Topic: First Steps

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

I like, Jaeih, very much. Bates seems to be the kind of captain every ensign straight from the Academy would want to have, although Donnally more than makes up for it, though, by being the XO none of them would want at all. I don't like her very much, but I get the feeling we're really not supposed to.

[Sethan]

I like, Jaeih, very much. Bates seems to be the kind of captain every ensign straight from the Academy would want to have, although Donnally more than makes up for it, though, by being the XO none of them would want at all. I don't like her very much, but I get the feeling we're really not supposed to.

What Kieran said. 

[Jaeih t`Radaik]

Thanks guys, for the additional commenting. Warms a girl's heart, and all that.

Grim, Kieran has it right. You're not supposed to like Donally--unless you are like Donally. You're supposed to understand why she is the way she is, and if you don't yet, more of her background will be revealed in upcoming stories to give you all further insight.
You're also right about Bates, and Andie even said as much after the Rec Room incident with Markus.

Rommie, forgive me not answering your comment directly before, but now I find I have something to say to it. It has been my stated goal (and Scottish Andy's too) to bring you stories that weren't just huge battle scenes and epic time-travelling Fate-of-the-Federation/Galaxy/Universe affairs. We've collaborated on backgrounds and linking our stories together fairly tightly, even going so far as a direct collaboration on our next story, to bring a continuity, style, and feel to our stories. Some of the best ST episodes & novels have been about how other characters interact with the "stars", and focusing on them. E.g. "TNG:The Lower Decks" and LA Graf's Chekov/Uhura/Sulu books.
I take pride in bringing you "a day/week/month in the life of" stories, where we see people going about their daily life on a starship, and how their moods and feelings of that hour/day/week/month affect how they do their duty on a particular mission.

I think I'm doing a pretty good job, but the reason I'm harping on about feedback is because I want to know if other people agree with me. 

Anyway, enough of the soapbox, and more from Illustrious tomorrow morning.

[Scottish Andy]

It has been my stated goal (and Scottish Andy's too) to bring you stories that weren't just huge battle scenes and epic time-travelling Fate-of-the-Federation/Galaxy/Universe affairs. We've collaborated on backgrounds and linking our stories together fairly tightly, even going so far as a direct collaboration on our next story, to bring a continuity, style, and feel to our stories. Some of the best ST episodes & novels have been about how other characters interact with the "stars", and focusing on them. E.g. "TNG:The Lower Decks" and LA Graf's Chekov/Uhura/Sulu books.
I take pride in bringing you "a day/week/month in the life of" stories, where we see people going about their daily life on a starship, and how their moods and feelings of that hour/day/week/month affect how they do their duty on a particular mission.

I think I'm doing a pretty good job, but the reason I'm harping on about feedback is because I want to know if other people agree with me.

Um, what she said.

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

I've always been a sucker for the grand, sweeping epic, myself. Although I am sort of working on a project now that's more like what you're talking about, Jaeih. I might even get around to posting it someday.

[kadh2000]

I don't do small stories often.  I try to start with a good character and let the story be the size it needs to be. 

I like reading small stories though.  This one is exceptionally entertaining.

My nitpick:  The opening conference in the second part of the chapter.  It took me a few moments to figure out what was going on and especially who was there.  Particuarly I didn't realize that the commander and captain were both their.  I originally took it as a continuity error when the others started using 'commander' and 'captain' in their speech.  So I'm asking if there's a way or need to make it more clear who's there.

Given that we don't get to read the whole story all at once, there's sometimes a need to tell the reader who everyone is more than would otherwise be normal.

[Jaeih t`Radaik]

Hey Kadh,

I'm sorry this was confusing for you, but I don't see how this was unclear. Admittedly, this was all meant to be the same chapter, just seperated by the "*****", but re-read the section below:

It took nearly two hours and Bates was getting quite tired, having been up since 0700 that morning and been on duty continuously until now. It was not an emergency or urgent situation so he had no adrenaline to keep him going and his fifteen-hour workday was beginning to take its toll.

Seated in the briefing room on B Deck with his Exec, Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Ronka, and Ensign Alicia Rio, he was now getting an explanation on what happened and how, and how it had been fixed.

Forgive me, but I thought it was fairly clear...

[Jaeih t`Radaik]

Chapter Seven

Date: 10th August 2272
Time: 1400 hours.
Stardate: 7430.7
Location: Rec. Deck Lower Level, USS Illustrious.

"That’s check and mate, Andie," Indra Gunawan said from across the Tri-D chessboard, waggling his thick eyebrows at her.

Andrea blew out of her mouth in exasperation, then grinned at the engineer. "Good game, Indra. Well played."

"Gave me a run for my credits that time," he offered in consolation.

"You’re just feeling smug about finally having beaten me at something," she commented with a smile. "I used to think I was quite good at this, too."

This time Indra smiled. "You are quite good at this. I’m just better, that’s all."

"Oh really?" Andrea asked, a dangerous look on her face. "Care for an arm-wrestling match?"

"Oh, no, no, no!" the skinny Malaysian said, waving his hands in front of him and laughing. "You don’t get me back that easily. You either beat me at chess or no deal!"

The Scot grinned at him and backed down. "Fair enough, then. I hereby challenge you to a daily game so that you can enhance that feeling of smug superiority every day until I beat you."

"Challenge accepted, you big bully!" Indra smirked at her.

Andrea affected an air of great innocence and exclaimed, "Moi? A bully? You must be mistaken! I don’t bully, I... cajole, encourage, nudge along, and talk people ‘round."

Indra sat back and crossed his arms, looking at her askance. "Uh huh. Sure you do. And when these unspecified people aren’t cajoled, encouraged, nudged along, or talked ‘round?" he asked archly.

