Chapter 3: Good Tides and Fair Winds (part 3)

Chapter 3: Good Tides and Fair Winds (part 3)

“Any thoughts or additional suggestions Number One?

Sabotage?

Her drink momentarily forgotten, Frazetti's sapphire eyes flashed angrily and she leaned forward like a hound on a scent.

Oh no you didn't, bucko, not on dis ship.

He explained it to her. She sat, listening intently, as he explained.

"Oxmyx's teeth. Bastards don' waste time, do dey? Sir," she added belatedly.

She was angry and stomped on it in an effort to be 'professional'.

"I was in Sec-Tac at the Academy for a while; it seems ya got most of da bases covered. It does occur t' me; well, Sir, if I was a cowardly saboteur, da best place t' hide would be da tactical department. It'd be difficult t' get in, but it's obvious we ain't dealin' with no dummy. Also, ain't nothin' saying it's gotta be only one of 'em out dere."

She paused, thinking further.

"Culprits is a bit more twisty. Romulans come t' mind, of course, but den so do da Klingons. Relationships wit' dem are on the rocks, and dey weren't none too pleased 'bout dis little adventure. I can even think of some Starfleet personnel who'd rather shoot a Rommie than shake with 'em. I agree dat we need t' be careful 'bout spookin' our spy. He's on da lam right now, but he'll be easier t' catch if he thinks we're sitting pretty an' ignorant. I'd personally like t' take him for a ride," she added in a dark tone, "but we need him t' tell us who he's workin' for."

Remembering her drink, she picked ip up and took a sip. It was good, icy cold and fizzy and sweet, tickling her nose as it went down. Yes indeed, she could think of several things to do to the sombitch that dared try this bullshit. Most of them involved a switchblade.

Sterling tried to contain the smirk sneaking onto his face as Hartzer went off like a phaser on overload. She was indeed a spirited and fiery one… to say the least.

Despite her seemingly intense reaction, her rather plausible thoughts were also evident as she attempted rationalize potential saboteurs.
Sterling turned to his first officer.

“You may be on to something there Number One…” he said as he began to ponder the implications of her statements. “Whoever it is that is sabotaging this vessel is demonstrating a very strong motivation to potentially cripple this vessel… even before we begin this mission."

He thought for a moment and then looked into to the intense blue eyes of the First Officer.

"Continue to work with Lieutenant Commander Archer. Perhaps there is something in the personnel records, or someone’s past to give us some type of lead or clue. Also as you hinted, look specifically into tactical and security officers… in addition to the obvious engineering suspects. It may be someone who has easy access to different parts in the ship… someone who wouldn’t raise suspicion if spotted.”

He then looked down at his cup of tea and took another sip, and then squeezed in a bit more lemon juice and then began stirring it into the brew.

“We’ll need to continue looking for clues in other parts of the ship as well. Chances are they may have struck in other parts of the ship, and possibly with a different tactic as well,” he added. “At some point Number One,” the Captain suggested after taking another sip and pondering for a moment, “we may need to consider bringing Pasqual into this situation. It seems that our Counselor has quite a talent for digging into the tiny crevices of someone’s personality and exposing them into the light of day; among many other… gifts. He along with Mister Archer could ultimately be very useful in helping to hunt down and expose our dangerous mole… hopefully before any real damage is actually done to our ship!”

Frazetti nodded.

"Aye, sir," she said, even as that ancient Earth title warmed her heart some. "Y'know, da motivation required is considerable. Maybe it's personal for dem. I'll do some pokin' 'round with Mistuh Archer. If ya don' mind, suh, I think I'd like t' bring in my second in Ops, Lieutenant Phelix, into dis. He can assist with some of da checkin'."

He looked intently at the First Officer and reflected on her request. Their small circle of secrecy in regards to this saboteur was already starting to grow larger than he intended. However, he knew that he would also need to trust in the instincts and judgment of his first officer as well.

“If you deem this Lieutenant Phelix to be a trustworthy and necessary component in our investigation Number One, the Captain replied, then you have the prerogative to include him in this operation; that is after you clarify the absolute secretive nature of this investigation.”

Frazetti nodded decisively.

