Interim-Commanding Discussion

Posted on Sat 9th Nov, 2019 @ 6:35pm by Commander Mikaela Locke & Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Captain Andrus Grax
Edited on on Thu 14th Nov, 2019 @ 1:48am

1,403 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Deck 12 - XO's Office / Deck 15 - CIO’s Office / Deck 83 - Chief Counsellor’s Office
Timeline: MD 1, 1015 hours

Commander Mikaela Locke entered her office, took a couple of steps in - far enough to ensure that the doors closed behind her - before stopping and letting out a long breath. In the past few moments, Commodore Suzuki had just informed her that she would be leaving the station, to attend a command briefing on Earth, leaving her in charge of the station for an unspecified length of time.

And then she had left.

Mikaela has subsequently returned to her office filled with unease and dread. She sighed, briefly reflecting that this was a further opportunity to test herself and to put into practice the command skills she had been refining under Suzuki’s leadership. That thought was of little comfort, however, and she wondered whether, in the long term, a return to the intelligence division might be a better career choice than remaining on the command track.

Realising that that question would have to wait until another time, Mikaela moved across the room, sat down at her desk and tapped the comm. "Commander Graves, Captain Grax, please report to the XO's office at your earliest convenience."

In his office, Paul felt his combadge vibrate as he listened to Lt. Ildaran. He set most incoming combadge messages on Do Not Disturb status while seeing patients. Most of them he was completely unaware of until a session ended. He received alerts when messages from Commodore Suzuki or Mikaela arrived, however. Ildaran stopped speaking and gave Paul an inquiring look. "Do you need to take that?"

"Yes, I do," Paul said, "Excuse me." He touched his computer screen to bring up the message and typed a reply: It will be convenient for me in 15 minutes. See you then. Then he returned his attention to the officer seated across from him. "Continue, Lieutenant."

In the main intelligence research hub, Andrus Grax was leaning over the shoulder of Ensign Lloyd, discussing the latest reports from Fleet Intelligence regarding pirate activity reported by the scout ships on the edge of the Triangle Region. He looked up from the report as the communique from the station XO echoed around the hub. He straightened and tapped his comm-badge. “I’m on my way, Commander,” he replied, with a sideways glance at Jason Fisher, who had briefly looked up from his console at the sound of Locke’s voice. Fisher quickly returned his attention to his console and Grax thought he noticed a slight hint of embarrassment on the commander’s face. “Let me know if anything interesting turns up,” he said, turning back to Ensign Lloyd briefly. Lloyd nodded and Grax turned and headed towards the door.

A little over fifteen minutes later the two officers were seated opposite Mikaela Locke, in the XO’s office.

“Gentlemen,” she began with a half smile, “Thank you for coming.”

"Thank you for waiting," Paul said. "What's on your mind?"

Mikaela took a deep breath and a sip of the coffee that was in front of her on the desk. "At ten-hundred hours this morning, Commodore Suzuki informed me that she would be leaving the station, following a summons to Earth for a classified command briefing. At that time, she transferred command of Starbase One-Oh-Nine to me." She paused briefly, allowing space for the two men in front of her to assimilate the news.

"All right," Paul said. "That must be one heck of a command briefing, for them to order her to Earth immediately. How long is she likely to be gone?"

“I don’t know,” Mikaela replied with a faint air of frustration. “I don’t think she knew. There are so many unknown factors that I’m not sure I even want to speculate.”

Paul nodded and turned on his PADD. "I'll rearrange my schedule to accommodate the increased workload. What are the most pressing items that you need for--" He glanced at Grax. "--us to work on?”

Grax looked questioningly at Mikaela and opened his mouth to speak, but the acting-station commander cut him off. “Officially,” she began, looking at Paul, “As of right now, Commander Graves, you are acting first officer of the station. Captain,” she turns her attention to Grax, “Officially, your department sits outside the stations’s main chain of command, however, your command experience greatly outweighs my own. Therefore - if Mister Graves agrees,” she glanced back towards Paul, “And only if he agreed,” she emphasised, “I’d like you to act in an advisory capacity. Officially, you would still sit outside the station chain of command and you would continue as Intelligence Director for the region, but you would be there to provide additional guidance and support for us should we feel we need it.” As she looked questioningly from one to the other, she got the distinct impression both were waiting for the other to speak first.

"You were about to say something," Paul said to Grax. "Do you still want to say it, or was it superseded by what Commander Locke just told us?"

“No,” said Grax, “I was just going to seek some clarification, which Commander Locke has since provided. I am happy to offer my support and counsel to you both,” he continued, “But only as far as you choose to seek it. I won’t step on anyone’s toes.”

“Well there’s a first time for everything then.” Mikaela interjected, a little more jovially than intended. She looked immediately embarrassed at making such a faux pas. “I’m sorry,” she added.

“It’s okay,” Grax said, obviously trying to suppress a smirk. He turned his attention back to Paul. “Commander, how do you feel about this?”

"Given that you outrank both of us and have more actual command experience than Commander Locke and myself put together, Captain, I would welcome your advice," Paul said. "My requests will consist of me telling you what I think is best and you telling me if that sounds like the wisest course of action or if you disagree with it. I'll listen to you and then do what I think needs to be done--because that's the only way I will learn."

“I think that sounds like a very wise approach,” said Grax nodding. “People who listen to counsel but then act on their instincts are usually the ones that make the best commanders.”

"I certainly hope so," Paul told him.

“Good,” Mikaela interjected definitively. “Commander, I presume you have the flexibility within your team to reschedule some appointments to make time for your extra duties?”

"Yes, that's what I was alluding to earlier. Lt. Guillory, my assistant chief, can cover for me administratively as needed, and I'll reassign most of my patients to other counselors until Commodore Suzuki returns. XO is a full-time job. I don't want to divide my attention," Paul said.

"That's settled then," Locke replied with an air of finality. "Paul, if we could double-check the duty roster for Ops at some point today, I'd be grateful. Captain Grax, I'll be in touch as and when." She looked from one of her guests to the other. "Any other questions?"

"Not a question as such," Grax replied, "But we've been dealing with a pretty sensitive investigation in the last few days. The counsellor has been party to some aspects of that. I've been keeping the Commodore in the loop, but if you're stepping up then I need to bring you in on that too."

"Thank you," Locke nodded, "I'll arrange a time to come down and see..." She paused. If she was going down to Intel. there was a chance that she would run into Jason. She wasn't quite ready for that yet. "On second thoughts," she back-tracked, "Could you book something in with my yeoman?"

Grax nodded.

Locke looked back at Paul, questioningly.

"It's an unusual case with some complicated psychological aspects," Paul said. "I'd like to keep a hand in, if you don't mind."

"Of course," Mikaela said, with the smallest hint of a smile. "Anything else?"

Grax shook his head.

"No more from me," Paul replied. "I'll back you up however you need."

"Then you're dismissed," Mikaela said. She remained seated while the two men silently got up and left the office, as the doors slid shut she let out a long slow breath and quietly wondered to herself if she would ever feel ready for the responsibility of command.

 

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