The Trials of Command

Posted on 12 Aug 2012 @ 4:47pm by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Captain Jonathan Holliday

2,027 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD09 0300hours

[ON]

Taking a breath, Pola stood outside the doors to the ready room. She wasn't 100% certain what would face her behind these doors but either way she knew she would have to defend her actions. The resulting damage to the ship had added hours to the repair schedule and now they had a Vorta onboard.

Hitting the chime on the door, Pola had to wait a few moments before the doors slid slowly open. Taking a breath, Pola limped her way in, coming to a stop infront of the desk at an at attention stance. "Reporting as ordered Sir."

From behind the desk, John had heard the chime, he had heard the door open, and he had heard his subordinate announce herself to him, but so far, he had not even bothered to look up from the report in his hand. And for a few moments more, it was as if Pola wasn't even there, until he decided it was time to look up.

"At ease Doctor....take a seat..."

The XO-turned-CO took a moment more to look through the latest damage report, now that certain additions had been made, namely system overloads and power outages caused by a certain shockwave impacting the heavily damaged Galileo soon after Jonathan had retired to bed.

"Quite a shift you had I see? Nearly tore off both nacelles from what I hear?"

Lowering herself gingerly into the chair, Pola realised for the first time she couldn't read her Boss, and that kinda worried her as it meant she didn't know how to approach this. "Well nearly being the appropriate word. Between some quick reactions by the bridge crew, we managed to handle the situation and get our ship out intact..." Pausing Pola realised that might have been slightly too casual,"..Sir."

"Intact is a relative word....half a dozen EPS relays blown out....slight damage to the hull....we lost main power on two decks....and the repairs to the aft torpedo launchers has been set back a few hours....pretty impressive list for a first time in the big chair don't you think?"

Wincing more, Pola had already seen the list for herself but hearing it being read out made it all sound abit more daunting. "Compared to the fact we were facing losing the ship altogether, I don't think that that's bad. This incident has also gained us more time. The resulting explosion in the nebula will look to the Klingons that our ship has been destroyed."

"Unless..." The XO retorted, having had the exact same thought himself only a short while ago. "They decide to come and investigate to see if there are any fragments of Galileo or Sienna to investigate...in which case we have a problem....one that is compounded by people bringing unidentified vessels aboard and then setting off their self destruct systems."

"Of which if they do investigate, they will find the remains of a vessel with a starfleet signature. The onle reason an rescue was carried out was because in it's distress becon, the ship used an Starfleet known communication. The self destruct we had no way of knowing about." Pola straightened her back in her chair as she tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her ankle. "None of these decisions were made without due care given to them Sir, even where I may have had to make them quick."

"And what if it had gone wrong?" John replied, thinking how he should have never left the Bridge regardless of the advice given to him. The XO knew that his place was in that chair, and right now, he was being reminded of it.

"We would have lost half a dozen crew members and god only knows how much of the ship? It was reckless. That's the only way I can describe it. Although I suppose for someone with so little command experience, it was to be expected...I never should have left you alone on the Bridge."

Narrowing her eyes, Pola stiffened in the chair. She'd been expecting this, she just hadn't though the words would have hurt as much. "You're a man who follows the rules. Tell me if you'd been sitting in that chair, what precisely would you have done differently? Ship in distress, communications identify there is an active stasis pod as well as identifying itself as a Starfleet vessel. No shuttle could be docked to it, transporters couldn't penetrate the hull."

"Based on our current situation?" John took a moment to replay the scenario in his head, confirming that the thoughts had processed earlier were indeed the same as the ones he was having now.

"I'd have destroyed it." John replied in a direct tone. "The ship might have been transmitting on a Federation frequency, but the ship design didn't match anything in our datafiles. With Galileo as heavily damaged as she is, I'd have destroyed that vessel to shut down the transmiter. Sometimes the obvious choice isn't the most humanitarian."

"So you'd have broken Federation rules in relation to the rescue of others where it's clear a rescue is required?" Pola couldn't help the sense of deja vu she was having as she recalled having a conversation before entailed the right and wrong between the way the mind will tell you to do something and the way the heart did, the way in which security trained people thought differently to a medical trained person.

"In that situation - yes. The risk of the Klingons finding us was too great in my opinion to justify risking this vessel or it's crew on the possibility of a rescue. The needs of the 80 men and women aboard this ship greatly outweighs the need of one individual."

