A Friend in Need

Posted on 23 Dec 2021 @ 4:13pm by Rear Admiral Azura Ashcart & Commander Rhyan
Edited on on 23 Dec 2021 @ 4:34pm

1,521 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Empty Creche
Location: Starfleet Headquarters, Earth
Timeline: ED4 1230

ON:

Azura sat behind the desk of the Admiral over SFI. He paused and thought to himself: 'No, I guess it's my desk and not West's anymore.' He sighed as he placed a PADD down on his desk. It showed the readout of force disbursements for Federation space. He grunted as he looked over the assignments and noticed there were more weak spots in the forces than reinforced. He pressed his fingers against his temples as a faint hint of a headache began to form along them and behind his eyes. He closed his eyes and shut out the outside stimulus to try a short meditation and break the headache before it could properly form.

Outside the office Commander Rhyan stood and inspected the sign on the door: Rear Admiral Azura Ashcart, Chief of Starfleet Intelligence. The Vulcan pondered the fact that only a few short days ago Ashcart had been his commanding officer on board the Redemption, his reassignment swift and without warning. But the reassignment came with the benefit that Rhyan could now ask the Admiral for his help in locating Elesa Zal's murderers and bring them to justice. He knew of no other Starfleet officer who would appreciate the apprehension and incarceration of Shrell and her Underdark associates. With one notable exception of course: Aeryn.

Not wanting to delay their meeting any further, Rhyan pressed his finger against the door chime and awaited his response from the Admiral.

Azura took a deep breath and opened his eyes before calling out "come" which would unlock the door and allow it to swoosh open. He blinked and raised an eyebrow as he looked across the long office to someone he hadn’t expected to see. "Rhyan? What are you doing here?" he said.

The Vulcan stepped through the threshold to Ashcart's office and allowed the door behind him to close before speaking. He was pensive, uncomfortable being in Starfleet Intelligence Headquarters so soon after his altercation with T'Kesh. Trust in the organisation was at an all-time low for him. "It is a long story, Admiral. One that I am more than happy to divulge, at another time."

Azura raised an eyebrow at the Commander's response and nodded. "Very well. Hold on a moment please," he said as he cleared a padd off his desk and pressed the button below it that turned the windows opaque and the soft hum of a forcefield activated around the edges of the office. The soft hum lessened to just below hearing range and the hairs on Azura's arm stood up due to the static energy being pumped into the forcefield bubble.

"There. It might not be comfortable, but I've raised the eavesdropping countermeasures so we can speak freely. I'm assuming you’re not here for a house call? Does this have to do with why you had to leave the Redemption so suddenly?" Ashcart asked as he placed the padd back down on the desk.

"Indeed, it does, Captain," Rhyan said, without thinking. "I do apologise; Admiral," he said, correcting himself.

The science officer gesticulated in the direction of the chair in front of Ashcart's desk and was pleased when the Admiral reciprocated the move and allowed him to sit upon it. He used the time to prepare his thoughts, deciding what information Ashcart would want to hear and what he would not. Logic dictated, however, that the Head of Starfleet Intelligence would want to know the most devastating news first. "I need to inform you, Admiral," he began, his voice solemn and shaking slightly, "that President Elesa Zal is dead."

Azura sighed. "I've heard. So far, it's the top command staff of Starfleet, but if you're in this building and are an O7 or higher, you know. We are trying to keep it hush-hush until we can notify the Vice President and get him secured and sworn in as the new President. By my estimates we have about one more day two at most before the whole of the Federation is flung into chaos."

"Bad news travels fast," commented Rhyan after the Admiral had spoken. Elesa's death had been two days earlier, and Lieutenant Johnston's report had no doubt done the rounds at Starfleet Headquarters since then. At least he wasn't breaking the bad news to Ashcart himself; silver linings and all that.

Rhyan momentarily looked down at his feet, trying to summon up the courage to ask what he had come here to ask: that he wanted a starship to track Shrell down, and end the Confederacy threat once and for all. He knew it was a big request for his former commanding officer, which made asking it all the harder. "Admiral," he began, bringing his gaze to meet Ashcart's, "I actually came here to request something of you. I want a ship to go after Shrell."

Azura raised an eyebrow and looked at the man across from him. "Aside from my own personal distaste for the Andorian, for what they have done to the Federation, why should I authorize an expedition for her?"

Rhyan leaned back in the chair. He had a multitude of reasons for wanting to bring Shrell to justice; the simple fact that she had been involved in the assassination of two Federation Presidents was probably justification enough. He also had a personal score to settle with her, particularly after their encounter in the Wolf system that destroyed their cure for Zal.

“She killed Elesa Zal,” the Vulcan said through gritted teeth. “She killed G’ath. Hell, she tried her hardest to kill me three days ago; I don’t think she has forgiven me for Tarran’s death.”

Azura's eyebrow almost met his hairline at that. "Why have I not heard of this before? I was not made aware that Shrell was responsible for the President's death." He paused then looked at Rhyan as a hot flash to anger bubbled to the surface of his mind before being pushed back down as pieces snapped into place. "She ordered you not to inform me of this. This was your true purpose with the DNA sequencing research you were doing on the Redemption, I assume? Tell me everything; there's no reason to keep the secret anymore," Azura said as he looked down and took a padd from his desk and started going over the information on it before stopping.

"Yes," Rhyan said in a very matter-of-fact manner. There was no point in lying about it anymore since Elesa was now dead. It had pained him to keep his efforts a secret from Ashcart at the time, but he understood the President's desire to have as few people know about her illness as possible. At the end of the day, her request for secrecy was intended to prevent the hysteria that now threatened break out through Federation space. He knew Ashcart would understand that.

The Vulcan thought twice about divulging any more information than that, but thought he owed it to the admiral to fill in some of the gaps. "Zal was infected by a virus, synthesised from the Ee virus that I discovered on Romulus. Lieutenant Tigan made the connection between the virus and the Andorians. Her suspicions were confirmed when Shrell destroyed the Aoraki in an attempt to kill us and destroy our research."

"I see. Well, one of the only good things about being a flag officer is that I get to pick my own flagship. I will assign my flag to the USS Onyx Shadow and place you in objective command of the mission." Azura pulled a second padd out of a drawer and started filling in the new orders. "Do me a favour, Commander - bring this ship back whole, and do your best to work well with the Colonel. The last thing I need on my desk is an intra-service conflict dropping on my desk because you like to ruffle feathers."

'Bring this ship back whole,' Rhyan repeated inwardly to himself. Was he getting a reputation for losing Starfleet vessels? Irrespective of the comment, he was glad that the admiral had acquiesced to his request and was providing him with a means to tracking down Shrell. For fear of giving the admiral an excuse to rescind his offer, Rhyan said nothing more than "aye, sir," back to the Ashcart.

"Very well Commander, dismissed." he looked at the man "Before you report to the Shadow, do me a favour and get a few hours’ sleep and get cleaned up. It will take me that long at least to get the paperwork filed. You look like hell."

“Aye, Sir,” Rhyan said instinctively, pushing himself up off the chair and walking towards the exit to Ashcart’s office. Before stepping out, he turned to his former commanding officer and said one last thing: “It really is good to see you again, Sir.”

Azura looked up and allowed himself a small smile "You too, Rhyan. Make sure we can do this again some time will you?"

OFF:

Rear Admiral Azura Ashcart
Head of Star Fleet Intelligence/Master of the Company

&

Commander Ryan
Executive Officer, USS Redemption

 

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