It's Always The Pilgrim
Jun 25, 2020 10:28:07 GMT -5
Lt Cmdr Valérie Chalóns and Lt Cmdr Alexander Sharpe like this
Post by DGM Apocalypse on Jun 25, 2020 10:28:07 GMT -5
Commander Janice Cousins rarely had good days any more.
As the young commander turned the corner she could see a queue already winding down the hallway toward Rear Admiral Susan Compton’s offices. She could already feel her heart sinking down into her stomach as she heard some of their muttered complaints, and she picked up her pace to quickly make her way to the door. There were a few groans of exasperation as she stepped through the door ahead of the queue, but a cold glare and the alien station’s light catching off her commander’s pips silenced at least the front of the line.
Emilia was working the desk today. She could tolerate Emilia; she occasionally brought in a tin of cookies and let the whole office share. She said she got them shipped from Earth, but Janice could tell the difference between replicated chocolate chip and the real thing.
“How do they even wake up this early to mob the door?” Janice shook her head, hitting the button to make sure no one tried to climb in after her.
“I mean, on a space station… people can pretty much make their own time,” Emilia shrugged. There were no cookies on her desk today, she noted, and her mouth immediately flattened toward a frown.
“Fair point...” She gave a small sigh. “Anything I should know about?”
“Well, Susan’s up to her eyeballs in meetings today, as usual. The Beryxian queen’s expected in half an hour, then an Acriman delegation, then...”
Janice raised a brow. “And people are still lined up like that? Have you tried telling them?”
“Do you think it would do any good, ma’am?”
She considered it. “No, fair point. Keep the exterior sound dampeners on maximum in case they start chanting again.” She turned, heading toward her own office.
“Oh… Janice?” She stood up out of her chair a little, a hand outstretched as if to pull her back toward her. “A formal complaint came in overnight, I routed it to you instead of the admiral because...” Emilia paused. “I don’t think this is the sort of thing that would make the admiral very happy to read right now. And it’s not exactly...”
“Oh, God damn it, is the Pilgrim doing the time warp again? Did the Protector go into another universe? Did Talia finally lose her balance and break her head open refusing to sit in her chair?” She paused. “Did the Sentinel turn into a giant Trojan horse full of nothing but ponies?”
“Nothing… that drastic, it’s something about Captain Arfacio.”
Janice sighed. “Of course it is. She was due for her annual incident, God forbid she ever be promoted from her chair to a desk.” She made her way into the small office, sealing the door shut behind her before Emilia could give her any more good news.
She liked to keep her space neat; there was little in the way of décor save for the exotic plant that had been there when she’d first taken the assignment almost two years prior. In the Citadel’s ethereal light, it seemed to glow with a blue alien beauty, and somehow had never wilted in the slightest despite her constantly forgetting to water it. Perhaps it didn’t need it, or Eirene did it for her; it didn’t particularly concern her either way, so long as it wasn’t yet another thing to have to think about.
She replicated herself a big cup of coffee with a splash of milk and a twin pair of iced sugar cookies in the shape of little palm trees. Her face spasmed briefly in a wince at the shape the replicator had spat the cookies out in; they were already prepping for summer. She didn’t want to have to be the one in the room to explain why that might not happen this year.
Janice took her coffee and treats over to her desk, setting the mug down on its designated coaster and taking a seat. Her desk console lit up as soon as her body touched the material, and she brought up her inbox. After selecting a few filters she was able to get the onslaught of messages trimmed down to a more manageable state and went hunting.
It wasn’t long before she had the file she was looking for. Dahlia Delancey. Wasn’t she the doctor who was going on a leave of absence from the Pilgrim? A quick personnel file check confirmed as much. “Of course it’s the Pilgrim,” she muttered to herself as she examined the message.
Emilia was fiddling with the options on the sound dampener when she heard from Cousins’ office, “Is this bitch serious?!” She grimaced, and quickly applied the interior dampener as well.
Janice closed her eyes for a moment, fingers steepled as she composed herself. Breathe in, breathe out. She cracked her head from one side to the other, popped her knuckles, and opened a new file.
Doctor Delancey,
Are you somehow under the impression that we don’t review our own mission files, and require your unsolicited analysis to make judgments on the performance of
She winced. No; too bitchy. She deleted it and started over.
Doctor Delancey,
We have already reviewed and analysed the mission you are referring to. If we required your testimony on the matter it would have been requested.
Janice shifted her jaw in contemplation. No, that didn’t do it either; too terse, too unprofessional. She picked up her coffee, taking a small sip and started over again.
Doctor Delancey,
The Office of Vice Admiral Susan Compton and Magellan Command thanks you for your interest. Upon review of your complaint we have come to the conclusion that it would be inappropriate to bring to the attention of the Admiral.
All mission logs are thoroughly reviewed by command staff and relevant information is forwarded to the Admiral. Our office has reviewed the logs from the recent operation on Beryxia to apprehend the Chosen known as ‘the Ascendant’ and made the adjustments that were deemed necessary following the review, including a debrief with Captain Arfacio.
Please note these procedures in the future should you choose to send the Admiralty unsolicited records and complaints. Should the admiral have caught this instead of the secretary, you would be in deep shi
Cousins quickly amended the paragraph into:
Please note these procedures in the future should you choose to file any more reports directly to the Admiralty.
Signed,
Commander Janice Cousins
Office of Vice Admiral Susan Compton
Janice sighed as she finished, rereading it a few times. She took one of her cookies, dunking the ‘leaf’ part in her coffee, holding it under a few seconds, and then pulled it out and bit it in half.
