JDL | Capt. Aine DiAgessi (CO) & Cdr. Jake Satie (XO) | "The King Is Dead, All Hail The Queen"

Posted on Sat Oct 7th, 2017 @ 1:45am by Captain Jacob Satie & Captain Aine DiAgessi
Edited on on Wed Oct 11th, 2017 @ 4:05am

Mission: The Round Table
Location: Cold Station Theta
Timeline: Four Days After The XO Arrives

Almost a week had passed since his arrival and there had been no response to any of his communiques to Starfleet Personnel. Jake was not overly daunted, he knew that if there was one thing the Starfleet bureaucracy was good at it was dragging their feet. He sent a request for assistance to Fleet Admiral Blyx, Commodore Jorgun, and even his mother at the Judge Advocate General's office on Earth Space Dock. One way or the other he was going to have manning. The nearest ship would be two days away if needed and to get a fleet mobilized to this location would be three to five days and Jake was not going to allow a threat to put him in the position of needing that help simply because Starfleet was dragging its collective feet.

There was not yet a routine Jake could establish for his day. New issues with equipment or construction had kept him busy well through and past his shifts. He had learned a great deal about the layout of the station. With the exception of decks three twenty-five through four fifty, which was all that was left of the original refueling station, he had been almost everywhere else at some point in the past four days. His briefing once he checked on board had been very brief indeed. A duty operations officer had been kind enough to give him a quick and dirty rundown on the station's status. It was abysmal. The only positive thing the man had offered was the hope construction would be completed in the next few days. It seemed that the new Sector Commander had arrived with an engineering vessel and had co-opted them into staying long enough to help finish what Starfleet didn't seem interested in completing.

A ship, the USS Rhine, was scheduled to dock in fifteen minutes and Jake had been requested to meet them upon arrival. He was currently in his office on deck three and knew the journey would take him close to eight minutes. Not wanting to be late he stood and headed out toward the turbolift.

The trip from Sol Sector to Cold Station Theta had been one of bittersweet proportions. On the one hand, it brought Aine one step closer to fulfilling the career order her mother had always dreamed she'd hold. On the other, it was yet another move away from stability. The USS Griffin had been home for so long, leaving her with fond memories and nightmares in equal measures not to be outdone by the Bismark; another ship that had met a cruel fate. A Captain dead. A young XO left to make life and death decisions in the face of an adversary that should have been considered a friend. Federation First had been comprised of colleagues and in the end she'd had to put friends down in battle. Kill or be killed. She'd survived.

In preparation for this change of seasons, Admiral Archer had left her behind when he made his mad dash to Theta in the wake of Fleet Admiral Red's near death experience. It hadn't mattered that the woman was also fondly known as 'mom' by the spirited young Captain, the message was clear as day. She'd need to grow up, shelter and shelve the baseline emotions attached to people, places, and things if she was ever going to make it as a commanding officer. And she had... Sort of. After all, she was human, not Vulcan. Not even a little teensy tiny bit. Now she was nearly there, at her mother's strong hold, and waiting to take the reins of a place that was still so very badly untamed.

"Your station awaits you, Captain." A voice broke her from her thoughts, an a gesture towards the umbilical she'd patiently taken pause near in preparation of departure. She nodded, offering them a small smile in response, but bolstering her best game face, tugging the hem of her uniform straight, and taking those first few fated steps towards a whole new experience. Aine knew that her mother wouldn't be waiting for her, nor would Admiral Archer. They'd be scarce at first, not wanting to taint her actions or alter the dynamic in which she met her first command with. The training wheels were off, and she was officially on her own as the biggest fish in a pond that had a social structure that was near impossible to navigate... Safely, that was. She'd do it. She had to. The other options weren't options at all, and she wouldn't consider them. Failure. Death. Not allowed.

