Black Knights & Sheep

Posted on 07 Aug 2026 @ 12:44am by Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Carter & Lieutenant JG Mako

2,594 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Acceleration
Location: USS Yorktown

There was no use being nervous about anything, Mako told himself. If Starfleet was going to get rid of him, they would have done so already. They wouldn't have sent him light-years, all the way out here to the Yorktown, just to toss him out of the fleet. And he wasn't nervous ahead of his meeting with his new CO. He wasn't.

On the way over from Starbase 119, he'd looked up Lieutenant Commander Carter, and that might have been a mistake. If Carter's Starfleet service record wasn't everything Mako had once dreamed of becoming, then nothing was. The guy was a damn hero. He served during the war right out of the Academy when Mako had just been a little kid, worked his way up through the ranks, now led the 325th itself. Once, Mako would have worshipped the guy, followed him everywhere if he ever turned up on the starbase he grew up on, made a nuisance of himself with all his questions until he was driven off. Now, he was about to meet the guy at the tail-end of a bunch of bad decisions that wound up getting him placed on Carter's crew.

So, as he fidgeted in his seat in the Yorktown's pilot briefing room, Mako tried not to let his concern show, told himself he was just tired, whoever he was Carter, put his flight suit on one leg at a time like everyone else. He was going to butt heads with Carter for sure, and he definitely was not nervous.

John looked at the Orion officer who sat before him and at the personnel file in front of him. It seemed like the Black Knights continuously got the rejects of the rest of the fleet, courtesy of the Black Hawk's reputation. He stared at the officer and sighed. "Give me your best," he said finally.

Caught off guard, he wasn't prepared for that. He rubbed the back of his neck, buying himself a second or two before answering. Pride forced him to his feet rather than protocol; he'd rather face whatever came next standing.

"I know what it says in my file, sir" the short young man rolled back his shoulders, lifted his head. He practically bit off every word. "It's probably all true too. I screw up. I mouth off. Made some questionable decisions recently." Mako didn't say 'wrong decisions', no, and he didn't sound contrite as he spoke either. "But I'm good at what I do, sir. I don't quit on my team no matter how crazy the sky gets. I don't lie. I'm a damn good pilot. You give me a job to do and I'll get it done."

'Is that so?" John asked as he looked at the man like he was a fish that vowed to save the universe. "I didn't ask all that. I said give me your best. Can you do that?"

Again, he hesitated. He'd come in here on the defensive, ready to argue his case all over again like had been week after week since the incident. Mako was so sick and tired of having the same fight that he'd come in here expecting it. "I..." Four words had disarmed him. It was easy to see the mood shift in his eyes: angry and defiant, to confused, to understanding and maybe even a little bit of hope. Was Carter throwing him a lifeline?

"Yes sir, I can," he said and forced himself to shut his mouth hard enough his teeth clicked. Better that than let something stupid slip out.

"That is what I ask for," John said. "I've read your record. I don't have to like what I see. What I want to see is an improvement in the officer I see before me. Can you show me that?"

"I can't promise I won't piss you off from time to time," Mako said, and let a bit of a smile crack through for a second. Well, there was only so far he could hold himself back. Both the attitude and what he said next was him trying to be honest, "But I do want to do better, sir. Not sure how to get there some days."

"If you didn't do that, you wouldn't be a pilot," John said. "Why did you want to be a pilot and I don't want to hear any of that best of the best shit. We all wanted that."

Whatever smile Mako had managed slid off his face and his body language went defensive again. The kind of covering where he really didn't want to answer, and didn't want to prove his claim that he doesn't lie as wrong in the process. "What's it matter? I figured out what I'm good at and that's what I'll do. Sir."

"It matters because I asked you and I want an answer," John said as he walked closer to the fighter pilot. "If you can't give me an answer, then I can't trust you to respond immediately in combat. That makes you a liability."

The Orion flushed a deeper shade of green, embarrassed, and that just made him angry. "It's stupid," he said, not wanting to say it. He ground his teeth, sighed, and his shoulders slumped. It didn't seem like Carter was going to back down though. "I was a kid when the Dominion invaded," he muttered.

Mako stared back, as if daring the man to laugh at him as he answered unhappily, "I used to follow all the fighter pilots whenever they came through the station. I'd listen to their stories, bug them until they would talk to me. They were heroes. And so many of them never came back. I wanted to help."

"That is what I wanted to hear," John said as he relaxed just a fraction. "Heroes are people to look up to, but most of them...well, they don't get labeled a hero until it's too late. Wanting to help, though. It means you want to be part of something bigger. You want to be someone bigger. You might not ever be hero in the ways that you want, Lieutenant Mako, but you are a hero to me here and now."

If Carter had thrown him for a loop a minute ago, now he had Mako's shields down entirely. He broke eye contact for the first time as he had to look down at his boots, his jaw relaxed, and his mouth opened and closed a few times but no sound came out. He'd come in here with all these expectations, ready for a fight. He shifted on his feet, trying to figure out what to say.

"I'm not here to judge you on what you've done," John said. "I'm here to judge you on what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. Are you going to be an excuse, or are you going to be a leading example?"

The younger pilot raised his head again, dark green eyes glinting with not anger exactly. Passion, maybe. His shoulders lifted as he pushed to his full height, not much, of course, straightened his back, and stood at attention. "No excuses, sir." He said it quietly, but fiercely, still full of the same fire that had gotten him into trouble before, mixed with the need to seize this chance. To seize it, hang on to it tighter than anything else. "I'll prove it."

"One thing at a time," John advised him. "I know you see the horizon and your goal is to get to it as quickly as possible, but you have to know what's between this point and that point and how to navigate it. What is on your horizon and what is in your way now?"

