How The Mighty Have Fallen

Posted on Fri Aug 10th, 2018 @ 10:19am by

1,742 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Emerald Road
Location: First Officer's Office

Following the altercation between the group of troublesome pilots and himself Zan had not only taken the wings from one of them but grounded them too. This was a logistical nightmare since the pilots formed part of the combat wing he commanded. Now he was down some pilots and no pilots meant no birds in space doing what they had to. That meant corrective action had to be taken and taken quickly.

At the assigned time and place the group of pilots were waiting outside the First office's office. Zan was but a minute behind them. "Alright, I trust you have each had a long considerate night to contemplate what happened? How you conducted yourselves and how that kind of superior than thou attitude just won't float here."

Zan gave a little pause to let the moment sink in. "Now, because I have grounded you I've had to report that to the Commander and sufficed to say it's doubtful she will welcome you with a hug, a sofa to sit on and a coffee to go with it. Sufficed to say that it won't go well for you but consider that it is better her, than the Commodore."

Another pause. "Right now, my squadron's capability has been compromised because a group of new arrival hot shots decided to walk all over everyone. My department can regain that strength, I apply for new pilots the moment we get back. For you guys however its much worse and behind those doors, is worse. So reap what you sow gentlemen." Zan then chimed the door to let the Commander know they were present.

Reading yet another report of insubordination being tossed across her desk to deal with further disciplinary action made Anika see red. Rubbing her temples with her fingertips, she could only heave a sigh and deal with the task at hand- discipline. What is WRONG with this ship?

"Enter!"

"In." Zan spoke as he trailed the group of pilots. Already he could see the Commander was less than happy at the situation. "Commander, the group I mentioned in my report." From the looks of them Zan could see they knew they were in deep, they had crossed a line and it wouldn't be a happy ending for them if they were going to stay on the ship like they hoped it.

Normally she would refer to them all as gentlemen, but they weren't behaving like gentlemen, so she used the moniker that best fit them. Pushing herself up from her desk, with her palms flat on the glass. "Lieutenant...Boys." When her gaze fell upon them, her eyes darkened into flinty pebbles.

Zan stepped aside away from the group of troublesome pilots, these boys were about to find out how standards were on board the ship and how wildly varied they were in their tiny deluded little minds. His report was detailed, quotes and all. He knew they would be lucky to stay on board by the time they got back to Earth but that was out of his hands now.

"You have three minutes to explain to me what you thought you were doing." she growled, her piercing gaze touching each pilot.

"Commander, I think there has been a misunderstanding." One of the pilots chirped up.

Zan knew how well that was going to go down.

"We just graduated from Flight, assigned to the ship...." He knew even that sentence didn't help a case so he stopped himself.

"You just graduated thinking just because you were in the top 2% you thought you were all high and mighty and could walk over anyone you saw?" Zan spoke.

Silence greeted him in response.

Annika tapped her stylus against her lips "Perhaps I should have said, you have three minutes to convince me that I shouldn't throw you all off my ship at the next port, and replace you all with pilots that have more than one brain cell between the lot of them."

Zan had actually made his recommendation that they be removed from the ships company as soon as they returned. A group like that was a poison to the larger group and the introduction they made had not gone down well with the others in the department.

"We can't Commander." One pilot spoke.

"Nothing can excuse what we did." The Lieutenant spoke, the ring leader of the group, the one that sized up Zan in the first place.

Maturity was not what she was expecting from this group of hotshots, she'd been expecting excuses and she'd not gotten them. Interesting. Her eyebrows raised slightly and she indicated that they continue.

There was nothing to continue with, they knew they did wrong and they also knew it would cost them, one of them especially. Zan stood there knowing that everything in his report was accurate and included another statement from one of the ground crew on a previous encounter. Zan sighed, as much as he needed pilots these were not the ones he wanted nor needed.

"I hope you appreciate the situation you have put me in gentlemen. On paper you're good pilots, and since we're flying into what can only be a wicked battle we need good pilots. However, your aptitude as team players remains to be seen and quite frankly I wouldn't trust a one of you to protect this ship and her crew adequately. One hotshot trying to prove him or herself in a battle scenario can cause disaster. How many deaths do you want on your conscience? How do you think it feels gentlemen, to pull your buddies broken body out of a crashed bird?"

Silence as the message sank in. Zan knew she was right, one mistake was all it took. He knew removal from the ship would need the Commodores approval but considering what happened, he didn't see that would be a problem once the First Officer weighed in. It was plain to see the message was received, they had messed up and they knew it, for all the high grades and remarks on file they had tossed it all out of the airlock.

"Let me paint a picture for you gentlemen." her voice got hard, and took on an edge of memory. "Youre showing off, hotdogging and something goes wrong. If you're lucky...you don't go down on top of any of your own men. But if you're not...you hit with groundshaking impact. Smoke and heat fill your cabin, and if you're conscious, maybe you can pull yourself out. Yelling for your copilot gets no response but you can't see why. Someone is screaming, and it's unlike anything you've ever heard. World ending, gut tearing screams of agony that you can only endure until the smoke clears. The flames, kissing the face of your best friend whose eyes are blank and lifeless and his face is locked in his last scream. There's more screaming, but you don't realize that the screams you hear echoing on the bulkheads are your own, because you're not really processing the physical pain yet, only the loss. But you have to get out, before you die. Carry on in the chaos and fight. Because this...is All. Your. Fault Because of your arrogance, your friends are dead, or worse. It's months before you can eat meat again, because all you can see when you try to cook it it is your best friend's burned face, or the civilian you landed on. It looks too much like someone you knew. What do you think gentlemen. How does that sound?"

More silence. She'd painted a pretty horrific picture and perhaps for some of the pilots they knew sooner or later the collective attitude or the groups antics would attract the attention of someone bigger.

Zan remained silent even after the troubling image described to him. He wondered what she would do, keep them or follow his suggestion and toss them when they got back to earth.

"Now, right at this moment the only two things saving your sorry careers is your scores and the fact that were too far away from Earth for me to put you off. You were the top of your class, and I don't waste talent. The stupidity we'll beat out of you if necessary. " Something told her it would be necessary and she had the perfect man for the job.

"I have grounded them currently. If you request l can reinstate them but l have indicated that l will be breaking up this group." Zan hoped that by doing that it would break the temptation for a repeat performance without the support of the others around.

Nodding slowly Anika walked in front of the line of men, before finally speaking "At ease gentlemen."

The group of pilots stood easy but they knew the situation was anything but.

"Now, in the spirit of not wasting talent you are not going to be drummed out today ..here is what is going to happen. First: each of you will be placed separately into flight squadrons. You will not fly together, unless operation dictates that you must. Second: each of you will apologize to your respective squads for your behavior. I can't imagine they all like you very much, and I also can't imagine that you'll make friends quickly. Third: I will be sending you in with the Marines for a bit of fitness testing and extra training for an indeterminate amount of time. I realize that I will owe the Colonel a favor for this, so you'd best not disappoint me. Fourth: and this one may be the most important...if ANY of you put another toe out of line, you will be off this ship on the next Starfleet instillation. Are we clear?"

"Yes Ma'am." They all said in unison as they contemplated what she meant by training with the Colonel. Nothing good they suspected.

Zan however stood to the side in silence as judgement was passed, he knew the Colonel was not the easy sort against non marine personnel that were sent to him. That didn't however stop the smirk on his face when he saw the faces of the pilots drop. "I can take them to the Colonel now if you wish?"

"You may, please do keep me up to date on your status. Dismissed!" She turned her back on them all, disgusted at having to mete out punishment yet again.

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