Chapter IIa: Absolute Disaster

Moira barely cracks a smile She was really concerned about Marbo for a moment, but she's glad to see something positive happening.

One thing left then. An' then we can make a plan ta git rid 'a these slugs once an' fer all!

She lets out a loud, throaty scream.

Cass reads Marbo's message on the data pad, but Darcy begins speaking before she can act on it. Listening to Darcy's words, she feels something she hadn't realized was tightly coiled inside her begin to loosen. The dark rage that had consumed her since she'd heard that Marbo was attacked by the parasite is ebbing as she sees her crew take their first steps toward repairing their rifts.

She is about to thank Darcy and to give a little speech about starting fresh and trusting each other when Moira does her primal scream. Cass is so startled that she accidentally tosses the data pad across the desk. The air of the ready room is still vibrating from the scream when a tentative door chime sounds. Cass calls, "Come."

Mezron stands in the doorway, wide-eyed. Cass notices that she most definitely doesn't let any part of her body actually cross into the room. "Is... everything all right, Commander?"

Cass frowns slightly. "Sure, everything's fine. Why?" Without waiting for Mezron to finish stammering an answer, Cass says, "Oh hey, have a new translator sent up immediately. Dr. Zlam's is malfunctioning." When Mezron hesitates, still clearly confused, she adds, "Now, please, Mezron. Dr. Zlam can't communicate without a translator."

"Right!" Mezron says. "I'll get one right away." When the door has closed completely behind her, Cass can't hold the laughter in any longer. She fumbles with the latch on the helmet for a while until it finally comes off. Breathing fresh recycled air instead of recycled recycled air is the closest thing to heaven she's had in a while.

Judging from the way everyone is careful not to look at her skin grafts, she assumes they don't look too great. Her hand is halfway up to feel them when Marbo slaps the table with two hands, making a noise like a dophin playing a kazoo. No translation needed. She yanks her hand back down.

"I agree with Darcy," she says, finally. "We needed to do this. It's time for everyone in this room to be on the same page about everything. We have a big challenge ahead of us and we can't meet it if we're not all flying in the same direction."

She turns to Kendall. "To answer the question you asked quite a while ago, I think the answer is yes - we all agree that these parasite people have to be stopped."

At this point, Cass shares with the assembled group the information Capt. Tulak had given her about the two thousand humanoid colonists who'd disappeared and the likelihood that they'd run into the pirates. "But our top priority on the Potential is the rescue of our missing away team, who have managed to send a distress beacon bearing their names and location. That's what we need to make a plan for right now. I'm going to order some lunch from the replicator while we discuss it.

"But before we get to that, let's address your status, Kendall. Your ship is gone, and we don't have time to drop you off somewhere. It sounds like you're willing to pitch in to help with the mission, but if you're going to do that, you'll have to become, at least temporarily, a part of my crew, subject to the chain of command. If that's acceptable to you, then we can proceed with discussing our rescue plan."

Kendall takes a few moments to consider the captain’s statement. Her memories begin to flood back to her years in Space fleet, to that rescue mission she volunteered for that led to her being in her predicament.

She has made many mistakes in her years alone since that time; she trusted the wrong people, and her social awkwardness has led to good people dying.

Since then, she has a hard time trusting people, but these people seem genuinely good. She learned (a little too late) that when you find good people that want you part of their group, you shouldn’t pass that by. Plus, these people can help her right wrongs.

She makes a judgment call:

"I will submit to your authority, Cassano. But not the BS ‘chain of command’. You have earned my trust, but people like that shitbird Tulak I hold no honor for or deference to.

"I realize that I am a bit of an enigma to you and your crew, but please know that I have certain skills that can be an asset to your group. Cass...Commander, you can trust me to carry out what you think is best, but I won’t do it without question: I will speak up and give you my assessment if I disagree. And in the situation, if reality requires an audible, I will call it and run the option.

"I will not undermine you, or endanger your crew, and I will be a team player."

Cass watches Kendall's face while she makes this declaration. She can see that it represents an enormous leap of faith for her, and Cass appreciates that. Even so, some amendments are called for.

"I know that you bring a skillset we can use, but I need to clarify that when I say you'll respect the chain of command, I'm referring to ours on this ship. That means that you answer to Darcy the same way you would to me. You trust me, and I trust Darcy. So I need to know that you won't disregard her if you wouldn't disregard me in the same situation."

"That’s fine, so long as she doesn’t pull her punches when the time comes. We all need to be one in purpose on this mission."

Realizing that that's the best she's likely to get, Cass looks at the others. "Let's make sure everyone is okay with the arrangement."

Moira can't help but be impressed by Kendall's initiative, if not appalled by her ruthlessness.

Kendall looks at Darcy: "If you were surprised that was gonna happen, then you weren't payin' attention.

"But to your statement, you'll know if a surprise is coming, because you will hear me call the audible if the opportunity presents itself."

By now, everyone has used the replicator to produce something to eat. Cass ordered a snargburger, a guilty pleasure she'd acquired as a cadet. While she is enjoying it, she finds that opening her mouth too widely tugs at the skin grafts uncomfortably, so she's reduced more to nibbling it. But at least she's taking in some calories. Her head is clearing, her mood stabilizing.

The door chimes and Mezron delivers Marbo's new translator. She seems surprised to see everyone breaking bread, but doesn't say anything about it. Cass hopes that the bridge crew is as willing to spread the news of senior staff harmony as they've been to speculate about Cass having blood lust and losing control of the ship.

"Marbo, say something," Cass says. "Make sure the new translator is working."

Moira chuckles and leans over to Mezron.

Sorry about tha scream. Catharsis. Yeh know how it is. Everythin' good on tha bridge? We're makin' a plan. We'll bring it out soon.

She smiles, though between wanting to cry a few minutes earlier, her general daily disheveled nature, and the added stress of the mission at hand, she's aware that she might look bonkers. She shrugs.

Ah thought everyone else would scream, too. A little bummed about that, not gonna lie.

"In space, no one can hear you scream," Cass intones wisely around a bite of snargburger.

Moria smiles. She's up for the replicator next. Time for some bangers and mash!

Wonderful news! Thank yeh, Mezron. We'll update'cheh soon. Want anythin' from the replicator?

She'll get anything Mezron asks for. On her way past, she'll pass Darcy one of the cream patches she has in her Giant Tool Belt. She shrugs.

Ah never took tha bridge fer yeh.

Cass momentarily feels alarmed that the Antarctica is leaving, but then remembers the extent of their contribution so far.

"Ask the Antarctica to send us the coordinates and content of that distress signal before they go, and to contact us if they require any assistance."

"Okay, let's talk rescue plans," Cass says to the room. "We know where our people are in space. What we don't know is what we're going to be up against to extract them. We know that the parasite people aren't going to negotiate, so it's going to be a matter of either brute force or cunning and trickery, and probably some brute force on top of that. Let's brainstorm some ideas."

Moira leans on the wall, remembering not to speak with mashed potatoes in her mouth.

What if we beat'em at their own game? Get close, then send a distress signal lookin' like a derelict ship. We cannae just ram inta there an' beam 'em all aboard, cuz we don't know if any a our folks are infected. But if we get close, an' maybe encrypt tha distress signal so our folks know how ta tell us if they're sick, we can work with that. And when tha ship gets close, lock on ta their engines, shoot 'em down, an' swarm ta get our folks back. Offer surrender, an' well, get creative if they refuse.