Command Crisis

Posted on 11 Mar 2026 @ 10:14pm by Captain Harvey Geisler & Commander Camila Di Pasquale

2,320 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Acceleration
Location: Captain's Mess
Timeline: December 29, 2390 || 1130 hours

In the months that had followed the Confederation defeat, Harvey had made it a point to focus on morale within the ship. For his crew, that meant lighter missions. For his family, that meant some time away from the ship. And for his senior staff, that meant regular check ins.

The senior staff had already begun to fracture. Lieutenant Ryler had been reassigned to the role of Assistant Chief Science Officer, where she felt she could better focus on what she loved most. Lieutenant Commander Marsh had accepted reassignment to the USS Altai, a science vessel in Task Group Archimedes. And now orders had come through for a third disruption, Commander Reynolds would be reassigned elsewhere in the Gamma Quadrant, to be someone else's XO. Unlike prior transfer orders, Harvey was not given options for a new Exec. Rather, he'd been told instead that someone would be provided soon.

But this left the Black Hawk in a command crisis. With no official XO, or even a declared second officer, the ship's command structure was officially in doubt. Joey was not an option, considering that she was both his wife and still recovering from her imprisonment. Doctor Monroe held the rank of Lieutenant Commander, but she was not an option either due to a lack of command experience, and the conflict that would be provided between command and medical.

This left Camila as the only option. Not that she was, by process of elimination, the only option, but if Harvey was pressed to choose someone immediately, Camila would have been the only name that would come to mind. But whether or not she would accept... that was the question.

True to character, Harvey stood next to the viewport that overlooked Gavara IV with a mug of Wilkins in his hand, its steam causing his side of the window to fog ever so slightly. He raised the mug to his mouth, took a sip, and waited for the chime.

Camila approached the Captain's Mess, wondering what Commodore - Harvey - wanted to see her about. Is this about the transfers? Is he about to ask me to take on more? Is he checking on me personally? Is something wrong with ship security? All those questions went through her mind and she decided to keep her tone respectful, if slightly wary.

She reached out to touch the chime, then clasped her hands behind her back and waited to be admitted.

At the sound of the chime, Harvey straightened his posture. He tugged at the bottom of his uniform jacket with his free hand and did a quick check to make sure he hadn't accidentally spilled any coffee. Once he was satisfied, he turned to face the door. "Come."

Camila stepped forward when the doors open and came to a stop once she passed the threshold, her eyes scanning the room and taking in the fact that it was only him and her in there. She came to informal attention again with her arms behind her back and her right hand clasping her left wrist. Her right index finger tapped against her left wrist and felt her pulse, calm and steady.

"You wanted to see me, Commodore." She stated in a neutral tone.

"I did," he replied quickly, offering a warm smile and gesturing to the nearby drink cart. "Chef will be bringing us lunch shortly, so I offer a refreshment for the moment."

Camila looked at him for a moment, taking note of his smile and his eyes as she went to the cart to get a coffee. "What's on the menu, Sir?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"Yolvandan salmon," Harvey remarked, moving towards the table. "Well, I'm told it looks and tastes like salmon. New Risa's lakes are fresher than many of Earth's, and we were given some fish as a thank you from the administrator after our last cargo run. Figured we'd give it a try."

"I heard a joke about salmon once," she said as she headed to the table with him. "A man happened upon a salmon and discovered it could talk. He even told the salmon that we had named a color after it and the salmon asked if it was a beautiful silver blue like it's skin. Upon seeing a picture of the color salmon, the salmon wanted to know...why it was pink."

Harvey blinked for a moment, catching himself as he chuckled at the joke. "Gives the phrase true colors a whole new meaning, doesn't it?"

"It does," Camila said with a chuckle of her own. "We never know the true meaning of things out here, either."

"That certainly is the truth," Harvey remarked as he took a seat at the table. "Especially for all of the times we have tried and failed. Or stumbled. Or stuttered. I have to admit, it's been nice these last few months, not having to worry about invaders from an alternate universe or vicious membranes puppeteering crewmembers."

Camila felt a moment of burning shame at being reminded of the Dolmoqour and her surrendering the crew to it on the alien world, as well as herself and the acts she had committed while under its possession. She gave her head a shake to clear it of the unwanted memories and looked at him. "That's only because we've been in one place licking our wounds for the past few months," she said. It wasn't to be mean but they had had very, very few missions that didn't result in them getting wounded in some way.

A sigh escaped Harvey's airways. He wasn't surprised by her astute characterization of the last few months, and in fact he quite agreed with it. "Indeed. But I have a feeling something is on the horizon."

At that moment, the doors parted, permitting entry to the ship's Bolian chef. "Commodore," he greeted with a smile as he pushed a cart inside. "Commander. Lunch is served." He wheeled the cart over to the table and uncovered both dishes. As he set the first plate in front of Camila, the chef spoke aloud, "It's a shame to hear about Commander Reynolds."

"Thank you," Camila said. She had heard that the ship was in the midst of another personnel turnover and had once tried to escape the Black Hawk herself, so this wasn't unusual news to hear.

"Thank you, Chef," Harvey muttered, not at all thrilled that the Bolian had shared the scuttlebutt that Harvey planned to discuss during this luncheon. As soon as the Bolian left the room, Harvey frowned and looked over to Camila. "Commander Reynolds received his transfer orders this morning, and he'll be departing this afternoon. A replacement has yet to be assigned, and no names have been given to me for selection."

