[Round 14] When things don't matter no more...

[Julia Harden]

OCC: I'm having a blast with this, Ramirez was able to get Rocar to raise his

voice! Now I know I'm simming good ol' Ram again lol

((Starbase 118 - Rocar's office))

Rocar: Oh I think that would be a little tough on lad, Lieutenant. Come now

Pedro, you've been reprimanded enough times to know it's not very nice when your

department head starts acting like a tyrant.

Ramirez: I'm not saying that to get him demoted, but it's either me kicking his

literal butt so he learns, or have him out of my sight for a while. There's

enough stuff going on in the labs that I need to take care

of and organize, I don't need a so-called scientific prodigy messing around not

doing his job because he doesn't feel like it.

Rocar: Very well.... if that's what you want....

:: The Ktarian picked up a blank padd and typed a few things into it before

handing the Chief Science Officer.::

Rocar: As of now I'm assigning Mister Orrey his own private science lab to use

how he sees fit. That should keep him out of your sight for a while.

Ramirez: Is that a joke?

Rocar: You proposed the two options Lieutenant... allow you to kick Orrey's butt

or keeping Orrey out of your sight -I'm keeping him out of your sight and you'll

be doing no "butt kicking" as you so poetically put

it.

::Rocar continued without giving the Chief Science officer a chance to

complain.::

Rocar: Now... moving swiftly on. tonight's social is actually important for the

new crew to get to know one another and make friends. I suggest you move quickly

to find a way to work with Ensign Orrey and make friends with him. The pair of

you are both here because I want Starbase 118's Science department to be known

throughout the fleet as being strong... not because I want to police you an

Orrey through a civil war. An open mic night sounds right up your street so why

not offer to lend a hand rather than complaining.

Ramirez: Well, I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to do my job. And I

wouldn't be "complaining" if the guy had done his job before going out to plan a

party.

Rocar: (calmly) Right... well, now before you leave, since we were on the topic

of butt-kicking... I'm very glad that you mentioned Mister Orrey's neglection of

duty in favour of organising a social event when you, his

superior, specifically asked him to analyze some toxic waste as part of an

investigation. An investigation I personally considered to be very important no

less.

Ramirez: My point exactly.

::Rocar stood up and started to pace behind his desk.::

Rocar: Well you see, Lieutenant, usually I'm far too busy to really pay much

attention to the Starbase's communication systems. But as chance would have it

we've been having a little trouble with an external signal drowning out several

of the subpace array's channels today. Its not a serious problem but enough to

raise concern. So, I just so happened to be focussing some of my time taking a

very close look at the COM systems earlier... including a close look at what

internal communications were taking place albeit only in specific parts of the

Starbase.

::The tall Ktarian stopped pacing and paused as he locked his catlike eyes on

his Chief Science Officer. There was no anger in his sharp stare, simply a look

of extreme disappointment. Ramirez didn't hesitate to lock sight with his

boss.::

Rocar: You can no doubt imagine my surprise when I, one Lieutenant Ramirez's

superior officer, asked Lieutenant Ramirez to undertake an important

investigation but then, whilst said important investigation was

taking place heard a gentleman known as "the Ram" broadcasting over the

airwaves.

::The Captain lent on his desk and stared firmly at his Chief Science Officer::

Rocar: "The Ram's Voice" sounds remarkably like yours Lieutenant and I believe

I've given you a formal warning about this kind of stunt last time you were

assigned here.

Ramirez: Last time I checked, you authorized me to broadcast that show after the

initial illegal hijacking of the internal comm system...

Rocar: (The Captain's voice was deadly serious, almost verging on angry...but

not quite) Its not your radio show I object to Mister Ramirez, its not even your

hijacking of the internal com. although I'd prefer you

did not do that in such a blasé manor. What I'd like to know, Pedro, is at what

point you and Mister Webb thought it would be a clever idea to blurt out details

about your investigation around the station. Aside from

potentially causing the civilian population to panic did it not enter the pair

of you's thick skulls that whoever is responsible for the waste and for the

attack on Lieutenant Geeva now knows that you and Webb know about it and are

after them?

