The Broken Captain

Posted on Sun Oct 5th, 2025 @ 4:42am by Captain Patricia Cooke & Lieutenant Alice Penrose

1,643 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Ghost Starship

ON:

The battle was over; the day had been saved, but for Patricia... At what cost?

Now that Patricia had an opportunity to look back on the sheer number of senior staff she had burned through trying to stop I-400, the numbers were dizzying. It was if her entire manifest consisted only of revolving doors. Every new action she had taken against I-400, she had a new engineer, or a new doctor.

And even now, the revolving doors continued to spin.

While she was waiting on her latest counselor to report in, on her desk lay a stack of PADDs containing more transfer orders for more of her senior staff. She couldn't even believe that even after the threat was stopped that people were still finding their excuses to jump ship on her and the Missouri.

Eventually, Patricia's frustrations boiled over, and she shoved the stack of PADDs off the desk, the devices clattering to the floor as the young captain yelled "God damnit!"

Patricia was sure the ruckus she was causing could be heard through the ready room doors, and she just hoped that her screaming wouldn't scare off more of her crew...

A perfectly timed chime sounded in the room.

Patricia let out an aggravated sigh.

"Come in:" She called out in an equally aggravated tone.

Alice Penrose moved cautiously into the room, having heard the commotion from outside. Her features held their usual calm though, showing no judgement either way. Instead, she took the scene in with a steady gaze before moving to kneel, collecting up the PADDs methodically. "Well, that's certainly one way to deal with paperwork," she commented casually to lighten the atmosphere, looking to the Captain with gentle green eyes. "Lieutenant Alice Penrose, Chief Counsellor, reporting for duty, Captain."

"Great." Patricia grumbled, her tone evident that she had done this too many times in a short span of time. "So, how long do I have you for, Lieutenant? A couple days? Couple weeks? Maybe a month?"

"As long as you'll have me, I hope," Alice replied softly as she stood, offering the PADDs across calmly with a ghost of a smile. So that was what was bothering her, movement of staff. She could imagine how disturbing that would be with so much going on and with so much at stake.

"Well, if that's not a fairy tale I've heard a dozen times already..." Patricia grumbled. "Pick those PADDs up, and you'll see what I'm talking about. They're just the latest in a never-ending senior staff catastrophe. I'm starting to think we're nothing more than a floating hotel: Officers check in, stay for a week or two, maybe a month if I'm lucky, and then check out like the ship is some sort of resort hotel on Risa."

Alice looked to the PADDs she'd collected, going through them to glance at the material. "Are they being reassigned? Or requesting reassignment?" she asked quietly even as she read to try and find the answer. It might seem an irrelevant distinction, but it was an important one.

"Both, really:" Patricia muttered. "It's been a healthy mix of Starfleet rotating senior staff out from under me and those that aren't rotated by Starfleet looking for reasons to jump ship."

"Or it's an unfortunate coincidence," Alice offered, setting the PADDs carefully on the desk for her before taking a seat, wanting to ground this conversation, quite literally. "I read the mission summary on my way over. The AI crisis has no doubt shaken everyone. Your crew, too close for comfort. Command, trying to work out who and what they can even trust anymore, probably leading to some rash decisions."

"That still doesn't excuse any of the bullshit that's happened since we first launched." Patricia said. "Let me give you some statistics to wrap your head around: Two Ops chiefs, three engineers, three science officers allegedly (though I never even saw the third one), three medical officers, you would be the second counselor, two intelligence officers and a third I had to send off to Starfleet Medical for rehab, a diplomatic officer, a marine commander, oh, and did I mention the XO that I desperately wanted to believe in, but turned out to be a massive chickenshit fraud of a coward who bailed on me at our most vital hour?"

Patricia didn't even hold back tearing her former XO a new asshole. Not like that massive chickenshit fraud was around to say anything about it anyhow, but it was clear that of all the officers that had come and gone from the Missouri that it was the former XO that Patricia was the most angry at.