She gave him a sympathetic look and sighed. "So, what's the next step? Do we get scattered to the winds, do we get saddled with an unknown or do we make do?" She knew that promotion from within was preferred, but there was no way she would ever step into the Executive Officer spot.

"We make do in the meantime," Harvey said simply, lifting his fork to start on the alien salmon. "How would you feel about Second Officer?"

The ombre haired woman had just started to spear a piece of salmon when his words hit her like a Klingon stun baton, the fork falling from suddenly nerveless fingers. She raised her brown eyes up at him. certain that she would see Clone Harvey pointing a phaser at her and saying 'Just kidding!' before disintegrating her.

When that didn't happen, she tried and failed to come up with a response; her jaw seemed to work fine, but some strange croaking sound emitted from her mouth for a moment.

Harvey smirked, exercising an ounce of wisdom by not commenting on the fact that he'd caught his Chief of Security off guard. Instead, as soon as he finished a forkful of the tender salmon, he added, "You are, after all, perfectly qualified. You have the right level of compassion and care for the crew, absolutely care about the safety and security of this vessel, and most importantly, you have my ear. Only the great bird knows what daring adventures and personnel are coming our way, and I need a voice that'll keep me centered and focused in matters of command. That is you."

'We've also gone head to head on a number of things," Camila pointed out as she retrieved her fork. "Mostly over the security of this ship. Do you think I won't take that into account if you make me your Second Officer?"

"I'm counting on it, actually." Harvey slid a piece of the exotic fish onto his fork, but did not yet lift it to his mouth. "I don't want someone to validate my thoughts. I need to be held in check, and I need dissenting opinions. Most importantly, I need someone to keep me grounded as we navigate this quadrant."

"Exactly how grounded and how much leeway do I have to tell you that you're wrong in such a situation?" Camila asked as she finally speared a piece of the exotic salmon and ate it.

Harvey tapped a finger on the table as he considered an answer to the question. As he did, he allowed the alien dish to melt in his mouth and attempt to enjoy the flavors. "Honestly, when it's just you and me, or the two of us and the new XO, I would expect your unfettered opinion. In the heat of the moment, we'll have to figure that out as we go."

"I'll keep it respectful if adamant on the bridge, but in your ready room?" She gave a feral smile. "We've already been through that." She speared another piece of fish.

"And I expect you to continue being you," Harvey reassured her. "I'm not offering this position to deter or prevent anything. I crossed the line too many times. I can't do it again."

Camila paused to take a drink of her coffee. "Why, though? I know what you told me before, but this has always been a deep rift between us."

Harvey answered as soon as he was able to swallow his bite. "Are there selfish reasons, yes. I know my ability to command is in question, and I need to remove all question there. But also it's very clear that I've been reluctant to tread with caution out here in this very dangerous quadrant. We've faced the Consortium, a cancer within Starfleet, the Dolmoqour, pirates and clones from another universe. We need to treat this area as a hostile frontier. If this ship is going to survive on anything besides luck, your voice needs to carry more weight than Chief of Security. I know you don't fully trust me, but I trust you absolutely."

"I've been throwing all my weight towards caution this entire time and you have the logs of all my requests for change in Security and policy to verify that," Camila said, but it wasn't bitter. She just stated a fact. "You need to stop treading cautiously out here or it's going to get more people stepped on by bigger boots than we've faced."

"None of that is in question here," Harvey pointed out. "In fact, that's all the more reason why you are a natural and perfect choice for this. I need your honesty, all the brutality of it, if I have any hope of making a course correction. It doesn't mean that I won't resist, but such is the trouble of breaking habits."

"You remember the last time you had a Second Officer," she reminded him.

"One can never forget Commander Bast," Harvey replied with a chuckle. It was true that Harvey hadn't selected a Second Officer since Bast suddenly left the Black Hawk, but that was also done at the time when Harvey had a solid and dependable crew. Since then, the senior staff had been almost totally replaced. All of the newly assigned Chiefs were very capable, yes, but this new crew was untested, untried. Those trials would likely come soon enough. "I would expect you to put your own spin on the position, make it not just useful in our command structure, but a critical piece of it instead."

"He was an asshole and let it go to his head. He nearly compromised the objective of our infiltration of Deep Space 11 because he just had to be in charge. I promise you that I will never do that." It was also the mission where Joey had briefly died and been brought back to life.

Harvey set his fork down and looked across the table. "I should hope not. But I also know that would never be the case. There are many things about you that have been consistent over the years. Your faithfulness and loyalty to the ship and its crew is chief among them."

"That's why I joined Starfleet and that's what I'll continue to uphold, Harvey," Camila said as she met his gaze evenly. "I'll never give up."

The Commodore reached forward to pick up his drink. Before he raised it to his lips, he asked, "So does this mean you'll accept the position?"

She gave him a long moment to think that she might turn it down before she finally nodded. "I do, but don't call on me for it unless you really need me. I'm not a lapdog and I'm not for show. I'm your arm and your shield."

Harvey smirked, taking a sip of his drink. "Believe you me, I'm not interested in either lapdogs or shows." He raised his glass to invite a toast. "To new beginnings."

Camila raised her own mug to tap against his. "To new beginnings." she agreed and hoped it would be so.

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