Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kastarak (Doctor / Counsellor) in Captain’s Mast, Tag Everyone.

Posted by Commander Chris Taggart (Captain) in Captain’s Mast, Tag Everyone.

Posted by Lieutenant Symar (Chief Medical Officer) in Captain’s Mast, Tag Everyone.
Posted by… suppressed (18) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Chris was sent a message that morning from his XO that made him cry for a bit, even though it was perfectly logical for her to do that and he had once Mentone it before to her. But the pain of it still shot through him and lingered. It was for the best and she asked him to convey her feelings. That was the very least he could do. After everything that they’ve shared and been through.

He poured himself another cup of coffee while awaiting everyone to gather in the ships big conference room that they held parties and ceremonies in.

Commander Chris Taggart CO

“Sir,” greeted Kastarak as he entered the conference room and took his place. Even though he wasn’t a department head, he had for a while now been regularly invited to senior meetings. He wasn’t sure why – perhaps it was because he could monitor Symar or because of his psychological knowledge, or perhaps just because the captain had taken a liking to him. Thinking. of Symar, he wondered if Symar’s confession to the captain would mean that Symar would appear less Vulcan and more Romulan. It would be logical, but Romulans… and humans… were not known for being logical when it came to their behaviours.

– Lt jg Kastarak

“Doctor.” Chris said as he nodded. “Kasterak. I’ve been around Vulcans my whole life and even dedicate my life to helping them. I can tell if one is upset so to speak. So please. Ask your question my friend.”

“Thank you, sir,” Kastarak replied, unsure why the captain had interpreted him as upset. Humans often misread Vulcans. Was this the case? Was Kastarak actually upset now, without consciously aware? He wasn’t sure. There was a lot of things going around in his head. His relationship to Symar, the latest with Batario, the lack of knowing what happened to T’Aria. The captain might be right.

“What is the purpose of this meeting? What is the agenda?”

Chris let out a long heavy sigh. “I’m afraid it’s something you’re not going to like. I’ll explain when everyone gets here.” He smiled but Kastarak would know it was forced.

Kastarak nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Pawl came in quietly not to bother the captain and the doctor at the talk. He calmly waited for their conversation to finish to come back and talk to the captain as he grabbed a tall glass of ice water from the table and drank it down in one large gulp. As he turned to refill the glass again but this time drank it normally. Hoping that his voice was back.

Lt Jg Pawl Batario - Chief Engineer

“Pawl?” Kastarak noticed Pawl behaving out of the ordinary. He was not sure how to ask a question, but decided instead to radiate an emotion of concern to Pawl. Hopefully Pawl would pick it up, and be able to explain.

– Lt jg Kastarak

PAwl heard his name which made him take notice of the doctor. “Hello, Doctor!” Pawl said calmly to him as he moved forward with the others. “Captain. Good day.” Pawl greeted calmly. Noting the feeling from the doctor. “I am fine just did not want to interrupt you with the captain.” hoping he understood as he took another sip of water.

Lt Jg Pawl Batario - Chief Engineer

Chris laughed. It’s ok Pawl. I’m doing ok and you?”

Commander Chris Taggart CO

Kastarak was not sure whether Pawl spoke the truth. He hoped so, but at the same time he didn’t sense certainty from Pawl. On the other hand, he didn’t sense deceit. It was confusing. Should he ask to scan Pawl?

No… that would be disproportionate.

“Might we sit together, Pawl?” he asked.

– Dr Kastarak

“Of course why don’t we go to my office?” Pawl offered. Pawl noticed there was something on his mind But kept quiet about it. Noticing the tricorder in his hand as they moved towards his office. “please come in have a seat.” as the doors slid open he entered and moved to his seat at his desk. “Forgive the mess we tend to share the office here. What on your mind Kasarak?” Pawl asked calmly to him.

To Kastarak, it was odd that they would leave the conference to speak privately. It was out of character for Pawl to set aside his duties. It must be important, Kastarak thought, with concern.

PAwl

William entered the conference room, back straight hand hands clasped behind his back and watched the two Vulcans converse and walk to leave “Has the event been cancelled? He asked the Captain before looking at him then paused as he gave Taggart’s face a good once over, there were not really any physical signs of it beyond a slight redness that would be easily missed by anyone that hadn’t known the Captain for as long as Will had. His posture relaxed and a took moved directly to the Captain, putting a hand on the older man’s shoulder “Chris?” He asked, his accent had morphed from his usual unemotional Scottish educated brogue to a more careful comforting southern drawl, his expression more animated and showing emotion instead of suppressing it. Of the crew remaining on the ship only the Captain knew this tendency of Will’s to change personalities on the fly. In fact he hadn’t done so for over a year in public “What’s happened?” He asked.