"Aye, sir. I'll bring Mistuh Phelix up t' speed, and have him check da comm logs- discreetly, of course. I'll run dem diagnostics personally. I think maybe da both of us oughta look at dem files. Two sets of eyes an' all. If ya wouldn' mind, Mistuh Archer," she asked more formally, "can ya take the tracin', bein' a little more equipped than Ops t' do so, along with da search of da quarters?"

“However, other than the possibility of including Pasqual, we will need to limit anyone else’s involvement.” The Captain concluded.

It was a gut decision, but one she felt good about. Frazetti trusted her instincts. She had learned very early on to make a decision and stick with it, never second guess herself, because her first instinct is usually the right on. Her exam scores tended to corroborate this.

Pasqual...

She processed this visibly for a moment, using the time to take a sip of her soda.

"I think I agree, Boss. He's a little unorthodox, even confrontational, but den again da same can be said for me. He's also very good at what he does. If he can give us some insight t' the killer's thinkin', we can use it t' help narrow down our list of suspects."

She shifted in her seat.

"But, speakin' of da Counselor, dere was an incident on da bridge I think bears reportin'."

She explained the almost-fight between the CMO and the Counselor, leaving out no details.

"Personally, I think dey both overreacted a bit, maybe more'n a bit; da use of da transporters was overkill, dere were other options t' pursue. An' Pasqual might have instigated da argument some, goaded him on when he coulda let it lie. But da damage is done. I don' think I fixed it, just... postponed it," she said bluntly, shrugging.

She had done her best, and it would have to do for now.

He looked away for a moment as he processed this information. It always perplexed Sterling to see and hear of people, especially in Starfleet, with such talent, skills and experience resort to these examples of useless confrontations. He would need to address each of these officers at some point regarding these incidents, but Hartzer and the security officer took the initiative to squelch their antagonism for now. Hopefully, this would suffice while they addressed much larger and more potentially hazardous circumstances.

He then looked back toward Hartzer and stated “Thank you, Commander, for both informing me of this incident and jumping in to help curtail this from escalating any further. Perhaps…”

The chime to the Captain's office rang.

"Come" was the reply after a moment and Brian entered finding Commander Hartzer and the Captain inside.

"I apologize for interrupting, Captain, but I have some relevant information regarding our trouble in deflector control."

The Captain looked up at his Security Chief.

“No problem at all Mister Archer. In fact, I was just getting the Commander here up to speed on our saboteur situation. Your timing was impeccable. ”

He then gestured to the Security Chief.

“Please have a seat and fill us in on what you have uncovered!”

Archer took a seat so that he could face both senior officers.

"I've reviewed the internal sensor logs from main deflector control area of Deck 21 and aside from the Starbase engineers there were only three ship's personnel in the area and I'm disappointed to say that they were all from my department. Two of them were guarding the deflector room on my orders and the third was on a routine patrol. Barring finding anything about the starbase engineers, I would say that we have to assume one of those three officers is the saboteur."

He let that news sink in for a moment before continuing

"I've briefed my assistant Cass..." Brian broke off at the risk of sounding to familiar with his assistant. He was pretty sure no one was aware of their past relationship. "Lieutenant Strider, and I've also read in Cadet Thran. It turns out our cadet did six years in the Andorian Defense Force before joining the Academy. He wasn't a suspect to start with and I believe he could be an asset given his prior training. That said, I am open to suggestions on how to bait this trap though Cadet Thran seems to think we ought to just interrogate all of them."

So, it was a tactical officer... That was not a good thing.

"I'm not too keen on dat," Frazetti said, speaking slowly as the thoughts coalesced in her mind. "We've got a rat, an' we can't afford t' scare him off. An' besides dat, it could start a witch hunt." She paused. "...Dat said, I'm not too sure of what else we can-"

She froze. Then, a slow, wicked grin crossed her face, one ear to the other.

"Scratch dat, I t'ink I got an idea. It'll require some subterfuge though, and some careful evidence plantin'."

She looked at the two of them, a terrible twinkle in her eyes. Iotian deceit was not to be underestimated.

"What we can do is make like we somehow got da evidence t' catch da guy. Den we leave it somewhere, guarded, but our little rat oughta be able t' deal with dat an' we can't make it too easy for him. The only person dat'll be interested in dat information is da actual spy, because he can't risk his secret gettin' out premature. We can catch da piker in da act!"

