JDL | CO, XO, CINTEL | ACapt Rhodes, LtCmdr Dhej, LtCmdr Rinehart - "Don't Cry For Me"

Posted on 241409.17 @ 10:39pm by Commander Tierney Rinehart & Acting Captain Mark Rhodes

Coming to the decision she'd come to had been no small feat. It had taken time, courage and understanding -- it had taken breaking her own heart and accepting it for what it was. She'd expected resistance, had felt that savage push from Starfleet the moment she'd taken up her first post as a tactical officer on the Crazy Horse, but now... Now it was history. She'd reached the pinnacle of her career, accepted a field demotion to take up a place on the Enterprise, the brilliant flagship of the fleet. It had been the offer of a lifetime, a dream come true and given her the acceptance and pride from her father she never thought she'd receive. In the short time she'd been there she'd come to grow and learn so much -- she'd allowed herself to know love... In that same notion, however, she'd come to receive more of the intense hatred that had marked and marred her entire life, this time at the expense of a crew's ability to function as a whole. The entire thing had come to a grotesque head when the Security officer had dared talk down to her during a staff meeting, killing whatever potential information she could have brought to the table concerning Vokar. A subject for which intel's files were packed and overflowing with information.

She regretted it.

Nobody likes you. Nobody trusts him. You two being together is career suicide on his part. echoed the voice of doctor Rogers like a mantra bouncing off the inside of her skull. Aside from a select few it had appeared that the woman's words proven prophetic to the point the elegant little Starling couldn't begin, let alone complete, her work without resistance and interference at every twist and turn. The experience had now come to boil down to one pivotal moment, one pivotal PADD she held in her tiny hands as she stood in front of the command team in the Captain's ready room.

"I'm sorry," she started, setting the PADD down in front of them with a sad little smile, "for the trouble I've caused you both, and your crew." Tierney added, her hands coming to rest together behind her back as she stood at rest. It would be the only preamble she gave as she knew they'd soon read the transfer request she'd agonized for hours over. "I don't want to be responsible for such contempt any longer and I fear that the situation will only continue to deteriorate the longer I'm aboard this vessel." Oh sweet Starling, how you cut yourself in order to stop their bleeding. She knew the moment she left the ship that her career would be over, Intel officers don't receive second and third shots. Before the entire ordeal was over she'd be nothing more than a desk jockey, likely filing papers and incident reports for the Admiral on some starbase somewhere. Her eyes looked anywhere but Mark's, not wanting to see the hurt she knew would fill them. It would kill her, shredding the better part of her heart to leave him, but she knew it would be the best gift she could ever give him; a successful career unmarred by the black mark Alyssa Lucas tried to slash it with all because of her hatred towards none other than the Starling herself. A hatred Tierney was sure was the residual effect of Rogers's friendship and sudden disappearance, though she couldn't help but wonder if such rash emotion came from a place so much more dark and dangerous -- a place that would eventually destroy the Enterprise.

That... Was what made her decision so very gut wrenching. Damned if she did and damned if she didn't, but by Gods she'd do everything she could to save him. Mark. Her sweet, courageous Mark.

Acting Captain Mark Rhodes sat in his office with his XO when the Chief of Intel came into the office and spoke her mind. "You are not saying that you are leaving this vessel," said Mark looking to Tierney. "You will not leave this ship. We are in the middle of nowhere. Its unsafe, and I wont allow it." He spoke firmly not only for the woman he loved but the officer he wasn't going to lose.

Karim sat quietly, listening and struggling to keep his thoughts to himself. After Rhodes had finished, he calmly added "The Captain is right. You are not going to leave the ship. Whatever lead you to this point where you think its best for you to leave will be addressed now. I'm tired of all this ... for lack of a better word, drama. Please sit, and tell us what brought you to this point please."