CSO, 2O

Chris looked at the two officers leaving while holding up a hand to Will to let him know to wait a moment. “Hey you two. Please come back and take your seats, unless it’s an emergency. I’m about to begin.”

“Yes, sir,” said Kastarak, finding comfort (though he would not admit it to himself at this point) in returning to the proper order of things.

Looking back up at Will. “I’m ok. Just upset. Please take a seat and I’ll tell you. I will also tell you my friend that you’re not going to like it.” Chris got up from his chair and patted Will on the shoulder before moving on to the front of the room onto the stage. Chris knew Will wouldn’t like it. Not the fact that the XO was gone. He knew he respected her but because he will now have to be the XO once again until her replacement came in. Chris knew he’ll do a fine job as always, but would not like it. It’s about time to give Will a little something for his troubles.

Will nodded at his captain’s words and took a seat. His expression seemed a mix of concern and anticipation, to the more recent members of the staff this would be an unusual expression from their second officer.

Q entered the conference hall and looked about. He quickly noted the tone of the room and the expression on Taggert’s face. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said slowly, “Had to clean up some personnel records, has something happened?” Q took his seat and waited for Chris to speak.

Once everyone took their seats Chris began. “I’m sorry to have to summon you all here on short notice. I have just received a message from our XO T’Aria. It stated, in short, that she is resigning from Starfleet effective immediately. She has returned home. Commander T’Aria was conflicted about whether to stay in Starfleet as she was navigating the fear of returning to her family after avoiding them for so long. The destruction of Vulcan and losing so many of not only family, friends but also so many of her own kind. She finally decided to stop running and go back to New Vulcan. She’s spent so much time denying that part of herself because it hurt too much to engage with. To what I said earlier about losing so much and now seeing the scraggly few that survived, try to and hopefully rebuild not only their world, lives and culture, but to do so in the face of horrifying reminders of their too few numbers. She instructed me to say, “I’m ready to grieve the part of me I lost and begin to explore myself in the context of my community”.”

The captain’s words hit Kastarak deep in his gut. There was a sharp pain, around the area of the heart. He could feel his heart beat rising rapidly, his breathing becoming hollow. He had been supposed to join T’Aria on the quest to New Vulcan. He had arranged the time off from the captain. Though when it all came to be, she had left, without even saying good-bye, leaving hurriedly before their set time. This was what Kastarak had thought might happen, indeed, feared, if he dared think of emotions at this point.

He quickly needed to purge his emotions, regulate himself, compose himself, lest anyone might see that he was out of ordinary. He closed his eyes for half a second and brought down his heartbeat and breathing to normal levels, and let the peace and serenity fill his body and mind.

At Chris’s words, Q felt the color drain from his face. He was suddenly acutely aware of everyone in the room. He turned towards Kastarak, his first friend aboard the ship. A Vulcan like T’aria. Would he be leaving them shortly as well? Then he turned back to Taggert and saw the man fighting back tears. Q was struck by his depth of feeling. There was a time, when he first heard of the destruction of Vulcan, that Q had tried to imagine what that could possibly be like. He tried to liken it to losing his sister, but he had to admit to himself, that the two were not truly comparable.

Will did something unexpected at the revelation, he smiled. However, it was a somber smile, losing an old friend and colleague again to something they loved was a worthy loss. He did however feel a surge of annoyance from William, he was now Acting First Officer… again.

Chris was trying not to cry but his one good eye wasn’t complying. “So. So I ask you all if you’d like to either come up here and say something special out loud or otherwise into the empty photon torpedo that NE Williams is bringing out now on a cart. It will be here for three days and you all can come and talk to it as much as you wish and even put things in it such as letters, notes, pictures, etc… After those three days, once it is filled up with memories of her, we will fire it out into space. Please respect her wishes and not call or send her messages for a period of year. She’s showing tremendous bravery for facing her fears and a well meaning gesture or comment from any of us might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. She’s treading a very thin line between bravery and fear. If she contacts you, then by all means, but if not, please wait. I urge any and all Vulcans on this ship to do the same if they wish. I will not hold anything against any of you and in fact, I’ll help you.”

So there was a ban on contact with her for a year. But the captain had arranged some kind of funeral for her role on the ship. It was irregular, illogical. Though… Kastarak reflected around it. Perhaps people have a need to ritualize a good-bye. He was reminded of his own reaction knowing T’Aria had left without saying good-bye. Might a ritualistic good-bye, in her absence, help bring closure?

He decided he would not participate, nor would he comment on it.

Once again, Q turned to Kastarak and the worry of losing him gripped him again. He didn’t know why it held him so. He’d lost friends before, either through transfers or genuine loss. It was the way of Starfleet. Perhaps it was the thought of what they were going to undertake next. Going to search for his sister in Klingon space. The thought of having to go through that without Kastarak with him. Had he truly begun to depend on the councilor that much?
As for saying words for T’aria, Q didn’t move. He barely knew the XO, and felt it would be inappropriate for him to speak of her in such an occasion. That honor should be reserved for those that knew her.

