"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."
K'Tael had no desire to argue with the Admiral any longer. it was not going
to get either of them anywhere since it seemed they were doomed to disagree
on the matter. K'Tael saw the decision as wrong, and, to him, making a
wrong decision did increase the chances of someone getting hurt or killed.
Doing things right held no guarantees, but it did do more to prevent
problems.
"I have no question that we will be able to get to the root of these
problems no matter what are disagreements may be. We both have the best of
intentions in the situation."
"Good to hear.", Smallwood said shifting slightly in his chair. "I have
something for you to think about. The next time you find yourself in a meeting
with superior officers, you should think twice about your word choice. When
you questioned my decision not to send re-inforcements when you called for
them, bordered on insubordination, and sounded like you were accusing me of a
crime. If you had actually accused a superior officer of a crime without
proper evidence, as it sounded like you were about to, you would find yourself
in the brig. Do you understand me?"
{response}
Co-GM of the Spacedock Game
Characters:
Adm. Samuel Lasiter,
RAdm. Markus Garibaldi,
Emissary Marconis,
LCDR Donovan Black, and a host of others.
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