Tactical Measures

Posted on 23 Jan 2013 @ 8:03pm by Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arthur Willis

1,633 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 7, Main Engineering, CEO's Office
Timeline: MD 01: 1600 hrs

[ON]

Lilou rested her hand on the back of Quinn's chair, thoughtfully running her thumb over the surface. Kiwosk had asked her for an engineer for his tactical team and she'd told him the truth. She had had someone in mind immediately.

Rothgra was too young and too inexperienced. Then there was Watt, who was probably capable, but she hadn't known him long enough to make a judgement and she didn't want to divide his focus too much so early into his joining the crew. The same went for Hunter, except moreso. If he was to be her assistant in the department, she needed his focus firmly here.

And then there was Ameen. Bright, adaptable Ameen, who she'd personally seen struggle against fear and overcome it for the sake of the job. But the events of the last day had made it clear to Lilou that putting her damage specialist in the hands of Lieutenant Stone might not be such a smart idea.

She wasn't sure what was going on with Stone. All she was sure of was - despite their semi-breakthrough that morning - or perhaps in part because of it - she couldn't trust him. 'I'm going to make this simple and let you know directly, superior officer to subordinate, that if you were to say anything that would cause damage to a member of my department, I will take action regarding such.' She could hear his voice in her head. Nothing he'd said since had altered that statement. And if he was going to put the needs of his people ahead of hers... So will I, she thought with a slight furrowing of her brows.

No. Ameen had the skills, she was positive, and he would have been an asset to the TRT team, but he was also young and impressionable and she didn't want to expose him to that kind of command unless she had to. She wanted to keep him safe and protected, in her department, until he was strong enough to stand up to brute force personalities on a consistent basis. Actually, she just wanted to keep him safe and protected in her department, whether strong enough to deal with irritable, controlling security officers or not.

But there was a perfectly suitable, skilled, and strong-willed engineer in her department who richly deserved this kind of opportunity. And who could handle the potential stresses of it. She moved around to the other side of the desk as he came into the office, and held up a thermos. "Raktajino. From the replicator on deck 6, right outside the Operations office."

Willis eyes glowed and he took the thermos and cracked it open. "They won't even let me up there anymore. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows Ops has the best coffee on the ship. Even better than the one in the CO's Ready Room....I heard." Willis placed his nose just over the now exposed opening and took in a deep whiff of his sweet addiction. "Ahh, they are using the traditional compound this time. Bold, yet full flavor with a musky and hard oaken flavor." Willis suddenly lowered the thermos. "Dammit. Quinn told you...didn't he? About the coffee thing? Shit. That old fart can't keep a secret...ookay. What do you need me to do and how bad is it going to be? Based on the obvious trouble you went to for this, I can only imagine it's going to suck. Really suck."

"Not at all," she lied with a calm expression. "I have some of the schematics for the USS Venture; they were forwarded over today. I thought you might like to see them." She plucked a rolled sheet she'd printed out on white paper and carefully unrolled the schematics in his lap; inside of the hull schematic, scrawled into the curve of the diagram so small, her own tiny writing read, 'This entire department is bugged for audio and video by Security.' "I thought we might visit their ship, see if they've come up with any neat ideas we can steal for ourselves." She brushed her hand past the note then tapped another tiny note written into the engineering department, 'They have requested an engineer for a tactical unit.' "I've never been on a Galaxy-class before, I thought maybe you'd have some insights. Like this," she went on slowly, leaning over his shoulder to point at a cutaway of the sensor suite, 'I need someone smart and capable, who can keep their eyes open,' she pointed to cutaway of the anti-matter pod storage, "and this?" 'and can keep an ear out for what's going on over there.' "And this?" she went on, pointing to the anti-matter fill port. 'I need you.' "Are these all standard?"

