Consequences [Kejal/Archangel]

[Captain's Ready Room - Post Mission 10]

Generally when she had paperwork to do, Archangel let her daughters come up to the bridge and play in her ready room, especially when there was a lot of repair work to be done in Engineering. On this occasion, however, the two girls were in the family quarters with the holositter. This was not an encounter she wanted them witnessing. Seika was already asking about some of the less polite words Archangel had occasionally let slip by accident, and Aria was at the stage when she was repeating everything she heard.

Getting up from behind her desk, she straightened her uniform as she stepped over to the viewport, looking out at the stars. If it wasn't for this meeting, she would have been down in Engineering, pulling double shifts with the rest of them, putting her expertise to good use. Coming up through the Engineering ranks still had its uses when there were extensive repairs to be done. The sooner she got this done, the sooner she could trade her red uniform for a gold coverall and get to work.

Tapping her commbadge, she said:

"Ensign Kejal, report to my ready room."

[Kejal's Quarters]

Buris was similarly waiting in his quarters for the Captain - with the same intent. The sooner he could get out of full uniform and into a jumpsuit to get his hands on at least the shield generator if not the warp core itself - and that was ignoring helping the shuttlebay crew put back the shield generators that he'd requested them to remove. He had a PADD with Starfleet regulations and protocol loaded, with highlighted sections outlining the duties of the Operations Division of a Starship - and the fact that Pardek's disparaging remark was entirely out-of-place and should have been reproached immediately; it simply wasn't her right to say that on the Bridge during a crisis. He was wrong for dignifying the remark with his own snide response, of course, but he'd been in the midst of coordinating the ship's repair effort and making sure the invaders were beamed off.

So when she called him to the Ready Room, it was hardly unexpected. He stood up, straightened his uniform, and got himself up to meet the Captain.

He walked in, stiffly, standing at attention while looking at her. "Reporting, Captain."

His tone was a forced neutral, the kind that would tell any long-term Starfleet officer 'I don't like you, but I'm forced to respect you'. It was fully within the rules, of course, but sometimes it was those small intonations that could change an entire conversation.

Kejal Buris wrote:

He walked in, stiffly, standing at attention while looking at her.  "Reporting, Captain."

His tone was a forced neutral, the kind that would tell any long-term Starfleet officer 'I don't like you, but I'm forced to respect you'.  It was fully within the rules, of course, but sometimes it was those small intonations that could change an entire conversation.

As Kejal entered her ready room, Archangel didn't turn around to look at him, instead watching his reflection in the viewport. She wasn't looking forward to this meeting. Generally, she didn't have many problems with her crew. In fact, in her years as a command officer, she had only had one officer prove to be as much of a nuisance as this one was starting to be.

"Sit," came the sharp order. Under normal circumstances, she would have offered a visitor something from the replicator, but this was hardly a social visit and, judging by the tone of his voice, it was going to be an uncomfortable one.

Finally turning around to face the junior officer, keeping her arms folded behind her back, Archangel leveled a flat, disappointed look at him.

"Mr Kejal, what exactly do you think your position is aboard this ship?"

Kejal's expression as he sat down was still the same infuriating 'forced neutral' that she'd expect from someone with the number and type of black marks on his record he displayed. All that though, and he'd still been in charge of both Operations and Engineering aboard a starship before - an Intrepid-class ship no less. Sure, she'd been gutted by the SCE, but that didn't change the responsibility he'd held over that vessel. In fact, it might be questionable as to why he'd joined this ship to begin with.

When Captain T'Koris asked her question, it was hardly so piercing as she might have expected. Jurisdiction debates often ensued when a strong Operations officer joined a ship which had been running just slightly off-reg, pushing the department to the lower decks, focusing only on transport and cargo operations. He was unbowed by her - especially since his performance had been seen positively by Admiral Stark (who he already considered a better CO than this woman; he wished the man had stayed aboard).

