The Chief's Replacement

Posted on Mon 19th Jun, 2017 @ 9:40pm by Lieutenant Thomas Maynard & Lieutenant Adam Keller

1,249 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Deck 15: Chief Intel Officer's Office
Timeline: MD-01: 0930 Hours

On:

Adam had heard that the replacement Chief had arrived and was anxious to see the man. He'd barely been here himself more than a few days and there had been so many challenges. He hadn't even been on the job for three months and had been in sick bay twice. Of course one of those visits was because of his own mistake on the holodeck during a customized training program. He'd dialed down the safeties but dialed up the difficulty levels. That was a story he'd keep to himself. He didn't share with Jasmine either. He thought about his misstep as he headed to report for duty to the new Chief of Intel. Coco would take the mickey out of him if she knew but he had no idea how this man would react. It was on his off duty time so no need to bring it up.

As Adam rounded the corner to the Intel offices, he wondered why he was so anxious. It was almost like going to school for the first time and meeting the new teacher. He hadn't felt this anxious over a new boss in a long time. Perhaps it was the added stress of his relationship with Jasmine and the baby on the way. It was good stress but stress non the less. He had a lot on his mind the last few days. Walking into the department, Adam walked past his station and headed to the Chief's door, chimed it and waited for permission to enter.

"Come in," A voice boomed aloud.

He watched as Adam walked into his office, "Ahhh Lt. Keller, finally a chance to sit down and meet you properly," He half smiled towards him. "Please take a seat, would you care for a drink?"

Adam entered the room and smiled. "No thank you sir." He took his seat. "It's good to finally meet you as well. When I reported, your predecessor had already gone awol." He smiled sensing the man knew what he meant.

"I got told about him leaving pretty suddenly, but I hear Lt. Kiralbi has been doing a very good job in his absence," He stated

Adam nodded. "We haven't been busy, but yes, she did a good job. We did several training missions on the holodeck and the one mission we ran off ship was a complete success thanks in no small part to her skill."

"That is very good to hear," He said, glancing down at his PADD in front of him. "So Lt. Keller, I want to know your ambitions! What do you strive to achieve right here, right now?" He said quickly and sternly.

"Right here right now?" He paused to think for only a second. "I'm here to serve in whatever capacity I'm needed. My goal was to one day run a ship of my own but after my last mission aboard the Andromeda, I wasn't sure I even had a career left." He explained. "Quite frankly, I was surprised to find I had orders to the station. Now, I have a baby on the way and a woman I'm trying to build a life with. I'm hoping that my career will take off again and lead me to that same path I was once on."

"Please, tell me about this mission on Andromeda. It's all very well reading things, but I would like to get it from your perspective," He said, ignoring the comments about Adam's personal life for now.

"Andromeda got information that an incursion into Jantax Prime was being planned by the Cardassians. We had really good intel at the time. We were in the area and the Star Fleet got an emergency SOS from the Presidential staff. The assigned protection detail had taken the President and bugged out." Adam explained. "We don't know what they were thinking or who made the call, but they took President Oron and his wife and got them off planet under lockdown. They left the fourteen year old daughter in some sort of Embassy finishing school. I was qualified to infiltrate, find the girl and get her out." Adam sat back as he remembered the ordeal. "Without giving too much information, I got there in two days, just about the same time the Cardassians started their attack. I was in a two man runabout, landed in a wooded area near the school, got in and found the girl. We got back to the ship and some sort of explosion went off just as I was climbing aboard. I was thrown into the console and maintained consciousness long enough to get the shuttle off the ground and on auto -. The Andromeda caught us in the tractor beam and brought us aboard safely." Adam frowned. "Once I knew the girl would be safe, the adrenaline was gone. I woke up weeks later in the infirmary. I was pretty sure I'd never see the uniform side of Star Fleet again. But here I am."

"Hmmm," Maynard hummed after hearing the Keller's story. "Well here we are now, you're back and your career is back on track. If you had to put career or family first, what would it be?" He bluntly asked.

"My loyalties are with the fleet and the corps. But if it came down to a choice? A month ago I would have said my career because I didn't have a family."
Adam smiled. "But now. I have a child on the way and I'm about to propose to the woman carrying that child...I would die to protect either of them or give up my career to keep them."

Thomas murmured again out loud. Many years ago he would have said the same thing, but much had happened since then. It was all about work now, no time for family. "Very well Lieutenant. One thing however, whilst you are under my watch, I do expect you to stay fully focused on what we need to do."

"I can guarantee you sir, that when I'm on duty, my orders, my mission, and my command have my total loyalty and attention." Adam knew how the man felt and not because he was Betazoid. He'd been in command before and he knew that one distraction could bring down an entire team. He would never put himself in that situation. By doing his job, he'd be fulfilling his role in Star Fleet and protecting his family.

"That sounds good Lieutenant. I wish you the best in your personal life also and hope everything with the pregnancy goes well," Thomas said, occasionally some niceties were needed to show he was human.

"Thank you sir. I appreciate that." Adam was glad the man had a personable side. Adam wasn't trying to read the man but he was picking up on the strong emotions the man had. There was an underlying sadness and maybe a bit of anger in the man. Adam assumed there was something in the man's past that was none of his business so he let it go.

"Well it was nice to finally meet you Lt. Keller," Thomas said to him, half gesturing that that was the end of their meeting.

"It was good to meet you too sir. If that's all, I'll get back to my duties." Adam was already standing and ready to leave. The man was kind enough but definitely not one for small talk and Adam was glad for that. He was a listener, not a talker.

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