[Paradise-IV] 970323.22 JL - Messes to deal with ( Cmdr Blake, XO; Lt Cmdr Cho'lu, CSec)
Paradise-IV Logs
[XO’s Office]
Pacing the floor and wishing for a view of a velvet black expanse populated by sparkling diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and other gems Toby waited for Yim’Bar to arrive having called the man to his office. They needed to talk, in part so that Toby could explain why he did what he did, and in part so that Yim’Bar could be made aware of the added hostility Toby’s actions caused. The weakest of telepaths and empaths could have felt the hostility in the air whenever Toby poked his nose out of the main compound, and he was worried for his family as well as Starfleet’s reputation here as a whole.
Some things in Starfleet were easy to accomplish, tracking down hostile criminals, beating back a Borg invasion in the 22nd century, free-falling 42 miles through an atmosphere in order to stop a renegade Romulan's plot to destroy a planet, all a cake walk. Facing Commander Toby Blake shortly after 'The Grand Hospital Massacre' was not. Yim'Bar had found a hundred minor things to stall this meeting. He had even postponed it once on the pretense that he had other pressing engagements that precluded his presence. Fact was he did not want to have a conversation with his immediate supervisor. On the field of battle during the 'Massacre' Yim'Bar had been ordered to stand down. At that moment his confidence and his command authority stood down and it hadn't returned. He put on his smiley happy Chief face and walked into hell, the XO's office. He reported to the XO's aide, "I am here to see Commander Blake. Please inform him of my arrival." He said the words but knew the Commander was aware that he had arrived.
The aide nodded and informed the Commander, Toby’s quick “Send him in.” gave away nothing about what this meeting was really about. The aide closed the comm and motioned for Yim’Bar to enter. Meanwhile inside, Toby stopped pacing and stood behind his desk as the door opened to admit the Andorian Chief of Security, he smiled pleasantly, “Please come in Commander and have a seat.” He motioned to the visitor’s chair.
"Good day sir." Yim'Bar said maintaining the smile and pleasantries which had been proffered him. He took the seat as ordered. "Lieutenant Commander Yim'Bar Cho'Lu, Chief of Security reporting as ordered, sir." There was no sense trying to hide what Toby could detect underneath the feigned pleasantries.
This was what Toby had been afraid of, and he sighed inwardly as he watched Yim’Bar with his multi-hued blue eyes, “First let me apologize for stepping all over your authority during the hospital debacle. There wasn’t much time to think about things or explain to you what I was trying to do. I did what I felt I had to, I am sorry that it stepped on what you were trying to do, and on your authority.”
"Apology accepted but that doesn't solve the bigger issue, sir. We have to live here and the colony already hated us before. You need to understand, all I could see happening was The Admiral, The Captain or one or more of those high ranking civilian officials getting bagged and I was the Chief of Security, its my watch sir. As it is I cannot locate Senior,...I mean Chief Ormes or Petty Officer Ryan, indications are that they have been taken by the insurgents or whatever we are calling them. In the Academy they teach Tactical people a couple of things that we rarely share outside that training, you saw one of them in the courtyard of the hospital. It is considered a last ditch effort, a fail safe. I saw our people being captured and taken hostage, don't ask me why; it was just a feeling. I reacted. I was not intending on hurting anyone, throughout the entire thing. Except that huge guy that whacked me with the pole. If he was human I am Vulcan. My chief concern here is that we have got to have confidence in one another to do the work that each of us has been professionally trained to do. If you will be the leader, I will keep us safe and try not to kill too many in the process, but I have to be allowed to protect you all, meaning the staff and defenseless, fully and that might mean I have to do some things that are counter to good relations. Also we have got to be better informed and prepared if we are going to open another building publicly or have a meeting where citizens can just show up. I would lose my yellow tunic if my instructors had seen how we got caught flat footed on that one." Yim'Bar had been rambling on and on. He paused to allow the commander to speak and to catch his own breath. "Commander I am sorry I let you down on my first day."
Toby let Yim’Bar ramble and wind down, then he smiled not just a pleasant smile but a warm smile. “Yim’Bar, of course I trust you to keep us safe, I trusted you on the Vimy Ridge I trust you here. Though you let no one down, we were set up and I would suggest you vet your people very carefully, make sure they are who they say they are. The Commissioner kept trying to get out of being there, which leads me to believe that he knew what was going to happen. As for your actions, they were perfectly textbook but had you noticed that it appeared as if Starfleet fired the first shots? Shooting into the unarmed civilian crowd? It made your attempts to deal with the riot seem like a catch 22, the truly innocent who’d only picked up things to fight back out of a sense of survival now felt as if they were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. As far as everyone saw, Starfleet was trying to control the riot they started and their people were still wildly firing about at anyone they saw. I gave people an out, and yes I know it means a lot of guilty people got away and I’m afraid I made matters worse.”
"I was in an attempt to disarm Ensign Iinuma, the sword toting guy. It is my intention to 'vet' him thoroughly. He was all I saw and then rocks, poles, phasers, and a crowd of chaos. My people never fired a shot, in fact I had to make most of them stand down in the midst of the conflict. Well one fired on my command, Bullseye, Petty Officer Ryan, saved my life when he stunned that beast that was clobbering me. All of that is past tense. I am going to use it as a training mission, a sort of Kobiashi Maru for my people. The future, the present is what we need to be concerned with. My personal feelings are we lock the whole colony down and sort this thing out..." He smiled because he knew without having any telepathic ability what the commander would be thinking after that remark. "Don't worry commander I am not going to do that...it is just what I want to do. How do you suggest we proceed and since you have not yanked my pips off, I assume there is more to this meeting than the two of us getting all close and cuddly." The last remark was meant and delivered with joviality.