"Captain. The responsibility of the Department of Starship Operations aboard any Starfleet vessel includes the coordination of efforts across all other departments, especially in crisis situations - specifically, those times when the ship is at a Yellow Alert condition or above. This includes, but is not limited to - engaging fire suppression or anti-intruder methods not strictly including Security crewmen, transportation of the sick and injured to Sickbay or other designated safe areas during combat situations, coordinating repair teams, managing auxilliary craft until they are transferred directly to Flight Operations, managing the overall status of all systems aboard ship and advising Engineering of necessary repair operations, including suggesting possible methods of repair when time does not permit the repairs to be done to Starfleet Repair Regulations - I trust you are not going to ask the specific section numbers for repairs aboard a starship. In addition, Starship Operations officers share responsibility for navigation and course-setting with the Flight Operations department - better known as the 'helmsman' position on the Bridge, and have specific roles involving inter- and intra-ship communications, activation, processing, and general maintenance of transporters - though they share the responsibility of repairing the devices with Engineering and the use of subcutaneous transport beacons for Away missions with Medical, and all shipboard supply, including shared responsibility with Security for weapons and power cells, Engineering for needed repair supplies, Medical and Science for surgical equipment, research equipment, samples as needed, extra sensor panels, and the like. Operations also includes Captain's yeoman, personnel officer, and similar duty specialties. Operations also can include the responsibility of library computer research access. While some of these officers are cross-assigned to other departments and wear another uniform color of their secondment to discourage confusion in emergencies or pressure situations, their primary reporting department remains listed as Operations in Starfleet duty rolls. And when on the Bridge, the Operations officer on duty is expected to manage the department and perform all duties of the department - especially if he or she is assigned to the Bridge for crisis situations, and the Chief and Assistant Chief Operations Officers both choose to allow that to be the standing duty assignment."

The recitation had been by rote, the same tone you would have taken if you'd spent hours and hours cramming for your oral exam for one of the really specific Starfleet professors in order to either pass the Academy or take your Commission test. Even the silenced but heavy breath was almost the same across so many generations of student. He took another breath, and realized that lesson from one of the Counselors he'd seen might be appropriate now - his hackles being raised was causing the situation to become adversarial. And that wouldn't lead to a positive experience. He'd learned that when he'd almost been drummed out of the Academy. So he took a breath, and his expression changed slightly. It wasn't a happier look, in fact it was one that showed his displeasure with the situation. "At least... that's what regulations state, Captain. As a new transfer, I'm forced to hew to them until I get a feel for how this ship is accustomed to running. With all due respect, sir, it appears that you run a very different Bridge than any of my previous COs - including Admiral Stark."

Was it a jab? Maybe. But it was also obviously true if she'd looked over the command log from the Admiral. The amount that Buris had been involved in to rescue the Away team (and the outright comment on his experience) would have told her that he was already accustomed to the coordination bit.

And he hadn't said a word about Pardek's comment. Though he wondered how she might have reacted, knowing that it was the same standard he'd held himself to when he'd coordinated the effort to bring the Monongahela back from Enyo III.

As soon as Kejal had started his recitation, Archangel had tuned him out. She had encountered the type many times when she had been Chief Engineer, in charge of the continuing training of the junior engineering officers. They often thought that a direct quote from the manuals was the answer to the question, and yet they never seemed to answer the question asked.

When he finally finished his pointless recitation, she stopped reviewing the various pieces of paperwork she still had to file with Starfleet Command and thinking of a list of possible excuses not to attend the next diplomatic meeting with the Star Empire, refocusing her attention on the ensign in front of her.

"While I commend your knowledge of the handbook, Mr Kejal, you have entirely failed to answer my question. I didn't ask for a rundown of the department, I asked what you think your duties are on this ship. In a succinct manner, if you don't mind."

Buris' expression changed when the Captain repeated her question - he'd thought that the answer he gave before should have told her that the answer was a definite 'I don't know yet'. Taking a moment, he squared his shoulders and spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I'm not exactly sure I understand your question. In general, my duties default to 'whatever's assigned by the Chief of Ops, and anything else someone forgot to do'. When I'm on the Bridge, especially during a crisis (which, as an aside, sir, seem to happen more often here than any of my previous postings), it's my duty as Operations Officer to coordinate the efforts of the entire ship toward resolving the crisis. If the Chief of Ops or Assistant Chief decide that they will take the Bridge station, they will then reassign me as needed. However, that hasn't happened yet - and Miss Callan hasn't indicated to me that she's likely to take the Bridge rotation for emergencies, sir."

