Feels Like Being Grounded

Posted on Fri May 2nd, 2025 @ 7:02am by Captain Natalya Markova & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen

Mission: Doing What We Do Best
Location: USS Chimera | Sickbay

ON

A team of six people in Starfleet uniforms beamed onto the bridge of the captured pirate destroyer. In the front position was Lieutenant Commander Espersen. Behind him, five enlisted personnel who immediately spread out to find stations appropriate stations.

Alexander, for his part, walked straight to the woman in command. "Captain Markova," he said with a nod of his head. "Is there a space we can talk while my people take their stations?"

Nat had risen from the chair. It might have been a little dramatic to actually sit in it, but when was she going to have the chance again? Besides, it gave her an opportunity to rest. Her whole body ached like she had been kicked up and down one of Chimera’s corridors. At his question, Nat glanced around. There didn't seem to be any sort of private office off the Bridge. There hadn't been time to survey every room.

Nat led the man off the Bridge with a nod of her head, and the pair found an alcove that was at least out of the way, if not fully private.

Finding a private space, Alexander looked at the Marine Captain. "So," he said, his face becoming a slight smirk, "getting comfortable with starship command?"

Nat's grin never made it to her eyes. It was a show of excitement, not something she really felt. "How often do you get to sit in The Chair-" she over dramatised the title "-and people call you Captain?" Sure, it was a Marne rank, not a Fleet one, but Captain still sounded nice.

The First Officer nodded, his smirk not fading. "I missed most of the fighting, stuck in the cargo bay hacking a satellite with engineers. Though I did get to draw my sidearm and take down a boarding party while invisible. I'll tell you, if you want an action story, talk to the Tialans. Ops is still cleaning up the mess." He leaned forward a little. "You look like you saw a bit of action too. Especially since we didn't actually drop you off here."

There it was. She couldn't quite meet his gaze. Something in her gut couldn't shake the feeling she was in trouble. "Well, we managed to un-stick a couple of bombs from the freighter... which I then rammed into the pirate ship." It had seemed like a good idea at the time, now though? Not so much. "Boarded the pirates." Boy was that a simplification of jumping through vacuum without a evo-suit, "Secured the Bridge and Engineering. I named her 'Bounty'." The last was said with an almost child-like glee.

The enjoyment of the moment didn't last long, though. "I know what you're about to say. Reckless endangerment. Too big a risk. Poor decision-making." She had run through it all in the cool-down after the battle. The euphoria of victory giving way to the sobering realisation of everything that had happened. It was damn near always the way.

“If you know I’m going to say it then I don’t actually need to say it,” Alexander said. “You’re not some junior officer or a snot-nosed cadet that might benefit from a stern talking-to. You’re experienced. Which means you should know better. You know the risks better than anyone. You did something beyond dangerous. But you accomplished the mission with no casualties to your team. So I’ll ask you plainly: was the outcome worth the risk?”

The question hung there, between them. Worth the risk. Her eyes slid out of focus. She had lost a home twice - Yarrick, Earth. She couldn't have just sat on the freighter, and watched the Chimera go up. "You-" she meant the ship, right? "-were being tag-teamed by a squadron of pirate ships. We had to find some way to take some heat off. It was a collossal risk." She stared at his ear, unable to fully meet his gaze. "To help keep my home intact? To help keep all of you alive? I'd take a lot of risks,"

She thought back to the jump. Those few seconds of being in space, seeing it beneath her. The vast emptiness. It had been stupid. Yet, it had been their only option. Right? "Was it worth that risk?" She looked at him then, into his eyes. For a couple of seconds, Nat felt her shieds drop. "I don't know." It was said as barely a whisper.

The silence between them was deafening, but there was nothing to say. Nothing he could do except stand at her side.

Present.

Then the moment passed, and they could continue.

“I relieve you, Captain,” he said, finally breaking the quiet. “Get your people home, Nat. And report to sickbay. All of you, yourself included. And when—”

He stopped mid-sentence as his words were lost to him.

Sickbay. He was ordering her to sickbay. Not the Brig. Her eyes closed for a space of a couple of heartbeats. Sure, Sickbay felt like she was being grounded, but it beat the absolute fuck out of the alternative.

His half sentence hung there, but when he never finished it, Nat pulled herself to attention. "I am relieved." The layers of meaning were not lost on her. Nat faught a smile. It wasn't really the time.

The urge to hug him rose up from somewhere. Emotion. Adrenaline come-down. It was those things she chalked it up to. Yet the urge was still there. Before it overwhelmed her, Nat gave a nod, and turned from the Commander, tapping her commbadge. "Markova to Marines. Assemble for transport. We're going home."

"Dismissed," he told her, as he returned to the bridge and let her return to the Chimera. They would need to talk again. There was more to say, but there would be time for that later. After the work was done.

"Sir," reported one of his bridge team," Shuttlecraft Two has just landed. Team two is on its way to engineering."

"Have them get to work on restoring the warp drive," he replied. "Alert me when we can jump. And let me know when the Marine team has departed so we can get shields up."

OFF