The Fighting Crows

When it rains...

2408 - Second Dominion War

/\= USS Otomaro, near the Helaspont nebula =/\

Here we go again… The little Efrosian stomped her way across the bridge of the refitted Iwo-Jima class Starship and did her best not to frown. Summoned to see the Captain. How many did that make now? And the looks from the bridge crew were all too familiar, too. Some sympathetic, some disinterested, and here and there the characteristic ‘serves you right’. Jin was not one to easily give in to fatalism or go down without a fight, but it wasn’t easy this time. She’d really come to like this ship and the bunch of crazy misfits that made up her squadron, old “Smokey” notwithstanding. Poor guy had gotten himself outfitted with pilots no one else wanted a year short of his retirement and taken it with a cranky old man’s good grace. Meaning, kicking behinds when needed and buying drinks for the kiddos when they behaved. She’d never had a squad leader like that. Or Captain, for that matter. Kuroda ran just about the tightest ship she had ever seen, but still had no qualms about keeping his fighter pilots on a long leash. But apparently even that leash had limits.

Well, at least she wouldn’t take Roosevelt down with her, that much Jin was determined to do. Setting her jaw tightly, she pressed the chime and once more was surprised by the even, melodious voice answering. How such a deep tenor could come from a man barely a hand’s width taller than the tiny Efrosian was perplexing. How someone could sound so relaxed and serene and at the same time commanding enough to make even Jin scramble to the best sort of attention she could muster, that was just plain amazing. “Ah, Miss Rha-Yaleii.” The man behind the desk looked up and treated Jin to a long look out of eyes as clear and dark as a shaded forest pond on Efros Delta before gesturing to the chair opposite him. He watched the little pilot carefully slide into the offered seat and studied the sad smile on the lovely face. Collecting the empty glass on his desk, the Captain stood up and walked to the replicator before turning back to the young pilot “Might I offer you some tea?”

Confused, Jin cocked her head and simply nodded. That was an odd way to chew someone out, but she sure wasn’t going to argue. In short order, two glasses with something that smelled both soothing and fresh to Jin’s sensitive nose were placed on the perfectly spotless desk and the small-framed human with first silver streaks at his temples had settled in his usual alert but oddly relaxed pose. When the good Captain still wasn’t talking, Jin just decided to get it over with and go on the offensive. “It wasn’t Roosevelt’s fault, Sir. He just sometimes forgets how strong he is. And well, he thinks of me as a friend, and,…” The man calmly held up a hand and Jin’s mouth snapped shut. Damn. Well, he had a right to be irritated, the big half-Klingon had squarely broken a jaw and a few ribs, not to mention a table and a few other small thingies that had gotten in the way. But he had only wanted to help when that other guy didn’t seem to get the idea that even Efrosians like to have a say in whom they pick as pals. Jin was sure her transfer orders were already signed, war or no war. Maybe this time they’d just dump her onto a poor Marine unit who’d let her fly at Dominion ships until she either went up in flames or toppled over from exhaustion. Those guys didn’t mind trouble. Trouble was their middle name.

“I have received all reports from sickbay and security, Miss Rha-Yaleii.” Meaning, he had already heard all the stories he had wanted to hear and wasn’t interested in what Jin had to say. Oddly familiar, but for some reason the little pilot was just a bit disappointed. Somehow she had expected this Captain to at least hear her out. No matter how hard she tried not to be her normal flirtatious self, she had found wonderful friends in this squadron of pilots nobody else wanted and damn if she hadn’t gotten careless again. How would Rafi say? C’est la vie. Or that other thing about leopards and shorts. She opened her mouth to say something in Roosevelt’s defense but the hand stopped her again. “What I need to know is if you wish to press charges.” “Look, I know as a captain you can’t have your crew just … come again?” “Against the Lieutenant Commander. I am no JAG officer but I do think harassment and assault would apply.” “They would?” One could almost hear mental gears screeching when Jin tried to wrap her head around the turn this conversation had just taken. He was not mad at her but the guy who had been … a bit rude? Okay, pretty damn rude. At least after she had told him she was not interested.

The flicker of a smile crossed Kuroda’s face when the little Efrosian stared at him in open astonishment. “Yes, to the best of my knowledge. One could argue conduct unbecoming an officer as well but I shall leave that to the proper authorities. You have not answered my question.” “Well, I hadn’t quite expected that so you’ll have to excuse me for being a tad … surprised.” “Oh?” She stared at the tea, and back at the calm eyes still studying her. Somehow she had the feeling he was trying really hard not to chuckle at her baffled expression, but he was a tough one to figure out where body language was concerned. “You are something else, Captain-san.” If anything, he looked even more amused at that. “But no, no charges, Sir. I’m used to stuff like that. And I think he got the message now. At least I hope he’ll think about it.”

