Off the Radar

Posted on Sun Jan 16th, 2011 @ 8:46am by Vice Admiral Iluvar & Commander Michael Evans M.D.

Mission: Episode 1.4 - "Confusion in the Cluster"
Location: Chief Medical Officer's Office, USS Pandora
Timeline: Mission Day 02, 1124

ON: [[Chief Medical Officer's Office, USS Pandora, Mission Day 02, 1124]]

The door to sickbay hissed open and Jesse (NPC) stepped across the threshold from the corridor into the room. He still wasn't quite sure about whether he really wanted to do this, but he couldn't really think of anyone else to talk to. The captain seemed as distant as ever and, aside from Doctor Evans, there really weren't many other members of the senior staff that he knew all that well...at least, not well enough that he'd feel comfortable talking to them like this.

Jesse looked around sickbay for any sign of the Pandora's chief medical officer, but he didn't see the commander anywhere in the room. His gaze drifted over to the transparent divider between the office and the rest of sickbay. Sure enough, the doctor was in.

"Excuse me commander," he said, standing in the doorway to the office, "but...do you have a moment?"

Michael blinked. It had been a while since he'd seen the cadet to which he'd been assigned. Unfortunately their training together had taken a brief hiatus during the stressful events of recent months, and the training that they did have seemed to be met with a sort of grim compliance by both of them. As such, it was a surprise to see Eckles at his office door.

Michael had been reviewing the Asst CMO logs, a task he found rather tedious, so welcomed the surprise visit, though he couldn't quite keep a guarded eyebrow from pointing slightly. "Yes, Cadet, come on in." He sat back a little more comfortably in his chair.

Somewhat unsure, Jesse crossed the threshold of the office and moved to stand before the commander’s desk. There was no way for him to be sure the commander knew any more about what was going on than he did, but he really didn’t have any other choice at this point. He was here now and there was no backing out. “I’ve noticed things have been a little…different around here lately,” Jesse said hesitantly, certain that he had made a gross understatement.

Evans motioned at the chair across from him, indicating that Eckles could sit if he chose. "How do you mean?" he asked.

Jesse slowly lowered himself into one of the indicated chairs and gave his cadet uniform a gentle tug to keep it straight. It wasn’t easy to explain exactly what he meant by things being “different”, it was more of a feeling that he had. “I don’t know. Ever since the inquiry…,” he paused, realizing that he was overstating the obvious and that the commander was probably wishing he’d just get on with it already, “…everyone seems to be acting different. I mean...just look at what we’ve been doing the last few months. They haven’t exactly been the most exciting assignments….” He paused again, glancing quickly over at the commander, wondering if perhaps he had gotten a little overzealous and crossed some sort of line.

Michael took a breath and let it out quietly, not quite a sigh. "True," he said simply at the end of his exhalation. He looked over at the cadet sitting almost at attention in front of him and studied Jesse briefly. The cadet looked frustrated, confused, angry, worried, scared, and generally unsettled; all at once yet very subtlely stirring within. The poor command cadet had landed himself on this ship at such a difficult time with a medical officer as his docent. 'And just when I thought we were starting to get somewhere in our lessons together,' Michael thought. Yet the cadet had chosen to come to Michael to talk. 'Oi.'

Mike noticed the cadet becoming a little uncomfortable under his gaze. He took another breath and this time did sigh. He gave his face a brief scrub before standing and moving to the replicator, feeling Eckles' eyes on him. "Coffee, hot, medium roast, a hint of cinnamon," he ordered, then lifted a querying eyebrow at the cadet.

It took Jesse a moment to realize what the commander was waiting for. He slowly shook his head, adding, “No…thank you, sir.”

Michael returned to the desk and sat down leaning forward, his hands around the steaming mug in front of him. "So, this whole field assignment hasn't exactly been what you were expecting, or hoping for..." he started conversationally, as though reviewing a lesson they'd just had. "First you get me; now don't deny it," he said quickly, "as a command cadet you weren't thrilled with being assigned to a medical doctor as your preceptor." He half-smiled slightly sipped his hot coffee. "Then, said preceptor goes and does a real boneheaded thing like taking a shuttle back into Romulan space trying to be the hero. Then," he continued quickly, "somebody gets a bug up their ass and starts a witch hunt resulting in the demotion of Iluvar, our captain. And we lose our XO to boot." He took another sip. "Now, Starfleet's treating the Pandora like she's incapable of anything beyond sampling space gas, and the crew is moping about the corridors like they've all lost their favorite pet. That about covers it, I think?" His tone was quietly conversational, rather than brusque, and his words were measured in pace. He sipped his coffee again and looked expectantly at Jesse.

“Uhh…yeah,” Jesse replied, a little surprised at how quickly the commander had managed to sum up what he had been trying to say without him really saying all that much. True, he wasn’t exactly happy to hear that the commander knew exactly how he had felt about getting assigned to a physician rather than the Pandora’s commanding officer, but he certainly hadn’t kept that a secret when he first came aboard. Things had changed since the first day he had set foot aboard the Pandora, though. Despite what he might have said in the past or how he might have acted toward the commander, Jesse was starting to realize that it might not have been such a bad thing to have been assigned to work with Doctor Evans.

Michael nodded. "So now the question is: what do you do with it? I won't feed you the prattle about 'things won't always be what you expect, especially in Starfleet,' or 'we can't all be on a Sovereign'." He gave the faintest roll of the eyes with the cliched phrases. "You already know these sorts of things or you wouldn't be out here, you'd still be back at the academy."

