FNS exclusive interview with Rear Admiral Neil Harrington

Posted on Sun Nov 10th, 2019 @ 10:56am by Elisha Pryce-Randal [ADMIN NPC] Ms

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
2770 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Catherine Grant could not believe that she had been granted permission to speak on the record with Admiral Harrington. She had dressed carefully for the occasion. Unlike Lois Kent, who dressed like a rainbow, Cat dressed professionally in black slacks and a white shirt. She had chosen the room with care as well. Comfortable low couches and lots of natural light from the windows. She had just placed a tray of coffee and cups on the coffee table when a knock on the door had her straightening up. She turned to the door and the man in the doorway with a beaming smile, which held not just welcome but eagerness to get this started.

"Admiral, welcome, please come in."

Neil had been expecting the Editor, Mr. Anderson, but he could allow his surprise to affect the interview. He stood in a professional manner, his arm comfortably behind his back, as he took a step forward. "Pleasure to be here," he stated reminding himself to keep all his answers short, simple, and understandable. "Over here at the table looks good," he didn't wait for a reply as he bypassed the rather too comfortable sofa, in favor of the wooden table and chairs in the corner.

Cat merely smiled and moved the coffee to the table without batting an eyelash. "Thank you for granting us this time Admiral. As I am sure you are aware, the recent stories about you are generating considerable interest, and of course questions." She drew out a small recording device. She placed it on the table and added "If you don't mind Admiral I will record this so, there can be no disagreement about what is discussed? It will protect both of us."

"As long as I get a copy of that before we leave today, then we should be fine," he nodded.

"Of course, as per the agreement", she sat down opposite him. "Before we begin, do you wish to make a statement on the record?" Cat turned the recording on "Or would you prefer to just answer as we go?" She smiled at him, all friendly innocence.

"I would not call it a statement, but I am ready to set the record straight and correct the gross inconsistencies in Miss Lane's report."

Cat's smile grew at that. "Then let's commence with those inconsistencies shall we?" She began pulling out a PADD. "Surely you have no issue with the fact you have 1 legitimate child, named Tess?"

"Again gross inconsistencies," he replied, "if your sources had bothered to check you would have noted that trained Starfleet personnel conducted DNA testing on my twins. So your first statement is inaccurate, I am the father of three children."

"I said, legitimate Admiral. Your younger children were not born within the bonds of matrimony. Its a term my colleague used to differentiate between them. And there have been concerns raised by a number of people, your former CEO even, that those tests were faked." She smiled as she held up a hand innocently. "And the timing was surely suspect, you get engaged to Commander Maurelle Valentine, then, Adria Toril just happens to show up with twins in tow, children that could have been conceived by her former partner. Surely Admiral," Cat smiled placatingly at him, "Even you can see the issues here. More so that the Commander has been reported missing.." And here her eyes grew sharp "And your former CEO has vanished as well. It does make people question."

"Surely a News Source such as yourself, who represent all cultures, isn't suggesting that the only family is one who is married. I don't believe either of us lives in the eighteen hundreds," he asked. "As to the accuracy of those tests, I will be sending data in my own briefing that will show those results we sent to Ms. Lane and ignored in order to sensationalize her piece."

She noted his evasion around the missing officers. "I am sure that it was so in that way Admiral, but the question around the timing remains. Didn't it strike you as suspicious?"

"At the time yes, so mother and children were put through a series of tests, all of which were sent to your agency, once the tests were validated only then were those suspicions were put to rest. Tell me something did your agency intentionally ignore those results, or will you be claiming incompetence?" He was calm and collected, he had to maintain his composure and put her on the defensive.

Cat let her eyes go wide for a moment but then her lips curved more into an almost smirk. "Now, now admiral, your team is not innocent of incompetence either, might I remind you. It was your choice of acting CO that cost a number of officers their lives." She held up her hand to forestall the reply. "So after those tests were confirmed, you obviously told your fiancee. And now she was missing, presumed dead. Which of course adds to the situation and the fact that you invited Ms. Toril to move in with you straight away. Did you even investigate your fiancees' disappearance? Or were you concerned that it might show that Ms. Toril had a hand in that?"

