Misunderstanding you within Normal Parameters

Posted on Sun Feb 23rd, 2020 @ 9:00pm by Lieutenant JG Rachael "Ripcord" Yamaguchi-Cullen & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 4: Flashover
Location: Various Locations - Starbase 400
Timeline: 0800Hrs - October 29th, 2388

Lt Commander Torilla Yamaguchi sighed softly as she helped herself to a
small breakfast from the replicator because she had overslept as she was
used to shipboard time rather translation time and it had been Rachael who had gotten her up today rather than another way around.

She smiled as she recalled Rachael opening her door and calling. "Mom, your
late, get up!" she had demanded.

Torilla's response had been automatic. "Rachael, don't take that tone....Oh
crap!" as she had flown out of bed to start her day roughly an hour or so
later than normal.

She had walked into Operations as she had wanted to discuss her future Exec with Admiral Bremer so she had walked into the Admirals office which was easy twice the size of her own but then she did not begrudge him his
space, she had read his sizeable file which was impressive, a Fleet command not once but twice and he had taken over the Operation to Liberate DS9 during the war after Captain Sisko had left the fleet to go retake DS9 with his desperate gambit.

Torilla recalled how she thought the war was lost at that time, she
remembered giving up on ever seeing anything other then defeat at the hands of the Dominion as she had been part of that fleet as had her husband, the two of them on different ships, she was on the Tri'culo and he was on the Valdemar.

She smiled at Petty Officer 2nd Class Aquilina de Luca and she had asked for an appointment rather than just barge in, the pretty woman had responded with "He will see you as soon as he can... I'm still working out his schedule for today."

"No trouble, thank you, Ms de Luca, let him know it's about the Venator...
speaking of, when he asks... that's where I will be... giving her the once
over.."

"Yessir." the young woman had responded and with that Yamaguchi had taken her to leave, she had walked out into operations when the door opened and Admiral Bremer walked onto the command deck, due to his command style however someone shouted. "Admiral on deck."

“At ease,” Mike replied. He made a mental note to remind the new Officer that called for attention to be reminded not to while in Ops. Mike didn’t hate the formal edict, but he wasn’t a fan of it either.

Torilla and everyone else present snapped to attention but that was as a
result of their training. "Top of the morning to yee Admiral sir." she greeted him.

“You wanted to see me, Commander?” Mike replied to Torilla.

"Yessir. I left an appointment request with your aide..." she responded evenly.

Mike nodded, “Lead the way.” He knew from the message his Aide had left him that Torilla would be aboard the Venator, so he figured he’d accompany her there to give her time to discuss with him whatever was on her mind.

Yamaguchi walked over to the lift as she lifted a PADD that had been sitting at her station, she tapped the 'call' button on the wall panel next to the Turbolift and a moment later, the doors opened, they both entered as she stated "USS Venator airlock."

“What’s on your mind?” Mike asked

Torilla turned to face him as she prepared for the moment of truth. "I wanted to build my new senior staff from personnel on base, they would be assigned to the USS Venator permanently rather than moved from ship to ship," she explained.

Mike let out a breath, “Typically, we don’t assign a permanent Senior Staff to each ship, mainly because the majority of the Starbase 400 Senior Staff also have their command. We also have over twenty vessels assigned directly to the Station, and while not all are out in space at a time, we don’t want to thin the ranks too much.” He paused a moment, then added, “Each ship is assigned a permanent crew, but the Senior Officers are selected on a mission by mission basis.”

"I understand that sir... and I could always keep the Venator out patrolling the system but as you once mentioned sir, we do have twenty-two active ships that are doing very little... patrolling the system would let the personnel assigned to this ships gain valuable experience." she felt like a complete hypocrite as she felt sure he was going to tell her to stop wasting his time and send her on her way.

“I agree, we have some Junior Officers and Non-Comms that need some extra experience, however assigning a permanently assigned Senior Staff to any given vessel is counterproductive at this time,” Mike replied. “The best I can offer is when the Venator is called upon for duty, is to try and have the same Officers assigned to her.

"I just feel that with the situation present in the surrounding sectors and with the numbers we have, it would be useful. Our ships would be no more than four hours flight time to the base in several overlapping fields of space sir, all patrolling the area... besides activity in the Triangle is at an all-time low... but we can assume it won't stay that way.."

“I respect your opinions, however, the ships assigned to Starbase 400 need to be here and ready at a moment’s notice. Having multiple ships out on patrol, again, would be counterproductive. I agree, having one or two at a given time would be acceptable, given the tactical and strategic situation, but we do have multiple vessels assigned to our command area that are out on the patrol routes along the borders.” Mike replied.

