltrate, would the tactical advantage go to using a believable but improbable story or a story that is believable only to a select group of people who place a degree of faith in a group of enigmatic non- corporeal aliens from the Bajor wormhole."  She paused and sighed her voice edged with a raspy essence of a storyteller of old campfire tales and dead beliefs. "Though they are far from the spirits of my people. I learned a long time ago to not bet against the will of the prophets.  Perhaps they see our enemy as they view the Pah Wraiths.  His return to mortality would be far from the first time they either brought someone back from the beyond or temporally displaced the right person in the right place at the right time in order to make a change in our world.  There are perhaps spirits beyond the mortal coil are lending their aid to our fight.  Maybe, we would be better off to not question their blessings,"  she said softly closing her eyes thinking back to the old legends the local medicine woman and her elder had told her as a child.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #6 –
[ Sten Covington | 2000 hrs | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy  ] Attention:   Aisha S'Iti, Billy Bob O'Connell, Jien Ives

The Chief of the Deck could only chuckle when Billy Bob produced the bottle of green liquor.  Granted, it was hardly his favourite but it was whiskey, after a fashion, and it didn't call for using replicator rations or passing off the expenditure on a department's 'routine operations' replicator budget.  There was a time where the grizzled Briton would have been offended at that sort of thing but he'd learned over the years there was always going to be some skimming from the replicators when its usage was limited and instead he had convinced his fellow Chiefs that cracking down on it hard would be fruitless because there was no real way to stop it.  However, there were always ways to control it and keep it low-level and low-key and that had been done by setting aside a small amount of resources for that purpose.  It was unofficial and while not quite blatantly illegal and against regulations it was in a dark grey area.  But it had brought to an end people trying to hack past the security measures that had been put in place when the rationing had been instituted. 

When Reegar threw in his chips, followed by O'Connell, Sten chuckled.  "You're in that much of a hurry to get cleaned out, Cal?  You'd think you'd have learned by now."  There were both black tens in his hole cards and that was a good start.  "Call," he replied as he threw in the requisite amounts to keep the action going. 

When the conversation veered to the Bajoran Chief of Security, Covington nodded when the Cardassian put in her bit.  That girl had a good head on her shoulders all right, that was worth preserving.  Getting her involved in the Old Boys' Club had been a pretty wise move.  "And think about it, man.  How many people saw Wenn get blown out into space?  How many people saw his body afterwards?  There's too many who know the man was dead to make him any use as a plant.  The new XO?  He'd have been a great plant.  Except for the whole part where it's clear he could have done to us just like he did Sankolov, or worse even and not needed to be a plant in the first place."  Griping about officers was a favourite pastime of noncoms.  But in this case, Sten Covington was certain of that Trent guy.  Between what he did and the Chief Warrant Officer's finely tuned ability to detect bullshit, the man seemed solid enough.  He sure acted that way during the mutiny.

Looking towards Reegar, Sten couldn't help but feeling old.  He was one of the oldest members of the crew and his Starfleet career had spanned four decades.  Hell, he'd been in the service since before most on board were born with a few rare exceptions, including the Security Departmental Chief who would have been at the tail end of his diaper days when Mister Sten Covington became Crewman Recruit Covington.  "Reegar, where were you when Miss Congeniality dropped the forcefield and dropped both our newest arrivals like bad habits to make sure they weren't fixed like Acreth?"  There was little on board Sten did not know.  He viewed it as his responsibility to be as aware as possible of the ship's going-ons and that was part of what he'd come across.  But then again Reegar was like a lot of senior enlisted types: he lacked the mental flexibility to think outside the box in a lot of ways or branch out from what he'd been taught.  And sadly, that would mean the man had likely topped out his career and could only look forward to more jobs as a Security Department Chief, maybe as an instructor at some point if and when they'd be legitimate Federation citizens and Starfleet personnel again.  Others like O'Connell?  The man definitely had the specialized skillsets and the smarts to get into the Warrant ranks, but still too eccentric to really belong with the officers.  The Cardassian?  The woman practically exuded an officer's aura despite the informal way she had first addressed Reegar.  Talked like them when she'd went off about Bajoran religion. 

"So, boys, you going to call it or is this already getting too rich for your blood?"

