01-25-2026, 06:50 PM
The race was won, but the hunt for Tomer seemed to have hit a dead-end based on what Jenny was seeing from the periodic reports from the Security detail. He simply was no longer aboard the ship. Qi was running a check to see if Tomer had somehow faked his biology, and Jenny was reminded rather uncomfortably of the time when Starfleet Command had been infiltrated by Changelings again. The Crusher Protocol was meant to weed out changelings, even when presenting biological markers of the race they imitated, but that didn't mean it was perfect.
"Do you want to write the letters to the families, or do you want me to?"
Jenny had been so focused that she hadn't even realised her First Officer had returned to the Bridge. His offer to write the condolence letters was appreciated, but Jenny had written enough of them to know that it needed to come from either her, or the deceased's immediate supervisor. To ask the First Officer to write it seemed...disrespectful...to the lost officers and their families.
"No...I'll do it. God knows I've written enough of them."
Jenny sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes with her palms. She'd garnered a reputation for recklessness and brilliance, but those traits often came with a cost, and that cost was the casualty counts that went along with her more brilliant ideas. During the Megasphere battle, her entire wing had been destroyed, and the fleet had been reduced to barely a third of its starting strength - the fact it was a victory didn't change the fact it was the largest loss of life in a single engagement since the Dominion War.
"Stand us down from Red Alert. Helm, put us in a parking orbit over Wairara. I want Engineering teams inspecting every part of this ship for stress damage, and a full shutdown and overhaul of the Impulse systems. Then I want you all to call your relief crew and to get some sleep."
Jenny knew she should be feeling a lot better than she was. They had won the race, but the cost had been far too high - four Midshipmen listed as dead, wounded, or missing, and one missing diplomat believed to be a saboteur at worst, and an idiot at best. There were going to be questions asked by Starfleet Command and the Diplomatic Corps, difficult questions, but the mission had, however, been successful, and that would go some way to alleviating the repercussions.
"Do you want to write the letters to the families, or do you want me to?"
Jenny had been so focused that she hadn't even realised her First Officer had returned to the Bridge. His offer to write the condolence letters was appreciated, but Jenny had written enough of them to know that it needed to come from either her, or the deceased's immediate supervisor. To ask the First Officer to write it seemed...disrespectful...to the lost officers and their families.
"No...I'll do it. God knows I've written enough of them."
Jenny sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes with her palms. She'd garnered a reputation for recklessness and brilliance, but those traits often came with a cost, and that cost was the casualty counts that went along with her more brilliant ideas. During the Megasphere battle, her entire wing had been destroyed, and the fleet had been reduced to barely a third of its starting strength - the fact it was a victory didn't change the fact it was the largest loss of life in a single engagement since the Dominion War.
"Stand us down from Red Alert. Helm, put us in a parking orbit over Wairara. I want Engineering teams inspecting every part of this ship for stress damage, and a full shutdown and overhaul of the Impulse systems. Then I want you all to call your relief crew and to get some sleep."
Jenny knew she should be feeling a lot better than she was. They had won the race, but the cost had been far too high - four Midshipmen listed as dead, wounded, or missing, and one missing diplomat believed to be a saboteur at worst, and an idiot at best. There were going to be questions asked by Starfleet Command and the Diplomatic Corps, difficult questions, but the mission had, however, been successful, and that would go some way to alleviating the repercussions.