Andrea grinned. "I persuade them."

"Ah yes. Persuasion," the engineer commented. "The same kind of persuasion Cristina’s been telling me her illustrious Italian ancestors used?"

"The very same," she agreed with another smile. Remembering that she had a small errand to run, she told Indra, "Sorry to dash off and all, but I need to see Ted Johnson for something. He said to come by around now, so I’d better go."

"Okay then," Indra agreed, "but I’m holding you to that challenge! I want to feel smugly superior at this time tomorrow, so don’t forget."

"I won’t," she said, getting up and making for the spiral staircase. "I see it as being in training to beat you at something else," Andrea added with a grin a she left their games cube.

"In your dreams, Brown!" he called over to her with a wicked grin as she ascended to the upper level.

Andrea shot him a startled look and blushed slightly at some of the looks she got from the other occupants of the room. Ah’ll get ye fur that, ya wee runt! she promised him within the confines of her own mind.

She smiled and nodded to her other friends as she passed them on her way across the upper level to the turbolift. Once inside, she instructed, "G Deck, Environmental Engineering," and leaned back against the wall as it took her there.

Minutes later and she was striding into the Environmental Engineering control room on the underside of Illustrious’ saucer. A glance around the open-plan room and its wall-mounted control panels revealed no one present, but out of the corner of her eye she caught Ted waving at her through the window of the environmental engineer’s office on her left.

"Hey Ted," she greeted the crewman as she stepped through the office door.

"Afternoon Lieutenant," replied Life Support Technician Second-class Edward Johnson with a smile for his officer friend. "So, what is it that is so important it had to wait until the engineering department’s Division Heads meeting to talk to me about?"

"I needed to get Ensign Nakamura out of the way," Andrea explained. "I’ve noticed he’s been down recently and I was wondering if you knew why. I want to cheer him up."

Ted’s eyes lit up with mischief. "Ah, you want to give him a surprise that’ll make him feel better, right?" he asked with a smile. When she nodded, he shook his head and said, "What, are you the self-appointed morale officer for this tub? Far from resting on your laurels after that Rec. Room stunt for Ensign Garn, you’re out to put a smile on the face of every sourpuss you see?"

"C’mon, Ted, what’s wrong with that?" Andrea asked, putting her fists on her hips and leaning forward slightly over his desk. "You may need cheered up at some point. Do you really want to be left in your funk?"

Ted suddenly felt that there was a very selective problem with the gravity generators for his office, as he kept having to drag his eyes back up to meet his superior officer’s. Trying to push aside thoughts of how exactly he’d like Lieutenant Brown to cheer him up right now, he struggled to focus on her question.

"Ah, yes. I mean, no, I’d want someone to notice and..." He trailed off and shook his head, trying to clear it. He was helped immeasurably when Andrea turned away from him and paced to the other side of the office, oblivious to his thoughts.

"Good, I’m glad you see what I mean," she was saying as he got back to her original question.

"Yeah, so, Ensign Nakamura. Well, he’s been feeling kinda homesick, Lieutenant, that’s why he’s been down. Says he’s been missing his family and the familiar surroundings of his home in Osaka," Ted told her as she half-turned to him again. "Apparently he’s from a very traditional, old-value Japanese household with all the trappings. Why anyone’d miss that I dunno, but everyone has to grow up somewhere, I guess."

At that last Andrea’s eyebrows went up. "How very philosophical of you, Ted," she murmured in surprise. "I didn’t know you had it in you."

"What?" Ted asked with a grin. "You think only officers get to be philosophical?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose not," she admitted.

"That’s a very elitist attitude to hold, Lieutenant," he warned, half-joking. "If you’re not careful they’ll start calling you a snob!"

Ouch! she winced, feeling the shot hit home. "You’re right, Ted. What can I say? Life’s a learning experience. I suppose I’ve learned my lesson for today."

Johnson smiled at her. "Just twistin’ yer tail, Lieutenant. So, got any ideas for the Ensign, sir?"

"Actually, yes," she started, her eyes wandering over the office equipment, finally coming to rest on the master status display in the middle of the room outside. "It’ll require a favour from the fabricator techs, plus a little research into Japanese culture, but..."

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" Ted asked, seeing her squinting out of the office window.

"Yeah, there seems to be some amber warnings on the ARS’s for G Deck."

"What!?" Ted almost yelped, then looked down at the screen built into the console he sat behind.

From where Andrea was standing she couldn’t clearly see what was being displayed on it, but she could tell that it wasn’t the miniature status board it was supposed to be. Ted quickly brought up the proper screen and his face paled. He looked back up at Andrea, mouth flapping but no sound emerging, before his training suddenly clicked back into place.

"Confirmed, sir," he said, all business now. "Atmosphere Recycling System 28 in compartment 7C01 is showing a malfunction." He got out from behind his desk and raced through to the master display to get the specifics. The console in the office was just a monitoring program designed to alert the duty tech or officer of a problem so that they didn’t have to keep walking around the main room’s control panels.

Andrea followed Johnson out and watched as he feverishly worked to track down the actual problem and rectify it, moving from control panel to control panel and reporting from each. Andrea stayed at the status board and called out any changes in readings.

"Control routines are operating normally and nothing’s changing through computer commands. Must be a hardware fault, a broken scrubber or something. The CO₂ levels are 10% above normal on F Deck forward!" Ted updated her, sounding worried. "I’m sharing the defective recycler’s load among the others for that area and shutting it down. That’ll clear out the excess CO₂ and allow us to fix 28."

