Updating Command

Posted on 22 Jul 2025 @ 1:03pm by Admiral Zachary O'Connell & Commodore Harvey Geisler

1,886 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Imposters Among Us
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: July 7, 2390 || 1230 hours

What was currently happening in the Black Hawk’s ready room was enough to make Paradan cloners of any universe equally jealous and curious. Genetic cloning was relatively simple, as long as one had a source in excellent condition with untainted DNA. The real challenge was in the memories. Memories were encoded in a unique pattern not per species or gender, but by the individual person. Short term memories were easy enough to scan from a subject’s brain before they were re-encoded and committed to long-term storage. Once the memory moved to long-term storage, one could attempt to lift the bioelectric imprint, but without the right sequence to decode and recall, it was useless.

But what was truly remarkable, and even more impossible to reproduce was the fact that Harvey was pacing. The clone had no way of knowing that his real counterpart had a habit of continuously moving, constantly remaining in motion as he dealt with his own personal anxiety.

What could this clone have to be worried about? It wasn’t like he was only a few days old, and having to communicate with the person in charge of Starfleet’s operations in the Gamma Quadrant, a person who happened to be more than a commanding officer but also a comrade. Just a quick search of Harvey’s logs revealed that command of this ship had been given to Geisler with great reluctance by Starfleet Command, and it was Admiral Zachary O’Connell who had gone out on a limb to advocate for Harvey. A picture on the shelf behind Harvey revealed that Zachary and his wife, Jillian, were Harvey and Joey’s wedding. Other logs detailed confrontations and conversations.

Harvey sipped the horrid sludge that one called Wilkins coffee, and spat it back into the mug. He uttered an expletive as he thrust the container back into the replicator and recycled it. Even as he did, he surmised that the taste of the coffee would be better than what he was about to experience. There was no telling how this would go.

And there was really only one way to find out. He located a bottle of scotch that he’d found (concealed by his counterpart) in the washroom, ingested a heavy swig without using the nearby lowball glass, and returned to the main room. He tugged at his uniform jacket, straightening the black fabric and red shoulders against his frame. Then he sat down and tugged at it again as he pushed himself up towards the desk.

“Computer,” he said at last, clearing his throat. “Open a channel to Gamma Command, Headquarters. Direct attention to Admiral O’Connell’s office.”

Harvey’s holographic terminal sprang to life, starting with a slowly rotating render of Gamma Command’s mission patch, a capital Greek gamma centered within a square, and the empty space beside the glyph’s staff filled with the familiar Starfleet delta. Under the logo were the words “Seeking Connection.” He scoffed, watching the words carefully for what seemed to be an eternity. He spread his arms, placing a hand on either side of the desk and slouched, a vain attempt to relax.

The words flashed, changing to “Connection Established.” For a minute, the display did not change. Yet, Harvey remained seated, his position still loosening. His wind wandered, wondering if contacting the Admiral always took this long. Harvey knew that Zachary was a busy man, always occupied with something. Yet, with this crisis at the border, surely the Admiral would have dropped everything to take this call right now.

“Commodore?”

Harvey’s mind snapped back to reality. He blinked twice, realizing that he hadn’t noticed the mission patch and text had disappeared, yielding their space to a bust of the Admiral’s yeoman. Harvey glanced at a padd he’d positioned just off to the left of the display, then back at the holo. He straightened his posture and greeted, “Petty Officer Tanika. I have new information for Admiral O’Connell regarding G90B.”

Tanika nodded, her brown eyes never leaving Harvey’s face. A quizzical look remained, as if she was cautious with the commander of the Black Hawk. “Of course, Commodore. If you’ll just provide your authorization code, I’ll secure the line and direct you to the Admiral.”

Harvey tried not to flinch, but the facial tick he managed to suppress found escape in his left index finger, which tapped the surface of the desk twice. Of course. Harvey always asked Mila or another bridge officer to connect me to Gamma Command. They knew the proper protocol. He didn’t. And Harvey would not make that mistake again.

“Geisler zero-nine-gamma-foxtrot-alpha.”

Tanika looked off to the side, likely glancing at a padd or monitor of her own. She smirked, then replied, “Thank you, Commodore. Standby.”

Again, the mission patch appeared above the desk. The words that accompanied it were “Please stand by.”

Unlike the phrases regarding connectivity, the hold screen was brief. Harvey was paying attention this time when the logo was replaced with the images of two male figures, one sitting and one standing. Harvey smiled, half wanting to put up a front with the Admiral, and half thankful that the Admiral was not alone. This would likely dissuade any personal conversation. One more glance at the padd informed him that the unexpected standing guest was Commodore Okokros Tri, logistics officer. Shit. Betazoid.

“Commodore Geisler,” greeted Admiral O’Connell, whose expression did not return Geisler’s fading smile. “Report.”

