Our Mr. Young
Posted on Sun Aug 9th, 2015 @ 8:00pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: Deck 318 - Personnel Offices
Timeline: Three days after El’Shar and Hope’s Departure
* * * Deck 318 - Personnel Offices - Three days after El’Shar and Hope’s Departure * * *
Rick hadn’t been able to handle any more shenanigans from Lt. (j.g.) Alan Young, Hope’s temporary replacement. Shenanigans may have been too strong a word, however. He simply wasn’t up to the task of replacing Hope in her position so quickly. Ideally, any actual replacement would need to spend almost a month with her just to scrape the surface of her duties and the nuances of working for an admiral. This had been a different situation, however, and it couldn’t be helped. But Rick’s temperament and sometimes quick anger was making his tolerance of Lt. Young something he wouldn’t be able to deal with much longer before he said something unbecoming of his position.
It was his off day, meaning Lt. Young was also off duty, but someone was always in the Personnel offices. Breezing through the doors of the large offices, a place he realized he hadn’t been in far too long, he stood patiently at the front desk.
A young-ish crewman was hurrying past the desk, obviously on his way to something work related, when he stopped, back-pedalled and his eyes went wide. “Admiral on deck!” he shouted as he stood at attention.
Everything stopped and became eerily quiet.
“As you were, everyone,” he said loud enough for most all to hear then turned his eyes to the man in front of him. “You have good eyes, Crewman…”
“Crewman Stephens, sir.”
“Crewman Stephens,” Rick replied. “As I was saying, good eyes, Mr. Stephens. I’m not even in uniform.”
“Everyone knows who you are, Admiral,” Stephens replied, relaxing a bit now. “Is there something I can help you with, or someone I can retrieve for you?”
“Actually, yes. I’m looking for a Lt. Barefoot. I need to speak with him about a recently filled position.”
Stephens nodded, walked briskly off to his left and disappeared behind the curve of one of the bulkheads. Within seconds he returned with Lt. Barefoot who had apparently already been on his way to the desk hearing that the Admiral was there.
“My apologies for taking so long, sir,” Barefoot said. “My office is near the back and it took me a bit to get up here. What can I do for you?”
Rick glanced at Crewman Stephens who, with a head jerk from Barefoot, disappeared again to leave the base commander alone with his department head.
“We need to have a discussion about Lt. Young, Mr. Barefoot. He’s...just not working out.”
A brief show of panic flooded Barefoot’s face but he soon regained his composure. “May I ask if he’s done anything incorrectly, sir? Or something against regulations?”
Rick smiled, just for a moment. “As for the latter, not at all. The former? Oh, absolutely. But I will contend that none of it is his fault whatsoever. Lt. Beckman, as you noted when I asked for a temporary replacement, has a most difficult position. It just seems that Young isn’t quite up to taking over her position, even for a few weeks.”
“I see, sir.”
“I have made every attempt to assist him but, with all of my work to be completed, I can’t babysit him,” Rick continued. “I admit that when Hope came to me so long ago I had to do just that, but I was the XO of one fleet, not the commanding officer of the entire Delta Quadrant.” He sighed. “In a perfect world I would have someone work with her for quite a while prior to any departures, but as you know, this one couldn’t have been helped.”
Barefoot nodded. “I understand, Admiral, and I’m so sorry for any inconvenience that he has caused. I’ll make sure to note this in his file.”
“No, you won’t, Lieutenant.”
“Sir?”
“Listen, none of this was his fault. Hell, even you may have had trouble taking on this position. What I want noted, and I will make an official record of this for you to add to his file, is that Mr. Young did everything in his power to fill a position that was completely foreign to him but, due to the hurried circumstances of him filling the position, it just was not possible. It is not to reflect poorly on his service record, am I clear?”
“Perfectly, sir.”
“By the way,” Rick said with a bit of a chuckle, “did you know that Mr. Young was a talented actor and singer?”
“I knew that he sang around the offices here, sometimes. Mostly to himself, but he does have a very nice voice. Why do you ask?”
“I happened to be at Broadway last night,” Rick said. “They were showing the musical version of Wicked and there was our Mr. Young performing the part of Fiyero. And he was very, very good!”
“I...had no idea, sir.” Barefoot smiled. “I may have to take in the next showing to see for myself!”
“I highly recommend it, if you have a chance. And, maybe to show a little camaraderie amongst his department, maybe find some of your personnel who might also want to attend? I’m sure he would be very surprised that you, and anyone else from Personnel, would show and hopefully thoroughly enjoy the show.” Rick quickly added, “That’s not an order, by the way. Just a suggestion.”
“I’ll definitely suggest it to my people, sir.” He pulled a small PADD from his pocket and began tapping commands. “Back to your reason for being here, sir--and honestly, Admiral, if something like this happens again, I would be more than happy to come to you--any advice on skills that would benefit in Lt. Beckman’s position would be welcome so I can try to narrow down the list and find someone more suitable.”
Rick thought a moment. This was a big request, essentially describing someone with Hope’s talents and skills, which she had many of. “They must be able to quickly adapt to any sudden change. And multi-tasking is a definite must, which goes hand-in-hand with the adapting. A strong work ethic, be professional but able to differentiate between the time to be professional and when a little latitude can be given--I like to be a bit informal sometimes. Not necessarily first name basis, but the person in that position is helping me so much that I feel that they should have a little leeway when it comes to interacting with me.”
Barefoot had been taking down everything Rick said. If he hadn’t been in charge of the department, Rick would have requested him, but it would have put a strain on Personnel if their department head suddenly got reassigned.
“That helps, sir. I should have a list for you in a few hours,” he replied, finally looking up from his PADD. “This time, it may be better if I send their service records for you to peruse so that you could make a final determination.”
With a quick nod, Rick said, “That will work just fine.” It would also take any fault of choosing the wrong person away from the Lieutenant and placing it on Rick’s shoulders. “Well, that should do it. I’ll let you get back to work, Lieutenant.”
“Ah, sir, just one more thing. Once Lt. Beckman returns, what would you think of implementing a sort of training program for her position? Or even for Ensign Sarkozi, Admiral Hawke’s aide? I could have a few personnel shadow both of them to learn what their duties and responsibilities are, as well as getting to know both you and Admiral Hawke, which may make things easier if another temporary replacement is ever required.”
“I can’t speak for Lucius, but I will speak to him about it. As for me, I think it is an amazing idea. Once Hope returns, I’ll brief her on it and have you send someone from this group you’ll be sending later up for training. When they’re done I may have you send a few more just so there are several cross-trained personnel.” Rick turned to leave then stopped and faced Barefoot again. “Excellent idea, Lt. Barefoot. Carry on.”
Barefoot was beaming. “Thank you, sir!”
Now out in the corridor, Rick smiled. “I’m glad that’s handled,” he thought to himself. As he stood waiting the arrival of a turbolift, his stomach growled. “I think I hear Portín calling my name.” The doors opened and he entered the lift. “Deck 273.”
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Admiral Ricky Wegener
Out With the New-ish, In With the Newer
