Stepping back

Posted on 05 Sep 2015 @ 8:54pm by Captain Jonathan Holliday
Edited on on 09 Sep 2015 @ 2:51am

880 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: USS Galileo - CO's ready room
Timeline: MD 4 late

[ON]

Still feeling a little out of sorts from the bump on her head during the transition to wherever they were now, T'Vanna made her way to the bridge. Her visits to the Galileo's bridge were rare at best, since she was always somehow in the intelligence offices. She hesitated a moment but realised that this was what she had to do, at the risk of the captain's disappointment in her. Composing herself a final time, she pressed her hand against the chime, then waited.

"Come!" Holliday called back as he heard the door break him from his concentration. He had stayed on to work later than perhaps he might have intended, albeit with the illumination in his Ready Room set to a lower level, with only a dim glow from the ceiling lighting, and the bulk of the room's light coming from the lamp on the corner of his desk as he stared down at a PADD containing a status update.

"I apologize to disturb you this late sir," the young Vulcan woman spoke as she stepped inside, "but this really can't wait. It'd reflect badly on me, and the department if I did put this off sir." Her eyes took a moment to adjust against the low lighting, but she saw the captain sit at his desk. "I wish to step back from the departmenthead position sir."

She paused, giving him an opportunity to cut in.

Holliday quickly put down the PADD in his hand, folding his hands together on the desk in front of him before reaching out to tap the controls to his right to increase the illumination in his officer to a more comfortable level than the dimpsy twilight it had been before.

"For what reason Lieutenant?" He asked coldly.

"I don't feel I'm ready sir," she continued, "I got injured during the battle or whatever happened and I'm not feeling right and it made me realise that I'm just not ready, I don't have enough experience but there's someone in the department who does..." She realized she was starting to babble, so she let her voice trail off, watching Holiday intently.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow at the request. They were caught in a situation where they were essentially alone without any contact with Starfleet, sat on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere requiring serious repair, and one of his department heads had decided she could no longer do her job.

"Not ready? Lieutenant you have been in your post for sometime now - and now you tell me it has taken you this long to decide that in fact you are not ready to do that work? How do you expect me to react to that?"

"I don't know sir," T'Vanna answered uncertainly, "but you must know I have tried. But with being forced to leave my daughter behind because of games..." She shook her head. "That's too much for me. I should've remained behind too, I know that now. But I do know of a suitable, and experienced replacement sir... Chief Faye, he's got far more experience, especially field experience than I do. He could do a far better job than me, if he's given the chance. I know he was demoted but he worked very hard so far. He's very determined to prove himself."

Holliday's ocular foliage remained raised. Not only was he having to deal with the fact that one of his officers wished to step down, but now it was compounded by her recommendation that a disgraced former officer that he himself had demoted be made into a department head?

"Mr Faye hasn't exactly earned himself any favours here Lieutenant. Are you seriously suggesting that I reinstate the officer commission of a man that I myself had to strip of rank?"

"Yes sir. I have every faith in his performance and he has certainly become quite dependable. Over the last days he's proven very loyal and he's taken up some of my work when I was incapacitated, and my assistant...vanished sir."

Holliday sat back in his chair as he thought. There was no way that he would be happy to allow the ship to continue without a full complement of senior officers, but equally he was unsure as to how best to handle the situation. It would involve reversing one of his own decisions, and giving a man with a less than satisfactory track record a senior position.

"I...will humour you Lieutenant. Have Mr Faye report to my office in the morning. I want to see the whites of his eyes before I make a decision."

"I appreciate it sir, I'll have him report after his shift. He's really done well sir." T'Vanna gave him an uncertain smile. "I wish things were different, but I'm just not the right person for this position and its not fair to anyone to pretend that I am."

"We shall see. Dismissed." The captain replied curtly, adding this to the increasingly long line of headaches with which he would have to deal.

T'Vanna just simply gave him a polite nod, before walking out of the office.

OFF:

Lieutenant j.g. T'Vanna Murray
Chief Intelligence Officer (retiring)
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

RSS Feed