<[Sounds like you have a real plan worked out. That is very good, sir. How long do you think that you will will be off station?]>
<[I don't know,]> she admitted. <[There are too many variables to give you an accurate estimate.]>
<[Let me know if you sense any difficulties from the Old Man about you being off station. I can run interference for you if you think it will help.]>
She smiled, clapping him gently on the back. <[Thank you, old friend.]>
<[There is one other thing..... In tomorrow's meeting you will be asked to list a few problems with your department. Issues that you consider to be your top 5. You may want to brush up on those. Just a hint, but Operation Clean Slate is about to kick off. Basically, everyone gets a clean slate in order to show that they are working to improve their respective divisions and departments. However, for those that do not show progress or do to take it seriously enough for the CinC the old slate full of their problems will come back. Come back to be used to kick them out of Starfleet. Lasiter thinks that much of the problems with the fleet can be solved by holding officers accountable and a 'back to basics' approach.
The Lasiter you will see tomorrow will not be the one that you know and love, but one that is on a mission. And anyone that gets in the way of progress will get trampled to death. You should have nothing to fear, he likes you. However, rumor has it that you made some command changes in Spec. Ops.....]>
<[Yes, well, they needed to be made. My front line people are in positions where anything can happen, anytime, and lives are on the line. I wasn't going to let good people be killed because some boot-licking incompetant fools had weaseled their way into places they should never have even been near. I know Lasiter said to wait, but by waiting, I could have lost irreplaceable personnel, and I refuse to have their blood on my hands because of some damned plan.]> She was really serious about this and she'd have it out with Lasiter if she had to.
(resp?)
<[I have a reputation as, how do the humans say it... a maverick. No one will think anything of it. New in the position, trying to make a name for myself - that's what the political view will be. I think it helps him more than hurts him. Took some of the scrutiny off him and his plans by making a spectacle of myself,]> she grinned. <[And I wasn't even drunk.]>
(resp)
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"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
