Matters of Administration

Posted on 30 Dec 2025 @ 3:13pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Mila Rasputin & Commodore Harvey Geisler

2,482 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Epitaph
Location: Administration Complex
Timeline: July 11, 2390 || 0900 Hours

July had proved to be quite eventful, and its aftermath left Harvey to focus solely on debriefings and interviews with Gamma Headquarters. These had lasted days, and during that time he had been restricted to Gamma Command, unable to attend to anything on the Black Hawk aside from meeting his family in their quarters.

The inquisition had finally come to an end this morning, and for the first time since defeating D'rimo at the wormhole, Harvey stepped back aboard the Black Hawk not as a husband and father, but as a person. There was much for him to do in order to settle back into a commanding routine. High on his priority list was to check in with those closest to him. And topping that list was Mila.

As Harvey stepped into the Administration Complex, he had little idea what to expect. If Joey's doppleganger had successfully fooled him until the very end, how much worse would it have been for Mila working with two different clones at the same time?

It was time to find out.

The Commodore's Yeoman was plain to see with an orbit of lesser Yeoman orbiting around her. She gave assignments, handed out PADDs and made adjustments on the fly as new information came in. Everything had been so hectic that even she had been drafted to help with repairs. It gave her time to not think about what had happened and how seriously she had been fooled.

Then the color red entered her vision and Mila flicked her gaze over towards the door to see who wanted her attention next. She stopped as she took in the sight of Commodore Harvey Geisler. The man who was a friend and commanding officer to her. A man who had been replaced along with a woman that she called sister. The truth had come out, but not in a way that anyone had expected that the Commodore and his wife had both been replaced.

Now the real man, the real commanding officer was here, but Mila no longer knew how to react. She had performed sleight of hand for him upon a time in order to carry out his orders. Now she would have to perform real magic to make it seem like everything was normal.

"Commodore!" She called out and sent the Yeoman's in orbit around her to attention and scattered them to their assignments as she came to a semi-formal stance and faced Harvey.

Harvey raised an eyebrow and released a soft chuckle. He hadn't expected to see that anything would have changed in his brief absence, but somehow he couldn't help but find a little levity in this tense encounter. "Master Chief," he greeted as the last of the yeomen left the office. "At ease. It's not like you to stand at attention like that."

Mila relaxed a fraction and nodded towards her office. "Would you be liking some privacy?" she asked. It wasn't much in the way of privacy, but it was an office and had a door even if it only contained her desk, an open window design and a few photos of him, Joey, the twins and stacks of PADDs in every department color placed on every available surface.

"Privacy wouldn't hurt," he said. Instead of leading the way, he gestured with his hand. "After you."

The Russian Yeoman gave a nod and headed into her office and around the desk so he could have the single seat in front of it. It was a distinct turn of events since she normally stood in front of his desk. She pressed a button on her console and a hush fell over the office as sound encrypting protocols came online. Anything heard outside the office would now sound like nothing but gibberish and without the decryption key, that's all it would remain.

"Please," she said with a smile.

Harvey sat down, and felt the awkwardness in the room grow. He debated his opening statement, or at least how he would begin the conversation. Their relationship had grown well beyond rank, especially considering how close she was to Joey and the twins. After a moment or two, he decided there was no delicate way forward. "How are you holding up, considering Joey and I were both... off the ship?"

"I am admitting to feeling helpless," Mila answered honestly before she pointed to a homemade frame of the twins sitting on her desk "Do you see that?"

Harvey took a look at the frame, even going as far as leaning forward to pick it up to examine the photo. He smiled, seeing how happy the twins were. The photo had to be at least a month old, judging by the length of Alison's hair. "It's a good picture," he remarked, placing it back on the desk.

"It was made by clone of your wife," Mila said. "It had Intelligence device embedded in it to record everything I am doing here in office."

Harvey picked the frame back up and gave it a closer examination. "Holy shit," he muttered, unable to help himself. "When did you figure that out?"

"After she was caught," Mila said and sounded embarrassed about it. "When truth is coming out, I am remembering how she is bringing it to me here on duty. I did not think much of it then, but had it checked after."

Placing the frame back on the desk, Harvey admitted, "I'm surprised you kept the frame when you figured out what it was. The picture I understand keeping."

"It is to remind me that not everyone is who they are seeming to be," Mila responded. "Even if it hurts."

Harvey winced at that response. "I suppose we should all be grateful that they were clones and not changelings running amok. The damage they could have rendered could have been catastrophic."

"It was catastrophic, Harvey," she said as she snapped her eyes back up at him and set the picture back on her desk. "This changes everything. It has to. Everything we've done. Every way we've gone about doing things. Everything we've established has been compromised and we don't know what the enemy did with that knowledge or if any clones are still aboard this ship, another or a starbase."

He sighed and leaned back in the chair he occupied. Deep in his soul, he knew she was right. The Consortium had turned everything upside down, and here they were two years later and what little trust had been rebuilt was already shattered. "We're back to mid-Dominion War levels at minimum," he confessed. "And I agree. We can't keep acting like what works in the Alpha Quadrant can work out here in the Gamma Quadrant."

"It is not working and it has not been working," Mila said with a sad sounding voice that was a far cry from normal. "I am just a Yeoman, but even I am seeing that."

"You're not just a Yeoman, Mila," Harvey assured her. "You're on the front lines as the direct conduit between decision makers and those that carry out the decisions. We were supposed to demonstrate to this frontier what Starfleet is supposed to be. But the time has come to put away the doormat and show teeth instead."

