transports from all over

Posted on Thu May 18th, 2023 @ 4:52pm by Lieutenant Julius Mack

Mission: Naming Conventions
Location: albion bridge

ON:

Andrews: "Ah, Mr. Mack, just in time for your progress report on determining how 'shitehead' is formed on the planet. Will Varley and Glass be joining us for this meeting?"

Mack: "permission to speak freely Commander. All ears on the Bridge, hear this."

Andrews::eyes noticeably dilate, given his prior experiences with Mack speaking freely. The rest of the bridge crew stop what they are doing and pay attention. Andrews
notices this reaction and tries to appear unaffected by it.::
"What is it mister Mack?"

Mack:"You asked me directly for a report, obviously in front of the entire bridge crew, so I will give it, in front of the entire bridge crew.
You are asking me about progress of an away
team that I am gradually becoming aware that SOMEHOW I was supposed to be leading. However I was NEVER given such an order. Not by you, not by a captain, not
by a Lieutenant Commander. So my 'report' will note that detail.
I have also asked you and the captain directly, FROM WHOM such an order was supposedly issued, since somehow I was apparently expected to have received it.
...
If you did not give me that order and neither ranking captain did, from WHERE would I expect to receive it?
My fleet training, and that of any officer, is that Chain of command MUST BE OBSERVED.
...
I have reason to seriously fault it's practice aboard the Albion. I am not the only crew who has issues with it, and I regard that as a very serious failure of the command structure.
...
As part of my responsibility as Chief Science Officer, I have established improved sensor apparatus which keeps track of more operational details than most ships include
as a matter of routine. That apparatus has extensive capabilities, all of which inform me about details that I would not normally have available at my convenience, and also
as substantial shipboard armaments and weaponry. Among those are AI scans of all shipboard logs.
That AI does not indicate ANY crew having issued an away-team order to me.
...
Yet an away team (one of three) was dispatched to the planet surface, under the guise of evaluating some kind of alleged panacea drug substance. Chemical experiments
were conducted there, involving what I presume to have been substance samples. At this point I still do not know where those were obtained from, nor were they
properly assayed before those experiments were conducted. The experiments resulted in numerous violent explosions, after which proper testing protocols would have
REQUIRED THOSE EXPERIMENTS TO BE DISCONTINUED and the remaining chemical evidence (if not also bio-mass remains) to be properly collected and documented.
As far as I can determine, none of those protocols were observed, nor was the away team apparently advised of the associated risks. So now at least two of those crew
are dead.
Three crew are now lost at least indirectly related to an away-team activity which I did not approve.
As Chief Science Officer, I should have been AT LEAST consulted about that plan, if not empowered to forbid it.
At least three crew were lost, associated with those away-team deployments
and the third was under very suspicious circumstances; the smell of the story is that mister Tryon committed suicide.
I highly doubt that version of the story either, since the marine had no reason to kill herself that any scan of her personal logs would indicate.
...
So, Commander, if you are somehow implying that I am accountable for those losses, or somehow culpable for lack of some great discovery regarding this alleged miracle
substance, I really much ask you WHAT EVIDENCE DO YOU HAVE which points to me as some kind of culprit for failures that I had no control over?
...
Especially why you yourself are not culpable for them?":

mack:"computer, record log of bridge conversation as lieutenant mack reporting as requested by commander andrews" and forward a copy to admiral ken gillis, fleet command immediately.":

computer:"working...message sent to fleet command as requested, acknowledgment pending."


