Provident Foresight

Posted on Wed 31st May, 2023 @ 1:12am by Lieutenant Commander Dallas Briggs
Edited on on Wed 31st May, 2023 @ 4:35am

1,783 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Neither Yours Nor Mine
Location: Captain's Ready Room, Deck 12
Timeline: MD 2, 0930

Captain Navarra stood at the large wall screen in her office. The view of space outside the Starbase soothed her soul. Watching the ships come and go to port made her feel somehow connected to the comings and goings of the starbase. After taking a deep breath she tapped her comm badge.

"=^= Ensign Cowley, could you please come to my ready room?"

Navarra made her way over to the Ready Room's replicator. She need something to help her figure out what exactly was happening in Brown Sector. In particular with security. "Andorian hot Chocolate, please," she requested from the replicator. She laughed at herself as she realized she told the computer please.

Cowley stood, straightening his shirt, and then picked up his PADD with one hand and used the interoffice communicator to respond. "Aye, aye, Ma'am." Technically, he could just have shown up at the door instantly, but he was a man of methods and habits, and verbal response was his first choice. "Should I bring anything with me?"

"Your PADD and an unyielding open mind will be enough," Navarra responded. She hoped the young ensign was familiar with her wit by now.

Elena made her way back to her desk with her hot chocolate in hand and pulled up the security feeds of Brown Sector. As the feeds played in cordoned-off sectors on her wall-sized screen, she began pulling up Lt. Cmndr Briggs security reports from the last six months, specifically the reports for Brown Sector.

Smiling slightly, wondering what he was in for today, Matthew entered the ready room. "Unyielding? I can't promise that, but open, yes, I think so," he told his boss. He'd found he liked her surprisingly well, much better than he'd thought he might when he'd first heard the new captain was a diplomat.

"Lt. Cmndr Briggs should be here soon for our Brown Sector meeting. Is there anything pressing currently in Brown Sector that security should be taking care of?" Elena asked.

Matthew gave a silent sigh. There was always something in Brown Sector that should be done, but deciding what and how, and not stepping on tender toes of those who lived there and wanted it to be the refuge promised ... yes, always something.

"Pressing?" he hedged. "Interesting choice of words, Captain. On the one hand, it seems clear that there are issues needing security, Starfleet security specifically. On the other hand, there are those who don't want Starfleet security handling things ... who prefer independence to help. There is some crime, but mostly petty stuff, and mostly not dangerous to life and limb. Still, it could happen, and in any moment of overheated tempers."

The door chime rang. On the other side of the door stood Lieutenant Commander Dallas Briggs, All 6 foot 4 inches of him. His size was a bit intimidating to most. He wasn't just tall, it was his physique. His shoulders were wide and had rather large muscles.

He had been rather busy catching up on all the reports and all his other duties that he had neglected while gone off rescuing Commander Lena. He waited to be invited in and wondered why he had been summoned.

"Please come in," the Captain said between sentences with Cowley. She watched the Lieutenant Commander enter her office and stand before her. She got up and made her way to her Chief of Security with her right hand extended.

"Lieutenant Commander Briggs. It's finally nice to meet you in person. Your reputation precedes you," she said as she looked the man in the eyes.

He took her hand in a handshake and smiled. His beautiful, white teeth glistened as did his shiny head. "Sorry it took me a long time to get around to meeting you, but as you know, I was away. The details are in the report that I sent you during my return trip. It's nice to meet you as well."

Elena looked over at Crowley and nodded her head to him. Cowley took the cue and pulled the security report up on the big view screen on the wall.

"Yes, your report," Navarra said as she motioned for Briggs to have a seat in one of the seats in her office. "Can you walk me through how a Starfleet Starbase lets a portion of said Starbase run their own security?" Navarra examined Briggs as she waited for a response. She was curious how he would respond. Would he take offense?

Dallas sat down in the empty chair and made himself comfortable. "As you are aware by reading my personal file, I'm still pretty new to SB 109 myself. I was a bit skeptical, too, when I found out about the situation here, but it works. It helps reduce the workload on Starfleet Security, just as we also have a Promenade Police Force. Civilian and Starfleet Law enforcement can work together for a common goal.