"Very good, Johnson," Andrea said, glad to see this potential crisis so easily corrected.  She held silent while Johnson contacted Main Engineering to have a repair team dispatched, but inside she was getting angry. This idiot could have incapacitated scores of our crew! Most of the Gamma-shift is asleep on that deck! Just how long wasn’t he looking at his monitor screen for it to get this bad?

The life support technician had finally completed his tasks and came back over to talk to Andrea. "Got is sorted. The ChEng is sending a team right now to check out the defective unit." He couldn’t quite look her in the eye and kept bobbing his head as he spoke, his voice quavering slightly at the close call and its possible consequences.

"Ted, let’s step back into the office, okay?" Andrea said in a neutral tone and lead the way back inside. She waited until they were safely ensconced before speaking further.

Feeling hopeful after being address informally, Johnson spoke first. "I’m glad you were here to help me for this, Andrea--"

She cut him off with a sharp question. "How much longer until that malfunction could have started dropping people in their tracks?"

Johnson swallowed hard. "Another thirty minutes, maybe forty-five, before they’d have noticed being short of breath," he answered carefully. "It would have taken about three hours before people would have started passing out."

Andrea nodded thoughtfully before spearing him with an angry glare. "And how long were you ignoring your duties for it to get this bad?" she demanded.

Johnson looked as if he’d protest that, but he closed his mouth without saying anything. Taking a couple of breaths to steady himself, he answered, "For the levels of CO₂ to get that high would take about..." He hesitated again, but finally pushed an answer out. "About another thirty minutes."

"The same ‘thirty minutes’ as before?" Andrea demanded acidly. "As in, thirty to forty-five? "

"Yes," he whispered. He did not look at her eyes.

"Gods-damnit, Ted!" she yelled. "What the hell were you doing for all that time that didn’t let you check the monitor for forty-five minutes?"

"I honestly didn’t realise how much time had passed!" he told her. "Look, this is a really boring detail, just tending the damn machines, waiting on something--anything--happening!"

That phrase seemed familiar to Andrea somehow, but she dismissed the thought to concentrate on what Ted was saying.

"That’s why there’s normally two of us here, so that we can be kept occupied or alert by each other. Either through make-work or conversation, depending on the other person, we run checks, service equipment--"

"Ted, enough of this!" Andrea demanded. "What were you doing that soaked up all your attention for nearly an hour?"

"I was... doing some research for our first mission," he stated evasively.

"Ted..." Andrea said, the warning evident in her tone.

"We’re going to the Klingon border! I was reading up on the accounts of battles fought against then Klingons in the last war!" he finally blurted out. "There was this frigate squadron up against two Klingon escort squadrons--"

"That’s enough, I’ve heard all I want to," she declared, but Ted kept talking.

"Even if I was working under a console doing checks or maintenance, I still wouldn’t have seen this!" he explained desperately. "Andrea--"

"Gods-damnit Johnson, call me ‘Sir’! This is official now!" Lieutenant Brown proclaimed.

Johnson snapped to attention and barked, "Sir! Yes sir! Sorry, sir." He ventured, "Am I on report, Lieutenant?"

"I..." Andrea’s first instinct was to give a resounding "Hell yes!" but something made her reconsider. He really screwed up here! one part of her mind pointed out. Lives were put at risk because this moron was goofing off! His supervisor is away at a meeting and trusts him to stay sharp on his own, and he betrayed that trust! If the ensign hadn’t returned for an hour, what could have happened?

This was very true, but another part of her mind argued for him. The guy was bored, yes, but you came down and distracted him further--looking for a favour at that! And remember what Markus said about Donally? If she hears about this our friend Ted will be booted off the ship, if not out the Fleet! Remember what you were doing a few weeks back? Goofing off, wasn’t it? Doing something against the rules? How is that any better than Ted here?

The argument continued inside her head, this time from the other side. It’s very different! I was doing that to be nice to a friend. Johnson was being negligent and could have gotten people hurt! He deserves to be punished!

And you don’t? Didn’t you feel just like Ted on the bridge before we got to Starbase Twelve? "This is sooo boring" you always moaned. That’s no better than him and you likely would have done the same thing if no one was watching you!

That struck a guilty nerve, and with it the battle was over. After what seemed like endless seconds for Johnson, Andrea finally answered, "No, you’re not on report."

The technician sagged in relief at that, but Andrea was by no means finished with him. "This is not a matter to be relieved about, Johnson! Stand at attention."

Ted’s eyes widened at her tone and words but quickly did as he was bid, watching Lieutenant Brown pace about in front of him as she started to dress him down.

"You do realise what could have happened here, don’t you Johnson? Life Support Technician Johnson?" she demanded of him.

"Sir! Yes sir!" he shot out.

"Oh do you? Do you really?" she inquired softly. "Then tell me, Life Support Technician Johnson, what could have happened had your grossly negligent behaviour been allowed to continue unsupervised?"

"Sir, it wouldn’t have come to that--" he tried to defend himself, but Brown was having none of it.

"I don’t want your excuses, Johnson!" she yelled at him. "I want you to realise the magnitude of your mistake!"

"Yes sir! I mean, I do sir! I realise that had I not checked the master systems display again for the same amount of time that I had already... ignored it," he began, the hesitation evident in his voice as he tried to find another, less condemning word and failed, "that the safety of my crewmates would have been placed in jeopardy by my actions, Sir!"

"Or lack thereof, crewman!" Andrea added hotly. "Yours is a vitally important role, Johnson, a safeguard against malfunction in the computers and machines we all depend on for our very lives with the light, air, gravity, and food they provide.

"And you failed in that role!" Andrea condemned him passionately. "Your moment came and you were found wanting, Life Support Technician Johnson! You failed at the very time your attention was most needed, and yes, you placed the lives of your shipmates in danger!"

