Uncomfortable Situations

Posted on Sun Feb 22nd, 2026 @ 1:27am by Captain William Abernathy & Lieutenant Commander Sabastian Walker

2,479 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Forgotten Wounds

ON:


~ Main Engineering ~

Sabastian laughed a little. "Captain Rogers you are persistent."

"Well that's only because I'm trying to lure you to the dark side."

Sabastian shook his head. "Well sir, we're leaving soon you better skedaddle."

Bill Abernathy walked into main engineering and overheard the chatter. "He's right. We are leaving soon, and to what do I owe the honor of your presence aboard my starship, Captain.... Rogers?" Bill did not mind visitors. Preferably though, not ones trying to take members if his crew from him. "My First Officer has spoken fondly of you."

Rogers snorted. "Well I heard he's your Chief Engineer. Thought he was off the XO beat....So I thought I would entice him with an XO position on my ship." He held out a hand. "Eldor Rogers, nice to meet you Captain."

"Bill Abernathy," replied the Arcadia's Captain reaching out and shaking hands with Rogers firmly. "A pleasure meeting you, but I would prefer you don't believe everything you hear second hand. Sabastian has I'm afraid cried wolf."

Sabastian sighed. "Rogers not the time." He stepped up. "He's never been on a constitution class this was a tour." He shook his head. "As for the offer I promised you I would think about it."

"Please, take in the glorious sights of a Constitution class starship. They are the best the fleet has after all."

He waved a hand. "She's a great ship. I still aim at stealing your Chief Engineer."

"You can try," replied Bill. He let the rest be unspoken.

Sabastian sighed and did something he rarely did. He squeezed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Rogers! Enough. You made the offer I said I'd think about it. Until then I am a part of this crew. I may not be XO but I am Chief Engineer and this bay is a leave my Captain alone and stop poking him zone."

Rogers held up his hand. "I got it. I got it. Sheesh. You're a grump today but I still love ya! Also I heard Captain Baciami wanted you on his ship and Starbase two wanted you back so I wanted to make sure I got in on this and was top of your list."

"Alright. Out. Off the ship and out of the bay Rogers. We're leaving soon and I have upgrades to review and a few to take off line."

Rogers sighed. "So be it." He gave Sabastian a shoulder squeeze and then turned to Abernathy. "No offense was meant. I just know what my ship needs and frankly it's not personal sir. I just want a good first officer. My ship needs him."

"So does mine" Bill said crossing his arms. "Which is why he is here and why I will convince him to stay, but the decision is Lieutenant Commander Walker's to make, not ours."

Rogers shrugged. "See you around then." He turned to Abernathy and extended his hand. "It was good to meet you Captain."

"You as well, Captain. Which ship is yours? Ill be sure to review your manifest so that I may poach one of your crew sometime" replied Bill playfully.

Rogers walked away and Sabastian shook his head. "Sorry Captain. Eldor Rogers is a... persistent man."

"I can see that," commented Bill. "Not very considerate either. Coming aboard my starship and trying to sales pitch you away from me like that. I do not like that."

"You'd have pity if you knew his XO...former XO." Sabastian winced. "He's a good man though, Rogers not his previous XO." Before he could say something a familiar voice rang out.

"OHHHH COMMMANNNNDDDERRRR."

Sabastian winced. "I need to install a trap door."

"There's always an airlock nearby" said Abernathy, already familiar with the voice that had triggered Sabastian's comment.

Poe, the Science Officer, all but skipped over. "Captain! How are you settling in?"

Bill gave Poe a nod. "Settling in fine, Lieutenant. Commander Walker and I need to discuss some ship matters."

Sabastian turned away desperate for an escape route.

"Of course. I just have to book an appointment to get the science lab..."

Lieutenant Tim Haggle was waking by at that exact moment and Sabastian turned grabbing the man's arm. He shoved the Lieutenant at Poe. "Haggle will help you!"

Tim raised an eyebrow eyeing his chief. He looked to Poe and whispered. "Purple eyes." Poe didn't hear but he was close enough to Bill for the CO to hear.

"Hey!" Haggle said grabbing Poe's arm. "Come along I'll help any way I can. Let's go, go, go."

When the two were far enough away Sabastian let out a breath of relief his hands shaking. Those damned eyes would be the death of him, the vibrant enthusiasm, the...there were so many things that reminded him of Zai, if anyone would be the death of him it was Poe. Sabastian slumped against he wall.

"I'm not sure if you've seen a ghost or just something that has mesmerized you, Walker," commented Abernathy. He was not empathic or anything of the sort, but command had made him very observant of behavioral shifts, especially sudden ones. "The holodeck. New technology. I have done some reading on it. It sounds like a massive power drain on the starship. I think we should be careful on its use perhaps limiting it? Rationing time among the crew?"

"The ghost description is apt...He has my husband's eyes. It's ... uncanny." He sighed got hold of himself. "Yes. The holodeck yes. I think it's key for tactical training for now any target practice but not much else unless we want to drain the ship."

"Lieutenant Alexander is going to be hosting a small get together for some of the crew, senior officers mostly. The venue will likely be the Holodeck. If you wouldn't mind ensuring we have a little extra power getting routed to the holodeck for a few hours. I'd hate to have our little soiree interrupted by a black out."

He sighed. "Very well. I'll make it happen."

"Good, and I expect you to show your face. You are a real delight if the lower decks boards are to be believed."

"Frankly I do not feel like it. I'm man enough to admit I'm still a tad pissed of at both you and the counselor, but I am a department head and some of my new Engineers will be there so I will show up briefly to ensure they meet me and the other engineering team. We're a tight group and we wish to bring any new engineers into the fold. So, I will stop there briefly."

