[Taking Charge] -- [Security, Kirk, Spock, ???]

[kirktastic]

Jim called them together - all of the men who were supposed to be guarding Nero and Ayel, who were supposed to have been feeding them, should have searched them. Harris, the head of security, and anyone else who should have been guarding them.

He was going to crack some heads together.

They had completely disregarded his orders about the prisoners: have them searched, feed them vegetarian meals, don't let anyone into their cells, don't drop the field. All four of them had been violated. He would see someone pay for it.

He looked to Spock, who seemed tense. Maybe he was just as angry as he was in his Vulcany way. Maybe he was mad Kirk was even bothering to discipline the people who had been making Nero and Ayel's lives a little more miserable. Sometimes Most of the time Jim couldn't even figure out what was going on in Spock's head.

"Should be here, soon. Going to wait until everyone's in the room before we start."

Comments

[anon-crewperson.livejournal.com]

"I was also up in my office dealing with a personnel issue," Mercado responded. "Something that should have been okayed weeks ago. If I had been down there, you can bet they'd have suffered a full body invasive cavity search." He didn't quite manage to keep the sheer hatred for the Romulans out of his voice. They'd blown up the ships, and tortured his Captain. And no one of course bothered to let Security do their job and help with rescuing the Captain. No, they had to go get folks from another dimension to do it. Security was pretty much the laughing-stock of the ship, and he'd had more transfer requests on his desk anyway from folks disillusioned with the Enterprise.

"Frankly sir, most of my crew would rather be in any other department from mine, so they're trying to get their asses transferred."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Dammit, you're Starfleet! You're supposed to be able to take charge down there- it falls on your shoulders if one of your crew doesn't follow orders! Something as important as this!? You know damn well who Nero and Ayel are, you should have made sure! Did you even think to ask, or did you just push off something so important onto someone who didn't matter as much?" Jim was pissed, and it was starting to show through heavily.

[anon-crewperson.livejournal.com]

"Yes I am Starfleet, sir," Mercado said, very stiff, very proper. "Which is why I take care of my own, first, and foremost, since no one else on this ship cares to."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim's entire body tensed up, froze in place. There was just a brief second of shock before it turned into a cold anger. "...what was that, Lieutenant?" His voice was level, even as he started to stand up.

[anon-crewperson.livejournal.com]

"I said, sir," Mercado stared evenly at his Captain. Maybe this would hurt his career, maybe not. At this point, he just wanted his Captain to hear it. "That your security department feels crapped on. Feels like they are the joke of your ship. Feels like no one else is going to watch out for them. So, sir. I try to take care of them myself, sir. If I remember right sir, I was arranging a religious day off for one of my crewmen that day that he put in a request for two months ago, that no one." Lt. Alexander. "Bothered to okay. I take full responsibility for my mistake in trusting them. But the only ones who haven't moonlighted to other departments, are pretty much the extremely loyal to you and unseasoned like Harris here. Of course, the fact your own crew doesn't bother to let us get seasoning has nothing to do with the matter."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"You had an entire shift to check into that. You didn't, and in the end Nero almost killed himself." He slammed his hands down on the table as he stood, "You know how I feel about them," the tattoos still pinked on his face, "but we're Starfleet, dammit. As an officer, you're supposed to be able to put that hatred aside and deal with orders as they happen! I know all this stuff happened thanks to Alexander not doing his damn duties and ending up as some drunkard, but you were promoted to fix up things down here! If they feel so 'crapped on' like you're suggesting, maybe security needs to step it up a notch! I can site a dozen times so far I've heard of some bullshit happening down here in the brig ALONE that shouldn't have happened, not to mention other places on this ship! I need members of security here who at least do their damn job and do it well."

Jim paused and looked to Harris, his voice calming, "I'm not blaming you for what happened, though you need more training."

