Surprise
Posted on Fri May 29th, 2026 @ 1:21am by Lieutenant Cadence Tyree & Captain Elijah Rutherford
2,255 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
A Day In The Life
Location: Rutherford's Ready room
Timeline: After the away team returns
START
A deep seated sigh came from Elijah, wonderng if there was a secret revolving door of people leaving, then new ones do come along. The latest departure was the chief counselor who had been on the Majestic. Tapping on his combadge he called for Lieutenant Cadence Tyree.
"Lieutenant Tyree please come to my Ready Room." Elijah closing the communication.
Cade froze as his communicator chirped and he said, "Aye aye, Captain. On my way."
Then he mentally counted to fifty and dropped down from the Still Rings he'd been using for exercise in the Orcrist's exercise room. Sighing, he wondered what the Captain would want him to do this time. Maybe acid etching glass by hand or bull fighting.
After wiping down the mats and clearing the apparatus, Cade walked toward the fresher and locker room.
Cleaning up only took a handful of minutes and Cade, now in one of his tailored uniforms, made his way toward the Ready Room. He activated the annunciator and waited, feeling like a truant schoolboy for some reason.
"Enter" Elijah called out, and when the door opened to reveal Cade he motioned towards the chair in front of the desk. "Please, have a seat."
There was a sense of perplexity from the Captain, as he watched Cade come in. Wondering just how the counselor was going to react to what he had to tell him.
Having stepped into the lion's den, Cade slipped into the proffered chair, warily glancing around the office. There didn't look like there were any traps...which meant there likely was SOMETHING lurking about.
Cade felt the uncertainty radiating from Elijah. The counselor doubted there was much a starship captain would be uncertain about, save for the officer in front of him and Cade kept himself from sighing.
There almost certainly was a trap.
"Would you like something to drink?" Elijah wanting to take the edge off of the situation here. "Tea perhaps?" the captain wanting some tea. just to bring himself to a more even keel.
He rose from his chair to get some tea.
"Tea would be nice. Thank you, Captain," Cade said automatically, this was clearly one of those times that someone needed to work themselves up to things and Cade had all day.
"What sort?" Elijahspoke, while he got himself some green tea.
"Long Island. Iced." Cade said under his breath, then said, "Oh. A glass of ice tea would be perfect if it's not too much trouble, sir."
When Cade gave him his request, Elijah brought it to him then went to sit down.
The warmth of the cup was comforting, it spreading to the cold hands of the Captain.
He drew in a breath, readying himself to speak once more, he was worried that he'd jinx things. After all it seemed that counselors didn't seem to last long on the ship. Though-this was a new ship. Perhaps Tyree will stay.
"I've got some news. Don't know if it could be thought as good news or bad news for you?" another sip of his tea then he dropped the news. "The Chief Counselor, sent in her resignation. This means this ship needs a new Chief Counselor. "
Elijah stopped there, to let the words sink in, while he drank more of his tea.
"Yessir," Cade said. "I never really met her but these things happen in the fleet. I'd be more than willing to fill in until you make the long careful selection such a decision requires. No sir. You sure don't want just any yahoo in such an important job." Cade let his vocabulary get folksy as he attempted to keep his features bland.
Cade didn't need to be a telepath to see where this was going.
Over the rim of his cup, Elijah gazed at Cade for a long moment, his right eyebrow slowly raising.
Lowering his cup, Elijah said rather blandly. "Well I am not wanting any yahoo as head of the department. I want you to be Chief Counselor. Will you accept the position?"
"I sort of got the idea from the cooking lesson that you thought I was a yahoo, Captain. With all due respect," Cade replied. "And I'm very new to your ship. It's likely Bu'Pers has a more senior officer they could assign."
Cade wasn't sure about the Captain's motivations here and the Betezoid was careful not to accidentally read Elijah. Even the surface emotions.
At least not yet.
Elijah almost choked on his tea coughing as a little bit of liquid went down the wrong way. "Wait a minute, you think I thought you were just a yahoo?
And I am rather regretful as to what happened. I had no idea that you didn't know how to cook. You seemed to be someone who was knowlegeable in the art of cooking."
He gave out a little bit of a rueful sigh. "I owe you a huge apology, I didn't ask if you knew how to cook. And then I got ticked off, not at you, it was more at myself due to you getting injured because of my negligence."
"Sir," Cade said, "I refined the art of take-out at an early age and while I understand the joy in the mystique that cooking has, I just haven't saw the need to cook."
Cade unwound his mind slightly and said, "I am flattered to be offered the post. But wouldn't a more senior officer be better...offer more to the crew?"
"You have already made connections with a few of the crew, and my wife likes you which is impoertant. I need someone who can connect with the crew, and it seems from the reports that I have already received, they like you." Elijah stated firmly.
"Most do, though that's neither here nor there, though it does remind me I have some laundry I need to return," Cade remarked as he studied his CO. "There was some discussion of me also pulling duty to help out the CMO. Is that off the table? I wouldn't mind but there's only so much time the day, though there are advantages of course."
"You will have those to delegate things, this way you can actually go help out if you wish, just see if you can work with Lily, I mean Lieutenant Marlow. Besides, my wife let me know in no uncertain terms not to run you off." Elijah stopped there realizing that he let something slip out about Jasmine.
Smiling wryly, Cade said "I'll keep the shifts in med bay then. And we probably shouldn't get you in trouble. I'm sure I'll be able to work with Lieutenant Marlow."
