> >"Let us hope that the need never arrrrises forrr us to be worrrried about
fighting ourrr own. Howeverrr, in the meantime I underrrstand yourrr
point. I would suggest that you prrreparrre a few plans on how you would
pitch this to the local authorrrities, and such. I will, of courrrse,
pass
along your idea to Admirrral Lasiterrr. A fairrr bet would be that he
will
ask you about it at the meeting, or shorrrtly afterrr."
She nodded, making a note to herself on her PADD. "So, do we have at
least
a prrreliminarrry estimate as to how many perrrsonnel we'rrre talking
about? I mean, I think we should starrrt to make plans now as to how
we'rrre going to cope with the numberrrs of positions that will need to be
filled orrr eliminated once the people who fill them arrre rrremoved.
Given the currrent interrrgalactic situation, we can't afforrrd to not
have
people in crrritical positions, and new people will have to be
trrrained."
"Rrrough estimates, yes. Exact numberrrs, no. Operrration Ferrrret and Mongoose will
determine exact numbers. The announcement of both operrrations will shock some to
imprrrove. But as a tool forrr rrrough estimating, figure on 12 - 15% of currrrent
staffing."
"Isn't that a bit high?" asked the Chief of Staff from Fleet Operations. "That is
quite a big dent in the force."
Fleet Construction countered, "From my vantage point those numbers may not be high
enough. One would be surprised at the amount of dead wood there is out there. We
have our share, don't get me wrong. However, line commands have been putting up with
quite a bit of crap."
"Are you pointing fingers.." answered a testy Fleet Ops Chief of Staff.
Aurellius cuts in, "It would seem as if the problem is organization wide, and
assigning blame is not productive. What is important it recognizing that the problem
exists, and doing something about it. The *real* problem is inaction." Using his
best smug tone. He knew full well that word had gotten out about what Spec Ops was
doing in terms of weeding out the dead wood. Their plans had been implemented
already, and the shake up had begun.
M'Rrenn sensing that something was about to errupt when he cut off a now white faced
Fleet Ops officer... "Captain Aurrrellius is quite corrrrect. The important thing
now is to rrrecognize that a prrroblem exists, and to take intelligent action to
corrrrect it." He said using the best of his diplomatic talents.
"Just to keep us on trrrack, we arrre not here to debate the issues orrr the
prrroposals, but to be intrrroduced to them. The debate and discussion will happen at
a higherrr level when SF Command meets in 4 days time.
I would like to move on by saying that this kind of meeting will happen rrroutinely,
thrrree days beforrre a full meeting of SF Command. The Chiefs of Staff will gatherrr
to rrreview the agenda in full in orrrderrr to prrreparrre our division Chiefs."
The Head of Starbase Ops was about to lose it. He did not want to waste the time of
his staff by attending these odd meetings. He was not supportive.
"What? I don't think so. My Chief of Staff is too busy for this. He has enough
work to do. Commander, I am not sending him to this.", he said angrily.
"This is a waste of time.", added the Staff Chief from Admin and Support. "Instead
of doing, we are meeting. This is another problem we have. We are always in
meetings." It was clear that he was frustrated, and he was not alone. Several
officers began to voice their displeasure of having another meeting to attend. All
the grousing was, of course, just a guise for their displeasure at having thier
schedules dictated by another officer, and a lower ranking one at that.
Not all bucked, but manny did.
Aurellius just looked at his boss.
{thoughts?}
After a few minutes of grousing the room fell silent, and fast. An old looking man
had entered, wearing the uniform of the CinC of Starfleet. Lasiter had been listening
from the anteroom.
"Please don't get up on my account." he said taking note that no-one had. "In order
to accomplish more than merely having an interesting talk during meetings of Starfleet
Command, it is vital that the division officers be properly prepared. That is,
afterall, a critical part of your jobs as chiefs of staff. These meetings prior to SF
Command meetings will only help you do that. They will also provide you with the
oppertunity to collectively pose questions to my chief of staff. That is the reason
for them.
Now, in the future, when you sit here in one of these meetings remember two things.
First, is how are you treated by your respective commands? That same level of respect
should be given to all officers present at these meetings. Second, is that Commander
is my Chief of Staff. Just as you are the chiefs of staff for your divisional
commanders. Meaning, he speaks for me, and to disrespect him is to disrespect me.
That *will* cause you to have a short career.", he said looking around at the room,
particularily at those who were the most indignant.
"Please continue. Vice Admiral Kitayna, please stop by my office when you are done
here. Thank you."
{response,if any...}
With that he left....
GM- SPD & JSOC