Sterling listened very carefully to the recommendations of his two senior officers. How they each proceeded in this situation would potentially have an enormous impact on the overall outcome. Treason and sabotage would not be dealt with lightly in the Federation, and the Captain wanted to ensure that they caught any and all saboteurs involved and remedied all systems and locations affected by their treacherous acts.

So much for focusing our attention and efforts into the upcoming summit the Captain then thought.

The actual mission was now temporarily secondary to the security risks they were currently facing.

“First thing we need to do is track and trace the path of each of your suspects since their arrival on to this ship; with a special emphasis on what each of them is currently doing. I want a detailed record of everywhere they went; on-duty and off-duty, along with who they spoke to. Second, the Captain continued, Follow up on each and every area of the ship that each suspect visited. These areas will now require a full level-five diagnostic inspection; be very cautious not to arouse suspicion or accidently trigger any booby-traps that may have been placed in proximity to the tampered areas or equipment. Scan everything thoroughly before doing anything!”

Then he added:

“Now that the probable suspects have been narrowed down to possibly three, our third approach will be to conduct a thorough investigation of each of these crew members’ records and backgrounds. Leave no stone unturned. Search through all of their Starfleet records, medical notations, family history, citations… anything that could possibly provide some sort of motivation for these actions.”

Sterling turned more directly to his chief of security.

“Next, Mister Archer, you will need to set up and conduct a complete search of each of their quarters as soon as possible. You may not find anything, but we won’t know until we try. You may have to create a subtle ploy to get them out of their quarters if they are off-duty, but I’m sure that you will come up with some clever method of accomplishing this.”

Sterling then proposed to both of them:

“We will also need to monitor all forms of communication coming into and exiting out of this ship. Chances are they may be in contact with someone else and are accomplishing this by masking their signals. All frequencies must be monitored and every way conceivable and all locations possible to effectively to scramble a signal must be investigated.”

Sterling then concluded:

“Meanwhile, I will be in contact with Admiral Kelek on Starbase 39 and apprise him of our current status, check over these reports, and possibly pay a visit to our Counselor. Keep me informed of your progress in person only; remember no uncoded messages through combadges or ships communications.”

He then looked in turn at each of the two senior officers sitting attentively before him.

“Any further questions or comments?”

"Sir, are we delayin' the launch?" Frazetti asked. She would need to do things either way...

Sterling looked at the two officers.

"At this point, officially no, we are not delaying anything... just finishing up preparations for the launch as we have been since our arrival."

He then added:

"Unofficially... well, we are not going anywhere until this sabotage issue is resolved... one way or another."

The security chief then answered in turn:

"No questions, Sir. As the Commander has suggested, Lieutenant Strider, Cadet Thran, and myself will search their quarters personally while they are on duty. All three of them are enlisted personnel, Sir, and all are on my second shift. An initial review of their records turned up nothing out of the ordinary, but I have to admit I didn't have time to dig through their personal histories. I will make that my first priority and do it personally. The commander is welcome to join me if she wants. Thinking about it Sir, the most likely of the three is Chief Drake. He was on a roving patrol with access to most of the ship. He would have had the most opportunity to do the most damage. We definitely should find out where he's been and which spaces he's accessed as you already pointed out, Captain. I've also been running diagnostics on the major ship systems at the highest level I could without taking the systems offline and so far I've come up with nothing."

"Excellent Mister Archer. Carry on how you see fit, but definitely proceed with caution!”

When the officers seemed to have concluded their discussion, Sterling dismissed them both.

As soon as they left the Ready Room, Captain Sterling contacted Admiral Kelek on Starbase 39 and apprised him of the event that occurred and the covert operation in place to capture the saboteur.

Sitting at the tactical station with Lieutenant Strider beside him Brian looked over the results of the intensive internal scans he'd been running. Normally, an engineering officer would be a better choice for something like this, but in the interest of keeping the information about the saboteur compartmented Archer had used his security overrides to access the needed diagnostics and the internal sensors. He'd also been monitoring the movements of the three suspects but at the same time he hadn't restricted them from any duties so as not to let the cat out of the bag before the time was right.

He looked over at Cassie as she worked to finish up duty rosters for their inevitable trip to the peace talks. She was flipping through various crew member assignments trying to take into account potential issues with sleeping schedules of different species and so on...

