Administrative Efforts

Posted on 04 Nov 2017 @ 7:06am by Commander Thiago Teixeira & Commander Terry Walsh & Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Danyl Adan & Lieutenant T'Pai & Lieutenant Avery Stuart Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Felix Langston

2,359 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Crossing Over
Location: XO's Office/Briefing Room 2
Timeline: MD 1 || 1115/1145
Tags:

With several hours of paperwork behind him, Thiago was just about done with his administrative headache. For the day, at least. His least favorite part of being an Executive Officer had always been the paperwork. Years ago, he'd started calendaring all of the various deadlines for the numerous reports he had to prepare or read. It was this calendar that he had just pulled up.

"Crew evaluations time," he said aloud before popping a grape into his mouth. Starfleet crew evaluations occurred in steps. The specifics varied slightly from ship to ship but the overall process was the same. First, the department heads produced evaluations of those under their command. Then, each department head sat down with the XO to discuss specific crew, typically those individuals who were excelling and those who were on the opposite end of the spectrum. During this meeting, the department head would recommend any promotions or reassignments that they feel are warranted. Also, at this point, the departmental reports are formally submitted to the ship's Personnel Office. The XO then meets with the Captain to pass along any recommendations from the department heads, along with his/her own thoughts. Together, the CO and XO make the final decision how to act on the recommendations. They can also act on their own instincts, independent of the departmental reports, though this is rare. This is also passed along to the Personnel Office for notation in the individual personnel files.

Alongside this process, the XO also performs evaluations of the department heads themselves, and passes those recommendations to the Captain. In total, it was a process that could take weeks, depending on the competing demands on everyone's time.

"Teixeira to all Department Heads. Please report to Briefing Room 2 at 1145," he said after tapping his comm badge.

Camila looked up as she got the order to report to the Briefing Room and checked the time. She had a half an hour, but she decided to get it out of the way and gathered up the stack of PADDs on her deck to secure them, then got a fresh one before she headed out of her office. She locked her door and gave the Andorian Yeoman Security officer who served at the front of the Security Complex a nod. "I'll be in a briefing with the Executive Officer and other heads if anyone needs me," she said and got a nod of confirmation.

Two minutes later, she walked into the briefing room and gave a nod to the Executive Officer. "Commander Teixeira," she said as she headed for a chair.

Having arrived several minutes before the Security Chief, Thiago had taken up position at the head of the table with a stack of PADDs. "Nice to have you back with us, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, Commander," Camila said and gave a smile to him.

After the summons came through, Joey locked down her office and made her way to the briefing room where she and the rest of the department heads were supposed to meet with the Executive Officer. This was the first time she'd been called into anything like this, and because of that, the Intel Chief had no idea what was to come, which was going to make things interesting.

She arrived shortly after Camila did, and offered her and the XO a nod as she moved to one of the vacant seats. "Lieutenant, Commander," she greeted as she settled down.

"Lieutenant Co...Geisler," Camila said with a nod. It was going to take some used to saying Geisler instead of Corwin."

Arjin lifted his head from above the microscope he was using to do some detailed analysis. Annoyed at being interrupted. He put the sample he was studying away in the cooling drawer and headed towards the briefing room.

"Lieutenants, Commander.", he greeted the already present staff members. Before taking a seat himself.

Terry had just finished approving the duty, flight, and training schedules for tomorrow when the message came in from the XO. He left the PADDs on his desk and sent a message to his Yeoman to pick them up as he was on his way to a meeting that had been called. He grabbed a fresh PADD and headed out of the office.

A little while later, he entered Briefing Room Two and looked around. At least he wasn't the last to arrive. The large Squadron Commander found an empty seat and sat down.

At least Jayla wasn't the last one to arrive. They'd been about to run a triage drill when the message to report came through, so she instructed her staff to pretend she had just been critically injured and now they had to manage without her. She had every confidence in them, but it was always good to practice for every eventuality.

As she walked through the door, she glanced around at everyone and grinned when she spotted Camila. She'd gotten the security chief's medical files, but hadn't had a chance to go see her. She really needed to remedy that as she hadn't yet passed her phaser recertification. "Good morning," she said in an attempt to fake her way back to her formerly cheerful self. But, it sounded fake even to her own ears. Oh, well. She'd get there eventually. For now, she found a seat and waited for the meeting to start.

After the morning's interdepartmental meeting concerning the Convergence Zone, T'Pai had retired to Engineering Lab Four to begin constructing an n-orthotope model of the phenomenon. Upon hearing the Executive Officer's announcement, T'Pai saved her progress before shutting down the program.

A turbolift lift ride and few strides later, T'Pai entered Briefing Room Two. She gave a curt nod of recognition to the Executive Officer as well as her fellow department heads before taking a seat.

Taking a sip of her caffeinated beverage before entering the briefing room, Avery exhaled in relief. Things have been challenging of late, but it was the little things Avery had been learning to enjoy. Nodding to all as she entered, she took her seat.

Lieutenant Danyl Adan entered the lounge carrying a cup of hot coffee in one hand and Padds in the other. He was not used to attending meetings like this yet. He offered a smile to everyone in the room before seating himself in an empty chair.

Lt. Felix Langston rushed into the briefing room while guzzling a cup of coffee. He almost spilled some on himself while taking the last empty seat at the table. "Sorry I'm late, everyone!" he said as he hurried to the open chair. He placed what was left of his coffee on the table, adjusting it nervously.

