Clearing the Air

Posted on 18 Apr 2015 @ 3:00am by Commander Travis Stone & Major Richard Sharpe

2,160 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: M13-A: From the Old to the New
Location: Holodeck 3

ON:
The holodeck, one place Travis could truly get away from everything and have a little bit of privacy. He had sent a request to the Marine CO to meet him here, since they needed to work out the past before it became an issue the Commodore noticed. Right now, the holodeck was in the usual shutdown mode, with only a table off to the side that he had a plan for. All that he needed now, was for Richard to show up.

And show up he did.

For his part, he wasn't sure whether he should have shown up or not. He resented the XO, and wondered what fanciful narcotic the Commodore had been smoking when he'd decided to bring Stone back on board as his XO again, considering the last time the guy had basically mutinied. Just because the Commodore had gone senile, didn't mean that Sharpe wasn't going to be extra vigilant in watching what this man did. However, for the time being at least, the man was his superior officer, and when summoned to the holodeck by such a person, one usually obeyed.

He entered the holodeck, wearing his duty uniform, and stood at parade rest once the doors closed behind him, staring at the XO. "You summoned me, Commander?" He asked, sternly.

"Let's drop the formalities, they won't do either of us any good. This is also not official." Travis stated as he took both the commbadge, and the rank pips off and set them down on the table. "Look, there's a bit of a bad feeling between yourself and me, and I want to settle that informally before it becomes an issue. We've got a seventy year trip to look forward to, and while I know you'll perform your duties no matter what, it'd be easier if we weren't at one another's throats." He paused to give Richard a moment to see if the man would bite, or just walk out.

Richard walked over to the table, removed his own comm badge, and let it drop onto the table. "There's bad blood, Stone, because you betrayed the man you swore to serve with integrity and loyalty. You raised troops against him, you turned his officers against him, and when he needed you the most - you were getting comfortable in the centre chair. So yeah, I have a problem with you. You ordered Starfleet officers to fire on Starfleet officers, and fired on my marines."

"I don't need to remind you above all people, that the oath we take is to the Fleet, and the Federation. As XO, my job is to assist the CO, make sure things don't get to his notice that don't need to, but first and foremost is to maintain our responsibility to the Fleet and the UFP. As for comfortable? HA! That was the most uncomfortable thing I've ever had to do in my entire career, Marine or Fleet. And I made sure that the officers who could, and would reinstate him, were the ones that knew him better than I did." Travis responded back in a more calm tone. He was glad to see Richard was staying put, perhaps there might be a chance to start healing this breach.

"I'm a marine, Travis. I have been since I was sixteen. We have a value system, an honour code. We trust the man next to us, because without trust, there is no unit. In combat, you need to know that the man in the foxhole beside you will have your back, and right now - I don't know if you'd have my back if I needed you to. So no, I don't trust you. I will do my duty, and my duty compels me to obey your orders, but right now, I am faced with the dilemma that if we were in a combat environment, I might not do everything in my power to keep you alive. That scares me, Mister ExOh. I have never, not once, had that feeling about another man I serve with, and I hate questioning my loyalties." Sharpe said, speaking freely, as commanded.

"Again, let me draw it to your attention that I know exactly what it is to be a Marine. I was in combat myself as a rifleman throughout the Dominion War, and some of the smaller battles after. You say you don't trust me, I can respect that to a point. But let me reverse the situation and ask you this. If you had been in my place, and seen your CO order a single ship into battle against an entire fleet after watching his father's murder by that fleet, would you have let that continue and lose more of your people to an action you know there was no chance of winning? Could your honour withstand loss of life in a futile gesture?" Travis shot back.

"Then you take the man to one side, explain that to him, and you let him make that judgement. Or you talk to the CMO, the Counsellor, anyone. You appointed yourself judge, jury and executioner, and that is not your place to do so. There's a two man rule for a reason, Commander. Six-One-Nine doesn't give you the authority to relieve the Commanding Officer arbitrarily without a second senior officer backing you up." Sharpe replied. "And say you're right, you still took up arms against your Captain. You still ordered men to fire on other Starfleet personnel. You turned what was a bad situation into a disaster of epic proportions because of your ego!"

"Battle situtation. We were already under fire when the order was given, so how exactly was I supposed to take him to the side and talk it out? Also, if you review the logs, I did try to stop the order before I enacted Six-One-Nine, and he refused to listen." Travis was at least relieved it was coming into the open, now he just had to find a way to bridge the problem.