Brian thought briefly about the last time they'd been together on an assignment. They had been working for Section 31, under deep cover in Klingon territory with the mission of eliminating a war mongering Klingon general. When it finally came time to eliminate the general, neither one of them could pull the trigger after seeing the man's family gathered around him. It was that mission, which had prompted them both to come back to Starfleet. Brian was still deciding if he had any regrets.

The computer beeped at him just then, and Brian looked at the anomalous reading.

"Unsafe levels of Tetrazine..." he mumbled under his breath. He noticed Commander Hartzer sitting at her station and called out to her.

"Commander Hartzer, could you step over here for a moment?"

Although the Admiral wanted to immediately send his own security team aboard the Icarus and conduct a vigorous security sweep, Sterling convinced the Admiral to hold off sending anyone until the suspects were apprehended. At that point, the Starbase 39 security team could work in conjunction with Lieutenant Commander Archer’s team to conduct one final total security sweep before launch.

Sterling explained emphatically that he trusted the skills and the professionalism of both his Security Chief and his First Officer. Eventually the Admiral concurred.

The Captain of the Icarus then obtained the initial coordinates to pick up his remaining delegates; although the final coordinates would be provided once they were in closer proximity to the rendezvous points; as an additional safety precaution. He placed the information on a smaller PADD so that it could be immediately transferred to the helm console.

After this virtual meeting concluded, Sterling engaged the PADD left on his command seat on the bridge. Once it activated, he could see that it was from Counselor Pasqual, and set to a specific report. He then began to read the report:

Psychological Evaluation: Dr. Jayvin Cyl MD

Based on the brief conversation with his First Officer, he knew that this wasn’t going to be favorable in the Doctor’s behalf. Nevertheless, this was an official entry from the ship’s counselor and required his full attention and consideration.

In a very proficient and detailed manner, Pasqual was basically stating that in his professional evaluation, the actual mental fitness for bona fide ship duty of the Chief Medical Officer was highly questionable. He then cited examples of events that occurred along with additional comments to substantiate his conclusion:

- Incompetence in managing crew examinations: ordering Alpha shift for an examination while in launch phase and showing a tendency to overexert authority and power.

- Disregard for all other departments duties showing a definite self-centered personality.

- Definite bullying attitude: openly threatening people not answering his beck and call, pulling rank

- Lack of judgment in using emergency procedures for routine work: using emergency transport to force people to sickbay.

- Ignoring Starfleet regulations for his own benefit: noting that the chief of security is 100% right and the Doctor is 100% wrong and refuses to admit it; refusing psychoexamination by ship counselor which is as mandatory as medical examination, showing lack of respect for the service.

- Ignoring Starfleet procedures: while the ship is on launch phase and he heard the orders the Captain gave to all the bridge officers and yet disregard it all for his own needs, showing lack of discipline.

- Ignoring Starfleet protocol: arguing over comm for minutes with someone in a meeting with the Captain, showing lack of respect to senior officers.

- Unsocializing attitude: the only time he is noted to have spoken to anyone was to order them around, argue with them and threaten them, and thus showing lack of respect or care to fellow officers.

Sterling stopped reading for a moment. These were serious charges and he was going to have to address this situation himself once this saboteur crisis had been resolved.

As he finished reading the report, he discovered in the concluding analysis that Pasqual was recommending removal of Cyl because of being evidently psychologically unfit for duty.

Unfortunately, there just wasn’t time to address this at the moment; but the Captain would have to attend to this before they moved through those enormous spacedocks doors.

He picked up the smaller PADD and kept the Counselor’s PADD in the other hand as he headed back out to the main bridge.

Arriving on the bridge, he approached the helm officer.

“Mister Falcar, here are the tentative coordinates for our journey, including two rendezvous points to pick up additional delegates,” He stated as he handed the Romulan exchange officer the smaller PADD.

Falcar opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the Captain. He reached out and took the PADD from him. As he looked over the information, the Romulan helmsman nodded.

“Yes, Captain.”

He leaned forward tapping at the console slowly and at the same time studying the contents of the PADD.

Falcar leaned back in his chair once more. He had finished inputting the new coordinate for the mysterious rendezvous.

He could visualize the course. Leaving Starbase 39, and heading south, map-wise, to the rendezvous, then east to southeast to Romulan space. Seems with the rendezvous, the ideal course, would be the longer one, the first officer gave him.