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #7 –
[[ William Robert O'Connell| Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy  ]   Attention:   Aisha S'Iti, Sten Covington, Calvin Reagar , Jien Ives

"So... Ahem," Cal Reagar muttered as he shifted his seat, "Wenn's back. Though he shouldn't be. He died. Everyone knows it. Still, he is. Well, the Deputy transferred to the Harbinger but she came back after ramming her new ship up that nightmare-ships tight ass. Despite what she did at Niga, I kind of trust her a bit more now. Wenn, he just walked off a shuttle from the Archeron. I mean, isn't it obvious he has been planted here? He killed Vasser, though, but I still can't say I trust him now. I mean we all take his orders. Us in security do not dare do otherwise. But we're watching him, always, trying to see if he is trying to communicate with the fleet. I just can't make any sense of it. How the hell can Ives trust him? What does he, or she, know that we don't?" he snorted as he threw in his chip.

"Already trying to make the pot hot are ya?" Aisha teased she as glanced at her cards with an air of smugness.  "I'll call it," she added as she tossed in another chip.

"Not yet darlin' give me a chance to raise it up now," O'Connell drawled as he squinted at his cards.  Sten had dealt him an eight and a six, both hearts.  There was a good chance he could get a straight or a flush out of this.  He threw in two more chips and the others followed suit.

"I'll see that," Reagar muttered.

"You're in that much of a hurry to get cleaned out, Cal?" Sten teased.  "You'd think you'd have learned by now.  Call."

The Theurgy's chief of the boat won the first hand and that was no surprise to anyone.  It was O'Connell's turn to deal now.  "I'm sorry, you were sayin'?" the master chief said to the comely Cardassian.

 "As for why the captain would believe the Bajoran?" Aisha replied.  "The better question is why our enemy would use the security chief's explanation as a cover.  If you are going to infiltrate, would the tactical advantage go to using a believable but improbable story or a story that is believable only to a select group of people who place a degree of faith in a group of enigmatic non- corporeal aliens from the Bajor wormhole."

"Ah," Billy Bob nodded knowingly.  "The Prophets.  I don't think there's a single fella who's spent a leave on Bajor who ain't heard of 'em."

"Though they are far from the spirits of my people, I learned a long time ago to not bet against the will of the prophets,"  S'Iti continued.  "Perhaps they see our enemy as they view the pah wraiths.  His return to mortality would be far from the first time they either brought someone back from the beyond or temporally displaced the right person in the right place at the right time in order to make a change in our world.  There are perhaps spirits beyond the mortal coil are lending their aid to our fight.  Maybe, we would be better off to not question their blessings."

That was just the kind of thing O'Connell expected someone from the ship that betrayed them to say, whether she was innocent or not.  He let out a sigh.  It just wasn't working.  For O'Connell, the Cardassians had been the bad guys for far too long and S'Iti came from the ship that offered the hand of friendship before stabbing them in the back.  It was getting easier to trust the giant Bajoran in comparison.  After getting hit by betrayal after betrayal, it was getting hard for the Theugy's resident conspiracy theorist to trust someone new these days.

Reagar seemed skeptical, but whether of Commander Cinn or Master Chief S'Iti was unknown.

"Come on Cal, she's got a point," O'Connell argued on the chief security officer's behalf.  "His gorram story's unbelievable.  After the betrayals we've faced anybody who'd think that we'd swallow a story like that is crazier than popcorn on a hot stove.  Nobody who's smart enough to teach a hen to cluck would think of making up a lie like that."
 
"And think about it, man," Sten chimed in.  "How many people saw Wenn get blown out into space?  How many people saw his body afterwards?  There's too many who know the man was dead to make him any use as a plant.  The new XO?  He'd have been a great plant.  Except for the whole part where it's clear he could have done to us just like he did Sankolov, or worse even and not needed to be a plant in the first place."

"Yeah, I just hope there's more like Trent on the outside," Billy Bob commented.

"Reagar, where were you when Miss Congeniality dropped the forcefield and dropped both our newest arrivals like bad habits to make sure they weren't fixed like Acreth?" Sten growled.

And just like that Poppa Bear changed gears.  "So, boys, you going to call it or is this already getting too rich for your blood?"

O'Connell checked his hand.  A four and a five of spades hidden and a five of diamonds visible.  Not the best hand in the world.  "Too rich for me," Billy Bob shrugged as he threw in his cards.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #8 –
Before long, and to everyone's various rate of surprise, the sliding doors opened to admit another visitor. At first, the dim lights in the antechambers of the vacated quarters did not reveal who it was - a mere silhouette against the brightly lit corridor outside. When the doors closed behind the figure, only the visitor's footsteps were heard against the thin broadloom.

