Stout glared at the order in his hand that pulled his Chief Medical Officer off of the station and back to Earth. “Too short deadlines and not enough staff. Son of a - …” and was cut short by another order, stating that a new CMO would be selected and sent out “shortly”. Stout looked at that and his face flushed. =/\= Commander Omni, please report to my office immediately. =/\= Tapping a few commands into his desk comms interface, he contacted Star Fleet Headquarters. “Admiral Haynes. Captain Stout, Serenity Station. May I have a moment of your time, Sir?” he asked when the familiar face filled the screen a few minutes later.

“Captain, how are you? Been a while. Hows that antique coming along?” the Admiral asked with a slight chuckle. “Actually, she’s coming along swimmingly, Sir. Hell, we’d be at 100% and churning out ships faster than you can wreck them if you’s stop pulling the Senior Officers off every ten seconds.” Stout responded. His facial expression showed that he was only slightly kidding.

The Admiral stopped grinning and said “Now listen, Captain -” and Stout cut him off. “No, you listen Sir. I’m trying to get this station and these ships up and running, and Command keeps yanking people out every few days. No more, Admiral. You can’t have it both ways. You want fast? Fine, we can do fast. As long as we have the people. You want to short staff us? Fine. Then you don’t get fast. That’s the only way this works. Period. And don’t worry about sending a new CMO. I have the guy I want on board right now. You’ll have the promotion on your desk within the hour. I expect it to be approved, Admiral. In fact, you are gonna do that right now.” and he sent Balashov’s file to the Admiral as they spoke. “I’m tired, Admiral. Tired of having our chain yanked every three minutes. I’m tired of losing people because someone who doesn’t know what the hell we are doing decides they no better. Sir, with all due respect, that crap ends now. No more. My people are my people, and no one else leaves without letting me know first. Are we clear, Admiral?”

The man’s face was flat, but a few moments later he said “Captain, if anyone else ever spoke to me like that I’d have them drawn and quartered. That being said…” and he took a deep breath and tapped on his desk. “Ok, Captain. Balashov is the new CMO of Serenity Station. And any personnel changes will be ran past you going forward, unless there is an absolute emergency. But now you are on the hook. We expect results. Am I clear?” Stout nodded and said “Crystal, Admiral.” The Admiral nodded back. “Ok, Mike. Don’t let me down. It’s not just your neck in a noose here.” “Gotcha, sir. Don’t worry. We’ll get it handled.” and the two men smiled at each other briefly before the screen blanked out.

Stout looked at the blank screen for a moment and then tapped his comm badge. =/\= Ensign Balashov. Report to my office immediately. =/\=

Stout, CO