Disarmed

Posted on Wed Oct 23rd, 2019 @ 3:14pm by Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Ensign Michael Sloan

Mission: Mission 1 - One Step forward
Location: Armoury
Timeline: One hour after reveraltions over locations
1669 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Beth hesitated a moment outside the door to the main armoury. This was a mistake, of that she was certain. Last time they had been together without anyone she had felt suffocated and awkward as a babe and it had caused her to lash out at him as he mansplained things to her and tried to go around the chain of command. It was these sensations which lead her to put this meeting off for as long as she could, and that had lead her too... She swallowed all those thoughts, that event was behind her and he saw no need to opened up that line inquiry again, she couldn’t exactly just fling him into the brig until he died. They needed to work together.

She finally walked into the room and found in quieter than normal. “Commander? Sloan?” Beth called.

"Over here," Michael called from one of the weapon lockers. Placing the last phase pistol into its place he closed the locker with a clank. "I was just taking inventory of the weapons," he stated. Ready to address the reason for the visit, Michael simply asked, "What can I do for you, Commander?" His voice carried no emotion, he did not want another fight.

Beth turned and looked over to where the locker was open had been sheltering him from her gaze. She offered a small smile as she moved to the locker and leant against the opposite locker in the small space. "We need to have a grown-up talk. We both said things that we should not have in the heat of the moment." The woman was offering him the best olive branch that she could at the moment.

Slightly rubbing the day-old stubble on his face, Michael stuck out his hand for a handshake. "Lieutenant Commander Michael Sloan," he introduced himself, "We got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we should try again."

Beth took the offered hand and gently shook it. "Commander Bethsabée Leroux." The woman introduced herself back hoping he just called her Beth for future reference. "Qui we did and I am more than happy to try the other foot. I don't want to fight with my Executive Officer." The woman for her fault believed in the Chain of Command and if Leah had this man as 2XO, Beth wanted him as her Executive Officer.

"Executive Officer?" Michael asked as though he did not quite hear her. "I will do my best to serve in that capacity," he reassured her. Shifting to something that he felt was more important to discuss at the moment, "We need to present a united front. The crew is really taking the news hard. The last thing they need to see is us arguing over everything." Trying to present it as a joke, he admitted, I may not agree with everything you do, but I won't argue in front of them."

"Yes... Executive Officer." The woman said quietly taking her hand back. "That is why I came here. I am Captain now and I don't care if you hate me and hate how I do things but I would like to have a united front. You can come to my quarters or ready room after and we can talk it out but it front of our crew we need to be together. We only have each other."

“I don’t hate you,” Michael blurted out. “Is that what you thought the whole time?” he asked as if things started making sense. He looked at her and suddenly felt the need to explain, “I’m from a military family, was accepted into the MACO program, but chose Starfleet. I can be more direct than most are used to.”

"Michael, I know hate and resentment and I completely understand that you feel that you deserved the Executive Officer position why I will not be changing the chain of command. You are the Executive Officer that I pick." The woman said calmly. No one else on the senior team made her feel so heightened with emotions and it was starting to unnerve her. Could they really survive this?

"I appreciate that," the newly appointed First Officer replied. She was right, he felt that he deserved to be in Leah's First Officer, which meant that he would be the Captain. He did not have a whole lot of faith in a person who had never led anyone in any situation. However, open dissent would only make practically doom their journey home to failure. He breathed in a heavy sigh, what he said next was hard for him to say, "Leah picked you to be the First Officer for a reason. I will serve as a First Officer, it's in my training. You don't have to worry about me undermining you or cutting your legs out from under you. This crew deserves to get home and us fighting won't help us get there."

Beth nodded appreciating how hard those words were for him to most likely say. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t know why Leah had made her first officer, it wasn’t loyalty as Leah had seen her do some foolish things over the years but she must have done something for the woman to believe in her. “Good because I am not opposed to putting you in your own Brig.” The woman said bluntly. “But that seems a waste of you and our resources so let’s talk armoury,” Beth said showing a hint of what might have made Leah believe in her.

One thing Michael knew for certain was that Beth certainly held no moral qualms about throwing him in the Brig, he had been threatened with it no less than three times that day. "Understood," he replied as he indicated the master console in the Armory. He indicated the inventory list first, as it was most important. "Our phase cannons should be good for the duration, they can be recharged by the warp engine and a little periodical maintenance is all that's needed. However, he pointed to the torpedo list, we have of no way of making any new photonic or spatial torpedoes. Once we exhaust our supply, that is it." Letting that sink in for a moment, Michael added, "I have talked with Carter, under normal circumstances our sensors can be calibrated to prioritize the search for fuel, food, and water at a cost to targeting. But, when we go to tactical alert, we can flip that sensor profile... if you approve the change."

Beth moved over to look at the master console. "We have to use them only in dire circumstances then." The woman realised thinking suddenly of the dangers that could reach them between here and Earth. It didn't show on her face but she was certainly concerned about what they would meet between the two points especially if they had no way of protecting themselves. "I approve." The woman assured quickly. The search for the three important items was a priority but so was protecting the people now under her command, what use were the other three if they were fighting for there lives.

"Now to the weapons inventory," Michael switch topics. "This only takes into account our department, the keep their own inventory," he stated as he brought up an items list. As he looked, he pointed out, "We have enough phase-pistols for everyone to be assigned two, "We have 300 stun grenades, and 200 charges," Michael listed. "I would recommend to use them sparingly, but it is possible to recreate explosive devices from nebula gas."

MACOs having their own weapons was handy to know and would be a question she had to ask them about when she got to catch up with there Commanding Officer. "I think your recommendation is what we will be doing. I hope that we won't need to use them often." Beth admitted. She wasn't a fool to think that they wouldn't have trouble but she wanted to make friends and not create relationships that were strained. "Anything else you think I need to know at the immediate moment?"

"Immediately, no," Michael shook his head. "But," he handed over a PADD with a duty roster, "I do need approval for the duty roster and by the looks of things we may need to draft some people to train in security protocols and weapon proficiency." The list on the PADD showed the guard posts around the ship that included air locks, food and water storage, and strategic locations around the ship. "My hope is that we can eventually stand down from high alert, we don't have the personnel to keep it up over an extended period of time."

"I will look this over as we walk the ship." The woman hinted thinking that she might need to get some training her self on weapons proficiency but that could be a discussion for a little bit later. "I want to meet the other Senior Officers if you are able to walk with me. I want to show a united front." Beth wasn't a fool she knew what was needed to be done at the moment and that was morale needed to be boosted.

"Of course," Michael nodded. "It'll be good for the crew to see us not arguing," he added, showing that he knew why she was asking him to come and to tell her that he agreed. "Where do you want to start the grand tour?"

"At the top with the Bridge crew." It seemed easier to start at the top and work down. "But I am open to suggestions if you have a location you would like to look at first." Beth offered him thinking he might have somewhere he needed to check on the way. No point in having to go to the same location twice if it could be streamlined.

OFF;;

Commander Bethsabee Leroux
Officer In Charge/Chief Communications Officer
NX Atlantis

Lt. Commander Michael Sloan
First Officer/Chief Armory Officer
NX Atlantis