Mako opened his mouth to deliver some kind of smart answer, a quick quip. It was easy to see it in his expression, but he stopped himself. Make a joke, relieve some of this focus and strain he was under, play it all off like he wasn't bothered about what had happened and what lay ahead.

He looked down for a moment, thinking. "The horizon?" he repeated quietly. "I want to be the pilot I thought I was supposed to be." He looked back at Carter. There was no way in Hell he was going to say 'a pilot like you', no matter how glowing that personnel file had been. "But what's in the way..." He exhaled through his nose. "Me, probably."

John took note of the young man's expressions and respected him holding back on whatever he obviously wanted to say. He understood; he was a fighter pilot, too. He gave a faint smile. "I can't promise that you'll be that pilot, but let's get you out of the way. What is the first maneuver you need to take to get by, around, or through you?"

Mako frowned, staring at the deck for a moment. It was easier when there was an enemy in front of him, something he could chase down, something he could outfly, someone he could punch in the mouth. This was harder. How was he supposed to fight himself?

"Slow down," he said finally.

He looked back up at Carter, almost surprised by his own answer. "I need to slow down. I see something wrong, I want to fix it before anyone else has to. I get ahead of everyone else and..." He shrugged, jaw tightening. "Sometimes I'm right about the problem. Doesn't mean I'm right about how I handle it."

"You're part of the squadron, not the squadron," John said simply. "You can be the part that breaks down in the chain or the part that lubricates it. If you think you can help, pass it up the chain. If you caused it, report it immediately. The important thing is that you are a part of it. Keep that in mind."

"You won't have trouble from me on that, sir," Mako said with a solid nod. He had always been a team player, just his team captain had gotten him and the whole squadron into a hot mess. If anything, he was too loyal, too ready to fall in line with his leader's wishes, even if someone above them said otherwise. "I'll try. Sometimes I just get so... I dunno, heated. I didn't sign up for Starfleet to shoot down kids, sir. Never want to face that kind of order again."

"Have you talked about it to a counselor, Lieutenant?" John asked. He wasn't judging the man, but he knew a thing or two about holding things in.

Mako scoffed. "I've had enough people telling me what I did wrong, sir. I just want to do the job. Didn't use to be so complicated."

"I didn't ask if you had people telling you what you did wrong," John said kindly. "I asked if you had time to talk about it with someone?"

"I..." Needed to slow down, like he'd just told his new CO, slow down and stop being so defensive with the man. Not that Mako would admit it, but Carter intimidated him, and given the rest of what he'd been through in recent weeks, the younger man was on edge. He took a breath. Shouted at himself inside his own head to cool it, not to blow this second chance by being flippant.

"No, sir, not really about there being time. After the incident, there was the debriefing and inquiry. I'd been restricted to my quarters while they sorted out what to do with the squadron. Mostly I just sat around and waited till they made up their minds what to do with me, which was ship me off to here."

"I think it might help when you feel like you can talk about it," John said. "It does help. We've all been through things that we didn't have control over or wanted to be a part of in some way. Taking the time to process it afterwards is what's important and that usually involves talking your way through it."

Mako did his best to smile. At least, he barred his teeth in what he hoped would be taken for a grin. "I'll think about it, sir." There, thought about it, and no thanks, he thought to himself. He was probably fooling no one, and probably needed a counseling session or twelve for that and more.

He did offer just a little bit of vulnerability by adding, "I really am grateful for this chance to start over, sir. I like the work we do. You're not going to ever get a complaint out of me about it. Flying for Starfleet, it means everything to me, so I'm going to not screw this up if I can help it."

"I'm not the one giving it to you, Lieutenant," John said. "Starfleet isn't, either. You are. Only you can screw it up. If you think you deserve this chance, only you can take it."

That made Mako shut up. The young man grew thoughtful. Was that really how things were? Commander Grant was serving time for what he'd lead Mako and the others into. He knew he was lucky as hell to not have been demoted, or even thrown out of the service. There was a blemish -- no a wound -- on Mako's record now, raw and fresh. Seeing his way through to some kind of return to honor and feeling like he belonged was hard these days. Why had Starfleet not come down harder on him? He was under no illusions, it wasn't to do with his skill. There were hundreds of pilots better than him in the fleet.

So why did he stand here today, still with the same pips and a chance to try again?

He absently fiddled with an earring, as he tried to work his way through all this. Life was so much easier to understand when there was a mission to do, orders to follow, a clear path to fly. So much introspection was new to him.

"I'll... think about it, sir." Mako lowered his hand to his side. "Talking to someone." He repeated it but this time it wasn't some knee-jerk response, maybe some of what Carter was saying to him was sinking in. That was about as much as he could offer right now and still talk truth.

"Do you have questions for me?" John asked after he saw that he was getting through to the young man.

"Yeah, just, where do you want me I guess? Sir, I mean." Mako was thinking of drills or simulations, or even duty rotations. "I'm ready to get to work." Ready to get things behind him and look forward.

"I'll have your assignment when we get ours," John told him. "For now, be ready and familiarize yourself with everything."

"Aye, sir, I'll be ready," that had a bit more snap to it than he'd started with. Mako was still defensive, still confused, still too ready to bite and bark back. One conversation would not fix everything. But for now he also began to have some hope, a feeling that had been in short supply.

"If there's nothing else, you are now a member of the Black Knights and dismissed," John said.

"Thank you, Commander," Mako hesitated a moment, mouth partly open as if he were about to say more. Then he shook his head slightly, turned, and walked out to go find the mess.

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