EXETERRPG: (2, 1530) ACADCO, Vice Admiral Duke Williams and CSO, Lieutenant Erin Cortez

[Will Banowsky]

Mission: A new day dawns

Day: 2

Stardate: 2446.01.29

(Starfleet Academy - ACAD CO’s Office - ACADCO, Vice Admiral Duke Williams
and CSO, Lieutenant Erin Cortez -1530)

“Lieutenant, I’m sorry for the wait, but I am only one person. I hope the
waiting room was comfortable.”

"It was. Thankyou for asking, Sir." Erin replied. Being a little nervous as
to why she had been detained, she maintained a stoic face and waited.

“Now then I am trying to get to the bottom of all of this, where were you
when the brawl started?”

Thinking for a moment, Erin looked at the Vice Admiral, "I was in the
stands, towards the top."

"Do you recall how the brawl started?"

"I didn't have a good view of the exact moment but, from what I could see,
Ensign Jori pitched and one of the cadets took a bit of an issue with her
throw and it just seemed to escalate from there."

"did she intentionally hit the cadet?"

"As I say, I didn’t have a good view but from what I could see it appeared
in self defence. Unless you mean with the pitch then I'm no baseball
expert."

"Lieutenant, what were your immediate actions once the brawl started?"

"I'll be honest, Sir. I regarded the situation for a moment and then I went
to the two cadets at the P.A. system and asked them to play a piece of
music in the vain hope it might shock people into stopping the fight for a
moment. I realise now that was possibly not the right course of action and,
for that, I apologise. I was simply trying to shock them into stopping for
a moment to allow the command staff time to regain control of the
situation. "

"well your actions had the opposite effect. If you wanted to calm the down,
you should have played a lullaby."

Erin nodded and stayed silent, knowing that her actions were not the best.

"Instead you gave the brawl a soundtrack. You played a pump up song."

"I know sir."

"furthermore you tied up the PA system preventing its use to quell the
brawl or usher bystanders out of the stadium."

Erin looked down, knowing that he was right.

"did you attempt to use the PA system to ask people to stop or guide
bystanders to safety?"

"No sir."

"why not?"

"Well, in answer to the first part. The fact that the command staff were
having no luck in quelling things, I had severe doubts that I would be able
to do that just by using the PA system.

In answer to the second part, I know that is what I should have done. I am
sorry for that. I realized my actions did not have the effect I was hoping
for and, one the music had finished, I fully intended to guide the
bystanders out.."

"Do you think maybe you got your priorities mixed up?"

"I do. It's been a hard few weeks for us. I know that is no excuse for what
I did."

"Did you attempt to get a hold of security or call for help?"

"By the time I realised what I had chosen to do was not right, security was
already there."

“So, if I am understanding this right, rather than attempt to get security
to get things in order, rather than make sure bystanders were safe, you
decided the correct play was to use what one cadet claimed you called shock
and awe tactics.”

"Yes sir."

“You realize that is a combat strategy correct, for dealing with an enemy?”

"I know sir."

“Lieutenant, you’re smart, and have shown yourself to be very capable. The
Dean of Science here at the academy was just bragging about your work on
board the Exeter of late, disrupting neurological signals. Some of the best
minds at Starfleet Medical and Science might even study it to develop some
sort of Borg vaccine.”


Hearing this, made Erin smile internally but she kept her face stoic.
Knowing she was being told off in a big way.

“So it saddens me to see such poor judgement of a senior officer of your
caliber while out in the field.”

"I can't apologise enough. Valuable lesson learnt. Stick to what I am good
at."

“That is not exactly the lesson I am trying to impart here Lieutenant.”

"I think, if I am completely honest, Sir,  it was a poorly judged attempt
to make the situation better using a tactic I now recognise as incorrect.
Believe me, team sports is not my thing. Don't really understand it and
probably never will. Give me a team of scientists and I'm grand. But a
sports team, nope. Not me. I'm going to stick to watching in the future. As
for the poor judgement, as I say I am more at home in a lab or on the
archery field. Perhaps I should stick to that? "

“Then you would be doing yourself and Starfleet a disservice.”

"How so, Sir?"