The first thing Aine's eyes locked on when she left the safety of the Rhine, was the stony visage of a Commander as he stood at the head of a small crowd of people waiting for the ship to offload its retinue. It was him. The one in the file. The lawyer from London that had turned enough heads in Starfleet to be fast tracked towards command. A man known for his impeccable attention to detail and distinct lack of affinity for nonsense. A hard ass, as Archer had called him, but the best choice for the task at hand. He won himself a quick flash of a smile for the efforts taken to meet her on what was the closest thing to neutral territory they could have possibly found, an act that gave her hope for their future as a team. "Commander Satie, I've heard a great deal about you," She greeted him with no small sense of certainty and offered a hand for a shake, "I am Captain Aine DiAgessi. Cold Station Theta's new Commanding Officer." Not that it needed much in the way of explanation, uniforms and the glint of the four gleaming pips against her throat would have given her away at first glance.

She was beautiful. Jake was lost in her eyes the minute she was close enough for him to stare into them. He saw her and reach out but was so caught up in the moment he stood frozen and immobile. The expression on his face was pure court room, however and anyone short of a Betazoid would have been hard pressed to know what he was thinking. Finally her gesture of greeting registered and Jake's hand shot up to meet her's. "Captain, I was not made aware that you would be embarking today. I would have assembled all off duty personnel. Not that there would have been many more people here. We are woefully understaffed at present." Jake released her hand from his grip but did not pull rapidly away. Her skin had been soft but her grip was strong and she was smiling at him. When her hand cleared his he saluted even though she had not stood on tradition and formality, he was the executive officer and it was his job to uphold such ideals.

"Where would you like to go first, Ma'am? Operations, your ready room, quarters...?" She looked charged and ready to get things done and Jake liked that about her. There was a lot he liked about her already. The way she carried herself spoke volumes of her experience though Jake's finely tuned lawyer's eye detected some apprehension under the surface. Other than what he had observed in the past twenty seconds, he new nothing about this officer. Starfleet had been bereft in providing him with any notable intelligence on who his commanding officer would be, let alone that it would be a... Jake stopped himself there. Thoughts like that had no place in his or anyone else's minds.

"I'm not entirely surprised," Aine chuckled and pulled herself together to return the Commander's salute, however out of place it seemed, "Admiral Archer is the type of man who likes to catch his officer's off guard and I am the type of woman who doesn't need a party thrown just because she managed not to trip coming off a starship." She added, ushering away the idea of fanfare, "This gives me a chance to see the station operate as it normally does." Normally... As in, not when being watched over by a Captain, let alone every major member of the Admiralty at current. News of their coming convergence left her uneasy, but then again so too had news of the USS Vindicator having gone missing somewhere in the vastness of the nebula glowing so close by. Aine had watched it as the Rhine had made its inbound approach, wondering just what would have possessed Starfleet to ever want to send a ship into something so unpredictable... But that was Starfleet's mantra 'to boldly go where no man has gone before'. Though now, more and more, it seemed to be that they were bent on going where no man dared to.

Science was often impractical, she reminded herself in time to realize that Statie was speaking, his eyes still searching hers... For what? Was her presence just as much a mystery to him as the nebula was to her? Was she some sort of anomaly too great for him to wrap his head around and accept into the fold? Young. Female. The daughter of Starfleet's only active Fleet Admiral (who was lurking somewhere on that massive station, no less). It was easy to see why she'd be considered a bit of a pariah. It was all speculation and conjecture, but whether that was what held him to her by some invisible wire, or not, she'd do what was needed to prove her worth and ability during the duration of their command. "Operations would be nice, I'd like to see home before my quarters." Aine nodded, finally folding her hands delicately behind her back and waiting for him to lead the way.

Nodding his acceptance, Jake made his way to the turbolift. "I'll warn you, Ma'am it's a long trip. It takes six minutes and eleven seconds if there are no interruptions. This station is enormous." The lift hissed open and Jake held out his hand indicating she should go first. "Ma'am, may I speak freely?" Jake almost continued with his line of thought without waiting for an answer knowing what it would be, and then thought again.

Leaning against the lift's back wall, Aine tilted her head at the asking of the question. She could have said no, kept things terse and tight between them, but the station wasn't big enough to avoid one another forever, "You have six minutes and eleven seconds..." She nodded, "If... There are no interruptions."

