Explain This

Posted on 25 Mar 2018 @ 4:35pm by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Commodore Harvey Geisler

2,044 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Crossing Over
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 36 || 0800 Hours

Camila was up bright and early the next morning and felt a lot better. She had all of her memories back and despite the newly awakened despair of all the losses she had suffered in the past few months, she had taken Jayla's words to heart. Remember and grow. Don't let it crush you, went through her mind again as she activated her terminal and logged in. She had a lot to review from what the sensors had been able to collect when the ship went through the portal into the Zone and saw that the data was extremely limited.

She shook her head and nearly knocked her mug over before she straightened it and pushed it further aside. Muttering under her breath, she then began to review the protocols that she had submitted to the Captain to see why none of them were functioning even when the ship regained power. A minute later, her eyes nearly bugged out and she jumped up from her desk. "Che verme viscido cavalcato cadavere di un inutile*....!" exploded from her and she jammed her hand at the terminal to deactivate it.

The Security Chief left her office nearly at a run and shoved a Security crewman aside with a growl that would make a Klingon blink. She headed for the turbolift and boarded it when it came. "Bridge!" she shouted, her anger boiling her blood. When it came to a halt, she slid between the doors before they fully opened and looked around for the Captain.

Captain Geisler hadn't sat in the return chair since they dared cross into the zone. Even though it had been cleaned, the stench remained, and the last thing he wanted to do was to carry that foul smell around the bridge. Instead, he stood next to the MSD, keeping an eye on the ship's repairs for himself. He glanced at his Chief of Security and noticed she was in a bit of a tiff. "Problem, Lieutenant?" he asked, his gaze returning to the large schematic.

"You could say that, Captain," Camila said as she approached him. "Do you want to discuss it here or in private?" Truth be told, she'd rather do it openly but knew he had a reputation to uphold and had a lot of other stress. Still, she was spoiling for a scene and it showed by how close she got to him.

Harvey dared to arch an eyebrow as he glanced to his side and saw her proximity to him. The very fact that she asked the question indicated that she was quite agitated and was in danger of losing her filter. Therefore, he gestured her to lead the way into the conference room, since it was the closest facility.

The Security Chief turned and headed to the conference room in long strides and turned once she was inside, her arms crossed and her feet planted firmly on the deck. Her eyes smouldered and the tension in her body was evident to anyone with the ability to see such things.

Whooshing closed behind the Captain, Harvey crossed the room to look out the rear windows. He was beginning to get used to the blue glow of the Convergence Zone, especially since everywhere he looked now, they were surrounded by the barrier. He also saw workbees tending to the pits in the hull left behind by the observers. "What's got you on edge, Lieutenant?" Harvey asked, turning to face her.

"Why the hell am I your Chief of Security, Captain?" she asked him, her voice harsh as she glared at him.

The question surprised him. Did she feel guilty about everything that just happened? "Excuse me?" he inquired, his tone dripping with confusion.

"You shanghaied me back here against my will, then you ignore the protocols I put in from past experience," Camila said hotly. "I didn't put those recommendations in just to waste time, Captain. Unless you like seeing members of your crew die and the ship get torn up."

Harvey recalled those recommendations. He also recalled discussing those protocols with Commander Teixeira, but could not recall why they were not approved. Perhaps that reason was in the part of his mind that was still foggy. Without addressing whether or not those protocols were approved, he began with, "First and foremost, Lieutenant. Those protocols first require the power systems to be operational. We were lucky to have just the emergency lights for as long as we did."

"Those protocols also require being approved so that they can be effective," she snarled. "Even with limited power, they can be put to use. I studied four years to learn these things and from past experience on this very ship. I know what's required of them and what can be shunted to make them operational."

"I cannot refute the lack of approval," Harvey replied. "As I'm sure you're well aware, it takes time for memories to return to full strength. However, I think we were fortunate that your protocols were not approved."

"I had no idea that you had memory loss for a month and a half," Camila sneered, since she had put them in that long ago. "You're right though. I didn't like some of the new personnel, so I guess you not approving them helped get rid of them."

"I'm not talking about personnel," Harvey said, brushing off the month and a half comment. "It wasn't until we resisted that the... whoever they were... started tearing this ship apart. Had they not dragged their feet, allowing our EMH to figure out how to deal with our memory loss, we would have lost the Black Hawk, and this mission would have been for naught. And, if those protocols were enabled, and the intruders beamed to cells, we would have been blown out of the sky."

