Facing the Music: Part 1

Posted on 21 Jul 2014 @ 6:12pm by Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Norvi Stace & Commander Luke Wyatt & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark

2,854 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2 - First Officer's Office
Timeline: MD 06: 0800 hrs

ON:

Scarlet had not started the day in the best of moods. She had already had to settle Lily down after she'd found her daughter hugging and stroking a tribble and then wasn't at all happy when she'd had to wrestle her knewly adopted pet away from her.

And now....an early meeting to sort out a report that had landed on her desk regarding inappropriate behaviour at the bar. Not too much drinking...an out and out shouting public shouting match between an enlisted crew member and an officer.

Lieutenant Norvi Stace and Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark had been ordered to her office so she could figure out just exactly what had happened to have two of the crew kicking off. She'd also asked Wyatt to join them as Stark's department head. She couldn't pull in an equivalent for Stace, as she was the department head, one reason that Scarlet was surprised at having to haul her into her office first thing in the morning following a complaint of conduct.

Stace was first to enter. To declare that she knew nothing of the reason as to why she had been summoned to Blake's office would have been an untruth. Her fiery temper rupturing forth from her belly had gotten her into trouble before. It always seemed to be the Janel in her. Stoic, authoritative and sometimes out of line. And the Norvi in her seemed to have to collect the pieces to make of it what she could when the fire had died down and all she was left with was the plumes of smoking memories. She lowered her head and nodded to Scarlet as she entered. "Commander," she said and then stood before her desk with her hands tightly clasped behind her back.

"Commander," Gabriel echoed from behind her as he virtually followed her in. For Gabriel, he had more to contemplate in terms of why he had been pulled in to the First Officer's office....however, when he had realised he was following Stace in, it had become clear. He sighed inwardly, tired as he touched the chain around his neck briefly.

Luke had just finished a security inventory check of the ships weapons when he had been called by Blake to attend some sort of meeting. Scarlet being herself didn't explain much and so left him wondering what the whole situation was about. Upon entering the officer he saw that it was occupied by Blake, Lieutenant Stace and petty officer Stark. "Sorry I'm late Commander." He had heard about the upset in the bar previously before the meeting and was already thinking who he was going to have to put in the brig.

Blake waited in silence for a long moment, looking at the PADD on her desk. When she spoke, it was softly and slowly. "I have a report on my desk that says two members of this privileged crew were shouting and threatening each other in the bar...." she looked up to Stace and Stark, arching an eyebrow, her jaw tense with her displeasure. "Would someone like to explain why this complaint is clogging up my desk between tribbles and miners going missing?"

"I can explain," Stace began, flicking her attention to Stark and then back to Blake. "I -- uh -- No, I actually can't," she then continued, lowering her head with regret. "It -- uh -- it's to do with high tensions after the loss of one of our away team in the mines, Sir. The guy you found. We were talking about his loss." Quietly, under her breath she added, "Which probably makes this situation worse."

Scarlet looked between them, taking in the look on their faces before frowning. She sighed, waving a delicate hand. "I have the feeling that I've walked into the middle of something here. Why don't you start from the beginning."

Gabriel looked across to Stace with an arched eyebrow before sighing heavily, rubbing his face with an awkward hand. "We disagreed on the away team. When Ruktah disappeared. She told me to shut up, but I wouldn't shut my mouth," he explained bluntly.

"So," Stace continued, as though Stark had left pause for her to, "I approached him when we returned to smooth the waters. Only..." and then she waited, looking over to Stark, "I hit a nerve. And then he hit a nerve. And the next thing I know we're yelling. It wasn't one of my finer moments. But I won't have my orders questioned in the field. I guess I let me anger get the better of me."

Luke was putting together a puzzle in his mind he knew how Stace felt on how orders should be obeyed and how she willingly went to try and smooth things out but he had also been on the other end of this stick where he has been the one to disobey orders and to do something he shouldn't do. He even understood about hitting the wrong nerves just as he had when he first joined the ship and got thrown in the brig.

