A New Strategy

Posted on 10 Jun 2016 @ 6:58am by Commodore Harvey Geisler

1,614 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: Between missions

OOC: I was having issues getting a solo post out. Anything I could get I didnt like. Thought we should also start a JP about the switch of my character to Strategic ops. Feel free to add anyone who you think should be in it as well, make any changes, or just delete the whole thing. Going with it is a couple days after the Outbreak mission, since I do not think Harvey is in any condition to be doing a briefing like this right now.

IC:
Mark walked up to the door of the captain’s ready room, hitting the chime. He had no idea what the reason for the meeting was about, and had already been postponed due to the recent outbreak on ship, understandably. Despite that, he could not help toss various senanios around his head about the reason, everything ranging from being posted to a new ship, which he was really not excited of the possibility of, to some mundane aspect of day to day work, which he had no idea why it would involve him, and the Captain. Either way, when the Captain requests your presence, you show up, no questions asked.

Harvey was sitting behind his desk, reviewing the updates from Yolvanda II. In the days that had followed the cure, many still struggled on the planet, and others came close to death while the crew of the Black Hawk fought to produce enough for everyone. Fortunately that incident was finally behind them, allowing this ship to move on to more pressing matters. His ears heard the chime, and his mouth instantly ordered, "Come," before his mind had a chance to properly react.

As the door opened, Mark walked in, and stopped a couple steps past the doorway. “Hello Sir, reporting as ordered."

The Captain looked up to see an somewhat familiar face over a gold collar. "Have a seat, Mister Davis," Harvey said, gesturing to the two chairs in front of the desk before he set the PADD he was holding near his terminal.

Mark walked in and took a seat across from the Captain at the desk. “Thank you Sir.” Mark paused for a couple seconds before speaking up again. “Feeling any better?” Despite most likely his best efforts to keep everything about the virus’s effect on him, word spread pretty quick around the ship, including a few stories which where most likely largely false, and Mark new better than to ask, or attempt to determine the accuracy of.

"Thankfully so," Harvey simply replied. He didn't need to go into detail or address any rumors. This crew had seen their shipmates at their worst. There was no need to dwell on it as everyone, or at least Harvey, simply wanted to move on. "You, however, seemed to avoid it."

"I guess I was one of the few who got lucky. My shore leave got pushed back by duty shifts, then by the time I was scheduled to go to the planet, my replacement never showed up. Apparently he was sick with the virus."

"If only we all had been so lucky," Harvey mused. "But we're not here to discuss that," he said, leaning forward in his chair and clasping his hands on the desk. "As you know, the Consortium have turned this quadrant and the task force upside down."

"Aye, I have been paying close attention to the updates involving them. And unfortunately it seems to be getting worse before anything gets better." He had been keeping an eye on things involving the Consortium closely. While a good portion of the crew was incapacitated with the virus, Mark took the extra duty time to update himself on all the recent changes.

Harvey did not nod or otherwise visually or verbally agree with the Lieutenant even though Harvey had recognized that trend himself. "Is that so?" he merely asked.

"That seems to be the general trend I have noticed, and that things will probably continue to get worse before they get better."

The Captain did nod this time. "The Consortium knew what they were doing, putting their most valuable resources on the ships with the most firepower. You look at the number of ships, and you think we can win these. But, when you realize that most of those ships outcrew the rest of us 3 or 4 to 1, and have at least twice our firepower, and things definitely start to look daunting."

"I would not only say the most firepower, but also some of the best resources, be it crew members, or supporting equipment." Mark by no means new, or served with everyone crewmember in the fleet, but he had seen a good portion of some of the crew files. A lot of them had very decorated pasts, and some well-seasoned in combat. "It really does look like tough odds, but at least for now everything is looking spread apart, so we might be able to make some fights favorable in numbers for us. At least for now."

Mark suspected there was more to this meeting than just a discussion regarding the Consortium. He was by no means an expert in regards to them, and was only a junior member of the tactical team. While he had used some extra time to get up to speed on the Consortium, he was by no means an expert, and the senior staff might have some knowledge about the situation than he did. Not that he minded, some face time with the Captain was rarely a bad thing. Mark continued to listen on as it sounded like the discussion was moving on towards the actual purpose of it.

"You've certainly done your homework, Lieutenant," Harvey commented. The Lieutenant's studies were in fact the reason why the tactical officer was in the room. "I've read your reports. Your recommendations and so on. I must say, your insight is incredible."

"Thank you sir. I have just wanted to get everything updated on the situation at hand, and start to look into the possible courses of action for when the time comes, which I have a feeling is going to be sooner than later.” Mark commented with a slight smile. He was glad to see that everything he had done recently did get noticed, and not just tossed into aside to never be seen again.

"And, truth be told, insight like this is a bit of a rarity among our ranks." Harvey paused for a moment before proceeding. "Insight that could be used in a more official capacity."

Mark took a second to think about the comment Harvey just made. Like always, there are some people who are just content with doing the minimum. Show up for their duty shift, and do what was needed but not attempt to find what else had to be done. But he didn’t think this is what the Captain meant. “Sorry Sir, I do not see what you are getting at.”

"Starfleet needs to take the fight to the Consortium before they come for us. The difficulty, since information is hard to come by, is knowing how and where to strike."

“I would agree Sir, and the longer we wait, the tougher it will get, and the tougher it will be to have unified attack strategy with all of Starfleet.” Mark commented, still not sure where the meeting was going.

"I'm forming a new department in coordination with Task Force Command. It's not a new concept, but is generally used at the Command-level. I can't offer you resources like personnel, but we can convert a room in the sail pod with decent sensor access and such."

Harvey realized that he hadn't actually revealed much. "Basically, Lieutenant, I'd like to offer you the position of Chief Strategic Ops. Your insight won't have to go through person to person. Just the XO and me, and we'll work out communication flow to other departments."

"I would be honored to Sir." Mark commented, probably a bit presumptuous, noticing that he was never officially asked to take the position. "Lieutenant Di Pasquale would probably need to be heavily involved as well. Not much good would come if tactical is not on board as well." He started to sift through everything needed to assist the position. "Being tied into the sensor grid would be a huge help, as well as any regualar updates from ships loyal to Starfleet in the task force as well."

"I agree completely," Harvey replied. "Mister Bast can assist you with the arrangements. This transfer will take effect the moment you walk out this door. I'd make sure you have your wish list together before reaching out to our Ops Chief."

"I understand Sir, and thank you very much." Mark continued to think about everything that would be needed for the new position but realized that it would be to much to determine at this moment. Until this point he had had very little contact with Lieutenant Bast, but he would probably be one of many in the coming days to get to know closely. "I will make a list over the next day or so Sir."

Harvey merely nodded at the Lieutenant. "You're welcome Lieutenant. See the quartermaster about the red collar. You'll need one."

“Will do sir” Mark commented looking down, curious to see how the collar change would look on him.

"If there's nothing else, Lieutenant," Harvey rose from his chair. "You're dismissed."

“Nothing that I can think of Sir. Already have a few ideas and excited to get going. Thank you again Sir.” Mark turned around and walked out of the Captains ready room, his mind already racing over ideas for his new position.

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