Changes on the Wind

Posted on Mon Apr 8th, 2024 @ 11:06pm by Captain Alistar McKeon & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi

1,280 words; about a 6 minute read

It was early and Alistar still hadn't been to bed or even taken a break since leaving the lounge the evening before. Instead, he had been on the comm lines with Starfleet Command all night and the entire ordeal had left him in a bad mood. Sitting at the desk in his ready room, he leaned forward with his elbows on his desk and rubbed his forehead as he thought over everything. He finally sighed and reached out to tap the comm. "Commander Silvisi report to the ready room," Alistar said.

Despite the early time, Isabella was already awake and dressed. She had just placed her breakfast tray back into the replicator when the captain's voice had broken through her thoughts and when she noticed the time she frowned. Being called by the captain this early in the morning was usually not a good thing, and she tried to think of what reasons could be heralding the call. Unfortunately, there was no shortage of reasons that Isabella could come up with, and she sighed as she silently left her quarters and headed towards the ready room. Arriving, she simply entered and moved over to stand beside the desk.

Alistar noticed that Silvisi had arrived and he simply leaned back in his chair. "Morning Commander," he said.

Isabella took in how McKeon was sitting in his chair, and her mind instantly shifted into a worried frame of thought. It was something that simply came with having served with the captain for so long and having gone through so much with him and the crew. "What's wrong, Alistar?" she asked, breaking through the usual polite formalities.

"I've been in contact with Starfleet all night," Alistar replied. "The new director of personnel is pushing a lot of changes throughout the fleet, and we're at the top of his list. As of this morning, you've been assigned as Endeavour's executive officer."

"This again?" Isabella sighed, her voice mirroring her suddenly agitated expression as she moved to sit down in one of the comfortable chairs in front of the desk. "I thought we had settled this issue."

"We did, but this Admiral Malone is being a total horses ass when it comes to personnel assignments," Alistar growled. "I argued against it, but he finally said that if you didn't accept the position then you would be assigned somewhere other than the Endeavour. I finally said that I would get you to agree to it. And that's just one of the changes this guy's making."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what were the other changes?" Isabella asked, forcing herself to swallow her pride and the sting at simply being moved from her beloved science department. For a brief moment, she considered simply refusing the advancement to executive officer and remaining simply as the Endeavour's chief science officer, but Alistar's warning gave her pause to the thought.

"Lieutenant Varon is being transferred, and we'll have to wait until a new chief operations, chief engineer and chief science officer are all assigned. I managed to wiggle some changes in our favor, though. We're keeping Miss Winters, if she wishes to remain, and I got to keep final approval on any civilian specialists who want to work aboard Endeavour. Those were the major victories I managed against the fact that this admiral Malone wants to completely restructure our crew roster."

"I thought Lieutenant Wolf was assigned as our chief engineer," Isabella said with a worried frown. The Endeavour was a new ship, by all standards, but the crew had barely had time to settle in on board and now sweeping changes were being made. Such actions often worked against building a close knit crew and could disrupt an already uneasy situation.

"Nope," Alistar growled. "She's been reassigned. Oh, and Endeavour's mission to the DMZ has been assigned to the USS Coronado."

"While I'm not going to be completely upset at not being assigned to that particular mission, may I ask why the change?" Isabella asked. "What have they assigned us to do, exactly?"

"The Endeavour is to report to Epsilon 10 and patrol to Epsilon 11 as our official shakedown cruise before reporting to Starbase 234 pending Starfleet Command's approval on our being granted independent operations status," Alistar replied. "They want us to work the ship and crew up to full operational status before giving us anything other than provisional status."

Isabella frowned deeply, knowing that her lack of knowledge on the deployment of Starfleet's outposts and starbases was working against her at the moment. After a moment, she sighed. "I must admit that I'm a little lost on where that is," she finally said.

"Along the Azure Nebula and near the Klingon border," Alistar said. "And Starbase 234 is actually just outside the Federation in that area as well."

"So far enough to get us tucked out of the way but close enough to keep an eye on us so we don't cause trouble," Isabella quoted, remembering an old saying that somehow applied to the situation.

"So it seems," Alistar said.

"That sounds like I'll need to inform the crew that we won't be departing today, then," Isabella said as she leaned over in her chair and started rubbing at her forehead. Somehow, she could feel a headache forming, and it was nothing more than the fact that this new admiral had simply made new problems for them to deal with.

"It will depend on when the new crew all arrive," Alistar said. "So, I need you to get with the department heads we have left and inform them of the change."

"What are you going to do?" Isabella asked as she sat upright and studied the captain carefully.

"I'm going to go find Miss Winters and take her up on having a talk," Alistar said as he stood and walked over to the view port. "Just as soon as I feel that it's safe enough for me to be outside my office."

"I'm afraid to ask, but are we being placed in the Beta Quadrant and away from the Cardassian situation because we're working up a new ship and crew or because some of our crew have a troubled history with Cardassians?" Isabella asked.

Alistar tried to hide his inner thoughts and the demons that threatened to be released along with those thoughts, and for once he won the battle. "Let's just say that the Endeavour has several factors that worked against us being sent for that mission. But near the top of the list of concerns was several factors involving senior officers assigned to the Endeavour," he said.

"I see," Isabella said, clearly unhappy but refusing to comment further. To do so would clearly be a waste of time, and she also didn't want to risk drawing the ire of this new admiral the the captain had mentioned. "Very well," she finally said. "I will accept my assignment to the Endeavour, though I would like to go on the record that I'm not very happy about this."

"I understand that and I passed that along already," Alistar said. "Just keep in mind that the admiral would love to have you moved to another assignment, and a lot of us here on the Endeavour would hate to see you go. Plus, you'd have no say in your future assignment either."

"I understand, Sir," Isabella said as she stood. "I'll go inform the science department and start moving into my new office. If that is all, Captain?"

"Dismissed Commander," Alistar said as he stood. Watching the commander leave, he finally sighed as she left his ready room. This, he thought grimly, was not turning out to be a very good day.

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