Conduct

Posted on 18 Jun 2015 @ 4:48am by Chief Petty Officer Sergei Andropov & Captain Harvey Geisler

1,029 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Repairs
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 5 - 1600 hours

A day had passed since the boarding incident. While the engineers were hard at work restoring operations and the computer, Harvey had his hands full collecting the reports from all of the departments. Everyone had been scattered throughout the ship, leaving Harvey and a couple adjutants to verbally collect each report.

They hadn't even made it halfway through the crew.

The situation in the forefront of Harvey's mind was the surprise occupancy of the bridge. Three crewmen had been lost in the struggle. Fortunately, they at least managed to obtain Petty Officer Carter. With Reza busy with keeping the ship secure, Harvey volunteered to interview the bridge team himself.

He'd arranged to have Chief Andropov report to the Ready Room at the end of his shift. Harvey stood by the window, a lone PADD left behind on the desk, in wait for the Chief to arrive.

Sergei looked at the small chronometer on his wrist. His shift working damage control over. Though a senior member of security department, Andropov had been cross-trained in several fields inducing the repair of the actual structure of the ship as well as several ship systems. He reported out to the junior Lieutenant in command of the DC team and then headed for deck 1.

Exiting the turbolift, Sergei passed through the still mostly functionless bridge before touching the announcer at Geisler's Ready Room door.

Hearing the chime, Harvey instinctively muttered the word, "Come." Then he remembered that voice functions were still yet unavailable while the computer was being rebuilt. With a sigh, Harvey crossed the room to the door controls and tapped the control stud. Seeing the Chief on the other side of the door, Harvey invited the man in. "Find any more surprises?" Harvey asked, returning to the desk.

"No sir," Sergei replied, entering the office. He had been on the Black Hawk for long enough to know that Geisler was a pretty agreeable CO. He wasn't a pushover, but he wasn't a distant tightass like some other COs Andropov had served under.

"What can I do for you Captain?"

Harvey gestured at an open seat in front of the desk just moments before he sat in his own chair. "Fun command stuff," he replied honestly and sarcastically. "When Starfleet puts a man or woman in the command chair, they don't tell you about the mound of paperwork you get to deal with."

"Lucky for me, that tends to be more of a problem for officers than for us non-coms. I've run a few units in my time." Sergei thought back to his service during the Dominion War. "Not much paperwork during the war. At least not for me. I was too busy trying to repel Jem'Hadar ground troops."

The Captain nodded. Somehow, even all these years later, the mere mention of the Jem'hadar always made him think of the Internment Camps on Betazed. Choosing to abruptly change topics, Harvey leaned forward in his chair and folded his hands. "Tell me what happened on the bridge, Chief."

Sergei recounted the events on the Bridge; from the team's hurried entrance and O'Donnell's lengthy verbal distraction, to his own failed attempt to end the stand-off.

"And I suspect that's why I'm here sir," the Russian veteran stated.

"Your suspicion is correct," Harvey said, leaning back in his chair. "I can't blame you for discharging your weapon, but you and I both know there is a time and place for such things."

"Of course, sir. And your Lieutenant O'Donnell was setting himself up to get killed. As the ranking security officer on scene, the safety of the crew, and in particular, the senior officer of the team, were my direct concern," Sergei explained. "I've been doing this a long time Captain. I know my job."

"I get that you're experienced, Chief," Harvey said. "Lieutenant O'Donnell may be wet behind his ears, but he was the ranking officer in charge. You needed to let his plan play out."

Andropov felt his gut tighten. He was not happy with how this meeting was going. "If Mister O'Donnell had a plan, he should have shared it with us. But nothing about his behavior indicated he had put much thought into his approach. From the moment he decided to have us all enter from the same ingress point, we were set up for failure. We could have had the tactical advantage if he'd slowed down and thought about what he was doing before he did it."

"Flying by the seat of your pants gets people killed. Sir."

"It also creates panic," Harvey countered. "Panic is what caused our computer core to be wiped, making us a sitting duck. And panic is the only reason why Petty Officer Carter is sitting in our brig and also likely why you're still alive." Harvey sighed. "Hindsight is 20/20, Chief. We all made mistakes today. But that doesn't excuse overriding the chain of command."

Andropov straightened in his chair. "Excuse my candidness Captain, but Carter did this." He looked Geisler directly in the eye. "If you think that she wouldn't have wiped the computer without me acting out of turn, then you aren't being very honest with yourself. If I hadn't acted, O'Donnell would likely be dead, as would the rest of our team. And the Syndicate would have full possession of this ship. My actions, though not sanctioned, saved lives."

Sergei stood up. "If you are going to formally reprimand me, let's get on with it. I need to get back to the damage control efforts."

Harvey inhaled deeply, locking his gaze with Andropov. The man was right. Perhaps Harvey acting on his own anger with loosing Moore on top of a crippled ship and betrayal was imprudent. Sighing at last, he waved the Chief Petty Officer away, dismissing him. He no longer had the desire to argue or debate, and would instead turn the matter over to the new Chief of Security.

Andropov stood and exited Geisler's office. Although he knew that he had broken protocol, he was confident that his decision was the correct one at the time. He stepped onto the turbolift and the doors closed behind him. "Deck 9."

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