While he welcomed the opinions and ideas of his Senior Staff, there were times that those ideas had been tried before and simply didn’t work out well. However, he didn’t want to discourage anyone, so in this case, he hoped that reminding Yamaguchi that there was a permanently assigned crew and that he’d try to have the same Senior Officers assigned to the Venator when she was called on for duty would ease her concerns.

Yamaguchi nodded her head her plan wasn't going to work but she had expected as much. "I understand but there are other areas along our borders that need increased protection, the Cestus sector, for example, thanks to our previous experience in that area... The place was completely unguarded," she explained. "I wanted to recommend increasing force deployments in vulnerable areas with you before I sent it off to Starfleet sir."

Mike smirked, “We already have. Before we left for Romulan space I’d sent a request to Starfleet Command along with Captain Clifford’s and your reports regarding the area. Four Starships are now in the area with another due in a few days. With the mission to Romulan space, I didn’t have time to let you or Captain Pike know of those deployments.”

Yamaguchi paused. "Sir... may I speak freely?" she inquired, she knew he had an open policy for his senior staff but that said, she did not know him or knew how he thought on such things and she did not wish to offend him.

Mike paused before answering as the turbolift stopped and he and Yamaguchi stepped out. Mike looked out the window for a moment at the USS Venator. In the distance, he saw the USS Cutlass, USS Ark Royal, and the USS Constantinople all docked, while a Civilian Freighter was slowing passing through the space doors.

He looked back at Yamaguchi, “Go ahead.”

"Well sometimes I find it difficult to do my job, wondering if I'm getting the right information from the right people and getting it too the right people... take our recent mission into Romulan space, I heard nothing about the Romulan's having that sort of tech so I must wonder if I'm being kept out of the loop..."

“I didn’t know about it either until we were inside Romulan space,” Mike replied. “There are things that, frankly, are above your security clearance…just like a few things are going on that’s even above mine. As Starfleet Officers, one of our jobs is to be able to adapt to changing circumstances. That said, I will work to make sure that both you and Captain Pike are kept better in the loop on anything going on within our operational area.”

"Well sir, if I can't do my job... or am questioning my ability to do my job then I am not much good to you." she sighed. "I have no hard proof... just my instincts and my feelings..." she shook her head. "again, maybe I'm just being paranoid sir." she paused as she decided to change the subject. "The Venator is almost finished her refit... and I can't wait to take her out..."

“I feel the same about the Pegasus. She’s all most finished with her upgrades and overhaul, and I’m eager to get her into space again.” Mike replied.

She looked at Bremer. "Sir, I have to wonder... should we not consider may be considering updating the ship designs in the Fleet, some of the designs are years and decades-old... and we have a new tech coming online.." she paused a moment. "maybe its worth mentioning to Engineering to think about.."

It was true, the bulk of the Fleet was still older Miranda and Excelsior-class vessels. Not as many as during the Dominion War, but still the majority. There were more Akira, Galaxy, Sovereign, Intrepid, Nebula, Prometheus, and other classes in services now, but brand new designs were few in numbers.

“I agree, Starfleet has always been slow to approve new classes for mass production. Take the Luna and Vesta classes. Both have been in service for about ten years, and there’s still only about ten of the Luna class in service and even fewer of the Vesta class. And the Gladiator, only the prototype is in service, Starfleet has approved the construction of three more but delayed their start for another year, then a six-year construction time. On the positive side, Other classes, like the Prometheus and Galaxy Refit classes are being upgraded with the newest technologies to keep them state of the art and on the front lines longer.” He paused as he looked out the window again for a moment, then added, “I will pass your thoughts up the chain.”

"I appreciate that.... if at the very least, not replace them, just refit everything up to state of the art with the newest tech or tech that can be fitted aboard... " she explained as they approached the Venator's airlock.

“Sadly, not all ships are capable of being upgraded to the newest upgrades, but they will be improved as much as possible,” Mike added.

There were two security guards at the airlock and both snapped to attention as Torilla tapped the security computer with her left hand. "Lt Commander Yamaguchi, Commanding Officer, USS Venator."

"Identity confirmed."

Mike nodded to Torilla, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have a look at the Pegasus since I’m already down here.” Mike smirked and headed back to the turbolift, the Pegasus’s airlock was a few levels up.

Torilla smiled. "Give her my regards please sir." and with that, the two parted company.