From: Takako Nagumo
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 1997 20:33:28 -0400
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: A Little Run-in
SD 90409.0130
MD 4.0810
Scene: Turbolift -> Bridge
Quite satisfied that Ensign Gann seemed an enthusiastic engineer,
Brennan returned to the Bridge. To his great surprise -- and
concern -- the scene which greeted him there was not what he had
expected.
LT Anne Murray, Chief Science Officer, was slumped down on the
floor, looking as if she were ready to pull her hair out. Some of
the others on duty on the Bridge were heading up the ramp, and
another Science officer stood eerily still next to her.
He quickly waved the spectators away and approached Murray.
"Lieutenant," he said, as he knelt next to her, "what happened
here? Do you need assistance?" He reached for her hand.
"Don't touch me!" It was a barely intelligible shriek.
Chaos erupted. Before he could react, he had been shoved to the
floor, Murray scrambling away from him. He heard someone call for
security, and the next moment, he heard the turbolift doors open,
followed by quick footsteps.
As the goldshirts shouted "freeze!" and trained their weapons on
the Science Officer, Brennan calmly stood and took in his
surroundings. Taking a breath, he waved the weapons down. Their
reaction was too slow for him.
"Lower your weapons!" he barked.
The weapons snapped down, and everyone was suddenly very quiet.
The only sounds on the Bridge were the incessant chirping of the
various computer systems, and everyone's breathing. Brennan's
voice was very soft, but clearly audible in the near silence.
"Who's the squad leader, please?"
A male voice answered him from somewhere behind his left shoulder.
"Chief Petty Officer Luis Arroyo, sir."
"Chief Arroyo," he said, not turning around, "I commend you for
your quick response. You and your squad are dismissed."
"But, sir...."
Brennan simply turned around and looked at him. Arroyo snapped
to.
"Yes, sir." He turned toward his men, and they left quickly, the
turbolift doors sliding closed behind them.
Brennan was now left with the current Bridge complement. He
turned to the FCO. "Ensign O'Graeach, please resume your
station."
"Yes, sir." He scurried away quickly, to Brennan's relief.
He turned and surveyed the situation again. Anne Murray was still
on the floor, now hunched in the corner. The other science
officer was now sitting at Science Two, his head in his hands.
He turned to the sitting science officer. "Mister...."
The officer looked up, then stood. "Derek Fielding, sir.
Assistant Chief Science Officer."
"Mister Fielding," Brennan said, "would you explain what happened
here, please?"
Fielding swallowed rather painfully.
"She overreacted, sir... to the..." he pointed to the station
weakly. "Frankly, sir," he continued, his words coming out in a
rush, "we just can't take it much longer... she's been acting
pretty strangely ever since she showed up, and, well... Lieutenant
Decker thought, since she doesn't like counselors, it'll help if
we gave her a... well, something to help her figure out what's
bugging her."
He paused again, collecting his thoughts, his eyes carefully
averted from Anne.
"She triggered a subroutine meant to force her to report to the
Counselor... she didn't stay up long enough to see the reporting
orders. Sir." Fielding sighed. He finally looked at his
supervising officer.
Brennan was silent, letting the words reflect in his mind. He
slowly turned to the Lieutenant.
Anne Murray was still crouched in the corner, her eyes fearfully
watching the rest of the bridge. She felt exactly the same as she
did after every encounter with Kevin Mallory... helpless,
incompetent, a little girl who had no business working on a
starship. It took her a couple of minutes to even realize that
she wasn't on the BELLEROPHON, that she was on another ship
altogether.
Brennan quickly thought back to what exactly had triggered her
reaction. He came in... she was on the floor... he had tried to
reach her....
Yes. That must've been it... maybe.
He kneeled down where he stood, to come eye-level with Murray.
"Lieutenant Murray... Anne." His voice was very soft. "Anne, I'm
not going to come near you. I'm staying right here. Lieutenant
Fielding is going to back up, as well."
He saw from the corner of his eye Fielding walking further away to
stand by the railing.
"Anne... it's all right to stay there if you like. But I think
you would like it better if you sat on the chair. Would you like
that?"
She nodded.
"You can sit on that chair... the chair right next to you."
She seemed to think for a moment. She slowly uncrouched, then,
with her arms, pushed herself up into the chair, and sat.
"Is that better?"
She nodded again.
"Good. I'm glad."
He paused. What to do next? "I'm going to ask Ensign Keyrin and
the Counselor to come and...."
"No! Not the Counselor!"
Brennan took a deep breath. "All right. Not the Counselor." He
paused. "I'm going to ask Ensign Keyrin and one of her officers
to escort you back to your quarters. Is that acceptable?"
"Yes." She nodded. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He turned away from her and tapped his
commbadge. "Brennan to Keyrin."
"Mister Keyrin," he said, softly, "please report to the Bridge...
and bring another security officer with you... preferably female."
"You heard me, Ensign."
As he tapped his commbadge off, he realized what that might've
sounded like, and he swore under his breath. Well, she'll know
what's going on soon enough.
It took a little under a minute for Keyrin and a security officer
-- a woman, as requested -- to emerge from the turbolift. She
came up, quickly surveyed the situation, then looked at Brennan,
clearly puzzled.
"Sir?"
"Ah. Thank you, Ensign." He indicated Lieutenant Murray,
sitting, still disoriented, at the primary Science station.
