A Lesson In Personnel Management (Backpost)

Posted on Wed Jul 17th, 2024 @ 3:12am by Commander Patricia Cooke & Lieutenant Commander Tsukasa Izumi
Edited on on Wed Jul 17th, 2024 @ 3:12am

1,060 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: I-402

Patricia was in her ready room. It had been several hours since the Ermiana had rendezvoused with the Missouri, and the Bellerophon class starship was now making headway towards its first destination: Admiral Soryuu had stayed on the line after Misaka and S'Mira had walked out of the briefing and shared some intel with only the Missouri's command staff that Misaka didn't know about.

It was safe to say that the Admiral had a vested interest in the brand new starship succeeding against the old relic from a bygone era, and as such, she felt it necessary to give the Missouri an advantage, and had told the Missouri about Daystrom Outpost Zeta, where the cradle was being developed. After the Ermiana had warped away, Patricia had ordered their best speed for the outpost.

However, that was not what was on the forefront of Patricia's mind: Shortly after they had gotten underway, transfer orders had come down for Doctor Bakshi and Major Aurelius. The timing of this couldn't be any worse, as Lieutenants Kogami and Sidney were still in no condition for duty. Being down two key officers was bad, but having no doctor to take care of them made the situation much worse.

Patricia must have read the transfer orders at least four times over before she set the PADD down and pushed back from the desk. Patricia stared at the ready room doors until the thought of speaking to Commander Izumi about it crossed her mind. Patricia wasn't sure how much the commander knew about personnel management, but she was about to find out:

Standing up from her desk, Patricia made her way over to the exit of the ready room. The doors swooshed open as she approached, giving Patricia a view onto the bridge looking towards the command pit where Commander Izumi was currently seated.

"Commander!" Patricia called out to get Tsukasa's attention.

Tsukasa turned to look over at the ready room doors.

Patricia nodded as if to beckon Tsukasa over to the ready room.

"Can I speak to you for a moment, please?"

"Sure," She said with a smile as she rose out of the chair and walked over towards the doors. As she approached she wondered why Patricia didn't use the comm.

As Patricia receded back into the ready room with Tsukasa in tow, she knew that she could have used the comm, but sometimes, things were better when done 'the old fashioned way.'

"Commander:" Patricia said as she resumed her seat behind the desk. "While I know it's unfair to compare you to your sister; I have to ask regardless: Has your sister given you any pointers in regards to personnel management?"

"I can't say that she has," Tsukasa replied. "I understand we've had a few crew transfers."

"Then let this be your first lesson, Commander:" Patricia responded, placing the PADD with Commander Bakshi and Major Aurelius' transfer orders on it in front of Tsukasa. "Commander Bakshi and Major Aurelius have both been reassigned. With Lieutenant Kogami still in no state for even light duty, it's safe to say that right now, we have a dangerous hole in tactical when we're heading straight into a tactical-heavy situation."

Patricia sighed.

"I can ask Lieutenant Ezazzan to pull double duty in the short term, but it'll only be a band-aid fix." She explained. "For a long term solution, we're in need of a new doctor; because I need my tactical officer back."

"How are we going to get people out here?" Tsukasa asked. "Its not like we're stopping by any space ports anytime soon. The last of our supplies had to be ferried to us by the Ermiana."

"Well, the first thing to know about being first officer is that there is no manual for it: If the Captain asks something of you that seems impossible, you better damn well find a way to-!" Patricia began before remembering the Ermiana. "Wait a minute; weren't there supposed to be personnel the Ermiana ferried to us as well?"

"Yes, but these slots are still vacant" Tsukasa replied. "You haven't selected anyone yet..."

"Well, let's take a look at the manifest." Patricia said. "Surely, there's got to be someone we can appoint as our replacement doctor..."

"Lieutenant Araala comes to mind." Tsukasa said in response.

"Araala, let's see..." Patricia said, looking over the manifest. Fortunately, the name began with an A and was near the top of the list. "Well, she's another Betazoid, so that'll make for a more seamless transition..."

"How so?" Tsukasa asked. "I went off their qualifications..."

"In my experience, I find that the handoff of a department head position is easier if predecessor and successor belong to the same species." Patricia explained. "For instance, I replaced a retiring Vulcan as the Sandusky's Chief of Security, and while I'm sure Tibok was good at his job, I heard nothing but praise from his subordinates whom I inherited, but the man's logical placement of everything was nothing short of infuriating during the transitional period. There were habits that I had to break in my department staff if I wanted to make any meaningful changes to the way things were done. Compare that to my Fort Wayne service, where I served under a fellow human and we were able to get into a natural flow state easier."

"Species doesn't mean anything..." Tsukasa said. "Qualifications and experience speak for themselves. Afterall we're all individuals..."

"You're right, and I'm probably overthinking things again..." Patricia grumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Damn, I knew being a Captain was going to be hard, but being a captain during an emergency is damn near impossible!"

"I don't think so," Tsukasa said with a smile. "You just need to keep a cool head and think things through. The first rule is not to panic and to think about your crew." She explained.

"I suppose you're right." Patricia said. "Maybe being cooped up in here doing paperwork is driving up my stress levels. Perhaps you'd be interested in going for a little walk with me? There's one place on the ship I haven't seen yet, but I'm damn excited to; and I think it might better explain why I'm taking this so damn seriously."

Tsukasa smiled. "Sure, a change of scenery always helps."

"Excellent. I was hoping you'd say yes." Patricia responded.

To be continued...

RSS Feed