"I am glad to hear this, and it seems that you have accepted the position of Chief Counselor. Thank you." Elijah moving on forward, "Or, am I rushing headlong into an assumption?"
Elijah didn't quite know why he was acting like this where Cade was concerned, then he figured it was more about, having had indirectly hurt the counselor.
"In for a penny, pound or ducat, as they say, Captain." Cade said, his mind shifting a gear as he thought about things. Smiling, he commented, "I have to say I didn't anticipate a Department Head position quite this soon. I am rather lazy when things boil down."
"It always seems that when one doesn't look for a position, it seems to come a person's way. I wasn't looking fora position as Captain of the USS Majestic, which happened and adopting the ship from her former Commander, a friend of mine. Now though here I am with a new ship and new crew. With some of the original crew. Boggles the mind." Elijah leaned back in his chair, having a musing smile. "i wasn't someone who sought rank or position." he shrugged.
Musing, Cade decided to push. "The Fleet doesn't make just anyone a ship's Captain, sir," the counselor chided gently. "Don't be too modest. Some may not take a Fleet Captain seriously if they push that modesty cart ahead of them and it doesn't suit." Smiling slightly, he asked, "If I were to ask your wife why you're a ship's Captain, what might she say?"
Cade's question, caused Elijah to smile.
"You know, she did ask me that. And the answer was that I had been quite the driven man.Always my nose to the book grindstone. Not exercising balance. And not wanting to be one of those rather self important persons. The rank of Captain came due to my perseverance, and for that matter, having others pushing me towards greatness."
"Two of my CO's from my past had chided me as to not living up to my full potential. They saw things in me that I well, didn't want to recognize in myself. Honestly I did work hard to be where I am today. I didn't do it alone though. Not one whit. Can I truly say that I did it all alone? That I did it my way?" Elijah giving a chuckle.
"Captain, my Captain," Cade said with a smile. "Are you about to break out into show tunes?"
Elijah's eyes crinkled up with his smile. "I'm not as good as a crooner like old blue eyes, nor as good a singer as you, Cade. My kids don't mind my singing to them and that is about all the performing I do, in the aspect of singing. Private audience."
"Ahh, but a crew karaoke night might be good for everyone," Cade said thoughtfully. "Show that human side on occasion. I would imagine your wife and children would be delighted."
In a teasing manner "Oh I don't know about that, do you think that would be wise for that to happen, showing my human side? It might bring about chaos, and send the crew in a ship wide panic." Elijah trying to hold a straight face.
"Not if you ease them into the idea, Captain," Cade responded with a smile. "Command authority and the distance of command is a real thing and you can't get all chummy with the crew. That's true. But you also don't want to scare them the other way as well. I've read stories about tyro's who took Captain being way too far."
" I don't intend on being a Commander Philip Francis Queeg, or even Bligh. " Elijah commented. "Either way I'll see about a balance."
He looked at Cade. "And I think with you being the Chief Counselor, you'll see to that. "One way or other."
"Always good to keep them off balance too, as the sage said, Never give a sucker an even break Cade recited. "Speaking of, any place you think I should start as Chief?"
Elijah chuckled, as Cade brought up WC Fields. "Well, I think that the toughest one that you may need to start off with, is Lily Marlow. Even Jasmine is unable to get her to sit still enough to even talk about what is bothering her. From what Jasmine has confided in me, Lily has been rather good at deflecting any questions or comments where she is personally concerned. She puts up a wall, rather quickly."
Elijah leaned back in his chair, scratching his jaw. "There is another person for you to get to know and that is Lieutenant Orin Sempton, our archeologist. He's a little bit awkward, but a good man."
Cade felt his eyebrow shoot up and his lips twisted slightly in thought. "Right. So buttonhole Lieutenant Marlow and assess Sempton. I can do that. And how about you and I have breakfast once a week so I can maintain both your medical and psychological as an ongoing record rather than periodical. That means you won't have to visit, nor sneak away, from medical more than is absolutely required."
Elijah chuckled remembeiring when he and Cade first met. "Uh yes, that would be a good idea. Keeping the old man healthy eh?" his smile widening to a grin.
"I think medical traditions within the Fleet and Medical goes a little far. Crew are pretty much always being monitored by the computer. Anytime we used the transporters or enter a high security area like the bridge, scans are conducted and smallest details are recorded. Real time monitoring can be done at almost any point, with or without the crew person's combadge being present. Doctor's don't really need to drag people into medical to keep an eye on them."
Smiling slightly, Cade continued "Same with counseling. I'm of a mind, though it's more a small minority within the Fleet Medical, that we should be making the rounds to speak with everyone in a non-threatening environment. People will always want to come in for a chat, but I think doctors need to get out among the crew to be proactive."
"This is true and the Current CMO, is going out there and getting to know others. More than what the others had done." Elijah responded.
"Good to know," Cade said, satisfied. Glancing at his chrono, he said, "You're likely busy and I should go see about...well all sorts of things, unless you have something else for me Captain?"
A chuckle from Elijah, "Yes, as it seems that we both are becoming busier." her looked at his PADD which beeped, and he frowned slightly. "An admiral was arrested. Interesting." he looked at Cade "I am being asked to attend a meeting."
END
A joint post by:
Captain Elijah Rutherford
CO
USS Orcrist
Lieutenant Cade Tyree
Chief Counselor
USS Orcrist
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