Fact gathering

Posted on 16 Nov 2014 @ 10:44pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Lance Nelson & Commander Travis Stone

1,567 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M12: For Duty or Honor
Location: XO's Office

"Computer, locate Master Chief Nelson and request his presence in my office at his earliest convenience." Travis had decided to remain in the XO's office since he hoped the removal of the Admiral would be revoked soon enough, before the grumbling on ship turned into a full out mutiny. Since Fleet Command had not returned a decision, and Captain Franklin had decided to let it sit until it does, there had been more audible dissent among the crew. Right now, he needed to update himself on what was going on, and the best person for that was the Admiral's Yeoman. Until Nelson arrived, he went back through the ships' logs and transmissions.


[Deck 5]

Lance stepped out of the empty quarters and looked down the corridor at the back of the Marine he had just spoken with. At the hail he saw SSgt Frey's stride catch; he didn't stop or look back but kept going about his task. Lance had been expecting the summons at soon as he had heard the Commander's announcement, even more so after he had heard the grumbling and now especially since he had spoke to the Admiral's guard and escort. He let out a long deep breath...."Shit; here we go."


[Deck 2 - XO's Office]

The turbo lift ride seemed to talk forever as he contemplated his actions...which path he would take. Stepping off the lift he made his way to the XO's office; pressing the chime as he arrived.

'Here we go.' Travis thought to himself, standing up at the desk. "Enter!" he called out, this was going to almost be as pivotal a meeting as the senior staff meeting for him.

The door opened and Lance stepped in, "You wished to see me Commander?"

"Yes I did, please have a seat Master Chief. Something to drink?" Travis offered. Despite being an officer for years, his early habits left him with a higher amount of respect for the senior enlisted.

Lance moved and took the seat offered, as he did he replied. "Thank you sir. What with everything that's gone down today I sure could use one...that's for sure. But for now I'll just take an ice water if you don't mind."

Travis nodded to that, understanding the sentiment and wishing he could himself, but instead went over and tapped in for one ice water and one iced tea. Setting it infront of Lance, he sat back down and decided to be direct about what he needed. "Let me preface this, I'm not going to ask you to betray any information or confidences the Admiral and you share. I've been reading through the ships logs and transmissions, attempting to get up to date on what's going on. They paint one picture, but I need more information than the logs show, and you would be the best place to start with."

Lance shrugged slightly. His gut told him what the Commander was looking for but he would wait to see where the commander took things. "Well without knowing what logs and messages you've been reviewing I don't know what picture you thinks been painted. However, given recent events I can only assume what you might be looking for.

"I don't have the time to go through the crew records with more than a cursory glance , so that's not it. I need to know what was going on that brought the ship into this conflict point. I know the Admiral is rightly given quite a bit of latitude by command, unfortunately I don't have that. So any and everything I do has to be on the record and verifiable." Was he hunting, absolutely. Travis' mindset right now was more focused on what the potential conflicts might be from the interactions, rather than on the Admiral himself.

Lance sat back in his chair and stared at the beads of condensation forming on the glass. "Well if you mean the Achilles being assigned a supposed milk run only to have the Admiral have to face his own people. Some might call it dumb luck; I call it a set up.

"You being new here wouldn't know that he has a few powerful enemies in some of the shadowy sides of Starfleet. They've tried to bring him up on charges before but he has been able to beat them all. I wouldn't doubt it that he was sent out here to fail. On the Romulan side you have the fact that Romulans and Klingons don't have the best of relations. Then you add Klingon raids on the border worlds. Then to top it off the Romulan running the systems here is a former ambassador...one who's family had had a blood feud with the Admiral's house for over a century.

"Then you have the Klingon side of things. Starfleet knew there were raids on the camps and refugee supply ships...and they send a Klingon to side against his own people...." Lance merely shook his head.

"Not surprising the Admiral has enemies, infact it would be surprising if he didn't. Does explain a lot though, and gives me an idea of how to proceed. Tell me about the senior staff, Master Chief. I'm not immune to the fact we're on the brink of a mutiny, I need a way to lessen it, or if possible cancel it. The CMO ruined the original plan." Travis grimaced.


Lance sat back in his chair and stared at the beads of condensation forming on the glass. "Well if you mean the Achilles being assigned a supposed milk run only to have the Admiral have to face his own people. Some might call it dumb luck; I call it a set up.

"You being new here wouldn't know that he has a few powerful enemies in some of the shadowy sides of Starfleet. They've tried to bring him up on charges before but he has been able to beat them all. I wouldn't doubt it that he was sent out here to fail. On the Romulan side you have the fact that Romulans and Klingons don't have the best of relations. Then you add Klingon raids on the border worlds. Then to top it off the Romulan running the systems here is a former ambassador...one who's family had had a blood feud with the Admiral's house for over a century.

"Then you have the Klingon side of things. Starfleet knew there were raids on the camps and refugee supply ships...and they send a Klingon to side against his own people...." Lance merely shook his head.

"Not surprising the Admiral has enemies, in fact it would be surprising if he didn't. Does explain a lot though, and gives me an idea of how to proceed. Tell me about the senior staff, Master Chief. I'm not immune to the fact we're on the brink of a mutiny, I need a way to lessen it, or if possible cancel it. The CMO ruined the original plan." Travis grimaced

Not knowing what he meant by original plan he at least would address the Commander's question. "Well there's anger to be sure, but that's to be expected. Nobody knows who you are and only a handful know what really happened on the bridge. But as you know rumor moves at warp 10." Shrugging, "Maybe all you need to do is explain what happened."

"That's next on my schedule. I'm setting up a meeting with the senior staff in an hour or so, but I needed the information to work from first. The only thing that troubles me is that from the Admiral's record, I wouldn't have expected him to just given up like this. Something has to be going on, I just can't think what it could be. Any insight or commentary would be welcome, but if there's nothing more, you can go Master Chief." Travis gave a level, open look. Lance would hopefully be able to tell he was dead serious about this.

Knowing he was walking a thin line he stood to leave, but before he left he spoke. "The Admiral took the ship in to face the fleet because he got an advance warning from members of his House. The i can only assume that the only reason he didn't kill you and take this ship down Toran's throat is that he was able to make other preparations to protect his House and family.

"The Admiral is in a very difficult position but I never seen him one to trade one dishonor for another."

That statement did absolutely nothing to calm Travis' worry that something was coming, in fact, it made the worry a lot stronger. Why hadn't he resumed command, considering medical should have cleared him by now? Why hadn't the report been filed by the CMO yet on his mental state? How was he going to pull the other senior officers and crew back before they all did something that would ruin their careers? As Lance walked out, those there were the questions occupying his mind.

"Computer, alert all senior staff to a mandatory meeting, at 0700 in the main conference room. All departments will be represented, and need to bring their most recent updates and status listings for equipment and personnel." Time to get some rest and then start this process.

OFF

Commander Travis Stone
Worried Temporary CO

MCPO Lance Nelson
Yeoman - NPC played by Da`nal

 

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