The Avalanche Approaches

Posted on Tue Jun 5th, 2018 @ 11:27pm by Captain Remas McDonald

1,699 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: S1:3: Myriad Problems
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 1 15.30

Remas walked into main engineering with a limp and in his sweats. It was enough of an out of character event that one crewman stopped in his tracks, frowned at Remas, and pursed his lips to speak.

"No need to fret, got struck by inspiration and need to trundle some words out before Chief Zhuri to see if they'll fly," Remas said, seeing the aforementioned Bolian. "Ah, the very man! Ari, mind if I bend your ear for a second?"

Arivek chuckled to himself as he looked up at the man. "Figures she'd run to you." Without giving Remas a chance to respond, Arivek turned towards the large room. "Alright, everyone out!" he called to his crew.

The various Engineers looked at him, with a mixture of shock and confusion, but they obeyed his order as quickly as possible. If the Chief Engineer wanted a private conversation with the Captain, the last thing they were going to do is object.

It took only a few moments but soon the large engine room was empty, save for the two officers in the center.

"I assume you're here to slap me on the wrist and ask me to give her access?" Arivek asked, raising an eyebrow. He turned away from the Captain, walking towards the warp core. "No."

"Man who starts a fight with words knows he's put himself in a position where there can be no other recourse," Remas tutted behind his teeth. "Then again I hired you on for your skills in engineering, not your manners. But I'm gonna be honest and say I expected better of you than a threat to her life."

There was a hint of pain in those words at the realisation of the petty cruelness he had never known resided within Ari's breast.

The words struck Arivek in a place he wasn't expecting. A pang of guilt started to take hold in his chest. But he couldn't let Remas see that. No, he wouldn't. "I uh..." he cleared his throat.

"What did you expect, Remas?" he asked, gaining his composure, turning to face the man once more. "This woman lied, stole, threatened this ship, your life. Even went so far as to kidnap you in front of our very eyes. And now you want me to just pave the way for her to touch one of the most important pieces of technology on board? No, I can't allow that. You don't even know her!"

"I know her a damn sight better than you do Ari because I've taken the time to talk to her, to get to know her better than Grand High She Bitch. And you are right, she did indeed threaten my life: but I'm still standing. Any time during that moment of time she could have slit my throat for spite at finding herself in such a situation. But she didn't. She saw where she was, and saw us as the only option left to her. By accepting her openly we gain a valuable soul amid our ranks," Remas said emphatically. He shook his head, running a hand over his beard.

"I knew..." he let out a dry chuckle. "I knew to do things the Rish way was going to harder on you Federation folk. I grew up with this, seeing Klingon's and Romulans working side by side in an algae grow bath on my fathers Homesteader. But this ship, its all we have out here Ari. What breaks we fix, what needs replacing we fabricate or trade for. We don't throw things away, we don't burn that which will defend us."

"Well she sure as fuck deserves to burn!" Arivek said, suddenly shouting. "Don't you get it? We have to protect us. And if we start gathering all the lost sheep that fail to kill us, we're going to end up with a crew we barely recognize."

Ari shook his head. "Your rationale was that she could have killed you but didn't. I don't know anything about the Rish, but this isn't a Rish ship, Remas. We're a Starfleet vessel. A highly advanced one, at that. There are Officers in the fleet who don't even have clearance to board one of these vessels. And we're going to let some wandering troublemaker set up shop here? What's next? She going to sit on the Bridge with you? Eat meals with you? Lie in your bed with you?"

There was a moment of perfect silence, like a sheet of ice on a clear winter's morning. Through it could be seen all of the directions in the universe one could want to take. But the longer you looked at it, the more time dragged its fingers down its length, the ice grew thinner and more brittle.

Until it shattered.

"Us?" Remas asked, cocking his head to one side. "Its been a good fifteen years since I heard someone say that tone with authority on the subject. Of course, back then, I was a lad of rank aboard my fathers Homesteader. I was in this mud packed street one day on this no nothing moon, a gasp of atmosphere held to it out of stubborn pride. Just a stop on the road for the Rish, but home to them that made their lives hard as steel. I remember walking around this corner and hearing those very words shouted to a crowd of like-minded souls. 'We have to protect us.'"

His jaw twitched slightly.

"The Rish will have away your daughters, and charm your sons from their beds. They'll take your coin in the dead of night, and spurn them knowing they'll slit your throat and be gone before you're cold. They're thieves. They're whores. They're no good alive!" Rema's voice had grown harsh, like a rising wave and he pounded a hand to his chest. "WE HAVE TO PROTECT US!"

He let out a breath, a little ragged on the exhale.

"I had no idea your world was so small Ari...that no one else could move in to it from afar," he said hollowly. "I didn't know you were like them."

Arivek stood there for a moment. "Self-preservation is hardly a quality to scoff at, Remas. You should be happy that a member of your crew is willing to stand up for our safety. Because we're all we have out here. Those were yours words!"

"Standing up for safety is one thing, but this prejudice I will not abide in an officer or a man serving with me," Remas said with iron in his words. "I handpicked every member of this crew, save one. I have stood in your defence to shipwrights, dock workers, anyone who so much as gained a wafer of your ire. I have even pleaded for calm to a family adrift in grief when confronted with your manner. And to what end, but for the faith, I put in to be dispelled with such careless disregard?"

He set his jaw and starred Ari down.

"After this business with Abboarax is concluded, we will discuss where we go from here in regards to your options. I will not abide any man who condemns another man's chance at redemption on basis of bigotry." Remas said with grim finality.

"I ask but one thing," Arivek said, his voice sounding calm and calculating. "I ask that you please explain how I am being prejudiced."

Arivek clasped his hands behind his back as he slowly walked around the warp core. "I have no said a disparaging word against her for her sex or gender." He glanced over at Remas. "I have said nothing against her race or occupation or age."

Finally after coming full circle, Arivek ended up on the other side of the Captain. "If anything, this has been the most un-biased judgement of someone. I am judging her, not by who she is, but by what she has done. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is exactly as you are to judge someone. Yes?"

Arivek nodded, again, not giving Remas a chance to speak. "So I ask. How am I being a bigot, Remas. This woman has acted like an enemy of Starfleet and the Federation. She has put you in danger and put this ship in danger. And while you may not like my opinion, or agree with it, you cannot say that I'm being prejudiced. in reality, you've come to that decision based upon your past experience, not by the situation in front of you."

"Lieutenant Black came to you in the uniform of a Starfleet Officer, having been granted her commissions under the aegis of my command. Instead of duly providing her with the means to perform her duty, you inflicted on her a dismaying attack on her character and threats to her life." Remas said steadily. "If you had reservations about her, you could have come to me. Comm'd me from the bridge or my office. But instead, you allowed your own personal feelings about her to cloud your judgement."

He smiled, bitterly.

"My past shaped me into the man I am today Ari. Its why I am the captain of this ship. Because I know, deep down, how to keep a ship and crew flying through the impossible things we will face out here," he turned. "I've granted her access to the computer. But like I said, we will revisit this topic after this business with the Myriad is concluded."

Arivek said nothing but crossed his arms.

Remas waited for a beat, hoping for Ari to say something that changed the already cast die of the conversation. But nothing was said, and he left with a heavier burden than what he had walked in with.

"She didn't earn that uniform you gave her," Arivek called out before Remas reached the doors to Main Engineering. "And mark my words, Remas. She'll betray you. She'll betray all of us. And when that day comes, you will have no one to blame but yourself."

"And you should hold the same faith in others, that they hold in you, Ari," Remas replied.

And then he was gone.

 

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