Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Ready Room - Meeting of the Minds (Tag CE, COO)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Wynter (Chief Engineer / 2nd Officer) in Ready Room - Meeting of the Minds (Tag CE, COO)

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Ready Room - Meeting of the Minds (Tag CE, COO)
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
After making sure Calloway was going to be all right, Cochrane stepped out of Sickbay and waited for the arrival of the CE and Ops Chief. He knew that the discussion they were about to have was not going to set well with them, but he hoped that he could at least give them a very broad framework to at least let them know they were not being intentionally kept in the dark… well, intentionally maybe, but not on anyone’s orders that were on this ship.

Cochrane, CO

bump

Walker walked up, still holding onto the device that they had removed from the jefferies tube.

“You called Captain?”

WO Darach - COO

Walker looked between the Captain and the Commander Wynter. Sometimes silence was good, but other times it was just to much. The Captain had wanted to tell them something about the device they had found, and the Lieutenants work. But it now felt like they had been caught red handed.

WO Darach - COO

Cochrane looked at the two and cast a glance at the device in the Ops Chief’s hand. “First. What is the extent of the damage, and how long until we are back at hundred percent? Second. Chief, give that to me if you would. And both of you forget you saw it until I get the O-K to fill you in. Needless to say, there is some stuff going on that you are not aware of, but may impact your respective areas. If you want, we can discuss it in my office if you can make the time.”

Cochrane, CO

“Captain, I’ll leave the Commander to fill you in on when his repair crews will have it all back up and running. But I think we are going to need a bit more of an explanation. If someone is going to be mucking around with the ships systems, we at least need a general idea of what is going on, so we can better prepare. And things like people getting electrocuted don’t happen. Again.”

WO Darach - COO

OOC: Changing location.

IC: “Agreed, Chief. Let’s take this talk to a more appropriate location. We can discuss further in my office.” and he turned and led the way to the Ready Room.

Arriving in the office, he gestured to the two seats in front of the desk. “Have a seat, gentlemen. We may be talking a bit. Get a drink if you want.” and he sat down in his chair.

Cochrane, CO

Walker nodded as he made his way towards the replicator as he followed the Captain into his ready room. “Coffee, black.”

Taking the cup, he headed over towards the CO’s desk and sat down in one of the offered chairs.

“So I take that this is pretty serious then Captain.”

WO Darach - COO

Cochrane shrugged slightly. “Yes and no, Chief. It is serious in that one of ours got injured. Thankfully she should be okay. But more than that, this is kind of a &^%t show that you two have stumbled into.” he said frankly. He held up the device the Ops Chief had retrieved and handed to him and said “This? This doesn’t exist.” and he opened a desk drawer and put the device inside. “And before you ask, I have no idea what it is. It has something to do with Lieutenant Calloway’s ‘project’. And no, I can’t tell you what that is, either. Hell, I don’t know that much about it anyway. What I was told before I arrived here was that she is working on a project. It’s important, and it’s being done on orders from people I never even heard of. I was told to, and I quote, ‘Give her every support and leeway necessary for her to complete her task and ensure that she has the cooperation of all sections.’ I was assured that the project she is working on is not a risk to the ship or the crew, and that it would provide only minor but temporary interference to systems operations. So here we are.”

Cochrane, CO

“So here we are,” Max echoed, “with her project endangering ship and crew, and bypassing standard Starfleet protocol of informing the Chief Engineer of any new equipment or systems and getting that Officers Authorization to go ahead. My information said she was making adjustments, not installing tech. The end result speaks for itself, Calloway is seriously injured and lucky to be alive, and we lost several systems that are going to take time and resources to repair. It is now our responsibility to find out what that thing does, and it isn’t going anywhere near my systems, if ever, until I know exactly what it is supposed to achieve. End responsibility for the mechanical safety of this vessel lies with me, Captain, not some Lieutenant on an undercover mission nor orders from somewhere we can only guess. It doesn’t matter how important it is, we have protocol for a reason and that being bypassed is unacceptable.”

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE

Cochrane knew that would be the Engineer’s response. It had been his in the briefing, after all. “You are absolutely right, Commander. Well, mostly you’re right.” Cochrane said and then rubbed a hand across his face briefly. “You are right in that Calloway is lucky and that she isn’t hurt more severely. And you are right in that we have repairs to be made that are a direct result of her project. You are also right that this is being done in a most inappropriate fashion. Where you are wrong, unfortunately, is that is not your responsibility to find out what her systems do. In fact, you are to stay well away form it unless she asks for your help. And her equipment is going to be installed, Commander… regardless of your objections which are almost verbatim what mine were when I was told. To the point that when I said ‘Any Engineering Chief worth his uniform is gonna raise hell over this and they should because this flies in the face of all practical approaches to ship systems.’ I was told, and I will quote Star Fleet Command here, ‘If they do, we will find someone who won’t.’ To which I simply had to say ‘Yes, Sir.’. Trust me, Mr. Wynter… Mr. Darach… I do not like this situation any more than you do. But the powers that be will have it their way whether we like it or not. That was made abundantly clear to me before I left.” and he sighed heavily.

“But there is a bit of a silver lining, gentlemen. Calloway can, and will, be able to let you know what parameters her systems work within. And what systems they access. She may not be able to tell you exactly how, but I am telling you both right now… this is one of those &^%t sandwiches you just need to eat as fast as possible to get it over with. And the more you can help Calloway, the faster this is gonna go for everyone. You two, her, me… the whole ship. And then it will be done, we can get a briefing on what was done. And if we don’t like it afterwards, well… we can eat that* particular sandwich when it gets served to us. Not to put too fine a point on this gents, but I just want this done and over with. As the brass said to do it. With no hiccups and no fighting. You want to know what is going on? Work with Calloway to get this done. Then we can all find out together. And if not, I’ll give you the go-ahead to yank it out and toss it out an airlock.”

Cochrane, CO

Walker just calmly sipped his coffee as he listened to the CO talk. The Commander was right, this was not an ideal situation at all. But even so, he was not surprised that the Brass was meddling in the ship. Yet another situation of people giving orders, and just expecting that they would be followed. Not thinking about the consequences.

“Well to be blunt Captain, this sucks. But to be honest, I’m not surprised. This smelled of covert ops, and you just confirmed it sir. But going forward, the Lieutenant might not have to tell us what she is installing, but she at least has to give us a heads up. If she is going to be messing with the ship systems, we should be told where she is at, and what systems she is touching. This way we can plan around any disruptions.”

WO Darach - COO