"I had not expected to find you both in the same place when I asked Thea where you were," said a female voice that was well known to most people seated around the poker table. "Had it been any other quarters, and you'd been alone, I would not intrude like this... but Thea confirmed that this night was, indeed, one of those nights."

The woman emerged into the light that shone above the poker table, and it was Captain Jien Ives - presently in her female form. She was in uniform, and she smiled faintly as she put her hands on her hips - glancing at the current state of the game. "I am sorry to interrupt, but as tied up as I am, I wanted to do this in person. Chief Covington, Chief Reagar, do you mind if I have words with these two before you continue this hand? No need to get up, for it won't take too long."

Evidently, the Captain had something to say to Aisha S'Iti and William O'Connell.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #9 –
[ Sten Covington | 2000 hrs | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy  ] Attention:   Aisha S'Iti, Billy Bob O'Connell, Jien Ives

When the door hissed open, Sten turned towards it.  As a rule, this makeshift Chiefs' lounge wasn't locked when it was in use and it generally went undisturbed when it wasn't.  After all, those quarters were booked for usage, although there were no occupants on roster yet everything was above-board and well within regulations.  However, it was the first time of any ship or station he'd been on that the commanding officer intruded like this on his senior noncoms.  Junior officers sometimes thought they could get away with it, but usually not long after their first assignment to a ship they knew better.  So it had to be good.

Despite Ives' entry, Covington did not rise to his feet or even stiffen up to attention in his seat.  After all, no one did that when she walked into the gym or Below Decks or the like, and while the quarters they were using hadn't been modified in any way to accommodate their extracurricular activities it was their space.  However, he did address her.  "It's your ship, Captain.  Everyone here's on your schedule." 

While not overly long on deference, the Chief of the Deck's tone was not irreverent or rude, it was a simple statement of fact.  That and Ives knew better than to barge in on her people like this without a good reason.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #10 –
[ William Robert O'Connell | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ] Attention:   Aisha S'Iti, Sten Covington, Calvin Reagar , Jien Ives

"Captain on deck," Cal Reagar muttered as he looked at the doors and sat up straight.

"Ma'am," Billy Bob added as he straightened his shoulders.

"I had not expected to find you both in the same place when I asked Thea where you were," Jien Ives explained as she walked into the cabin wearing her female form.  "Had it been any other quarters, and you'd been alone, I would not intrude like this... but Thea confirmed that this night was, indeed, one of those nights."

"It's your ship, Captain.  Everyone here's on your schedule," Sten Covington shrugged casually.  He had served in Starfleet long enough to tell at a glance whether the commanding officer didn't mean to intrude or wanted everyone to stand at attention.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but as tied up as I am, I wanted to do this in person. Chief Covington, Chief Reagar, do you mind if I have words with these two before you continue this hand? No need to get up, for it won't take too long."

"No rest for the wicked," O'Connell commented as he rose to his feet, assuming that it was Covington and Reagar who didn't need to get up.  "Yes, Ma'am," he said brightly.  "What can we do for you?"

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #11 –
[ Aisha S'Iti| Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ]  Attention:   O'Connell, Covington, Reagar , Ives

The Cardassian nodded hearing Reager's muttering and straitened up hearing the various statements acknowledging the Captain.

"No rest for the wicked.  Yes, Ma'am, What can we do for you?" she heard Billy Bob say as she rose to his feet.

Deciding it would be for the better to do the same she rose to hers and straitened herself puling down her uniform and  giving the captain a slight salute. "Cap'n" she said respectfuly with a bit of a Western U.S. Cowboyish hint to the way she said the rank.  The way she said it and her salute's hat-tip like motion was akin to a throwback to what one would imagine occurring in a western town by the name of Forsaken Quail or something equally remote sounding.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #12 –
[ Captain Ives | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 08 ] Suggested order: 1)  S'Iti 2) O'Connell

When the two MCPOs followed her, Jien stepped away from the poker table and led them to the dark antechamber of the rooms, where her face was only lit from one side as she turned to face them both - the light coming from where Reagar and Covington remained. They were not precisely out of earshot, and Jien had no intention to hide what she was about to say. She had merely stepped away out of respect for their off duty hours and for sake of the two people before her, whom mightn't want to discuss their pending choice over a deck of cards.

