The Voice of Experience

Posted on 29 Jan 2013 @ 1:01am by Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cyrus Kiwosk & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark
Edited on on 04 Feb 2013 @ 2:01pm

1,661 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 3, Corridor
Timeline: MD -01: 23:30

ON:

Gabriel was half muttering song lyrics as he walked down the corridor, hands in his pockets and head somewhat bowed as he watched his feet. Having just left Verity, the man's words were still echoing in his head. And the more he knew they were right, the more it annoyed him.

His breath caught in his throat as he spied Kiwosk ahead. The thought of swerving down another corridor came to mind, but his body was too slow to react, and he was in the man's path and sights before he could do anything about it.

"Ah, Sir," he had tried to make it sound light and casual, but he knew he'd failed as soon as it had reached his own ears. Gabriel gave a noticeable grimace at the realisation.

Cyrus sighed. "First, I'm not a sir, my father is a sir. I'm just Chief. Second, I'm not here to yell at you, saying that that your actions were inappropriate. You know that already, I assume?" He studied the PO carefully, before continuing. "Walk with me." He gestured down the hall.

Gabriel pursed his lips, walking at his side, his hands resting on his hips. "Yeah, I know that, Sir. Chief," he glanced to him, watching him with a frown. "I was trying to pick the best of an inappropriate bunch," he shook his head, knowing that sounded lame, even to him.

"Come on Gabe, you got better lines than that!" Kiwosk chuckled. "Look, Stone is a hardass, he's rude, a pain and kind of pompous...but what he said; however crass, wasn't wrong." He sighed. "We responded well, but we dropped the ball, we can all point fingers at who didn't do what, but when it comes down to it. We are a team, and as a team...we failed." He looked over to the PO and sighed. "I'm accusing myself too, so don't think I'm saying anyone did better than anyone else, we did what we could with what we were given, but we all know we should have been more prepared and more active in our duties, that's the real reason most of us are upset."

"Well..." Cyrus began to add. "There is that and the fact that he's throwing your dead comrades names around like they are meaningless. That's inexcusable, even for him."

Gabriel nodded at that, a deep frown scoring into his features as his jaw tightened. "Name one thing we did right, he said. I seem to remember us protecting this tiny little science ship from klingons. Wave after wave of them, when all the odds were against us, when we should have been killed by all rights. I seem to remember being on a team that got our Captain back home," he swallowed hard, remembering the state she'd been in. It made him feel sick just thinking about it. "So if he tells me I can't do my job again, or that the people I worked with through that hell can't either, I'll break something. I will, Chief, I just will..." he was feeling himself get worked up just speaking about it. He shook his head firmly, taking a long, deep breath to calm himself, and he was feeling steadier as the air escaped.

Gabriel held his hands out in exasperation. "12 hour duty shifts in non emergency, that's completely out of order, I don't see it happening in any other department. Telling us that even when we're off duty we're actually still on duty. How to behave. How to talk. No carousing indeed. I'll expect him to come and show me how to shower next, or maybe he'll tell me who I can and can't go out with," he watched Cyrus with dark, shining eyes. "You can't like it anymore than I do, you just can't, Chief. You're good at what you do. You can't put up with being talked about like your rubbish. I mean sure, maybe we're not the best security team in the fleet, but hell, with the never ending rotating department chiefs, who would be? We've been doing out best to hold it together even when we were left down the creek without a chief."

"You will do nothing of the sort, Petty Officer Stark." Cyrus growled. He understood Gabriel's frustration, but that was no excuse to anything of the sort. " You will conduct yourself professionally, as a proper member of this department. Which means you will sit through the briefing and be horrified, angry and can be seething in rage for I care, but that is also part of your job. In that aspect, do you want the Lieutenant to be right?" He asked his voice calm, even and full of the authority of his rank.

Gabriel's jaw tightened and his teeth ground in the tension in his body, but he shook his head. "No," he sighed, knowing he was right. "No, I don't want to prove him right."

" You have to understand something Gabriel, while I can understand your frustrations about our Department Chief, that doesn't give you the right to storm off as you see fit; however justified you or I may feel about it. " He sighed.

" Myself, and Lieutenant Stone don't know what you went through when the Klingons attacked, I can relate to you from a battle perspective, on how tough that would have been, but I wasn't there. My knowledge on that is limited, while the Lieutenant probably knows more than I do, he wasn't there either, all he is going from, is how we all have been during Shore Leave, and where he doesn't believe that our department is ever off-duty, that means, to him in any case, that we aren't fit to work the field. Which is a complete disregard for what is actually the case. I'm not doubting your skills as a department. I'm saying that there are other ways of showing him that we are every bit as professional as he thinks we are not. You understand?"

Gabriel swallowed hard, holding his eyes for a long moment. The thing he hated about the anger fading was that it left him feeling all regretful and guilty. "I tried, I really did. I try so hard to keep my temper in check," he hesitated, taking a breath, avoiding his gaze. "But it wasn't enough. If it was, I would have just shut my ears and nodded and taken it like a man, so to speak. I'm sorry if I let the side down," the words were quiet, but honest as he glanced to him. He hoped he hadn't lost the chief's respect completely. He liked him, even if he'd never said it.

Cyrus chuckled and held up his left hand. "He pissed me off so much I busted my hand on a tree back on Vega. I pretended it was his head." gave the PO a hearty pat on the shoulder. "I broke the tree, so I'm okay." His face went serious again. "There is a time and a place to vent, just like there is a time to fight and a time to act peacefully." He sighed and looked back over to Stark.

"If you have an issue with the Lieutenant. Write him a complaint, talk about his treatment of his team, whether it's justified or not, but do not let him get under your skin. You do that...you prove he's right, which is the last thing that you want to do, and the last thing i want to do is have to write your dismissal because you ended up 'breaking something'. " He finished.

Gabriel nodded along with the words, taking them in. He was right. He knew he was. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't want to end up on a shuttle back to Earth," he agreed quietly.

"Now that that's done, you do realize that I'm going to have to write you up." He told the PO. "I'll make sure Stone gets the full bit of this conversation minus, a few minute details. If anything, it will help if Stone decides that it is worth talking to you about....since you are apologetic of your actions ...right Petty Officer?" The olive branch was the best he was able to do given what had happened.

Gabriel pursed his lips. He still thought Stone was out of order. But on the other hand, he was sorry for how he'd handled it. Or not handled it, as the case was. "Yes, Chief," he said quietly, watching his face. Here was a man who knew what it was to be enlisted and had earned a WO honour. He wanted that one day, seeing as he'd messed up becoming an Officer. He wasn't stupid. He knew Cyrus was a man worth listening to. He'd been there and done it all. "I understand. I expected it."

"Good man. Now go practice your sorry face for the Lieutenant, and I'll see what I can do to not have him try to shoot us on sight." He gave the PO a smile. "You're a good man Gabe, my job is to voice your and the other non-coms concerns and that's what I plan to do. Don't think that what you told me fell on deaf ears. I'll bring it up to him. "

Gabriel gave a small nod at that, although he didn't want Cyrus getting into trouble over it. He gave a sudden smile, almost wicked as he watched him with a suggestively arched eyebrow. "I can look however you want me to look, Chief," he winked, almost grinning as he turned to move away.

"OH! " Cyrus turned rapidly to the departing figure. "I expect to see your name on that TRT sign up list. "

OFF:

CWO Kiwosk
Security/ Tactical Officer
Master-at-Arms, TRT Squad Leader
USS Galileo

PO2 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo

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