“Lieutenant this isn’t a leadership thing or an environmental thing,
its…well how do I phrase this. Look, I’m an engineer, thats how I came up,
and I worked with many brilliant officers, and there is a tendency
sometimes amongst the brilliant. They can see the world in a sort of
mathematical lens, science, technolog, engineering, math, it all comes easy
to them, but when it comes to common sense, well they take a huge drop.”

Erin.sighed and nodded slightly, knowing that he had hit on something.
Looking back, her judgement especially in areas of her personal life, had
not been the best.

“Now I am not saying that is you, but looking at your service record and
this incident, I think, I think that might be something to work on going
forward, to better yourself as an officer. In situations, don’t just act or
react, don’t just go with what seems the most brilliant, stop, breathe, and
ask yourself, what would a normal person do.”

"Are you…" she paused for a second and looked at him, Biting her tongue. "I
understand and I take that on board. I'm a work in progress. Things have
not been easy since recent events. Things have happened that have forced me
to take a long look at myself and my life. I've learnt a lot but still got
a ways to go."

“Lieutenant, I think this is something more than just needing to take a
look at your life, saying you've learned and then magically moving forward.
It’s not just a personal thing, it's your career on the line as well. Well
maybe not on the line per se.”

~on the line… okay don't jump.. wait and see what he says~

“Whether it be what happened today or locking an officer in the gym for a
surprise counseling session, sometimes you can mean well, but not quite
execute. And that is fine if you are content just being a scientist,
running a lab, and running a team of scientists for the rest of your
career. If that is your end goal, great. Hell, I’ll pluck you right now,
you can start teaching at the Academy, and we can get you a lab and team to
do all the research you want. I mean say the word and you can teach two
classes a semester while working on the Borg vaccine. If you are content in
that, in being a scientist, then that is probably a great career move.”

This whole thing, being back on Earth, the borg vaccine had made Erin
wonder what she did want out of life and her career. No magical moving
forward as the Admiral had put it  now is the time to commit and work for
it.

“But if you want to be more than just a scientist, if you want to be a
leader, want to really live up to the potential that your professors and
commanding officers have indicated in your personal record then you need to
cut the crap and commit. Reflection and planning can only do so much if you
don’t execute. If you don’t follow through. You can be so much more but you
need to differentiate yourself and stand out from the rest of the crowd. If
you want to be a leader, have your own ship one day, be Dean of Starfleet
Science, command a science vessel or an outpost, you’ve got to commit.”

"I have honestly never really thought about things in that way, Sir. I
never realised how much potential I have until recently. I suppose I have
been stuck in a cycle of either running away or not understanding how to be
me  if that makes sense. Now I feel like I finally am becoming who I am
meant to be and that is part of it. Figuring out where I want my career to
go. Would I like to stay here and work on a vaccine that I, in part, helped
to create? Yes. Would I like to be out there in the stars looking at the
new, old and the downright unusual? Yes. Can I become a leader? I think and
hope so. I have some thinking to do."

“You don’t have to figure out an answer now. Just before the Exeter leaves.
Say, the word and I will make the lab thing happen. But that is the easy
path, the path that requires you not to change, the path that allows you to
make decisions that defy the logic of common sense, but you would be good
at it.”

"Yes, Sir." Erin replied.  In her mind, she could see herself in a lab back
on Earth but something wasn't sitting well with her about that picture.

“Regardless, I am making a note in your personnel file that you struggle in
the heat of the moment in making common sense decisions. It’s not a
reprimand, just an observation.”

"I accept that. I'm not going to argue that, Sir."

“Lastly, if you really want to change, you have to execute, so regardless
of what you decide to do, I am ordering you to attend weekly counseling
sessions for a period of six months, with the counselor reserving the right
to extend for a full year. After that it is all voluntary. But if you
really want to change, figure shit out, and execute,. If you really want to
stand out from the rest of the pack and let your uniqueness shine, it
starts there.”

"It's a good thing, Sir.  Having been a counsellor, I can totally
understand the reasoning behind your recommendation and I'll take it. "

“Dismissed.”

Erin stood, nodded her thanks and left, head swirling with all that had
been discussed. ~oH this is going to take some time.~

(reply none)
(posted by Will and Jackie)
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