Better late than never

Posted on Mon May 26th, 2025 @ 3:37pm by Captain Daegan Baas & Lieutenant Niami Troga

1,195 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Sole Survivor
Location: Medical center
Timeline: MD 15 (day prior to An Embryotic Discussion)

Daegan put this meeting off long enough. It was bad enough that the new counselor had come aboard as a last minute replacement but came aboard a ship that had just lost their XO to a murder, and having that murder be at the hands of a changeling to boot, the last thing she needed was the Captain interfering with things.

He had figured any 'rush' would have subsided and she had had plenty of time to settle in. Walking into the medical center he nodded to several as he acknowledged their greeting. Knocking on the door frame to the counselors office, "Sorry for interrupting your lunch but your calendar was booked."

"Please come in." Niami rising from her chair when the Captain came in, out of respect. She could feel the loss of those of his crew hanging heavily over him and it was a familiar weight that she had experienced. "Please, have a seat, would you like something to drink?" laying her sandwich back onto its plate, turning towards the replicator in readiness for his request.

Raising a hand at her offer. "No thank you. I wanted to stop by and finally meet the office that was keeping everyone's keels even. Typically one doesn't have to transfer into such a mess."

"That maybe so, but I'm not the normal greenhorn counselor." she quipped, Niami turning from the replicator resuming her seat to continue to eat. "You've faced quite a bit, Captain." taking a bite of her sandwich. "And I do have time to talk with you, its better than looking at more notes that I've been reading." Looking pointedly towards the chair not too far from her.

He smirked as he smoothed out his ponytail. "This isn't my first rodeo either Counselor. Though there are members of the crew that time dealing with the loss of a crewmate. Deal with their trauma first and then we can address the more experienced officers. Like I said I didn't want to be too much of an interruption to your lunch break."

"There was one thing from your record I did want to clear up though."

She locked her gaze with the Captain, just reading what was behind the windows of his soul, it looked like Niami was going to argue, then decided to take this subject up later on. Picking up her cup of lemon ice tea, she took a drink before acknowledging his statement. Breathing in Niami let it out slowly. "Yes Captain? "

"About your time aboard the USS Umber. You received information on several personnel that had been stranded and previously considered lost?

Niami was glad she was sitting down when Captain Baas started asking his questioning. A wave of dejavu clicked in, being reminded of being grilled by her former Captain, Abner Lucas.

"Yes I did, I had checked message boards to see if perhaps they had reached out someway, somehow. And I found that they had." She had at first been slightly irritated with him not sitting but that passed by rather quickly.

"And you made multiple requests to rescue the officers?"

"Yes I did make multiple requests, Captain Abner Lucas wouldn't budge." Lowering her hands to her lap, her hands going into fists as she fought to quell her anger.

"Was there any reason to suspect this information to be false or that it would put the Umber in unnecessary danger?"

"Before the crew had become separated, we had come up with a way to make certain that we'd be able to identify each other. We didn't want someone to use any of us as a way to trap another ship or bring one into danger." She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote one word.'Chantry'. Pushing it forward for Baas to see it. "That is the code we have used. It just looks like a normal name, but it isn't. It has meaning to those who have been together for quite sometime, and we've not shared it with anyone, until I just shared it with you. " Niami reached out to drink from her glass. "There was no suspicion in my mind, Captain. Captain Lucas wouldn't even listen to me."

'And after the Umber docked at ??? and you...borrowed a runabout from the station. You were on shoreleave, yes?"

"Yes I was on shoreleave, I didn't see anything wrong with doing so on my leave time. It was my personal time. I-I had enough time to accomplish that goal and get back to the station, to not be considered derelict in my duties. Reporting in to the Umber when shoreleave was done. I even had a couple of days left of my personal time." A frown appeared as Niami related this story.

Daegan nodded. Having caught her...hesitation, "My apologies if my questioning opened any old wounds. When reading through your record and Captain Lucas' account something just didn't feel right about the incident so I did a little digging and read the recover recovery reports, debriefing statement from the people you recovered, even the maintenance log on the runabout you used." He paused for a moment, keeping himself from openly disparaging another Captain to a junior officer but in his thoughts, ~This guy is an ass.~

"It has been sore point, I will recover in due time." Niami calming down.

Continuing "Understandable. Even if he had originally denied the request in an official capacity, like you said you were on your own time. I found nothing in the incident that would warrant a demotion and, to me, it would appear to be nothing but retribution for bruised ego. Loyalty and bravery are to be commended...not punished"

Rising he moved around to the side of her desk. "On your feet Ensign."

Niami was confused as to his order but she obeyed, looking into the Captain's eyes.

"I cannot turn back the clock, but I can right a wrong." Removing his own rank bar of 4 pips, he snapped it in half and reached up to her collar. Tossing her ensigns pip on her desk he replaced it with the section from his own.

Stepping back, "Congratulations. Lieutenant."

Niami was dumbfounded as to what was happening, blinking rapidly to fend off the tears that sprung up suddenly. "C-Captain?" it impacted her greatly the fact of him doing this with his own rank bar. Even though they've only known each other for a very short time, this gesture created a bond, and he was her Captain. Irrevocably. "Thank you sir!" Niami standing tall.

Grinning Daegan returned to his side of her desk. "Well I will let you get back to your lunch, and your afternoon appointments."

Still agog at what just took place, Niami blinked a couple of times then managed to speak. "Ah yes-thank you! I'll get back to my lunch." She was in a daze and sat back down at her desk, reaching up and touching what Baas had given to her. She will be treasuring this for a very long time. A smile appeared, then turned into a full blown grin. "You have a lovely day, Captain"

---

Captain Daegan Baas
CO


Lieutenant Niami Troga
Chief Counselor

 

RSS Feed