That did it for the crewman. Despite standing at attention his whole body seemed to droop.

Actually, Andrea hated to do it to him. As she’d previously realised, Ted’s situation wasn’t a million miles away from her own on the bridge during a quiet shift--and until reaching the starbase, they had all been quiet--and she mentally resolved to make sure that her own attention to her duties never flagged this much.

However, even though she didn’t want his career more-or-less ended by what he’d failed to do here, as would likely happen if she put him on report, neither could she let it go uncommented on. The traditional solution was an informal--but very personal--chewing out, and here was Andie giving her first at the tender age of 22.

"I trust that I have made myself sufficiently clear, Crewman Johnson?" she inquired, maintaining her hard tone.

"Yes sir. I now fully realise what happened here today," he replied in a humbled tone.

"Then I can trust that this kind of thing will never happen again where there is any way in which you can prevent it?"

"Yes sir!" he exclaimed almost eagerly, perhaps realising that this screaming session was coming to a close and that nothing official had resulted from it. "I can personally assure you that this will never happen on my watch again."

"Very well then, Crewman Johnson. You may carry on."

"Aye sir," he replied softly.

Andrea nodded, satisfied, then left Johnson in his office as she strode out to return to her quarters.

There was a log entry she needed to make.

[Grim Reaper]

Ted suddenly felt that there was a very selective problem with the gravity generators for his office, as he kept having to drag his eyes back up to meet his superior officer’s. Trying to push aside thoughts of how exactly he’d like Lieutenant Brown to cheer him up right now, he struggled to focus on her question.

the bstard

On to the story:
I still have a little pot - kettle - black feeling here babe. And it's itching.

But it was necessary to dress him down, so... hell i don't know. I'll just get to my regular GIMME MORE and leave the thread

[Commander La'ra]

I still have a little pot - kettle - black feeling here babe. And it's itching.

Hehehe.  Trust in Jaeih, my friend.

[kadh2000]

So I'm blind.  Sorry, I take it back.

[Sethan]

On to the story:
I still have a little pot - kettle - black feeling here babe. And it's itching.

It was intentional - and well done.

[Jaeih t`Radaik]

Time: 2100 hours.
Location: XO’s Office, B Deck.

Eileen Donally got up from her chair and paced around her office to stretch the stiffness from her muscles and joints. She’d been sitting at her desk for over three hours now, attending her paperwork in her usual methodical style. Stopping on her fifth circuit of the small room, she gazed out of her small forward-facing viewport and just looked.

It’s so beautiful, she thought, letting it soothe her tired mind. So peaceful.

Admittedly, at present it wasn’t a window to the outside worlds as during warp the ship’s computer was programmed to opaque each clearsteel viewport and project a less mentally disturbing image of what could be seen outside the shell of the warp field containing the ship. Such thoughts didn’t enter the XO’s head, though, due to her long experience with the protocol.

Thus having had her moment of Zen, she returned to the final items awaiting her attention.

Calling up the maintenance logs for the day she scanned through them to see what had gone on the fritz lately. Since finishing the majority of the shakedown and now on their way to Starbase 20, it was expected that 99% of any problems found had been fixed. However, there would still be a few little things that would need adjusting, especially the new parts as they went from being ‘brand new’ to ‘run in’.

Ah good, she thought with satisfaction. That power fluctuation in the starboard nacelle conduit was fixed. Traced to a faulty setting on the power regulator for that section. That had been a running in problem detected at 0407 hours that morning, finally tracked down and repaired at 1122. Good, good, she noted, fabricator repaired, 1202. Feedback interference artefact eliminated from Transporter Room Three, 1349.

Her interest picked up at the next item on he log. Life support malfunction? That’s pretty serious, she opined and decided to investigate it more deeply. Elevated levels of CO₂ noticed on F Deck, cabins 6B01 to 6F06, at 1415. Diagnostics showed... control functions okay... hardware problem... repair team dispatched at 1420. On site diagnostics confirmed a faulty scrubber unit which was replaced from Stores. Seems fine to me, she thought, yet another example of the efficiency of the crew.

How dangerous was it? she wondered, and checked the specifics. Ten percent over? That’s a serious malfunction for it to get so high so quickly. Let’s track its progress, I want to see reaction times, Donally decided, and accessed the automatic computer logs for the area in question.

What she found out left her instantly furious. Opening a channel to the bridge, she ordered, "Have Engineering Ensign Nakamura and Life Support Technician Johnson report to the XO’s office immediately!" and snapped it off before hearing the acknowledgement.

She stewed in silence, glowering at the report, logs, and duty roster until the objects of her ire appeared in her office.

"Ensign Keichi Nakamura, reporting as ordered, Commander," the engineering officer said as he saluted. Crewman Johnson echoed his actions.

Donally could see that Johnson looked nervous and seemed to know exactly why he was here, but that the ensign was just normally puzzled. Not letting them see her screen, she decided to test that assumption.

"Tell me, Crewman, why do you think you are here?" Just in case it was something else, she wanted to know that too.

"Uh, Commander, I’m not sure--" he gulped out.

"Crewman," Donally said, her tone calculated to inspire the truth, indicating she’d take no stalling or prevarication.

"Sir, I assume it’s about the malfunction in the life support system today," he volunteered.

"That’s exactly right, Crewman," she replied neutrally. "So, can either of you tell me why it took nearly an hour for the malfunction to be noticed?"

Johnson seemed to sag before her eyes, but the Japanese ensign reacted unexpectedly.

"It what?" he demanded in surprise, turning to Johnson, before returning to attention and adding, "Sir."

Donally was surprised by that and decided not to pursue her original agenda to find out why this was news to Nakamura.

