Facing The Music

Posted on Tue Mar 28th, 2023 @ 5:24pm by Commander Benjamin Jamesson & Warrant Officer Iryna Voznyuk & Commander William Gerhard & Staff Sergeant Nathanial "Nate" Cusack
Edited on on Tue Mar 28th, 2023 @ 5:26pm

Mission: Sojurn
Location: Chief Armory Officer's Office - Deck F
Timeline: Day 334 10:00
2291 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

William sat behind his desk as he read the report on the PADD he held. He had returned to the ship after being informed of the incident that had taken place down on the planet between the two men who now stood before him. Ambassador Arnav had informed him that several patrons of the bar had made complaints to the Releaian authorities. Since they were guests the ambassador had promised they would not make the incident a formal complaint, but William had assured Arnav the matter would be dealt with. The room was silent as he read. As he finished the report, he placed the PADD down on the desk in front of him before looking up at both of the men. Iryna stood to one side as he took a moment to look at each man before speaking. "Explain this," he said pointing to the PADD before looking back at both of them, "Now." His tone was not a request, but a command.

Iryna had been asleep when the communication had come through to find Nate and being him to the ship. It had not been a hard task as he had been sound asleep next to her but it had been daunting to day the least. She had not been foolish that actions did not have consequences but she had hoped that they might have gotten away with it in the bustle and bustle of the world.

There had not been a chance in hell that Cusack hadn't expected a conversation like this. How many times had he been through the cycle? His service record showed at least some of them but if anyone was going down the route of checking that far, it would have been eventually interesting to note that he'd never been written up for assault before. Insubordination by the truckload, dereliction of duty by a stretch in a couple of cases though an astute observer might notice the interesting interpretation of events leading up to those official reprimands. Never assault. What made the matter more baffling was that anything the report likely said about the incident made the attack even less logical. To walk into a bar and strike first without visible provocation just didn't make sense given any toxicology report ordered would have proven the marine was completely sober at the time. As much as it might have been easy to assume that 'getting in trouble' was just Cusack's thing, anyone with any sort of discernment for tracking behaviour would have deemed this out-of-character. More than that, such a deviation tended to point towards deeper cracks and this wasn't an interpretation helped in any way by the man's own reaction to the summons. Eyes plastered at a point over the Executive Officer's head, his stance in every way what was expected but still somehow completely off, Nate didn't even try to plead his case.

"I punched him in the back of the head." The lack of necessity behind Gerhard's now had cost the man any markers of respect owing, but Nate's tone wasn't particularly combative. Instead, it held a certain amount of resignation and equal-parts weariness. No where in his service history had any exchange lead him to believe that a decision hadn't already been made, jumping through hoops held an extra dose of futility this far from home with hope dwindling to begin with. He didn't even add a qualifier, or an attempt to explain why.

Benjamin stood a bit dumbstruck on the other side of the table for once and frowned not at all liking how the altercation had sounded on paper. It had been a moment of foolishness and miss communication that had bubbled over. It was completely his fault in all honesty even if he had not raised his fists first. “But I created the situation.” Jamesson argued. “There was miscommunication and I should have never put the Staff Sergeant in that position… Sir.” He said pointedly looking at Nate to remind him of forms of address.

"Miscommunication," William said raising his eyebrow and looking at the two of them. "That's a pretty mild way of putting it Commander," he said before he picked up the PADD and scrolled down to read the statements.

"Staff Sergeant Cusack approached Commander Jameson from behind and struck him in the back of the head without apparent provocation. There then proceeded to be a verbal altercation between the two individuals which rose to the level of disrupting the atmosphere of the establishment before the Staff Sergeant left the premises," he said before looking back up. "Must've been one hell of a miscommunication," he said before placing he PADD back down on the desk.

He then looked over towards Nate, "Care to explain yourself, Staff Sergeant?"

Nate suddenly realised how very little he did care to explain anything. Buried deep was a grudging admission that his reaction was ridiculous, that shouting and hurling accusation would have sufficed and got the point across just as quickly. It might not have spared them the report but it would have at least not resulted in him striking an officer. At the time, he hadn't cared about the ramifications, had been moments away from resigning and refusing to set foot back on the ship anyway. That in itself didn't seem like an overly balanced solution either.

"Not much to explain." His gruff tone at least carried some semblance of regret. "Sir." This was added with a sideways look at Jamesson, who was still not Cusack's favourite person in the room. "Got accused of some stuff I wasn't a fan of, that accusation got spread around as an attempt to interfere with other people's opinions of me." The marine sniffed back a sneer. "The usual."

“It is not the usual. It was caused by me. I should have sought out mental health support before now.” Ben said playing his trump card. None of them could argue with that when he had been through so much.

William looked over at Jameson and let a moment of silence cross as he chose his next words carefully. He had sympathy for the man, but this incident could not be swept under the rug. "No one can understand fully the trauma that you have experienced, Commander, but that's not an excuse for this. This planet and people are the first we've come across that hasn't wanted to blow us away. We are their guests and they've extended us every courtesy for our stay here. So how do you think it looks when two of our people decide to throwdown in a bar not even twenty four hours after our arrival," he asked looking at both of them.