Referring to his direct superior as 'Miss' might seem odd to most officers, but with him being a commissioned officer and her being enlisted, it'd make sense, especially to an Engineer or Ops officer. Plus, 'Senior Chief Petty Officer' was just a mouthful. Technically, in fact, he outranked her - but his own enlistment experience and service as a mustang officer made him respectful of her years of hands-on experience that some other officers didn't have.

He decided to push a bit, though, since he'd talked to her over the comms about this meeting while she was working on repair efforts. He took a breath. "She has, however, stated that she expects me to 'clean up my mess' in the Shuttlebay when we're done with this conversation; since it was me that that had the shield generators from the auxilliary craft pulled to serve as a makeshift replacement, thanks to having the inspiration from Lieutenant van Gelder. I admit I may have gone overboard with ordering that they all be pulled... but given the situation and how easily the enemy overloaded our shields, I felt it'd be prudent to plan ahead for another barrage in case they fired again. Better safe than sorry."

The fact that he just used a cliched phrase might catch the Captain's ear - after all, here she was, looking at a Bajoran officer who didn't speak in terms of the Prophets, or wear the D'jarra earring. Given her experience with Lieutenant Commander Deela, she might find that things about Ensign Kejal were a little... outside the norm. Then again, pulling away from what seemed to be a dominant religion might have led him to feel distanced from others, and without the religious structure, he'd probably have lost the extreme respect for authority inherent in Bajor's societal norm. And yet... the fact that he was essentially quoting chapter-and-verse at her... had he replaced one religion with another? And was she simply the 'new preacher' who he didn't have faith in yet?

Archangel was starting to wonder if she needed to refer this officer to the counsellor for delusions of grandeur or whether he was just a bit thick. Is this seriously what comes out of the Academy these days? I didn't think Starfleet was that desperate for new recruits. It was quickly becoming apparent to her that Kejal was going to be trouble for quite a while, or at least until learned that there was a reason she was the one in charge of a ship full of misfits.

"Let me correct your impressions, Mr Kejal. You are a junior operations officer, and that means that you coordinate the ship's operations by relaying information and allowing the senior officers to do the task of deciding what to do. You do not issue orders without express permission from a senior officer." She fell silent for a moment to allow her temper to cool before she continued: "I have been beginning to receive complaints for other officers concerning you overstepping your rank."

Buris leaned back in the chair - she was finally getting to the heart of it then - and how she saw him aboard. He sighed lightly and looked down at the PADD he'd brought, turning off the display and putting it aside. Then he looked back at the Captain. "Miss Callan hasn't made a comment to that effect - at least not directly to me."

He too took a moment to allow his temper to cool. "I request permission to speak freely, sir."

Sitting there, it was obvious that he wasn't outright going to argue with her, but he sure as hell wasn't going to put himself in the Brig either. When responding to complaints, it was always best to not stand on ceremony; unless that ceremony involved having a witness. But she'd done this in her Ready Room - a less formal setting. And she didn't have Lieutenant Rellek with her - which meant this wasn't likely to turn out a serious Command decision.

But until she gave him permission... he'd keep his mouth shut.

A request to speak freely was not one that Archangel was inclined to allow at this point. He had already far overstepped his mark with her on the bridge during the crisis situation. She sat back in her chair, pressing her fingertips together and observing him over the top of them.

"Denied, Mr Kejal. As far as I'm concerned, you've already done enough. Unless you have anything extremely relevent or critical to tell me, then I suggest you keep it to yourself."

Buris looked at her and took a breath, having already planned what he was going to say. Her refusal of his request meant that he had to change it entirely. Instead, he calmly picked up the PADD and placed it in his lap. After another breath, he blinked, and spoke.

"Captain, I request to be removed from Bridge duty rotation, unless Senior Chief Callan and you specifically require my presence."