::bridge crew looks at one-another but nobody says anything.::

andrews:"so is that your report, mister mack?"

mack:"you may regard it so, commander. Am I dismissed?"

andrews:"you still have bridge duties, mister Mack."

mack:"my report indicated that I can accomplish those from pretty much any location on the ship, sir. And I do have enhanced sensor data to examine
from my quarters station, so I do request to be dismissed from the bridge for the time being."

andrews::momentarily becomes aware that the rest of the crew sees him losing a debate with mister Mack, and realizes this does tend to lend
credence to questioning his authority. And that Mack is giving him a chance to sort of save-face.::

andrews:"Very well mister mack. Perhaps you are more capable in the dispensation of your duties than I found obvious."
::a pregnant silence on the bridge, except for a flashing light and beep tone from the weapons console indicating in-operation of the forward phaser array::
:"Dismissed, mister mack."

mack:"if anyone needs me, I will be in my quarters at least for several hours."::Nods briefly to Andrews. Takes the turbo lift to deck 9 and enters his quarters hallway::
=^="Computer. Please locate captain janeway and the away-team via the defensive pylon array, and establish a voice link.":

computer:"link established".

::mack's comm badge picks up some background noise..."::
=^="Mack to Janeway. Captain, do you want me to transport your party back to the ship?"=^=

janeway:=^="yes mister mack. you have very good timing."

::janeway and the marine party de-materialize from the planet surface. Janeway re-materializes in the hallway a few feet from Mack. Her comrade however
is not there.:

janeway::once sort of aware of where she is::"mister mack, where is my other team member?":

mack:"I took the liberty of transporting the rest of your team to the cargo bay, along with what parts of the albion phaser array that I could detect with
my security perimeter equipment. I hope you can forgive the fact that it was also monitoring everything that took place since the equipment was beamed down
and activated. I did send it instructions to locate and send commands to the phaser array, which put that array on overload. So the Klingons immediately left
it for fear of being killed in a blast. During which the pylons transported the equipment into stasis, de-activated the overload, then placed them in a point-to-point
transport to the same cargo bay where I presume mister Nabarati would now be inspecting it for fitness to be re-deployed as part of albion weapons array."

janeway::smiles::"I think I can forgive the eavesdropping just this once."

Mack:"I do have something else to discuss, if you will come with me to my quarters. It is rather complicated."

janeway::follows mack to his quarters, the door closes behind them.::"Nice quarters, mister Mack."

mack:"I followed up on the medical scan of captain Sprague. He appears to be suffering from some form of narcosis, possibly a side-effect
of some prior events that your assignment here, might not have especially informed you about. It appears they affected his health. I do not
think that he is in particular medical danger, but his judgment and priorities are likely affected. This condition has been fairly obvious for some
months. In theory Commander Andrews should have relieved him for cause by now, but evidently has failed to do that.
Perhaps the commander has his reasons, for which I am not privy. But in the meantime I think you will appreciate that Chain of Command is
no longer stable. As a ranking captain, I might suggest that I would support you taking command of the Albion until further notice, and relieving
Captain Sprague for medical cause. Perhaps then you might also directly question Commander Andrews about his failure to do likewise already.
...
Meanwhile I trust you
have been more or less informed about the medical condition of Lieutenant Keys. I do not think he is fit for duty, especially ship's navigation
since he could drop dead at any moment.
All of those would be my opinion as Chief Science Officer and acting also Chief Medical Officer since doctor Spivick has been apparently re-assigned.
...
As a side issue, I would be interested in where your away-team orders came from, since I did not actually receive any myself, yet two crew supposedly
under my leadership are now dead. I have submitted a report to fleet command accordingly, and would welcome any analysis of those issues as you
might be inclined to offer them."

Janeway:"you do realize, mister mack, that your actions and statements could be construed as insubordination if not outright mutiny?"

Mack:"yes, I suppose they could, which is partly why I chose to make my status report in front of the commander and the entire bridge crew, about
five minutes ago, and had the computer forward an image of the entire statement to fleet command."

Janeway:"well, I'd say you have done a decent job of covering your backside. Congratulations for being a better politician than most science
officers are generally expected to be. As for the actions, so far I see no reason to not support you, in so far as you have only questioned authority,
not actually acted against it. As for the display of tactical timing, I'd be interested in how you knew what to do and when, but that conversation can
wait. I'd say it is time I had a conversation with the captain and mister Andrews. "

::she turns to head out of macks' quarters. he nods.::

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