"You didn’t know that, Ensign?" she asked. "Where were you during this time?"

"Sir, I was at the Engineering Division Heads meeting from 1330 to 1445 with all the other division chiefs, to discuss final adjustments made since the completion of the intensive shakedown trials," he replied with no trace of an accent. "While there I heard Ted--ah, Crewman Johnson--call in this malfunction, to which Commander Saran sent a repair team. When I returned to my post, Johnson reported to me what had happened from when he detected the problem. I congratulated him on his efforts and for doing his duty well."

"I see," Donally commented thoughtfully. The ensign seemed sincere but what capped it for Eileen was his anger. It was tightly controlled in front of her but she picked up that it was directed at Johnson, possibly for making a fool of him in front of her. "Didn’t he tell you when the malfunction began?"

He almost immediately answered "yes"--she could see it in his face--but stopped to actually think about it first. After considering it for a few moments he answered, "No, Commander. He told me exactly when he noticed the problem and his resultant actions, but made no mention of the malfunction’s start time. I must have just assumed that they were one and the same."

"Understandable, Ensign, but you see now how assumptions can lead to mistakes," she commented, letting him off the hook. "I hope you have learned something here?"

"Yes, Commander."

"Very well. Thank you, Ensign, you may go now."

"Aye sir," he acknowledged, looking both relieved and angry at the same time.

Once Nakamura had left, Donally’s neutral demeanour completely evaporated under the heat of her anger and she let Johnson have it.

"What the hell do you think you were trying to pull here, Johnson?" she yelled at him. "Negligence while on duty is bad enough, but trying to cover it up afterwards? Did you think that no one would check up on you? This goes to a matter of trust, Crewman, and you have just made it very difficult for yourself twice over!" Donally waited on an answer but the man looked to cowed to speak. "Well?" she demanded.

"Sir, I didn’t try to cover it up! I--" he began, but Donally cut him off.

"The evidence is against you on that, Crewman. Your own superior didn’t know! How do you explain that?"

"Sir, I don’t want to--"

"What you want is irrelevant, Crewman! What you’ve chosen is at hand, and it looks like you’re choosing a court martial and dishonourable discharge from the Fleet!"

Johnson sighed internally. He didn’t want to do this but the commander was right. If he had any hope of salvaging his career he had to tell the whole truth.

"Sir, I was not covering up my negligence because there was another officer with me at the time," he stated, defeated.

"What?" Donally rocked forward in her chair, surprised. "Who was it? Why didn’t they put you on report for your actions?"

"Sir, I was not put on report because the officer verbally reprimanded me and exhorted me to superior dedication to duty in all future endeavours. She was satisfied that I had realised the magnitude of my error and of my future commitment."

At the word "she" Donally had a sneaking suspicion forming at the back of her mind, and she’d had enough of Johnson’s stalling and attempts at protection. "Who is this officer, Johnson?" she demanded, voice brooking no further evasion.

"It was Lieutenant Andrea Brown, sir," he stated quietly.

I knew it! That Goddamn--! I knew I was right! I knew that letting her get away with that Rec. Room stunt would only encourage her! Donally mentally raged. The captain has no choice now. Whatever agenda he may be pushing he cannot ignore this... this blatant disregard for the Regulations and the safety of this ship!

Seething with righteous anger, Donally settled back in her chair and tried to calm herself. She steepled her fingers and addressed Johnson again.

"Thank you, Crewman. Your honesty may have saved your career, as you have just lessened the severity of the charges facing you."

Johnson nodded, but inside was bemoaning his fate. Yeah, by dropping Andie right in it after she tried to help me. This has been a really sucky day.

"Very well. You are on report, Crewman Johnson, to appear before the Captain’s Mast at 0900 hours tomorrow morning, barring outside incident. You are confined to quarters until that time. Dismissed."

Ted drew himself to proper attention one final time and saluted. "Yes sir," he barked, then spun round and marched himself out of the XO’s office.

Pondering her next move as he left, Donally ran a quick check of log entries made by Brown from lunchtime today. Nothing in the official log but a personal log entry was made at 1440 hours in her quarters.

Okay, so she didn’t completely disregard everything she’s been taught about protocol and the Regulations, Donally thought, slightly mollified. Very slightly. Assuming that the log entry was what she thought it was.

Considering her line of inquiry, she called the bridge again.


Andrea sweated at her post. She had heard Johnson and Nakamura being summoned to Donally’s office, and with them went her relaxing day and good mood.

Damnit, will Johnson cave? Andie worried. To save his career, yes he probably will. And with Donally being such a hard-nose she’s bound to take it the wrong way, see it in the worst possible light.

She lifted her sweaty hands from her accordion-style control panel and rubbed them on her blue uniform trousers, then nearly jumped out of her skin when Donally’s voice sharply but quietly invaded the bridge from Surok’s station, demanding Andrea’s presence in her office on the deck below.

"Lieutenant Brown--" Surok began, but Andrea cut him off.

"Yes, Lieutenant, I heard. I’m on my way." Putting a call through to her relief she summoned them to the bridge then headed for the turbolift, not wanting to keep the commander waiting. She fretted all the way there--all ten seconds of it--while hearing Markus’ admonitions about Donally and strict CO’s repeating in her head. It didn’t help that the mere presence of the XO made her feel intimidated, and the idea that Donally actually had an axe to grind with her made Andie feel positively scared. All too soon, she was standing in front of the XO.

"Lieutenant JG Andrea Brown reporting as ordered, Commander," she stated crisply, belying her inner turmoil.

Donally assessed the woman standing before her and detected traces of nervousness, although she hid it fairly well. Deciding to try the same tactic as before to root out any other misdeeds currently unearthed, she asked, "Lieutenant Brown, do you know why you are here?"