It would hurt any real chances at promotion, since as a commissioned officer, he was senior to most of the others in Operations - but it'd also make it easier to transfer if and when he decided to do it. Usually, a request like that was only issued if there were interpersonal issues, some kind of problem with a fellow Bridge officers. When he'd been on the Bellerophon, he'd been given authority, seen as a valuable resource because he'd worked his ass off onboard that ship. Maybe in the future, that would be the case here. But until this misfit Romulan captain and he could see eye-to-eye, he had no place on her Bridge. Especially given that her preferred Tactical officer seemed to have a problem with the way he was accustomed to seeing things run; but what else could be expected - she prized a fellow Romulan and her opinion over a Bajoran.

It would also put paid to the arguing. She would never see him again, unless the Ops Chief told him, explicitly, to go to the Bridge - in which case he'd probably try to defer in any way possible. This transfer was a mistake. After all, he'd never been on a ship that had entertained a case of treason before. The Wellington ran a good proving ground for cadets - commissioned and enlisted both. The Bellerophon was a Science vessel. Too boring for most, but he'd cut his teeth there - this ship ran very differently. Not to mention the functional demotion he'd taken just to get a ship under his feet.

Was this worth not having waited?

So, he wanted to be relieved of bridge duty, did he? As much as that would smooth things over for her, it also meant that he was more likely to slip under the radar and, until she knew that she could trust him as much as she trusted the rest of her crew, she would rather keep him where she could keep an eye on him.

"Request denied, Mr Kejal," she replied. "I understand that the bridge is a difficult and daunting task for a junior officer, but I'm afraid you're just going to have to get used to it if your goal is to rise through the ranks."

Buris took a breath, and closed his eyes. This Captain was now starting to get infuriating. She wouldn't let him get to a place where he'd actually be useful, and she wouldn't let him do anything on the Bridge. What'd she expect him to do, sit there and twiddle his thumbs?

"Captain, with all due respect, my goals are not the issue here. Making sure this starship runs smoothly, on the other hand, is - that's the ultimate duty of both Starship Operations and the Commanding Officer. And obviously, neither you nor Ensign Pardek consider that the level of Operations involvement to which I am accustomed from the Bridge is acceptable for the Phoenix. As I said, Captain, you run a very different Bridge than I'm used to - and I'd rather stay off it for the time being to prevent these issues. I'm certain that you and Miss Callan can find someone better suited to simply sitting in front of a panel and spitting back data."

His anger was rising again, and he was getting defensive. But he took a deep breath through his nose, the ridges on his nose rising very slightly as he exhaled, settling and sealing again almost immediately. It was a rebuke to name her co-species officer who'd outright called him bloodthirsty on the bridge and demanded he be taken off duty - one that could land him in the Brig if he wasn't careful. But being 'careful' to his mind was what had ended him up here - and what was keeping those shuttles from being restored to flying condition. Callan and Sheerhan would have his head if they weren't online and ready by 2300, and he knew it.

"Yes, the Phoenix may run differently than you're used to," Archangel conceded before her tone hardened significantly. "However, on no ship that I have ever served on was it acceptable for junior officers to issue orders off their own bat, as you did. To be perfectly honest with you, Mr Kejal, I don't care about your opinions on how I run this ship. It functions damn near perfectly. It's up to you to adapt to that, not for us to adapt to you." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know how you expect to learn how to act on the bridge while avoiding it, so no, you may not be relieved of bridge duty. Also, I would learn to listen to Ensign Pardek if I were you. She has proved her worth to me time and time again and her loyalty to this ship is exceptional."

She'd just gone somewhere he wasn't prepared for her to strike. His hand tightened on the PADD, and he took a deep breath before he spoke. He was trying to calm himself down, but the Romulan would recognize the flash in his eyes - a few years ago, he might have landed himself in front of the General Court for striking his CO. But first, she was his Captain, and second she was a woman. He'd be damned before he laid hands on her - without her striking first at least.

However, he could barely keep the snarl out of his voice. "Captain. Within the short time I've been here, this vessel has had two subsequent intruder alerts. Prior to my transfer, scuttlebutt had it that you were involved in treason - and my first assignment aboard this ship were under an Admiral who took over your Bridge and sent you and most of your Bridge officers to the surface of a planet - where you or others might very well have died. I don't consider that running 'damn near perfectly', and with all due respect, I don't see how you can either."

