Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Issac Forgrave (Chief of Security) in An Unexpected Assignment

Posted by Captain Amelia Manning (Former Executive Officer) in An Unexpected Assignment

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Issac Forgrave (Chief of Security) in An Unexpected Assignment
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Issac looked around his office, and felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Or collar, more accurately. He knew it was only in his mind, but he would swear the extra pip had more than its fair share of mass; even if it wasn’t filled in. Lt. J.G… Didn’t think I’d be here; ‘least, not right now. He had been quietly and informally notified of the promotion just prior to the Dresden’s refit, and the start of shore leave for the crew. Upon request, he had returned earlier than needed, to find things had changed unexpectedly. The promotion was formalized, but with it came far more responsibility than expected - he was now the Chief of Security for the USS Dresden. Lt. Ashur had apparently gotten orders to ship out - orders that superseded his current assignment, and provided no other information. It was a shock to all - Ashur included, from what Commander Manning had said.

Shock or otherwise, it had apparently been determined that he was the best being for the job, and he wasn’t prepared to turn down the offer. Seems Holloway’s recommendation does carry weight… A frown formed as he thought of the intelligence officer. Not that he though poorly of her - but he couldn’t help wondering if she might try using that recommendation as leverage in the future; given some unknown circumstances. Perhaps it was unfair to Holloway to ascribe such motivations; but he found himself suspicious of the intelligence branch in general. He supposed it was the air of secrecy and misdirection; things that had never sat well with him.

But that ain’t important right now. Got other things on my plate. Shaking his head, he took a sip of coffee. He’d compiled a list of priorities earlier; and had starting checking them off. Though it wasn’t part of his duties, he had firstly taken time to rearrange the office that was now his - Issac felt it was important to his sense of ‘ownership,’ and the action gave himself a deeper acknowledgement and reminder of the new position. Placebo or not, he now felt the office belonged to him, and no longer to Lt. Ashur.

Let’s see here; what’s left on my agenda… Along with Lt. Ashur, there had been other personnel changes to go with the refit. Some new recruits, and some retirements. And he needed to talk with the division heads as well; make training plans, come up with drills… Guess I won’t have much free time in the near future. Good thing I like to stay busy.

Lt. J.G. Issac Forgrave, Chief of Security for the USS Dresden

OOC: This is an amazing post! Mind if I invite myself in? – Joana

IC:
The chime on the newly minted officer’s door rang. Outside of the office, Amelia waited patiently. A stack of PaDDs in her arms.

Even though the Dresden was patiently waiting for her crew to return from a well deserved shore leave, that didn’t mean Manning was kept in the dark about ship matters. And even though the crew was not set to return just yet, she was aware of Forgrave’s apparent eagerness to start his new assignment. So she borrowed Pete’s pilot and shuttle and decided to meet the new COS on board, even though she was not expected. But Pete was teaching anyway, and she knew how overwhelming a new assignment could be. She hoped to at least mitigate that feeling by going over a few aspects of the job with the new Lieutenant.

Cmdr. Manning, XO

OOC: Not at all; wasn’t expecting anyone else in this thread but that just makes it a welcome surprise!

IC: Reflexively, Issac shot a quick glance at the door upon hearing the unexpected chime. Weren’t expecting any visitors today… Shifting his gaze to the small screen hidden beneath the top of the desk, he saw Cmdr. Manning waiting patiently at the door. “Come in!” He called out, simultaneously hitting the ‘Door Open’ button.

“Commander! Didn’t reckon on you coming by today. Please, have a seat.” Issac swiftly cleared off a portion of his desk in front of the offered seat, moving his notes and PaDDs off to one side. Issac gestured toward the stack of PaDDs, indicating she was welcome to use the cleared space. “Doesn’t seem like yer here for a social call; so what can I do for you?”

Issac Forgrave, CoS

Walking in and sitting down in the offered chair, Amelia smiled warmly, before placing the PaDDs in the space the Dresden’s new Chief of Security had allocated for them. She looked around for a moment. “I like what you’ve done with the place. It has character.” Her tone was genuine.

“Ah, thank ya Ma’am. I felt it was worth taking the time to make this space… mine, if ya will.”

“And yes, Lieutenant. I’m afraid you’re right. I’m not here for a social visit.” A soft wistful expression crossed her face. Her British accent slightly thicker. Now that her arms were clear of all the PaDDs, the four gold pips in her uniform were clearly visible. “I was… informed of your presence here and thought I should come by. There’s a few things I would like to go through with you before I leave. I know you will do a good job regardless, but if I am doing my job, I will do it until the end.” Manning chuckled lightly, reaching for the top PaDD on the stack.