Once everyone had taken a seat around the table, Thiago started handing out the PADDs. "Being a department head comes with certain responsibilities," he said, passing a PADD to Di Pasquale. "And some of those responsibilities aren't glamorous. Or fun. Here Walsh," he explained, sliding a device to the Squadron Commander. "This is one of those things. And as much as these routine, administrative tasks might seem tedious, they are, in fact, necessary to make sure that things are functioning to the highest level. And to know where and how to help shore up the weak spots."

With all of the PADDs doled out, Teixeira leaned back in the chair. "It's time for crew evaluations."

T'Pai quietly took the proffered PADD, silently reviewing its contents.

Joey took the PADD and looked over the information on it. It seemed pretty straight-forward, but this would be the first time she'd ever done this. She had no doubt that she'd be able to handle it, though, and thankfully, her department was small, so it wouldn't take as long as some of the other departments would.

Terry nodded and accepted the PADD. He sat there, listening to the Executive Officer and reviewing the data on the PADD.

Danyl accepted the Padd offered him and glanced at it. Crew evaluations was something he had done in the past, but as his previous hosts. This was going to be something new for the current one.

Arjin read trough the PADD. Knowing fully well the big task that lay before him.

"Oh boy," Felix said softly as he looked at the PADD in front of him. Even though flight control for the actual helm of the Black Hawk was small compared to other departments, he had to oversee all the shuttle pilots and relief helmsmen as well. "Looks like I'm gonna have to try to kick my coffee habit at another time," he said while scrolling through the PADD's data.

"I won't dictate how you handle the evaluations in your department. I know some people like to sit down and talk with their staff individually. And that is certainly an option. Other people assign draft evaluations to be done by their assistant chiefs for the crew in their section. Again, that kworks for me.

"My only requirements are that I want all evaluations to be honest and, for any shortcoming you identify in someone's performance, that you provide actionable ideas for resolving those weaknesses. Any questions?"

"No questions, Commander," Joey stated.

"No questions," Camila responded. Although it would be nice to have an opportunity to actually review everyone and an Assistant to help, especially after being shanghaied.

"I don't have anything," Terry replied. Crew evaluations..., he thought to himself. The Lieutenant Commander sighed inwardly. For the most part, the Squadron was performing well. There were a few speed bumps that he'd had to take care of, and not to mention a mountain or two. Yeah, this was going to be interesting.

"No, sir," Avery replied. The mention of crew evaluations didn't really bother her either way. Naturally, she participated in the evaluation of the crew regularly, so this wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. Admittedly, it would be a bit different for her to evaluate her own staff so closely, but even then, it wasn't something completely unexpected for someone with her professional background.

Adan glanced up from the Datapadd clutched in his right hand and said, "I might need a little guidance through the process. My previous hosts have done this before, but I am a little new to it."

"I don't really have any questions Commander. Just getting an extra hours squized in one day maybe.", Arjin sighed.

"No questions, Commander," T'Pai added to the chorus.

Felix silently shook his head. "I'm good, Commander," he said, looking up from the PADD.

Moving on, Teixeira explained, "After your evaluations are done and submitted, you will each sit down with me, individually, to discuss them. That meeting should focus on the outliers: people who are underperforming and those who are exceeding expectations. We will discuss your recommendations, which the Captain and I will then discuss and decide on."

"You are not immune from the process either," he continued. "As the Executive Officer, I will be conducting your evaluations."

"When will our evaluations start?" Joey asked.

"That's a good question," added Adan. "I haven't served aboard the Black Hawk myself."

Teixeira grinned widely. "The Captain and I are always taking note of your performance, Lieutenant. In addition, I will be observing each of you at various times. Unscheduled, of course." He ran a hand through his hair. "None of you have anything to worry about."

That statement made Jayla wrinkle her nose. Commander Teixeira knew far too much about her personal problems. She mentally prepared herself for uncomfortable questions, but for the moment, focused on the meeting.

Felix breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly through the small opening he made with his mouth. He hoped his tardiness to the meeting wouldn't reflect badly on his own evaluation.

Joey said nothing in response to the Commander's words, but only nodded her head. Unscheduled inspections were nothing knew to most of the senior staff as the Captain conducted them on occasion, but still, it would be a new experience having the Executive Officer popping in. She wasn't going to let that keep her from her duties, though.

"Because I want ensure that you are able to do evaluations without seriously impacting your other duties, I'm not placing a strict timeline on this. Some of you have smaller departments than other," Teixeira said, looking to Joey and then to Counselor Stuart, "so I'll expect your evals sooner than the others." His eyes moved to focus on the Security Chief. "And some of you are dealing with staff you might not be familiar with." Placing his palms on the table, he stood up. "Take the time you need. Don't rush. If there's nothing else?"

Terry shook his head, "Nothing from me, Commander.

"No, sir," Felix said, shaking his head.

"Dismissed," Teixeira said, before turning and heading back to Administration. Always more paperwork, he thought as he exited into the corridor.

Perhaps I can get Sterek to help, Jayla mused as she rose to leave. She would separate the files and give half to Sterek. Nurses accounted for nearly half of the medical staff. If he was willing to do that much, she would be eternally grateful.

The bald Squadron Commander grabbed the PADD he'd been given earlier and headed out.

With the PADD in hand, Camila headed out to begin the work of two people by herself.

T'Pai gave the executive officer a curt nod before following the rest of the department heads out of the briefing room.

Arjin stood and followed the rest, his mind already back on track about the Convergence problem.

Felix picked up the PADD in one hand and his coffee in the other, nodding to the commander on his way out of the briefing room. "Great day for more stuff..." he said in a sing-song manner as he made his way back to the bridge.

Like all the other senior officers, Joey rose to her feet and walked out of the briefing room. Things just got even busier, but thanks to a small department, she wasn't worried. In fact, she looked forward to the challenge that came with her new position.

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