after his demotion

Posted on Wed Jun 9th, 2021 @ 11:45am by Lieutenant Simon Stevens & Lieutenant Amelia Gordon

1,557 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Getting started
Location: Simon's Quarters
Timeline: Day 1 SL1 10:00 Hrs

[On]

After his demotion to Lieutenant, Simon Stevens had been given the position of Strategic Operations officer on the Siren. Although it was better than being drummed out of the Service, the question that was rolling around inside his head was who had made up this story that he had been involved with the destruction of the Oberth Class USS Siren. And yet he had served on that ship along with Rian, but still, the question remains who wanted him stopped from climbing the Ladder to Captain and why? Just then his terminal chimed and Simon rose from his rose coloured Sofa and walked over to his terminal.

Upon tapping in his codes, Simon saw five words in big letters scrolling across the screen. It read “WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID” as it flashed for a few minutes. Simon managed to copy it to a folder. Just as he copied the folder onto a Data PADD the message suddenly vanished. He thought to himself oO Who knew and what did they know? Oo continuing in thought oO and when did they know and why are they doing this to me Now? Oo as he began to rub his chin.

But now he was no longer part of the senior staff, but a lowly junior officer, Simon now had to prove himself not only to Rian but to Starfleet Admiralty but what the hell did Strat Ops do? As he wondered about his new job, he looked up the description and found that it was Part intelligence Part Security and that meant working with the Security chief, however; the last Security chief and he never saw eye to eye as he rose from his seat and headed to the Mess hall to get some food, he wondered what shift he was going to be on and for that he would need to speak with Rian, but after the last talk they had, Simon wondered if he would even listen to him.

As he exited his quarters and started walking down the corridor of the Sovereign Class Starship, although the smaller Oberth ship that bore the same name as this one had perished at the battle of Avalon station, Yes he had been in command at one point, but when in the mists of Battle you have to make choices and those choices may be right or wrong but you can not second guess yourself. And now maybe some of those choices had cost him the XO position, but the reports that had come back were that his actions may have contributed to the destruction of the Oberth class Siren. Just then he felt someone bump into him.

Diane Morrison had her eyes locked onto a PADD in her hands as she moved quickly down the corridor. Her uniform identified her as an engineering ensign. She apparently didn’t see the other officer as he exited his room and quite literally walked right into him. With a small cry of surprise, her forward momentum caused her to stumble and she felt herself falling.

As Simon reached out and grabbed hold of the Ensign to stop her from falling, He said “Are you, alright Ensign...?” as he noticed the solitary Pip on her collar as now he had only the two solid gold pips on his own collar, as she had not long bumped and him with her looking down at some PADD. as he wondered who she was and hoped she would tell him.

Diane was saved from bodily injury by the man’s quick reflexes. She righted herself quickly and stepped back a little, “I am so sorry sir, I am still learning my way around.” She held out her hand in greeting, “Thank you for the save. I’m Ensign Morrison, and I am really sorry. I should learn to watch where I am going instead of trying to follow the schematics on the PADD.”

“Where are you going to? Asked Simon looking at the Ensign as he had to go visit the new Chief Medical officer for his required physical, after all, he now had less work to worry about than he had yesterday, but that was not the point he had lost the trust of Rian.

Diane smiled shyly and looked down at her PADD, “Well, I am trying to find the best way to engineering. My duty shift starts in 15 minutes and I don’t want to be late on my first day.” She blushed a little, “I am sure you have other more important things to attend to, Sir. Again, I apologize for not watching where I was going.”

“Ah Well, Ensign, There is a turbolift round this corner,” replied Simon looking back at her as he was heading that way towards the lift, he finished, “that will take you to Main Engineering,” as he was not in the best of moods at the moment after the news that been given and now he had to find out who was sending him those messages and who had used his codes to implement him in the destruction of the Oberth class Siren.

Diane nodded and followed the officer to the turbo lift, “Thank you, Sir. I got lost twice just trying to find my quarters yesterday. This ship is just so… big! It’s not quite what I had imagined. It’s like living in a big city. And so many people, The academy was tiny compared to this.” It appeared that Diane was a nervous rambler by how she just kept talking as she followed the Lt into the lift. “We only had 30 cadets in my class, and I thought that was a lot, but, Wow. Seems like everywhere I look on this ship there are more people milling about than at the entire academy. I’m in engineering, but I guess I already told you that, didn’t I? What department do you work in? Have you seen the bridge? I bet it’s really cool up there. How long have you been in Starfleet?” The lift doors swished shut as the young woman asked the last question and paused to take a breath.

“I am Lieutenant Simon Stevens and I am in Strat Ops,” replied Simon after his demotion, as he still wasn’t in a talkative mood, he looked back at Diane, he said, “Ensign, I am not in the mood right now to be talking, “ as he didn’t want to snap at the young woman, as he was still angry at the way the O’Donague’s had not waited until after the investigation had been concluded, but he felt that they had jumped the gun with demoting him.

“Oh!” Diane said softly as she turned away and looked down at her boots, “Sorry Lieutenant.” She didn’t say another word, not even to designate her lift destination. She didn’t want Simon to dislike her from the get-go. But she had to be careful not to appear too eager either.

“I’m Sorry Ensign, I have just had a bad day that is all,” responded Simon as he knew that he had taken it out on this poor girl who was trying to be civil with him, and all he had done and losing his position and being professional and that of a Starfleet officer, but still he had to make some recompense, but he could not be seen as dating her as she was still an Ensign and dating below decks was frowned upon, but at this moment in time he did not care.

Diane merely nodded in response. She cleared her throat a little, “I am sorry your day has not been good, Sir,” she said with a small voice still keeping her eyes towards the ground. The lift had not yet moved since neither of them had given a destination yet. Diane appeared to be waiting for the senior officer to direct the lift to his destination first.

He said,” Quartermasters office,” as he still had not gone there as ordered as he was trying to calm his temper down and show that he could handle this bump in his career, but for him, he had a mission to complete and that was to find out who had used his codes to destroy the Oberth Siren and implicate him in that action.

Diane remained quiet as the turbolift began to move. She glanced over at the Lt a couple of times but did not engage him any further until the lift reached its destination. “I hope you have a better day, Sir,” She said with a small hopeful smile.

“Thank you Ensign, and I hope you do also,” replied Simon as he glanced over at the young woman as he exited the lift, Simon still was puzzled by the message he had received and who had sent it, now the mystery had begun but first he had to get his new uniform and Rank.

Diane smiled to herself and directed the lift to engineering. If someone checked the logs they would see what she wanted them to see. She raised the PADD in her hand and began to read over Lt Simon Stevens’ file once more.

OFF

Lieutenant Simon Stevens
Strategic Ops
USS Siren-A

&

Ensign Diane Morrison (NPC)
Engineering ..or is she?
USS Siren-A

 

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