Balance Between Tension

[Captain Halloway 0]

The following is a joint log with Subcommander Jorahl, several hours after Halloway's tactical reflections aboard Yorktown...

 

Captain Thomas Halloway leaned on his knuckles, seeing his reflection in the shiny black surface of the desk. He was alone in the spartan office that was supposed to belong to the commanding officer of Sky Harbor. It was oddly bare; he could see no sign that anything had even been touched. Subcommander Jorahl agreed to meet with him, suggesting this location. He'd been waiting alone for a few minutes.

 

The doors hissed open and Halloway turned to see the Romulan enter, reviewing the contents of a PADD.

 

"Doesn't anyone use this room?" the captain scoffed, by way of introduction. Even Sorehl had kept books and one of those shifting Vulcan sand paintings, he remembered.

 

"No," Jorahl answered, not looking up from his reading, "the Ambassador has chosen to use the conference room as his office."

"Hmph," Halloway huffed. "I did the same thing myself." Given the temporary nature of his command assignment aboard Aegis during the Dominion War, it had seemed unwise to settle in.

 

The Romulan glanced at the door closing behind them, then met his gaze.

 

Halloway stepped forward. "Thank you for agreeing to talk with me, Subcommander," he offered. "I realize this is a courtesy. It isn't any kind of formal investigation."

 

Jorahl nodded, making no comment on the platitude. "I assume you've talked with Commander Chirakis."

 

"Yes," said Halloway, returning the nod. "Drankum recommended it."

 

Jorahl tucked the PADD away. "Did you learn anything useful?"

 

"Useful," he repeated thoughtfully. "I suppose it was good to hear multiple perspectives. Of course, as in any situation, those perspectives are always... if not biased, at least limited. Which is why I've come to you."

 

"Indeed," the Romulan answered tersely.

 

"I don't know you personally," the captain explained, "but the Command Team both hold you in high regard."

 

"I do my duty."

Halloway wanted to smile at the non-committal responses, but he knew the reaction could prompt mistrust. "You seem to have walked a careful path during this...," he tried to think of a diplomatic term, "imbalance in command."

 

"I am Romulan," Jorahl stated. It seemed all that was needed to be said.

 

Halloway shrugged. "I suppose it's always a delicate balance between tensions in the Empire." He stood a little straighter, smoothing his tunic. "Well, if you're willing, I have two subjects I'd like to ask your opinions about."

 

His arms folded, Jorahl strode to a spot between the desk and the viewport, not seeming to direct his attention one way or the other. "Ask your questions, Captain."

 

Halloway took a breath. "The first subject is the more urgent," he began. "This threat, this attack, from the Athra. Can Aegis defend itself against them?"

 

Jorahl gave him an inquiring look, not pointing out that it was the first time he'd heard a name attributed to the alien attackers. "If met again with equal force," he replied instead, "we can sustain this position. But we know too little about them to know what else to expect."

The captain folded his arms. "Do we have equal force? Chirakis suggests we've only seen a fraction of their potential."

 

Jorahl held his stare. "Then she seems to know much more about these aliens... 'Athra' did you say?" He seemed to be making a point of the limit to his knowledge of them. "We know they are powerful. If they come with greater numbers then the battle's outcome is uncertain."

Halloway frowned, knowing the Romulan's familiarity with Aegis' defenses. He opened his mouth, but Jorahl raised his hand for a pause.

 

"This may not be the answer you seek," he elaborated. "As a Romulan, if I am ordered to hold this position, I hold it. Or I die. Thoughts beyond that are few." He went on. "I have considered the force needed for victory or for causing as much damage to the enemy before being eliminated. We can cause much damage. We will cause much damage. As for our survival, that is left to the fates of war."

 

The captain turned away, rubbing his jaw. "You raise an excellent point," he mused. "We know so little about them, aside from what kind of damage we can inflict on each other. But Aegis isn't exactly in a condition to go out looking for answers." Their largest support craft were runabouts, he recalled.

 

"No," Jorahl admitted. "We are looking too inward at the moment to gain such needed intelligence."

 

Halloway turned back, considering the statement as a good segue. "Yes, this inward-looking is taking a lot of attention."

 

"Indeed it is, Captain." The Romulan glanced out the viewport at the stars and nearby asteroids before turning back towards the human.

"Which brings me to the second subject," he began, treading lightly. "I don't envy this command structure. I'd hate to be in Drankum's position - civilian, non-Starfleet, non-Romulan, but commanding both."

 

"You've asked to help him, haven't you." It was more a statement than a question.

 

Halloway eyed him curiously. "He told you that?"

 

Jorahl shook his head. "I am simply thinking of a conversation I had with him, several weeks before all of this happened."

The captain was intrigued. "Are you at liberty to share it?" He knew it was a risk to probe a Romulan's privacy.

 

Jorahl went on. "I, too, asked him when he was still injured, if he needed my help. I offered... no, offered is not the right word." He paused. "I recommended... that a leader can lean on his people."

