Locked In (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Nov 30th, 2025 @ 1:35am by Lieutenant Commander Rebecca Bluegarden & Commander Irene Vincent "Rally" & Lieutenant Commander Damien Maillet & Lieutenant Commander Malcom Hunt & Lieutenant Kathryn Dallas M.D. & Lieutenant Freya Michaud

1,056 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Season 1, Episode 2: War, Peace, And All That Jazz
Location: Deep Space Station K-9- Conference Room, Deck 9
Timeline: Stardate 1532.8

"I can't believe this; I can't fricken' believe this- of all the fricken' times this could've happened, what with me juggling a diplomatic summit with SFC rotating out most of my fricken' crew from under me..."

Rebecca and Damien watched nervously as their commanding officer paced back and forth, ranting on with increasing incoherence and looking like she was just about to rupture a blood vessel from the stress. No doubt, Vulpie's murder was going to throw a major curveball into the talks, and the people that already knew were reasonably on edge (Rebecca and Damien included), but as the minutes ticked down to the 1000 briefing and Commander Vincent only growing more agitated the more she thought about this, the two of them were growing... reasonably concerned that she was going to give herself an aneurysm or something bad like that.

"Um... Is she always like this?" Rebecca whispered quietly to Damien, hoping that Commander Vincent was too busy speedrunning trying to blow a tube to notice.

“You have no idea…” Damien answered equally quietly.

"And could they throw me a fricken' bone? No, I have to train every fricken' officer they send my way, because they're too fricken' lazy to debrief the new crew rotations before they ship them out here-!"

"Now hold on just a damn second there:" Rebecca spoke up firmly. "I understand you're upset because they done reassigned your best friend and all that, but don't you think calling everybody assigned here a dumb hillbilly that needs to be taught manners is maybe just a little bit harsh?"

Rally sighed. "You're right, it's completely unfair of me to be taking things out on my own staff for things that are completely out of their control, and all I'm accomplishing here is getting myself worked up; I just need to stop what I'm doing, take a deep breath, clear my head..."

She closed her eyes and leaned up against a bulkhead, completely silent as she attempted to cool her jets.

...

...

...

"Okay, this isn't working," Rally grumbled.

"Well, how about I give you a little food for thought, then:" Rebecca continued. Now, she was worked up, and needed to say what she had previously hesitated on saying on the grounds of being new to the station:

"If Hopkins really was your best friend, why would she jump ship at the first opportunity presented to her?" Rebecca asked. "Considering everything I've seen since I first got here, I can't help but wonder if there's a correlation between your attitude and this station's high turnover rate. I mean, all I've seen is a raging lunatic screaming at the bulkheads, blaming everyone but herself. If those are the kinds of first impressions you're putting forward, no wonder we have a high turnover rate. Hell, if first officer assignments weren't so damned hard to come by, I'd probably be looking at open listings in my free time."

Rebecca knew she was probably risking everything by saying the quiet parts out loud, but if nobody pushed back, this kind of toxic workplace would likely persist.

"I can understand your sentiment, Commander," Rally admitted truthfully, much to Rebecca's surprise. "The fact of the matter is that I've got a lot of things going on at once; attempting to mediate diplomatic relations between two species with completely opposing virtues is walking a fine line, but couple that with senior staff rotations happening on what feels like every 24 hours? You can begin to see how I'm feeling like I'm in over my head here. But I respect your willingness to be upfront about this, Commander, and I apologize if my frustration with this whole situation is beginning to negatively impact the chain of command. Right now, I need to set aside my feelings on this matter and focus on our top priority, which should be in ensuring the safety of our remaining delegates."

"That, I believe, is something we can agree upon." Rebecca nodded.

“Fully,” Damien added. “And we can do this. Together. Commander Hopkins left us high and dry but she wasn’t the one selected to command this station. You were, because Command knows you can do it.” He smirked. “Maybe all of this last minute rotation is to get you the absolute best people, no substitutions acceptable. Of course, they got me right on the first try…” he added cockily.

Malcom Hunt had shown up at the tail end of the conversation catching the last statements from the Commanding Officer and First Officer. These were interesting times indeed. And from his observations, DSK9 was not run like most places. Just the short amount of time Hunt had been here, he had discovered the high turnover rate of this place. "Assuming that things have gone from bad to worse?"

"Yup," Rally sighed without pulling any punches. "Have a seat Commander, we'll get started once Lieutenants Michaud, Dallas, and Zaigraev arrive."

Rebecca blinked in surprise. Zaigraev had put in his notice to be reassigned.

"Commander, not to set you off again, but Zaigraev was reassigned." Rebecca responded.

Rally stated at Rebecca in disbelief. "Lieutenant Zaigraev requested a reassignment?"

"That is correct." Rebecca nodded.

"After a single day?"

"Unfortunately..." Rebecca sighed.

Rally pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Do you see what I mean?"

"Forgive me for not jumping to your point of view." Rebecca said. "Like I said, my theory is still actively being tested."

"Don't let it get to you, Madame Commandante!" Damien said cheerily. "This one speaks more of him than you!"

As Freya walked in she caught the exchange between the officers, and shrugged mentally. She had learnt a long time ago that there was little point in getting het up about things. A long drive on the bike, or talking to her therapist were the solutions for her.

'Shame Zaigraev moved on,' she deadpanned, 'probably had just enough time to warm their seat somewhat.' Slapping her PADD down on the table, she took her seat. 'I'm sure Command will have a replacement sent out as soon as possible.'

"Oh, they'd better," Rally grumbled.

To be continued...

 

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