"As you are aware, your mission was alerted then the ship we were on was pulled into the Mirror Universe, Commander Valentine was kidnapped by her counterpart and I couldn't risk the lives of the crew to save one person. If you are suggesting the Ms. Toril managed to get off the ship, travel a mirror universe, meet with their Emperor, and hatched up this plan well then. I'd suggest you go into fiction writing or holonnovels."

"Your media outlets write a compelling story but they are inaccurate," he asked, "are you suggesting that Captain Saulitis is incapable of promotion on her own merits or that Commodore Miniwara wasn't moved to help a Task Force in need? The media paints a great picture, but once again fails to release the truth that is directly in front of their face." He folded his hands in his lip with a stoic look.

"So you just invite your ex-lover to move into your quarters after abandoning your fiancee and you expect your child to just handle that?" Cat replied calmly. "Doesn't show much loyalty does it Admiral to the memory of a woman you professed to love." And she ignored the comments about the Captain Saulitis. She had not written that hatchet job. Just the one after that.

"My relationship with Commander Valentine was not without problems and I think in the end would never have worked. We were two different people trying to force the other to be something they were not. As to the mother of my children, yes she shares the quarters as an extended family however we each have our own space. It works out easier for childcare and such to have both parents close at hand. As I stated early, we are more than a license and ceremony."

"So you think it is okay to subject your daughter to a constant stream of females of dubious repute either living or spending the night in your cabin? Of which Admiral there seems to be myriad."

"I believe your definition of a myriad and my own definition must be a bit off," he asked, "do you plan on listing this myriad in your article? Or will you be inferring to a lengthy list of women in order to save yourself from the pending lawsuits?

"As I already stated just a bit ago," he replied again, "when Adira moved in, we sought the permission, if you will, of Tess beforehand. And if you bothered to check with the Operations staff, you would have learned ahead of time that the command suite is actually two small family suites merged into one. The twin and their mother share one side of the space with Tess and me on the other side. We each have our own room and shared communal space in the middle. You wouldn't know this but parenting twins, especially at such a young age, can be challenging and we both needed help."

"I can pull up the specs, for your article of course, if you need proof," he continued his smile. It was getting easier and easier to remain calm. She clearly hadn't done her homework and came in here with a list of complaints from Miss Lane. He particularly enjoyed the word myriad, he couldn't help but internally smile at the growing list of Ms. Cat's inconsistencies.

"To be honest Admiral, you know nothing about my personal life. I am married with two young sons, so i am fully aware of how hard it is to raise children. But it is not the point. The point, my colleague was making Admiral is that your name has been linked with a number of women over the past few months, and there are numerous questions being raised. There are missing people, Admiral. And events like that need to be explained."

"My name gets linked to a lot of things, that doesn't make those things true," he replied, "besides to my knowledge there are only two people missing," he hated this next comment but he felt it was needed. "Lt Ba'ua was clearly a distressed woman, who we only learned recently had gone through years of Cardassian mental conditioning. I don't know where she is, but she went on approved leave and never came back. In this line of work, we call that AWOL and should she return she will have some very serious charges to answer too. And those charges will come from people a lot higher in rank than me."

He sighed, "in regards to the Commander, I regret that I couldn't find her in time. But I had an entire ship to look out for, and couldn't risk the lives of several hundred on one person. No matter who they were. Someone like you who doesn't serve couldn't possibly understand that sometimes putting on this uniform means that you might not come back. It is something we are all aware of, each day."

"Let me clarify a few things, You allowed a convicted criminal to go on extended approved leave and you thought she would come back?"

"I didn't allow a criminal to do anything," he corrected her once again, "Miss Ba'au," he intentionally didn't use her rank, "was free to travel to and from the ship. The conditions of her parol allowed her that, as a member of the crew. I will add that she had traveled too and from the ship on several occasions over the time she served on the ship."

"You obviously did not care for Commander Valentine as you will not even speak her name" Cat calmly stated. "Is that because your relationship with her was faked?"

