Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in side-sim Calling in Favors

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in side-sim Calling in Favors

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in side-sim Calling in Favors

Alpha shift had just ended, and Casela had 4 hours before RTF training started....again. She went into her office and locked the door. She took out a small hand held device and scanned the room with it. Satisfied with whatever it said she sat down at her desk and turned on the console. =^= Priortiy 3 message, Admiral Roebuck from Lt. Synthi-er. Requesting secure connection.=^= Casela sat back and waited. Time to see if what Roebuck was as good as his word.

Lt. Synthi-er, S31

Moments passed in silence, sufficient for Synthi-er to perhaps suspect the Admiral of ignoring her request. But eventually her monitor flickered to life and the handsome face of Roebuck filled the screen, his silver-grey hair and dazed expression painting a picture of one just woken from a deep, but perhaps not entirely satisfying, sleep.

=^=Synthi-er?=^= he responded, his finger locating and then removing a particle of crust from the corner of his left eye. =^=Has something happened? Is Zachariah okay?=^=

• Admiral Roebuck

Casela took in the ‘I woke up to talk to you’ look and double checked her time. It should be about 1620 hours. Well just because she was up didn’t mean the admiral kept the same schedule. =^=Cobb is doing very well admiral. I’ve even managed to get him to cut is drinking by more than half. His backbone has reappeared with a vengeance.=^= Despite her efforts Roebuck could tell the S31 agent had a great deal of respect for Zachariah Cobb.

The expression that graced the Admiral’s face was a combination of surprise that she could achieve such a feat, respect for actually doing so and relief that, finally, Cobb appeared to have someone looking out for him.

=^=The problem, Sir, is a matter of red tape. We had an…incident on board last night. A very harmless looking but deadly anomaly. And though you’ve given Leviathan an amazing crew, it’s too divided. Cobb is the best leader I’ve seen to date. But there are too many secrets. Too many of the crew can choose to say, “I don’t have to tell you because you aren’t cleared.” This is creating a problem Admiral. And no matter how we might see Zachariah Cobb, if the crew won’t defer to his judgement because of a red tape power struggle, this ship and it’s crew will go the way of the rest of the missing ARU ships.=^= Casela let that sit for a minute.

For a moment, the ARU leader in Roebuck took centre stage.
“Just because you have no information on them does not mean that they are missing,” he shot back, cooly.

=^=I have…favors I’m willing to call in to fix this. There are other…more section 31esc ways to deal with this, but getting him higher clearance is something that doesn’t require me to bully, blackmail, and police the crew.=^= For all records Roebuck was honest, he was one of the good guys in StarFleet command.

Lt. Synthi-er, S31

The Admiral sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a gesture that might have seemed slightly familiar to Casela from her time with Cobb.

This was the second time in as many weeks that an ARU officer had shown blatant disregard for their classification system and clearly even less understanding of why it was needed in the first place.

“Well, why don’t we just give every novel researcher on the ship Omega clearance and be done with it!” he spat. Then, in a more measured tone added, “We don’t classify things to be difficult, Lieutenant. We do it to preserve the sanctity and the security of the entire universe. And as much as I hold Captain Cobb in the highest regard, I can not just go upping his clearance without extreme justification.”

Casela eyes snapped and she tried, she REALLY tried not to piss the Admiral off. But he’d pulled her into his office before she shipped out, giving her a very specific job for him. “I’m not suggesting that the system doesn’t serve a purpose, Roebuck,” and there went the blatant disregaurd for rank. “You wanted an update, you wanted me to make sure this ship succeeded. You told me to tell you what we needed. You told me to keep Cobb safe and Alive! I’m telling you! But did any of you sitting up there in cozy command EVER think what would happen when you gave a ship a captain that doesn’t know enough about their mission to actually LEAD it!” A penal colony. Why couldn’t they have just sent her to a penal colony. Or a firing squad. Just get it over with already.

At that moment, something beyond the far right of Synthi-er’s view cast a shadow across the Admiral’s face. As if a bright light emanating from that area had suddenly been turned off. Roebuck exhaled a weary sigh and shook his head.

Casela saw the shadow and she’d seen it before. She dropped her head into her hands. “Forget it Admiral. You have your update. I’ll keep him alive as long as I can. I’ll keep the crew going, if it can be managed.” She knew what that shadow meant and in all her life, even the resistance, nothing terrified her more.

“And even if I wanted to, I would never be granted the authorization. We all operate within the same confines, Lieutenant. Ours is a divided organisation. But it exists that way only because it could not succeed any other. Do you understand me?”

“Yes Admiral.”

For a moment, it appeared as if he had more to say. But instead he simply nodded a curt “Goodnight, Lieutenant” and then the Counselor’s terminal went black.

---

The call terminated, Admiral Roebuck remained in his seat and for a moment simply savored the darkness and the quiet. But it was not to last and presently the light reappeared, Roebuck turning to face it.

=^= Lieutenant Synthi-er is becoming something of a problem. =^=

“I can handle it, Sir.”

=^= Make sure that you do. Or I will. =^=

---

An hour later and Casela would be alerted to the arrival of a large data transmission along with a note.

=^= This is the best I could do, but you’ll find details on almost every current Abell research project within the ARU. Now don’t ask me again. And give my regards to Captain Cobb.

Roebuck =^=

• Admiral Roebuck

Casela didn’t expect to hear back from the Admiral. She didn’t think she’d be able to get anything. And now that Roebuck had come through, she KNEW what was coming. She had debts to repay now, and the cost would be far far to high this time, she was sure. It was time to make plans, and she never thought it would hurt so damn much to do it. She reached up and held onto the rune stones tightly for a moment.

She put the file on an iso chip and deleted all traces of the transmissions. Then she locked the file up until she could see Cobb. She was going to get drunk, for the first time in 9 years, she was going to get really REALLY drunk.

Lt. Synthi-er, S31

OOC: Closing as the action has now moved on elsewhere