Feeling a headache coming on, Pola resisted the urge to move any muscles. "So let me ask you something? Despite the fact I kept this crew safe, despite the fact I was thrown into a situation in which I have zero training and thus had to go on instinct and what I do know, you're finding fault. Is the fault personally with me or the position I was throw into?" Suddenly realising her question made no sense, Pola gave in and rubbed her head. "Nevermind, you don't have to answer that. So...what now?"

Smirking for a moment, John put the PADD back down on his desk, and folded his hands on the table in front of him, leaning forward slightly as he spoke.

"You have been put into a position of command...something you were never trained for....and the only way that you can learn right now, is by trying, and if necessary, failing....I need you fighting on the same side as me....I have no problem with what you did...I just wanted to hear you justify it, as a Captain would. Well done."

With her hand still against her head, Pola closed her eyes, biting back a laugh. Of course he had thought that way...he was the CO right now just as she was her XO. Relaxing her body stance as she suddenly felt tired, she looked him dead in the eye. "Jonathan, a ship is a ship but this crew...I've already gotten enough if their blood on my hands, I would never intentionally place their lives at risk. What happened back there...that scared the hell out of me."

John himself had to avoid laughing, he had been doing this with command and tactical students for years, but until now had never had the chance to carry it out aboard Galileo. Being able to defend your decisions as a commanding officer was the hardest part of being in charge - especially when the end results aren't exactly what you wanted, and being able to do that effectively was a basic skill for all ship captains.

"And if it hadn't scared the hell out of you - I wouldn't be thinking about letting you back into that chair again any time soon. Fear keeps us from doing things that are too irrational, too risky....but at the same time gives us extra strength when we need it...to protect our crew. That won't be the last time you have to go through that, I can promise you."

"I still don't understand how you did it...aside from a few bumps, bruises and concussions the crew fared well this time. I dont understand how you managed when people end up dead...I know the next time is when you mount the rescue mission and then more than ever, this crew is back in danger." Rubbing the heels of her hands against her eyes Pola had to smile. "Is that where being tactical is easier than being medical?"

"Haha...yes...the red uniform does tend to help matters somewhat....everything is just a variable, a tactic, an objective...you can't be too personal with the people under your command...the Academy teaches you to have the strength to send someone to their death if absolutely necessary...even if it's your own life you lose. The ship comes before an individual."

Biting her lip, Pola shook her head, "Maybe that's where I'll need my training. My job right now is to keep people alive, that can't be easily applied to Command according to what you're saying. But I guess the same applies when you switch from XO to CO, as XO your responsibility is the smooth runing of the crew. How do you manage the switch?"

"You don't...you just work your way through as best you can." John replied, thinking back on the time since he was forced to take the centre chair part way through their engagement with the Klingons. He too had been scared to hell and back when he became ranking officer, but he was trained for this, at least, he thought he was.

"Command isn't black and white...it's a series of best guesses that you hope won't get you blown up....I guess practice makes perfect Doc."

"Practise makes perfect? Well then on that note shouldn't you be getting back to bed and letting me have more practise? I'm still your Doc." Biting the inside of her cheek, Pola allowed the smile to show in her eyes.

"That depends....am I going to come back to find you've blown half the ship up again?" The XO replied, knowing full well that he could definitely do with a little more time off duty, regardless of how he might have tried to make himself appear.

"I promise if I see an alien ship I'll shoot first and ask questions after." Smiling Pola relaxed into her seat. "On a more serious note, Rhodes has a security team in sickbay with the Vorta restrained. Even if he tries anything, the EMH should be more than able to restrain him. I have Rhodes feeding back regular updates....otherwise you should go get some sleep Boss."

"I'll do just that. Carry on Lieutenant" The XO replied, moving back into his more official voice, before going back to the PADD he had been working on only moments before.

Folding her arms, Pola stayed where she was as she raised an eyebrow. "Hand over the PADD and unless there a pull out bed in here, your bed is in your quarters."

"I'm....not going to get away with this am I?" John replied, looking up with one eye as he saw the expression on his temporary XO's face. Sighing and rubbing his eyes with his free hand, eventually, Holliday relented and put down the PADD, before standing up and heading for the door.

"Bed it is....yes ma'am."

"1000 hours, Jonathan and not a minute more." Getting out of her own chair, she limped away across the room following Jonathan out into the main bridge. "And boss...we'll get through this."

Nodding to Pola, John said nothing further, and simply headed to the turbolift, content to let her win this round, even if just to let him get back to his bed.

[OFF]


Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

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