Orders and then some

Posted on 28 Jan 2018 @ 10:16pm by Lieutenant JG Dean Winchester & Lieutenant JG Shay Mitchell

1,222 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Crossing Over
Location: Various
Timeline: MD 2 || 1300 Hours

For what seemed like the 40th time that day, Dean shook his head. The padd he was holding contained a very large detailed list of items that had to be done by the end of his shift. The padd also noted he was to locate one Shay Mitchell and have her assist him. Sighing inwardly he set off in search of the person so he could get done, and be done with this day in general.
After about 20 minutes or so, Winchester found her He stood behind her and said, calmly so as not to startle her, "Ensign Mitchell, a moment please".

Shay turned around from what she was currenrly and came to face the chest of a rather large man. She found herself craning her neck to be able to see his face and offered the big guy a smile. "Of course, Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"

"It appears", Winchester said, "That according to this list", He said handing her the padd, "We are assighned to work together on this rather large list of tasks
".

"A list, huh?" the Ensign asked. It didn't exactly surprise her given what could happen next. "What's on this list you've got, and of course I'll help out with it. Two people can cover a lot more ground working on it."


Cracking a half smile, Winchester said, calmly, "Inspection of Arms Lockers 1, 2, and 3, A drill to see how fast our people can repel boarders, just all the day to day stuff that needs done, boring i know, but still necessary."

"I can help you with that," Shay said. "What would you like to start with first?"

"Well, what do you say about starting with arms lockers 2 and 3, as they are on this deck?"

"I would say that sounds like the best use of our time," the Ensign replied as she rose to her feet. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we'll be able to check things off this list you've got."

"Alright. First up is Arms Locker 2, just down down here", he said motioning. "Follow me please".

Shay nodded her head and followed behind the giant of a man. She'd only seen one other incredibly tall man on the ship, and the young woman made it a point not to see him too often because that meant she was injured. "I haven't had the chance to talk to you much," she said as the moved down the corridor. "How are you liking life aboard the Black Hawk?"

As they walked, Winchester replied, “It’s all right, still getting used to this new ship myself, I mean I was aboard when the first Black Hawk was blown from underneath our feet”, he said, a slightly sad tent to his voice. “It was sad to see the old girl go, but she went out in a blaze of glory”. As he finished speaking, he realized they had rounded a corner and said, “Ah, here we are, Arms Locker 2”.

"She did, and I'm sure the Captain took that harder than anyone else. Everyone seems to be adjusting fairly well, so that's a good thing," the Ensign commented as they came to the arms locker. She looked toward him and awaited further instruction.

Winchester shook his head in understanding as he entered his Security Codes to unlock the locker. As it swung open, Winchester cracked a smile and asked, “Do you want to do the Hand Phasers or the Rifle’s?”

"I'll take whichever you don't want," Shay replied. "Neither really bothers me."

“I’ll take the Rifle’s”, Winchester said smiling. Pulling the nearest one from the rack, he began to strip it down to check and clean it.

"That means I'll take the phasers," the young Ensign said, reaching inside to grab the first one. She made sure it was safe to disassemble before beginning the process, then started to take it apart before cleaning it.

“So”, Winchester said as he worked, “You like working in Security?”

"I do. There's just something about not knowing what's going to happen day to day that adds an element of excitement to it," she replied, finishing up with her first phaser and moving on to the next. "Of course, that unknown can also bring injury to us or one of our comrades, which makes me angry."

“True’”, Winchester said switching weapons. “Seen more than my fair share of death and injury in this job”. Pausing to think he continued, “Still wouldn’t trade it for the world though”.

"It's all part of what we sign up for," the young woman said, moving onto the next. As many times as she'd done it in the past, Shay was fairly certain she'd be able to do all of this with her eyes closed. "It's not just with Security, either. It's Starfleet as a whole. It's got potential to be an extremely dangerous path to take all things considered."

“True”, Winchester said. “But consider that in light of other career fields in Starfleet, Security has suffered the most deaths, injuries, and has the highest attrition rate of the rest combined”.

"I'm not going to disagree with that, but that's simply because Security is the first line of defense when things go south," Shay pointed out as she continued on with their present task. "However, on the flip side, there are circumstances where casualties are higher in other departments than they should be."

Raising his eybrow, Winchester said, wearily, “Such as?”

"Such as boarders," the young woman replied, finishing the last of the phasers. "If they get into a highly populated area with the intent to kill, it can be catastrophic."

“That’s why”, Winchester said putting a Rifle back, “ We kill them first, I have zero sympathy for those who kill the ones I care about”.

"I have no sympathy for boarders, either, but you're wrong," Shay pointed out, returning the last phaser to the locker. "If we want to know what their objective is, they need to be kept alive. Killing them is only right if there is no other choice. It's what the Federation, and those that serve, live by."

“That’s the difference between you and me”, he said turning fully to face her. “You still think everything can be solved by peace and diplomacy, well news flash, it can’t.” “If I am ordered to take prisoners I will, otherwise, they board this ship, and start killing innocent people, people I concider Friends, they are all going to die, end of story.”

Shay had had enough. "It's your court martial, not mine. If you'll excuse me, I need to check in with the Chief." On that note, she walked away, leaving the rest of the list to be completed by him and whoever else he could get to help.

Cracking a sad smile, Winchester turned back to his work. It was bad enough he hated to work around people, but having to say such horrific things, even though false, to make her leave made him sad almost to the point of tears. Which that in and of itself was another reason he was glad he was alone. He hated and always would hate showing emotion around others, although he would have to make a point of apologizing to Shay later and explaining this to her.

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