"You really ought to brush up on your regs there though for fleet side if you are going to use them. Six-one-Nine does NOT require a second officer's verification to be inacted, it would make no sense for it to. It's the XO's check on the CO's power. The verification comes from reinstatement. As for the CMO or others, that's exactly whom I left it to for his reinstatement. If they felt I was out of line, they would be required to make it known and use that as the authorization for the reinstatement of command. Again, check the logs, the CMO was definitely not on my side as you put it, but she did not enter into the record that I was wrong to do so."

"Did I order personnel to fire on others, absolutely not. Go back and check, I ordered that a watch be kept only on the Admiral. I wasn't even aware of what happened, until it happened. Which I will still take responsibility for, I should have made it plain not to fire, but do everything else short of it to prevent more issues." Keeping his calm was really beginning to strain, but this next one, he needed the anger to get the point across.

Now Travis pinned Richard with a firm, almost fiery glare. "Since you brought up that topic, how do YOU justify violating your oath to the SFMC and the Federation in aiding and abetting in theft of fleet property? You claim I broke honor and oath, you're by no means clear of that brush yourself. Since at the time you and the other Marines helped with stealing the part of the ship, fleet command had labelled my actions as 'justified'. "

"I, and many others, did not recognise your removal of Admiral Da'nal as lawful, so we were following the lawful orders of our commanding officer." Sharpe replied. "Which, subsequently, the inquiry found we were within the de jure` right to do. Either way we throw this, Commander, both of us were right, and both of us were wrong. What bothers me is that you didn't have the Admiral's back when he needed you the most. He'd just lost his father, which to a Klingon is a big deal. He needed your support, instead you removed him from command and humiliated him in the worst possible way one officer can do to another. The rights or wrongs not withstanding, you could have taken him off the bridge quietly, you could have done a hundred different things. Instead, you stood up in the middle of the bridge, and called him unfit for command. By any measure, that is sticking a knife in. Some of my marines felt you were getting ready to polish up some stars for your collar."

He moved away a few steps, turning away, then grasped his forehead with the fingers of his right hand. He paused for a few moments, then turned back to face Stone. "I don't subscribe to that view. Regardless of how I feel about you, I know that wasn't your motivation. You were caught in an impossible situation, and you had to make a judgement call. It wasn't about feathering your career cap, it was you doing what you had to do. I felt then, and still do now, feel that you betrayed the Admiral, and in so doing, you betrayed all of us. The fact that Fleet Command vindicated you is of no comfort to the men and women who feel that you betrayed them."

"So it's emotional, which isn't surprising for a Marine. I've already explained why it was impossible for any other way to stop him from his actions, and think about this, if he HAD gone on, and survived, with the ship either crippled or destroyed, what would have been his fate then? You claim I didn't support him, I claim I was more looking out for the long term interest." Travis sighed now.

"You're right, we both did what we felt we had to, let me ask you two more questions. Have you even asked Da'nal about his reactions to my conduct, or why he even brought me back to the same post, where I might be forced to make the same decisions again? Lastly, we're both at a feeling where we can't trust one another. How do we fix it? If you can't and won't trust me, your attitude will infect the Marines totally, and make them unreliable in the forthcoming missions when I am involved. Most of the Marines assigned are new, which means if we can't trust one another, one of us has to go before we depart Sol, and prevent a problem that there will be no cure for in the next seventy years. That means it'd come down to his decision."

As much as it pained him to admit it, the man was right. There could be no animosity between the ship's first officer and the marine detachment CO. Too much was at stake for that, and it would be a poison pill for morale. It would pitch marine against fleet, and start a petty rivalry between the Starfleet crew and the marines, which could only escalate beyond measure. It was a nightmare scenario that Sharpe played out in his head, and it was two men's egos that threatened to cause serious issues. "What do you propose?" He asked, after a few moments silence.

"My Gunny would have told us to put the gloves on and beat the tar out of one another, he was usually one to go for a physical answer. Don't think that would work here. Other than a firefight, what else would restore trust, which yes I know, will take time. We need to find a way to trust one another on a small basis, then let it grow naturally." Travis wasn't trying to turn the question back, but he didn't know how to make Richard trust, that had to be answered by Richard.

"I think its going to be a case of 'wait and see'." Richard replied. "We didn't get off to a great start, you and I, but we have a lot of time to work on that."

"I'll take that for a start. Perhaps you would assist me in retraining some of my more rusty skill sets as well?" Travis asked hopefully.

That brought a smile to the marines face. "Would be a pleasure, Commander." He said. "You'll probably want to get yourself rated on the new equipment we've had brought aboard. Lots of new toys."

"I saw the manifest. I think I let them talk me into taking the fleet route too early. Let's figure out a time after we get launched but before DS9 to start. I'll send you a list of times and you can pick. Let's get back to our duties, Captain."

OFF
Commander Travis Stone
XO

Captain Richard Sharpe
MCO

 

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