Capt. Manning, Outgoing XO

Outwardly, Issac was still, his face motionless for a long moment. Captain! Rumors about Harris must be true… Wait - ‘leave’? I knew I should’ve paid more attention to those void-damned personnel changes!

Holding his voice in a carefully neutral tone; he interrupted Captain(!) Manning. “Ma’am, it would seem I’m a bit behind on things. I’ll first say congratulations on the promotion; I’m confident it was well-deserved. With you speaking a’ leaving however; may I take it you have been assigned to another ship? I’ve been receiving stacks of personnel changes these past few days, and it would seem I’ve missed a few major ones.” Towards the end, a note of embarrassment colored Forgrave’s words - he clearly felt a bit ‘caught out’.

Issac Forgrave, CoS

“Thank you.” The smile didn’t immediately reach her eyes. “No. As a matter of fact I was assigned to the Dresden. But I’m afraid it’s not the way I want to go.” Her smile turned a little warmer. “I’m sure you’re no stranger to deciding to steer your life in a different direction. I’m sure whoever Command assigns to the Dresden, will be worthy of the job, but that’s not in my hands.” Manning paused for a moment before saying. “Although I would ask you if you could keep this between us for now. I hope you understand.”

Issac nodded along with Manning; “Yes, I can appreciate that - opportunity and motivation rarely strike at the same time, but when they do… And of course Ma’am! I can understand wanting to wait for an official announcement. Though, if you’ll pardon me saying so, the rumor mill never stops.”

“There have been a few new assignments. They mostly flew under the radar, even for me, so I can’t blame you. By the way…” Amelia said as if the thought had just entered her mind. “… I hope you had a good time planetside! Even if you seem to be finding it hard to leave the Dresden and relax for a few days.” She chuckled.

Capt. Manning, Outgoing XO

“I did enjoy my time on leave; it was… unexpectedly nice to get away and have time to myself. I hadn’t had the opportunity to spend time on Terra since I joined up; and there’s times where it don’t feel like I’ve had a single moment alone neither.” Issac chuckled. “Somehow, I don’t expect that ‘free time’ will be part of my new position.” A wry grin found its way onto his face.

Amelia smiled warmly. “You’ll learn how to make time for yourself, even if right now it doesn’t seem very feasible.”

“So spendin’ time in the woods by myself was quite pleasant.” Issac gestured to the stack of PaDDs that Manning had brought with her. “But it don’t seem like you came here for small talk…”

Issac Forgrave, CoS

“Well…” Manning glanced at the PaDDs before looking back to Forgrave. “Those are all the reports I had from Lieutenant Ashur, as well as the changes that are coming to the Security Department and specs changes after the refit. They are minor, but you should know them. The Dresden is also set to have a new Operations Chief and if everything I’ve heard around is true, he will have the ship running in no time. I’m not going to go over everything in detail, as you might imagine, otherwise we’d be here for the next two days.” She chuckled. “But if there’s any particular thing you would want to go through with me, that’s what I’m here for.”

Capt. Manning, Outgoing XO

Issac took a quick moment to think on Manning’s offer before responding. “Hmmm. Well, Lt. Ashur left me some reports; and I’ve taken some time and gone through the records available ta me. Couldn’t hurt ta make sure I ain’t missing anything though. And I’ve been hearin’ rumors about the New Ops Chief; but I ain’t had tha pleasure of meeting them yet.”

Amelia smiled warmly. “These are mostly reports I asked for after my regular visits with the departments. I’m sure you probably have the same information in some of Lt. Ashur’s reports, but I’m hoping you find some of these useful. I don’t really have a use for them anymore, so I might as well just pass them on.”

“I reckon goin’ through the spec changes would be tha best use of your time - that and maybe going through the Security department changes.” Issac hesitated briefly; an uncharacteristic behavior for the officer. “And I suppose if you’re willing to listen, I’ve got a few ideas that I’d like to run past someone. Just ‘cause I think they’re good ideas, don’t mean they’ve not been tried before.”

-Issac Forgrave, CoS

“To be fair, the spec changes are nothing major… you may have noticed the Bridge is slightly different. We’re also able to better accommodate fighter craft, but it’s probably something you would be better to get acquainted on your own time… I don’t really know all of them by heart, but I can read you the passages, if you would like.” She chuckled. “The same goes for the Security roster. Although if you do have any particular questions about them, feel free to ask. To be honest, I am more familiar with Lt. Ashur’s reports than with anything that was given to me after I knew I was not coming back…” Manning shot Forgrave an apologetic smile. “Now…” Amelia’s face lit up with a smile. “I would be more than happy to listen to your ideas. I know that being made a Department Head is a bit change… What do you have in mind?”

