Posted by Crewman Quinn Emery Kindle (Yeoman / RTF) in CO’s Office - Settling Things

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in CO’s Office - Settling Things

Posted by Chief Warrant Officer Kodek Vonn (RTF Commander) in CO’s Office - Settling Things
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The doors to the bridge opened at the RTF CO walked onto the deck and to the CO’s office door. A gauntleted fist pressed the chime. They didn’t have an appointment, but they had been on the ship a month and other than their first ‘meeting’, Vonn had barely exchanged three words with the Captain.

That ended today.

Vonn, RTF CO

There was a pause. On the bridge, MacReady hurriedly keyed in a silent message to Cobb. =^= It’s Vonn. =^=
Seconds later and the door to the ready room slid open, Zachariah sitting, dignified and alert, at his desk, a bottle of whiskey and two glasses laid out before him.

“Chief WO Vonn,” he announced redundantly, now rising to his feet. “Is there something I can do for you?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Vonn stepped in and let the door slide shut behind them. “Yes, there is.” the voice from the helmet said. Vonn made no move to sit, just stood motionless inside the doorway.

“You can decide here and now if you are going to be a Captain to everyone on this ship, or just the one’s who… how do you humans say… ah yes… kiss your a$$.” There was a slight pause and the helmet cocked to the side slightly. “Your human phrasing really is most illustrative… if not exactly sanitary.”

Vonn, RTF CO

At Zachariah’s core, the seas might be churning at the insolence from this bloody Breen. But outwardly, the only reaction was a noticeable raise of the eyebrows.
“If my ass was being regularly kissed then I would be a damned sight more congenial than I currently am, make no mistake about that,” he replied. “But either way, there is no requirement for you to redress this imaginary balance with a weighty kick in the pants every time you cross my path.”

Moving to stand across from the RTF Chief, Cobb made sure to compensate for any differences in height by meeting their equal in confidence. “So why don’t we dispense with the antagonistic preamble and get right to the heart of the matter, eh? What is it that you consider me to have neglected as your captain?”

Perhaps tucking you in with a hot cocoa at the end of the day? Having your pipe and slippers ready after battle? The notion threatened to break the captain’s stoic expression although he was successful in maintaining his composure. Just.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Vonn didn’t move, didn’t budge. And the voice remained as emotionless and cold as ever. “I have been on this ship for over a month. Other than our initial meeting, a meeting where I was threatened on your behalf multiple times, I have not seen you once. You have requested no information on the RTF, status updates, roster, training, injuries… nothing. And yet I have members of the RTF refusing to commit to their duties as team members without first getting your blessing. I have reports unopened and unanswered. Material and equipment requests gathering digital dust with no action being taken. So are you simply so bigoted and racist that you will allow your own personal prejudices to hinder the operation of your first-responders? Or is it incompetence and drink that keep you from caring? I don’t care one way or the other, Mr.. Cobb. I simply need to know how to proceed. Am I working with you? Or am I working in spite of you? Either way, the RTF will be capable and prepared. The question is are you going to have anything to do with that? Or will you simply keep hiding in your office till the specter that is me is transferred, fired, or killed?”

Vonn, RTF CO

The emotional response had been unexpected, Cobb balancing precariously between anger at the Breen’s insults and sympathy for their feelings of isolation and sense of being ‘forgotten’. It was, after all, a sentiment all too familiar to the Leviathan’s solitary captain.

“Chief Vonn,” he began in a level, but somewhat placating tone, “I requested no additional information because you have been providing me with reports, which I hereby inform you that I have indeed read. And to suggest otherwise is no less than slander. I care not of your opinion on my personal character, am well aware of the rumours on my drinking or my penchant for solitude off duty. But as the captain of this vessel I make it my task to read every single communication that crosses my desk. And I have made no exception to this on your behalf.”

The visor shifted, slowly and deliberately, to the bottle on the desk; but the voice said nothing before looking back up at Cobb.

Cobb retreated, risked a quarter turn to the large observation window, no fear evident in placing his back partly to the Breen.
“As for your requests for equipment, I submitted each one in turn to central command. Beyond that, the actual fulfillment of any orders is entirely out of my control. But while we remain at the starbase I suggest that you study our new cargo manifest and raise any missing items directly with ARU provisioning. I assure you, an appeal for further consideration from your own mouth will carry far more weight with the ARU than mine.”

