"You what...?!", roared Commander Ra'Kul Paxton, the Klingon part of his heritage emerging suddenly in an explosion of disbelief. "You're considering that spindly thing for chief of security?!"

In the short time they had worked together, Captain Blackfire had become accustomed to such outbursts, and like all the others, let this one pass without comment. "The request was made according to regulations, Number One", she said with her customary coolness. "Lieutenant Starsword would not put herself forward for the post if she did not think herself able to handle the duties that come with it."

Paxton had learned much at his end as well. He did not miss the look, however brief, that Blackfire directed at him. "My reservations have nothing to do with her... species, if that's what you're thinking, My Lord", he said, curbing his non-human half. "Her shortcomings are plain to see. She is a cripple - a sign of weakness if ever I saw one - and she never speaks...!"

"She speaks, Commander", assured Blackfire. "Her voice rings out clear in the minds of those she wishes to hear it."

"Again, this 'magic' you prize rears its unwelcome head!", snarled the half-Klingon. "You might as well put a Vulcan at the security console!"

"Janeway did that, on the Voyager", the elf reminded her second-in-command. "From there, Tuvok arranged his promotion, and most stylishly, I might add. Do you feel your position might be under threat in the same fashion?"

Paxton knew Blackfire was a thinker rather than a fighter, and could be deadly with words if she was allowed the chance. "I have nothing to fear from that little bird", the Commander growled before he could be bogged down in a duel of wits he knew he could not hope to win.

A smile played across the elven Captain's lips. "That, I feel, is all I need to hear", she purred. "Inform Starsword that she's got herself a place on the bridge, effective immediately. If the crew feel she's no threat - as you do - then she may be all the more effective."

Paxton let out a brief eruption of exasperation, which Blackfire felt sure included one or two of the more succulent Klingon profanities, ineffectively concealed under his breath. The Captain was not finished, however. "The appointment is provisional, Mister Paxton", she said. "Brightsting will oversee her efforts at all times. If she proves unworthy, I'll appoint another - and you better have a good candidate to offer me in her stead."

The half-Klingon grinned, baring teeth sharper than those of any pure-blooded human. "I guarantee it", he replied coldly.

Blackfire then dismissed the Commander from her ready-room, the ship's pressing business dealt with for now, and settled back into her high-backed leather chair to consider the consequences of her decision. The girl will have a hard time, she thought. Paxton will most likely begin plotting to unseat poor little Starsword, so that he can put that half-breed Nogami in her place. Well, let him try - if he succeeds, the Glider-girl wasn't fit for the post to begin with. If he fails, that damned Klingon-born stubbornness will have taken a dent, and he'll think twice about second-guessing me again...

The door-chime chirped insistently. Blackfire knew at once who was on the other side, sensing those familiar psychic impressions long before the chime sounded, and called the visitor in without need of audible words. ***Enter, my dear...***

The door hissed open, and in strode beautiful, slender Dreamsong, the Captain's Woman. It was more common for a captain to choose a companion of the opposite sex, an interest in one's own gender often being viewed as a weakness, but elven attitudes to such things were far more open, far less rigid. If anyone viewed Blackfire's preferences as a weakness, she would gladly prove them wrong.

"That's something of a first", smirked the golden-haired elf-girl, perching herself on the corner of Blackfire's desk. "I wasn't greeted with a sneer from Old Bump-Face when I stepped out of the turbo-lift."

"Has he been mistreating you?", queried Blackfire, her tone becoming colder, more ominous.

"Oh no", Dreamsong replied. "He just took a dislike to me after he found me in his seat that time."

"You were there because I allowed it", said Blackfire. "Your conduct is my business alone."

Dreamsong glanced back at the ready-room door, imagining the scowling half-Klingon on the other side. "He seemed preoccupied with something", she remarked. "What, I just don't know..."

"I know", said the Captain. "I await the result of his deliberations with some interest..."