[anon-crewperson.livejournal.com]

Mercado relaxed a little when it looked like Kirk wouldn't go after Harris. Harris was a good man and didn't need his Captain taking his head off. Just young.

"Then maybe you should tell me, when you hear about those breaches sir. Rather than expecting me to psychically know when my crew is screwing up. I'm only human, not Betazoid or Vulcan." He inclined his head respectfully towards the First Officer. "Sir. We would walk through fire for you. We were incredibly disappointed when we didn't get to do our job and come along to help get you back. But if we don't get feedback, we can't know what we're doing wrong."

[shoot4theface.livejournal.com]

Harris was a little perturbed to hear himself described as unseasoned, but it was certainly true that he could benefit from more training, if he was going to be stuck on brig detail for much longer. All of his previous experience prior to being transferred to the Enterprise had been as away team support. He missed it. The beautiful simplicity of just shooting things. And occasionally knocking science officers to the ground in the nick of time to keep them from getting shot. Good times.

Regardless, he knew enough to recognize that this was an excellent time to keep his mouth shut. So he did.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"If you paid attention, Mercado, you'd know about every one of those breaches. Every single time there was a breach, I have made sure a report has comes down to security. You weren't around for all of them, not in command for sure, but you were for this. You and I both know that Alexander is getting removed from this ship, and after this, give me one good reason the same shouldn't happen to you." Jim's eyes narrowed.

[anon-crewperson.livejournal.com]

He hadn't wanted the job in the first place. But he was better qualified for it than anyone else. "I haven't recieved any such reports sir. And because anyone else will have even less experience than me. Not to mention no one wants the job. What I could use is a someone to help get my paperwork under control, considering your First officer is sending me pointed reminders that Security is two quarters in arrears on their reports. Tell me which of my men are performing at less than optimal, and I'll start dropping by the brig on surprise inspections."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I'm telling you that you are performing less than optimal," Jim said tersely. "Because of your lack of attention to detail, the one of the prisoners managed to hurt himself and could have potentially hurt one of our crew."

He thought about the chilling report from Jim not that long ago, and let a breath hiss through his teeth, "Whose bright idea was it that the prisoners wouldn't be fed?"

[anon-crewperson.livejournal.com]

"That is the kitchens," Mercado said. He was not taking responsibility for other departments fucking up. "We give the prisoners what we're sent."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

...Bull. Shit. Jim wasn't even going to stand for that. "You are not going to push off responsibility onto someone else! Prisoners in the brig are your responsibility! Its security's job to make sure that people in the brig are taken care of, including making sure that they've been fed! If you're going to feed me some line about the kitchens, it still should have been your job to go make them give it to you! If you knew no food was coming down to them, even on your shift alone, you should have fixed the problem!"

[anon-crewperson.livejournal.com]

"Sir, as you are unhappy with the services I have tendered, I resign effective immediately and will inform the rest of security that they should resign as well. I will have a request for transfer to some other ship or Starbase on your desk as soon as possible," Mercado had had it up to here with the spoiled Captain who seemed to think Security was responsible for everything going wrong all over the ship. Maybe he'd assign one of those other dimensional people to lead it and crew it.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"Lieutenant." Through this entire meeting he had only managed to dull his hunger, not eliminate it completely. Now it seemed to worsen again as this crawled towards its conclusion. "Forward your request to my office instead, and I shall see it processed with the utmost efficiency."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Maybe Jim was just starting to learn Spock's ways as they spent more time together, but he actually glanced over his shoulder towards his first officer for just a second at the threat he was pretty sure he was hearing there. Was Spock just backing him up? Or did Spock mean it, angered by Mercado's indifference?

He turned back to look to Mercado, "Some people on this ship are happy actually doing their job and proud of it, despite the insanity that's been going on since we left Earth. I think more than anything, Security is sick of their officers being able to do their own jobs. Consider your resignation accepted, and you can leave ship when we reach New Vulcan. I think less of security will leave than you'll think, if any at all."