Alice remained calm in the face of the Captain's anger, letting her vent the frustration; she clearly needed it. The sense of abandonment was heavy in her words, and she allowed her a moment of silence just to feel it. "And...that would leave...around 140 that have stayed? Give or take..."

"Oh, the problem hasn't been in the lower deckers. Far from it:" Patricia replied. "The problem I'm having is getting people to lead them: All those numbers I just threw at you was for the heads of the various departments that have come and gone. And that's not even factoring the senior officers that were assigned here and just never bothered to show up! Hell, most of the departments have been held together by lower deckers temporarily taking charge between the hotel guests of senior officers!"

"Have they lived up to the challenge?" Alice asked softly as she crossed her legs, settling clasped hands on her knee. She watched her with earnest eyes, the question a serious one.

"Evidently not, otherwise we wouldn't be here talking about it." Patricia ranted. "Take my chicken shit former first officer as a case study: Never really seemed to understand the importance of her assignment, and when she knew what the hell was going on, she only carried out my orders as if she were still an engineer!"

Patricia sighed.

"I really wanted to believe in her:" She continued, her tone having now shifted from angry to defeated with the sigh. "Her older sister ran this ship's predecessor for five years, but like everyone else that's come and gone from this ship, she turned tail and ran on me too. Even now, I still find it hard to believe that someone I look up to so much has such a coward for a little sister."

"Why *did* she leave?" Alice asked with interest, wanting to drill down to the facts of what had happened. She was a learned enough counsellor to understand that distinguishing fact from feeling had its place but wasn't always the most useful approach...but with so much going on around the Missouri, she was keen to untangle it. "Did she tell you why?"

"Some people just aren't born leaders." Patricia sighed. "That wasn't the official explanation I was given... I didn't receive one at all, but I could tell. She just... Didn't have that drive to take charge. It was almost as if she was... Acting under an obligation rather than a genuine desire to be beside me."

"If that's true, it may well be a reflection on her personal circumstances rather than on you or the ship," Alice replied honestly, hoping she would see that it wasn't necessarily abandonment with intent or malice.

"Perhaps so, but that's not going to stop me from being absolutely disgusted by it." Patricia sighed.

"But it might make it feel less personal," Alice added bluntly, watching her with gentle eyes, understanding how much pressure the young Captain was under. "And no matter who has come or gone, you and the ship have made it this far."

"That is true." Patricia admitted. "I mean, I didn't come this far to be handed the reigns to a ship that's very important to me only to give up on it because everyone else has... Yeah, maybe all those guys and gals that have come and gone weren't cut out for what the Missouri stands for? Because we are resolute, and those cowards could tell what we were, because they're not."

Alice was quiet for a moment, letting the Captain's words settle, weighing up all that had been said; in words, between them and without them. "It's clear how much this ship means to you. It's not just a posting, it's personal. That's powerful and beautiful, but it also means it hurts when people come and go. I'm not sure they all left because they were cowards though. Some just might not have been the right fit for this ship. Others…might have had reasons we don't know about, or that they never found the right words for..."

Alice paused as she took a breath, considering her own words with the same care she gave to all things. She met Patricia's gaze, her own calm and steady, but kind. "And it would be a shame if that hurt got in the way of seeing what you've built here. The strength of those who have stayed, including you. The people who have stepped up, filled the gaps, kept this ship running through everything. That says a lot about the culture you've built here, even when the senior chairs kept filling and emptying."

The counsellor paused just for a moment, her head tilting slightly to one side. "And if you would allow it, I should very much like to stay and see what I can help you rebuild and strengthen."

"Lieutenant, I would very much like it for anyone to stay longer than a few weeks." Patricia said, extending a hand to Alice. "Welcome aboard the Mighty MO."

OFF:

Lieutenant Alice Penrose
Chief Counsellor
USS Missouri


Captain Patricia Cooke
Commanding Officer
USS Missouri

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