“Mister Falcar, please prepare contingency routes as well in case we run into… any resistance.” The Captain added then as he walked over to the Counselor, busily overseeing the final stages of preparedness of the communications systems.

"Counselor, may I once again have a moment of you time?" Sterling inquired.

''That is the only reason I am here for, Captain Sir,'' the Orion answered with a smile on his lips but a very serious glint in his steely eyes, immediately standing up and signaling to a junior technician to take over for him.

“Thank you Counselor” Sterling responded as he turned and headed back to his Ready Room.

Entering his office, the Captain walked over to the replicator and stated “May I offer you a beverage Mr. Pasqual?”

''Thank you, Sir. I'll have what you have,'' answered the green-skinned officer.

Sterling got them both his favorite blend of herbal tea. He then walked over and sat down and gestured to the Counselor to do the same.

Looking at Pasqual, and placing the PADD between them on the desk, he stated calmly.

“I received your Physiological Evaluation of Doctor Jayvin Cyl and I am aware of your… verbal encounters with the Doctor as well. However, this is not the main reason for requesting to speak with you.”

He could see a brief hint of a surprise in the Counselor’s expression; although very well masked.

Don't tell me he caught on my modus operandi, wondered Ray silently. He would be the first ever... If so, the man's mind is keen indeed.

But the commanding officer of the Icarus was talking still.

“Unfortunately Counselor, we have a more urgent situation on board that we are covertly addressing.” He began, noting the counselor’s interest and curiosity subtly engaged.

Without delaying for a dramatic pause, Sterling just began to present the scenario to the ship’s counselor.

“We have discovered evidence of sabotage on this ship. Lieutenant Commander Archer and Commander Hartzer are currently in pursuit of the suspect. Obviously, their teams can handle this aspect of the investigation. However, if a suspect is apprehended, then I am requesting that you lead the interrogation of any and all potential suspects… along with the assistance of Lieutenant Commander Archer of course.”

Sterling then filled in the details to the counselor regarding what they had found and what was being done as they conducted this investigation.

“This needs to remain strictly confidential throughout the impending investigation, apprehension and interrogation process. The crew will be notified once we have ensured that we have apprehended and confirmed involvement of any and all saboteurs and their affiliates on board.”

''Understood, Sir, '' acknowledged Pasqual.'' But I may already hypothesize this: since the man did not attempt with his sabotage to destroy the ship, but only to disable her, it suggests that whoever is behind this wants to delay us, not stop us outright. Therefore, we are but a piece of a larger plan. And it also suggests that the saboteur or saboteurs want to remain on board this ship, most probably to ensure full resolution of this larger plan. The Icarus is not the real target, Captain Sir; the peace talks are.''

"From the evidence that we have found so far, this could be possible but this is not for certain. Meanwhile, the security crews are still searching throughout the ship for evidence of other tampering that may have occurred. We were most fortunate to have had a crew member discover this system manipulation prior to our departure." Sterling replied.

Sitting back with his tea, the Orion counselor concluded;

''If we find out who would benefit from the failure of the meeting, we will be that much closer to find out who is behind it all.''

“Ah… and that is the challenge now isn’t it?'' The Captain nodded in agreement, and then took another sip of tea. “It would seem that there could be quite a gallery full of potential adversaries that would like to see this meeting fail; unfortunately, even within the Federation and Romulan Empire alone. Now you add other possible governments within the immediate sectors with their own agenda into the mix and the possibilities increase almost exponentially.” The Captain commented with regret.

He placed down the cup.

“But motivation and access would seem to be key areas for us to begin to focus on… and I would agree that this saboteur was counting on having opportunities to continue derailing our progress toward this summit. They probably didn’t count on their actions to have been spotted quite so early and therefore were probably hoping to accomplish their own mission unscathed.”

He then though for a moment and then added:

“And if not… just how far were they willing to go to prevent this ship from reaching its ultimate destination or be discovered?” he questioned, almost rhetorically.

He then looked at the counselor.

“Therefore, Mister Pasqual, where would you like to begin?”

The Orion stopped abruptly to sip his tea, almost choking on it and blinked with wide eyes at his commanding officer.

''Are you asking me to lead the investigation? With all due respect, Captain Sir, shouldn't Chief Archer be in charge?''

