Discussions of Command

Posted on Sun Apr 2nd, 2023 @ 3:29pm by Commander Inara Valérian & Captain Alistar McKeon

1,500 words; about a 8 minute read

Inara adjusted the mountain of Padds under her arm while juggling her cup of coffee as she walked down the corridor to her morning meeting with the captain. With departure less than a day away, there were so many details to attend to and it seemed there wasn't enough time to take care of one much less all of them. Arriving at the ready room, she entered without buzzing her way in, as taking the time to ring the door chime might cause an avalanche of Padds that she wasn't about to pick up again. Ignoring the captain, Inara managed to cross the room and dump the pile onto the desk before she sat down in one of the chairs and breath a sigh of relief.

Alistar watched with amusement as his first officer somehow managed to make it to the desk without dropping a single padd. She had improved, as she managed to not drop one of the slippery things. Leaning back in his chair, he took a sip of his coffee and smiled. "Taking up juggling, Commaner?" he asked.

"I've found that the one major downside of command is the endless mountain of paperwork that never relents despite our best efforts," Inara said as she breathed in her coffee. "It's the apparent downside of rising up through the ranks, it seems."

"That's the understatement of every Starfleet career," Alistar said. "The recruitment poster should say 'Learn how to file paperwork while getting a glimpse of a distant star somewhere'."

"That's not entirely accurate," Inara said. "You get to see a lots of stars, there's just not that much excitement because we're always worried about which stack of paperwork didn't get done. Besides, there hasn't been all that much paperwork so far."

"Well, you brought me two hundred and fifteen reports to sign off on already in the past week, and yes, I'm keeping score," Alistar said. "And for the record, you're handling the daily status reports from now on."

"I knew that was coming, and I've already started doing those on my own. I sumerize everythin and send you a brief once a week," Inara said as she drank her coffee. "By the way, we need to discuss personnel evaluation status reports today."

"Personnel reports?" Alistar frowned. "Damn, commander, we haven't even left orbit and you're hitting me with evaluation reports already?"

Inara set her coffee down on the edge of the desk and grabbed the top PADD, activating it and reading through its contents. "Well, there are several people who need to be promoted or moved to a different shift or position due to the regulation mandate for a ship of this class. A few may even be overdue for promotion, but that's your call."

"Ah yes, we must make sure we stay within regulations for a ship of this class mustn't we," Alistar grumbled. Honestly, he understood the reasoning behind the officer rank ratio by class and crew size, but he also thought that Starfleet sometimes over complicated some things just to make a simple thing complicated. "Alright, we'll do a couple and then you skittle off and do something that doesn't involve bugging me. Who do we start with?"

Inara smiled thinly, mainly because she understood, but she kept her comment to herself. Glancing at the list, she started with the first three names. "Ensign Ellija, Lieutenant Varon, and Lieutenant Wolff."

Lieutenant Varon and Wolff just transferred aboard, and while both seem capable, I'd like them to have a tour on board before giving them a promotion," Alistar said. "As for Ensign Ellija, well," Alistar paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Zoe's been with the crew for a while now, even worked her way up to earning her commission without going through the academy. She's a good officer, no doubt to that. Still needs some experience."

"Experience that she will no doubt gain, but the problem we're facing is that she's an ensign as assigned as a senior helm officer," Inara said as she leaned back in her seat. "She meets all the requirements for promotion, and lieutenant junior grade isn't a jump to senior officer level responsibilities. But it will give her a few more opportunities than what she can expect as an ensign. Plus if she doesn't want to move up past that point it's a good spot to stay."

Alistar raised his eyebrows but kept quiet as he thought for a moment. He had been wanting to promote Zoe, had already planned to start on the paperwork in fact, but the fact that Inara had not only beaten him to it but could rattle off key points from both sides of the coin regarding the promotion impressed him a little. "All right, push the paperwork through and I'll sign it. She's been assigned to second and third shift, so bump her to alpha shift starting day after tomorrow and I'll promote her before shift."

"I'll take care of it right away," Inara said as she keyed a note on her Padd. Once she was done she looked up towards the captain and frowned. If anything, he was unorthodox in his methods of command, but she had to admit that he was somehow effective. "I'll have everything routed to you inside the hour," she said as she stood. "I'll schedule a senior officer briefing tomorrow afternoon and take care of the rest of the personnel arrivals," she added.

"That will be fine," Alistar said with a nod. "The rest of the crew should be on board by then, and our official orders will be ready for us. I'm sure that this is going to be an outstandingly difficult mission, and I'm not looking forward to it."

"Why, and if I may ask what exactly is our mission going to be?" Inara asked as she re-arraigned her Padds.

"From what I've heard and can gather, we're going to the DMZ to smooth relations between the Cardassian Union and the new Maquis Alliance. Both sides are butting heads and not backing down, so guess where that might lead if Starfleet doesn't stick their head in and try to help mediate a peaceful solution?"

"Another war, or at the very least a heated border skirmish that will require a third party, namely Starfleet, to put a stop to," Inara replied darkly. "At least we're getting involved before the fighting starts, in the hopes that we can help prevent loss of life."

"Well that is the hope of Starfleet Command," Alistar said with a nod. "But between the two of us, I don't think it's going to matter if we're there or not. Sooner or later, someone is going to get tired of the constant pressure and fear of attack and attack."

"The question will be whether or not someone, like Starfleet, will be able to stop them if it gets to that point," Inara said.

"Exactly, which is why we'll most likely be dispatched along the DMZ for a while," Alistar said in a tone that betrayed his opinion of that possibility.

"I take it that's not something you're looking forward to?" Inara asked, frowning slightly.

"I spent years during and after the war in that region, and let's just say that I'd rather face down a horde of thirsty, angry Klingons while holding the last cup of bloodwine in the quadrant before spending another deployment to the DMZ," Alistar said with an expression that betrayed his true emotions. In truth, he knew that there were always new horrors being discovered every month in the region, or new ones being created. He had seen enough of it and would have preferred to never return. But, orders were orders, and he wasn't going to risk loosing his second command to a fit of rage, however justified his reasons he may have felt they might be. Starfleet demanded that officers rise above such personal feelings and work to a better solution, even if those officers sometimes disagreed with such policies.

Inara could tell that the captain's mood wasn't improving, so she simply nodded and decided that it might not be a good idea to continue the conversation for much longer. "Well, from what I can tell, we have an excellent ship and an outstanding crew that will be able to handle anything that the De-militarized Zone throws at us. We'll get through this, Captain, and then I'm sure Starfleet will see fit to send us into deep space for an exploration assignment," she said.

"I'm sure," Alistar said, not wanting to disagree with his first officer's optimism out loud. "But we'll have to see. Carry on for now, Commander."

"Yes, Sir," Inara said. Without another word, she turned and stepped towards the door, deciding that a quick exit might be best considering the captain's darkening mood. Her mind started racing, trying to consider all the possibilities on just how the Endeavour's mission might go, and over half of the outcomes she could think of were far from good.

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