Harsh and Unpleasant Business

Posted on Mon Jan 28th, 2019 @ 4:29am by
Edited on on Wed Jan 30th, 2019 @ 12:43am

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Embassy-Vulcan
Timeline: during Cortic VI Crisis
897 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Ambassador Anje Zhukov had been calling in favors all morning, exercising the kind of influence that would be called, if nothing else, entirely inappropriate, though in no way expressly forbidden. She'd moved mountains and people, all for an operation that might not come to be, and she wasn't done yet. She'd sent Tate to get an old friend, a friend she needed to ask a favor from, and knew already that he was not going to be in a very giving mood.

Col. Tate pushed the door open to the Ambassador's office, "Madam Ambassador, Gunnery Sergeant Rh..."

"She knows who the Hell I am." Rhodes grumbled as he walked in and came to attention in front of the Ambassador's desk, "Reporting as ordered, Madam Ambassador."

"At ease, Tim." Anje said, bracing herself for an earful that was no doubt coming, "Speak freely."

"You sure about that, Ambassador?" Rhodes spoke, his most courteous party manners voice still sounded like a snarl.

"I am." Anje replied, she could read his face, she was about to catch all the Hell he had on board.

"I would love to know what kind of clusterfuck you're runnin' here and why I'm not on my way to Cortic VI with my rifle company, Madam Ambassador." Rhodes began, "Not that being saddled with a rifle company full of weekend warriors is a picnic but it's a hell of a sight better than shipboard duty on some diplomatic starliner. Why am I going to the USS Kiss My Ass instead of Cortic VI?"

Tate had to stifle a laugh, Rhodes was just as sour an old bastard as she remembered from the war, ~Well, she did tell him to speak freely.~

"We all go where we're needed, Tim." Anje shrugged, "It's an assignment, same as any other. Come on, you're not new, you've been here before."

"It's bullshit." Rhodes snapped back, "Maybe gladhanding diplomatic douchebags is what you do, but not me. I don't kiss asses, I kick 'em, and I want to know why I'm not gettin' a chance to do so."

"Because I need you, Tim." Anje said flatly, "I need you on Elysium. There's harsh and unpleasant business ahead, Tim, and in the thirty plus years of our acquaintance I've known you to be, if nothing else, a harsh and unpleasant man."

"Swell." Rhodes rolled his eyes, "You're still bouncing that Turkana IV crap around? When are you going to accept we're living in a galaxy full of wimps now and that it's never going to happen?"

"It's more than that." Anje shook her head, "I mean, yes, Faithful Shepherd is going to be a go before too long, but right now the galaxy is changing, becoming more dangerous, pretty soon people like us will become a necessity again, and I want you to be out there on the front line."

"What does command think about this?" Rhodes asked, though he already knew what she was going to say.

"They'll be fine when I tell them." She laughed; the fact was she had been, as usual, moving things through the back channels that had enabled her to help keep the Federation safe for over a century, "Besides, the banquet set don't want to know about the dirty work, Tim, you know this."

"Finally you said something right." Rhodes shrugged, "Alright, I guess I'm stuck with it. When do I deploy?"

"You'll meet the Elysium at Deep Space Nine upon the return from Cortic VI." Anje began, "You'll be the NCOIC of the Marine detachment and I'd truly appreciate if you made yourself available to Little Anje as a translation specialist."

"So now I've got to handhold your niece, too?" Rhodes groused; this was not what he signed up for, "What's next? You gonna want me tuckin' in cadets and checkin' their closets for boogeymen?"

"Just Ludmilla." Anje laughed, "She's going to be attending the Academy on Elysium..."

"Does her sister know about that?" Rhodes asked, dropping his normally gruff tone for a second. He knew there had been a few miles of bad road between them since the whole Halliwell incident, "I mean, are they even talking again?"

"Not for the past two and a half years, no." Anje shook her head sadly. She could do anything in command of a starship, was an all time ace at cloak and dagger, and could negotiate with the shark from Jaws, but fixing the rift between her nieces was beyond her capabilities. Of course, were it not for Tim, she would be the one in the room with the least successful family dynamic, so that shouldn't have surprised her.

"So, you want me to go on starliner duty, handhold your nieces, and maybe, just maybe I'll eventually get to do what I've trained my whole life to do." Rhodes recapped, "Is that your offer?"

"Pretty much." Anje nodded.

"The offer sucks." Rhodes growled, though he knew this was important to the Ambassador, one of the very few diplomats he had any respect for; he didn't like it, but he'd sheepdog her nieces for her, he just wouldn't be happy about it, "But I accept. I owe you one anyway."

"Now we're even." Anje smiled, "Thank you, Tim."

"Yeah." Rhodes shook his head, this was going to be a massive pain in the ass, he already knew, "After this you might be in my debt."