That got a laugh out of the XO, “I wanted to make sure you understood what people saw. It matters not what your people did, they saw people in Starfleet uniforms fire the first shots, that is what they remember. Makes things hard for us, and I’d vet more than the sword toting ensign. You need to double check and triple check, making sure that the people in security are who is supposed to be there and not people pretending to be someone else. With the revelation of my telepathy there might be more disappearances, keep a look out for that. Also as a result of that revelation, find some security you can trust to keep an eye on my family and me, since now I’m very much a target to go after. I know it goes against the security mindset, but we’ve got to find ways to befriend and build trust with the civilians. While I agree we need more stringent security measures we can’t make it look like we’re moving towards martial law. Do you think you can manage that? And Lia Argo… she’s a damned fine officer.”
"Commander how would feel about an Au Pare for your daughter? I have a man we call him Sing. He is a fine martial arts expert and proficient in deep cover work. He could come and stay with you and your family, go with you on outings and the like, be around all the time. I would feel comfortable with him in your world. Especially as it concerns your daughter and Doctor Blake. He is a member of Alpha but with Senior and Bullseye missing we are going to have to restructure that whole team, of course only after I am sure they are who they say they are. I trust them to be who they are, so forgive me if I do not just jump out and accuse my closest people of treason." I trust those men with my life and owe them at least that. I need Senior back." Yim'Bar said thinking of the Chief. "He counted on me sir."
“I never meant for you to just accuse them of treason. I am suggesting that perhaps there are those who aren’t who they say they are. Which is why I suggest you double check them. If this guy can pass a double check and is who he says he is, then I would be alright with that assuming Doctor Blake does not mind. Rose is always happy to get to know new people and I’m sure she’d soon be wearing your security officer the same way she wears me.” He chuckled.
"Ensign Argo is an awesome officer sir. She is doing fantastic work with community relations and the Team. In fact I would like to send her name up to you for duty above and beyond and for a promotion. I would also like to change her status from Assistant Team Leader to Team Leader. She has already established fine rapport with the Team Members and has a good sense of their role, also being the Chief I am not going to have the free time to be so one issue focused." How did she preform during the chaos. I sent her to secure the admiral as soon as it broke out. I know she completed that task but have not had time to get her full feedback and debrief her on her individual actions. What do you have to add about her sir?"
“I will let the Captain know of your recommendation for the promotion, as for her position within your security teams that is ultimately up to you, though I do agree she is quite good. Has a good head on her shoulders and didn’t balk at doing what needed doing, which included getting me back inside to safety after my telepathic sending tried to knock me out.” Toby picked up a PADD and made note about Lia Argo and the Commander’s recommendations, making sure they were forwarded to the Captain. “Is there anything else? Do you need more people to help you find the missing members of your team?”
"I will send Sing to you for a personal interview before you agree to his assistance. I certainly do not need additional personnel, we will handle it in house so to speak. If these men were part of the trouble they will regret it. If, as I believe, they have been taken hostage, we will retrieve them one way or another. I do have something else. Ensign Iinuma and i need to have a talk, I would like to know anything you might know about him before that conversation. As I recall sir you asked me to check on him right before the deification hit the nacelle in ports. Would you like to be present for those conversations or shall I handle it. Has he been given special authorization by the Federation to wear a sword? I have seen instances of cultural paraphernalia but this goes way over the top. Also I would like you to consider wearing a modified uniform, especially in public. The Team has adopted a ballistic resistant mock-up it saved my life during the chaos, it is a little heavy and tough to get used too but it will stop most kinetic energy attacks, projectiles and the like and is helpful against knives and other sharps. It is practically undetectable. Also it has secreted compartments for things like this..." Yim'Bar reached into his tunic and pulled out his Type-1. "I would love to see you carrying one of these as well and allow me to assign a detail to you at all times, but I am not going to hold me breath for all of that I will do as much as you will allow and perhaps push for a touch more."
“Alright, I will look forward to meeting Sing. I know very little about the Ensign, except for the fact to my knowledge he does not have authorization to wear that sword. I also know that right now, wearing that sword is just asking for trouble. Trouble we don’t need. As for the modified uniform, I will look into it, the detail… well I did hint at such. Though at the same time, I don’t want the people to think I’m afraid of them. Perhaps a discreet detail could be arranged?”
"I have one officer in the Marshall service that i could ask to assist with the "Detail" sir, we could have them dress in civilian clothing or uniforms or a combination and we can make it very discreet though if the rabble we encountered at the hospital are as organized as I think we will discover, you are going to need far more than undercover security, You are going to need a battalion of our finest all around you and that might not work out." Yim'Bar said, "That is why I suggest you arm up. It is going to devastate my people if you or any other command staff person is injured, or your daughter sir." Yim'Bar got up, he had a lot to do and plans that needed to be finalized. "I will send Sing to you, and I need authorization to go find Senior and Bullseye sir before they show up on the FNN with bags on their heads."
“Granted, and see about getting me one of them modified uniforms, and lets step up the security on the command staff, but try not to get underfoot.” Toby rose, “And now I will let you get to things. We’ve quite the mess to clean up, and not all of it was made by me.” He grinned a bit and watched as Yim’Bar made his way out.
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Cmdr Tobias “Toby” Blake
XO
Lt Cmdr Yim’Bar Cho’lu
CSec