"Sir, I’m assuming it has to do with my role in Crewman Johnson’s actions today," the young officer replied, her deep blue eyes fixed resolutely forward on a point above Donally’s head.

The commander nodded. "That is correct, Lieutenant," she said slowly, her own ice-blue eyes dissecting the young woman in front of her in an attempt to discern intentions and motivations, letting the silence weigh heavily on Brown.

After watching a nervous swallow, Donally finally demanded an explanation from her and listened to Brown’s reply with intense interest and scrutiny.

Okay, that tallies almost exactly with Johnson’s account, so they either coached each other or it’s the truth. Going by his reactions I’m satisfied it’s the truth, Eileen surmised, trying to keep a lid on her anger. She wanted to scream and yell at Brown for what she’d done, demand of her who the hell she thought she was, but that wasn’t what the Regs demanded of a situation like this. Instead, through coldly furious eyes she observed this officer’s reactions to her next words.

"Lieutenant Brown, those actions are unacceptable. You violated protocol and ignored the Regulations to safeguard a comrade from the full consequences of his actions, when those regulations clearly state that for an error of this magnitude an official report must be made."

Andrea tried and failed to prevent herself from slumping slightly and the colour from draining from her face. Please don’t, Commander, please! Good intentions have to count for something--

"As a result," Donally continued, "you are hereby placed on report, Lieutenant Brown, to appear before the Captain’s Mast at 0900 hours tomorrow morning, barring outside incident."

Andrea locked herself into a ramrod-straight ‘at attention’ stance to stop her from having to lean on Donally’s desk for support. The Captain’s Mast? The captain is going to hear of this? she thought in despair. I’m going to have to explain myself to him?

"You will resume your post so that no one else is punished for your actions by being deprived of their evening," Donally ordered her. "You are dismissed, Lieutenant."

Andrea spun and all but fled back to her station on the bridge.

[Grim Reaper]

Now I wonder how the captian will respond. IMHO he cannot tolerate this now it's in the open. He could have ignored it if was the only one who knew of it, but he cannot make it go away...

[CaptJosh]

Well done. Superb characterization.

I think Donally is going to end up breaking if she doesn't learn how to bend sometime soon, though. It's going to be interesting to see what will happen.

[Andromeda]

I am so jealous of how well you create people!

[CaptJosh]

To create characters is hard work, Rommie. Trust me. I just started a fresh story with only one ready made character, who was only there for the first chapter. When you start from scratch, you have to make up ALL the details. And to make it work, they have to be in the character in a believable way. Don't assume that just because Jaeih is good at characterization that she has an easy time of it.

The ultimate test I know of for whether a character is a good one or not is simply, "Would I believe this person was for real if I met him/her walking down the street?" If not, work on the character some more until they can pass that litmus test. Admittedly, I have made some larger than life characters is some of the fiction I've done elsewhere, but they also have larger than life flaws to go with their great strengths.

I don't know that I really have any right to say any of this to you though. You'll have to judge that by my writing. Take a look at the "When the Going Gets Tough..." topic as I continue to work on it. Hopefully, I'll live up to my own advice.

[Grim Reaper]

I think Donally is going to end up breaking if she doesn't learn how to bend sometime soon, though. It's going to be interesting to see what will happen.

Reminds me of Rand Al'Thor in Jordan's Wheel of time series -> doesn't know the difference between hard and strong

[Jaeih t`Radaik]

Hello all, and thanks guys for your commenting. I believe myself to be a decent writer but characterisation is an area that I've been working on developing my skills in for several years now, and I'm glad to see other people agreeing with me that it's paid off.
Special thanks to Rommie for her kind words. They are much appreciated 
And so, onto the penultimate part (if the Dyna lets me post Pt II in one go, that is. Otherwise this is the pre-penultimate part...  ) of First Steps.

Chapter Eight

Date: 11th August 2272
Time: 0010 hours.
Stardate: 7430.8
Location: Junior officer's quarters 5B13, USS Illustrious.

Lieutenant (junior grade) Andrea Jane Brown paced about her quarters in something approaching a panicked frenzy. Her mind was awhirl with too many different questions about her current predicament to allow any one train of thought to be completed, and as a result they all bounced around her head just as she bounced around her room, accomplishing nothing.

What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I--

I really need to talk to someone! Maybe I should go see Markus--

How can Donally do this to me? Does she hate me? Why would she--

The captain’s going to find out! What will he think of me? What will he--

Oh my Gods! OhMyGods! Ohmygods! Oh--

Finally she gave up on anything and just let out a scream. It wasn’t very impressive, neither full-throated nor strong and being somewhat high-pitched and screechy instead, but it did give her what she was looking for--a measure of relief. The external sound silenced her inner voices and she was able to think clearly again. She took that moment to reflect on recent events.

Since returning to duty after the meeting with Donally, Andrea had fretted and worried herself to distraction. Fortunately there had been only two and a half hours to the end of her shift, but she was unable and unwilling to talk about it on a bridge designed for acoustics to let the centre seat hear everything. She had submerged her fears behind her duties, keeping her eyes glued to the sensors and the astrogator and running countless varied diagnostics of each panel on her console.

At the end of her shift, instead of going for her usual after-hours gathering with her friends and shift-mates, she had gone straight to her quarters. She knew she wouldn’t be good company tonight, and even though she desperately wanted to talk about this and be reassured by her friends, she felt that she shouldn’t. Oh, she hadn’t been specifically ordered not to discuss it with anyone, but then again she wasn’t sure that there wasn’t some obscure regulation or protocol that forbade it without Donally having to expressly tell her so, and offending the XO by breaking another of those was more trouble she really didn’t need right now.