“Doubtful, but you know this already. Very well, I will assume I am on my own for equipment. So be advised that there will be Breen vessels meeting us from time to time, then.”

“So be it,” Cobb hissed. “But be advised that they will do so under continual torpedo lock from the Leviathan. The ARU does not make routine equipment purchases from the Breen, so since this is presumably a deal that you, yourself, have arranged, it will only be permitted to occur under my own, precise instructions. Do I make myself clear?”

There was, of course, one more matter included in Vonn’s scattershot outburst and for this, Zachariah turned to once more face the Breen head on.
“And then we must talk about Quinn. Yes, she did ask me for permission. And yes, at least some of the scuttlebutt concerning our relationship is destined to become truth. I will not judge her for seeking an equal balance between her role as my yeoman and her position in the RTF. Although I will also tell you that I gave unmeasured consent to her continuation as a member of your team. Despite what you seem to have decided of me, Kodek Vonn, I do hold the Recovery Task Force in the highest regard and appreciate fully the vital function that you perform while placing your own lives at constant and considerable risk.”

“Your actions speak otherwise. And as you judge an entire species on the actions of a few, then I will hold you to the same standard. And I do not care where you seek physical and emotional solace, Captain. Your personal life matters nothing to me. What does matter is I have an RTF member who is obviously emotionally compromised between her duty to the RTF and her feelings for you. While I appreciate you deigning to come down from your perch to grant her permission to do her job, it is not the permission that was the issue… it was her needing it to begin with.”

“I judge no-one under any other standard than the one they lay out for themselves,” the captain shot back. He had attempted a strained diplomacy. But it seemed clear to him now that Kodek Vonn was only interested in the fight. “Indeed, it is you who casts out aspersions and judgements like confetti at a bloody wedding. Do you ever give pause to allow others the courtesy of explanation? Or is the sentence already passed before the trial has even begun!”

He exhaled deeply, growing weary now of this battle, especially when it circled repeatedly around the subject of Quinn.
“As for my yeoman, she had no need to seek permission to do her job. It was never a requirement from me that she did so. She chose to seek it of her own free will, as a courtesy to a captain and a friend. There is no emotional weakness within such a gesture, but rather an emotional strength. Quinn Kindle knows who she is. She knows what she wants. And she refuses to compromise her own morals or standards to achieve it. Now if it remains your wish to find eternal quarrel with me then, so be it. But you will not defile the reputation of Quinn Kindle in my presence again!”

“As a captain, I seek not to micro-manage the departments under my command,” Zachariah concluded, “although if you desire for me to be present at every training session, to sign off on every roster change and demand accountability for every injury, then send me the requisite details and I will be sure to oblige. But I suggest there to be a more harmonious way for us to co-exist on this vessel, one where I can endeavour to be more visible in my support of the RTF, while still allowing you the autonomy that your experience and your skills deserve. It will require a measure of compromise from both sides to carry out. But I am willing. My question for you, Kodek Vonn, is, are you?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Again, Vonn remained motionless. It was as if the armoured figure was carved from stone. “I have been willing. You have been drunk and sulking. The impetuous is on you, Captain. It has been from the first moment I arrived. You can either be the Captain that I heard about in stories… or you can be whatever this is. If you choose the latter, you will need a new RTF Team lead. And while your first reaction may be to rejoice in my absence, you really should ask yourself one question before your celebratory drinking binge.” and Vonn turned and stepped back to the door triggering it to open and stepping into the doorway. The helmet turned and the voice spoke over Vonn’s shoulder.

“I will be who I am. No less and no more. The choice is yours whether that is acceptable.”

“Who would you get more capable of keeping Quinn alive than me?” and the door slid closed as Vonn walked away.

Vonn, RTF CO

“Herself!” Cobb roared into the wake of the retreating figure. “I would get herself!”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

OOC: WOW.
You guys threw it out of the park with this thread and I would love to join in but not without permission first. Again wonderful writing and I can not wait to see the next interaction. If I may join in let me know. :)

Cassa
Quinn Kindle, Yeoman, RTF, Cobb’s Angel

OOC: Thank you! I have no problem with you joining it. Vonn has left, after all. But I’m happy to come back if he is called.

James