"Do you know that for a fact?" she asked him. "Or are you merely looking at it after the fact? We have no idea what they would have done. They could have seen us as strong and prepared and decided to cut their losses. Anyone who chooses self destruction over capture can't be that strong or brave."

"I'm employing hindsight, yes," Harvey replied. "We were incredibly lucky, and I don't deny that. And, yes, it's my own damn fault!" Harvey didn't know how or why her anger was being transferred to him. Perhaps everything that he hid under his surface for the last two months had come to critical mass, and she was the unfortunate soul that would bear the brunt of it.

"I didn't want to approve your protocols because I was fucking paranoid! This probe. The damned messages from the future. Impending doom. Mass hysteria! I've done my bit for Starfleet, and just once, just once, I'd like to explore without the threat of the unknown! We've done our part. Our suffering should have been over."

If his outburst and cursing affected her, Camila didn't show it but the fury was no longer in her eyes. "Paranoia gets people killed, Geisler," she said coldly. "We have no idea what the future holds and we never will, but if the Captain can't trust his own damned crew to keep him safe, then he has no right to rely on them when shit does hit the fan. You need to come clean so we figure out why the hell we're here, get it taken care of, and get back. And if you prevent me from trying to protect the people on this ship from without and within, I'll make certain that every Admiral I can talk to will know you were the cause of everything that happened."

She had a point, of course, but he wasn't going to back down now. "That is," he said, moving over to the viewscreen to take another look at her protocols, "your right. But I am the Captain of this ship. You and I might disagree from time to time, and I know I will stand accountable for every decision that I have made." Pulling up the protocols, Harvey began to review them, and then remembered why he never approved them outright. He turned to look at her and simply stated, "What these protocols didn't take into account is that there are almost eight hundred people on this ship that have duties to perform around security's watchful eye."

"I. Know. That," she said, grinding the words out through clenched teeth. "It's my sworn duty to protect them, you and the ship and those protocols are there for that very reason. How do you see them as not doing that?!"

"This one for instance," Harvey said, highlighting and enlarging "Force field will be erected in all sensitive areas and require department head or higher clearance during a red alert situation" so that it filled the screen. "Is a damage control team going to have to request clearance in the middle of a battle? What happens when there is no possibility of getting that clearance?"

Camila could see his point, but hoped he wasn't going to argue every last one of them down. "That can be changed to restrict it to personnel access only," she said after a moment.

"And this one," Harvey pointed out, highlighting "Any use of phasers on the ship without a boarding by enemy combatants will result in them being transported immediately to the Brig." "There are multiple situations when a phaser might be used aboard a starship without boarding parties. Disabling a forcefield, freeing a stuck door, or draining into a battery compartment. Does this protocol account for these?"

"A valid point," she admitted. "Change it to use of phasers and disruptors by boarding of enemy combatants."

Disruptors? thought Harvey, noting the specific mention, and not keeping it generic to weapon. The Captain cleared the screen and walked back over to his original position by the window. "I don't seem to be the only paranoid person on this ship, Lieutenant. I want this ship to be safe, yes, but there's only room for one paranoid person on this ship. And, last I checked, four pips outweigh two, so I call dibs. Take another pass at the protocols and we'll talk again."

"Paranoids are only people with all the facts," Camila said. "And our past track record says that we need these protocols, but I'll revise. Sir." She added at the end, but it was clear she meant 'cur' even if the officer training in her would never let her say it.

The matter of her emphasis was not lost on Harvey, but he knew better than to press that issue. Enough had been said by both of them. "I'm not refuting the use of protocols," he said. "Regardless, it's something we should have handled weeks ago. I look forward to your revisions. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, Sir," she said. "I owe you an apology for coming at you like I did. It was unbecoming. With all the recent events, I haven't exactly been myself. None of us have, Captain. I just want you to know that I put the welfare of you, the crew and the ship first and that you can count on me. You have no reason to be paranoid, Sir and if there's any concerns you'd like to discuss, I'm more than willing to take them into consideration before I fly off the handle again."

Because of his own outburst, he waved it aside. "It's been an unusual day, Lieutenant. It doesn't excuse either of our behaviors. As for any lingering concerns, I believe I've said what I need to say there."

"Understood, Captain," Camila said. "My door will be open, but then again, it is your ship." She gave him a smile and headed out.

Harvey sighed, remaining in the room for a moment after she left. Despite the guilt he felt about jumping the gun and diving into the zone with the loss of life so far, he seriously thought he'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Hopefully they'd find an end to all of this soon.

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* Italian: That slimy worm ridden corpse of a useless

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