Willis put the thermos to his mouth and took a long, very long drink. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve he pointed towards the security section on the bridge. "Yeah, so are these. But if the engineering team can coordinate properly, then it can be handled." He then pointed up to the nacelle control rooms. "These are always over looked for their importance and usefulness. Quinn always used them as his favorite quiet area."

"See, I'd heard that they were," Lilou said, nodding, "but these looked a little less accommodating. More intrusive structurally." She eyed the nacelle control rooms, "I thought of those, too, when I was comparing our schematics. The trouble is I can't be sure what the similarities are between those and the rest of the ship. You never know with out of the way consoles. Perhaps we should run a comparison once we meet up with the Venture."

"I agree, sir," answered Willis. "Let me do my homework on that and see what I can come up with. You know how I like a good challenge." Willis looked up to Peers and gave a wink as he took another drink from his thermos, savoring every moment of it...he was going to earn this one.

"I look forward to hearing your results. My teachers at the Academy always said, 'the challenge lies always in the details'." She snapped her fingers, "That reminds me," she perched on the edge of the desk in front of Willis. "Lieutenant Stone in Security is starting up a Tactical unit, to be headed by Chief Warrant Officer Kiwosk. I've been given to understand they're planning on building the unit from a variety of departments, ours included, and they've asked me for a recommendation." She paused dramatically, "I've been thinking this might be a good opportunity for you." She held up a hand, "Before you say anything, I want to give you the schematics, as it were. Kiwosk explained to me that this is to be a 'passive duty' operation. They'll train you in tactical thinking, defense measures, I don't know what else, and I'll make sure you get requisite time from your shifts to compensate. It's supposed to be a highly specialized team to deal with crises as they turn up. I'm sure they'll explain what they mean by that if you decide to go ahead with this. It could be dangerous work, but the specialty education would be sure to benefit you down the road. So." She looked at him with a hopeful lift of her brows, "What do you think?"

Damn, I knew it. thought Willis to himself. "Sure, I like blowing things up anyway. This way I won't get in as much trouble for doing it." Willis had been given the details about Stone from Quinn, and there was no way he would let Peers down. Not only was she attractive, but she was like a daughter to Quinn, and that made her family in his book. "When do I start?"

"I'll pass my recommendation on to Kiwosk and then I suspect you'll be hearing from him with regards to meeting and training times. Just let me know when and for how long the Security department needs you for training, and I'll pick up the extra time from your shifts myself. I want to make sure you're getting as much off-duty time as you usually do." Lilou held out her hand to him, "I'm very glad you've agreed to do this. I can think of no one better for the task. You just make sure you don't get shot, killed, or shown up by anyone from Ops. We'd never live it down."

Willis smiled. The super cafe the he just ingested was starting to make his gums tingle slightly. "SurenoproblemIwon'tletanopsgetthebetterofme,noma'am,sir,ma'am,Ensign." Willis started snapping his fingers and bouncing his legs up and down. "ThiscoffeethatyougotisreallygoodbutIthinkitwasstrongerthanIexpected. AmIrambling? IfeellikeI'mrambling. OhlookatthetimeIhaveathermalcooldownprogramrunningandIneedtobesureIamaquiringtherightdata. IhavetogoPeersimeanma'am."

Lilou wasn't sure if he was playing or not, but either way, her message had gotten across and he'd agreed to undertake the task. There was no reason to keep him here. "Thank you," she said and took the map from him, rolling it up discreetly. "I'm heading out for the evening. If anything comes up, just call up." She tucked the map under her arm, "I'll walk you out."

Willis nodded and quickly jumped up and fumbled his thermos, knocked over a PADD and a tricorder off of the table, catching the thermos before it hit the floor, Willis picked up the tricorder and entered a setting then picked up the PADD and returned it to the table, while keeping the tricorder under his arm. "Okaylet'sgoIamreallyhundgry." He followed Peers out, letting the tricorder do its things as he continued to babble about nothing.

[OFF]

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

SCPO Arthur Willis
Engineering Computer Specialist
USS Galileo

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