"After the mutiny, Aisha S'iti requested to be considered for Line Officer duty," she said to O'Connell, explaining the reason why they were talking, "she felt that, having been Marquis, she had been deprived of the chance to serve as she wished, discouraged to enter officer training and that she has been unfairly treated by Starfleet. Whether the prejudice against former Marquis originated from our current enemy or not isn't the question here, but whetherI should grant her the opportunity she missed."

Turning her head, Jien looked towards the Cardassian helm officer, addressing her directly. "Considering you recent service towards this crew, and after the evaluation of your performance during the recent SAR mission, I am willing to allow you to take a series of tests that - in my opinion - should be enough to let you attain the Line Officer equivalence of your current rank. If you pass these test, it has been decided that you will switch to the rank of Lieutenant. I hope, however, that you don't see this opportunity we give you merely as a means to get back at the people in Starfleet that mistreated you, but that you will live up to the responsibility and calling of a Starfleet officer. Then, you can't afford to keep considering yourself ex-Marquis any more... but begin to take pride in your current service under my command. I won't have you wear those pips just so that you can gloat about it."

Leaving Aisha to think about that, Jien turned back to meet O'Connell's eye in the dim light. "We must preserve the chain-of-command, and we are running low on qualified officers in some departments. With this in mind, and with the opportunity that we are giving Chief S'Iti, I want to extend the same offer to you, Chief O'Connell. If you are willing, and you think you can do it, would you like to take the tests as well, and become Lieutenant?" Jien paused to let him digest this, but moved on before he might make a hasty objection. "Personally, I have seen naught but excellence in your service, and I hear the whole Engineering department looks up to you. You are already Chief Engineer, so the difference would be nominal in practice, but it might strengthen your position too. If some on your team starts disagreeing with how you run Engineering, they might get the idea to go over your head and speak with Commander Trent, or me. You being a Lieutenant, such notions might not come as easily."

Having presented her twain offer, Jien waited for the two Chiefs to decide, and she turned her head to Aisha first - thinking she would have it easier to make up her mind since she had brought up the request to begin with.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #13 –
[ Aisha S'Iti| Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy ]  Attention:   O'Connell, Ives

She listened at attention, taking in the captain's words thinking them over and understanding the carefully placed meanings.  She began to understand that indeed this couldn't be over something petty like vengeance or pride.  Being an officer meant just that, an officer of Starfleet, no more being the Ex-maquis, that was her past those were her people, but it couldn't be what she still was.

Strangely a part of her was tempted to decline the offer now that she was presented with it.  still she remembered the times she had to decline it when it was offered at the right times. she couldn't pass it up again.  But she remembered someone she knew in the Maquis.  The only other captain living of one of her ship's sister vessels.  A man who now served as the captain of the vessel that had been sent to capture his own. But she remembered how he acted, he honored the dead of their shared struggle but now he was an officer of Starfleet and seemed to never carry any grudge against them.  She knew that it was his example she had to follow not the example she imagines setting for herself.  To be an officer meant she couldn't be selfish.  it meant standing for ideals that the more she looked at the more she agreed with, ideals their shared enemy sought to destroy. 

She nodded to her Captain, "Thank you Captain," she said softly not knowing what else to say other than to be honest and just say in a soft tone, "I accept."

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #14 –
[ William Robert O'Connell | Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 8 | USS Theurgy  ]   Attention:  Aisha S'Iti, Jien Ives

After Chief S'Iti, correction Lieutenant S'Iti, accepted her promotion both women's eyes turned to O'Connell.  For a brief moment, Billy Bob's mind flashed back to a time when he had been juggling two women and they had met and compared notes.  The recollection sent a cold shiver down his spine, almost as much of a cold shiver as he was getting from the idea of being promoted to lieutenant.  As if being chief engineer wasn't death sentence enough, Ives wanted to make him an officer too?  Thank god the promotion was voluntary.  He could still turn it down.

Reacting quickly, O'Connell managed to get the alarm out of his eyes and used some irreverent humor.  "Thanks for the officer Ma'am," he smiled a disarming lopsided grin at Ives, "but I've worked too hard to make master chief to be demoted back down to lieutenant.  Not ready to become an officer jest yet," he winked, "too much work t'do."

