> Taken aback, he answered, "No. Of course not. There are exceptions to
every rule, Admrial."
"Unless the exception *is* the rrrule," she snarled. "You condemn us in
Starrrfleet Command as lazy, stupid, useless. You condemn Lasiterrr forrr
being impotent and helpless. Well I've *seen* the state of the fleet, and I
know the thrrreats we arrre facing, both frrrom within and without. It's
a battle everrryday in Spacedock to walk the edge of the knife. One
wrrrong step and everrrything you've been building, everrry foundation you've
been quietly laying, comes down like an avalanche. The changes I made today
in Spec Ops werrren't just spurrr of the moment decisions. Weeks and months
of quiet planning went into it, so I could do it just when the time was
rrright, when everrrything was prrreparred. And it was Admirrral Lasiterrr
who gave me the grrreen light to do it! I worrrk damn harrrd at my job,
Admirrral," she yelled at the Tellarite, "and so does everrry otherrr perrrson
in Starrrfleet Command. We'rrre trrrying to hold togetherrr a fleet that
is tearrring iteslf aparrrt at a phenomenal rrrate. Just because we'rrre
not scrrreaming ourrr plans out frrrom the rrrooftops doesn't mean we'rrre
not doing ourrr damndest to keep the fleet going just one morrre day. So
arrre you suggesting that all of Starrrfleet Command whould be gotten rrrid
of in one fell swoop?" The pig had given her a golden opportunity. By
attacking Starfleet Command as a whole, he made it easy to deflect the
attention away from Lasiter to all of Starfleet Command. Attacking one man was one
thing, but attacking the entire command structure, one of whom was
standing in front of them, was something that she doubted would be too popular.
It became less like concern about one man, and started to appear more like
mutiny. And with the exception of the intense radicals, she doubted anyone
there wanted to go that direction.
He had to back peddle a bit, but did not fully back down.
"There are worthy officer at Starfleet Command, but definately not enough. You are
amoung the worthy. But there are others: Zorin and Reyla are amoung the corrupt and
in need of replacement. Lasiter is just ineffective. Perhaps if Starfleet were in
better shape he could have been a better CinC, but that is not the case." he pressed.
Kettering broke in, "Starfleet Command as it stands now is a problem, with the select
few that are either corrupt or ineffective. It is those few bad apples that have
spoiled the bunch for most of us." He had finished with his chuckle.
{response}
*****
Chris
GM- SPD & JSOC
