Why the Sabotage went awry

They'd be leaving in less than five hours for the mission, Katla had just been about to close out the temporary office she'd been given on the station for the day when the woman across from her had requested an appointment. Lieutenant Junior Grade Holly Relea had been top of her class judging by how her file only had her as an ensign for a month before the boost in rank. Her house wasn't really one of note either, meaning she'd likely gotten it through merit rather than connections. Which was also the reason she'd been sent into Katla's office.

"Supply Lieutenant JG Relea reporting to Commodore Katla Tostidottir!" She said, her back rigid as a board. Her face was firmly schooled in a neutral expression that was betrayed by the slight quiver in her legs.

"Enough of that. Have a seat." Katla waved off, clearly catching the Lieutenant off guard. She hesitated for a moment before realizing that it was better to follow the order than question it. She quickly took her chair, her back maintaining its board-like qualities. "What brings you to my office today. We're just about to get underway." Katla knew from her excessively detailed appointment request but it seemed like a good way to break the ice. Katla was unreasonably proud of the tiny rhyme though she doubted the junior officer had noticed it.

"A-as your supply liaison officer, I would have been derelict in my duties not to meet with you before your departure commodore. I- I know I should have come earlier but there was so much to do with the- I'm sorry. No excuses. I should have come earlier." The fact that neither Katla nor Jaclyn had known she existed in the first place had definitely curtailed her ability to make the first move. Essentially Lieutenant Relea's job had been to manage the re-fit and resupply of Katla's ships on the shipyard's end. The fact that everything had been running on schedule meant that Katla hadn't actually looked too far into that part. Now that she knew she'd done a quick dive into the situation and what Ralea been doing behind the scenes was nothing short of extraordinary considering her detachment was only at half the strength it was supposed to be and what personnel she had been given all had infractions on their records from prior misconduct.

Fortunately, it turned out that giving a Lieutenant JG who didn't know any better over to a bunch of enlisted clerks who didn't care much for the rules had created an oddly efficient team, as long as nobody looked too closely at how they operated. Still, it rankled Katla that someone had attempted to sink both herself and Relea in a way that Katla wouldn't have noticed until it was too late to fix it. She would have caught it on the RRR(Refit and Resupply Report) if things hadn't been going right but it was questionable if she would have been able to fix it in time for the deployment. Especially as they'd 'forgotten' to add Ralea to Katla's organization chart. It could have been a genuine mistake but she wasn't feeling too generous at the moment.

"Water under the bridge, you're here now. I suspect for a reason." Katla said

"Ah yes Commodore! I've had a chance to look at the operational profile of the mission and I wanted to present you options that might be useful!" The Lieutenant said, holding up a data chip, clearly asking permission to plug it into the table.

"Options like?" Katla asked, indicating for her to go ahead.

"We have operational teams and equipment standing by available for requisition. They cost a bit but you're currently under budget and have extra funds available for procurement purposes." Ralea explained, pulling up a holo-menu between them showing the offerings. The first was an analyst team.

"And is this one of those navies where you use it or lose it?" Katla asked, giving the indicator a tap to get more details.

"Ah no Commodore. It rolls over into the next budget cycle. The Fleet wants to encourage frugality without punishing it. At least not while we're not hurting for funds." Ralea explained. Which meant if you wanted something super shiny you needed to save up for it.

"Alright, give me a quick run-down on how these would help with our mission." Katla asked

"Oh - um - yes Commodore. An analyst team would allow for a better assessment of enemy forces and their likely tactics based on analyzing past combat actions undertaken by those involved in the enemy fleet. They're for if you want a better picture of who you're fighting and what they might do." Relea explained, "The boarding teams are best if you're planning to try and capture an enemy ship or if you think the other side intends to try and capture a ship. There are normal teams and elite ones who are specifically trained for internal ship combat. Last, there's the hacker drones. You use them to try and hack into the enemy network during the battle. If they succeed you can do all sorts of stuff to their ships, but if they shoot them down first or they can't crack encryption they're kind of a waste."

"And we have enough time to get these assets onboard and up to speed?" Katla asked

"Yes Commodore. They're all prepared for rapid deployment."

"Give me a moment to think about it." Katla said.

"Of course Commodore! Ah um." Ralea seemed to freeze up for a moment.

"Is there something else?" Katla asked

"I- uh - was wondering if I could come Commodore." That certainly got Katla's attention. Ralea wasn't a line officer, she was pure Supply Corps instead of logistics like Kane. In Avalon there was a difference. The Supply Corps was typically those who wanted to be in the navy but didn't care about the parts that involved combat or potentially being taken. Often even those who had no interest in the military aspect at all and just wanted to help with the humanitarian relief side of operations. It was considered far less glorious but it was also far safer, particularly because the only times they really went out were on missions where interdiction either wasn't allowed or was very unlikely.

"Why?" Katla asked.

"I... you're my only ships Commodore. I'd be much better able to report and prepare for their fulfillment if I were with them and see their expenditures up close." Katla suspected that first part was the real reason. A supply lieutenant without any ships to manage would be detailed to every bit of bitch work available and with her reduced shop that would be even worse than usual as they'd treat her as if she had a full one. She probably meant the detail about the experience as well but that was secondary.

"You know what that means right? We're going into combat. A line battle at that. It's highly likely we're going to take hits and it's a five-year term if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do you have any kids? A wife?" Katla had forgotten to actually check that part of the file.

"Ah no Commodore." She said.

"You'll have at least three by the time you leave if you get captured," Katla explained, and that was on the low end, mostly because she'd probably be given over to a humanitarian support section to ply her actual skillset.

"Wives?"

"Kids, though you might find a few wives, wouldn't be the first time," Katla said with a smile. "Plus you know the system likes supply officers." Katla had read they'd done an actual study on that and even after controlling for variables the system genuinely did seem to have a slight preference for picking supply officers as part of the prize. Nobody had actually been able to find the underlying cause but sailor tradition said it was because the system so rarely got a chance at them it overcompensated.

"I thought that was a myth?" Relea said.

"Pretend like it isn't. Do you still want to come?"

"Yes, Commodore."