Tapping her finger on the side of the chair, her other hand was holding Ko’s head as her eyes were closed. The room was filled with PADDs, papers, and reports on various findings in the Delta Quadrant. The silence was broken by a calm Vulcan voice “Captain, I do not want to interrupt you, but I am quite busy. Is your First Officer going to show up or not?”

Ko took a deep breath and looked up. “I…I apologize, Admiral, for the lack of responsibility my First Officer has.” She felt embarrassed, furious, and disappointed. “I know you are very busy with giving the orders and information out regarding the Borg activity, but he is part of my team, and I prefer if he would be present at this briefing.” Why was she even defending a man who was not taking his job seriously? Ko felt like a saint now, trying to protect her crew, even those that are not worthy of being protected. 

“Hmm, I understand your commitment to the chain of command and your respect for trying to involve your fellow command member.” The Vulcan looked neutral at her. “But I do have to continue my work within five minutes if he doesn’t show…” She paused in her words and looked at the door that opened, seeing a man walking into the room and giving them attention but was focused on the Admiral. 

“Commander Towalr, First Officer of the USS Tokyo, reporting for a briefing on our mission, my sincere apology, Admiral, I have been occupied with running the Tokyo.” He ignored the glare from Ko and waited for the Admiral’s response.

She wove her hand to the chair. “Please sit down, Commander. Your lateness has already shortened this meeting. But for the sake of clarity, my name is Admiral Vailis. I am the director of the Delta Exploration Initiative, and I allowed this meeting of … well, now less than ten minutes to give you vital information.” Vailis waited for Towalr to sit down.

Sitting quickly down, “Admiral, I have heard of your outstanding achievement within the Delta Exploration Initiative and the operations within Delta Quadrant. The brilliant coordination at the Blood Dilithium crisis is worth mentioning,” Towalr stated with a smile in her direction. “So it is an honor. To sit here and discuss this vital mission that we have been selected to do.” 

“Hmm” Came from the admiral. “Right, now less than 5 minutes, your mission.” 

Ko wanted to slam her head into the desk so hard that the medical specialist had difficulty identifying her body and potentially needed her teeth to verify. It was outrageous how Towalr dared to pull this off. He was late, and now he was sucking up to an Admiral who had barely time in the first place. But she held up her poker face in the conversation. “Please do continue Admiral”

“Your mission is to enter the Delta Quadrant and head for Delta-408, which is southeast of the gate near the chaotic space.” Vailis crossed her hands over each other. “Delta-408 is a unique location, ID by Starfleet as a graveyard. But it is far from it. Do not underestimate the unpredictability of Borg ships stranded here, they seem inactive, but their drones are not.”

Towalr felt the sweat already breaking out and bit his lip at mentioning the Borg and its behavior. 

“What do you precisely mean by the behavior of the drones in the area, Admiral?” Ko asked, curious. “Are we to be careful in stealth, or should we be prepared to fight?” 

A question that made Vailis go quiet for a moment as she looked at Ko briefly and showed less facial emotions “The drones are cut away from their collective, meaning no one is giving them orders. So, the order that was well in control is now fully in chaos. Prepare your crew members for the unpredictable.” Vailis stated, looked at her side, and stood slowly up. “I apologize, but my time is short, and this meeting is over. I have to continue.” 

Ko stood up when this was stated and bowed slightly in her direction. “Thank you for making time for us, even briefly.” She rose and gave a nod to the Admiral. She turned around and looked at Towalr. “Let us get a move on, Commander.” Without waiting for a reply, she moved out of the office. 

Looking over his shoulder as Ko walked away, he finally stood up and nodded to the Admiral. “Thank you for your time. Again, it is an honor to be in the presence of such a legend who has done so much for us.” Towalr smiled in the Admiral’s direction and followed Ko out of the office. He rushed up to find the Captain already far in the hallway. “You got some nerve, embarrassing me in front of the Admiral, Commander. Next time, please inform me personally about this appointment.” 

Taking a deep breath while walking as she didn’t turn around “It is stated various times in your direction. Plus, last time I checked, I am not your personal secretary. I am your Commanding Officer.” Ko felt like she was bickering with a child who didn’t get his toy.

“Excuse me, you must serve the crew. See, this is why you are not fit for the Captain role. It needs someone more aligned to the requirements of the vision from Starfleet,” Towalr spoke with some bragging and pride in his voice. “Plus, how do you have the nerve to send me to the Counseling Office at this base? Is it your way to get back at me? How low can you go…” Accusing her of blocking him in his duties, Towalr felt betrayed. 

That made her stop. Did he say that to her? That she was not doing her duty as a Captain? That she was not fit to be a Captain. She felt the rage in her build up as she let out a sigh. “There is only so much a tree can have until that branch snaps,” Ko muttered to herself and slowly turned in Towalr’s direction. “If I am not fit for duty, then you are not fit to wear that badge.” She got it out of her mouth finally. 

“You let an Admiral wait? Only to blame someone else for the lack of responsibility you have.” Ko’s voice raised a bit. “How you even got into this position is a complete mystery to me. You tried to backstab me by going to Captain Takato to block my transfer. You use the crew against me to make my life a living hell. You have no sense of duty, Commander Towalr. If there is a record for worst First Officers, man, you hit the jackpot.” 

He wanted to respond but could not do so as Ko continued to rage about everything she had to endure from him. “No, oh, you have no right to speak, Commander. You say I have no sense of duty, yet I am the one who permitted your counseling session so that they could get you back on your feet!” Ko points at him, “If we didn’t do anything, you would be lying in your vomit, crying and begging it to stop for the fear that is eating you up, and YOU REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE.” She felt a burning fury in herself.

But she took a moment to calm down. “So pick yourself up, Commander, we are going to that region. We are going to retrieve that sample. When we complete this….we both will have a long chat about duty.” Ko lowered her hand. “Because you need to read up on the Starfleet vision again, or better say, get your head out of your selfish ass and start doing your function as a First Officer.” She turned around and walked without stopping to exit the area. 

Towalr looked utterly defeated and embarrassed as he noticed officers and NCOs looking in his direction. He huffs and puffs, walking in a different direction in fury. He disagreed one bit with this woman, but if it meant that he only had to endure one mission with her, then maybe, just maybe, he could swallow his pride and accept that she would be gone after the mission. Towalr had the lingering idea that he wouldn’t mind an unavoidable accident in the mission either. But even for him, that was a bridge too far.