Pasqual was starting to have a bit of a problem with the cascade of sometimes conflicting orders the Captain was bombarding the crew with. And the First Officer was not yet trying to sort and order those as she should when you had a ship commander having this style of leadership. The whole incident with Doctor Cyl had stemmed from this in the first place.

Unless... are YOU testing us as well, Captain Sir? his eyes only asked. How funny it would be if he was doing with us exactly what I do with everyone myself...

The Captain tried to resist a smile as the counselor continue with his “lil’ ol’ me?” routine, as he had done with the Admiral during the Starbase 39 meeting. It was like walking through a hall of mirrors with Pasqual… casting off reflections and creating illusions… pretending to be confused while he continued to test everyone around him.

“Of course Mister Archer is leading the investigation, Mister Pasqual” Sterling responded with a bit of a twinkle in his eye and feigned surprise in his tone. “I was merely referring to your admittance to the personnel files that you have access to as ship’s counselor.”

The Captain then added innocuously:

“I was sure that you would be able to use your multitude of skills to assist our security chief with a psychological profile of this saboteur and cross-reference this with the personnel files in your possession… but I suppose that this may be overstepping your qualifications a bit.”

Ray cocked his head to a side and but the shadow of a smile played on his green-skinned features.

Well played, Sir, well played, he congratulated his astute commanding officer in the secrecy of his mind. Although it showed through his eyes.

''Well, we won't know until I try, won't we, Captain Sir? ''

Taking another sip of his tea, he then asked pointedly;

''Are we postponing the launch until this situation is resolved, Sir?''

With a slight grin, the Captain responded back:

"As I discussed with Lieutenant Commander Archer and Commander Hartzer… that at this point, we are not officially delaying anything. Instead, we are merely finishing up preparations for the launch as we have been since our arrival; which is actually a relatively accurate assessment of our situation as it stands anyway."

He then added discretely:

"Unofficially... as you can imagine Counselor, we are not going anywhere until this saboteur is caught and any instances of sabotage are resolved. Unfortunately, there are too many potential unknown risks involved currently to just fire up the engines and proceed with our mission. This is the reason that I am seeking your assistance with this investigation"

He then lifted up the cup and enjoyed the last few sips of his tea before replacing it back into its designated position on the desk.

Looking back through his notes Sterling added:

“Currently, they’ve narrowed the suspects down to three; with a Mister Drake apparently leading this dubious pack. See what you are able uncover about these potential suspects and then when you are ready, Mister Pasqual, I would like you to coordinate your findings with the First Officer and the Chief of Security.”

Gulping down the last of his tea, Ray stood up and nodded to his commanding officer.

''Aye, Captain Sir. The communication board is ready for launch so I will look into this right away, top priority. With only three people to look over, this shouldn't take long.''

Captain Sterling stood as the meeting with the counselor was concluding.

“Thank you Mister Pasqual. I sincerely appreciate your skilled assistance in this unfortunate matter.” The Captain concluded as the meeting ended.

As the Counselor nodded in acknowledgement and left, he then turned and exited also his Ready Room.

Captain Sterling could sense that Counselor Pasqual, although perhaps appearing to be a bit of a challenge in the eyes of many in Starfleet, was actually a very gifted and astute officer. He would most likely be an essential figure in the upcoming meetings with the Federation delegates and those representing the Romulans.

The Captain then looked at the medical monitoring station.

“Doctor Cyl, I’d like to meet with you in the Ready Room within the next few minutes if you are available.”

After hearing the Captain, Doctor Cyl locked his console to his command codes, as there wasn't anyone present to relieve him, and then headed after the Captain into his office.

“Please have a seat” Sterling said and gestured to the doctor towards one of the seats before his desk as he walked over to the replicator.

“May I offer you something to drink?” he asked as he looked over toward the Trill.

Humming a bit to himself, Doctor Cyl stepped in to the room and took a seat.

"Cranberry tea, if you would, Captain."

He then ordered a small class of chilled orange juice for himself.

As he sat down in his comfortable leather-bound wooden chair, he looked at the Doctor and after a small sip of the juice began his discussion.

