At the End of the Day....

Posted on Mon Feb 4th, 2019 @ 12:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine & Captain Charlotte Averis

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: Quarters

By the time they made it back to the rift Sabrina was experiencing a level of exhaustion that even she wasn't intimately familiar with. Taking up the offer from the Wellington of private quarters, a hot shower and a fully functioning replicator (that may or may not have come with an added bottle of actual genuine alcohol), she had made the determination that she would take the brief amount of luxury provided and deal with the outcome later.

Deep down, she knew that Charlotte was going to be well beyond pissed, but right now she needed to just stop, breath, think and rationalise what had happened.

Sure, they had gotten the job done. The virus had been uploaded. The effect on the Shalti had been almost instantaneous, as Cally had seen as they were leaving... but was the cost truly worth it? The bulk of the casualties had been from a reality that was not her own. They were Marines who were fighting because they were told to fight, not because their very lives depended on it. Now, here she was... her job was done and their deaths were on her hands... and she wasn't dealing well with that ideal.

The sound of the annunciator to her temporary quarters startled her from her thoughts. "Enter," she muttered quietly, assuming it was likely medical checking on her physical well being. Little did she know...

Looking up, Sabrina found herself looking straight into the rather annoyed (at best) face of Charlotte. If looks alone could kill, she would have been dead ten times over, yet here she was, still face to face with her CO. "Did I forget to cross a T on my report Captain?" she asked quietly.

“What did you do?” Charlotte hissed dangerously, then slashes a hand between them, dismissing that question and stepping far enough into the room for the door to close behind her, “You told me if was a training mission!” She yelled, then spun around, “Christ, Sabrina, why didn’t you tell me?!”

Sabrina remained silent, listening to Charlotte yelling. It was pretty much exactly what she had expected to happen. "I did what I had to do, what I was told to do. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone." She paused for a moment, looking across at the other woman who was not only her Commanding Officer but also her friend. "If I could have told you I would have."

The words passed through the Captain’s ears and she turned back around to face Sabrina, “You USED the marines on this ship, took them into that hell? Did they know what they were walking into? Or did you tell them it was an exercise? You couldn’t have done this in your own, anyways, who else, Sabrina? Who else?”

“I’m not allowed to say,” was all she offered. The expression on Charlottes’s face drove a sharp pain right through Sabrina’s heart. It was bad enough that the blood of Major Weston’s marines was on her hands, but now the outright anger from Charlotte was almost more than she was ready to deal with. “I did what I was ordered to do, what had to be done to give us a half reasonable chance at winning this God damned war and stopping the endless barrage of death!” Her voice finally rose just ever so slightly.

"The mission was supposed to be to find Shal!" Charlotte was exasperated, angry and hurt, "The mission the Admiral gave us was to find Shal." She repeated, quieter, "Then the Fleet would have gone and blown the everloving shit out of the place... Then the whole goddamned thing could be over or at least far enough over to be able to take out their Queens and Princesses one after another.." The fight left her, "Why couldn't you tell me?"

Sabrina rounded on Charlotte, for the first time her own emotions at the entire situation bubbling over into reality. "No," she shot back. "YOUR mission was to go and find Shal. YOU were the one that kept striving to succeed in the war. What was it you kept telling me? It's not a popularity contest? It's not a democracy? It's about doing what we need to do to succeed despite the adversity? The blood of every single one of those Marines is on MY hands!" she shot back, her voice rising in anger and frustration. "But I did what I had to do, what I was ORDERED to do in order to give us any kind of a good god damn at ending this war! If it wasn't for the fact that a bloody pilot from the Wellington followed us I wouldn't even be here right now, and you know what? That's what I fully expected. I went INTO this mission expecting to not come home. I had to LIE to good people and tell them they had a fucking chance to pull this off and I knew all along it was damn near impossible. And you know what? I fucking did it anyway because it was what we needed to do for the best interests of OUR reality. Do you think for a moment it was easy to go into this without telling you? Do you think for a moment that this is how I actually WANTED this to play out? I WAS UNDER ORDERS AND I COULDN'T SAY A GOD DAMNED FUCKING THING!"

"My job was to cover you." Charlotte's voice firmed up, but remained low volume, "Whether we survived or not, I was supposed to be there, to punch the information out in a signal when you got it. Survival was never a guarantee."