Ramirez: That was the point. We don't have a clue, trails so far are leading

nowhere, we figured we'd rock the boat and see what would come out of it. We

wanted to make people nervous because when people are nervous, they do stupid

things. And you know as well as anybody that rumors spread like butter on hot

bread around here, so as far as I know everybody knew about the toxic dump. And

for the record, nothing was mentioned about Geeva's attack precisely because

both cases are handled individually until proven they're linked somehow.

Rocar: If you blurt out classified information about an investigation or a

mission again then I will personally see the pair of you straight into a court

martial. I've placed a lot of trust in you and cut you a lot of slack where

others would not -don't start to abuse that Ramirez. Similar to your problem

with Mister Orrey -you're the one that's lucky I don't just demote your sorry

butt right back down to Ensign today, Mister. Is

that understood?

Ramirez: Been there, done that...

::Rocar's gaze remained fixed on him, The Ram keeping up with the Captain's

stare.::

Rocar: You were up for promotion to Lieutenant... that's now on hold and you'll

remain at Junior grade until you can prove to me you're taking your duties

seriously. We'll review that after the next mission. Until then don't you ever

dare complain to me about another officer neglecting their assigned duties when

you have the nerve to ignore an assignment that I give to you in favour of

clowning about in front of the entire Starbase. Do I make myself crystal clear?

Ramirez: For the record, I wasn't neglecting my duties, I was contributing to an

ongoing investigation on the request of Lieutenant Webb. I just did things the

way I know how to do them. Having said that, Webb didn't participate in the

broadcast. I was the one imitating his voice, so don't hold it against him. If

you want to charge me with impersonating a superior officer, be my guest, at

this point I'm pretty much screwed anyways.

Rocar: This conversation is over for now Junior Lieutenant. Dismissed.

:: Ramirez walked out of the room, steaming even more than when he got in. All

he'd been doing was his job and all Rocar could tell him was to take his job

seriously??? What the hell??? If there was ever one good thing people could say

about him was that he always did his frickin' job and then some!! How could that

overgrown freakshow of a Captain even remotely think that about him??? All those

time he went through hell to save people's butts?? All the risks he took to get

a mission to completion??? None of that mattered anymore??? He had just gotten

on the station, got to work right away, not even time to settle in, taking no

breaks whatsoever from the job, working two cases at once... And he wasn't

taking his job seriously??? Well they could all go to hell for all he cared!

This is the thanks he gets for doing his frickin' best? Might as well do

nothing, then they'd have a good reason to be whining... And apparently, doing

nothing got people their own labs nowadays! Maybe he should really just sit

around and do nothing, that way he'd probably get more priviledges too! Hell,

he'd probably get promoted to Admiral soon enough if he stayed as immobile as

possible... ::

:: He got in the turbolift, but he didn't have a clue about where to go... And

then he remembered Geeva asking to meet her in her office... At least there

might be one person on this frickin' station who'd appreciate all the efforts he

was making... Then again, he remembered Geeva as being kind of the Ice-Queen

with no sense of humor whatsoever, but maybe she'd still recon the work he was

doing... With that in mind, he headed towards her office... ::

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant J.G. Pedro Alonzo Sanchez Ramirez

Chief Science Officer

Starbase 118 OPS

[Julia Harden]

This is one of the very best posts I've ever read... between a CO and a Lt(jg), no less. I'm very surprised no one nominated it before I got the chance.

While it wasn't a JP, this post makes it seem so. Excellent going, guys!!

[Guest]

Agreed, really well put together for a sim not written jointly. And a lot of fun! Maybe we should all start talking to our CO's like that..?

[Alana Devar]

All I can say is WOW. Incredible sim!