Inspection: Security

Posted on Fri Feb 9, 2018 @ 6:51pm by Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Commodore Michael Aravan

Mission: Falling Star
Location: Security Office
Timeline: MD 32 || 1215 Hours

Michael stepped off the turbolift on deck nineteen and headed for the Security office, feeling a bit nostalgic as he walked down the corridor. He had started in Security and now he was a group commander and in charge of the flagship of an entire task force. He smiled as he approached the main Security annex and entered, nodding to several officers who acknowledged him.

He stepped up to the Chief of Security's door and pressed the chime, then waited to be admitted.

Douglas had finished his meeting with the marine CO and returned to his office to connect the StratTac table in Security with the one in Marine Country as they had agreed. Finishing that, he had set his people to their patrol patterns and was about to leave his office to do a walking inspection of the stationary security checkpoints in his section of the ship when he heard his office door chime sound.

He had no scheduled meetings, so he was a bit confused by it. "Enter." he called, stopping before his desk and watched the doors.

Michael entered the office and gave a nod to his Chief of Security. "Mister Mallory," he said. "I'm just coming by on a routine inspection. How's the Security department treating you?"

Douglas was surprised to see the Commodore, but he did not give sign of it. He did shift his stance to a semi-attention stance, though. "Things are good so far, sir." he answered, pausing beside his desk. "Is there something specific you would like a report on or to personally inspect?"

"Are there any concerns or procedures that you'd care to go over with me?" the Commodore asked as he motioned for the Chief of Security to have a seat.

Douglas returned to his own side of his desk and sat as bidden. It was likely that the commodore had spoken to the Marine CO already, but he could not assume that. However, he did not want to give the man information he already possessed either. "Have yo spoken to Colonel S'er'in'e already, sir?" he asked so that he would have a better idea of what needed passing on.

"I have," Michael responded. "He said the Marines were going to take the lower half of the ship and Security would have the top half. I was hoping for more of a joint venture, but as long as there's no problems, I don't have a problem with it."

Douglas frowned thoughtfully. "That was what I had intended, but I deferred to him. Perhaps I shouldn't have, but I thought that, given the short time we have to set it up, it might be better this time to do it this way." He really didn't like dividing up the ship like that as it meant there was no overlap, no coverage, but he had given in to the marine's more current ground experience. "I do intend to talk to him again after this mission and see if we can set up a way for our people to work together on more of a regular basis on everyday duties and, thus, build rapport between the two departments."

"That's what I want," the Commodore replied. "If I had known he planned to go against what I said, I would have been a little more direct in my desires of what be done. I cannot have departments on this ship segregating themselves from others if we're all going to work together."

"Agreed. That tends to lead only to one thing: people getting hurt or killed." Douglas agreed. "As to the Marine CO, I don't think his intention was to go against what you wanted. I believe he interpreted the command differently than I did." He paused, adding thoughtfully, "But then, his background and mine are very different."

"Then perhaps it's time to find a way to merge the two and make Security and the Marines to act as one," Michael said. It wasn't an easy task, but with someone like Mallory who had already lived a thousand years, the Commander of the Triumphant knew it wouldn't take that long before what he wanted was done.

Douglas frowned in thought for a moment. He could foresee one problem immediately: who would command a unified Security/Marine force? But he did not address that immediately. Instead, he refocused on a question brought to the foreground by this discussion of merging the departments. "On that subject, sir, why do we have two separate divisions of Protectors? My background says that is inefficient, dividing the forces as it were." He hoped that Michael understood that he was asking a question borne of confusion rather than challenging the way the Commodore ran his ship. To hopefully clear that possible misunderstanding out of the way, he added, "It is a division that has always confused me a bit, why Starfleet separates Marines and Security." Why were not all of them simply Security and trained for both types of situations in the same way that Enforcers were trained for multiple functions. Starfleet did tend to cross-train its people, so this division made no sense to him.

"Your guess is as good as mine," the Commodore responded. "I guess they like having a fully military arm to call upon. The Triumphant has them because we have the room and we're the flagship of the Federation. Most of the time, they aren't even used." Officially, he mentally added as he remembered the mission the Marines had undergone to rescue the politician's wife.

Douglas' frown deepened. "I understand your position on this, sir, but I can't say that I understand the fleet's." he admitted, though it went without saying that he didn't have to understand it in order to follow the rules laid out by Fleet Command. "However, I intend to try to unify the two departments. There is only one problem that I see right off the bat. If we did unify them, who would be in command of the unified force?" Both he and S'er'in'e were good commanders, so neither should have to be subordinate to the other. And yet, a department with two heads was still a divided house, so to speak. And there would likely always be some level of divided loyalty; unfortunately, Starfleet had created that by separating the two in the first place. But in the end, the simple fact was that he would do whatever was best for the crew as a whole, even if it meant he took a back seat to the Marine, though he doubted that was the direction the commodore was going.

"Why try to unify under one person?" Michael asked. "Security is separate from Tactical and both have a department head to look to. What would one more be?"

Douglas could see the Commodore's point, but he also sometimes missed the simplicity and streamlined nature of the Enforcers' single command line format. He nodded. "That is a valid point. Apologies. Sometimes I revert to very old patterns." he offered by way of explaining his statements, accompanying that reasoning with a slightly self-effacing smile.

"There are times when the old is useful, but at the same time with the new, if one department head gets taken out of the picture, there's a backup," the Commodore pointed out.

Douglas of course understood the need for backups; that was why an Enforcer First of a Mission had an Enforcer Second and an Enforcer Third. He also understood where the commodore was coming from. Since Starfleet did not use the same training methods as the Marai, their system produced people very differently trained, very specialized. And he could see the advantage of that as well. The Sciences Guild tended to specialize its members. Arreith had explained that to him when they had been married long ago.

For these reasons, as well as the fact that they were on a time constraint with this mission, he decided to let this train of logic go for the moment. "I do agree with you about having backups, sir." he said after only a moment's thought. "As I said, I intend to try to streamline the three departments over the near future with the Chief of Tactical and the Marine Commander. The three should be able to work seamlessly with one another while retaining our autonomy from one another." He paused for a second, then continued. "And the more we can do that, the easier it will be for any one of us to back up the others."

"All I want is for all the departments to work in sync and I'll be happy," Michael said. "Are there any concerns you have?"

Douglas could not agree more with the initial statement, and so he nodded as the Commodore spoke. The question made him pause in thought, though. "I don't have any just now, no." he answered after that moment of thought. "But rest assured that if I do, I will bring them to you or Captain Weisz immediately."

"Very well," the Commodore said. "Then I'll let you get to it." He knew there was still a lot of standoffishness between the Marines and the rest of Starfleet but he hoped that it wouldn't spill over onto the ship.

Douglas nodded, and the two men left the office. He gave the Commodore one more nod of respect before heading off to conduct the walking inspection of the stationary checkpoints he had been preparing to do when this "interview" had begun.