Traan was back on duty for the second shift since returning from his cruise aboard the Trenton and the return trip on the April. Aside from his yard buddies mockingly addressing him as ‘Captain Traan’, things were going well. The ensign that they had borrowed from Admin Department had installed a second terminal on his desk that was tied in to all of his people duty padds which would prevent the stacks of the meddlesome devices from accumulating all over his desk. As it turned out the damage to the April’s systems weren’t as bad as the original assessments and Traan and his team had been able to begin stripping out the system and parts that needed to be repaired or replaced while they were being towed back to SBB. She would likely be ready to redeploy in about a week after the new components were installed and she was refueled with dueterium and anti-matter.
Traan grabbed his mug of racktijino and walked out into the bustling Shipyard Central, intending to start coordinating the procedures for the mass casualty evacuation drill they would be running in a few days. Before he could even make it over to the Shipyard Operations console well, trouble walked in, in the form of Lt. JG Hart. She had been in charge of the investigation into the super invasive vine like life form that had nearly infested the station a few months prior, and she made a B-line straight for the tall Andorian.
Jade quickened her steps when she saw Traan. She wanted to make sure she caught him before he departed and would be harder to track down. “Lieutenant Traan, can I have a moment please? I’m sorry to rush in like this but I need to speak with you regarding the quarantine that took place a little while back and a complaint that was made.” She offered a small smile that she hoped was reassuring. She knew that the mere presence of a JAG officer could intimidate just about anyone and she really hoped to avoid that.
“There goes that next promotion eh, Captain?” Horvath chided from the well.
If looks could kill, Traan’s would have melted Horvath on the spot.
“Sure thing Lt,” Traan said as he motioned towards his office. Once inside Traan crossed his arms defensively, fully expecting that he might be arrested and booked on negligence charges for his part in the whole affair. He had been the one to receive the shipment and did sign off when it was transported to the science bay. The officer he had spoken to from the science department that day had even been relieved of duty a few days before he arrived back on the station.
“What can I do for you?”
Jade observed the change in Lieutenant Traan’s behaviors and inwardly winced. That was exactly the sort of reaction she had hoped to avoid. She knew it was inevitable though given the nature of her job. “You do not have to be afraid or nervous Lieutenant. I do understand it but it is not necessary here. I have only come to speak with you. Is there somewhere we can sit down?”
Traan motioned for her to have a seat then stepped behind his desk and plopped himself into his chair.
“I know that you are already aware of the formal complaint that was made regarding the mishandling of an exotic plant during a routine quarantine. I have followed up on that complaint and have done some digging myself. Now I have to come to talk with you and see what you might have to say if anything. I want to hear everything and not just one side, if you know what I mean.” Jade finished and offered another smile that she hoped might ease some of the tension in the Lieutenant.
“Not much to add since the last time we worked together Lt. It was a busy day, like real busy. I got the call about one of our crews refusing to handle a shipment of artifacts and samples from the Shackleton Expanse. I attended the scene with a security officer, quarantined the problematic crates, set up a level 4 containment field, called in a linguist to see if they could make any sense of the symbols on it, and she said she needed more time to study them. We needed the space, so I called the science department and asked them if they had any secure space where they could store it for later study, they said they did, the stuff got beamed to one of the science bays, and I left the rest to the Security Officer, went about my day. Several days later you and I got assigned to look into it as it was spreading.” Traan recounted the facts as he recalled them. Before he left on the Trenton he had even double checked the logs to make sure that he had informed the science department that it was quarantined and potentially hazardous material before beaming the shipment out.
Crossing her legs at the knee, Jade listened intently as Traan spoke. She paused for just a moment before speaking again after he had finished. “I understand. It appears that everything had been done correctly up until the amount of quarantine protocols that had been utilized. My investigation revealed that there should have 7 quarantine protocols put in place but only 5 were used.”
Jade leaned forward and let out a small breath. She hated these type of conversations. “I do know that you were not alone in this and those people will be spoken to as well. However, today we have to discuss how this will be handled in regards to you.”
“Well, you keep calling me Lieutenant, so I’m assuming I’m being demoted. As for the quarantine procedures, I know the shipment was secured in a level 4 containment field when we beamed it to the science bay.” Traan said as his pips were clearly visible, so the implication was clear.
Jade couldn’t help herself and found herself slightly giggling at the remark Traan had just made. She didn’t really have any expectations for how she thought it would happen but she most certainly had not thought that this statement would be made. “I am sorry for that. That is not what is happening at all. Forgive my laughter as that brings me back some. I am afraid that is just a force of bad habit for me that I developed from my military father. I will try to refrain from doing that going forward.”
Jade pulled out her PADD and showed it to Traan. “After speaking with a Science Officer stationed here, there was only a slight breach of protocol that occurred in this instance. In fact, if the complaint had not been filed we may have been able to remedy this with little to no consequence. However, the complaint was made and has to be dealt with. You will be receiving a reprimand. No demotion will be happening today on my watch Lieutenant Commander Traan.”
“Oh well thanks for that. If I had gotten demoted only a few weeks after being given command of a Heavy Cruiser, my crews would never let me hear the end of it.”
The Lt then passed Traan a padd that he needed to sign to acknowledge that he was as receiving a non-punitive Administrative Reprimand. After reading it over, Traan applied him thumb print to it and passed it back to the JAG officer.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. Hopefully, this situation will become a misfortune that you look back on as an opportunity to learn and grow from. Next time, I do hope that we meet again under different circumstances.” Jade stood up as she spoke and shook Traan’s hand. She offered him one last small smile as she turned to make her exit. These type of visits were the ones that she hated most but she knew they were part of her job. Maybe the next day would entail something that didn’t mean stress on her part.
