A rift in the department

Posted on Wed Jan 22nd, 2020 @ 3:46pm by Lieutenant Day Smith & Commander Curtis Thibideaux & Chief Petty Officer Biv Th'shrolneq

1,157 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Aftermath and Downtime

[ON]

"Welcome, thank you all for joining me," Day spoke softly as she fidgeted with the PADD in her hand. There wasn't really much room on the Defiant class vessel to take the department aside and have a stand up meeting like she was taught, so they were just gathered in the messhall, she had reserved it so that nobody would interrupt them, "It's been a couple of hectic days and I just want to make sure everyone is clear on our goals and projects for the coming week."

Biv sat with his arms crossed and a stoney expression on his face, then snorted. The Chief asked idly, "Does that include more 'hands on' lieutenant. I can tell you I didn't really appreciate being man-handled because you assumed I don't know my job." The Andorian had a petulant look on his face as he met the Op's officer's gaze.

Day frowned a bit at the sudden insertion of the Andorian transporter chief, "I'm sorry?" The rest of her response got stuck in her throat as she looked at the man with her mouth slightly open.

"Oh, excuse me," the Andorian said. "I forgot the sir. And maybe I spoke too fast? Please pardon me, Lieutenant Smith. I thought perhaps we were going to talk as a department about you not trusting us to do our jobs?"

The frown on Day's face only intensified, she had no idea where this was coming from, "I have made an effort in the past week to lay down a foundation of solid rules and guidelines so that everyone in the department knows what is expected of them." She fell back on her prepared topic for this meeting, hoping that it would somehow address the CPO's concern, "I... ehm. Trust that you were all able to read up on those rules and wanted to use this meeting to address any questions you might have."

Non-plussed, the Andorian waited until she finished speaking then returned, "Rules? I saw those but no-where did I see anything about Fleet regs being suspended and commissioned officers being allowed to toss around their subordinates and a summarily taking over a station for no good reason other than they are control freaks."

The Andorran stared at her for a moment, then added belatedly, "Sir."

The rest of the gathered Operations staff sat quietly as the Andorian kept berating the Chief. There were some mumbled responses but nobody stepped in and made it clear to Biv that he might be crossing some line. Nobody outright agreed with him either, but it seemed like the silence of most said enough.

"This is about me rushing in and saving Lieutenant Commander O'Donnaheu?" Day shook her head a bit, "The average human being can survive in the harsh cold vacuum of space for just under two minutes, that is assuming they expelled their breath from their lungs before they are our there. They lose consciousness after about 15 seconds." She started to type some commands on the PADD in her hands and then looked around the room, "Over the course of the past few days we've had several requests for transportation, where a receiving or departing transporter pad was known and included in the request. The average time for you to complete such a request was three minutes and thirteen seconds." She narrowed the parameters of her data on the PADD, "We've also had several requests for a site to site transport, which is perhaps more closely in line with the situation, These requests took you an average of four-minute twenty." She put the PADD on the table and pushed it in the direction of Biv, as if to say 'check it, the math is solid'. "Since the Lieutenant Commander also wasn't wearing a comm badge, the direction that would have been required, and the time it would have taken you to lock on to our Captain's spouse and transport her to safety would not have been sufficiently fast to give the medical staff a chance to save her life."

Bio's eyes narrowed as the ... being that was Valiant's Ops Officer challenged his ability and he didn't even spare a glance toward the rest of the spineless types that were at the table. "So what your'e saying, Lieutenant, is that you looked into the future and saw that I would fail. Or perhaps you have special insights into probabilities and overall effectiveness because you are so in-tune with all us that you know that you don't rush some things when they don't need to be rushed? Regardless of how refined Transporter systems are, on average eighty percent of what we process is living, breathing, feeling, life of one type or another."

The Andorian's eyes flickered over Day saying volume's more than he apparently would vocalize at this point. "In my career, taking as much time as you are allowed and making sure you don't kill people goes with the territory. Maybe you haven't shared that same experience over your long career?"

He waited purposely to the point of insolence before adding, "Ma'am?"

"I made no such claim, Chief, and I would thank you not to continue your insubordinate behaviour in this setting, lest I am forced to take disciplinary measures." Day felt a knot in her stomach as if she had swallowed a rock. While her words were stern and precise as if carefully selected and practised, her body language showed that she was internally panicking, "I would like to return to the topic at hand, please. So that we can start our workday."

The Trill woman next to Biv leaned in and whispered, "Let it go, man," she tapped his knee with her hand under the table, as the people around the table started to speak up and break the super awkward silence she added, "she'll trip up sooner or later, we'll get rid of her before we leave port." said in a whisper barely audible to even Biv.

The Andorian put a stoney expression on his face, sparing a glance toward the Trill then looked back at Day. "Aye aye, ma'am. As you say. There's work to be done."

Day felt a bit of relief for the fact that the Andorian Chief backed down for now. He had been relentless and this could've gone on for some time as she didn't quite know how to deescalate the entire thing. She had made a decision based on available data. It had resulted in saving the Chief Intell. She wondered why someone could be so mad about it. Those were all questions for a later date. Right now she needed to implement her rules and guidelines so that they could increase the department's efficiency by 23%. She took in a deep cleansing breath and started her rundown of the new work standards.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Day Smith
Chief Operations

&

CPO Biv
Transporter specialist
(as portrayed by Cmdr. Curtis Thibideaux)

USS Valiant

 

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