Three "O"s? Or Four?

Posted on 10 Feb 2026 @ 4:55am by Captain Bane Plase & Commander Krea Rh'Vareth

2,009 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Shakedown
Location: Captains Ready Room

ON:

Plase had been happily content going through the information that had been submitted to him from each of his Department Heads and his Executive Officer about the status of the ship and her systems when the door whooshed open without warning, without preamble, without permission, admitting the Mission Advisor, Commander Rh'Vareth.

Rh'Vareth was "O"utraged! She had seethed all the way from Sickbay and headed straight for the CO's Ready Room, just as she had threatened that "O"bnoxious Bajoran-Cardassian hybrid excuse for an "O"fficer.... !!

In the Turbo-lift however, a thought occurred to the Romulan Mission Advisor:

~Is this an "O"pportunity that had landed in her lap and couldn't be missed?~

~A chance to take another stab at the Trill XO? - after all - wasn't that what she was there for? Yes.~ If it hadn't been for her already stoked up head of steam of anger, Krea could have felt happy about this new idea.

Emerging from the Turbo-lift onto the Bridge, she stormed across like a runaway shuttle, almost barging an unfortunate Ensign who had just happened to unwittingly stood up only to be flattened back into her seat again by the sheer force of the unstoppable fury that was Rh'Vareth on a mission.

Not even thinking to stop and request permission to enter nor to be polite enough to wait for any form or acceptance and summons to come in, the Romulan continued her crusade straight into the Captain's Ready Room, right up to his desk without any acknowledgement nor respectful greeting and planted both her feet heavily and her arms also planted on the top of his desk, intruding into his private space and almost spitting at him.

"I want her Court Martialed! I will NOT be shouted down like some Cadet. I DEMAND you deal with her in the harshest possible manner and it's all because of the way that Trill Exec encourages this kind of INSUBORDINATION by not being strong enough to keep DISCIPLI........"

It was a big surprise to Krea when she was cut off, mid-hypocritical-yelling of her own. She hadn't even realised, nor could she even think, that she was doing the self same thing to her OWN superior officer right now.......

Bane’s flabbers were quite thoroughly ghasted at the unmitigated anger, the uncontained passion and the rampant fury that flowed from every quantum filament that made up the being that stood before him, complete with a finger in his face. The Captain stood up to his full height, the PADD he was holding clattering to the desk, forgotten. Her eyes following him, completely oblivious to him standing and the full measure of his body and authority taking over the room. He didn’t need to yell. He didn’t need to raise his voice. What he did do, however, was muster every bit of commanding authority he had, every bit that he had earned in a long an illustrious career, to cut through the diatribe that spewed toward him.

“Commander Rh’Vareth, you are quite forgetting yourself,” Bane commanded. “You are in no position to demand anything from me. Nor, Commander,” he emphasized her rank, reminding her where she stood with him, at least professionally, “Are you in any position, no matter your positional status on this ship nor the rank you hold on your collar, to belittle another member of Starfleet, and especially so on this ship.” He took a breath in through his nose, then continued, the authority in his voice leaving no room, whatsoever, for debate or interpretation, “If you have an issue with the way someone talks to you on this ship, I strongly recommend you discuss with “that Trill Exec” about it. Like it or not, Commander, Mr. Bast is responsible for all matters concerning the crew of this vessel. Up to, and including, you. Are we clear?”

It was the Romulan's turn to be shocked. It suddenly all hit her and the wind not only left her metaphorical sails, but it seemed to also leave her body as she realised what she'd just done and what her ally "the Admiral" would think if he got wind of this.

More than that, she might have just alienated the one person she was here to impress but in a subtle way, not by losing it.

"Captain." she breathed. "I apologise profusely, I don't know what came over me, that outburst was COMPLETELY out of character for me, I am very disciplined and in control and I NEVER allow myself to be provoked like that - I have never before until now and I am MORTIFIED."

Bane nodded once. As he was sitting back down, "Consider the matter behind us, then. Now," he said, touching his fingertips from both hands together, "What got you in such a state?" Plase specifically did not offer her to sit. He felt she needed a little more time to remember

"I was sent an invitation to visit Sickbay and answer some queries the CMO had about the new Rosta set up. I was busy, of course, but I made time to go to see what it was that the Doctor couldn't manage to work out for herself. She didn't have any legitimate questions, she just wanted to lay on a sob-story about some childrens' nurse who couldn't work flexibly like everyone else on the entire ship. I pointed out to her that this kind of attitude was something that needs to be ironed out on a working Starship of the size of this one and that we're not running a barter service for staff to shirk off in return for some implied favour of being good at their jobs. I asked her to imagine how it would be if we ALL started to demand those kinds of hand-holding arrangements to suit us each for our chosen hours and demands for favours?"