He changed tack a little; time for a 'teaching moment'. "Whether it's medicine, tactics, diplomacy, or leadership, the more you know about a given situation, the better you are able to master it. In this situation there are two primary elements at work, and both stem from the same source: the witch hunt for Iluvar. The trial didn't just affect our captain's career, it affected everyone above and below him."

"Starfleet will now view him with suspicion until he can prove that either his unconventional decisions are in Starfleet's best interest, or that he's willing to conform to the constraints of convention. I believe that Iluvar's unconventional methods and decisions make him a better captain, but Starfleet is frightened of captains that they feel they have no control over. He needs to regain their trust."

"The crew is demoralized because there has been a significant shift in command staff, their captain came out of the trial for the worse, though they sense somehow that there was an injustice done, and because Starfleet no longer trusts their captain it also feels as if Starfleet doesn't trust them. They weren't on trial, but they still feel the lash. A crew derives a sense of stability, confidence, and optimism from their commanders; that leadership has been shaken and left them uncertain. Though there's little rational cause, their confidence in themselves has diminished. The crew has felt a sort of loss and has entered a period of mourning."

"So, with that information," Michael said with a shift in tone, indicating the lecture was over, "what might be an ideal situation or course of action for this ship and crew? Or," he said, shrugging," let's pretend you've been given command over this ship and her captain right now, what orders do you give? Remember you've been given complete authority to order her where you wish, or even to change her personnel roster."

Jesse thought about the question for a moment. He could see how the admiralty wouldn’t be very trusting of a man who seemed to make decisions that weren’t always what were expected of a Starfleet captain. If he were the one at Starfleet Operations who was in charge of the Pandora, what would he be doing right now? “I would probably give her assignments that provided the least opportunity for deviation,” he replied, “something that was out of the way where people wouldn’t be watching her all the time.”

"Too true," Michael said, "which is what they seem to be doing. So," he took another sip of his near-cold coffee, "what do we do as leaders within that crew?"

The question caused Jesse to pause. “Carry on as best we can,” he volunteered hesitantly. It didn’t sound like a very good answer, especially from a command cadet, but he was having a hard time coming up with something more distinct at the moment. If the entire admiralty was essentially conspiring against you, what possible course did one have?

Michael simply looked at Jesse.

“Sorry, sorry,” Jesse said quickly, wracking his brain for something a little more intelligent, “I…we would have to show that we still believed in our crew, the people we served with.”

Michael nodded. "'Carrying on' is what the crew is doing now. Until things return to something more like normal, strength and leadership will come from within the ranks." He looked at the cadet and leaned back in his chair again. "I know that this assignment has been disappointing and difficult for you. I also know that if you weather it well, by finding strength within yourself and learning how to lead even from a subordinate position, you'll be a more successful leader when you have others in your charge."

The commander's answer made sense. It was surprising how differently he felt about this assignment now than when he first came aboard. True, a part of him would still have rather had it that he'd been assigned to the commanding officer rather than the chief medical officer. Yet he could not deny that he had learned a lot more than he'd expected from what he'd initially seen as merely the ship's doctor. "So," he said slowly, "What do you think we should do about it, sir?"

Michael paused a moment, considering. "Jesse, what's your opinion of the current command leadership on this ship... off the record?"

"My opinion..." Jesse said, a little unsure just how he should respond to the question. Despite his initial frustration with the captain for assigning him to shadow the chief medical officer, Jesse had seen enough to confirm what he had already heard about the man. The crew respected Iluvar and Jesse did too. "Well, I..." he continued, "I've heard that the captain hasn't been around as much as he used to be, though I suppose that'd be understandable when you consider what he went through, but both he and Commander Fala seem to be putting the ship and crew first, which is a good thing, right?"

"That's right," Michael replied. "It's what any good commander should be doing at almost any point..." He waited for Jesse to finish his thought.

"...so what can we do," Jesse asked.

Michael folded his hands. "Leading from the bottom up is not only more difficult than when you've actually been placed in command, it's also extremely important and effective for the whole team when the leaders on both ends have the same vision and goals. Our captain and first officer, as you have said, are putting the ship and crew first. This includes not only their welfare but their morale as well. Their welfare is obviously being taken care of, but their morale is not so easily addressed by our commanders since their current situation is related to the current mood."

"Our jobs, then, are to not only support our commanders, but to support everyone who ranks above us. For you, cadet, that means everyone on this ship," Michael grinned with a sort of wry understanding of the cadet's position. "So how do you lead those who outrank you?" he asked. Then, answering his own question, "It doesn't mean that you have to agree with them, but support their decisions. Encourage others on your team by showing faith in their abilities. Perform your duties well and with a will. Offer to help those who command you (without being a brown-noser, of course). In time they will see that they can trust you to lead from whatever your position."

Michael continued, "This will not only help you by showing your superior officers that they can trust you with command authority, but it will help the crew by restoring faith in themselves with your showing faith in them. As a follower-leader who knows them personally, you have faith in them where Starfleet, who does not know them, does not appear to have faith in them." Michael gave a sort of half-smile. "Am I making any sense?"

"I think so," Jesse replied, nodding slowly as he listened to the commander's answer. Leading from the bottom up sounded like a pretty difficult balance to reach, certainly much more difficult than Jesse had ever thought before being assigned to the USS Pandora. It only seemed to be that much harder when one considered their current situation. Why did he feel like this was going to be an uphill battle?

OFF

A JP by:

Lieutenant Commander Michael Evans
Chief Medical Officer/Second Officer
USS Pandora

and

Cadet Jesse Eckles (NPC)
Command Cadet
USS Pandora
Played by: Capt Iluvar