"Now that I am used to it, I can see that it makes sense for each large section to police its own, and I think that every starbase of substantial size should be patterned after SB109." Dallas watched her expression while he explained.

Elena had to admit to herself that she was not expecting his answer. If she were to be honest, she liked his answer and it made sense to her.

"O.K. Briggs, let's keep on your train of thought for a moment," Elena said as she sat back in her chair crossing her leg. She wondered to herself how far he had thought this out. "This is Starfleet Starbase that has policies and procedures that must be followed and enacted throughout the base, a Federation standard, if you will. With what you are saying, how do you ensure that the standard is met?"

"The vast majority of the Starbase that is run by Starfleet and the Promenade Police force is held to the Federation Standard. That being said, the Brown Sector is a different beast altogether. It's a poverty-stricken area that is overpopulated and people there are doing everything that they can just to survive. It can not be held to the same standards as the other areas of the Starbase. To even think about doing so would require the removal of everyone from the Brown Sector and replacing them with more fortunate people. For the majority of the ones living there now, we are all they have if they are to survive."

Dallas thought for a moment. "To remove all the people from the Brown Sector would be a monumental undertaking. Starfleet would have to find them a new home, like an abandoned city somewhere, and a lot of these people wouldn't want to leave, this has been their home."

Cowley didn't interrupt the conversation, but he agreed with Briggs that a lot of people wouldn't want to leave what they had there. From what he'd seen of Brown Sector, it wasn't overpopulated. People had quarter-acre lots for their housing and gardens around the main building. They had food, shelter, activities and entertainment.

They lived better than a large percentage of Federation people, and freer than some, simply because of where they were. No wild beasts to contend with, nothing trying to eat them, no one trying to throw them out. He knew his own family would feel blessed to have what had been given freely to the refugees, even though his dad enjoyed his freight hauling and his mother loved the children for whom she cared.

"I don't see Brown Sector as being in such a dire state," Elena said as she stood and came from behind her desk. "My thoughts and goal are to keep everyone in Brown Sector, but bring it up to Federation standard. As I previously stated, this is a Federation Starbase and we will run all portions of it as such. Now, tell me what you will need to accomplish this without the removal of the Brown Sector residents."

The smile left his face and he leaned back in his chair. He placed his elbows on the chair's armrest and clasped his hands in front of him. "I disagree with your assessment of the Brown Sector as a whole, but it looks like your mind is already made up."

He wondered why new leaders seemed to always come in and make changes without sitting back and watching first. Why try to fix something that wasn't broken? He thought for a moment, "I would need an additional 2500 Starfleet Security personnel with Riot gear because they don't like Starfleet down there, and about 8 months. The Promenade would need about 500 Security Officers."

Elena stood from the desk and walked over to the wall-sized screen and stared out of it for a moment, contemplating what her head of security just told her, and assessing his choice of words. "You are correct Dallas, my mind is set, but only in the fact that I think there needs to be change down in Brown Sector. 2,500 additional security staff is a bit extreme I believe, but I can get you about fifty to one hundred more to start with."

Navarra turned to face her security chief and walked over to the chair he was sitting in. "Look, I know it is not an easy task, what I am asking, but this is the direction we need to steer toward. We can make this a gradual change to ensure that the Starfleet standard is met in Brown sector."

Matthew let out a slow breath. When he'd heard Briggs' answer, he'd been astounded. That was a lot of manpower ... enough for a civil war? He didn't think things were that serious, even if the Zodiac decks were added in. In his experience, and granted that was limited, people didn't rebel when they had all of what they needed and most of what they wanted. He found himself wondering how all this would turn out, and wishing his captain had a more experienced officer, a first officer, to help her navigate the shoals of the starbase,

"How about you get me the fifty or so Security Officers and we can do a test run on a series of decks in the Brown Sector to get some feedback and more information on how the inhabitants will react to a change of this magnitude." Dallas was hoping that he could change her mind in the near future but was willing to give it a go and he figured that this would be a good way to gauge the reactions. The inhabitants of the Brown Sector did not like Star Fleet Security Officer walking around in their Sector. It was peculiar since they were on a Federation Starbase.

 

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