RP Log: More Unfortunate Events
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Stardate:
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| 2024-08-22 17:07 | |
- VIP Conference Room <USS Shiloh NCC-97645>
- This slightly curving room is used primarily by visiting VIPs to hold meetings. The central feature is a large, glossy black table that mimics the curve of the outside aft wall. That outside wall is adorned with windows of transparent-aluminium. However, the windows do not directly look out into space, but instead give a bird's eye view of the arboretum. Branches from one of the trees rests softly against the starboard side window pane. The decor uses neutral tones as those that use the space could be from just about anywhere in the Federation or beyond. The whole room is bathed by a soft glow from the overhead lighting panels.
Svetzvani is standing at the window that looks down into the arboretum, hands clasped behind her back as she gazes down at the tops of the trees below.
Anewan moves into the room and considering Tink's position he stands near the door, "Reporting as ordered admiral."
"Come in. Have a seat," Tink says, then turns away from the window and goes over to the table, pulling out the chair at the head and sitting down herself. "Anything from the replicator?" she asks.
Anewan takes the nearest seat and declines, "No Sir. I'm fine."
Svetzvani nods, then takes a moment to collect her thoughts. "I've read your report, as you know," she begins, her tone more formal now than it was in T'Shaav's quarters. "We need to talk about the Romulans. How soon after you arrived at the Preceptor's position did you beam over?"
Anewan considers the question for a moment, "The ship decloaked. I was informed by the bridge. We took a few scans then went to the position. I would say all in about ten minutes."
"Ok, and when you beamed..." Tink trails off, pauses, then sighs and leans back in her chair. "I hate having to lead with all these questions," she says. "Look, your own report states that we didn't respond quickly enough to help save Romulans lives. Add to that the possibility that those Romulans had vital intelligence for us, and now that information may be gone forever. And when you're done adding those two things together, you can add a third. The third is, DS9 reported an antimatter dump detected in the Gamma Quadrant near the wormhole, and reported that they suspect it came from a cloaked Romulan ship. Because ships don't generally vent their fuel unless there's an emergency of some kind, the safe assumption here is that they were in distress. We have a duty... /you/ have a duty... to respond to ships in distress, no matter who they are, or where we may find them. Please, please, tell me you had some very good reason for leaving the Bajoran sector to go wherever you went and do whatever you did, instead of getting your ship through the wormhole to investigate the report."
Anewan considers for a moment and says, "We were unaware that the ship was in distress Admiral. We left ordinace, buoys in the weapons testing area. We cleared that up then immediately headed to the Gamma Quadrant. We were on site for a very long time before the ship decloaked."
"Target buoys?" Tink says, and blinks. "You went back to the testing area to clean up target buoys?" She raises her brows. "And, if you didn't think it was a ship in distress, what did you think it was?"
Anewan blinks once or twice, "Some sort of malfunction. We didn't willingly not provide aid. We thought there was none needed."
Svetzvani puts her elbows on the table and her head in her hands. "You thought it was some sort of malfunction, yet you didn't think it was worth investigating." She looks up at Jiemba. "Why? Did you have some kind of evidence that I don't know about that lead you to believe that what you thought was a malfunction of some kind didn't need to be investigated?"
Anewan shakes his head, "No evidence sir. It is that we hadn't ever seen it before. Certainly worth investigating, but not urgent. Sir."
Svetzvani puts her head in her hands again. "Jiemba, you should know that ships don't dump antimatter unless they absolutely have to. The risk of that antimatter coming in contact with their own hull and causing an explosion is too great to do except under the most dire set of circumstances." She raises her head again. "There absolutely was an urgency here. I have to tell you, I'm suddenly very concerned, even disturbed, by this conversation. Not only should you have recognized the urgency at the time, but the fact that you seem to not be seeing it even when I'm pointing it out to you right now is... alarming. What is going on, Jiemba?"
Anewan furrows his brow for a moment and responds, "Oh No Sir. I understand that it WAS urgent. I am saying that we ...no that I didn't see it as urgent at the time. I understand that we...no..that I missed it. Sir," he stands and moves around a bit. "I've been waiting for -weeks- to get into the Gamma Quadrant. After delay after delay, I wanted to make sure that we were ready to go."
Svetzvani takes a deep breath. "I'm glad you /do/ see it," she says quietly. "I was this close," she holds up her thumb and forefinger so that they're almost touching. "From relieving you of duty, at least temporarily." She lets her hand fall to the table and sighs. "As it is, I'm probably going to have to put a letter of reprimand in your file for not responding to the Romulan situation in a timely manner." She looks sadly, but firmly at Anewan. "I'm very sorry, Jiemba."
Anewan moves to the table and puts his hands on it, "You've been in the big chair Admiral. You know how many directions I am always pulled in. I wanted to make sure my crew would have the best chance. My ship."
"I know," Tink says gently. "But we have protocols for a reason. And in this case protocol dictates that you should have gone, ready or not. It was an emergency situation that didn't afford you the luxury of getting all of your ducks in a row."
Anewan smiles to himself, "You know Admiral. That is what I have been trying to do for weeks. Just go but there has been a lot of red tape. If it were up to me, we would have been there already."
Svetzvani shakes her head. "Those are two different issues. If your house is on fire, it doesn't matter whether or not you have your shoes on, you just get out. That's what the Romulan situation was," she says. "Your Dominion mission is different. For that you want to take the time to be as prepared as reasonably possible, though there are certainly some time concerns. Don't confuse the two, or try to defend one by arguing for the other. They're not compatible."
Anewan nods, "Yes Sir."