The corners of Jake's mouth drew up into a tight smile. She has a sense of humor, that's good. "Well I had better make it fast, then. How old are you?" Jake took in the radiant young woman standing in front of him and placed her at just slightly over Academy age. The civil war with the Federation First had bumped many command officers up the ranks well ahead of schedule. Truth be told he had made commander in part because of the holes in the hierarchy created by that conflict. "No offense meant, Ma'am but you don't look like any captain I have ever seen. You don't have wrinkles, gray hair, no hair, or from what I can tell so far, the crusty demeanor that comes with that fourth pip."

An eyebrow lifted. Surprise? Irritation? A fine mix. Sweet like a well aged riesling, but with a hint of dry bitterness that began to spoil the over all bouquet. "I'm thirty, Commander, and a firm believer that it doesn't take having one foot in the grave to make a difference." Aine refuted, trying to decide whether or not it was worth taking offense to his brief interjection, "Starfleet and the Federation as a whole lost more people than we can replace in a timely manner and it means that people like you and I are being promoted quickly and stuffed into roles that might be premature. It's not up to us to question it, it's up to us to make it work... Crusty demeanor or no." The smile she offered was easily a billion watts, shining and bright as she dug that sweet point home and did, as necessary, to circumvent what could have been certain disaster early on in their run. Somehow, though, the knowledge that she was dealing with former JAG continued to niggle at the edges of her nerves and they still had nearly four minutes or so left in that tiny little space. Million dollar question time, "Do you doubt my abilities, Commander? If I was male, would this have come up?"

Stymied by the monologue and her quick retort, Jake decide instead to let his smile widen as he thought about his answer. "Well Captain, if you will forgive my saying, if any man had stepped off that ship looking like you do this would be a whole different conversation. My mother is a Rear Admiral in the JAG corps. Women in power are not a threat to me, Ma'am. As to your abilities I can neither attest nor detest what I have no knowledge of. I'm sure that if you are anything like the Fleet Admiral, you have more than earned the rank. Though I have had no direct contact with her, reputations precede and all that." Jake remained at attention never looking away as he gave his answer. "Will your family be joining you? Husband or children?" Eyes darting to scan her hand for a ring, Jake spared only a second for the action. While it was ambitious at best, he couldn't help trying to find out her personal status. She was very attractive and while she had said she was thirty her appearance was barely twenty.

"I am my mother's daughter, Commander Satie, you can rest assured on that." Three minutes forty-eight seconds, if her internal clock was anything to go by, and each second was beginning to feel like hours as the lawyer's examination continued. There was very little wonder why he'd been considered the best of the best, and while it amused her to no end to watch him work, it also made for a sense of discomfort and urgency to trip him up as best she possibly could. Pound for pound, brain for brain, they were prize fighters engaged in some bizarre game of wits and territorial posturing she couldn't quite place or shake. Aine couldn't help but smirk as her gaze followed his down to her bare ring finger, "No, I won't. Closest thing I have to a husband would be you. Closest thing I have to a kid is a dog. Neither merit status changes." She winked. Two minutes nineteen.

Eyes meeting her's again, Jake said, "Me either. Not even a dog." Her wink made him blush slightly and with that the game was over. She met with his approval in under six minutes. "It will be a pleasure to serve with you, Ma'am. I'm looking forward to this position." and many others... Jake thought privately. His blush deepened momentarily. Six minutes and eleven seconds had never gone so fast. The doors of the lift hissed open and Operations spread out before them. The room was vast and took up the forward half of deck one. There were three decks above Operations labeled C, B, and A, where fleet level officers were ensconced and Jake didn't have standard access to those, though he suspected the Captain would, her mother being chief among those fleet level officers. "Welcome home, Ma'am." Again, Jake held his hand out for her to proceed first. This time he couldn't help steeling a glance at more than just the view on the screen.

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Captain Aine DiAgessi
Commanding Officer
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170

Commander Jake Satie
Executive Officer
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170