"Please escort Lieutenant Murray to her quarters. She is...
indisposed, at the moment."
"Indisposed." She seemed to want to ask something, but apparently
thought the better of it. "Yes, sir."
The Security chief and the goldshirt who accompanied her
approached Murray. This time, there was no violence. The three
women quietly left the Bridge.
Brennan allowed himself a sigh. "Well." He looked at Fielding.
"Mister Fielding. May I see you in my office, please?"
He saw him swallow. "Yes, sir."
* * * * *
"Please," Brennan indicated, "sit down."
They were in his office, and as he sat behind his desk, Fielding
sat down in the chair in front of it.
"Now, if you would," he said, "would you tell me...." He paused.
"Would you *please* tell me what exactly is going on in the
Sciences?"
Fielding opened his mouth, then closed it. He seemed to think for
a moment. "Sir... this can get pretty complicated."
Brennan sat back. "I'm listening, Lieutenant."
The Assistant Chief Science Officer proceeded to "spill the
beans," as it were. Murray's difficulties with the staff,
friction amongst the staff about her behaviour, the seeming
"incompetence" of the students they had taken on... the list
seemed endless.
"And what do you think of *her* competence, Mister Fielding?"
"Sir," he sighed, shaking his head, "she doesn't seem to know what
she's doing, she's so *preoccupied*. The smallest thing goes
wrong and she goes *ballistic*. She's just...." His hands made a
helpless gesture. "She's just overworking the whole department...
with exams that are redundant, almost pointless, just giving
orders...."
"But, Mister Fielding," interrupted Brennan, "those are
*manifestations* of the problems. What do you think are the
*roots* of the problems? From your estimation?"
"Well, sir...." Fielding seemed to struggle with his words. "I
think... I think it's possible that the rather low competency
level of the students are getting her down, sir."
"Not to mince words, here, Lieutenant," he replied, "but 'getting
her down' does not begin to explain her behaviour on the Bridge."
"Well... as I already explained, sir, she was pretty wound up
anyway, and... she... just... overreacted to our program." He
paused, looking for words again. "Maybe she felt spooked, I don't
know," said Fielding, helplessly.
Brennan realized his tone had been a little sharp. "I'm sorry,
Lieutenant." He smiled. "I didn't mean to make you feel trapped
in a corner. And your comments have helped. Thank you."
"Aye, sir. And please, sir," he continued, "don't get me wrong.
Lieutenant Murray is a brilliant scientist, perhaps even a genius.
There's no question as to her competency as a scientist."
"As an officer?" asked Brennan.
"As an officer." Fielding paused. "That might be another story."
"How do you mean?"
"Well," he replied, somewhat reluctantly, "far be it for me to say
this, but...." He leaned in. "I think she's insecure."
Brennan raised an eyebrow.
"I mean... she *can* be competent... but she doesn't think so.
And she thinks everyone thinks she isn't, so she goes through this
elaborate... *thing*... where she feels she has to prove herself."
He paused. "That's what I think, anyway. Sir."
"I see." Brennan tapped his fingers on the armrests of his chair.
It creaked as he shifted around, then reached forward for a
lightpen.
"So what you're saying, Mister Fielding, is that she... lacks
self-confidence?"
"To say the least, sir."
He nodded. "Anything else?"
"I think, sir," Fielding continued, "that perhaps she feels she
needs to serve as a mentor and guide to everyone in the
department... and that's never possible. You can't be everything
to everyone."
"No, one cannot," he said, nodding in agreement. He tapped his
hand with the light pen, then looked at the young man sitting
across from him. "You're quite a perceptive man, Lieutenant.
Thank you."
"Thank you, sir. And you're welcome."
"Have you anything else to add?"
"No, sir." Fielding gripped the armrest.
"Thank you, then, Lieutenant, for your time. You're dismissed."
"Aye, sir."
Fielding stood up, gave Brennan a weak smile, turned, and left the
office. He watched the doors close behind him, then picked up a
PADD and started brainstorming. He would have to think about what
to do next... and soon.
Respectfully Submitted,
Takako Nagumo,
CDR Daniel J. Brennan
XO, USS CHESAPEAKE (NCC-31813)
Task Force Bravo, Green Fleet
With invaluable assistance from
Masako Goto,
LT Anne Murray, PhD LTjg Derek Fielding
CSciO, USS CHESAPEAKE aCSciO, USS CHESAPEAKE
Task Force Bravo, Green Fleet Task Force Bravo, Green Fleet
NRPG:
Masako: I hope I did okay with Murray and Fielding. Thank you for
your help with Anne's and Derek's ends of the conversations. :) A
separate NRPG will follow with some ideas as to how to resolve
this.
Lynn: You like? If you and Masako want to do something with
Murray's exit, great. :)
Michael: Hi! What's the word on those engines?
Naomi, James: Ping. :)
Amy: I really *am* trying to keep order on your Bridge....
--
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Takako Nagumo
http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/6318/
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CDR Daniel J. Brennan XO USS CHESAPEAKE, Green Fleet
LCDR Sian-Mairead Flynn, MD CMO USS ALEXANDER NEVSKY, Green Fleet
LCDR Duncan A. Morrell INS ALB Holodeck 4
CDR Julianna M. Sforza COMREC Commander, Starfleet Records
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"So *that's* what LCDR stands for... 'Librarian, Cyberbabe,
Dominatrix, Riotgrrl.'" -- an ASR writer who remains unnamed
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