Capt. Manning, Outgoing XO

Issac shifted slightly in his seat, thinking about how best to present his ideas. “Well, I don’t reckon my ideas are revolutionary; just maybe a bit outside the norm. Firstly, I’m wanting ta rotate all ‘a my personnel through tha ship; instead of havin’ them be stuck in a department on a specific shift. I figure they’ll loose some uh, specialization, so ta speak, but I think it’d be worthwhile fer everyone to have more ‘n just a passing familiarity with the rest of the ship an’ her crew.” Issac shrugged, taking a sip of coffee from the ever-present mug before continuing. “The Dresden’s a warship, after all.... I think we’d all like to have a boring tour, but I don’t reckon that’s likely. If things go to hell, I want my people ta be able to respond immediately, where they’re needed.”

“The other idea I got… well, I reckon there’s a possibility of raisin’ hackles or steppin’ on toes. As I said, the Dresden is a warship.... and I’d like my people to be prepared for the worst. What I’d like to do is get my department to start training with our Marine detachment. I ain’t gonna pretend I got a army or nothing; I got no delusions of grandeur. But ta be frank, due to tha nature of our ship profile and missions, we’ve got a… higher than average chance of seein’ combat. And even though our mission is nominally one of peace… I ain’t willing to bet the on the rest of the galaxy getting that memo.”

Issac Forgrave, CoS

Amelia pondered for a moment before replying. “Well, for starters, I see no reason why you wouldn’t be able to rearrange your personnel’s shifts and rotate them between departments and times. I can’t tell you whether that works better than the standard arrangement, but you can always go back to it if you see no improvements, or no other reason to keep it. I think that, at least having them rotating through departments might be a good idea. As you said, that way everyone will be familiar with the whole ship and the whole crew. It might be confusing in the first weeks, but I’m sure your officers will adapt. There are worse environments to adapt to out there.” Manning smiled.

Issac nodded along with Manning’s points. “Yeah, that all fits in with what I was thinking. What I may end up doin’ is start on a smaller basis; just rotate a few squads and see how that goes.”

“Now…” Amelia was not very experienced when it came to Marines. In fact, she had never served on a ship with a Marine detachment and the only Marine she had ever interacted with in a more close fashion, had been Harris. “… as for having your people train with the Marine detachment… I understand what you are saying. I urge you to speak to the new Command team, whenever you know who it is, and Colonel Harris, as I am probably the least qualified person to talk about Marines…” She chuckled softly. “However, one thing I know. Even though the Starfleet Marine Corps is still Starfleet, they do things a little differently than ‘regular’ Starfleet does.” Manning added air quotes. “And sometimes it is useful to have Security do things the Starfleet way, and let the Marines wave the hammer around. If everyone has hammers, than the chance for a more subtle approach is gone. I’m not saying it might not be useful to have Security personnel use Marine tools, but make sure that is not their primary training. There’s a reason why Starfleet keeps them separate.” Amelia paused for a moment. “Also, be careful, some Marines might not like the competition.” She chuckled.

Capt. Manning, Outgoing XO

“Hmmm, those are good points. I hadn’t considered some of that neither…” Issac paused in thought, considering Manning’s words. “I’d definitely want to sit down and have a good talk with whomever’s in charge before changing anythin’ on that front. And I definitely recognize that security and marines have different roles - I don’t got no ideas towards changing that; but I’ll keep that in mind none the less.” Issac grinned at Manning. “As you put it, Security’s job ain’t to be the hammer. I think my main goal would be ta… increase our capability and preparedness; without changing our role. That may be as simple as increasing our fitness levels to match, or maybe just mirror, the Marine standards; that’d be something that I’d have to sit down with the Marine commander and figure out. But while I ain’t thinking of changing our role, I do want ta make sure we’re as well-prepared as we can get. And I figure a bit of friendly competition would be good for morale; get all of us working a bit harder! Can’t be having those marines gettin’ lazy and resting on their laurels, after all!”

Issac Forgrave, CoS

Amelia laughed. “No, we can’t!” She gave Forgrave a playful wink. “I like your ideas though, but this seems to be something you might want to discuss with the next Captain, or the next XO. And obviously, with the new Marine Commander. I’m afraid my opinions may or may not be shared by the next command team. You should definitely discuss them with them. I’m sure Colonel Harris would also be up to give you some advice if you ever needed some. I don’t know where he’s landing next… well, I’m not even sure he knows where he’s landing next. This was all a little unexpected. But I have no doubt he would have the time to hear you out. Do you know how to reach him?”

Capt. Manning, Outgoing XO