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #15 –
Chuckling quietly at O'Connell jesting with her, Jien nodded her head at the man. "Very well then, I can sympathise with that, so don't let me hold you up, Chief. Feel free to return to your game, and I look forward to your daily report on the morrow. Don't stay up too long," she said in equally good humour, as much as she could possibly muster of late, by playing at being an overprotective mother.

Then she turned her head to Aisha and folded her arms underneath her chest. "In that case, the first written test is set up as we speak, and you have one hour to prepare. It is the Ensign examination test, so I am confident you will pass it despite the late hour. Then again... you might just want to review the database for that hour nonetheless. It would be a shame if you failed the test because of some minuscule technicality."

Having said this Jien looked towards the gentlemen by the poker table. "Good night, and good luck. The drills continue tomorrow."

Then Jien walked away, but she paused in the doorway, not about to leave Aisha S'Iti completely overwhelmed by the lack of time she had before the first test. "Oh, if you want, I could give you forty minutes... in case you might have any questions about the officer-courses at the Academy." The faint smile returned, lit by the lights of the corridor. "Shall we?"

Leading the way to a place Aisha was free to pick for the tutoring, Jien folded her arms behind her back and changed... to his male form, and adjusted the length of his step to match Aisha's again. "I read you had to lie and omit things in order to avoid hostilities with the Harbinger survivors. In the greater scope of things, I reckon it was necessary."

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #16 –
Before leaving the room she smiled looking to the chief engineer. "If your Lieutenants give you any problems about your rank you can count on me to be the first to back you up.  Even if I do make Lieutenant we gotta stick together to keep the Officers in line by reminding them what a person that does actual work for a living looks like."  she said proudly then adding, "No offense Captain.  she stated before walking out of the room with Ives. 

Once the doors shut she added "By the way, I would welcome the refresher on the Federation officer exams  I am assuming should I pass the ensign level there I will need to begin refreshing myself on the JG level one and likewise afterwards the Lieutenant one?"  she asked

Having walked with the captain to another of the out of the way unlocked quarters she nodded listening to his words about the mission.  "To be honest, I would have preferred to be honest with them but I fear that doing so would have endangered the doctor which I felt was a non acceptable risk.  The other option and honestly the safest probably would have been a low yield wide dispersal of a phaser stun over the camp but I felt that would hardly be the most friendly means to do so.  Still I am glad we were able to rescue the survivors of the Harbinger  I hope i did not cause any tensions among them and the rest of your crew through my use of deception sir."

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #17 –
[ Caden Ives | Corridor > Vacant Residential Quarters | Deck 08 ] Attn: IronFerrox

The Cardassian picked another set of quarters, plenty of them abandoned given the lacking numbers of crewmen aboard the ship, and Jien followed inside. He had thought she'd pick Below Decks, but if she wanted to refresh her memory about the contents of the officer exams there, Jien was not going to challenge that choice. "Thea, increase lights to 70 percent." The place was clean, dust filtered through the environmental systems, so he picked a wall to lean against, folding his arms across his chest and watching Aisha as she spoke of the mission.

"Risk management is actually something that is brought up during this first exam, and given your care to not endanger your fellow officer, I think you will pass that section easily. As for whether or not you caused tensions with your ploy to make them think you were under Vasser's command, it might have been the case if it weren't for the fact that Maya was to preform the mind-melds and cleansed them from T'Rena's influence. Your tactic did not leave the outcome in your hands, but that of the Vulcan's and as such, there was no greater cause for concern." Of course, ThanIda zh'Wann had harboured suspicions towards Chief S'Iti to try and rally the Habringer survivors against the rest of the away team, but that was her job - to ensure the safety of the team. She might have taken her orders a bit too seriously, as she often did, but Jien had not read anything about a confrontation between the team members in the reports. If there was any tension, S'iti knew more than Jien did about it.

"So what questions do you have about the first tier of exams?" he asked, brown eyes following the Cardassian around the quarters - appreciating her permanent form in its hereditary outcome but not staring openly in a way that would be unbecoming of him as a Commanding Officer.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #18 –
She smiled softly, "I guess mostly the differences between the similar exams from right before the Doninion war and the current versions. To be certed to be an officer on ships in the Maquis we pretty much used the same tests as you in the Federation were using; guess that's one of the advantages of having a few high ranking defectors in our cause was them bringing along a lot of Starflet's officer requirements along with them including the examinations and their scoring rubrics." she breathed happily recalling her time as a Captain fondly.  Though the Maquis may have been a bit backwoods and played a lot by ear.  SHe recalled that them running Peregrines, Condors and various older Starfleet ship classes vetted their officers similarly to the standards found on a vessel.  In fact most of the differences between Starfleet the Maquis were political and moral in nature though militarily they tended to try and hold themselves to similar standards.  "Last time I saw the test was when I administered the ensign test to one of the younger engineering assistants on my ship."

