Reprimand

Posted on Sat Sep 26th, 2020 @ 1:16am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Lieutenant Commander Rain Lexington

Mission: Welcome Aboard!
Location: Ready Room

Captain Kaylen Rhenora sat staring at the computer terminal for what seemed like forever. She'd be debating with herself and the Starfleet rulebook over what to do with her first officers misconduct during he recent Orion incursion. The rules were clear, but that didn't make them easy to dish out. No matter what the reason, there was a clear dereliction of duty at a time of crisis. Time portals and spouses aside, Lexington hadn't been there when the Liberty had needed her.

"Commander Lexington, please report to my Ready Room" she paged the first officer, sucked in a breath and waited, dreading the moments to come.

Rain tapped her comm badge “on my way ma’am.” Rain could sense the unease from the Captain and knew what they were going to talk about wasn’t going to be a good conversation. Getting up from her chair she smoothed her uniform and walked into the ready room.

"Commander, I think we need to have a conversation" the Captain started, the look on her face as neutral as she could make it. Rain was a long term friend of hers and it sucked on a number of levels what she had to do.

The Betazoid put her hands behind her back going into an at ease position and nodded “Yes ma’am” she said formally. She knew what was coming.

" I'm sorry Rain, as much as I don't want to do this, I can't not do it either." The big girl pants were on and she was determined not to her voice or her hands shake.

Rain went into an attention stance and kept her gaze on the Captain’s face. She knew this wasn’t easy for her friend and she was trying not to feel bitter, however the hot tempered Betazoid did feel a pang of disappointment and anger sweep across her body. The usually chatty Betazoid kept silent and waited to hear the words she knew would be coming out of Rhenora’s mouth next.

"Commander Lexington, Starfleet has a set of regulations. Regulations that you apparently seek to disregard when it suits you or when your wife wants something. I hereby reduce your rank to Leuiteant Commander and reassign your duties to that of the ships Second Officer." She met Rains eyes and hoped that her own conveyed just how hard this was for her to do.

The warrior inside of her ragged but on the outside she was unusually calm. She had come to find much peace with her emotions and was able to control her anger a lot better than she used to. She was surprised however when she felt the sting of tears fill her eyes. The Betazoid still remained silent as she tried to process this conversation in a constructive way.

" Look at it this way Rain. Less responsibility, less time required, hey less reports even. You can spend more time with your wife, which I know is imortant for you" Rhenora tried to soften the blow somewhat. "I'm so sorry Rain" the last words were whispered.
“I’m sorry I let you down Captain. It was not my intention to let you and the crew down. I truly am s...sorry,” Rain told her long time friend. The Betazoid’s eyes were watery with tears but she did not let one fall.

“Is there anything else Captain” The Betazoid warrior kept her composure even though she wanted to break something.

"No, you're dismissed" Rhenora said quietly, knowing that in fairly short order things were going to be flying in the Lexington quarters. As her friend left the Bajoran sank back into he chair, defeated and deflated. Sometimes being the boss sucked big time.