Forging of a sword takes more than fire.

Posted on Thu Apr 9, 2015 @ 3:16pm by Lieutenant Kyle "Loki" Carter & Captain Maritza Soran

1,331 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: Soran's office
Timeline: MD03 0800

::ON::

=^="Lieutenant Kyle Carter, please report to Commander Soran's office."=^=

=^="Aye, on my way."=^= Kyle quickly made his way to a turbolift to take it up to the Commander's Office. Just a few meters down the hall he pulled at his service jacket to make sure it was straight before chiming the door.

The door opened, and Kyle could see the interior of a small office, Commander Soran was sitting at her desk, reading a padd and making notes with a stylus in an other. Her blonde hair was neatly pinned, and she didn't bother looking up. "Enter."

Kyle walked to the front of the Commander's desk and snapped to attention. "Lieutenant Carter reporting as ordered."

She didn't tell him to sit; there wasn't a chair. "Mr. Carter, have you ever commanded anything bigger than a glorified bus?"

"I was a squadron leader on the Thatcher before my assignment to DS5 Ma'am." He answered with a smile. If she wanted to play hardass let her. "But that's all in my file."

She put her stylus down, and laced her fingers together on her desk. And looked at him.

She was his superior but Kyle wouldn't be intimidated by someone riding desk and trying to exhibit the power of their position. "Ma'am, I respect your uniform and your position. But there's absolutely no reason for you to try to belittle me. I'm here to perform my duties. I swore the same oath you did when I put on this uniform."

Soran raised an eyebrow, and picked up her stylus, and made a note with it. "The question still stands, Mr Carter. I have your file. If there was a satisfactory answer in there, I wouldn't be asking. Now, for the sake of completeness, have," she slowed her speech to emphasise each word, "you. ever. commanded. anything. larger than a shuttlecraft?"

"No. I. have. not." He answered her back. "The size of a vessel is immaterial, it's how the people under your command respond to you." Kyle added, certain that she'd get the point.

Soran pulled a padd more squarely in front of her. "Your file is perfectly adequate. Adequate is not a compliment." She didn't give him a chance to continue. Running a flight wing is not like running a ship of the line. You won't get to know the individual capabilities of everyone under you. You won't share their danger, and individualist tendancies get people killed. There is no mano e mano glory and your penchant for the million to-one shot results in eight hundred lost souls."

There was a pause, but he wasn't given a chance to fill it. "Given you seem to have found your niche and filled it so perfectly, is the ambition to command an actual starship genuine, or just some bullshit to get the development revue finished before the next training op?"

Kyle's eyes narrowed as he looked down at the Commander. "You fly a desk Commander, I fly a star fighter, don't pretend you know what it's like out there. You need to be able to count on the person flying your wing. You need to be able to trust them and know their strengths and weaknesses, if you don't you're as good as dead. Space is a cold, empty and unforgiving vacuum. A Valkyrie Class Starfighter can take maybe two disruptor hits from a Bird of Prey before it's destroyed. How many can your ship of the line take?"

He gave her the same amount of a pause she gave him before continuing. "As for the ambitions section on the reports. I'm perfectly content with where I am now. It's a duty and a responsibility that most people aren't cut out for. So those people sit behind their desks and question people like me. But the truth is, those people, need us out there because they can't do it. We're the thin blue line that stands between you and those who wish to harm you. Think about that while you sit in your cozy chair behind you desk."

Maritza sat back and sighed. It was a deep sigh of disappointment and frustration. "Lieutenant. There are other things in your file, you know. For one, a recommendation that you be returned to the command track at the earliest opportunity. Its littered with comments like, 'With the proper training' and 'After some personal development' and 'similarities to James Kirk'."

The return to command track comment made him wince slightly but that was quickly replaced with a beaming smile when she mentioned he had been compared to Kirk. "Really? Somebody said that? Cool!"

"Thats not necesarily a good thing. In many regards, Kirk was a menance." Soran had practically memorised Kirk's files. He was a legend, but had some truly scary flaws. "Having reviewed your file, its clear that you need to work on certain areas. A captain charged with seeking out new life and new civilizations is as much politician and diplomat as a commander. He needs to remain dignified and politic in the face of extreme provocation. In short, when to bite his tongue.

"There are a number of regions around the edge of Romulan space where the Federation has yet to tread, and they need to be surveyed, and mapped as a potential corridor to the Delta quadrant. Its part of the remit for DS5 as a border outpost to lay the way for future expansion. And Federation needs potential captains to aid that expansion. Daring Kirk types who aren't afraid of risk. And since those daring types need their corners knocked off I'm assigning you as my Xo on the Ararat. Its a secondary postion to your role as CAG, but will offer you the experience this discussion has clearly demonstrated you need."

"You know Commander, I think this could be beneficial for both of us. It'll look good on my record and it can give me the experience you think I lack." Kyle said with his smile still plastered on from the Kirk reference. "And I can teach you how to make friends."

Soran smiled beatifically. "And speaking of record. Your behaviour in the last five minutes is classified as insubordination. I will be adding the charge to your permanent record, and until you learn to behave like an officer, I'm rescinding your flight status. You have until the end of this shift to rearrange the flight rosters, but as of 1400 hours, you are grounded.

Kyle raised an eyebrow at her statement. "Well then, I guess I should warn you I'll be filing a formal grievance against you as well as an official appeal to you revoking my flight status." He counted on his fingers to himself for a moment. "Yeah I should have plenty of time to have that turned in to the XO before lunch today."

Soran wasn't perturbed at his angry outburst, his file had outlined as such and she'd prepared for it. "I report Captain t'Vaurek, not Commander Aldrex. She's expecting to see you."

"See now I thought at the Academy they taught us that the Second Officer is still subordinate to the First Officer who is subordinate to the Commanding Officer." He said with a sardonic smile. "But if that's the case here and you're under some protective umbrella that I'm not aware of I'll just file my complaints to the Captain then."


Soran rolled her eyes. "You're dismissed, Lieutenant." In his little contretemps he'd mentioned at least three good reasons why he should be acting with caution but he was too busy at being outraged for being called on his appalling manners to realise there were things to consider, let alone that he'd spotted then. Perhaps he might learn his lesson with her. Captain t'Vaurek was a politician proved on the floor of the Romulan Senate. She was going to eat him alive.

::OFF::

A JP between

Lt Commander Maritiza Soran
Head of Strategic Ops/Second Officer
DS5

&

Lieutenant Kyle "Loki" Carter
CAG
DS5

 

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