"But what if it's the wrong order?" Gabriel shook his head, half turning to Stace with a frown. "Ruktah was missing....I know our phasers were out, but you wanted us to just leave without even making a proper search for him! All I wanted to do was have a chance to look for him properly, but you said we had to leave right then and there....you ordered us to not only leave a man, one of my colleagues, behind, but to not even look properly for him! And then you told me to shut up about it....I know it was an order, but lodging a complaint back on ship would have been too late...the chance to find him was down there and in that moment!"

Scarlet frowned as she looked across to Luke, holding her breath for a moment. They had both been marines. They lived and died by the mantra of never leaving a man behind. But they also lived and died on the need to follow orders. It was obvious by the heightened colour and voice of the young security officer that it was something he felt strongly about, even now. No doubt that was why it had carried on in the bar.

"Unfortunately," Stace replied, glancing sideways to Stark, "that's not your concern. When the order comes from a superior, it is never wrong. Despite how wrong the order might, in reality, be."

"You're both so very right and so very wrong but what you have to understand is that in any given situation this is a tough call to make, a call that I myself have had to make. I Agree that no man or woman should be left behind in fact very much so I would risk my own life to do so however." Luke turned and looked mostly at Stark "Recently even I have had to come to terms that there are times when you can not make that decision especially if you're not the ranking officer, an order is an order no matter how much you disagree with it."

Now turning to Blake to address her, "I don't think what the problem is here is whether or not you should have looked or should have not looked my main concern is how an officer and a enlisted crewman of this here ship the Galileo couldn't settle their disagreement in the proper professional manner that they should have and instead decided to do it in public and so aggressively that from reports could have ended up in a brawl. Not my words. You have both in my personal and professional opinion let yourselves down and the crew. If you can not settle you argument quietly and respectively then nothing should be said at all, furthermore Mr Stark if you cannot follow an order to the letter without delay you should consider a different line of work and Ma'am if you can not uphold the very value of your crew mates and or discipline of your command then you to should look at a different line of work we are here to preserve democracy not practice it" Turning to Blake once more "I Have nothing more to add."

Stace's sideway glance to Stark began to narrow as the fury she felt for him shifted. Her green, sparkling eyes scanned the room over to Luke as her breath began to quicken. Through gritted teeth, she regretfully began to talk. "Maybe a career trudging through the trenches; loosing men left, right and centre, has hardened you somewhat," she began to hiss. "But I'm not accustomed to loosing people on my watch. Colleagues, equals or subordinates. So if you've got any tips of how to turn my beating heart into the swinging brick you obviously carry in that sunken chest of yours then I'll be glad to hear it." She now turned to face him fully. "But if neither I nor Mr. Stark here can get upset about losing a man, regardless of the situation, then I no longer want to wear these pips."

Her slender hand reached up to her collar as the gentle popping of the pips sounded as she tore them from the fabric. Placing it into his outstretched hand, she continued. "I'm not a security officer, Mr. Wyatt. Nor a marine who has worked his way up the ranks. If my sensibility isn't quite hardened enough for this post on a science-specific vessel, then I'd rather not disgrace your company by being a part of it."

Scarlet shook her head with a frown, clearly not impressed with the reaction. She'd agreed with pretty much everything Wyatt had said. And like him, she was most concerned that two professionals weren't able to draw a line under it and move on...and more, had decided to have a public shouting match. The reaction also showed that Stace had something of a temper on her, which was also concerning.

"Enough," Blake said firmly, waving her hand quickly as she sat forward. "Enough! Mr Wyatt's points were all valid. And both of you should learn from them. Mr Stark, you were a representative of security expertise in your away team. You had the right to voice your concern from a security stand point. I understand where you're coming from, I was a marine, we would often put our lives at risk to follow our mantra that no man should be left behind. But once your opinion is heard, and the order is given, you need to be able to follow your orders despite how you feel."

"But it was life or death! There would have been no chance to correct the mistake once we were back..." Stark frowned, letting out a strained breath.

"Don't argue with me...I'm speaking now," Scarlet said firmly, holding her hand up, her eyes holding a clear warning. "I understand that it was a life or death situation, but those are the situations that you need to follow orders quickly in. To prevent more death. Now, you originally enrolled in the officers' training for Starfleet, but for reasons better left unsaid, you couldn't complete and instead became enlisted...."

