A Bad Day

[DrDMatthews 0]

A Joint Log by Commander Ridire and Dr. Matthews

 

By the time Aidan gets back to his quarters from the meeting with the Captain he's sufficiently calm where he's not cursing the Admiralty...at least not audibly. He enters his quarters and notices Deb stretched out on the couch. She glances up at him as he enters. Nephtys, for her part, doesn't even open a eye, she's too busy enjoying the petting she's receiving.

 

Deb was just about to doze off when her husband came through the door. "Welcome back." The greeting was subdued but nonetheless sincere. Deb silently congratulated herself for managing to stay awake until Aidan returned but she made no effort to move. To do so would have disturbed the sleeping Siamese curled up beside her. She watched Aidan as he walked directly to the replicator and order two glasses of wine. Something was wrong.....

 

Aidan steps over to the replicator and retrieves two glasses of wine from it. Moving to the couch he sets them down on the low table in front of the couch. Gently lifting Deb's head, he sits down and moves sufficiently so he's cradling her against him.

 

She adjusted her position enough to allow Aidan to sit down causing Nephyts to open one eye. But Deb was more concerned about what was bothering her husband. She looked up at him and smiled warmly but chose not to question him. He would tell her about it soon enough.

 

Sighing, he brushes a finger against Deb's throat as he murmurs "So wish that I had remained here." Before Deb can ask what he means he adds "We're currently under warp for Federation space. And the Captain...the Admiralty has seen fit to temporarily relieve him of his command while they conduct an inquiry into how he let half the ship be destroyed and the loss of life. As well as what happened with the Proxima and the other Reaent."

 

It took a few seconds for Adian's statement to sink in. As his words registered, Deb's muscles tensed and she could feel her blood pressure rising. "What?" she asked rhetorically, pulling herself into a sitting position. She stared at Aidan wide eyed for a long moment. "So what are they trying to do? Blame the Captain for this debacle? It wasn't his fault! They're darn lucky we only lost half the crew. If they want to investigate someone, it should be the idiot who sent one ship in to do a job that should have been handled by a full task force. That's where the inquiry should be centered."

 

He reaches for his wine glass and takes a sip. "Well, it's at least partly standard operating procedure. The Captain is the ultimate authority on the ship and there needs to be an investigation into what went wrong." He frowns and adds "That being said, I quite intend to make it clear to the Admiralty that, in my expert opinion, there was a massive error committed when they sent one lone ship into the heart of Romulan space to deal with a situation they had to know was likely to involve the full brunt of the Romulan military. Even if the fighters do give us added combat capability we're still just one ship. God knows they could have at least given us a cloaking device."

 

He reaches down and gently pets one of Nephtys' ears eliciting a pleased purr from the cat. Darkly he murmurs "Think I'll check into who exactly it was that sent us off on this bloody jaunt."

 

"Can you do that?" asked Deb earnestly. "Without causing all sorts of problems for yourself. It's bad enough the Captain is in trouble. We don't need to have our XO relieved of duty as well."

 

"I won't do too much digging quite yet. I'll just find out who gave the orders is all. Not like they can punish me for merely being curious, love. Besides, I'm not going to risk bringing more wrath down on the Captain. Once he's cleared then we'll see where we're at." He frowns darkly. "But anyone with an ounce of common sense should have seen the problem with the mission as it was given...that we were going to be in way over our heads from the start."

 

"Everyone on this ship knew it," replied Debbie, her tone of voice reflecting her annoyance. "I need some chocolate!" She quickly stood up and marched to the replicator. Without hesitation, she ordered a large piece of triple layer double fudge devils food cake with chocolate icing.....and two forks. She held up the plate as she returned to the couch and reclaimed her spot beside her husband. "I brought two forks, just in case you want some of this. If you do, you'd better speak now or forget it."

 

She immediately took a bite of the chocolate monster she balanced carefully in her lap. "I'll be honest with you, Aidan," she said, waving her fork at him. "Those desk bound imbeciles had better clear the Captain. Because if they don't." She paused a moment and met his gaze before continuing, her voice barely above a whisper. "Well, if they don't, I might be sorely tempted to leave this organization." With that, she quickly pushed another piece of cake into her mouth.

 

He takes one of the forks and takes a couple bites from the rather imposing chocolate monstrosity that Deb had created for herself. A brief smile appears on his lips as it occurs to him that if being a chocoholic was genetic that their children would be bouncing off the walls thanks to a constant sugar rush. The smile disappears, however, as his thoughts return to the current situation. Quietly he says "Well, I'm not going to be inclined to remain either if I have to break in a new Captain at this stage of my career or if they try and promote me. And the orders were extremely...well..brainless."

 

"Brainless," she spoke the word with disdain. "I've come to believe that's one of the requirements for their job." In spite of her irritation, the physical, emotional and mental stresses of the previous few hours were taking a toll on Debbie. "I'm assuming somebody had pulled the sensor logs from the escape pods," she continued wearily. "Did we locate the sensor log from the....ship I saw blown to pieces?"

 

"I believe Shamor and Schawnsee had seen to both as I recall. Well we for sure got the sensor logs from the escape pods." He takes one last bite from the dessert then sets his fork down on the plate. Sighing he says "Sorry, been a brain-numbing day with everything that happened."

 

"Yeah," she breathed. "It sure has." She lifted the plate from her lap and slid it onto the coffee table placing her fork beside it. Then she leaned back against the sofa cushion and closed her eyes. "I'm so tired. I can't think straight. Maybe that's a good thing. Because if I was thinking straight, I might contact the Admiralty and tell them off."

 

He smiles before leaning over and kissing her gently. "Probably best that you don't do that. I doubt it would help the Captain anyway and I don't need you thrown in some Starbase's brig for being insubordinate."

 

He stands and steps towards the bedroom door as he says "I'm going to take a shower and get ready for bed. You're not the only one who is tired. Anyway, come to bed."

 

"Sounds like a plan," she groaned as she forced herself to her feet. Her body was starting to ache and her head throb from sheer exhaustion. "I could probably sleep for a week."

 

Aidan turned and entered the bedroom with Deb right behind him. She ordered the lights off in the main room and then nearly tripped over Nephyts as the cat scooted between her legs and hopped up on the bed. "Move over," ordered Deb, pulling back the covers. "And don't wake me up early. I've had a bad day."

Edited May 13, 2009 by DrDMatthews