"It was in your best interest and the crew," Bill replied. "You can be as pissed with me as you want, but leave Counselor Alexander out of it. She has some oversight on medical matters, but ultimately, you all answer to me. Frankly, I am glad that you are pissed."

"It's not the decision it's that you did this behind my back. Frankly I'm a straight shooter so I'll tell you to your face rather then going behind your back like you and Alexander did. You should have dragged me in front of you and told me and let me speak. You walked onto this ship without knowing the crew and ship and you did what you wanted not what's best for the crew or me. Had you sat down with me with Alexander and laid out why and what you were going to do I may have understood and had no problem with the decision hell I know how I would have reacted you did it behind my back. Without a conversation and hell yes I hold her responsible. You made a choice what was in my best interest. It's the old guilty until proven innocent dictatorial rule I get that. Frankly I studied your record and I expected better. I get you lost your son I'm sorry you went through that but we are not all cut from the same cloth nor are we requiring the same bloody treatment. We're not even the same species and all that should have been taken into consideration. How would you feel if you were accused of what amounts to incompetence and demoted and made to look as emotionally unstable in front of the crew. I told you and Alexander I would file a complaint against this decision. I gave you both the courtesy you denied me and told you to your faces and the reason why. I may not have agreed with you demoting me but had you done it the right away I would have a shred of trust and respect for both of you."

"Damn it, Sabastian!" Abernathy fired back. "It's not like I strutted aboard this starship blindly and terminated you. I reallocate your duty time towards Engineering where I need you most. I am giving you the ability to use time to focus on yourself. You've studied my personnel file, fantastic. I am glad. I conversed with Commander Kerrigan. He cautioned me about what you had gone through, and warned me you would be... tough to swallow, but his personal opinions of you be damned. You're a fine officer if you remove that head of yours from your ass. We didn't do what we did because we think we know better than you. I can't speak for Lanna. I only speak for myself in that I genuinely care about your well being."

"Then you should have come to see me, explained that to me and let me have my say. You are ultimately the Captain and the decision would have been yours but you didn't even give me a damned chance. You did in fact strut onto the ship and said fuck it let me make this decision without talking to him cause his thoughts and feelings on the subject aren't important. You strolled on board and put me 'in my place' as it were not knowing the dynamics of the ship or the strength of the rumor mill and you knocked me down as nothing more then a piece of garbage. You know how it looked to the crew, most of what I've learned from being the XO and back channels and gossip mills? It looked like you came aboard put the XO in his place without even bothering to meet with him and made it appear as if you are king and nothing else matters. For a man who loves the rules, and I frankly admired that from your record, you sure as hell tossed the book out on that one. Do you know how hard I had to fight to get the crew to trust me and how hard I had to fight to get engineering up and running and functioning like a family unit. How long and hard I had to work to gain peoples trust here where they had felt suppressed and beaten down? I did it by talking to them listening to them explaining things to them. Now you come and effectively cut me down as if my voice didn't matter and on top of that I find out my husband was undermining me where and almost ruined the atmosphere and I'm fixing that and frankly coming to terms with both you Lanna's actions and for the record the reason Kelly and I didn't get along was because he was too green to be captain and too outside the book on some things. I as fuckin' thrilled when I read your record that you'd be taking over. Now? Not so much. I told this to Lanna earlier today when she was here so let me tell you. I would give my fucking life for this crew and you and her included in a heartbeat. I trust those around me to have my back. I trusted you before you came aboard because of your record and was looking forward to meeting you and talking with you and felt I may have a captain whom I could trust and your first fucking words to me are go to your engineering hobbit hole cause it's for your benefit. You and Lanna broke my trust and while I will always have both your backs I don't trust you won't stab me in mine so great first impression Sir."

He took a breath. Oddly he said a mouthful but felt like he'd had barley breath. "Here's a teachable moment Captain for next time. Hi I'm Captain Abernathy. It's great to meet you. You'll be my XO and I look forward to getting to know you. Now, son, I hear you had a loss. I know this will be a bit of a let down and we don't know one another but as having been through the whole grief thing I know I needed time. I want you to take a step back for a bit focus on yourself and engineering until we get to know one another. I know you think you can handle things but grief has a way of sucker punching you and let's use this time to get to know one another. The counselor and I feel like you need to step down for a bit. What are your thoughts." He paused. "There you go try that next time instead of, 'Hey I'm the new captain you're going to just work on engineering cause we feel like you need time. Not interested in your thoughts and opinions off you go until we think your okay enough to get back to full duties. No no don't say anything we don't care just do what you're told we know best.' You see the difference the subtext?

"The holodeck," replied Bill. "Make sure we have enough power to keep it running for the Counselor's party, and then next time you're in Engineering, find a sonic spanner wrench and recalibrate your attitude the next time you see me, Lieutenant Commander Walker. If you're concerned about me not having you're back today, that's fine. Eventually, you will either spend enough time here to learn how very wrong you are, or hopefully, you come to find that trust in your new Commanding Officer wherever you end up" quipped Abernathy.

He gave his uniform a quick tug and let out a small sigh of exhaustion. If I were still a young ill-tempered Ensign, I'd knock you right on your ass where you stand. Fortunately, for us both, I'm not thought Bill Abernathy as he turned and disengaged from the situation entirely.

And he walks away again. Like he doesn't care. Sabastian turned and stalked off. Fudge all this, he had a mission and engineering to run for now. The Captain obviously didn't give a fig why should he. Yet again he proved he didn't care what Sabastian thought.

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