Mila shook her head, sending her long ponytail flying over her shoulder. "Nyet. Not meaning just. We are not being warriors. We are being messengers. Why not establish network of such on every planet we are coming to? Every leader is needing Yeoman to talk to. To watch children. To clean mess of PADD's."

Harvey shrugged in agreement. "Why not establish a network on every planet? We as a whole might not be trusted, but if we can find some trusted individuals on each world... Take Mellon for instance. After recent events, I think Emily would keep talking to us. To you."

"Da," the Russian Yeoman said. "Then we are having inside scoop. How to do is is being the hard part and a matter for your wife's department. Speaking of...how is she being? I have checking up on her, but she is not wishing to speak of what she went through. It is breaking my heart."

Harvey blinked at the change of subject. It wasn't that much of a change, after all, it was the talk of the picture frame given to Mila by the facsimile posing as Joey that started all of this. "I've sugar-coated this with just about everyone, but you deserve to know the truth, Mila." He paused for a second and considered his words. "She's a broken woman. I have no doubt Joey will bounce back, but I don't think she'll ever be the same."

Mila gave a nod and looked like she waned to reach out to Harvey, but kept her professionalism and a part of her mind reminded her that the clone of Harvey had looked and sounded just as sincere. "I was being afraid of that. She is keeping much to herself. I am willing to do what I can to be helping her. That, I promise."

"She's not letting the twins out of her sight for a while," Harvey shared. "In fact, I think she's more attached to them than they are to her at the moment, and they were largely inseparable before all of this. For now, I think just dropping by and presenting a friendly face will go a long way."

"I am not blaming her," Mila said with a sigh. "I will continue to visit every chance I am getting." She glanced at the stack of PADDs at her left elbow and gave them a gentle nudge farther away from her as if that would make them disappear and allow her to go see Joey right then.

Harvey smiled, glad to see that he wouldn't be the only one to support Joey through this difficult time. "I know she'd appreciate that." Glancing over to the padds she pushed aside, and somehow sensing what she was feeling, he added, "You and Aidan both are always welcome."

"I am thanking you and will let Aidan know when I am seeing him later," she said with a smile. "Joey is like my sister and the twins are godbabies. I would be lost without you, her and them."

"And we would be lost without you," Harvey offered, dropping his smile to show how serious he was. "Besides the fact that I would never be able to command this ship without you."

"Nonsense," Mila said with a faint blush. "You merely needed order. Which you still do not utilize," she followed up with a gentle scold.

He chuckled and smiled. "Hey now. How else am I supposed to find anything if a padd isn't in the exact last place that I left it?"

"Fine," she huffed in mock exasperation. "From now on, I will make them all uniform gray with no order to what is important and what is not."

Even after a couple of years serving together, Harvey was still uncertain when she might or might not be joking. Erring on the side of jest, he added, "Just so long as everything is submitted in triplicate."

"I am in agreement," she responded. "You will now be receiving triple the amount of PADDs you normally get and I will be interrupting you three times as much."

The chuckle yielded to a soft laugh this time. "Excellent," he confirmed. "That should keep me on my toes and constantly in check." Harvey leaned back in his chair and grinned. "Who knows? Maybe we'll finally be able to shake the albatross image soon enough."

Mila frowned, her mood dampening after the friendly and much needed banter. "It is a hope. Me and Aidan are to be getting married soon."

"Oh?" Harvey asked, leaning forward again. "Have you set a date and found a venue?"

"Da, we would like it to be on New Risa in park where we planted a tree," she said with a smile, which turned into a startled frown and she looked at him like a deer in headlights. "I did not ask you, did I?"

He thought for a moment, only to shrug in response. "If you did, I apologize. As you know, much has happened, and it is not an excuse. But Joey and I both will attend."

Mila cleared her throat. "Would...would you officiate, Harvey?" she asked in a small, hopeful voice.

Harvey didn't even bat an eye. His response was immediate: "It would be my honor. And New Risa is an excellent venue, and the location... a celebration of life next to a new life... very poetic."

"We would like to do it in three days, too," she added, her face starting to glow at the realization of a dream.

Harvey fought to keep his expression from changing. Even though he'd just been released following a series of intense debriefing sessions, the Black Hawk had been temporarily reassigned to the logistics division. It would be easy for Mila and Aidan to get away. Not so much for him.

But he was nothing if not inventive and flexible. And he had enough leave due. Perhaps there was a way he could engineer this once the ship had a temporary command structure in place. "I'm certain we can make that happen," he told her.

"Thank you, Harvey," she said as she came from around the desk and gave him a hug.

Harvey rose from his chair and returned the embrace. "You are welcome, Mila."

She released him and smiled. "Is there anything else you are needing? I am in process of getting your Mess Hall restocked with the good stuff, too."

"Best of luck with that," Harvey remarked, taking a step back. "Aside from our reputation taking a hit, I'm told our supply situation is worsening. It's going to take a lot more ingenuity to keep more than the basics moving."

"Da, I will be needing it, but you are knowing me," she said. "If I am able to move black hole, I will move it."

Harvey smiled again. "Of that I have no doubt." The smile faded into a sigh as both hands moved to his lower chest to pull the uniform jacket back into place. "For now, is there anything you need from me? Aside from keeping the desk in order?"

"No, just take care of Joey and I will be seeing you soon," Mila promised him.

With a nod, Harvey turned and left the room. The conversation with Mila had helped him feel like a person once again, and steeled his resolve before he would enter his next impromptu meeting, this time with the ship's Chief of Security.

Mila watched him go, then took the stack of PADDs that demanded her attention and got back to work with a smile on her face.

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