"Don't find a fault, find a remedy." - Henry Ford
"...Congratulations."
The words rang in Krys' head, cutting through her indifferent disposition, making her feel a brief flash of panicked anger every time the words echoed. Her dress blues suddenly felt heavy, like they were soaked in ten gallons of water, holding her down against the back of the elevator. The lift rose back up to whence it came, the dock holding the Orleans.
"Let's make this brief. Item number 33.1, answering the SSV Orleans' request for a permanent captain." Admiral Mendes had said, "As we know, the ship's former captain Hamid Al-Hassan was recently given a well deserved promotion to admiral. As per custom, the former captain was allowed an audience with the board in order to make a recommendation for the new captain. As no suitable outside candidates were available at the time, the decision was made to promote from within. Per Admiral Al-Hassan's recommendation, Commander Patrick V. Quinn as been chosen as the next captain of the Orleans."
"Commander Quinn, you've refused numerous promotions in the past." Admiral Roizen said, "Will you be refusing this one as well?"
"Yes, ma'am. I respectfully refuse the promotion to captain." Rick said.
Krys tensed as she remembered. Rick shifted out of the corner of her eye. He hadn't said a word since the hearing ended.
"Commander Quinn, when asked as a reason for your refusal of these promotions, you're go-to answer seems to be 'family'. Will you take that as your stance again?" Admiral Ford had asked, "Or did you come up with something a little more creative this time?" He smirked.
"Yes, sir. Family it is."
"As a commander serving on an Alliance vessel, you're already away from your family a substantial part of the year. You understand, at this point, the excuse of 'family' isn't good enough anymore. Surely that's not the only reason."
"Of course not, sir. But Admiral Mendes requested this be a brief hearing, I don't think we have the time."
Ford rolled his eyes, scoffed.
What a snarky asshole, Krys had thought. Admiral Ford acted as though hearings were something of an inconvenience to him. This hearing had apparently been no different.
"You do realize then, this could be the end of the road for you. An officer can only refuse a promotion so many times before his superiors realize he isn't what they are looking for anymore." Ford had said.
"I realize that but I stand by my convictions, Admiral."
"I consider what you're doing to be a form of insubordination and I feel you should be removed from your post effective immediately. An Alliance officer unwilling to do the job asked of him repeatedly has no place on a ship."
"Isn't this a bit drastic?" Admiral Al-Hassan asked Ford, coming to his friend's defense.
"Quinn has wasted enough of our time over the years. If we see him again, it'll be too soon." Ford said, waving a dismissive hand.
"Though not as harsh a tone, I agree with Admiral Ford." Mendes said, "This can only be done so many times before some sort of action must be taken."
"Then we vote." Ford said, "I motion Commander Quinn be stripped of his rank and removed from his post, effective immediately."
"I second the motion." Mendes said.
"All in favor?"
"If I may, Admirals?" Shepard said.
Krys would never forget that moment. Everything stood still when James Shepard spoke. Every head in the room turned in his direction. Time stood still. Shepard's voice still sounded as youthful as ever, if only his body was the same way. His short hair was turning to salt and pepper, the deep lines and wrinkles on his face matching that of his hands, which had been wrapped around the handle of a walking stick. Truthfully, he wasn't as old as he looked. Rumors swirled that it was accelerated aging due to the famed Lazarus Project. But no one really knew the truth. Not even Shepard.
"Commander Quinn is far too talented and knowledgeable a soldier to be simply tossed out like yesterday's garbage. You're far too smart to act so stupid, Admiral Ford. I vote against the motion."
The remaining admirals followed suit. Ford shook his head.
"I suppose you have another suggestion, esteemed Admiral Shepard?" Ford hissed.
Shepard took a moment. "I believe Commander Quinn should remain aboard the Orleans, but as second-in-command. Admiral Al-Hassan recommended another suitable replacement in young Lieutenant Commander Bishop here." His withered hand gestured to Krys.
