Just the Facts...

Posted on Fri Sep 29th, 2017 @ 10:49am by

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Lawson's Office
Timeline: Current - Immediately after Senior Staff Briefing

ON:

Once the senior officers' meeting was over, Lawson headed back to his office for what he was sure was going to be another unpleasant duty - a conference with Lieutenant Bishara. When he arrived, his first instinct was to order a shot of Jack Daniels whiskey but he knew that a drink on the job was against regulations. 'Besides,' he thought, 'I'll probably have more need for it AFTER the meeting...'

He sat down at his desk, then opened the comm.

=/\= Lawson to Bishara - report to my office immediately. =/\=

Hawkeye was siting in her quarters reflecting on what her sister had told her and she figured it was time to settle down and deal with the repercussions that might come behind all of this bull shit. Her thoughts were interrupted by the comm. “Oh shit, now what the f***”, she said out loud. Turning to the computer she commed him back, “Yes Commander...be there in a few minutes, Bishara out”, she said. This wasn’t going to be a good meeting and she knew it but she had to prepare for it and so she took the time to meditate before she took a shower and got dressed. Saying a small prayer she left her quarters and headed out for Lawson’s office. Arriving...she adjusted her uniform...took a deep breath...cleared her mind, ‘Only what needs to be said and nothing more Hawk...remember what sis said...about being for my benefit and not about my efficiency or ability as a pilot...about following orders and I was wrong’, she said under her breath...hit the door chime and waited.

"Enter..." he called out when he heard the chime.

She entered, and her mind suddenly went all Vulcan in an instant. Only logic took its place and for once she was thankful that it was still there to be depended on in a pinch.

"At ease and have a seat, Lieutenant..." he said, his voice calm and slow. "It seems we have much to discuss."

“Yes sir, we do”, she said and sat down never losing eye to eye contact with Lawson. He had gotten slightly older with time but it wasn’t really noticeable. She had guessed that he was a bit upset but she figured that it was for a good reason.

Once she was seated, he fixed her with a direct look for about thirty seconds. His expression was deadly serious as he studied her. "I'm told that there is conflict between yourself and your squadron leader, Commander Muller. I've heard her side of it - tell me what the facts are as you see them."

Taking a deep but slow breath she began, “Well sir, as you know, Cobra...I mean Muller, and I have had bad blood in the past and to be honest I didn’t think at the time that she was being fair in evaluating me on my performance. On the Pathfinder, it was, in my opinion at that time, that she was the one who was flying in a loose formation and I told her to tighten it up. That led to our...disagreement on several things and well...as you can imagine it didn’t get any better. I asked for a transfer out of the unit and much to my relief...but not after a long wait...I got it. When the group was transferred to the Wellington, I was already here and well...sir...since my departure from the Pathfinder, I have been flying my ass off out here. Now, I was wrong to circumvent the sim that she had for me but it was my belief that it was not a true test of my flying capabilities. I felt the need to show her that I had indeed grown up as she put it and was not thinking about the consequences would be at that time. However, now I do see the error and for that I am truly sorry. I don’t suppose that saying to you that it won’t happen again would do anything to deter you from grounding me but I have to say that I won’t do that again. Sir, if there is anything I have learned in the last few years it would be that letting my emotions get the best of me in any situation is not good at all and can lead me to do and say things that would jeopardize the lives of anyone involved in the process. I believe that I have now gotten a handle emotions and will endeavor to keep them in check in the future. Sir, I have been a pilot for to long and if I have to prove to you that I can cut it out here I would be happy to do so. All I ask is that you give me the chance to prove it and flying with third year cadet training sims is not the way. Out here we do have to...and if you excuse my phrase...fly by the seat of your pants...flying that you have to do so. Sometimes you don’t have the luxury to fly by the book in dog fighting and you have to make split decision moves and if you rely on academy flight training, it could me the difference between life and death of not who you are flying with but others you are trying to protect. With that being said, I can’t help but think that maybe you have a problem with me in the fact that we could be related somehow and that maybe it would be an error for me to assume that you would hold me for the...well...death of my late husband. I don’t know why I think like that...maybe it is because both families have so many generations in Starfleet Flight that maybe I am reaching...but I have to know...do we have any type of relationship?”, she finished and maybe it was also the finish of her career. All she could do was wait and see what the commander had to say.

When she had finished, Lawson had to admit that things had not gone exactly as he had thought they would. She had not been nearly as argumentative and defensive as he had thought she would be. But be that as it may, he knew he could not let her insolence with Commander Muller go unaddressed. "Lieutenant, I know that, when you and Cobra were on the Pathfinder you were equal in rank. However, that, as you well know, is no longer the case. She is a Lieutenant Commander and your squadron leader which makes her by extension your immediate superior. You may resent the fact that she now out-ranks you but unfortunately that's just the way things played out. I understand that you, as you put it, 'flew your ass off', out here but I also know that she did as well. Since leaving the Pathfinder she has had five years of absolutely unblemished service. Every fitness report submitted to her file have been rated 4.0 - a perfect score. And to cap it all, she graduated first in her class at flight training, so she has earned the position she now holds. In my opinion, you should consider yourself damn lucky to have her for a squadron leader."

Listening to him, she realized he was not really interested in her account of what happened and she just left it at that.

"To be honest, if I had been the one in her place and you had changed MY sim, I would have grounded your ass right then and sent you to the CAG with the recommendation that you be transferred so fast you would have thought you were never here!" he said sharply. "What you did was not only disrespectful, it was damned near insubordinate and could have gotten you a Captain's Mast at the least or a General Court Martial at the worst. As a matter of fact when I was made aware of this, my first instinct was to immediately relieve you of duty and have you confined to quarters - but I'm not going to do that. Do you know why?" It was a rhetorical question and as such he did not give her time to answer. "Because Muller recommended that I not do it. I asked her if she wanted me to ground you and she said no, so you may have more of a friend in her than you know. Do you know why she's being a hard-ass?" Another rhetorical question. "Because it's her JOB to be a hard-ass, that's why! When I was a lieutenant on the Walden, I had what I thought at the time was the unholiest son of a bitch for a squadron leader that ever walked the deck of a starship. But I later realized that some of the things that he pounded into my thick skull served to pull my ass out of the fire on more than one occasion. So if you'll just pull in your horns and listen occasionally you might realize that Muller actually knows what she's talking about. And if you're not careful, you might learn something." He stopped speaking long enough to make an entry on his computer. "I'm letting you off with a warning this time. As for the next time... well, there had best not BE a next time because if there is I promise you I will not be nearly so generous. Is that clear, Lieutenant..."

"Yes sir", was all her mind would say at this point, remembering what T"Lar had said about the chain of command.

"And a couple of other things. One, your account of what happened on the Pathfinder and Commander Muller's account differ somewhat. Her recollection is that it was you flying a loose pattern that caused Cooper to be shot down in the simulation. And as for being related..." He shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. Just because your late husband's name happened to be Lawson doesn't mean a whole lot. On Earth Lawson is not a particularly uncommon name so even if your husband was related to me it would most likely be so distant as to be inconsequential. Now, before we are done, do you have any questions?

"No sir", she said. "I meant no disrespect sir...", she added and fell silent again.

"In that case we are done here," he said as he sat back in his chair and looked at her. "Go and sin no more..."

Getting up...snapping a quick salute..."Thank you sir", she said and headed out of his office.

OFF:

Commander Harold Lawson
Commander Aerospace Group (CAG)
USS Wellington

Lieutenant T'Lisha "Hawkeye" Bishara
Flight Leader
USS Wellington