The Second

Posted on 01 May 2019 @ 2:57pm by Lieutenant JG Myles Toral & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

1,261 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Kalisa Conundrum
Location: Security
Timeline: MD 2 || 1100 Hours

The debriefing of the away team had gone on for hours after returning from Kalisa and Camila was glad to be back in her office surrounded by familiar faces and technology. Now she had an abundance of reports to go through, personnel changes to change, shift rotations and a never ending flood that was her daily tasks. She was very grateful that Ensign Mitchell had stepped up to help as an acting Assistant Chief, but now she saw that someone had came aboard that she had yet to meet, and with qualifications for the actual position.

She sat back and cracked her back, then tapped her combadge. =^=Lieutenant Toral to the Security office, please.=^= she requested before she got up to replicate another tankard of coffee.

Myles was just working through some reports as he received the comm message. “On my way,“ he replied and momentarily rose to head to the Chief‘s office which was just down the corridor. He hadn‘t had the chance to get to know his superior officer up until now as she had been on the away mission. He pulled down his uniform jacket, he chimed.

"Enter," Camila called as she sat back down with her coffee and took a sip of the strong Raktajino.

The Bajoran officer entered the office and went over to the desk. “Good morning,“ he started and nodded. “Lieutenant Toral reporting as ordered,“ he concluded in a more official Starfleet manner.

"Have a seat, Lieutenant," Camila said as she looked at the slightly shorter, but far stockier Bajoran officer. "Tell me something that isn't in your file and we'll go from there."

That was indeed an interesting start. Most Starfleet officers aksed about things that were in his file, no one had ever asked him about something that wasn‘t mentioned. On the one hand, he thought that this inquisitive method was really fitting for a Security Chief. On the other hand, Myles really had no idea what he should mention now. There were a few things that were not in his file - either irrelevant or too personal to give away to someine he did not even know.
He looked at the cup of Raktajino she held in her hand and smiled.
“It seems you and I have something in common. I couldn‘t make it through a day without a nice, strong coffee.“
That was perhaps not really the information she had expected to hear, but it was perhaps a good start for a conversation.

"Would you care for a cup?" the ombre haired, serious looking woman asked but didn't make a notation in the file she had open.

“That would be great, Lieutenant,“ Myles said. “I‘ve just spent an hour reading and writing reports, so I‘d go for a cup.“

Camila got up from her desk to go the replicator. "Standard or Raktajino, and cream, sugar or milk? An hour of reports is just getting started, but you're lucky we're in the Zone. The number has dropped off significantly."

„Standard, black, please,“ he answered. “Well, a good thing about the Zone then,“ he smirked.“ I know it comes with the job, but it is not my favourite part of it.“

The Chief gave him a strange look that seemed related to pure horror, but it quickly passed as she got the coffee and handed it to him in a standard mug and coaster. "Tell me about your service record, Lieutenant and what you've learned up to this point."

Bajoran leaned back and thought about it for a second. “Well, my service record is preety straightforward, Lieutenant. I learned a lot of things at the Academy, of course, but I guess the most important thing would be that,“ Myles hesitated for a second before he continued. “... that sometimes you have to make a decision. But no matter how you decide in the end, you will be on the losing side.“ The security officer looked at Camila again. “I‘m not sure if that makes sense to you,“ he added with a faint smile.

"I know a few things about that," Camila said with a wry smile. "You just have to live with those choices." And have nightmares about them she mentally added. "What's your biggest regret since you've joined?" she asked after a moment she covered by taking another sip of her coffee.

Myles scratched his forehead as he thought about that. “It‘s hard to say if you can really call it regret.“ He took a sip of his coffee. “After the Academy I had to decide between love and career. You know what my decision was. You know, I really like what I am doing, but sometimes I wonder.“ Myles didn‘t continue. Breaking up because of career plans did not really sound that good at all - sometimes.

"I actually meant in your Starfleet career," the Security Chief said, but without rancor. "Something which has happened since your first assignment."

“Yes ... of course,“ Myles tried to hide his embarrassment. Why had he told her about that anyway? “I don‘t really regret anything concerning my career to be honest. I love what I am doing.“

"So you haven't made any bad decisions or had something you wished you had done differently?" she asked.

Myles shook his head. “Don‘t get me wrong, Lieutenant. I‘m far from perfect and there are always things you could have done better or perhaps differently, but I would not say, I have done something I would regret doing the way I did it.“ He leaned back in his chair. “After my graduation, I was serving on the USS Kalahari as security officer. The Kalahari is a diplomatic vessel, so my duties there as security officer were often just ceremonial. Yes, personal protection was part of it, but it seems I was quite lucky because nothing really too serious happened.“

"Our Chief of Intelligence served as a Close Protection Officer prior to coming to Black Hawk," she said. "Perhaps you two can share some stories. What I need from you, however, is a dedicated officer who won't hesitate to follow orders. This crew has been through hell and back again more than once, and we can't afford to have officers who hesitate. We've lost too many and one ship already. That will not happen again. Are you that officer, Lieutenant?"

He sat up straight. “Of course, Lieutenant. I will do everything to protect this ship and her crew.“

"Then the first thing I need you to do is familiarize yourself with the personnel files if you haven't already done so and take over arranging the duty shift. You'll have Beta Shift, or Alpha is I'm on an away mission in which case you'll be Acting Chief of Security. I also want a list of options for various scenarios on boarders and how to prevent them from reaching critical areas on my desk by tomorrow," Camila said.

Okay, so much for the normal reports today Myles thought not being unhappy about the more challenging and therefore interesting tasks. “Aye, Lieutenant,“ he confirmed. “I‘ll get right to it.“

"Do you have any questions for me?" Camila asked.

“No, Lieutenant, not at the moment,“ he answered her question and shook his head slightly. “I am really looking forward to working with you ... and thanks for the coffee,“ he added taking the last sip from his cup.

"Then I'll let you get to your duties," the Chief said with a smile. "Welcome to the department."

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