"My job was to go in and undermine the Shalti. To upload a virus to their hive that would propagate to the rest of them, affecting their ability to coordinate and regenerate. Finding Shal and relaying their coordinates became second place." She sighed and sank back onto the small chair she had previously occupied. "You don't have to like it, but the simple fact is that I had orders and I couldn't disobey, and now I have to deal with the consequences."

"No Colonel, you don't have to live with the consequences." A brilliant-blonde haired woman with golden chevrons on her cheekbones stated from the door to the bedroom, "Per say, the consequences are not of your making. They were MY orders, Captain. You are far too willing to put your ship and people into impossible situations and trust in luck to survive."

"Admiral Orion!" Charlotte shot to attention, "What are you doing here?"

The Admiral ignored the question, walking over to and placing a hand on Sabrina's shoulder, "You performed brilliantly, despite the handicaps. Colonel Masterman had the same mission, but his task group was destroyed without success. And besides," The Admiral smiled slightly, "We already know where Shal is. Once we return to our side of the anomaly, the Fleet, including Icarus if you wish to go with us, will be heading there to finish this."

Sabrina nodded slightly. "Thank you Admiral," she said, trying to hide the hint of confusion that crept into her voice. She wasn't even entirely sure where it was that the Admiral had come from, yet here she was. "The thanks for everything we achieved was truly in the hands of Major Weston and her Marines. Without them I have no doubt we would have failed as well, so please feel free to pass your congratulations onto their command staff here."

Glancing back toward Charlotte, she offered the vaguest of smiles before speaking in hushed tones. "Like I said Captain, I'm sorry. It was never my intent to deceive you, and believe me, you have no idea how hard it was to remain silent before we left, but my orders were from higher up." There was nothing in her voice that even hinted that she was gloating or bragging in any way, more just that she was trying to prove that she hadn't blatantly deceived someone she truly considered her friend.

"I still don't like it." Charlotte said quietly, "If I'd known, I would have-"

"Acted differently." The Admiral said, "Which would have made them realign their defenses on the Hive and make the task force I had in the area unable to cover your assault, which was why I had that timetable for your attack, Colonel. And if you could inform your Major Weston, I would appreciate it. I hitched a ride on their shuttle when you passed Spectre. I wanted to see if there was something different on this side without getting in the way officially."

With a nod, Sabrina indicated her acknowledgement. “I will be going to see Major Weston soon to beg forgiveness, i will pass along your gratitude then... though it may help if you have a whisper in her CO’s ear... given how upset Charlie is I can only imagine how thoroughly angry Major Weston’s command staff may be right now.”

"I think it would be a bad idea if I just suddenly showed up on the Wellington without asking permission to board." It was a smirk from the Admiral, but she shrugged, "I could bring Harpy through the anomaly with her escorts and transport over to her if need be. Captain, I would like you to approach Captain Bartlett about this issue. If you need my presence, inform me and I'll make an appearance."

"Of course, Admiral." Charlotte couldn't help but confirm. She'd seen the Admiral work, been a part of her plans, key parts of her plans even before this unwitting use. The Admiral tended to know what she was doing.

Sabrina raised an eyebrow but remained silent. “Thank you Admiral,” she finally said quietly.

"No, Colonel, thank you." Admiral Orion inclined her head in a fractional bow, then paused for a moment, "Captain? About Lieutenant Moran, give him permission to stay. In fact, propose a trade: If anyone from Icarus's crew wishes to remain, give them the opportunity should Captain Bartlett be willing to accept them, but also request the chance for members of their crew to come over to Icarus if they desire. Worst case, let Moran remain." Charlotte nodded, then the Admiral smiled, "Is there anything else before I head over to Icarus to take a look around her?"

Sabrina shook her head quickly. "I don't think so, but I think we should finalize any crew changes and make sure we're ready to leave as soon as possible. I see no need to wait any longer than necessary and we need to minimize the risk of the Shalti coming through the rift again."

With another fractional nod of her head, the Admiral turned on her heel, heading out of the room, leaving Sabrina looking up at Charlotte in silence. "I don't know about you but I could do with a strong cup of coffee before I do anything else?"

=/\=


Captain Charlotte Averis
Commanding Officer
USS Icarus

Colonel Sabrina Hunter
Marine Command
USS Icarus

Admiral Orion
Commanding Officer
USS Spectre