MSNPC Imogen “Admiral” Lacy — Mission First, Socializing Later (Part II)
Nolen Hobart
((Timeskip, Some Time Later, Captain's Ready Room, Deck 1))
Admiral: Van der Waals.
The Admiral felt truly clean for the first time in a very long time. She sat alone with the Captain of the Khitomer, enjoying the feel of his supple yet supportive office chair under her. Security was waiting outside, which seemed a risk taken by Shayne. And given the risk he took by being alone in a room with her before
Shayne: Response
Admiral: It’s my show of good faith. I know you, Randal. ::sad smile:: I know you so, so well. You need proof that I know more than you do, and that I'm really using that knowledge to look out for you.
Shayne: Response
Admiral: If my memory is correct—and my memory is very good—you've recently received reports from Engineering about suspected sabotage, yes? If you consult the ship's sensor logs, and the crew’s personal logs, you'll find your man. Every time something broke mysteriously, he was there to point it out, if not fix it himself.
Shayne: Response
She raised her hands in implied admission. She didn't have all the facts. She was an Engineering Ensign back then, and the investigation was carried out by security. And subsequent events handily buried such petty crimes under the weight of history.
Admiral: I lost track of him when he was carted off to DS33. Heard later that he was some kind of Engineering “angel of mercy” type, breaking the ship so he could be seen to fix it. Playing the hero. But that was hardly more than rumor, then. Couldn't say for sure.
Shayne: Response
She closed her eyes, and thought back to their long conversations together. Conversations about leadership. About choices. About sacrifices. About seeing Starfleet's directives for the spirit they serve, more than just the letters they make. And none of that would be worth a damn if she couldn't succeed, here and now.
Admiral: The truth is, I'm out of ideas. Where I come from, you're not around anymore to help me think up new ones. If you don't help me—if I can't earn your trust—then in a month's time, Khitomer will be destroyed, half its crew will be dead, and the Federation will be doomed.
There was more she wanted to say. About regret, about forgiveness, and about the beautiful possibilities of respect and acceptance that lay in their future. But the mission came first. It had to.
Shayne: Response
((Timeskip, One Hour Later, Conference Room, Deck 1))
She was part of an entourage again, instead of having one. The procession went thus through their short trek across the starship: Captain Shayne, the Admiral, Tori and Kael (sometimes Kael and Tori), and a pair of security crewmen. But when the door to the conference room swept from view, it revealed so much more. The entirety of Khitomer’s senior staff arrayed around a conference table. Despite feeling the weight of the moment, the elder Lacy’s shoulders remained straight and sturdy. She was, to the eyes of her young traveling companions, an old war horse, and she intended to keep up that image for as long as she could. It wasn't just the past she was trying to hold together.
Hobart: Oh, thank goodness. All present and accounted for, sir.
Kael: I hope you’ll hear us out Captain Shayne.
Admiral: He wouldn't have brought us here otherwise, Kael.
Shayne / Tori: Response
As they sat at the table, Kael locked eyes with Lieutenant Ayemet Dewitt. She recalled that the woman was part El Aurian, a people known to have a peculiar relationship with time. But there were a few people aboard Khitomer who could puzzle out their grizzly fates merely from the presence of a young man named Ohnari-Dewitt, and the Admiral wondered if that wasn't the subject that plagued the woman's mind.
Kael: :indicating Ayemet: What’s her problem?
Admiral: She's not your mother. Let's focus.
Ayemet / Hobart / Shayne / Tori: Response
Kael: My apologies :pause: We’ve been through alot, and it’s important that you listen to us. That you give us a fair hearing.
She put a steadying hand on his arm. He was volatile, but she needed him here, not just as a budding engineer, but as evidence of the future she would foretell.
Admiral: We are your legacy. I'm Imogen Lacy, who you all call “Ginny.” Forty years from now, give or take, nobody does that anymore. This is Tori Semara, my best science expert, carrying on the work of her mother, Amelia. This is Kael Ohnari-Dewitt, our… technical specialist. ::clears throat:: We've come to hold back the tide in the war against the Alliance.
What could she say about Kael? He was an engineer. Not exceptional, but sufficient. Tori needed him, and Imogen needed his story.
Any: Response
Kael: Captain It’s not just the Isles. That’s just the starting point of what happens. The Admiral and Tori :pause: They have a plan that could change all of that.
She visibly winced. To call theirs a “plan” was, in retrospect, generous. They came bearing a warning, and an opportunity. The plan of action was probably the least solid part of all of this. Part of Imogen hoped that the plan could be buttressed by some of the sharpest minds in the Quadrant—the crew of the USS Khitomer.
Admiral: The Lattice Alliance was, at this moment, losing. It may not feel like it to you, but they are. They were spread too thin, and cracks were forming. I saw classified reports that units were beginning to turn on each other. That's why, a week from now, they're going to raid a POW camp on Alpha Trionus II.
Any: Response
She'd planned this speech for months, gone over what to reveal and when. And still, when the time came, she struggled with the grammar. There were too many tenses to keep track of.
Admiral: They used overwhelming force, and it took six months before Starfleet figured out where they launched from. No survivors, orbital defenses completely destroyed. High ranking military official was the target, but that wasn't what mattered.
Any: Response
Admiral: A lowly quartermaster, a Tholian. Captured at the Siege of DS33, he proved to be a… unifying and stabilizing figure. Eventually, Supreme Leader. Unified the alliance, and conquered the Quadrant within a decade.
Any: Response
TBC
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Imogen “Admiral” Lacy
Free Isle Fleet
as simmed by
Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3