Posted by Chief Petty Officer Jacen “Flex” Flexwood (Security Officer/Special Forces Division) in Anger and Accountability…Flexing ones muscles…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Anger and Accountability…Flexing ones muscles…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Chief Petty Officer Jacen “Flex” Flexwood (Security Officer/Special Forces Division) in Anger and Accountability…Flexing ones muscles…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Kelly sat in her office drumming her fingertips on the desk. On the scale of bad ideas, this probably ranked in the top ten and she had had some pretty epic bad ideas. Looking at her clock, she noted the time and took a sip of coffee from the mug on her desk. Jacen would be ringing the chime on her door any second. Once he did it was going to be a hard sell. She could order him to comply with the job she wanted him to do but that would defeat the purpose. Kelly wanted Jacen to accept the task because he wanted to and not to be an automaton.

Kelly Bordeaux CO

Flex stepped off the turbolift and moved silently towards the Captain’s office. He’d yet to meet the CO and was a little concerned with how suddenly his presence had been requested. Jacen didn’t know of anything he’d done that was bad enough to have him meeting with the big boss, but he figured the sooner he got there the less he’d have to think or speculate about it. Arriving at the office, Flex smoothed the front of his uniform jacket before pressing the door chime.

Flex

“Come,” Kelly yelled through the doors. The office was not typical of what one might assume to be that of a commanding officer. It had the fleet-issued desk and basic rigid decor with two chairs facing her desk. What set it apart was a large set of shelves behind the desk. Instead of commendations and awards adorning the shelves, however, it was a hodge podge of kitsch: a kazoo, horn, hacky sack ball, an African mask, a small metal toy robot, and an ornate tea cup to just name a few. None of the items seemed related but their prominent display indicated they had some value to the owner.

The walls of the room were decorated with more of a nautical theme of sailing ships except for a single jersey with the name ROBINSON printed on the back.

As Flex entered the office, his eyes swept the room. It was exclusively out of habit as he had no reason to think that the office held any threat to his well-being. He was a little surprised by the assorted knickknacks behind the COs desk… It seemed that she was an eclectic individual, perhaps one day he’d get to learn the stories behind some of the items but today wasn’t likely that day. He noted the nautical decorations along the wall before his eyes fell on the jersey, the name held no significance to him and he couldn’t quite place the sport it came from while across the room.

Seeing the man enter the room, Kelly motioned him towards one of the chairs as she turned her attention back to the comm call she was on with a man that sounded none too pleased.

Jacen took a seat in the chair on his right and waited silently while she was on her call.

“Bordeaux I am only going to say this once and I am not going to repeat myself,” Admiral McLaren’s voice was firm and unyielding. “Take the Atlantis and wait at the coordinates I am sending you or there will be hell to pay. And get some rest. You look like crap.”

Jacen couldn’t identify the speaker’s voice, but the way he was speaking to the CO certainly indicated an individual of considerable rank… at least an Admiral, maybe a Fleet Admiral… whoever it was didn’t seem like a bundle of joy.

Kelly clicked off the comm and looked at the man in her office. He fit the mold of the typical security officer yet Kelly needed someone that would also buck that mold.

“Chief,” she said resting her elbows on the table, “tell me about yourself.”

Kelly Bordeaux CO

Flex was caught off-guard by the CO’s informal tone and it took him a moment before he responded. She had his file and surely knew his background otherwise it was unlikely that she would’ve summoned him out of the hundreds of souls aboard the Atlantis, he suspected that she wanted him to do something… but what… he didn’t yet have enough information to know.

“Pleasure to meet you Captain. I know you’re a busy person, so in the interest of not wasting your time… what would you like to know?” He said a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

Flex

Kelly let out a chuckle. “Sorry, my manners are shot. It’s been one hell of a week.” While the full events of the past week were not prominently displayed on the ship-wide news feed, rumors mixed with some facts had spread to the masses. Jacen being in the security division probably knew more than most even though the senior staff had tried to keep an ironclad lid on the situation as much as possible. Instead of playing the what do you know game, Kelly decided to be direct. What he didn’t know she would just fill in.

Jacen nodded but remained silent, eagerly waiting for more information.

Pulling a bottle of dark amber booze from her desk along with two glasses, she set them between her and the chief. Unscrewing the cap she poured two measures as they talked. “I am going to assume a baseline knowledge of zero to keep this short and sweet even though I am going to be repeating what you might know or at least plug some holes into what you think you know.” Throwing back the shot, she let out a groan and settled back into her chair.

Flex watched as the Captain pulled out the bottle and poured a glass for each of them. While the CO slammed her’s down, Jacen took a drink savoring the all the subtle notes of the alcohol which he didn’t recognize but suspected was well out of his price range.