Tierney's impossibly large eyes closed as she listened to what both men, her closest allies, had to say. She knew they'd fight her every move in an attempt to thwart her choice to leave the Enterprise. "Everything we do is unsafe." She replied, releasing the lip she'd been holding between her teeth. Her eyes re-opened and she brought them to Karim's face. The Trill was always so collected, so serene. Her weight shifted from one hip to the other as she considered his offer and sighed, shaking her head. "If I stay it's unsafe, if I go it's unsafe. I made my decision based on what I believed would protect the command team of this ship." She began, her chest aching with the uprising of emotion she'd chosen to cage. "My attempts to be an officer are blocked at every twist and turn. I'm an Intelligence officer, my job is to know things and assess threats from the outside. Security has the task of controlling danger from the inside and somehow that entire format has been messed up beyond recognition and it's pointless for me to continue to serve on the Enterprise where my skill sets aren't wanted and my presence causes nothing but upheaval at every turn."

"You don't think everyone has received an amount of resistance?" Mark asked. "The Chief Engineer becomes CO and you don't think the he received resistance? You will over come this. 10 years down the road, none of these problems will matter. None will last."

"That's just it!" Tierney cried out in response, her hands slapping at her sides in mock defeat while her mind whirled and struggled to organize words in any sort of order. "It's only going to get worse for you if I stay! I'm a symptom, not the illness, but at least I can remedy one small problem if I leave. At least there won't be any further ammunition against you." The Starling bit her tongue, feeling the cold fear of dread course through her belly and veins at having said too much. Curse emotion. Curse it to Hell.

"I don't care about that," said Mark. "This will not hurt me. Any damage that would have been done is done, and we have moved passed it."

Karim nodded, trying to figure out what to add. Quietly he said "I agree. We've struggled through what's been thrown at us, and I'm sure we can deal with whatever comes at us next. The fact is Tierney, we not only need you, we want to have you aboard. It's as simple as that."

She sighed, her shoulders slumping as she dropped into a chair in front of the desk, burying her face in her hands as she sat and thought, absorbing what had been said. "It's only going to get worse." She all but whispered. "You two are sitting on a time bomb, but Gods do I pray I'm wrong. If I was needed on this ship..." The woman breathed in a sigh, "I'd be allowed to do my job."

"We will hopefully get the junior officer who is giving you problems under control," said Mark. "The Command staff has been somewhat lax on certain aspects."

"Hopefully?" The Starling looked up, blinking. "Mark..." Her voice trailed off as she realized just how informal calling him by his name truly was, "I'm sorry, Captain, I wish you luck with your endeavors to rein Lucas in, but it goes so much deeper than that."

"Go on," said Mark.

"I fear that she doesn't trust you, that she's looking for a reason to throw you under the proverbial bus." Tierney's head shook as she shrugged, "It's a hunch with behavioral evidence suggesting a pattern." That was when she swallowed hard, the knot in her throat threatening to choke her, "And... Sources say that..." She looked at him, studying the Captain's face, "That she knows." She said, stressing the word and knowing that Karim's ears were friendly ears. Knowing ears. Supportive ears.

"Know of wh- Oh she knows..." said Mark putting the words together. "As long as it doesn't effect our performance, it wont get into the line of duty."

Nodding, Karim added "Exactly. If the relationship you two share isn't going to be a hindrance in the performance of your duties, then I say it doesn't matter who knows about it or not. I think we need to focus on getting work done, and not worrying about if people don't like the fact you two are together."

There was a sigh and the shake of a red maned head as she looked up to find Karim and Mark's eyes, looking from one to the other. "Fine." She said. "We'll play it your way for now. But if it deteriorates further..." She left it open ended on purpose, knowing what hung in the air didn't need saying.

"Indeed," said Mark. "If in a months time, the problems are not being resolved we can come back here and start this whole conversation again," said Mark looking between his two officers.

All Tierney could do was agree. They were bent, both of them, on her staying aboard the Enterprise. Thirty days would make or break her, of that much she was absolutely certain. "Yes, Captain." She replied. In the mean time it would be work with the Figaro and fulfilling Nug and Admiral Malone's orders -- freedom from the drama that waited for her around every corner on the main ship. "Permission to be dismissed?" She asked.

Karim smiled slightly and replied "I agree, if things persist, we will continue this discussion, and deal with it then. And yes Commander, you are dismissed."

=/\=End Log=/\=
Acting Captain Mark Rhodes
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise 17101-F

Lieutenant Commander Karim Dhej
Executive Officer
USS Enterprise 17101-F

Lieutenant Commander Tierney Rinehart
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Enterprise 17101-F