 

Halloway nodded, impressed. "Drankum is lucky to have such support."

 

The Romulan actually smiled. "How did he react to your help?"

"I think his exact words were, 'I didn't pay for the speech'," Halloway quoted.

 

Jorahl merely nodded. "Kinder words than I received." He let that hang for a moment. "You see, even giving such support was somehow suggesting he could not do things for himself."

The captain squinted. "Is it a command failing? Is he too mistrustful of such support?"

 

Jorahl answered quickly. "He simply believes that others do not believe he is capable. And that has been shown true, hasn't it?"

 

The human captain pursed his lips, looking away gravely. He seemed to be wrestling with what to say next. "May I speak in confidence?" he finally asked.

 

Jorahl stood firm, nodding. "Please."

Halloway rolled one hand in front of him. "I'd rather not dance around my own thoughts, so I won't." He squared up his shoulders. "Starfleet officers don't tend to take orders from others well. At least that's my observation. It was a failing during the war; it's still true."

 

Jorahl couldn't quite hide a smug Romulan look, though he appeared to temper it.

 

"They see Drankum as an untested commander," the Starfleet captain went on, "though I can see no outright basis for it." He shrugged. "Drankum's not blameless. He fosters it. He revels in circumspect explanations," Halloway admitted, "but that's not grounds for questioning his command."

 

Jorahl nodded. "As his acting first, I am finding myself dealing with the problems his command style generates."

 

"Chirakis had concerns," Halloway reflected aloud, "but... damn it, you don't remove your captain just because you don't trust his reasoning." He balled a fist, pounding it lightly on the desk behind him. "But Drankum let her. At least, I can see no real evidence he disputed her at the time."

 

The Romulan looked down, as if in thought. "If I had been there," he mused, "I could have stood beside him. Perhaps he would have stood his ground." He looked up at the Starfleet captain. "He was abandoned. Perhaps this is why he threw the one and only support he accepts... his cane."

 

Halloway didn't want the man second-guessing himself. "There were errors all around," he observed, "but now, no one seems to be able to back away from them." He saw Jorahl nod. "Chirakis was right to worry about Drankum's state, but I think it was pushed too far and Drankum let it happen. Drankum had grounds for arresting her, but did he need an armed takeover in the Command Center? And launching an attack on the colony to retreive some officers?"

 

"Not how I would have approached either situation," Jorahl stated flatly.

"Those kind of escalations," he trailed off. "Arresting your Centurion and the science personnel who weren't even here. Relying on such overeager security." He found himself repeating the Romulan. "Not how I would have approached either situation."

 

"But Captain," Jorahl sighed. "The deeds are done."

"The deeds are done," Halloway repeated again, "and I can't see a way back from the brink. Not yet." He laughed quietly. "I was half hoping you'd already schemed a solution."

 

The Romulan managed a slight smile. "I have been rather... restrained by the Starfleet protocols under which this station runs."

Halloway rubbed his fist in the palm of his other hand. "If there was some way for them to keep working together, even with an unsteady truce, we might have a better chance against this threat."

 

"Honestly, Captain," Jorahl concluded, "it will take the stronger of those two to admit weakness."

 

Halloway nodded. "An external solution would never last," he agreed, "but in your position, hardly something you can suggest to either party, is it?

 

"I would never ask my commanding officer to show weakness," Jorahl insisted.

 

The captain raised a hand. "Nor should you."

 

"I can probably appeal for leniency towards the Ops manager," Jorahl observed, "but tr'Jeth has made his choice. The science officers could be reprimanded, but they should not be listed with the mutineers."

Halloway listened. "Small steps, I suppose. I'm grateful to see you working on it. I'm pleased to think we've managed to avoid further escalations." At least there's been no weapons fire, he told himself.

 

"The Commander has at least taken everything without resistance," Jorahl said, somewhat gratefully. " I assume that is her way of saying the Ambassador is indeed in command. If a stubborn way of doing so."

 

"I think," Halloway opined, "even if she doesn't regret her challenge, she regrets that it exposed such a willingness in the crew to rally against Drankum." He met Jorahl's gaze. "The two of us will have to give him the support we can and hope he appreciates the trust."

 

Jorahl nodded.

 

The captain tapped the shiny desk surface. "In the meantime, I've got to consider whether Yorktown would do more good out there, trying to find out more about this threat." Absently, he wondered if leaving Aegis would demonstrate to Drankum there was no larger Starfleet plot to remove him.

 

"Wars are won with intelligence, information, and knowing your enemy," Jorahl concurred.

Halloway straightened again, preparing to leave. "Thank you for letting me speak with you, Subcommander."

 

The Romulan seemed to be considering him. As at dinner, Halloway suddenly felt like he was being reverse-engineered. "It has been a pleasure," Jorahl ventured. "You have changed some of my opinions of Starfleet officers." He bowed.

Halloway blinked in surprise, then gathered his wits sufficiently to return the bow. As he did so, he heard a hiss.

 

Looking up, he saw the Romulan leaving the office, returning to duty.