Sorting of roles

Posted on Tue Apr 11th, 2017 @ 10:53pm by Captain Allen Jones & Commander Bertrand Cuprum

Mission: The Trial of Cor Cordale
Location: XO office

Bertrand knew there was a Damoclian Sword still poised over the crew, and he needed to address it before the next mission. The roles of Security, Tactical and Marine tended to cross each others lines, and step on each others toes. Already there had been tensions, and with a new Marine CO he was going to be sure it didn't keep going.

He sent an instruction for Captain Jones and Lt Kilbane to meet him at his office at 15:00 hours. It was worded in his normal gruff tone.

Having received the order to meet the XO in his office at fifteen hundred hours, Kevin arrived at the precise time and pressed the chime.

"Come!" Bertrand barked.

Kevin entered the office, and seeing two chairs opposite one around a desk , he crossed the room and stood stiffly to attention behind one of the two chairs "You asked to see me Sir?"

He looked up as Kevin appeared at the door. He glanced at the Chronometer and smiled.

"Bang on time, Lieutenant. Well done. Have a seat."

As Kevin did so he asked, "How are you finding it in Security slash Tactical?"

"If you don't mind Sir, I'll stay standing" Kevin replied "with my shoulder still giving me a little bit of trouble, I sometimes need to move it and it's more difficult when I'm sitting. With regards to Security and Tactical, I'm finding it very satisfying, especially with the new 'reintegration programme' that's been trialed."

Bertrand nodded, "I know that shoulder ache well. Stand if you must, but at least stand at ease."

"Thank you Sir" Kevin said, visibly relaxing his stance.

Things had been going pretty smooth so far with the transfer from Cosmos to the Victory but now AJ would have to have a sit down he figured would be one of the more difficult ones. He made sure he was on time and arrived shortly after Kilbane. Since he was invited he just pushed the button to open the door and stepped. "Sir, you called a meeting." AJ said as he came in the room giving a greeting nod to the Kilbane

Kevin nodded his acknowledgement back to Jones.

"Nice and punctual, Jones," Bertrand acknowledged. "Sit or stand as you will, I choose to stay seated."

"I have called you both in so we can sort out how the roles of Tactical, Security and Marines are to function on this ship. As you know I have come through a security background, and am aware of a bias in that direction. So I want us to have it all out here so when we are on the bridge in a crisis there is no petty jibes or hurt feelings. We are a united front. Agreed?"

"Absolutely Sir" Kevin replied.

"Teamwork makes the dream work." AJ quipped

"So, in no particular order, the Role of Tactical is one of keeping the ship safe. It involves the use of ship board weapons and defense systems to keep the ship operational and combat ready. Security's role is to keep the crew safe from harm, and anyone we have particularly been engaged to protect. They are a police force if you will. Investigation may be part of the role, particularly since our current CSO is ex-Intel. Marines bring pain to our enemy. They are soldiers and their job is to Kill, capture and destroy."

"Now I am aware these are all gross overstatements of the role, and there are many overlaps, but I think the generalizations will help us define roles on the ship."

"To take our last engagement as an example of how I would see the roles; Marines are sent in to capture and secure hostile enemy territory. I would not normally have sent them against Federation personnel, and I am still not convinced it was a wise decision. Security's role was to recover and protect key assets, such as our newest Strat Ops officer. Meanwhile Tactical had the role of handling the ship board combat."

"Now there will be times the roles come into conflict. When a marine team is taking fire, and so is the Victory, Tactical may make a call that it is unsafe to lower shields for a beam out. That is Tactical's call to make. If there are Alien intruders on the ship, Security may feel Marine support is warranted, but that is Securities call to make, and if they say no, then the Marines stay locked in their rooms like everyone else. And if we are on the ground in hostile situation, and the Marines decide it is too hot for non-military personnel and order and extraction, Securities job is to get the people out safe, not to argue over it."

"Does that sound reasonable to you both?"

"It does Commander, though I have a question if I may?" Kevin said.

"Go ahead," Bertrand allowed.

"Here on the Victory, the role that I fill is defined as Chief of Security and Tactical" Kevin continued "Could I suggest that in times of combat where Security are involved, either ship to ship or one where I'm on an Away Team and can't determine a course of action, Tactical defaults to the Assistant Chief of Security, in this case Ensign Karadis? I'm asking the question because there will be times when I'm not on the ship, and a Tactical decision will be required to be made, and I'm more than confident that Ensign Karadis is capable of making them."

"I am sorry, Kevin, but no." Bertrand shook his head. "Acting Ensign Kardis is a capable crewman, but she has not yet even completed her officer induction. There are ranking Security officers above her who take seniority in your absence. Before you start to get upset by that remember that this used to be my department and I know everyone in it is capable of the job or they wouldn't be there. Kardis has been an NCO and the roles are significantly different. She will need to go through the normal promotional channels before she can be deputy department head."

"I wasn't going to get upset by your decision Sir" Kevin replied, "and with the utmost respect, I would fully appreciate it if you wouldn't second guess my reaction and tell me it when it's not the case. I absolutely understand your decision, I was simply looking for clarification as I felt she was capable, but didn't have the senior staff experience, it's why I felt I had to ask the question in the first place."

"Was there anything else form either of you?"

AJ shook his head. "No Sir. Thank you for going over things"

"No Commander" Kevin replied.

"In that case, thank you gentlemen for your time. Dismissed."