Editing Elaine Coffey

===Leading the ''Nereid''===

{{Quote|I didn't want this. But nobody's going to be out of the action. We'll need everyone working together.|Elaine encourages the others stranded with her.}}

A meeting was held between Coffey, Rasul, Tanris, [[Sergeant]] [[Chan]], and the head of the construction crews, [[Kalanga]]. Elaine explained to them that though they had exited slipspace, they were still on-course in normal space, albeit at a greatly reduced speed. They were decades or even centuries away from anywhere of significance. Major Tanris expressed a desire to begin planning for the ''Nereid'''s defense, should she be boarded, but Elaine reminded her and the others that they had other pressing matters to consider. The hauler was rapidly losing heat and without working carbon dioxide scrubbers, they would all be dead shortly if a solution wasn't reached for their energy crisis. Coffey proposed that everyone repurpose equipment in the ship's gymnasium and that belonging to Kalanga's construction crews to supply it with mechanical energy to keep them alive for the time being. Tanris was somewhat resistant to Coffey's strong display of leadership, owing to the unique situation and her inexperience in the command role, but she acquiesced to her wishes concerning immediate priorities. For the next few weeks, all personnel on the {{UNSCShip|Nereid}} cooperated to keep air and water filtration operating at the necessary capacity. Lieutenant Commander Coffey and Lieutenant Rasul investigated drawing heat from their [[M441 Hornet Remote Explosive System|Hornet mines]] but found that the radioactivity that they'd be exposed to would be too great. Just as thy gave up on that pursuit, Tanris, Chan, and others entered the hold where they were, trailing a length of spare cabling. The marines proposed linking the [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine|slipspace drive]] with the Hornet mines to create a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, but Coffey explained that she and Rasul had just looked into doing something similar and decided it was too dangerous. To this, Sergeant Chan replied that the mines could be towed behind the ship, which would protect those aboard from radiation. Rasul bristled at this since it would require committing the rest of the ship's good cabling to the endeavor. Coffey agreed with the Lieutenant and also said she didn't want to waste air and heat by having trips outside the ship. She also noted that they couldn't even know if the drive could even be reactivated if it had enough power. Her doubts frustrated Major Tanris, who stated that she had already talked to Kalanga about the plan and gotten the construction crews to get behind it. She asked for Elaine's help, seeing as her people were best suited to set up the makeshift generator. Lieutenant Commander Coffey reluctantly assented to the plan.{{Ref/Reuse|TFSU}}

[[File:coffey3.png|300px|thumb|left|Lieutenant Commander Coffey and Major Tanris debate in the cargo hold.]]

===Revelation===

{{Quote|If we don't want to fight one another--then everyone needs to go down fighting for something else instead. Your idea wasn't a bad one, Kell. It might even work if we had the right munitions. I was the only person who knew that we didn't--and that made it a '''''great''''' idea. Something to live for. A cause.|Elaine confesses to Major Tanris.}}

Several days later, Coffey was alone by an observation port, drinking Tennessee whiskey and watching the cooperative effort underway outside. Tanris called her name and came storming into the room she was in. Elaine sarcastically let her know that they didn't have any coffee. Tanris, not in a mood for jokes, drew her sidearm on Elaine and threatened her with a [[court-martial]]. Over the last few days, she had run calculations and realized that the ''Nereid'''s shield rating was woefully inadequate to protect them from the yield of the Hyperion warheads. Coffey barely responded to this information from the Major, and it was this that made Kell realize that she had known all along and allowed the doomed and deadly plan to proceed anyway. Tanris accused the commander of plotting the murder of everyone aboard, but Coffey simply responded by saying it couldn't be murder because they were all already dead and had been for some time. Inevitably, she said, things would turn very ugly among the survivors as resources continued to dwindle. She knew that nobody would be willing to accept just giving up, so in order to prevent a violent and bloody end, she decided to give them hope and let them die that way. Having confessed to Tanris, she offered to concede the command and allow her to choose what to do next. Kell was at a loss for words for a moment, but then she came around to what Coffey was telling her. She accepted that there was nothing to be done for any of them, and that the best they could hope for was a quick, collective death that didn't involve anyone abandoning their humanity in their final days. The two agreed to keep what they knew to themselves as they watched the crews outside forging their own destruction and made a final toast to hope.{{Ref/Reuse|TFSU}}