"My relationship with the Commander none of your concern," he stated, "Star Fleet has already cleared the ship and everyone on it. Moving onto a different topic," he stated in no uncertain terms, this topic was over. He wasn't going to bad mouth Ana's reputation. The woman had been kidnapped by the Terran Empire, replaced by her counterparts, and god knows what after that. Their relationship ended long before the Mirror Universe. He wished he could tell her the truth, but she wasn't cleared for an official briefing. His Ana had broken up with him once Adira came on board, what happened after that was all the result of the MU counterpart and not the Ana he knew.

So he wanted a new topic? Very well. Cat smiled, sharp and calm. "Very well then, Shall we return to the issue of one Former Commodore Rice? You left him in charge of your vessel, and he got it blown up and several crew members, including the Chief of Science, were killed."

"Yes he did, and Captain Rice is now dealing with the effects of said mission," he stated, "Admiral Jarland saw to his trial and punishment."

"Some argue that demotion of one rank is rather... unacceptable. In fact, one Captain Oliver Lee, of the USS Arcadia has come out and demanded to know why, after the loss of the Science Chief, who was formally his science chief I believe. Others are wondering how you can trust the man."

"How I can trust the man is again, of no concern of yours," he replied, "I do, and that is all I have to say. The man was faced with an impossible task and uncertain of the rescue attempts being made. Did he handle it wrong, yes? And he will live with that for a while as he rebuilds his career."

"Would you have done anything differently Admiral?"

"I am not sure that is a fair assessment to the man," Neil replied, "none of his were there at the time and we are going off of the information we know that he didn't. I will say that had Captain Rice known of the rescue party and the attempts being made to get him out of there, I know his decision would have been different. And that was taken into account at his hearing."

Cat chose to let that lie there. Instead, she came to her final question of the interview. "Admiral, there are those out there claiming you are running a scheme to get people into the academy. Reports state, that a new cadet at the academy was seen leaving your office just prior to her acceptance. What do you say to that?"

"I'd say you are about as incompetent as that reporter Lane," Neil was blunt, "if you were any sort of smart, you'd realize that in order to get accepted into the academy you need reference letters, had you bothered to check you would have learned that. But I suppose the truth doesn't sale articles, now does it?"

"I was just asking for your response to the rumors Admiral."

"My response would be to do your homework and a bit of research," he replied, "before you come at me with baseless rumors and suggestions. Most of your own questions could have been answered had you actually bothered to look into the sources and facts. When I told your Editor that I would sit down and do an interview, I was under the impress the FNS would be taking the interview seriously; clearly I was mistaken."

"Oh, we take these allegations very seriously Admiral. Hence the questions. The press just reports. But if you want a serious question, I am sure I can oblige you." she smiled faintly as she pulled up another question. "As Task Force CO, your approval is required for all command placements, is that correct?"

"To an extent," he replied, "just like you I have superiors who tell me what to do," he wasn't sure where this was going. "When someone with more brass on their collar makes up their mind, not a lot I can do but agree."

She smiled faintly and brought up a subject that she personally didn't want to bring up. "My editor insists on this question Admiral, so if you will indulge him. Several of the commanding officers within your task force have been subject to a number of issues, for example, the streaker on the Majestic, the Elysium being stolen, and we want to know what is being done in regards to those captains whose incompetence is putting lives in danger?"

"As with any personnel issue, it is being addressed but out of respect for those involved my answered would be no comment," he replied.

Which was more or less what she had expected. "Thank you, Admiral. I am sure that the answer will not satisfy my editor but I will try."

"Is there any other questions," Neil stated, "if not I will take my recording now," he looked down at the device, waiting.

Cat smiled at him. "Thank you for your time, Admiral." She made a copy of the recording and handed it over.

"Pleasure was all mine," Neil lied, as he tucked the recording into his pocket. Unknown to the reporter, Neil had already used the resources to record the entire event. He didn't trust his reporter and wasn't about to trust that her recording was accurate. Neil nodded then turned and headed out the door. H

Cat watched him go. She didn't move until he was gone and then she gathered her things and moved towards the editor's office, her face set.

~fin

Rear Admiral Neil Harrington
Task Force CO

Cat Grant
Reporter
FNS