She sighed a bit remembering how only a few days later she and her crew had been ordered to make for a direct course for Earth upon reports of a Borg vessel spotted on a heading towards the Sol system. "If I recall, much of the exam also relates to application of various tenants of the Federation such as an officers role in preserving the prime directive on missions and other such diplomatic and ethical concepts that are more further discussed in academy courses than ones time in the Starfleet bootcamp.  Is this still a primary component of the Ensign exam?"  she asked having taken a seat eager to take this chance to pick the captain's brain for whatever information on the exam changes she could.

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #19 –
Nodding where he stood, Jien felt that Aisha knew the general set-up of the exams ahead of her. His brown eyes followed her where she sat down to listen to him, even if she already knew more than enough from past experience.

"Correct," he said, raking a hand through his hair before he pushed away from the wall and slowly paced around the room while he talked. "Officer conduct, policies and regulations. The exam presents you with command scenarios in which you must choose right between difficult choices. They are quite detailed, and should give you plenty of clues about what kind of exceptions you might be dealing with. You are placed in command of a ship or an away-team, or perhaps even as a diplomatic envoy. About a fifth of the questions pertain to first contact scenarios, so you might have to go over those protocols before the test as well."

Coming to stand in front of Aisha, Jien folded his arms across his chest and turned to her. "Given the nature of the test, is there any specific protocol that you want to ask about, or a scenario which you would have trouble deciding the right course-of-action for?"

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #20 –
She looked around the room for a moment contemplating what she would ask.  It was a question that had been weighing on her a lot.  "Why didnt your crew follow the sanctioned mutiny clause when you defied Star-fleet orders to return to base.  from my understanding if a captain defies fleet orders and there is not sufficient evidence of moral or ethical reason for doing so, standing orders are for the XO and senior staff to strip the Captain of command confine him or her to the brig Follow said orders and upon earliest opportunity RTB in order for a formal investigation and possible court martial to take place.  This is known as the Sanctioned mutiny clause of the chain of command if I recall."

She paused just a moment before continuing and looking the captain in the eyes.  "If I may be so bold as to ask, what happened here when it was decided to defy your orders.  It was probably the source of more rumors on the Harbinger than any other subject but we still don't know what was going on here when you decided to defy your orders and how did the crew react?  According to every regulation Ii have read they should have mutinied to assure the ship did not fall into the hands of what would be assumed to be a captain defecting to an enemy fleet.  Correct me if I am wrong but according to the test I am about to take.  I would fail the test if I didn't choose to mutiny against you?  Why did a crew that appears to follow regulations more strictly than most defy regulations when presented with your defiance of orders?"

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #21 –
The Cardassian woman raised a very valid question, and Jien realised that for the Harbinger crew, this might just be a question that they would wonder about. Then again, Vasser and T'Rena had managed to remain in command after Sonja Acreth was apprehended and incarcerated into the Brig, the Akira-class ship having faced the same kind of strife that the Theurgy did without the crew springing a mutiny on them. Jien reckoned that the evidence in the transmissions sent back to Earth was of the nature that it was convincing enough to make the crew rally to Vasser's order to seek out the Theurgy and to find an ally. If nothing else, the beating the Akira-class ship had taken and the decimation of over thirty attack fighters and Tactical CONN officers was incentive enough to find help. Vasser must have known just how numbered their days were, and had no choice but to turn to the Theurgy for help.

"After returning to base in San Francisco after our long diplomatic mission to Romulus, it was due to pure happenstance that Commander Nerina and I - along with the majority of the bygone Senior Staff - managed to overcome transmissions that detailed the indisputable truth about Starfleet Command." Memories of the dead came to Jien, faces and smiles, steadfast and dutiful. Augarath Thenaljpar. Hendricks. Jaru Rel. The memories of Nerina and Nolak Kalmil were stained by the events Jien suffered during the Niga incident, so he shied away from them. He resumed pacing the room, suppressing the glimpses he saw of Nolak infecting... her. The memory had made Jien change to her female form again. She focused on the explanation instead, to suppress the notion of the taste in her mouth, the feeling of Nerina having her in a headlock, spreading her legs with her own, and the Nolak when he... when he....