Ford leaned over his table. "Surely you don't suggest she be named captain?"
"You said it yourself, Admiral Shepard. She's young. Not to mention inexperienced. How can we be sure she could handle suddenly being thrown to the wolves like this?" Mendes asked.
"Then make it temporary." Shepard answered, "She will have a probationary period in which she will captain the Orleans. We will make a permanent decision then."
"Oh please..." Ford spat.
"And you, young Bishop? How do you feel about this? Could you bear the burden of complete control of an Alliance ship? Holding the lives of your crew in your hands?" Roizen asked.
Now, this was the point where Krys could have just turned and walked out. Left the Alliance, flown to a remote asteroid somewhere and hid in a dark cave. She could have said a million different words that would have deemed her unsuitable for promotion. But instead, she said the only thing there was to say.
"Yes, ma'am. I do."
"All in favor of Lieutenant Commander Krystal Bishop being named interim captain of the SSV Orleans?" Al-Hassan said.
"Aye." Four of the admirals said.
"All opposed?"
"Nay." Said Ford and Mendes.
"Then we, the illustrious Admiralty Board of the Alliance do hereby name Krystal Bishop...acting captain of the SSV Orleans. Congratulations." Shepard said, with the slightest of smiles.
"Let's see, what else has been going on?" Adriana Lamarca looked away from the recorder lens and thought for a moment, "Oh! They're talking about letting some researchers onto the Citadel to study some of the Reaper artifacts they're storing there. I'm hoping I'll get an invitation to go, but the problem is I'd probably have to use my shore leave to do it. Still, it would be a great opportunity to finally see some up close. And if you and Papa can maybe plan a vacation there at the same time, we can spend some time together or get dinner or something like that...But I guess that's only if Papa is feeling up for it by then..." Her voice trailed off and she looked away again, brushing her wavy chestnut hair behind an ear. A green light blinked, indicating she had 30 seconds of recording time left.
"I don't have much time left so I better start signing off. Mom, 'jag älskar dig någonsin så mychet'. If Papa is awake, tell him I said 'Io ti amo e spero che to guarine presto'. I'll see you all soon. Tell sister I said hello and kiss the girls for me. I miss you all."
She smiled a sad smile and blew a kiss.
"End transmission."
Adriana opened the door of the communications hub, formerly the security checkpoint scanning room between the war room and galaxy map. Dean had converted it about a year ago to house many of the comms upgrades he had installed, as well as a booth for recording small video transmissions to send home. He had convinced the former Captain Al-Hassan that it made more sense to use this for personal communications than using the holo conference room, which used almost ten times more power. It took the twisting of more than an arm or two to gain official approval.
She walked up to the console nearest the recording booth, where Dean was sitting, tapping away at a few holographic keys.
"You sound sadder every time you say that." Dean said.
Adriana smiled, "Well how else am I going to get mom to send more cookies?" She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"She does make some pretty good biscotti."
"Papa's favorite," Adriana said with a hint of sadness, "Hopefully I'll hear back from them this time." She said, leaning against his console, "I think they skipped the last reply because he wasn't doing well. Didn't want me to worry."
"I'll let you know as soon as anything comes in."
"Thanks Dean." She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
"Excuse me, sir?" One of Dean's communications crew, PFC Foster Collins, leaned back in his chair just down the row of consoles. Adriana quickly took her hand away from his shoulder, "I've got a message coming in direct from Alliance headquarters."
"Is it live?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Negative. It's a data packet. Size indicates it's most likely our next detail."
Dean looked up at Adriana, "Do you want it or shall we save it for the new captain?"
"I'll take it." She stood up, looking at Collins, "You can send it to the galaxy map console, I'll get it there."
"Yes, ma'am."