“First off, Doctor Cyl, I realize that each of us has been placed in a very precarious position having been recalled and assigned to this ship without prior notification. To add to this situation, we are all then trying to get our departments and stations in order while preparing to launch for a rather crucial mission. Normally, we would have had a reasonably sufficient amount of time to accomplish the many tasks needed to get to this point, yet unfortunately this was not the case with us.”

He then looked at the information and recommendation transferred from the counselor’s PADD to his crew records within the Captain’s confidential files and was staring at the issues raised by the ship’s counselor regarding the Doctor.. Crew conflicts were among the least favorite aspects of Captaining a Starship in Sterling’s eyes and normally he would have had the ship’s counselor help work through these difficulties. However in this case... ironically, the counselor himself was involved in this altercation.

“Secondly, I appreciate the dedication that you’ve demonstrated since your arrival to the Icarus in striving to complete all of the ship’s personnel examinations in such a short period of time while working to get your new department set up and ready for launch. Your Starfleet records also indicate a high level of allegiance to your duty as well.”

After a deep breath and a slight pause the Captain continued.
“I am aware of the… differences of opinion and perspective that seems to have developed between you and our ship’s counselor. Mister Pasqual already at this early juncture in fact, has presented his… perspective rather formally by submitting a psychological evaluation on your conduct and perceives that, from his professional evaluation, you are unfit to carry on as the Chief Medical Officer of this ship.”

Captain Sterling allowed a moment for this information to sink in with the Trill doctor as he took another sip of orange juice.

“So Doctor, let us run through the issues brought up and presented by Mister Pasqual, shall we?”

Captain Sterling then point-by-point provided a synopsis of Pasqual’s evaluation to the Doctor so that he would know specifically what the counselor was implying in his report.
When he concluded, he looked straight at the Doctor.

“Because of the serious nature of these assessments, Doctor Cyl, we are having this conversation. However, I also wanted to provide you the opportunity to speak on your own behalf in regards to these allegations and listen to your point of view as well.”

He then looked back up to the doctor and stated simply:

“Please Doctor Cyl, feel free to respond,” and allowed the Chief Medical Officer the opportunity to convey his viewpoint on the situation.

After hearing the evaluation, he smiled a bit and then took a sip of his tea and gave it a moment of thought before replying.

"He does have a sense of drama about him, no? Though I do wonder how such a troubled person became a ship counselor.”

He took another sip of his tea and added:

"My method of course were not standard but nor is this situation, Sir. But I am one the best surgeons in all of Starfleet, a trained, experienced combat medic and I was able to coordinate the exam of nearly fifty percent of the crew within an hour, without the help or support of the Starfleet chief officers. So, my question to you, Captain, is: if you have already made up your mind about me, based on that bias report. I ask this because, while I might not care what the pirate offspring thinks about me, I do care what my Captain thinks. "

Captain Sterling was quite taken back by the Doctor’s response as indicated by the perplexed expression that spread across his face.

“Doctor Cyl, I would have believed that my opening remarks to you would have conveyed the respect and admiration I have for you as a medical officer and the dedication you’ve shown as a Starfleet officer. Because Counselor Pasqual presented this as a formal evaluation, I am compelled by Starfleet regulations to follow-up on this report.”

He then looked intently at the Chief Medical Officer and asked for clarification.

“Before we proceed, if you could please specify what I had said to you to indicate that I could have possibly made up my mind already in this matter… I would appreciate it.”

Jayvin nodded to the Captain.

"Thank you, Sir; sorry, just a bit on edge. It's been a hectic hour. Well Sir, its how you laid it all out there before even asking for my side of it and how you only contacted me after he did a formal report."

Sterling nodded affirmatively as he listened carefully to the Doctor as he explained his interpretation of the events that just unfolded. It had indeed been a trying time for them all.

“Think nothing of it, Doctor. I completely understand. I was just trying to share these concerns without putting you on the defensive… but paradoxically, it ended up having the inverse reaction.” The Captain stated with a bit of a grin. “So allow us to try again. I would like to hear your perspective on the events that occurred in reference to the concerns expressed in the report presented.”

He sat back and stated:

“Please feel free to speak candidly but respectfully about Mister Pasqual and you in regards to this situation.”
He then took another sip of juice and waited the Doctor’s response.

"Aye, Sir,'' Doctor Cyl replied. ''Well, after the meeting, I hurried to sickbay and had a quick meeting to organize my staff in to teams for the exams. I figured with my thirty or so nurses I could get through each department's alpha shift in about ten minutes or so."

