Admiral's Quarrel

Posted on Sun Dec 18th, 2022 @ 5:45pm by Admiral Nora Harris & Admiral Richard Bates

1,072 words; about a 5 minute read

It was a typical day at Starfleet Command, which to Admiral Nora Harris meant another boring day shifting through reports and issuing orders if needed. The only excitement had been a report of a bombing at Utopia Planitia Shipyards the day before but that had been quickly hushed a restricted to a small group of offices. Harris arrived at her office at her usual time of 0830 with a large cup of hot coffee and smiled at the yeoman in the outer office. "What's on my schedule this morning, Blake?" Nora asked as she paused and took a sip of coffee.

"Um, There's a message from Admiral Theisman and a report on the Utopia Planitia incident yesterday, Admiral. I suggest you finish your coffee before you read them," the yeoman replied.

"Why, do I need to fully awake, or just properly caffeinated?" Nora asked.

"I don't want to clean up the mess it'll cause when you read the messages, Ma'am."

Nora's eyebrows went straight up at the comment. Blake was a rare find for a yeoman, someone who would speak his mind and knew how to read context and understand what to expect. If he was concerned about his admiral's reaction, then she knew instantly that it was bad. Heading into her office, she sat down and steadied herself before she finished the coffee in a single chug. Activating her computer terminal, she read through the incident report and felt her tempter rise. Then she opened the message from Admiral Thomas Theisman and felt her hand clench into a fist halfway through. Finishing her messages, she stood and stormed out of her office.

"Blake, where is...."

"He's in his office," the yeoman answered.

Halfway across the building, an angry Admiral Harris opened the door to another admiral's office after storming past the yeoman outside and slammed the door shut. "You son of a bitch!" she snarled.

Admiral Richard Bates glanced up and would have rolled his eyes if not for the fact that it meant loosing sight of the dangerous angry predatory admiral he was now cornered with. Nora Harris had a bit of a reputation after all. "Now what did I do?" he snapped back.

"You relieved Captain Theisman of his command over his hospitalization without even so much of a glance at the attending medical officer's report, for one," Nora snapped. "Second, you assigned a captain to replace him without meeting or conferring with anyone on the Joint Exploration Treaty board, and third you issued orders assigning the Andromeda to replace the Hyperion without conferring with anyone on the above mentioned board."

"Is that all?" Admiral Bates growled.

"I'm just getting started, but I don't think you want me to start on the list of offenses you've cause over the past twenty years," Nora snarled. "I'm here about the Hyperion situation, for now at least."

"Theisman was severely injured and even I knew that it would take time for him to recover. The damage to the Hyperion would be repaired before he would be released from medical, and we need to put a starship back out there to uphold our end of the JET with the Romulans. No one else was available so I made the call."

"Just like you made the call yourself to replace Theisman before. Admit it, you're still sore at his father for kicking your ass all over the Lexington and getting you barred from commanding the Saratoga, so you're taking it out on his son," Nora said.

"As I recall, you voted to have Theisman replaced as well," Bates said.

"I voiced that it should be temporary until a more permanent officer could be found to hold the position on Romulas. Then he would go back to the Hyperion and replace Knight after she gained some experience as an exploration captain," Nora snapped. "And that was in my official statement. Don't split words with me you double forked tongued snake."

"I've just about had all I'm going to take with you, Nora," Bates growled as he stood. He paused after that, because the desk was still between him and Harris, and it was the only protection he had at the moment.

Nora bristled and stalked closer. "And I've had all I'm going to take from you!" she snarled loudly. "As a senior member of the Federation Romulan Joint Exploration Advisory Board, I'm ordering you to issue a retraction of your orders."

"Or what," Bates laughed.

"Or I'll have you removed from the committee and your office right before I have you ejected from this building and that uniform," Nora answered in a voice that frozen helium would have envied.

Bates paused, knowing that Harris very well could have it done. "Alright, Nora," he said carefully. "Let's be reasonable."

"You left reason in the trash along with your honor, decency and morality a long time ago," Nora growled. "This is what you're going to do, and in the order I say it. One, issue a retraction on your previous orders. Two, resign from the JET committee. Three, stay the hell out of my way."

Bates stood there for a long moment before he realized that his only other option was to go to war, so to speak, with Harris. Infighting between officers was frowned upon, more so for flag officers, but it did happen. When admirals went to war in a manner of speaking, entire careers would end up being destroyed and often entire sections of the command structure had to be replaced. Harris was by all rights his senior officer and in better standing than he was as an admiral in Starfleet. In a straight out fight, she would most likely win and keep her position, where he would be by all rights exiled and shunned, even if by some miracle he did win.

"Alright, done. But this isn't finished between us," he said.

"Stay out of my way, Richard Bates, or you'll find that there's a fate worse than making me mad and being removed from an oversight committee," Nora said. "I'll expect you letter of resignation from the committee within the hour. See to it that you take care of that redaction before then."

Spinning on her heel, Admiral Harris stormed out of the office, slamming the heavy oak door open in her wake. Bates stared after her for a long moment before he sighed, sat back down to his desk and started typing.

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