"Just say it, Commander, I was kicked out," Stark said quietly, looking to the viewport with a deep frown, his hand reaching up to play with the chain around his neck.

"Like it or not, officers are trained to handle those difficult and complex decisions, but you're enlisted now and your job is to make it happen," Scarlet continued, pointing to him. "An officer is in control, you are to respond to their orders. If you feel an order was wrong, you lodge a complaint once everyone is safe, you don't stand and argue about it...." she waved her finger to stop him interrupting. "I know you felt that it would be too late for Ruktah by then, but we have procedures for a reason, and in this case, it was to keep the rest of the team safe. You will follow your orders, Stark. You will not stand and argue about it for half an hour with an officer."

Scarlet took a calming breath, shaking her head as she looked to Stace. "But it goes both ways, Lieutenant Stace...you had a security trained team member who was offering his opinion on a security manner. Now, I'm going to assume that you took that advice seriously and gave it due consideration. I wasn't there, but I assume as an officer that you did, and reached your decision despite that advice. Now, as I said, officers are in control, but that also means that you need to maintain a level of real control, not just over others, but also yourself....that means you do not, after the event, continue your argument with an enlisted crew member in a public space. You do not threaten them and shout at them. It means you carry yourself with the dignity and good conduct that uniform and those officer pips deserve. You are an officer because your judgement is deemed to be good....you showed poor judgement when you decided to argue with a junior member of this crew, who you should be mentoring, not bashing, in public...." Scarlet pointed over at Stark at that. "And the conduct lecture goes to you too, young man, you do not have an argument with an officer in public, you do not raise your voice in anger in public...you're meant to prevent public aggression in the security department, not be part of it, especially with your past record."

Scarlet sat back, shaking her head, her usually pale skin slightly flushed. "I am disappointed with the behaviour of both of you. This rubbish..." she lifted the PADD with the report on, shaking it before throwing it back on the desk. "...is unacceptable, unprofessional and degrading both to yourselves and the uniform you are wearing. Threats...shouting...slinging dirt at each other for all to hear....it is unbecoming of an officer, it is unbecoming of enlisted personnel, and frankly, it's unbecoming of civilised people. I'd be disappointed if green cadets were doing it, but two serving crew members of experience? If you don't like each other and how you work? Fine, don't talk to each other, don't see each other, but you make sure that this is never repeated and that you are grown up enough to draw a line under it and move on. If I even get a hint of another dispute between you or this getting in the way of serving together on the ship or on an away team, I will put you both in the brig, am I understood?"

Stark frowned, swallowing hard as he looked down at the words, a distinctly unpleasant feeling of shame washing over him. "Yes, Commander."

Stace, on the other hand, remained a little stoic and defiant. She knew how this situation played out on both sides of the coin. You speak out of turn and it worsens the situation. You agree and nod, take the slap on the wrist and in time it's forgotten. She'd commanded enough insubordinates in her two careers in Starfleet to know the plot to this formaility. But something about this particular situation grated on her sense of self a little more than usual. "Do I understand the connected words in the form of the sentence you have just spoken? Yes. I don't happen to agree with them however. But for the sake of protocol I will outwardly agree to the terms you've laid down and go on record to say that I 'understand'. You won't hear of me connecting to any emotional feeling I may have in the future about anything, or acting upon them. I will keep my temper under control and deactivate from any emotional subroutines I have recently installed. Oh, wait. I'm not a robot!" She paused, visibly now relaxing as she lowered her head. She then widened her eyes at what had just fallen out of her mouth.

Stace held up her hand as a way of continuing her dialogue... and as an apology. "I'm sorry. Commander," she then added with a sigh. "I do let my temper get the better of me sometimes and," turning to Stark, she continued, "I apologise for how I reacted with you. Both on the mission and back on the ship. It's my responsibility as the ranking officer to keep the situation under control. And I didn't."

"Mr Stark, would you wait outside? Don't go far, we'll want to talk to you next," Scarlet shook her head with a frown as the young man left the office, clearly not pleased at being talked back to in such a manner by Stace.

TBC:


Senior Chief Petty Officer Luke Wyatt
Acting Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

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