He paused a moment to drink more his tea before continuing.

"I started with Alpha because I wanted to get them out of the way as quickly as possible. To allow them to begin to prepare for launch but at the same time transfer any long term patients we might find to starbase medical instead of using up a bed during a potentially dangerous mission. After about thirty minutes of ship-wide alerts, Mister Falcar was the only chief officer to show up. Then after one more call, that argument began, with Pasqual, who never showed up but disrupted my staff and instill distrust in me. Now I have to be honest, personal stuff doesn't tend to bother me, but I am very proud of my record and work. So, Pasqual questioning me like that in front of you and the XO got me angry and I ended up using the transporters to collect the rest of the senior officer and other stragglers for their exam... 'till Archer removed my access."

Doctor Cyl took a breath.

"Well that is my side, Sir."

The Captain nodded again in affirmation. He could sense the stress the Doctor was feeling as he explained his situation. It was apparent that he took his position and his responsibilities very seriously and did not appreciate being labeled as unprofessional and later unfit for duty. It was the type of offense that affected him to his core; even now as he tried to enjoy his Cranberry tea.

“Thank you for sharing your perspective on these events. I hear what you are saying Doctor. My main concern at this point is having two of my most important officers on this Starship whose position it is to take care of the medical and psychological needs of our crew figuratively at each other’s throats. There is quite an irony here I would hope that each of you would see and be willing to rectify. Honestly, what kind of example is this for each of you as professionals and officers to set; especially when we are about to begin a mission of extremely challenging negotiations… a mission towards peace? I am not pointing a finger to one or the other of you. I am however seeing that each of you had a role in escalating the situation to higher levels and to a degree misusing your authority a bit to out-maneuver the other. This is unacceptable and needs to end here. Also to clarify, there will be no formal actions taken at this point provided that each of you makes a concerted effort to make amends and put these incidents behind us and work as the team that we truly need to be in order to be successful… and even to survive.”

Sterling then looked keenly at Cyl and asked earnestly:

“Would this seem reasonable and acceptable to you, Doctor?”

"Of course, Sir. I have no problem working with him so long as he isn't trying to call me unfit for duty just because we don't agree."

Captain Sterling released a bit of a smiled as a direct indication of relief. He sensed that the Doctor was a reasonable and compassionate officer and Sterling was just presented with a clear example of the Doctor’s willingness to forgive and move on.

“Thank you Doctor Cyl. I truly appreciate and respect your professionalism and cooperation in this matter.”

He reached out to shake the hand of the Doctor; a symbol of a gentleman’s agreement from days long past.
“One last thing,” the Captain remembered; “if in the future there is an issue with anyone disregarding their medical responsibilities, please contact Commander Hartzer or myself immediately. One of us will be there to see that any such situation is resolved expeditiously. Also, transporting a crew member should only ever be done under a direct order by a superior officer or an extreme medical emergency.”

Sterling then added:

“Speaking of this, please send me the names of any remaining personnel who have yet to report for their exam. I can assure you that they will show up to sickbay almost immediately or else I will be dealing with them... and it will not be pleasant.”

Smiling, Sterling then assured the doctor:

“Also, know that Commander Hartzer and I will be reporting for our exams very shortly as well… as soon as we bring closure to some… unfinished business”

Doctor put his tea off to the side and shook Captain's hand.

"Yes, Captain. I will send you the list, once I get back to my station, Sir. Plus the few issues that have arose… and I already scanned the XO sir."

He then pulled out his handy medical tricorder and gave the Captain a quick scan.

"And now you, Sir. I will have to review it later though."

“Thank you Doctor… you just saved me a trip to sickbay.” The Captain smirked as he acknowledged the Doctor’s efficiency. “Send me the list and any other concerns that you have once you have confirmed everything with your staff.”

Sterling then noted:

“Oh, by the way, Doctor, since we have a few more details to take care of here, we can also allow you some more time to finish you examinations."

With that news, he could see a bit of relief show across the Doctor’s somewhat anxious face.

“Dismissed” the Captain stated, as he stood up to see the Chief Medical Officer out the door.

"Thank you, Sir." Jayvin replied as he moved to the door. "Oh, and thanks again for the tea." He said with a smile as he left.