Jamesson knew how to play the game and nodded. He was not using it as a full excuse as he really should have not been so stupid at his age but he last three months had changed him. “I am fully aware of that sir but it was all caused by me because I am not thinking straight. I will accept the punishment and make a formal apology to anyone you and the Captain see fit for me to do.” He said simply glancing to the Warrant Officer who had an eye raised.

Just get on with it. There was a weariness to the stoop of Cusack's shoulders that suggested the man was more braced for verdict than hell-bent on self-defense. You punch a guy, you expect the book thrown at you. And as much as the pressure keg inside of him had justified it at the time, with little remorse for the absolute shit-show he was about to make of his entire career, now that the situation had more or less sorted itself out Nate realised the only thing he really felt was exhaustion. They were an insane distance from home and this mad scramble for survival was picking off his teammates one after the other. Was being tossed into the brig really going to be particularly different to being stuck on the ship in the first place?

William looked at both the men before him with an upraised eyebrow. "That won't be necessary. The Releains are allowing us to handle this issue provided it doesn't happen again," he said before pausing once more. "That being said, you both are going to be placed on restricted duty for four days, and in that time any shore leave has been revoked. I trust that will give you both time to settle whatever miscommunications you may have in the future," he said before looking pointedly at both men, "Are we clear gentlemen?"

Benjamin chose to just glance above the Executive Officers head and nodded. Restrictive duties and no shore leave was not so bad in his opinion. But he would not have minded brig time either, he was feeling very much like he deserved it. “Yes sir.” He said quietly.

The lack of brig time was a surprise without being much of one. Nate had already figured out it wasn't going to prove much, and being restricted to ship duty for four days was tantamount to the same thing anyway. A surge of irritation worked at his jaw as he nodded, aware that it put a hole in a couple of plans that affected others, specifically the quietest person in the room, but he didn't argue. Four days less of freezing his ass off trying to play tourist was probably more a blessing than a punishment if he wanted to look at it that way.

"Dismissed," William said. While the punishment for the two men was not normal, William and the captain had both agreed that brig time would've been redundant. Captain Leroux was also reluctant to deny them any further chance on going down to the planet. There was no telling when the next time the crew would get this opportunity. As the men turned to leave, he looked up towards Iryna, "Ms. Voznyuk, would you stay behind a moment.

The woman had attempted to to followed everyone out and stopped dead in her tracks. She was not a fan of being called and when she had earned her rank.

Once the two men had left, William looked up at her. "Is there any particular reason why I only heard about this incident from the ambassador and not you," he asked.

Iryna turned and stood with her hands behind her back. “All due respect Sir please use my rank I have earned it and the reason I did not tell you was because you were on shore leave and it was sorted without out further incident. It seemed foolish to make it bigger when both bears went back to caves.”

William heard the change in her tone and he could feel his face grow slightly red. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms in front of his chest. “My apologies Warrant Officer. I assumed that this chat between us would be informal seeing as how you’re my number two now. I appreciate the fact that you thought the issue was sorted. But, the two of them engaging in that behavior when we are guests on this planet surrounded by a species that has not interacted, nor even seen humans, was bound to cause issues,” he said trying to hide his temper from his tone.

“Well it did not seem like a big deal and was over in minutes…” Iryna started.

“Several bystanders reported the incident to the Releaian authorities. They agreed to let us handle this ourselves since we are our guests. It’s only because of this those two are not sitting in a Releaian detention facility,” he said before continuing, “Yes, it was shore leave, but that doesn’t mean the responsibilities end. Anytime we are down on the planet we represent not only the ship but humanity to these people.”

“I know but…”

“You’re not one of the boys anymore, you’re the Assistant Chief Armory officer. You’re responsible for more than just your people,” he said again his eyes not leaving her to reinforce his point. “And that means that even on shore leave, if you witness a situation that would be unacceptable here that you report it so it can be handled,” he continued.

Iryna but her tongue to stop herself just doing the usual response of arguing. This was going to be an adjustment that she was going to have to work on otherwise they were going to butt heads and she was going to end up in Dee trouble. “Understood Sir.” She said finally when he stopped speaking. He was justifiable even if she did not like it. “Going forward I will do things the Earth Starfleet way.” She said begrudgingly.

William nodded in response. He knew that this was going to be an adjustment for them all, but he felt that nothing more needed to be said on this issue. “Very well, dismissed Warrant Officer,” he said.

Irayna nodded. And turned on her heel quickly leaving the room before she said anything else more stupid and got her self thrown in the brig instead of being allowed to walk away.

As she left his office, William finally sighed and leaned back in his chair. When the integration had been announced, William had hoped that things would go smoothly. He could see now that there were still some growing pains that would need to go through, the honeymoon phase had passed. He thought back to Iryna’s comments, and he wondered for the first time if he had made the right choice in his decision to promote her so soon.