The explosion continued. His mouth was going to get him in trouble, but better his mouth than his fists. All she could do was Brig him, maybe kick him off the ship, but there wouldn't be discharge papers in it.

"If you are questioning my loyalty, sir, then perhaps you should ask Admiral Stark who it was that made sure the Runabout had the additional comms and sensor beacons aboard. Or who put forward the option to bring you back by tractor when the transporters were affected at Enyo III. And further, I assure you, Captain, I'd have much rather been the one in that corridor to keep the Command staff of this vessel safe, rather than you or Lieutenant Rellek. But Security and directly resisting intruders isn't my place - and Ensign Pardek saw fit to stay safe on the locked Bridge and allow a Command Officer to put herself in clear and present danger. All I did - all I could do based on your orders - was erect forcefields and site-to-site them off this ship, hoping they didn't just come back. My loyalty to Starfleet and my loyalty to this ship are definite. As her Commanding Officer, my loyalty to you is of the same caliber."

He decided to let it out all at once - get it out in the open and possibly on-record. He was calming down, but leaning forward and still fuming. "And what orders I made were pursuant to your orders and the crisis situation, Captain. If that's going to be an issue, and I have to circle back to you for every minor thing when we have a clear and present danger, then I do not belong on that Bridge during an emergency situation - I belong on the Ops repair team, actually getting my hands in it and getting things done. When you agreed to Lieutenant van Gelder's plan to beam the Vidiian umbilical aboard, it was up to either Tactical, Operations, or Engineering to inform you that the shields still being down was not a tolerable situation when that was completed, and to put forward an option. I did, you didn't disagree, and I moved ahead with the plan to get the shields ready when the umbilical was removed. If your issue is with me having sounded a decompression alert, I'm sorry, but you'd have to take it up with Command to have them revise the regs. It's in the Transport Ops handbook. Along with half a million other regs that half the Fleet ignores. I don't - because someone in the SCE put it down in the book for a good reason."

He leaned back again, straightening, looking down at his hand and uncurling it. He took another breath, and his voice softened - her attacking his loyalty had gotten him enraged, but now he had deflated after getting it out. His expression was a tired one - a man who had worked his hind end off to get where he was, and now found himself infuriated by the Captain. In short, the fate of many officers like him; those who regretted taking the commission. He'd have been better off staying on the Wellington as an Enlisted man, with no hope of being pushed into a command or leadership role. "In all sincerity, Captain, if Miss Callan hadn't absolutely insisted on me being on the Bridge due to my experience and being one of the few commissioned officers in the department who aren't cross-assigned, I'd have already requested a hands-on duty rotation anyway. Sitting in an overly-comfortable chair with my back to the world, staring down at an abstract board with no ability to fix or change any of what I'm seeing, wasn't what I signed up for. A hologram could organize and compress status reports just as effectively - possibly moreso. To have someone who's accustomed to being the 'doer' aboard a ship suddenly stuck in a chair at the front of the Bridge... I can't see anything that matters to being on the Bridge from there. On one side, I have your Ready Room door, on the other I have the Helmsman. To look at you or anyone beside or behind, I literally have to turn away from my board - and as we saw, if I do that when we get fired on or anything else happens, I end up becoming closely acquainted with the carpeting. It's... absolutely infuriating, to feel so completely cut off and useless."

Bridge configurations actually did mean a lot to how a ship ran. On an Intrepid, Ops had an amazing position in a kiosk at the back of the bridge - across from Tactical, with Engineering panels behind both. He could still look at the Captain while reviewing the MSD and his full panel; not to mention he could literally see every officer. Only the Helm had their back to the Captain there. On a ship where Ops had their back to the Captain, how could they be expected to do their job of oversight? One would have to literally be superhuman to pull that off, maybe physically tied into the ship's computer.

He took another breath and glanced out the window before looking back at her. "I apologize for my outburst, Captain. I'll report to the Brig immediately. No need to have Ensign Pardek escort me, I know my way."

But he hadn't moved yet, because she hadn't dismissed him. Then again, he hadn't really let her get a word in edgewise in the midst of his fury at being called disloyal. They both prized loyalty - the difference was that Buris expected it to be a two-way street.