"I was wondering if we could talk about the Brotherhood situation,
particularly in relation to my investigation and what happened on our return
to Spacedock."
"Proceed, Commander." By using rank it was clear that Smallwood was not
going to make it easy on the Commander.
K'Tael was not intimidated by the Admiral's demeanor. They were both their
to do their jobs. That did not mean they had to like each other. "Admiral,
I am wondering if I belong as the head of this investigation."
"Why do you ask that, Commander?"
"Sir, the investigation is not limited to Spacedock, but my authority is.
Even though I am the field officer and have been placed in charge of this
assignment, my requests are dismissed as being absurd by officers who are
not in direct knowledge of what is going on."
"As for the jurisdiction, Commander, you have the authority that you need.
However, more importantly, you have the support and backing of your
commander, Admiral Renaud, and Starfleet Command by way of my self and
Admiral Lasiter. If you are not getting the cooperation that you need, then
you come to us, and we will see to it that you get it. As to your other
question exactly which requests have been ignored or dismissed outright? I
am aware that you take exception to my decision to deny the backup you
requested while en route from Mars, but what else has happened?"
"It is not so much what has happened, sir, but I can see that easily
happening again. You are my superior officer, and I understand that I must
follow orders, but I must be given the leeway I need to complete the
investigation in an appropriate manner. I am not sure that that can happen
if I must worry that all of my superiors might second guess my every
decission." K'Tael hoped that Smallwood understood where he was coming
from.
"If I am understanding you correctly, you expect to be able to operate
independently from the chain of command?"
K'Tael shook his head. "That is not my intention at all, sir." He paused
for a moment to try and think of a better way to express his thoughts. He
was obviously not doing a good enough job. "I guess I am concerned that the
situation is going to lead to someone getting hurt or killed because of a
miscalculation or a disagreement about how to handle a situation. People
are going to stay alive due to split-second decisions. What happened out
there with my request for additional aid could have been a problem. I guess
I need to know what my limitations are in reguards to my assignment."
"You don't have any hard and fasts limitations, Commander. We all must do what
we can. What concerns me, Commander, is your somewhat naive notion that if
everything is done right that no one will get hurt. You of all people should
realize that in our line of work people die. It's neither good nor bad. It's
just a fact of the job. During the course of carrying out our duty someone may
do everything correct, and still die.
What this boils down to is that you and I are not always going to agree or see
eye to eye. We must trust that the other is doing his job."
{response}
Co-GM of the Spacedock Game
Characters:
Adm. Samuel Lasiter,
RAdm. Markus Garibaldi,
Emissary Marconis,
LCDR Donovan Black, and a host of others.
_______________________________________________
Spacedock mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.starbase1.org/mailman/listinfo/spacedock_starbase1.org