"We recorded the voices of Starfleet Command's operational authority - including the Commander in Chief, the Chief of Staff and the Chief of Starfleet Operations." Jien clenched her jaw, folding her arms underneath her chest as she spoke. "These three individuals spoke with others, voices yet to be determined, and an unknown number of others were listening in. It was revealed through the transmissions that they were some kind of impersonators of the people they once were, and we have come to learn more about their nature since then. Yet before we could get the truth out, our secretive efforts to meet this threat was compromised. We were too late, and we had to flee Earth in order to save our lives. The transmission files were lost, ripped from us before Thea could shut them out of our systems, but together, the Senior Staff and I managed to convince the crew to hold true, and that we would be able to set the records straight."

The humm of the ship emphasised that statement. The silent pause illustrated how the crew was still waiting.

"Yet here we are," said Jien quietly, looking to the carpet beneath her shoes. "As for your exam, I hardly think this particular scenario will be there, so you have nothing to worry about. The lesson here is that I was not alone. I had the Senior Staff on my side, and that reduced the risk of a mutiny."

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #22 –
She smiled hearing his words about the events.  "Its nice to hear that you were able to inform your senior staff of your intentions.  I imagine that had they objected you nor any of us would not be standing here.  I imagine you know as well as I how important a senior staff's trust is to the morale and crew opinion on the captain.  Just being told by a captain that we are doing something, that can be disconcerting to a crew.  always feels like the captain has made an executive decision that no-one has any say in.  When its the department heads delivering radically abnormal orders.  It's somehow so much more, easy to trust.  You cant really take an issue up with a captains orders but theirs an unspoken allowance with regard to asking a department chief to clarify strange orders.  Captain orders you to do something strange you dont ask questions you just do it.  You get a weird order down the pipe and your allowed to ask, wait a second you want me to do what?  and you might get an explanation.  at least you are "allowed" to ask for one there." 

"As for us, We didn't really know on the Harbinger what had occurred.  When Vasser decided to go rogue himself is a bit of a mystery to me.  What I recall was our orders with regard to the Theurgy were simple and direct.  Destroy on sight, No prisoners, do not allow them to transmit any information.  Ship was declared a loss and any auxiliary craft were to be treated as craft breaching a medical quarantine.  Any personnel or craft believed to have had contact with anyone on the Theurgy after a specific date was also to be considered equally dangerous.  One day we were hunting you guys then a small fleet comes out of warp and opens fire.  we barely escape and then Vasser tells us we are enemies of Starfleet.  As far as we knew he went rogue days before without our knowledge and had damned us all due to his own actions.  Once we found the enemy within our midst we assumed she must have sent word to the fleet that Vasser was disobeying orders and that's what warranted us being declared enemies.  After the recent events though I suppose another possibility my be likely."

She paused for a moment then spoke up again.  "I know this has nothing to do with studding for the exam but speaking as a former Captain in the Maquis I would like to run something by you regarding an observance I recently made.  Call it just me speaking from experience with regard to having fought a loosing war against a superior foe."

She looked around a moment, "I believe Vasser's unique physiology may be the reason for the orders to destroy us.  Based on what I have been told by those who had been influenced by T'renna.  Vasser's genetic advantages would be passed along to all offspring where we would flee to.  Apparently it was believed that these children not only would have the advantages known of eugenically augmented humans but it is possible there may have been either an immunity or at least resistance to, for lack of a better term, possession by the beings that have infiltrated Starfleet.  I believe we may have been targeted because Vasser's existence his genetic "superiority" was viewed as a threat to our shared enemy."

Looking down she then sighed, "The scariest part though was the Calamity.  You say she never attacked you before encountering us.  If I recall in the logs it was noted that the Niga incident was due to temporal meddling by our enemy.  When we first encountered the Calamity and began to flee from her and began to loose crew en masse was near the same Stardate.  I don't know if you have considered this but what if our enemy believed that you and your ship would be rendered out of the picture at any point after Niga.  Calamity was sent from a future where he Theurgy returned with crew infected from the niga life forms and Thea's schematics were used to make her.  with the Theurgy recovered and the Niga organism spreading like a lusty chaos virus.  Trent never joined your crew and was part of Cala's design team.  What if our enemy was acting like the Cardassians did in the DMZ conflict.  You see the Cardie's were sometimes stupidly arrogant.  They send out one attack and assume it will work perfectly.  Then send a second attack that will only work out if their first attack goes off perfectly.  They assume that they know the future events and attack based on that assumption."