Once silence had prevailed again. Chris spoke up. “Once again I will have to call upon Lieutenant Commander William Grey to assume the Executive Officer’s role until her replacement is here. I, sadly, do not know when that will be but I have assurances from the Fleet Commander that it will be soon. Commander Grey would you please come up here.”

There was an audible gulping sound as the Captain asked Will to stand up which he did albeit slowly, years of working with Chris had instilled a sixth sense of when the man was doing something that would inconvenience him and that sense was tingling. He moved towards Taggart mouthing Why in a pleading manner to the Captain.

Kastarak stood up. Protocol demanded it.

Seeing Kastarak stand, Q joined him, already guessing what was happening.

Once he came up here had NE Williams come back up holding a box. “Commander Grey. It is with great pride that I give you the rank of Full Commander. You have earned it multiple times and I know to you that you’re previous ranks came fast but they came in the time that they were meant to. You’ve earned them all my friend.” Chris gave Grey the box and put his hand out for him to shake. He knew Grey hated this as well, being the center of attention, but it has to be done.

Captain Chris Taggart, CO

Will took the box in his left hand and used his right to shake the Captains hand and put on a smile, it was surprisingly genuine “If I start going grayhaired soon I’m blaming you” He said under the cover of the applause.

Chris leaned in. “Actually you’ll have to worry about going bald not grey!”. Chris winked. “Besides. I still have a full hair of black hair… For now.”. The last part was under his breath.

Kastarak began clapping. Protocol demanded it, no matter how illogical a human tradition clapping was. He noticed how his claps echoed in the room.

– Lt jg Kastarak

Q awkwardly joined in with Kastarak, but he could tell that the mood was not celebratory. Grey did not seem to be anticipating this promotion. It confused Q, as Grey was clearly the best suited for the position. Seeing him in action on their last mission cemented that in Q’s opinion. And yet the man seemed to be truly reluctant to take it. Perhaps he would ask Kas about it later. The councilor knew Grey better than Q did after all.

Lt. Q Dawson, CWO

((OOC: Hey! sorry for the long absence, with the holidays and then end of month I got swamped. But I should be back to posting regularly again.))

Symar recieved the message quite late in the day to report to the conference room, due to being in a joint repair surgery for one of the Security Officers after a particularly rough away mission, “Sorry I’m late Captain, it’s been a long morning. ”

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

Will used the sudden appearance of the Medical chief to excuse himself from standing out front and returning to his seat.

CSO, 2O

Chris skilled at the CMO and then laughed a bit when Will took the opportunity to leave. Then he got a serious look on his face as he looked back towards Symar. “I read a letter from T’Aria. She’s ok but is going through a bunch of personal stuff and has resigned from Starfleet. Commander Grey got promoted to Full Commander and is now acting XO, again. There is an empty photon torpedo up there that will be there for three days. Please feel free to talk into it, place letters or mementos in it. It will then be fired out into space to spread her legacy into the Universe. That sums it up. How are you?”

Captain Chris Taggart CO

Symar gave a pained look and said, “I’ll admit, I’ve been better. T’Aria was… special to me, and I hope I can still find a way to keep in touch with her.”

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

Kastarak nodded. “We are banned from contacting her for one Earth year,” he explained quietly to Symar. “I will help you go through this”.

“Kastarak is right Symar but know that she made this decision and with great difficulty. She is in pain as well. I’m sorry and I’ll be here to help as well.” He put a fatherly hand in his shoulder and squeezed gently.

He looked around, saw Dawson being more emotional than Kastarak had anticipated. He sensed in Dawson not only a loss, but a fear of loss. What could that mean for him? Was it his sister, or something else? Kastarak made a mental note of this. Perhaps he’d find out one day.

– Lt jg Kastarak

Captain Chris Taggart CO

“Thank you, both of you. Now, to business, how can I help?”

-Lieutenant Symar: Chief Medical Officer-

Chris looked at Symar with his one good eye and looked a bit confused. “Help with what Chief?”

Captain Chris Taggart CO

Kastarak tried to understand as well. Perhaps Symar meant that he was able to act as second officer while the second officer was acting first officer?

He wanted to help Symar articulate himself.

“Sir,” he whispered to Symar. “Logic might help you and the captain here. Define the problem, and express how you might help with solving the problem in a logical way.”

– Lt jg Kastarak

Will blinked at Kastarak’s question “Symar is the next in line, followed by Chief Batario, yourself then Lieutenant Q” He said with a half grin “Chain of commands pretty well established, ‘specially when it comes to battleships, unless rankings change it’ll go by ship seniority.”

CSO, aXO