“I will respect your wishes, Miss Rha-Yaleii.” He picked up the tea with slow, graceful motions and took a sip, never leaving the little pilot out of his sight “But perhaps you should ‘think about it’ as well. Simply because you are used to some people behaving a certain way towards you does not give them the right to do so. Tolerating unacceptable behavior will only encourage more of the same.” She was about to formulate a reply to that, when the red alert klaxons blared into her poor little ears and Kuroda was out of his chair before she could do so much as blink. This was bad. Really bad. They had taken such a beating in their last engagement, the Otomaro was little more than a bucket of bolts held together with spit and hope and the curses of a tireless Chief Engineer. And they were only eight hours from the Starbase where they had wanted to put in for repairs. Figures…

Abandoning tea, the serenity of this Ready Room and any thought of ever not trusting this Captain again, Jin scrambled after the human towards the bridge. “Report.” Gods of Efros, he still sounded as if this was just a minor nuisance. The little Efrosian briefly stopped, looking at the Captain seated calmly in his chair, but when he gave her a brief nod she jumped past the tactical station and darted towards the turbolift. Something about three Jem’Hadar fighters was announced by a cranky tactical officer, and you could bet old Smokey was already chasing the “Fighting Crows” into their birds down there. And she would have made it, too, only the very moment the lift doors opened all hell broke loose. Torpedo and phaser impacts made the Otomaro lurch and groan, and Jin had to hold on to a science station if she did not want to get thrown backwards into the Andorian with the antennae pressed back into her beautiful snow-white hair. Like in a dream when everything slows down and becomes surreal, Jin heard the Andorian shout about shields being gone and saw the woman reach for her phaser the very second at least a dozen Jem’Hadar appeared on the bridge. Why not blow us straight to hell? They could, and without breaking a sweat. But why blow it up if you could take it home and do whatever with it. They were pretty much sitting ducks either way.

Cursing the fact that she had no weapon on herself, the little Efrosian ran head first into the nearest Jem’Hadar who sent her flying into a console for her troubles. Well, at least he had staggered and made an ‘oof’ sound. Kind of mean to try and shoot her for that, though. Jin was already airborne again by the time a weapons blast impacted the console, this time aiming a heavy combat boot squarely for that gray, ridged face. All around her energy weapons heated the air on the bridge and added the scent of ozone to the abundance of blood. A satisfying crunch told her she had hit something that would hurt, but as usual Jin had not thought much further than this and dropped to the floor after having made a big dent into the Jem’Hadar’s face. Shit. Much to her surprise, she was scooped up by an Andorian moving at speeds Jin had never thought possible, and she stared wide eyed when a gray scaled intruder went down right next to them because … well obviously Captain-san had thrown another Dominion soldier right into that one. Third Hell and Thunder.

When another weapon swung in their direction, the tiny Efrosian managed to make a warning sound, but the security officer had already seen it and pivoted around, tucking Jin behind her as if the pilot was little more than a child in her arm. The phaser went off the same second Jin felt something impact the Andorian’s chest and she fell to the deck, all air knocked out of her lungs so she could not even scream when the other woman fell on top of her. Nothing alive felt like this. Hurting like hell and drenched in blue blood, the little pilot cried angry tears and tried to struggle free when she realized the bridge was suddenly eerily quiet. She blinked furiously and tried to see what was going on, but the bulk of a very much headless Jem’Hadar spread out before her obscured her sight. Jin breathed deeply although with the terrible stench permeating the bridge that was no easy accomplishment, and ever so carefully dislodged the body of the tall, beautiful security officer that held her pinned to the blood soaked carpet. Muttering both horrible curses and apologies to the Andorian’s spirit in her native language, the little Efrosian managed to lift the weight and pull herself into a crouch, checking for anything still alive.

Right. When nothing that stirred sounded even vaguely like a Jem’Hadar, she scrambled to her feet. Dead and badly injured people, broken consoles, and the damn red light that made it so difficult to see properly. Still, someone was moving over there and Jin scrambled towards the helm console where a poor lifeless Benzite was slumped in her chair. But on the floor … the moment she slung her arms around the small person to lift him up, she realized who it was. “Captain-san.” She murmured, both relieved and shocked when she felt her hands drenched with warm human blood. “Do we know our status, Miss Rha-Yaleii.” “You know, usually people ask for a medic first. But no, I don’t. There are three more people breathing from what I can hear and one very faint. Might be the species though, I don’t know, I’m not a … oh for crying out loud will you stop it. You need to sit down.” She was ready to stomp her foot on the carpet and yell at the man who seemed determined to bleed to death and she didn’t have the faintest idea what to do. They needed medics but the commbadges didn’t work. They needed bridge officers who were trained for this mess and not a little fighter pilot completely out of her element, but none of them was moving.

