Best Laid Plans, Part 1

Posted on Thu 8th Jun, 2017 @ 12:08am by Lieutenant Commander Solan Jekkar & Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Thomas Maynard
Edited on on Thu 8th Jun, 2017 @ 2:19pm

1,294 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Main Security Office, Briefing Hall
Timeline: MD 01, Morning

Jekkar sat at the head of the table in the Briefing room in the Upper Security Offices; the Commander had a lot to discuss given the upcoming busy week on the Vanguard. The Commander had prepared refreshments for the conference and sat back with his cup of tea and waited. His desk had numerous PADDS in front of him and in a very meticulous and some might say 'compulsive' order.

Paul walked into the briefing room, PADD in hand. "Hello," he said. He glanced about the room. "This is the second time in recent memory I've been the first to arrive at a meeting. I fear to think what that could mean. How are things going with you, Commander?"

The Andorian smiled. "Quite well thank you, Counselor Graves, no rest for the wicked as they say," Jekkar said just before he sipped his tea.

Thomas was en route to the briefing room. He couldn't think of anything worse than sitting through a tedious meeting for 'festivities' aboard Vanguard. Even the word festivities angered Thomas a little bit. Well, more than a little bit. He opened the door and instantly recognized the two people inside. "Commanders," he gestured politely before grabbing a seat towards the back end of the room.

"Good to see you again, Lieutenant," Paul said. "So did you and Sianna ever try out the Ferengi place?"

"Not got round to it yet, work schedules tend to interfere." He shot Jekkar a look with that comment.

Winchester hated meetings. Not because he was a Marine... he just hated the falseness and politeness that came with the meeting of more than three or four people. He was convinced that, in actual fact, very little got accomplished in most meetings - unless it was for the dissemination of information which, strictly speaking, should be called a briefing. Nevertheless, he understood that meeting were a necessity and, in his new role, he found himself in an ever increasing amount of them.

"Commander." He nodded in the general direction of whom he presumed was the Security Chief, as he made a beeline for a chair. They had never been properly introduced, but Jekkar had requested his presence so he had to know who he was. He slumped into the empty chair next to Graves, whom had he only briefly met. "Counsellor," he said as he threw his PADD down onto the table and took a sip from his flask of tea.

"Hello, Mr. Winchester," Paul said, giving Winchester his full attention. Paul had noticed upon first being introduced to Winchester that Drake respected him more than anyone else Paul had seen him interacting with. Therefore, the Command Chief was of interest to him. "Anything of note going on upstairs?"

"Nothing that a bunch of trained monkeys couldn't handle." He allowed himself a fleeting smile. "Although we've detected a Miranda Class ship, adrift, on the edge of the sector. I think Horatio intends on going after her with the Warspite and taking Hunt along, for the craic of it."

"Good to know," Paul said. He paused. "Together? Interesting." The CO and XO of a Starfleet vessel or installation were normally discouraged from leaving their post together for obvious reasons. Still, if Drake wanted Hunt along for this particular mission, perhaps that was a good thing? Perhaps it would build some trust between them, and that was encouraging.

Jade breezed in, noting that most of the seats were filled. She nodded toward Commander Jekkar, picked up a pastry since she hadn't had breakfast, and sat in an empty chair in the middle of the table. "I suppose we have lots to discuss this morning," she said to the general audience, before taking a fork to the pastry for a dainty bite. There were certainly a lot of activities going on for Unity Week.

Leah Jamison entered the room, spotting a few officers she recognized as well as Jade Lantz. "Hopefully this won't take too long. I have important matters to attend to," she said as she took a seat at the table.

Once everyone had arrived and had been seated, Jekkar stood up at the head of the table. "Good morning everyone, for those of you who don't know me I'm Commander Jekkar the Chief of Security on this Station." He said as he glanced around the assembled group of civilians and Starfleet Personnel. "I thought it best given the upcoming festivities to inform you all of the security arrangements that I have put in place."

The Andorian keyed in some information into the interactive display. "Security Officers will be on Duty full time over the next few days in every habitable level of the Station, I've drafted in additional staff per my request to Starfleet Security and I've also commandeered staff from Tactical and Strategic Operations."

Jade sat quietly, wondering if there were enough for a hundred floors of promenade, plus the overflow areas people would probably visit in Tivoli Gardens. Typically, life on Vanguard was both physically and emotionally safe, but get a lot of people celebrating, and the drinking that often went with it, even with synthahol making up a large percentage of the drinks ... in her experience, anything could happen. She'd ask if an answer to her question didn't surface during the meeting.

Winchester frowned and tapped his finger on his PADD, not saying anything. With Tactical and Strategic Operations not at full strength yet, but thousands of Marines on the station doing nothing but training drills, the most prudent course of action would have been to draft them in. They could have even dressed them up in gold uniforms if it would minimize the impact of their presence. He made an attempt at a diplomatic question - the problem was that Winchester's diplomatic tone sounded like a Klingon trying to fit in at a tea party. Whether this was the decades he had spent as an enlisted Marine or due to his thick Northern Belfast accent, he didn't know... but he made the effort anyway.

"Why have Marines not been drafted in?" He didn't feel the need to go into further detail about their surplus and the Tac/Strat. current shortfall.

"I wasn't aware they were available." Jekkar said as he raised an eyebrow. "Alright, Chief, how many can be spared and mobilized for immediate deployment?" The Andorian said to the Northern Irishman. Jekkar had no issue with the Marines; they worked hard and were some of the toughest bastards this side of the Milky Way.

Winchester sighed, audibly. Having spent the best part of his life as a Sergeant, in one form or another, and eventually ending up as a Sergeant Major, he was used to being addressed in such a manner. Starfleet had put him under a lot of pressure to take a commission and had even offered him full Commander, but he turned it down instead opting for a happy middle ground - he would take a Warrant Officer rank. Despite a Command Chief needing to be an enlisted person, Drake had pulled a few strings. The term 'chief' was reserved for a Chief Petty Officer... a Chief Warrant Officer should be addressed as Mr. by superiors, or Sir by subordinates. In reality, even younger junior officers addressed CWO's as sir as a sign of respect. This was one of the reasons 'fleeters' and Marines didn't get on - mistakes like this seemed petty to a fleeter but important to a Marine.

"A few hundred." He didn't look up as he tapped the orders into his PADD, advising the Marine XO before their departure.

"Excellent. I'd like all Platoon Leaders to report to my office for briefing and they'll have to wear gold but keep their Marine rank insignia."

 

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