“Seven days ago we received a top-secret message to arrive at these coordinates and wait. At 0430 am we made contact with an alien ship. The passengers of that ship were beamed aboard the Atlantis. They attacked the crew in transporter room 12 and I sustained injuries which has kept me out of command for the most part until the attack on the promenade today. There were four alien passengers on the ship that materialized out of nowhere. The three adults were taken to the brig. The fourth was a child about twelve years old. Her name is Jessa. She sustained critical injuries in the transporter room conflict and has been living in sick bay for the past week. Commander Rinker, the chief psychiatric officer, has been working on deprogramming her. As far as we can tell the aliens are from a theocratic government called the Galactic Union which makes the Nazi’s ideology seem tame. Jessa has been indoctrinated from birth so she is a tad zealous in her beliefs.” The thick layer of sarcasm in her voice showed Kelly was trying to be nice. “No one wanted to stick a kid in the brig so we cleared sick bay and placed her in an isolation field with a four-man, around-the-clock security team on her.” Being in the security field, Jacen could read between the lines. Isolation bays were not prison cells but they could be flooded with anethizine gas and patients could be restrained and sedated which happened when medical treatment was needed past what could be given in the brig. Whether Jacen was in the camp of tossing Jessa in the brig like an adult or understanding why they were treating her like a juvenile and keeping her in the brig remained to be seen. Kelly paused and poured herself another drink leaving the bottle between them as an open invitation for a refill.

Jacen had been patrolling the Promenade at the time of the transporter attack. It had been a relatively quiet night until all hell broke loose. He’d set to work having his detachment clear and secure the Promenade making sure that the few crewmen who were out that late stayed clear of the action. As he thought back on that night, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d been sidelined. Rationally he knew better duty rotations were set in advance and no one could anticipate the incident, but emotionally he knew that his experience would have been beneficial to the teams charged with responding to the transporter attack.

“Until about two hours ago, things were moving like a salmon upstream. Somehow…and we are still trying to figure out the how, Jessa was able to get past O’Neill and his team, break her compatriots out of the brig, attack the Marines in Marine country, and then lead the assault on the promenade.” The tone of Kelly’s voice was flat, dull, and laced with more sarcasm. It was clear she did not think incompetency ran rampant on her ship but right now they did not have solid facts and just conjecture.

“Obviously she had help and we are rounding up the individuals involved but that is not why I have you sitting across from me. I need your expertise in something and your advice.” Kelly paused long enough to toss back the second shot.

Flex cocked his head to the side as the CO said she needed his expertise and advice. This wasn’t at all what he expected when he was summoned here. Jacen downed the glass and placed it on the Captain’s desk near the decanter.

Kelly did not ask if Jacen wanted a second round. His newness to the crew showed he was pacing himself but his willingness to drink with her on their first encounter spoke volumes to Kelly. NCO’s and Warrant Officers held the pulse of the crew. What they lacked in pips around their neck, they had in tomes about the wants and needs of the crew. It was clear the chief petty officer was confident enough in his position to drink with his CO. This was good. She needed someone that was going to be straightforward and not worried about what bad news to the boss was going to do to his career. It also signaled he was at least initially invested in the conversation. Pouring him another shot, Kelly waited to see how long it would take him to down the second shot and leave or grab the decanter and fill up his own glass before commenting that she might still be suffering from her brain injury.

“Jessa is damn near indestructible in that iron giant suit of armor she has. Right now the mechanism for activating it appears to be semi-organic. It is embedded in her neck and when she touches it, the suit activates or retracts. I am going to level with you…we need to get her out of that suit. The problem is we just can’t rip it out of her neck for a variety of reasons.”

Jacen had reviewed what they knew of the armor as thoroughly as he could, but what they didn’t know greatly outweighed what they knew right now. “Well we can.. but you’re probably right that we shouldn’t.” He said with a hint of levity in his voice.

Kelly let out a small harumphing laugh from her nose. “Sense of humor is a plus on this ship,” she filled up her third shot and tossed it back. The alcohol burned slightly but the medicinal effects were taking effect. Kelly was not one for drugs. She never knew the length of time they were going to take to wear off but she knew liquor like it was clockwork.

Kelly leaned forward letting out a small moan. She looked like she had been in several bar fights and lost spectacularly. It was not a stretch to think she was sore as hell. “If we were her Galactic Union we would either shoot her or rip it out forcibly but I want to show her the Federation is different. It might be the biggest mistake of my life but sometimes you have to take a chance. Rinker seems to think there is hope for her and so far Jessa has only turtled up in when she is feeling threatened.”

“I want you to spar with her,” Kelly announced. “I can’t keep her locked up like an animal. I can’t send her to the playground on deck sixteen around other kids. There is more to this and I will share it with you when I can but for now, know this is a calculated decision.” Kelly stopped her monologue and waited. She had given him a lot of information and no doubt the man needed a minute to process it and come up with a few questions of his own.

Kelly Bordeaux CO

Jacen’s mind raced as his brain tried to connect all of the new information he’d just been provided with what he knew before coming in here. The task seemed straightforward enough, but the reality was infinitely more nuanced than the appearance. “What is my ultimate objective?” He asked as his mind tried to navigate exactly what he was being asked to do.

“Continue,” Kelly said leaning back. Her assumption that Jacen Flexwood was the perfect man for the job was all but confirmed by the fact he didn’t just jump up, salute her, and end the conversation with a sharp yes ma’am. There was a fine line between asking for clarification and direct opposition to an order. She also valued the officer that was ticking off the boxes to ensure the order she was giving made sense. Any officer could blindly follow an order but only the best officers took the time to try and understand the order to enact it to its greatest effect.

