SD241808.11 - Joint Duty Log - Grey & Bleetman - "Straight to Work"

Posted on Sat Aug 11th, 2018 @ 5:36pm by Brigadier General Jonathan Grey & Commodore Amanda Bleetman MD

1,253 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Tremor Trouble
Location: Versailles
Timeline: Current

=^= Outside the CO's Office =^=

Amanda had been requested in to see the CO as soon as she'd arrived onboard the Starbase. She'd quickly dumped her stuff in her quarters, changed into fresh uniform, and gone up to see him. She found his office, and noticed no doorbell, so she knocked on the glass door.

Grey's head jerked up suddenly as an alarm went off inside the shoebox that was his temporary office. One arm spasmed sideways as he reached instinctively for the weapon at his side, and a shower of padds flew off the desk and cascaded to the floor. Half-rising, eyes already searching for the horizon, it took a moment for the marine to realise he wasn't in the field, and the alarm wasn't the sign of an enemy raid.

"Computer, silence alarm!" he bellowed, drowning out the almighty din with his baritone.

"Alarm silenced." the computer replied, in its usual feminine voice.

"Computer, reason for alarm." he bit off, holstering his weapon and rubbing his ears.

"Security breach. Location: Commanding Officer's Temporary Office. Severity: mild door assault."

"Never heard of an assault being mild beforrrrrr....what?" the General asked, his brain finally catching up with his snarky tongue. He reached for his weapon again and turned to face the door, peering through the glass. On the other side, a Starfleet officer was rapping silently on the soundproof glass.

"I *have* to get a doorbell installed." he growled, letting go of his holstered weapon and kicking the worst of the fallen padds behind his desk.

"Come!" he commanded imperiously, feeling the need to compensate for the size of his temporary office. YaDalla had consumed every spare officer under his command, many of whom were busy preparing to leave on the ships that Operations had been tirelessly recruiting to the cause. Unfortunately, this meant his proper office was still half-full of the last CO's effects, and couldn't be occupied.

Well, technically it could be, but it'd be impolite.

Amanda walked in through the doors, and took up a position in front of the CO's desk. She hadn't expected what she found. A marine, as her CO. This was going to be interested. She saluted, remembering a few things from her years in the marines. "Captain Amanda Bleetman, previously Major Bleetman, 118th Medical Corps, reporting aboard. I believe I am assigned as your Executive Officer here." She said, smiling politely.

"At ease Bleetman." Grey replied, returning the salute out of habit. "It's good to have you here. YaDalla's a mess and it's all hands to the pump right now."

The General gestured to the chair in front of his desk, sitting back down himself. The adrenaline buzz from the alarm was starting to fade, and two hours of kip wasn't nearly enough for his sleep-starved brain. Brushing a padd aside, one meaty finger jabbed a panel in the desk and caused a fresh cup of tea to appear in a swirl of lights. He picked up the caffeine-heavy, sugar-heavy, no-milk blend and downed the cup in one.

"Coffee? Bovril?" he asked, remembering his manners a moment later.

"Bovril would be lovely, thank you." Amanda said, taking the proferred seat. "So what can I do for you General?"

Poking through the options on the control panel to find Bovril, Grey consulted his mental notes and recalled why he'd asked the Captain to meet him.

Other than civility.

"There's a local colony called Ya'Dalla, and it's in the process of shaking itself to bits. You may have seen the reports." he added, finally locating Bovril and pressing the button to make a cupful appear on his desk.

"My Chief of Operations was coordinating the ships and forces we've roped in for our rescue and peacekeeping efforts, but she got hit by some falling masonry, and it seems the chain of command is...unravelling somewhat. I could put someone in charge, but the problem is that the highest ranking Versailles person on site is a Lieutenant Commander, and there's a number of ship Captains there that might be retasked at any time."

"Basically," he summarised, "I need you to get to Ya'Dalla and take command. You'll have the combined resources of the newly-expanded Versailles Support Fleet under your direct command if anyone balks at reporting to you." he added, passing her a padd containing the details.

Amanda nodded. "So what's the situation on the ground? Numbers injured? Size of the area effected? Can we expect anymore support from Starfleet?" She asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"We're not getting any support from Starfleet." Grey clarified, recycling his cup after making sure the padds on his desk weren't touching the spot. He'd learned the hard way that his desk replicator was smart enough not to create stuff if there were padds in the way, but wasn't quite that clever when it came to recycling. Half a padd had to be returned to its former owner, with a polite apology and a request for another copy of the document on it.

"Starfleet sent us a larger support fleet to help deal with the rise in pirate activity in this sector, plus any fallout from the Klingon-Romulan war. We really, really don't want things to spill there." he asserted, pointing to a map on one of his two wall consoles. Various arrows showed the known positions of Klingon and Romulan ships and fleets. The Klingons appeared to be winning, but that could be dangerous too.

"As for the other Starfleet ships helping us, they are only here until someone further up the chain finds out I've used power of regional authority to countermand the orders. Luckily a lot of Admirals used lower-ranking officers to distribute their wishes, so I was able to usurp control over a number of ships and divert them. It's only a matter of time until word gets out, and then I'll have about a third of our larger helpers vanish in a puff of smoke."

"Lastly, the entire planet is being affected, so as for the casualty count? There are almost a hundred dead, thousands of injured, and the number trying to flee is almost certainly a lie for tax and legal reasons. Tens of thousands for sure. The full details are on the padd." he finished, pushing it across the desk with a finger.

Amanda nodded again. "I have a few contacts in the admirality, i'll put in a word and see if they can pull some strings, see if we can get the ships for as long as we can. There's also a new captain on station, waiting for her crew, the Lexington - big carrier - lots of evac room - and supply room. I know the CO, i'll see if she can head over with a skeleton crew. Every little helps after all. My Ship should be here soon as well." She picked up the PADD and scrolled through. Eventually, she sighed and put the PADD on the desk. "Well, looks like things couldn't get much worse down there...I suppose we'd better get to work!" She said, standing.

"Definitely. Best of luck to you. Dismissed." said the General, grabbing a padd from the steadily-shrinking pile on his desk. Who knew, if his XO proved capable enough at handling this brush fire, he might just be able to wipe out the rest of his paperwork before the first cluster of refugees arrived.

Wishful thinking perhaps.


=^= End of Log =^=

Brigadier General Jonathan Grey
Commanding Officer
Versailles

&&

Captain Amanda Bleetman
Executive Officer
Versailles

 

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