Posted by Ensign Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in Side Sim - Unnecessary Ideas

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Cassidy Abrams (Chief of Security) in Side Sim - Unnecessary Ideas

Posted by Ensign Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in Side Sim - Unnecessary Ideas
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Cassidy sat back a bit and took a deep and slow inhale. “Okay, for the record, I love your enthusiasm and initiative. But… I can’t approve”-she gestured to the screen and PADD-“any of this. It’s out of our purview to a degree. Now, we can take this to the CE and see what, if any, of the upgrades are actually needed. I’m a scientist but computer system structures are not my expertise. So while I don’t doubt that you have done all your research, and given that this is your area of expertise, I want someone else to verify these issues and outcomes, and I you to be involved in that process. But, other people have to have a say in this, probably including the captain. These are major changes. Not overnight fixes. It will take time and planning to even do the smaller things, and that’s not even if they want to touch the theoretical stuff, which… I’m less convinced they will. But I can’t guarantee what others will decide, and if they say no, you are going to have to be okay with that,” she said seriously. She hated to quash that enthusiasm in any way, but there were procedures and a chain of command for a reason. She was just grateful Trenton wasn’t one of those new ensigns who started the project first and then showed you their work. That would have been disastrous.

Abrams, COS

Trenton nodded sharply, “Oh, of course, I did the research and made the notes on how the penetration test worked, but I would never make changes without bringing it up to the chain of command. I’d have brought it to you sooner but I wanted to also have a potential solution in hand so I wasn’t just bringing a problem. I’d rather not be ‘that’ person that is willing to complain about things that have gone wrong but not contribute to the solution. This is why I’m bringing it to you, showing you what I found, what I did, and how I think we can correct it. You are the next step in the process, from you and your blessing, we can contact Engineering and the CE to schedule a meeting to talk about it, sharing information and tactics, have them conduct testing of their own, and refine my suggestions into actionable items, then we can present it to the Captain and XO as a full-scale project.”

Abrams chuckled. “Hey, wouldn’t believe how many new officers fresh out of the Academy would jump into a project like this on the grounds of wanting to prove themselves.”

Ashlyn put down the PaDD in her hands so she could hold herself more steady, her excited energy had a tendency to make her want to move, jump, perch on things, and all of that would be inappropriate here so she was doing her best to self contain. “If they do in fact turn it down I will at least request reasoning for it, and I understand it could be anything from ‘I don’t like the way you look at the stars’ to ‘I think you’re a Romulan Spy sent to murder us in our sleep’. I can only hope they willingly give me a logically based reason for denying the request. Reason or not, if the request is denied, then I will simply have to find a new project to work on or look into. I’ll not be deterred so easily as to be demoralized by someone saying my theories are too unlikely to be an issue.”

Cassidy considered that possible outcome. “I can’t imagine they’d not say why. While commanding officers do not have to justify their decisions to us at every turn, Captain Dvorak is a reasonable man and if he has concerns, he’ll say so and what they are.”

Ashlyn pulled out a water bottle from her pocket to take a quick drink, partly to calm herself more and partly to get rid of the dry mouth of nerves from her presentation. “I was also hoping you would look at the presentation yourself and give input as to the validity or likelihood of my theoretical scenario playing out to warrant a look at the security upgrade. I’m happy to explain or even provide a demonstration if need be. To be honest, some of this was based off stuff I used to do as a kid.”

• Ensign Ashlyn Trenton
  Security, USS Europa

Cassidy smiled. “I will, when I have a moment. But I don’t want to rush through it. I want to make sure I fully understand what it is that we’re talking about altering. It might be second nature to you, but like I said, it’s not my area of expertise. I’m a quick study, but you’ll have to give me a chance to get there.”

Abrams, COS

Ashlyn took a step back and slow calming breath. “I apologize, I understand that my excited energy may give off an air of impatience but I know everyone will take their time with this. I estimate that it will take anywhere from 6-8 months before any of this will be seen by the captain and that is assuming that everyone agrees that it is something presentation worthy for the ship leadership. Just as much as I understand that it may take just as long to be rejected by everyone. My goal here was to get things started on that process. Like a report, I’m sharing my findings and deferring to your judgment, making sure you are aware that I am available and happy to explain any aspect of this that you don’t understand or can’t quite follow. I realize people don’t think as I do and we all come from different skill backgrounds, my goal is to explain this in a way that everyone will understand it so when I take it to the Captain, they can follow along with ease.”

It was a lot of words to express a fairly simple idea and Cass focused her attention more deeply on Ashlyn.

Ashlyn took another drink of water to bring more calm to her energy. “I’m also working on additional theories to work on or look into, but I didn’t bring those with me. I didn’t want to overwhelm you so I’ll bring those another time so you can help me decide on a more productive project should this one not pan out. Not that I’m trying to prove anything, I’m just occupying time. I didn’t realize how much time I spent with Sharah until she left. Now I have a lot of free time and a roommate that encourages me to not be present. I figure projects are probably a better idea than letting myself get into trouble out of boredom.”

• Ensign Ashlyn Trenton
  Security, USS Europa

Ahhh, there it was: the explanation for the sudden flurry of activity and need to handle every detail she could think of. Cassidy gave Trenton a small smile. “Ashlynn… take a deep breath, will you? And I’m not saying that figuratively, I actually want you to take a slow and deep breath.”

Abrams, COS