“Because this can go in several directions, and I realize they aren’t mutually exclusive… but if I can start with the end in mind it could help where things get murky.” Flex adjusted himself in the seat. “Am I entertaining the child? Am I assessing the capabilities of the suit personally? Am I assessing the kid’s abilities within it? Is this a situation where I’m building respect and rapport? If so, am I doing it as myself or as a representative of the Federation?” He reached for the decanter and poured himself another glass of the Captain’s liquor as his mind worked for answers to the questions he was asking.

Flex

The instant he reached for the decanter, Kelly knew she had without a doubt found the right man for the job. He was confident enough to problem-solve the details and intelligent enough to know that he needed more alcohol because what he was about to do bat snot crazy on some level. “Yes,” she responded to all his specific questions with a vague answer.

Jacen let out a short snort of laughter at the response, it was comical in a way but not completely unexpected… as he’d suspected… nuance…

“Okay, Jacen here is the deal. Calling Jessa difficult at times is like calling a sehlat cuddly. She has a mouth on her that would shock any crewman on shore leave and easily goes on the defensive resulting in an emotional display rivaling any two-year-old. Jessa is fearless and has shown she jumps before contemplating the consequences. She is stubborn as a mule and will not ask for a glass of water even if she was dying of thirst.” Now that Kelly laid out the negatives she had to counterbalance them with the positives. “Jessa also has shown the potential for compassion and understanding right versus wrong. She did her best to help contain the situation on the promenade even though in the end it ended up biting her in the ass. Under all the bravado she is scared, lonely, and anxious so I am not sure how to advise you on some of your questions. I don’t see your task as entertaining her but more building a rapport. She is a pre-teen. I am not sure cosmically teens can even define the word respect.” Kelly let out a half chuckle.

Flex cracked a smile at the comment before responding, “Fair enough boss. You did call me, an NCO, to ask me to fight her… so it makes sense that it’s more than a babysitting detail.” It was almost a comical oversimplification of the situation, but it was a fair enough assessment of it to show the man understood what was being asked of him.

“You are from a chief, Chief,” she raised an eyebrow. Leaning back she swiveled her console to show Jacen what he already knew. “Fourteen years serving on the front line with the Marines. The only reason you are not a Commander is because you never went the academy route but the commendations and medals kept you from just being an NCO.” Moving her console back she took in the man across from her. “Comms, weapons, engineering, combat medicine…I would say you are a jack of trades which is exactly what is needed. Besides, if she starts triffing with you I am pretty sure you can take care of yourself.”

“She does however seem to have a very linear outlook on authority and respecting that. Our best guess is she was raised in a rank-and-file system. Ian and a few others have taken the I am in control stance which has worked out fifty-fifty. Heathcliff Rinker the chief psychiatrist has taken more of a subtle approach. He gives her a vast amount of control in his sessions with her but holds her responsible for all her actions.
That has worked with no one else which is why we give him the big credits. I am not sure what approach is going to work for you or even if Jessa will comply with any order you are giving her. This isn’t however the first time you have had to work with confrontational personalities. The best I can do is wish you good luck?” The slight rise of her tone indicated it was a hint of humor mixed with a subtle question.

“Well fortunately, she doesn’t work for me so I won’t be issuing many orders. But in my experience respect, like trust, is earned and not given. I’ll just have to meet the girl where she’s at and we’ll figure it out from there.” He said rather bluntly before taking a long drink from his glass and enjoying the alcohol’s burn.

Kelly nodded relieved the man had a plan but not so defined he could not be fluid with it. The issuing orders part might be off but she had never been the type to micro-manage her people. There was a reason they held command staff positions and she had to trust in their experience and knowledge base when given a job.

“I can speak to the armor. Do not let her use it. Make it the line in the sand. If she is in it, she does not receive any attention at all. The objective of this assignment is to show her she doesn’t need the suit to feel safe with us. She seems to be most receptive to individuals when she thinks she is in the role of sharing information and exploring our culture. An officer by the name of Rand took her to the gym a few days ago. Jessa seemed to react positively to that and it is a mostly secure area in case you run into trouble. If however you have a different idea or approach I am all ears,” Kelly sat back waiting to hear Jacen’s gut reaction to what she had just shared.

Kelly Bordeaux CO

He nodded as she laid out her expectations about the girl’s armor, he was relieved to hear them… it greatly simplified things if he was working with a sentient being and not a walking death machine. “I’ll probably take her to the holodeck. We can get all of the benefits of a gym, but without any of the limitations. Readily available cultural examples, training equipment, training scenarios, multiple fail safes, and everything is easily monitored or reviewed which may prove vital in case I miss anything in the moment.”

Flex

“Sounds like a plan,” Kelly nodded. Standing up she extended her hand. “Let’s start tomorrow. I will prep her but there is no guarantee she will go with you. Pick her up at my quarters tomorrow at 0830? She sees Rinker at 1000 hours daily and her sessions run at long as needed. Have her at his office by then and we can debrief after?”

Kelly Bordeaux