“Would you help me to the tactical console, please? It seems to be working fairly well.” He managed to make his voice sound like a man asking for another cup of tea. If Jin hadn’t been so distraught, she’d actually have been incredibly impressed. As it was, she bit her lip and did what her Captain asked, cursing under her breath all the way. “Yes, I would have to agree.” “What? You understood … I’m sorry, I’m just…” “I can venture an educated guess, Miss Rha-Yaleii. Ah, it seems our good engineer has been creative. He must have been really upset to vent main engineering.” Jin blinked at the console, the profusely bleeding human and wondered whether this was the Starfleet version of the Fifth Hell. At last, her practical side kicked in and she snorted, limping towards one of the wall panels that would probably have a medkit hidden behind them. When she came back, there was a grim expression on the dark eyed human’s face but she nudged him into one of the science console chairs without allowing for any debate.

“You can court-martial me later.” Jin tried to remember her first aid classes and sighed with relief when she at least recognized some of the stuff in the kit. That one for the pain, that to prevent shock. Now how to stop the damn bleeding… “And why would I do that?” There was that faint smile again, although his voice was sounding a bit strained at last. “Because I’m keeping you from doing whatever it is Captains are supposed to do in a mess like this? I don’t know. Hold still.” The little Efrosian carefully peeled the tattered remains of the uniform jacket from a gaping wound where apparently an energy weapon had grazed ribs and burned skin, but damn if the man so much as flinched. “Ah. Is that what you are doing?” “What? No. I mean, in a way, maybe. Damn, Captain-san, I’m not sure what I’m doing. Just… don’t die on me, alright? This day has been bad enough as it is.” “Agreed.” Dark almond eyes regarded the muttering Efrosian and finally a calm hand was placed on her shoulder. “You are doing just fine, Miss Rha-Yaleii.”

She looked up at him, ice blue gaze meeting nothing but quiet reassurance, although for a moment she could have sworn there had been something bordering on parental affection in that level voice. “There.” The little woman ran a blood stained hand through her snow-white hair, nodding at the clean bandage on her Captain’s side “Unless you plan to throw any more Jem’Hadar across your bridge, it should hold a while. But if your ribs are poking into a lung, I don’t have anything …” “It will do. Would you help me to my chair?” “You’re kidding.” This time, he outright smiled at her. A bit melancholic, a lot determined, and again there was that odd feeling of fondness that made Jin blink. She was so overwrought; she had to be imagining things. Muttering softly, she decided not to argue and simply slipped under his extended arm, carefully getting the Captain to his feet. At least they were well matched in size and it was surprisingly easy to keep him balanced as they limped towards the center chair. “What a funny pair we make.” The little Efrosian couldn’t help but smile wryly while circumnavigating the headless Jem’Hadar and was rewarded with another look of mild amusement from Kuroda. Over to the left, someone stirred and Jin’s heart made a little leap. Med kit. Maybe she could at least…

Before she got to finish the thought, the turbolift doors burst open and security officers spilled onto the bridge, led by a tall human barking orders. Right behind them, engineers with toolkits bustled along, nudging the guys with phasers out of their ways. When her Captain settled in his chair and pointed the lone, bewildered medical officer in the throng towards the figure on the floor who had just begun stirring, Jin felt such a wave of relief she actually slumped forward and felt her head come to rest against the fabric of a uniform. “Gods of Efros, about time.” She muttered and then blinked rapidly when an arm unexpectedly moved around her shoulders, holding her companionably close for what seemed like a long time but in truth was hardly more than a few seconds. Behind her, the cracked viewscreen spluttered back to life and an engineer let out a whistle, accompanied by several shouts.

She wanted so badly to stay right where she was, but this mess wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot. Forcing herself to snap to, Jin straightened up and turned towards the screen where – she nearly jumped when she saw the ragtag assortment of Valkyries going after two Dominion ships, evading the debris of a third. A pleading look towards Kuroda was all it took and he nodded, watching the little pilot bolt towards the turbolift. “Sir?” the security officer had taken over tactical, looking after the tiny woman “We still have intruders on board.” “Yes.” The Captain allowed for another smile and shooed away the flustered doctor “And one can assume that any who might try to stand between Miss Rha-Yaleii and her fighter will soon cease to be your problem.