While I'm away Part 1

Posted on Fri Jul 1st, 2016 @ 9:27am by 1st Lieutenant Leroy Mangalia & 2nd Lieutenant Jae Drani & Ensign S'rren "Hobbes"

1,105 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Point of View
Location: Leroy's office
Timeline: Current

ON:

Leroy was picking after sending in his papers for recruitment on Earth. It felt odd with his new 1LT rank, and it almost seemed to itch but he could live with that. "S'rren and Jae to my office please," he said over the fighter intercoms to the bustling hive that was his domain. "Bonay, Wedge, you two are on deck."

Jae was going over an inspection of her fighter with her crew chief when the call came for her over the intercom. "It wasn't me, I swear," she joked, grinning at her crew chief who laughed. "Carry on, sergeant."

"Aye, ma'am" Sgt. Imahara replied as Jae walked towards Leroy's office.

A moment later Jae entered the office. "You wanted to see me?"

S'rren entered the Sergeant's office with his fur coated almost head to toe in grease. Despite his appearance, the Caitian smiled broadly to both the Lieutenant and Sergeant, clearly not suffering any indignity.

"Well it's good to see someone getting some work done," Leroy said nodding to the Catian. "This is going to be brief. I have to leave for a short amount of time for personal and Corps business. I have a rotation back on earth, and while I'm gone Bojay is going to be in charge, with Phoenix as his assistant. If you think there are going to be any issues please speak up. If anything major happens and I need to be contacted I can be found somewhere near 001 once I get there."

Jae bit her lip to keep from snapping at the Master Sergeant. Just because she wasn't covered in grease didn't mean she wasn't doing work. She felt insulted by Leroy's comments--something she would let him know about in private. However, she had no issues with the command change. She was new to the squadron.

"No issues here." S'rren said as he folded his hands behind his back. "They fly a tight wing."

"Drani?" Leroy asked looking at the woman. "If there's something please go ahead and say it. We all know how I run my wing, it's like a family. I know you haven't exactly had a lot of time in our sandbox but I want to hear what you have to say."

Drani was silent for a moment. "Very well. I have no issues with the change of command as both pilots seem to be competent but how about giving me a break. Are you so hard on everyone? Before I'm even on the ship, you threaten me, then ignore me in the lounge before being attacked by a holo dragon, and now I get the feeling, without reading your mind, that you have been ignoring my efforts aboard ship." Jae's empathic powers weren't as developed and strong as Victoria's and she hated reading others thoughts without their permission.

"To answer your first question, yes I am hard on everyone." Leroy stood, folding his arms behind his back. "I've worked extremely hard to make sure that this flight group is the pride of the federation and I need to make sure that everyone is doing their part." Looking pointedly to S'rrenn he nodded. "Ensign S'rrenn here is covered in grease and other lubricants that we find in our fighters all the time, as I am normally. I'm not saying that you get dirty when working on your bird, but a pristine uniform doesn't gain you any points here. As to when you first came here, our ship was dead in the water. There were no communications active to either myself or anyone else to expect your arrival, and when you came close enough there were no transponder readings that my shuttle grabbed saying that you were federation. We were in possibly hazardous territory protecting our home, and if you had been anything close to a threat I would not have waited to destroy the fighter you were in.

"We are not always able to tell the difference between a rouge pilot," Leroy said as he began pacing. "A Marquis spy, or someone that had gotten lost in the sector. Since my scanners are not near as powerful as the ones that the Calypso have, I had no way of making sure you were who you said you were from the distance." Stopping he looked at the woman with a dead pan expression. "As to ignoring your contributions to this flight and this ship they have not been ignored. I am not the type of CO that blasts peoples good deeds for all to hear. This undermines the morale of my team, and of the flight all together. Should you gain Ace pilot* status, which hasn't been done by any member of this flight so far, then you will be formally recognized to the crew and this flight as one."

"Very well," Jae said simply. "There is nothing else."

"If anyone has anything to say my door is always open. This has always been my position. If you have issues with your team lead then come to me. Problems with another pilot? Come to me and we will settle it. If you have a problem with the way I run this flight then please speak up." He stopped pacing and looked at both of his pilots. "Since I don't know how long my rotation back to Earth is going to be, I will set up a rotation of each of the four of you as Flight Lead in my absence. I'm more interested in making sure that morale is up and that my pilots are well taken care of than I am myself. Phoenix is going to stay as the XO during my departure, then when I get back I will revisit who does what.

"We all know that I'm not always able to launch when everyone else does, and I want a good grounded squad leader for when I split the flight in half. Objections?"

"No objections," Jae replied.

"None here." S'rrin stated simply.

"Then you're dismissed," Leroy said looking to both of his pilots. "While I'm gone I will be checking in, so please tell me if anything is going wrong. I can always come back sooner if need be."

OFF:

1st Lieutenant Leroy Mangalia
Flight Leader

1st Lieutenant Jae Drani
Pilot

Ensign S'rren Hobbes
Pilot


* Ace Pilots have a certain number of flight hours and combat missions that include no less than 30 fallen combatants of the attacking side. Mostly achieved in war, this is also achievable in a long and distinguished career spanning several years and are stack-able from ship to ship. Leroy only has six pilots confirmed from his own phaser assaults.

 

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