Changing of the Guard - Part One

Posted on Fri Sep 30th, 2022 @ 5:04am by Rae Sloane & Master Admiral Pasha Andreyev

Mission: Mission 108: Grains of Sand
Location: Various Locations - Starfleet Command
Timeline: 1530Hrs - December 1st, 2393

Fleet Admiral Rae Sloane sighed softly as the sunrise had lost its lustre for her. She knew that the time was now for her to call it a career and retire. She had other concerns she needed to address and Sloane had left then for many years too long. She had spent the last few days packing away her entire career into various shipping crates. Anything she didn't want to keep, she had donated or given away to her former aides as keepsakes and gifts.

Now it was time for her to depart this life once and for all. Sloane had missed the wide-open spaces of her homeworld and while she had greatly enjoyed her career in Starfleet. She had not risen to the top job and nor had she accomplished the goal she had set for herself when she had graduated from the academy.

Today her docket was empty as she had no work to finish. Only two meetings for her aides to inform them of their new assignments. The first of those two would be within the next couple of hours. The rest of her day would be spent finishing off the last items of her worklist. She looked down at the PADD on her desk which she had deliberately left as unfinished from the previous day's workload. All she had to do was to tap 'send' and her career would more or less come to its final conclusion.

The com system beeped. "Admiral Sloane. You have a visitor ma'am." came the voice of her chief aide. Sloane frowned as she tapped her combadge once. "Okay. Send him or her in. Thanks, Larry." she answered.

Sloane automatically rose to her feet as the door opened and in walked Master Admiral Pasha Andreyev. She nodded to her. "Admiral. I wanted to drop by and wish you well after you leave."

"Why?" Sloane decided not to bother with the niceties since they would be worthless to her in several hours time anyway. "We've never gotten along before," she commented as she sat back down in her chair. "Why would we start now?" she pressed.

"Because at the end of the day. It does not matter. We did not need to get along to work well together." Andreyev answered in a flat tone of voice, he had been expecting the hostility and it showed from the tone in his voice and the look in his eyes. "I won't lie Rae. You have been a royal pain in my ass since the day we met." he stopped as she suddenly started laughing at him. "Something amusing?"

"Your comment. I had never intended to be a pain. I wanted to clean out the old boys club and the corruption in Starfleet that's been appearing a lot recently. It seems that we more or less succeeded in various ways." she commented. "I had not expected you to come out and say it bluntly. Is all." Sloane added for clarification.

Andreyev nodded his head. "I have never been one for subtlety. I find it's often a waste of time," he commented. "I wanted to wish you well on your future plans and endeavours," he added.

Sloane had not been expecting the olive branch. The look on her face said as much too. "Why?"

"Because today is the last day you'll be wearing the uniform," Andreyev answered quietly. "You have done a lot of good work over the years and that should be acknowledged," he commented. "Even if you were not suited to be my chief of staff. You were better off as a fleet commander out in the field," he explained. "You were not a good diplomat and that's what I needed."

"I dropped my retirement because I had other issues I needed to tend to," Sloane answered quietly. "You didn't force me out, Pasha. I decided it was time."

"Which is to be respected," Andreyev answered, clearly in agreement with her. "No. I did not force you out. Had I wished to do so. I would have simply asked you to consider leaving and then I would have found a post for you." he explained. "But you decided you needed to move on." he paused. "You were rather coy on why though."

Sloane regarded the Admiral before her. "I had other matters to deal with. Matters I had left alone for far too long," she explained. "My husband wanted me to call home," she commented. "Now I have left the matter for far too long and now I need to try and save my relationship with him," she explained.

"Ahh. I understand." Andreyev answered softly. "Then I wish you bon voyage Admiral. Smooth sailing to you... and I wish you the very best of luck." he rose to his feet. "Take care of yourself out there Rae." and with that, he departed and left her in silence.