Date: 20 Apr 2010 20:04 Title: Chapter 42
Dear me, seems Maren's ass is on the line; not to mention Adele having to deal with all the fallout from this mess. Jeez, never an easy day for a captain, is it?
Date: 15 Jan 2010 13:38 Title: Chapter 42
Good thing Adele got some training blocking out her own fears and misgivings or Taran woud have scared herself silly with just how close they came to having a REALLY bad day. Although her own misgivings about the Admiral are disconcerting. I get the distinct feeling that the Admiral might be hiding something -- duh -- perhaps he knew what the Tessie was going to encounter?
As for Eleanor, I almost pity her. She is so out of her league aboard this ship. She just lacks the explorer gene I guess. Overall, I think the ship would be just fine if she were to sleepwalk her way out of an airlock.
Still, that boardroom should reallly just get renamed "The Viper Pit" there are a lot of snakes slithering around Adele's feet in there.
Oh, one other thought, I dont envy the copious amount of paperwork she's gonna have to file on her command staff.
Minor quibble, I don't think officers get "fired," well maybe they do, but it doesn't seem like quite the right word. "Relieved of duty" might work better. I don't know why, but that word choice jarred me a bit.
Author's Response:
We'll see about the Admiral! It's much more fun just not to answer any questions about him.
Yeah, Eleanor is in over her head. The Delta Quadrant sounded like a good idea at the time ...
The Viper Pit ... well, only when the advisory board is in there. She uses it for staff meetings, too. Her crew has som issues, but they're not very viper-like. (Well, at least not that we know of.)
You're probably right about the word "fired." Demoted? Discharged? Depends on what she decides to do, I guess. Maybe I'll edit it here. Too late on TBBS.
Thanks for the great reviews!
[Report This]Date: 13 Jan 2010 10:53 Title: Chapter 42
Another great chapter here, Kes! I hadn't realised how much I had missed the advisory board until I read this. They're all such interesting, intriguing characters, all with their own apparent agendas and yet willing to help Adele in their own ways (apart from Eleanor and the Admiral, obviously!)
I thought Adele handled herself really well in both situations, managing to pull together these disparate groups without losing it despite the stress she must be under. To have all of these secrets flying around must be really difficult (I'm a good one to talk!) and I like how Adele is dealing with all of that.
As for the Admiral - so even a real Betazoid can't read him? That can't be good!
Lovin' it, can't wait for more!
Author's Response:
Thanks, CaptainSarine!
Hey, even Eleanor and the Admiral are helping, sort of. Eleanor's writing a report, and the Admiral dealt with the drones for Adele while she was trying to figure out what happened in engineering. Taran may or may not have an agenda ... the thing that's important to remember about her is that she's Betazoid. Full Betazoid, raised on Betazed, not really Starfleet and not at all human. So her actions and reactions may be different than we're used to, but there's not necessarily anything sinister about that, any more than Lwaxana Troi was a sinister character. Offensive? Pushy? Privacy-invading? Yes, to our sensibilities. But again, she's Betazoid. Not human.
Adele, thanks in part to her own Betazoid bloodlines, is talented with people, particularly humans. She's mostly like them, but her empathic skills tend to give her the upper hand in her interactions. One of the reasons, whether she'd call it like this or not, that the admiral scares her so badly is that she can't effortlessly manipulate him. Not that she's maliciously manipulative, but she does use her heightened awareness to her advantage without really thinking about it, so when she can't ... it's scary. (Oh, and yes, you are one to talk about secrets! This is all child's play for your crew!)
Date: 11 Jan 2010 02:31 Title: Chapter 42
A complex and increasingly dire situation becomes even more problematic as Adele has to go before the advisory board and try to keep them updated with only some of the pertinent facts. Here the mission is barely underway and the captain is already having to withhold information from the advisory board to cover the potentially questionable decision-making of some of her senior staff.
Not a position any commanding officer wants to be in.
And now the revelation that both her XO and Chief Engineer have been keeping important truths about Icheb’s medical condition a secret.
Yeah… headaches like this Adele does not need.
Author's Response:
Adele and the terrible, horrible no-good very bad day! The theme continues. If I were Adele, the temptation to leave Icheb to his fate and toss Maren out an airlock for good measure might be kind of strong right about now. Her head must be pounding, indeed. The problematic pair have their reasons for having kept quiet all this time ... possibly not great reasons, but reasons sufficient to have convinced the EMH to assist them in their secret-keeping. We'll see what Maren has to say for herself in an upcoming chapter. She's got a lot to answer for at the moment, and is likely half-wishing she had never met Icheb. Life would be simpler ... Thanks for the review!
Date: 10 Jan 2010 20:25 Title: Chapter 42
Gosh Taran's invasion of her privacy is a little blatant albeit explaining herself. Still, just like Ms Gentry, it is one way to make Adele be put off and mistrustful. However, I like that Taran picks up on just how fascinating and scary the Admiral is. His humour is dark but still I didn't think he was for knock knock jokes.
Adele rocks as I've said to you already. This is because of the way she aprroaches a combustive situation and handles different people - her staff and the Advisory Board. She is very adept at navigating the potential minefield of the various factions and motivations - from the Admiral to the terrible trio and their little love affair. She handles these things with such poise and a calm demeanour. She is truly impressive holding it together and managing the situation given the large number of unknowns.
Still she is facing in to some tough decisions. How to rescue Icheb and what to make of it all when she meets Malik. However, she has some tough decisions to make closer to home. What is she to make of Maren and Icheb's deceit? What is she to make of Maren's actions in engineering? What is she going to do in terms of the captured Borg drones? Continually impressive and intriguing situations here. Well done.
Author's Response:
I think it must be difficult for full Betazoids in a situation like that -- the usual protocol on Betazed and among Betazoids is to share everything, no such concept as privacy whatsoever, and so for Taran to encounter a partially Betazoid captain who has some of the abilities of a Betazoid, but doesn't use them the same way, might be a bit strange to her. From her perspective, there's no invasion of privacy involved, but she knows others disagree, and the rules are clear. So while she wasn't reading Adele's mind, she couldn't help but be aware of some things. And being honest to a fault herself, she called Adele on it. Keep in mind, Taran is not even a little bit human, while Adele is 3/4.
I'm glad you appreciate Adele's skill with people. It's the main reason she was chosen for the mission, after all.
And yes, she has many decisions to make. We'll see how she does!
Thanks for the review and the suggestions regarding this chapter. I appreciate it!