She smirked, "Now apply the same logic.  The Calamity can only exist in a scenario where the temporal agents never interfered on Niga and as a consequence Thea becomes made available to be used to create Cala.  Our defeat at the hands of the Calamity would have been inevitable had it not been due to a different object of temporal interference,  The Theurgy.  Had temporal agents not aided you the Theurgy would be unable to aide the harbinger and engage Calamity.  Therefore Calamity would have inevitably destroyed the Harbinger.  They didn't count on temporal interference on Niga.  Likewise the Calamity didn't expect temporal interference in the way of the Theurgy still being alive when the final blow against us would have came."

"What if the Theurgy's survival at Niga itself has created an unforeseen temporal butterfly effect that our enemy did not count on, Whatever we are facing apparently based its attack plan on a version of the future that has already been changed.  What if we have an advantage that our enemy couldn't have conceived.  We are part of a time line that has already changed from the time line they expect to be in existence. The reason we continue to survive against them despite them seeming to have foreknowledge of events is simple.  The past they are counting on happening has changed and they can't access the new version of the future.  The Theurgy itself is a Hole that exists outside of whatever they can predict.  The more things we do that have impact on the world outside us the more the Butterfly Effect expands in its scope.  I cant imagine how vastly just a single transmission sent through a starbase's subspace network could tear apart the very fabric of the future they have knowledge of."

Re: DAY 02: Poker Night [2000 hrs.]

Reply #23 –
There were definitely a lot of unanswered questions in the wake of the mutiny and the destruction of the Calamity, and Jien had no illusions about learning all the answers anytime soon - if ever. Chief S'Iti had a few very interesting theories, but perhaps the most proven one was the idea that their voyage was unpredictable for the enemy, and that they moved ahead in a modicum of safety from the temporal incursions that had brought the Calamity to the Hromi Cluster. As much as they still suffered from the Niga Incident, muddled memories and nightmares still lingering, Captain Ducane's intervention with the USS Relativity remained a turning-point that allowed them to continue their mission.

"For the very same reason, I asked that Captain Ducane would leave one of his temporal agents behind with us. Sarresh Morali volunteered, even if the required MEM treatment happened to make him forget that he did so. Yet for sake of the mission, and to ensure that we know if another temporal incursion is made to cancel the head start the Relativity gave us, we need an operative from the Temporal Cold war in our midst."

Jien paused and paced the room to Aisha's side, sitting down there. She raised a hand to rub her temple. "If what you say is true, then perhaps we did not loose our head start - this ripple effect that carry us forth - when the Calamity found us. It might just be happenstance that we ended up a target, and that the Harbinger was Cala's true prey. In that case, the odds of this enterprise at Starbase 84 remains in our favour, and we might just retain the element of surprise. Our message of truth might just spread far and wide, and turn the tide of this war that no one can see. A part of me still hold doubt, since the tides of this war might ever change, and another incursion can be made to try and stop us."

Jien turned her head, and altered herself... to his male form - putting the memory of the Niga Incident behind him. He could not afford to dwell in the past, especially not when the victory of that day enabled them to correct the course of history. Things might never be entirely the same because of the insertion of the Niga virus in their timeline, but Jien would do his utmost to make sure things were put right again, and expose the enemy for all to see. Looking at the Cardassian next to him, he gave her a faint smile.

"I think you will do fine at the exams, Chief. I am confident that our piloting crewmen can learn a great deal from you, and that with you and your team of helm officers at the CONN, we can ride the tide of this ripple all the way back to Earth... and to victory." Seated next to her, Jien raised his hand to clasp it over her shoulder. "My gratitude that you chose to defect, and that you have now come to see the benefits of the mission to Starbase 84. You were not quite so convinced when you first spoke with me in my Ready Room, but it seems the SAR mission has made you think in new ways. More like the Marquis commanding officer you once were, and less the self-disparaging victim of prejudice who did not trust anyone any more. You have come a long way, in just a manner of days."

- FIN
 
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