Better now than later

Posted on Mon Jun 20th, 2022 @ 8:43am by Captain Xavier Carey & Lieutenant Etan tar-Lexros
Edited on on Mon Jun 20th, 2022 @ 8:51am

Mission: The Lost Brother
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: Before change of plans

Xavier had sat in his office, going over the exercise, Tal was still recovering, even though the exercise was impromptu. It did show areas to improve. Much on his own self. Commander Stoffels, seemed hesitant given that she wasnt in a real command position, prior, given her department, the bridge wasn't her main stay. However, there was one person he felt the need to talk toand had summoned him to his office.

There was no such thing as a “friendly” summons to the Captain’s Ready Room aboard any Starfleet vessel. Even those that were meant as such always had an air that indicated the lower officer was going to face their last judgment. As a result, Etan was silently working through every excuse he had about what happened, hoping desperately that he wasn’t going to be facing a discharge order, another transfer, or worse, the General Court. Still, as he strode across the back of the Bridge, he took a deep breath and tried to put on a more confident expression. He buzzed in, and stood at attention, looking at the Captain. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”

"Yes Lt. Please have a seat." He paused before, "I hear you are responsible for the little mishap with the saucer section, it was an interesting... thing to do..." Honestly, it wasn't what came after, that he was concerned about. It was someones ability to do it. Sure if he was able to do it, someone else would surely be able to as well.

Etan's heart sank as the captain mentioned the mistake, and he sat as stiffly as he would if he were in a formal inquest. There was a lot of fear and trepidation. "I apologize wholeheartedly for that and take full responsibility, Captain. I'm still working with my department to identify how the error could have occurred. And, um, Captain, I just want to point out in my defense that I ensured the Structural Integrity Field and Inertial Dampeners were set to maximum, to prevent possible casualties while the saucer section was separated from the main Sickbay. I am very sorry that it required manual intervention by the Engineering team and my staff. I'm also currently working with Commander Doctrine along with the Engineering and Science staffs to provide a failover circuit to the secondary computer core so that a similar attack cannot cause system override in the future, sir. You have my word that to the greatest degree possible, sir, it will never happen again. I will ensure going forward that in any training operation, any offensive measures should be simulated for all possible corner-case failures before they're deployed. I'm very sorry, sir. I didn't mean for it to cause any lasting trouble. If you are willing to give me the chance, I will do better in the future, Captain."

"This isn't a chastising Lt. It was a good... tactic, one that we could possibly use in the future if need be." Xavier assured him. "It did point out a flaw that could have been used against us, if someone went a similar route. I am going to send a communique to all galaxy class ships to determine if they have the same flaw. If you can figure it out. Others will be able to as well, and it needs to be fixed. Owning up to it, sometimes can come with consequences, but admitting you are wrong, is the first step into correcting it. Overall Lt. I am impressed with your performance. As I am sure the commander is as well."

Etan nodded, trying to calm down the Captain told him that he wasn't in trouble. He smiled, though it was thin, and nodded again more decisively. "Thank you, Captain. I appreciate that." He took a deep breath to try and get rid of the tightness in his chest and quell the fear - the fact that he would normally be blushing (obvious on his slightly tanned skin) at the Captain's praise hadn't even hit him yet. "And, also, sir? The, uh, the direct transport to the Bridge? If we can get a better alignment between the torpedo tubes' hatch opening servos and the shield emitters - which may require rerouting a few ODN junctions - we'd be able to shrink the window in which such a transport is possible, as well as the aperture through which the beam can be fired. We should also work to fire at irregular timings in combat, sir, so that an enemy transporter chief can't set their annular beam to predict it." He chuckled, still nervously, as a way to try and defray his still-lingering concerns. "I did my best to make sure no one was within a half-meter of the casing when I dropped it; I apologize if it scared anyone. There was no intended danger, Sir. I can reach out to the Tactical and Engineering divisions once we resolve the issue with the prefix attack and the fact that the thrusters went to a fail-deadly mode, to see if they would need any additional resources."

"Not scared, just startled... we are thankful however it wasn't a live torpedo." Xavier stated. Do what ever you feel is needed to protect the ship. If it helps its approved. Just give a heads up."

Etan nodded with a thin, but more genuine, smile. He was finally calming down just a bit more and realizing that Captain Carey really was appreciative of his efforts. It sometimes took a while for him to figure people out; with the Captain, it was still a work in progress. "Yes, Captain. I wouldn't ever beam live ordnance unless it was a clear live-fire situation, they're too volatile. I will absolutely make sure to inform you and Commander Stoffels to propose any changes; and I'll work with the Enginnering staff as well if it might take us out of spec before I do so. And I will help to prepare a full report on what happened with the prefix attack on the saucer and the thrusters, sir, as soon as we understand what happened."

"Sometimes things going wrong, teaches us our greatest lessons Lt. be thankful, after all, fail means First Attempt In Learning"

Etan blinked, thinking for a moment - the word didn't actually mean that. But this was the Ready Room. Here, the Captain's word was law. So if he said it meant something different, then it meant that different thing. "Aye, sir."

"I know it doesn't literally mean that, but you don't have to take it as a negative."

Still slightly confused, Etan nodded. "Thank you, Captain. I'm just glad that no one was hurt, and that we do have the opportunity to develop countermeasures before there's any real cause for alarm."

Nodding, "If there is nothing else Lt. Dismissed."