Regulations, Schmegulations!

Posted on Wed May 20th, 2015 @ 12:45pm by Ensign Corrine Steiner
Edited on on Sun Jul 12th, 2015 @ 3:51pm

Mission: Blooming Friendships
Location: Ops Center, USS Wainwright

[ON]

A starbase duty officer had hustled over to USS Wainwright to pull aside the Bos'n in charge of cadets. He was nervous that Ferengi and Klingon incidents involving Cadet Jasmine were soon to hit the proverbial fan.

The veteran bos'n was patient and not prone to overreact. The 'sergeant' in his blood kept focus on the practical. "So what's the problem, here?"

For a moment, the surprised duty officer took that as a dense answer, "It's obvious!"

"Let me ask you. Who struck the first blow?"

"The Klingon female."

"Was anybody killed or maimed?"

"Well, no."

"Did the Klingon file a complaint?" The bos'n pressed, "Have ever heard of any Klingon complaining about a fight?"

The frustrated duty officer sighed hard, "But Cadet Jasmine used a weapon on her!"

The bos'n stared blankly for a few moments. "Given that our little petunia probably wouldn't stand a chance, hand-to-hand, she kind of had to."

"But it's some sort of unreported weapon!"

The bos'n's expression became pained, "What woman do you know who advertises her security woobie?"

"But it should be an authorized phaser one!"

That earned another blank stare. "You're kidding me, right? I tell you what. Why don't we test that out? You pull your phaser on an angry Klingon and escalate stun settings until you find the one that works! If you can do that before he makes a twelve foot leap and tears you apart, then I'll be impressed." His tone changed from sarcasm to earnest, "Guy... look at our sweet, delicate little Jazz. She's a bully magnet. If she needs an advantage to level the battlefield, then I say let her have it."

"But regulations!-"

"-Would you stifle about regulations? Regs work for closed environments, tea totaling inner sphere starbases and ships. But not when they collide out here in the wild frontier. There's another factor you need to consider, here... Chief Steiner. She's on a rampage right now, wants to hang Ferengi from the yardarm for hassling Jazz." The bos'n cleared his throat and stared off for a moment, "Not that I'd oppose it..." He resumed eye contact and offered an unnerving smile, "I recommend you don't pick on her favorite Shokirian."

"We can't allow favoritism, even with a chief!"

The bos'n closed his eyes in a groan of frustration. "We're not... connecting, here." After rubbing hard at the back of his own neck for a moment, he tried a different angle, "Look. Steiner is under special protective duty. Fleet black ops gunned her down right in front of Captain Von in CIC... nearly killed her. Cap won the tug of war and now Steiner works for her." He leaned close with raised brows, "There is a very good chance that Cadet Jasmine is slated to be part of her security."

The duty officer stared off, "That would explain the special toys."

The bos'n nodded, "My guess is, you're gonna get swat if you stick your nose into this one. If the cadet were a Klingon? Heck yes, brig 'em to teach 'em. But a Shokirian?" He shook his head, "You can bet latinum that they won't fight unless it's last resort."

The d.o. relented with a sigh, "Okay. I won't bang the reg drum this time."

He gave a hard slap to the shoulder, "Good man."

[OFF]

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Generic NPC's [P: Steiner]
Starbase 332
Pegasus Fleet