That thought led to a new one that perked her up momentarily. Obscure regulations, she wondered. Here I am worrying myself sick and I don’t even know what the hell the Captain’s Mast actually is!

Sitting down at her computer terminal, she accessed the files on the generalities of the procedure she’d be undergoing in less than nine hours.

After reviewing this data she allowed herself to feel much better. Being put on report meant that she had to appear before the ship’s captain for disciplinary action, and so she was not up for a court martial that could seriously hurt or end her career.

The Captain’s Mast--a term that dated back to wooden sailing vessels on Earth’s oceans--was for minor infractions on rules or behaviour and the punishments reflected that. Perusing those punishments had worried her when she read that she could be busted down to ensign for this, but she then remembered Markus’ words about Bates being an understanding CO. She was quite sure that Donally would insist she be punished, though, so she could expect to end up cleaning the waste recycling conduits from the inside, or painting the outside of the ship in a spacesuit like in that old British 2D space comedy she liked to watch.

The thought made her smile a little and she began to breathe more easily as more reality shone through the haze of her fears. This was her first brush with any kind of military discipline, after all, and the stories told to cadets to keep them in line... but that wasn’t important right now. She was a new officer on her first posting, finding her feet and finding out what worked and didn’t work for modes of behaviour on a front-line starship. She had broken a seemingly minor protocol regulation--Hell, Ted is the one who was negligent! Andrea’s mind insisted. His punishment will be more severe than mine--so she wouldn’t be getting drummed out of the Fleet or even put through a court martial.

Andrea shut off her terminal and leaned back in her seat, pondering her situation. She realised that it wasn’t that bad. Oh, she was still nervous about it, but now it was more a background worry than an all-encompassing one.

Somewhat reassured, she got herself ready for bed. If I’m going to put my best face on this I’m going to need to be rested, she thought pragmatically. In her sleeping outfit of a loose cotton T-shirt and boxer shorts, she slid under her bedcovers and settled into her favourite sleeping position. I just hope I can actually get to sleep tonight, she griped, and ordered the lights off.


Time: 0900 hours.
Location: CO’s office, B Deck.

Andrea stood beside Ted Johnson in front of the captain’s desk, eyes fixed on resolutely forward as Bates read the details of their transgressions off an electronic clipboard. Despite the quart of adrenaline that was coursing through her veins, she had to fight the urge to yawn. Not only that but she had to hide that fight from the captain’s all-seeing eyes, lest he misinterpret it as disrespect, boredom, or her not taking this matter seriously enough.

Despite managing to fall asleep in relatively short order last night--the last two hours or so of her watch having wrung her out emotionally--she’d had a fitful night’s sleep in anticipation of this morning’s events, tossing and turning all night long.


On the other side of the desk, Bates put down the clipboard and spent long minutes deep in thought. Donally’s report was, as always, admirably complete in detail, but he’d noticed that the language was ruthlessly formal. Now, Bates didn’t know his XO well enough to know what this meant but he could take a pretty good guess. The way Donally had employed language and structure to her report and subsequent recommendations was obviously supposed to lead her captain into believing that these were transgressions of the worst order and that the participants should be punished to the fullest extent permissible by regulation.

And that leads me to believe she was channelling a lot of anger into writing this, he deduced. There’s an almost savage enjoyment formality here, no contractions, paraphrasing, or colloquialisms--although that last shouldn’t really be in official reports anyway, he admitted to himself, even though many people do it, myself included.

He may have just been hearing the echoes of a guilty conscience--his--but the distinct lack of a mention of Donally’s previous issues with Brown seemed to ring loudly in his ears.

Unfortunately, it seems that she was right there. I had thought it would be an isolated incident, or even an incident isolated to morale-related issues, but here Brown has participated in the covering up of someone’s negligence. Now, I’m quite willing to overlook the former as ‘high jinks’ can help in setting a friendly shipboard atmosphere, but if she thinks that extends to letting her get away with this kind of inexcusable behaviour, she’s sorely mistaken.

So, after letting the two troublemakers stew in silence this long, he suddenly snapped his gaze upward to search their faces for reactions to his first words. "I am not happy with this at all, Johnson, Mr. Brown. I want to hear it from you in your own words why these events even took place."

He kept his tone even and low but both of them still flinched slightly as he broke the silence. Brown actually risked a glance down at him but when she saw that he was watching for it she snapped her eyes back up to where they had been.

"Crewman Johnson, you will go first," he ordered. "Tell me what happened and why it did."

As Johnson told his story, Bates observed them both for their body language and visible reactions. Brown was giving no surprised or guilty starts at Johnson’s narration, so Bates felt confident in assuming there was nothing new to her in this iteration. Johnson himself spoke in a flat, defeated tone and his body was neutrally locked at attention.

Seems like he’s totally resigned to his fate, Bates noted. What he’s telling me is a close paraphrasing of what I’ve just read, so its not a literal re-reading that he’s memorised for me.

"Very well, Crewman," he said after Johnson had finished. Switching his irritated glare to his junior officer, he ordered, "Now you, Mr. Brown."

The young woman began her version of events and Bates could clearly see, even though she tried to hide it, that she was very nervous at being in front of her captain directly for the first time. It must have been especially galling for her to have to appear in this manner, for a disciplinary hearing. Her narration of events was free of stumbles or hesitations and as before was a paraphrasing that mostly matched up to Donally’s report, although she obviously put her own motivational slant on her actions. Out of completeness’ sake and a desire to be ruthlessly fair Donally had included Brown’s own "alleged" motivations in her report, but they were detailed in a separate section after the fact and filtered through the XO’s own perspective.