“Admiral,” Harvey said, bringing both hands together in front of him and interlacing fingers. “Do you recall the mission I authorized for my Chief of Security.”

“The undercover mission,” answered a female voice. Next to Tri appeared Commander del Carlo, the Admiral’s chief of intelligence.

Harvey looked at the woman for a moment, catching his mind before her appearance found him distracted. “Affirmative,” he answered. “Commander Di Pasquale has returned with alarming information.” He paused for a beat, taking advantage of the fact that he had some control over the narrative. “She was to get an up-close and personal look at G90B. They have assumed control of a planet called Mellon, which is between Gavara and Starbase Unity. It is rich in birythium, which we know is used in their hulls.”

He continued quickly, not giving anyone a chance to interrupt. “She also discovered the location of a birythium refinery, which also serves as a repair location. There she found the same ship that the Valcour damaged, and it was undergoing repair.”

The Admiral exhaled. “That’s… that’s quite the report, Commodore.”

“Yes, sir,” Harvey confirmed. “Di Pasquale insists on striking while the iron is hot. Get in, disable G90B, and gather as much intel as possible.”

O’Connell straightened in his chair. “Attack? Now?”

Harvey, who had secretly hoped that the Admiral would call an abrupt end to Di Pasquale’s harsh reaction, suddenly found his thoughts interrupted by del Carlo.

“It’s a good opportunity,” she told the Admiral, turning to look at him. “We’ve been bested in every engagement thus far, and we only got lucky with the Valcour’s reactor breach.”

“True,” Zachary remarked. “And while I don’t relish the idea of engaging G90B behind the line, there’s no better way to hit them than while they are exposed.”

“Precisely,” Harvey agreed, continuing his charade. “I’m assembling a strike force of six ships. We’ll—”

“Six ships?” Zachary nearly exclaimed. He leaned forward in his seat and his holographic eyes fixed on Harvey’s brown. “That’s more than half your remaining Belvedere.”

“I’m quite aware, sir,” Harvey sternly replied. “As Commander del Carlo quite observed, it takes a lot of firepower to weaken G90B, not to mention the attrition we’ll likely suffer as a result. But we need to find an upper hand.”

Zachary held firm for a moment. A hand rose to rub his chin as he considered alternatives to the situation. Finally, he admitted, “I couldn’t agree more, Commodore. And while I hope that this attack is successful, I still have to consider the greater safety of the quadrant.” He turned to face Tri. “Contact Captain Kaufmann. Instruct him to position three ships at Deep Space Fifteen to support the base, and then make for Gavara at full speed with all he’s got.”

Harvey blinked. His recent study of Starfleet’s strength in the quadrant informed him that Kaufmann was one of three peers to Harvey. “Sentinel?” he asked, his tone bewildered. Here he was just planning to update Gamma Command, and now Starfleet’s entire deployment strategy was changing. “You’re diverting all of Sentinel to Gavara?”

“That’s right,” O’Connell said. “You said it yourself. There’s no better time to strike G90B than now. We need a victory, and we need intelligence. I have no doubt you’ll be successful, Harvey. You always seem to pull a rabbit out of your hat at the last minute. But, we still don’t know G90B’s strength. We’re going to have to be ready for anything. Belvedere’s lost too much already. That’s why I’m sending Sentinel not just to hold the line. But I’m going to send his closest ships to join your strike force. Kaufmann needs to see how this is all done. I’m counting on you to make sure he learns.”

Once again, Harvey managed to direct the energy intended for a frown to a different digit, causing his left thumb to tap the file of interlaced fingers. “Of course, Admiral. As soon as the attack plan is ready, I will designate a waypoint for Kaufmann and his Dauntless to join us.”

“Good,” Zachary said with a nod. “Time is of the essence, Commodore. Get to work. O’Connell out.”

The mission patch abruptly replaced all of the holographic figures. As the interface deactivated, Harvey’s hands spread back out across the desk. This entire situation was spinning out of control faster than he expected. With more forces committed to the line, the chances were now higher that Starfleet would be successful in curbing the Confederation’s efforts in the quadrant. But so grew the odds of overcoming a significant portion of Starfleet’s forces. Nearly half of Gamma’s Starfleet assets would deployed close to Gavara, a number which included a vast majority of the heavy hitters.

If the Confederation could overcome both Belvedere and Sentinel now, then Gamma Command would certainly fall. That would just leave the Dominion to deal with, a problem that would be addressed as soon as D’rimo completed his own mission, which was happening where no eyes could see.

Harvey rose from the desk and picked up a lone mug, still full of Harvey’s beloved coffee mixed with milk and sugar. He took a sip, hoping that the combination had made the drink bearable. The liquid was returned to its container just as quickly as it left. Harvey inserted the mug back into the replicator, recycled it, and made for the door.

The Admiral was right. It was time to work.

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