She hadn’t even finished her coffee and she’d just had to save a woman from being eviscerated into a little red pile by Compton. She cleaned the message up and sent it along to Doctor Delancey just as another flood of messages broke through the filter, the incident report almost immediately filed away in her mind as she moved on to the next one.
No, she didn’t have many good days any more at all.
As the young commander turned the corner she could see a queue already winding down the hallway toward Rear Admiral Susan Compton’s offices. She could already feel her heart sinking down into her stomach as she heard some of their muttered complaints, and she picked up her pace to quickly make her way to the door. There were a few groans of exasperation as she stepped through the door ahead of the queue, but a cold glare and the alien station’s light catching off her commander’s pips silenced at least the front of the line.
Emilia was working the desk today. She could tolerate Emilia; she occasionally brought in a tin of cookies and let the whole office share. She said she got them shipped from Earth, but Janice could tell the difference between replicated chocolate chip and the real thing.
“How do they even wake up this early to mob the door?” Janice shook her head, hitting the button to make sure no one tried to climb in after her.
“I mean, on a space station… people can pretty much make their own time,” Emilia shrugged. There were no cookies on her desk today, she noted, and her mouth immediately flattened toward a frown.
“Fair point...” She gave a small sigh. “Anything I should know about?”
“Well, Susan’s up to her eyeballs in meetings today, as usual. The Beryxian queen’s expected in half an hour, then an Acriman delegation, then...”
Janice raised a brow. “And people are still lined up like that? Have you tried telling them?”
“Do you think it would do any good, ma’am?”
She considered it. “No, fair point. Keep the exterior sound dampeners on maximum in case they start chanting again.” She turned, heading toward her own office.
“Oh… Janice?” She stood up out of her chair a little, a hand outstretched as if to pull her back toward her. “A formal complaint came in overnight, I routed it to you instead of the admiral because...” Emilia paused. “I don’t think this is the sort of thing that would make the admiral very happy to read right now. And it’s not exactly...”
“Oh, God damn it, is the Pilgrim doing the time warp again? Did the Protector go into another universe? Did Talia finally lose her balance and break her head open refusing to sit in her chair?” She paused. “Did the Sentinel turn into a giant Trojan horse full of nothing but ponies?”
“Nothing… that drastic, it’s something about Captain Arfacio.”
Janice sighed. “Of course it is. She was due for her annual incident, God forbid she ever be promoted from her chair to a desk.” She made her way into the small office, sealing the door shut behind her before Emilia could give her any more good news.
She liked to keep her space neat; there was little in the way of décor save for the exotic plant that had been there when she’d first taken the assignment almost two years prior. In the Citadel’s ethereal light, it seemed to glow with a blue alien beauty, and somehow had never wilted in the slightest despite her constantly forgetting to water it. Perhaps it didn’t need it, or Eirene did it for her; it didn’t particularly concern her either way, so long as it wasn’t yet another thing to have to think about.
She replicated herself a big cup of coffee with a splash of milk and a twin pair of iced sugar cookies in the shape of little palm trees. Her face spasmed briefly in a wince at the shape the replicator had spat the cookies out in; they were already prepping for summer. She didn’t want to have to be the one in the room to explain why that might not happen this year.
Janice took her coffee and treats over to her desk, setting the mug down on its designated coaster and taking a seat. Her desk console lit up as soon as her body touched the material, and she brought up her inbox. After selecting a few filters she was able to get the onslaught of messages trimmed down to a more manageable state and went hunting.
It wasn’t long before she had the file she was looking for. Dahlia Delancey. Wasn’t she the doctor who was going on a leave of absence from the Pilgrim? A quick personnel file check confirmed as much. “Of course it’s the Pilgrim,” she muttered to herself as she examined the message.
Emilia was fiddling with the options on the sound dampener when she heard from Cousins’ office, “Is this bitch serious?!” She grimaced, and quickly applied the interior dampener as well.
Janice closed her eyes for a moment, fingers steepled as she composed herself. Breathe in, breathe out. She cracked her head from one side to the other, popped her knuckles, and opened a new file.
Doctor Delancey,
Are you somehow under the impression that we don’t review our own mission files, and require your unsolicited analysis to make judgments on the performance of
She winced. No; too bitchy. She deleted it and started over.
Doctor Delancey,
We have already reviewed and analysed the mission you are referring to. If we required your testimony on the matter it would have been requested.
Janice shifted her jaw in contemplation. No, that didn’t do it either; too terse, too unprofessional. She picked up her coffee, taking a small sip and started over again.
Doctor Delancey,
The Office of Vice Admiral Susan Compton and Magellan Command thanks you for your interest. Upon review of your complaint we have come to the conclusion that it would be inappropriate to bring to the attention of the Admiral.
All mission logs are thoroughly reviewed by command staff and relevant information is forwarded to the Admiral. Our office has reviewed the logs from the recent operation on Beryxia to apprehend the Chosen known as ‘the Ascendant’ and made the adjustments that were deemed necessary following the review, including a debrief with Captain Arfacio.
Cousins quickly amended the paragraph into:
Please note these procedures in the future should you choose to file any more reports directly to the Admiralty.
Signed,
Commander Janice Cousins
Office of Vice Admiral Susan Compton
Janice sighed as she finished, rereading it a few times. She took one of her cookies, dunking the ‘leaf’ part in her coffee, holding it under a few seconds, and then pulled it out and bit it in half.
She hadn’t even finished her coffee and she’d just had to save a woman from being eviscerated into a little red pile by Compton. She cleaned the message up and sent it along to Doctor Delancey just as another flood of messages broke through the filter, the incident report almost immediately filed away in her mind as she moved on to the next one.
No, she didn’t have many good days any more at all.