He also took note of Brown finally managing to meet his eyes and hold his gaze, which Bates found impressive given the situation and that his eyes were no doubt showing his less than pleasant feelings on the matter.

She finished telling her story and resumed staring at a point above his head on the bulkhead behind him as he tallied up the points.

No last minute attempts to make it appear less serious. No deviations from previously given statements. Genuine feeling on their part, and acceptance that the responsibility is theirs. All good signs.

"Very well. Have either of you anything to say before punishment is set?" Captain Leo Bates asked them.

The enlisted man nodded and Bates recognised him. "Go ahead, Crewman."

"Yes sir. I readily acknowledge my negligence and accept responsibility for it. I deeply regret that it happened at all, sir, and that Lieutenant Brown got dragged down by it in trying to help me. I can assure both of you that it will never happen again, sirs."

"Very good, Crewman Johnson," Bates nodded at him, then looked at Brown. "Lieutenant?" he asked.

"No, sir," Andrea replied firmly. "My actions and motivations speak for themselves, sir."

Bates raised his eyebrows at her sudden display of feistiness. "Indeed," was all he said, though he was both pleased and troubled by it.

He was pleased at her conviction and self-confidence as that bespoke of a strong character and possibly of an officer whose career would bear watching. However, he was troubled by it as it made her seem almost unapologetic for her actions, still believing that she was right regardless of the outcome.

I think I’d better have a more informal chat with her later on, to plumb her thoughts for her beliefs and goals, Leo thought. She has potential, but I don’t want that self-confidence turning into arrogance and self-righteousness. But first things first, he decided.

"Crewman Edward Johnson, for failing in your assigned duties to the endangerment of your crewmates’ lives, you are hereby demoted one step in rank to Technician Third-class and will be assigned extra training duties, and placed under direct supervision until such time as your superiors deem it unnecessary," Bates pronounced.

The crewman bore it stoically, putting his best face on it and nodding as he acknowledged his punishment. "Yes, Captain."

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Andrea Brown, for breaching protocol and the chain of command, you are hereby assigned to back-to-back duty shifts beginning tomorrow morning. You will work both Alpha and Beta shifts for a duration of not less than two weeks in the hope that doing so will suck up the excess energy you seem to pour into your extra curricular activities," the captain proclaimed. "During the Alpha-shift you will man the empty bridge stations for the purposes of cross-departmental training, specifically weapons, internal security, and damage control."

Brown blinked at that and an expression passed over her face faster than Bates could decipher it, but she too just nodded and said, "Yes, sir."

"Very well. Crewman, you are dismissed to resume your post," Bates ordered.

"Aye sir," Johnson replied, saluting smartly then marching himself out of the office.

After he had left, Bates addressed his officer. "Lieutenant Brown, due to the extra workload from the shakedown cruise I haven’t yet had the time to speak with you privately," he began. "I would like to rectify that situation today."

"Ah, yes sir," Andrea commented when it seemed like Bates expected an answer.

The captain nodded and consulted his clipboard for a few moments before returning his attention to her. "I think that talking to you now would be inappropriate but I do want to speak with you before you go on duty today. I have a gap in my schedule at 1400 hours, so I’d like to see you then. Since this is just an informal, friendly chat, I believe its best to have these things in familiar surroundings, like your own quarters."

"Ah, yes Captain," she agreed a little uncertainly. "Sir, if I may, what is this meeting about?"

Bates leaned back in his chair and gestured expansively. "Lieutenant, it’s really just a ‘getting to know you’ type of thing. I like to formally welcome new officers to my ship, discuss their career plans with them, where they see themselves in twenty years, offer advice as to how to get there, that kind of stuff. But basically, I just want to get to know you."

"Is it some sort of evaluation, Captain?" she asked, sounding slightly worried.

"Oh, no, Lieutenant," Bates replied, even though it partially was. Not an official one, but something on which to judge the suitability of an officer for certain roles and assignments he might make in the future. For the most part he really did just want to get to know his officers, but in Brown’s case it would be more of an evaluation. "Like I said, it’s going to be a getting-to-know-you thing. It has no official bearing or results at all."

"I see," she replied, though he couldn’t tell if there were any other levels of meaning to it. "Very well, 1400 hours in my quarters it is, sir."

"Very good. I look forward to it." Finishing that part of the conversation, Bates became all business once again. "That’s all then, Lieutenant. You’re dismissed."

"Aye sir."

After she’d left, Bates once again reflected on her reactions to him, post-punishment. It was a curious mix he’d picked up on, some of which troubled him slightly. Yes, I really want to find out what’s going on behind those eyes, Bates decided. I just hope this event hasn’t pushed her into something one way or the other.

*****

Andrea headed back to her own quarters for some privacy after her meeting with the captain. She had thought about going straight to the Rec. Deck to talk with her friends about it, but realised that she had to sort out her own feelings first. Safely locked in her own room she alternately sat and paced about as she organised her thoughts. The pacing was starting to make her dizzy, though, as she only had 4.5 metres of straight-line space in her room--and that was on the diagonal--so she forced herself to lie on the bed and just think.

Well, that went pretty much as I expected it to. No... actually slightly better, she decided, although assigning me to the XO’s watch seems harsh. Or maybe it’s poetic justice? The one I’ve offended gets to be the one to oversee my punishment? She grimaced, then realised something.

Cross training, hmm? That can only look good on my record, especially since no official reprimand has been entered. Did he just push forward my career even as he’s punishing me? she wondered in something akin to shock. I’ve got to talk to somebody about this!

So decided, she left her quarters and set out for the Rec. Deck.

[CaptJosh]

You left me on the edge of my seat here. In the words of a certain black clad spectre that haunts these boards "Gimme more!"