In The Hot Seat

Posted on Wed Apr 29th, 2015 @ 8:50am by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Lieutenant Hope Beckman & Commander Patrick Leroy

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Admiral Wegener's Office
Timeline: Current

* * * Admiral Wegener’s Office * * *

Having just left Lucius’ office, Rick had only two things to do before heading back to his quarters and kicking his feet up for a few hours. The first was to speak to Hope.

He strode past her desk and said, “I need you for a moment.”

Internally, Hope got butterflies in her stomach. When he spoke like that, it was never a good thing. She locked her console, grabbed a PADD and walked in after him, making sure the doors closed after her.

“I don’t have much time,” he said as he sat and tapped a few commands into his console. On the way to his office he’d had Raymond ask Admiral Cruzado to delay shutting Rick out of the command mainframe just long enough to transfer control over and to temporarily suspend some working projects. It appears that it was granted. “I can’t tell you much, but I can tell you that I am suspended from command duties until further notice. Admiral Hawke and I are under investigation. Unfortunately, due to your position, I cannot give you any time off. Commander Leroy will be here soon and he’ll have to take over my position until Li gets back. He’s a hell of an officer, but he’s in charge of one department, not all of them, and will likely need your help.”

He flopped into the chair and huffed. Looking at her, and seeing the concern in her face, he said, “Look, Hope, don’t worry about it. It’s all a bunch of bullshit anyway. But I need you to keep your head on and do your job. Got it?”

She nodded silently. “Admiral, I--”

He held up his hand. “It’s just Rick now. Suspended means no rank. Besides, I like you enough to let you call me that.” He smiled trying to cheer her up some. It didn’t work.

“Sir,” she said.

He rolled his eyes.

She continued, “I’ve served under you for a long time. I can guarantee that the charges are false. I’ll be busy, but I will do anything you need to help make this go away.”

She was such a good kid, he thought to himself. “You don’t know how much that warms my heart, Hope. But,” he said, slapping his hands on the arms of his chair and standing, “this is some pretty hairy stuff from back in the day. I don’t want you anywhere near it. You have so much promise that I couldn’t bear to see your record tarnished in any way because of me.”

“Still…” she countered.

Standing by her chair, he took her hand. “I do appreciate it, but I’ve made my decision on it. I need you here with Leroy, at least until Li gets back.”

He could tell she didn’t like it, but she nodded anyway. “Okay...Rick.” A mischievous grin spread across her face, like she’d been told a grand secret in getting to say his first name.

“Go on,” he said, shooing her out. “Get out of here and send the Commander in immediately.”

“Will do, Rick,” she said again, laughing out loud now.

He stood at the replicator a moment and walked away with a few items. One of which was a large glass of iced tea.

Barely putting ass to seat, the office doors opened and Lt. Commander Patrick Leroy walked in.

“Ah, right on time,” Rick said as he sipped his tea. “Please, have a seat. I have some good news and some bad news and I don’t have much time to talk about it.”

“Admiral.” Leroy nodded briefly, doing then as was told taking the seat in front of the desk.

Being convened into the Admiral’s office so hastily was unusual to say the least and Patrick’s mind lingered briefly on the ‘bad news’ part of Wegener’s speech but also a little on the ‘good’ part for, more often than not, those news labeled good were just more bad ones in disguise. Trying to be as detached as possible he disposed himself to listen.

“I’ll give you the bad news first,” Rick said. “Lucius Hawke and I have both been suspended from any command or Starfleet activity pending a very hush-hush investigation. I can’t go into it for matters of security, but...and here comes the good news, you’ve been promoted to acting CO of 900.”

Leroy’s left brow twitched, once, while inside he felt as if Wegener had just given him both barrels… Point blank. Admiral Wegener was no man to beat around the bush, this Leroy always knew. This thing, though, had come totally unexpected.

It had appeared that the information took Patrick aback. So, Rick tried to humorously say, “Surprise!” He failed in the humor department.

A wide range of emotions coursed through Patrick starting from sheer surprise passing to pride and ending at last with uneasiness as he found himself now in a quandary. Far to be a man that steps back on responsibility, the idea of running an Immense-Class starbase on a such short notice seemed to him daunting. Also, he felt to be lacking the experience in leadership that could be garnered in Command branch or the technicalities so badly needed to keep the gear well-oiled and running that were typical of Operations branch.

Nevertheless this was the moment he never thought that would have come and, he realized, The Admiral was expecting his response.

“...”

“Uh, anyway,” Rick continued, “more good news, I guess.” He was trying to rush through because he was sure Patrick needed to get started on any number of things that may be piling up. “Since 900 is so massive, and because of the unique command infrastructure, you are being given a brevet promotion to Commander. If this were more temporary, it wouldn’t matter your rank, but this may be a much longer temporary command than most are, especially since we don’t really know when Captain Hawke will return.”

Shaking off his amazement Leroy finally got hold of the words “Even devoid of details I understand this is a time of deep crisis for 900... I’m honoured and I’ll do my best, Admiral, to avoid to have you disappointed.”

“I’m sure you’ll do your best,” Rick replied as he handed Leroy the other item he’d gotten from the replicator--a third full gold rank pip. “Lt. Beckman, out in the foyer, is aware of what’s going on and has been instructed to assist you in any way she can. Now, I have already transferred acting command over to you. Li will be able to assume command once she returns and you will need to find someone to replace you as acting XO and, if you haven’t already done so, someone to replace you as Chief Science Officer.”

Rick smiled as everything he’d said was sinking in. “It’s quite a bit, I know, but Hope knows how I do several things and I’ve tapped out a few notes in case you need to refer to them.”

He was done. He’d dumped what seemed like a metric ton of information on him, but it couldn’t be helped. He waited for a response and hoped that he hadn’t cracked the man like an egg.

Inspiring deeply Patrick scrolled quickly the bulk of informations on the padd the Admiral had offered him at the same time he had his brain set in motion to manage the handover of Galileo Center “I think Lieutenant Rutheridge is qualified to assume control of most of the operations going on in Science Department, he did well in my absence. Perhaps is a heavy burden if the period becomes too long... I could involve Lieutenant Sukotav in the moment he gets back to 900 and split the workload between them.”

Pausing an instant Patrick made some additional considerations “For the XO assignment I think the next in line will be fine” He ended, realizing an instant later that Kh’ali was to be the one as per chain of command. He looked up to the Admiral “That would be the Chief Diplomatic Officer…”

“Please don’t take this as being flippant or dismissive, but I don’t have much time to spare on going over any of this,” Rick said. “I realize that this is a less than ideal situation for us, but my hands are a bit tied here and I really need to vacate this office sooner rather than later.” He clapped Patrick on the shoulder. “I have the utmost faith in you, son. I know you’ll keep my base in good shape until I can return.” Before he walked out, he added, “Good luck, Commander.”

“Thank You Admiral” Patrick replied standing from the seat “I look forward to see you back in command soon.”

-----------------------------------
Admiral Ricky Wegener
Passing the Buck

Lt. Hope Beckman
Under New Management

Commander Patrick Leroy
Receiving The Hot Potato