Rh'Vareth drew a breath partly because she needed to but also at this point for emphasis.

"Sir" She had started to remember her place by now. "By this time the Harpy was raising her voice to me so I stopped explaining to her the error of her ways and was forcedto demand that she be silent at once!" The Romulan folded her arms, convinced she had to be making the CO completely understand the despicable nature of this behaviour.

"I had to inform her that I had no option but to come up to speak to you Sir, and that you would be arranging for her discipline for such disgraceful, insubordination." One more breath before she quickly went on:

"I was perhaps going to take into account the fact that she did obey that order instantly but by then I'd had all kinds of reprovals and denials thrown at me for my pointing out that her XO should not have been encouraging - by way of either overlooking or being negligent (probably a combination of both) - with regard to this kind of blackmail from the Nurse in question - and perhaps others egged on by her success as well - against their underperforming, spineless Senior Officers - herself as the Department Head and her own Mentor, the current Executive Officer. You see Captain, it was then that she started raising her tone and eventually her voice which I know you will naturally understand is a completely inappropriate response to criticism, even if it's delivered without the kid-gloves the two of them prefer to use."

Krea unfolded her arms again and stood straight. "I know, Captain, that as an experienced, highly decorated and respected Commanding Officer of your calibre, could never have got to these heights of respect by such childish and ineffective behaviours and I suspect that this will come as a shock to you Sir, but it needed to be rooted out - which is why I came to bring it to you in my horror at its full depth of discovery."

Bane did not interrupt her. He let her speak. He let her layer justification atop accusation, polish her outrage into something that resembled professionalism, and dress aggression in the language of efficiency and discipline. Years of command had taught him that people who were certain they were right would always reveal far more if you gave them rope.

By the time she finished, his expression had gone very still.

Not angry. Not soft.

Still.

Silence stretched. Long enough to become uncomfortable.

“Commander,” Bane said at last, quietly. The softness in his tone was far more dangerous than shouting. “You barged into my Ready Room without permission. You raised your voice. You planted yourself in my personal space. You attempted to dictate discipline to the commanding officer of this vessel, and your superior officer.” He rose again, slowly this time, not looming, simply occupying command. “And yet you stand there describing someone else as unprofessional.”

He let that hang in the air for a moment. “Interesting.” He stepped around the desk, hands clasped behind his back, eyes never leaving her. “You say Doctor Winters raised her voice to you. My Sickbay is a glass-fronted facility filled with Starfleet officers and patients. I will hear their accounts shortly.” Another pause. “But I don’t actually need them.” His gaze sharpened. “Because what you just delivered to me was not the measured report of a wronged officer. It was a character assassination. Of my Chief Medical Officer. Of my Executive Officer. Of the command culture of this ship.”

He stopped a few feet in front of her. “You have been aboard the Cygnus for a matter of days, Commander. In that time you have publicly undermined my XO, attempted to restructure departments without operational consultation, and now arrived here demanding court martials based on what amounts to a philosophical disagreement about leadership.” His voice lowered. “Let me be very clear about something. This crew does not function because they are afraid. They function because they trust their leaders. They give more than duty requires because they are treated like sentient beings, not interchangeable components in a machine.”

Her mouth opened to respond, but Bane continued over her, her mouth clapping shut audibly. “You call that weakness. I call it why this ship survives crises that break others.” The thought of the ship battered and broken, bodies lying dead in the corridors, people he loved and cared about floating, frozen solid, in the vacuum of space, filled his vision.

He straightened fully now. “You are here to advise. Not command. Not intimidate. Not override Starfleet chain of authority. And you will not, ever again, speak about my officers the way you just did.”

Silence, then, colder: “As for discipline, if any is required, Lieutenant Commander Bast will determine it. Not you.”

Another pause, this one final. “For now, you will return to your station and advise," he said, with emphasis, his voice dropping to a forced whisper. "I will be speaking with Doctor Winters, Commander Bast, and several witnesses about this, then we will talk again.” His eyes held hers. “After that, we will discuss your conduct.” A fraction of steel entered his voice. “Dismissed.”

Rh'Vareth's mouth closed again, although she wasn't aware it had returned to gaping in between times, but she heard the steel in the CO's tone and she sank, almost visibly and definitely in attitude, as she stood to attention and responded with a confused waver in her prominent brows and replied appropriately at last.

"Yes Sir" and turned to leave, still trying to work out what she had said that he hadn't understood.


OFF

A JP by:


Bane Plase, Captain
USS Cygnus, Commanding


and

Commander Krea Rh'Vareth
Mission Advisor - USS Cygnus

 

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