Adriana walked around the back of the galaxy map, giving a friendly smile to a pair of yeomen that had just gotten off the elevator. With a few keystrokes, she had already opened her messages at the terminal. She scrolled through countless correspondence with her sister Olga and the rest of her family. Orders from high command from years past. She even had a few junk mail promoting Blasto 11: No Turning Back from a few years ago, and the mail kept getting older the more she scrolled. She kept them all, and made sure her new mail appeared all the way at the bottom of the page so she would have to see them. A good way to remind her what was important. Finally she found the mail from Alliance command and opened it. Adriana let out a sigh and gave her brown eyes the slightest of rolls. Just as she suspected: A surveillance mission in the Hades Nexus. It made sense to give a new captain such an easy assignment to start, but this equated to an unofficial shore leave. There was nothing there! An abandoned Cerberus base, maybe a mining colony still in working condition, but not much else. Oh well. Maybe now she could finally catch up on some sleep.
"Heidi-ho!" Nix shouted as he and Manny returned with the transfer, Poscharsky.
Adriana waited until they're close enough so she doesn't have to raise her voice, "You're late," she said without looking up.
"We took him to a few of our favorite spots around Vancouver," Nix said.
Adriana gave him a stern look.
"Not inside! We only showed him where it was, so in case Manny and I go missing he knows where to look." he added.
She rolled her eyes and a corner of her mouth drew up. Sure, he was irritating more often than not but sometimes she couldn't help herself but smile. Turning to the transfer, she said, "Corporal Poscharsky, welcome to the Orleans. I'm First Lieutenant Adriana Lamarca, I'm the ship's biologist and third-in-command. If you ever can't find one of the higher ups, you can always come to me." she said warmly.
"Thank you ma'am," Lance said.
"I see Caldwell and Alvarez managed not to scare you off,"
"Give it time," Nix said, slapping Lance hard on the back.
An agitated voice behind them startled her, "Excuse me, please."
Nix and Manny made way for Madeline Carlyon, the Orleans' medical doctor, who had just reboarded the ship herself. A worn out brown medic bag was slung over her shoulder.
"Where were you?" Adriana asked.
"Medical supply run, just thought I might as well resupply a few things while we're here."
"I didn't know you were off the ship,"
"I didn't want to bother you," Madeline said, a defensive tone in her voice, "It was a quick point A to point B run. That's all. Does that sound like something you needed to be bothered with?"
She brushed by the group, heading toward the elevator.
"Next time, let someone know, even if it's not me,"
"Yes ma'am," Madeline said without turning around.
Adriana was about to say something else when ANII interjected.
"The commanding officer is aboard. XO Lamarca stands relieved."
Adriana looked up and squinted through the galaxy map's glowing holographic display of Earth to see Krys and Rick reenter the ship, already disassembling their dress blues as soon as they boarded. She excused herself from the others and went to meet her superiors. "How did it go?" she asked. No response.
"Captain?" Adriana asked, looking at Rick. He raised an eyebrow and jerked his head toward Krys. Adriana felt her chest tighten. "No!" she said, a bit of what she could only describe as astonishment in her voice. Perhaps a bit too much. Krys gave her a look. "I mean...I'm so happy for you but what happened? I thought that...didn't Al-Hassan recommend Rick for the position?"
"He did," Rick said, his jacket sliding off.
"So...you said no again? And they didn't discharge you?" Adriana quickly put the pieces together.
Rick shrugged, "Call it divine intervention,"
"Call it whatever you want," Krys said, her jacket now off as well. She signaled to one of the yeoman, handing it to him. "Have captain's bars put on this. And everything else in my quarters. And then...take my belongings up to the captain's quarters."
"Yes, ma'am. And congratulations." he said, saluting.
"Thank you," the new captain said, returning the salute.
Adriana smiled, "Aw, Krys, your first order as captain! I'm so proud!" She poured as much sugar into this as she could, "I'm going to hug you now."
"Please don't hug me," Krys said flatly.
The biologist moved in deliberately, her arms out.
"Adriana, please don't..." Krys couldn't finish before Adriana wrapped her arms around her.
"Your first insubordinate," The biologist whispered, "I'm honored,"