Post Number 26 Office Politics

Posted on Tue Jan 20th, 2026 @ 11:51pm by Captain Alesha Rivers & Lieutenant Alister McKeon

Mission: Healing Touch-3
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Current

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Alister entered the bridge and looked around at the bridge crew before motioning the occupant in the XO’s chair to move as he sat down and sighed heavily, “Tell me not to throw my Intelligence superior out an airlock the next time I see him,” Alister said looking over at Alesha.

"I told him not to sit there," Alesha said "If you want to throw someone out of the air lock I'll help you as they probably deserve it,"

Alister snorted, “He got the job by who he knows, he’s a staff officer that’s only been outside a Starbase or Earth during transit time. You’re telling me the Marines don’t have office politics?”

"The marines do have office politics trust me. General Long could tell stories if she were here. I have my own issues in the fighter squadron. Some say I'm too young, I wouldn't be here is the commodore or General Long didn't think I could handle it," Alesha replied.

Alister looked over at Alesha, “The higher up you go the more politics comes into play,” he pulled out a PADD from a pocket, “I think one of Intelligence bigger issues with the politics is we lost too many hands on people during the Dominion War. There used to be a clear divide between the operators and analysts people, and each stayed in their own track until usually flag rank where they started dealing with the other side.”

Alesha nodded, "As it is in all chain of commands. I heard stories about the Dominion War, Narla, I mean General Long told stories about it as did her husband Richard Long. My own planet had it's own war to fight during that time."

“I read some of the files we had on the war your planet had,” he closed his eyes briefly, “The Dominion War exposed flaws in all of Star Fleet including Intelligence. Too many teams left behind to coordinate resistance cells got caught up and eliminated by the Cardassians or Dominion forces. It wasn’t just the personal loses but the experience and institutional knowledge. During the worst of it if even a quarter of the team returned from a successful mission it was considered a success. It became a meat grinder.” He flicked a couple of buttons on his PADD signing his signature to another in his mind useless report. “I’ve never met the General, my dealing with the Marines have mostly been either Major Burns or 1st LT Jackson.”

"Those names are some I've never heard of. General Long is Dr. Long's mother and a sister to our planet's Queen. Amzock was invaded by the Romulans and it's a long story. One I don't want to go into. What I can say is it was not good for my planet. Same with the Federation and the Dominion War. War is never good and that is part of the reason I fly fighters. There's not a craft I cannot fly," Alesha said.

“The Romulans,” Alister said softly as he signed yet another report, “They’re a tricky bunch l, I’ve been hunted and hunted them thru the shadows Starfleet wishes didn’t exist and yet been shoulder to shoulder when an operation went pear shaped. When I deal with them I’m always wondering if it’s going to turn into a nice exchange ending in a drink or a shoot out over the conference table.”

"I know the feeling, we have a treaty with them and so far it's holding as neither side can afford another costly war," Alesha said as she finished some reports she'd been neglecting as well. "I leave that part to the powers that be back home. My mum is a Starfleet Captain, she's on leave currently."

“I’m the only one in the family that joined Starfleet, dad runs a successful wood working business making pieces the old fashioned way,” Alister said had his hands moved over his PADD, “He wasn’t the happiest to have to redo my office furniture after what happened with the previous Amandora. How’s Amber doing by the way, been meaning to swing by and check in on her.”

"I never went through Starfleet. My parents both did, my brother showed no interest in it. He feels he's better suited to be in our home planet's military. I got a hold of mum and dads books and studied them," Alesha replied glancing at the view screen before turning back to Alistar "The destruction of the original Amandora hit us all. The commodore was brought up on charges but she was cleared of all charges. Amber is doing well, she's gotten a good grasp on her English. She can speak it but is not that good at it but she's learning. She with the help of Kristian does not remember her dad which I'm grateful for. My family and I owe you and your team a debt we can never repay. I have my daughter back thanks to you."

Alistar chuckled, “Happy to help, besides we don’t get much excitement anymore. Some skills have to be used to keep sharp and the holodeck is a poor substitute for the real world. Too many people don’t take it seriously enough, or get too cocky.”

"I have that same thing with the fighter wing. I keep the pilots in simulators for training. Perhaps we should think about cross training some of our people? I have a couple extra fighters that are just sitting in the fighter wing. I don't think the commodore forgets about is I think some missions don't need us," Alesha commented.

“Not sure about cross training in fighters that’s a little more then we normal want to do, if it wasn’t for that favor it would have been a lot quieter. However, we have had issues on occasion during a hot extraction calling in close air support. The Marines have specialists for it and apparently the blue building isn’t a great marker.” Alister said looking up from his PADD as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What would you want your pilots trained in better? Escape and evasion techniques in case they go down?”

"I see your point, regarding cross training of the fighters. In answer to your question yes I'd like my pilots trained in escape and evasion should they or we get shot down. While I've had considerable training in that area it won't hurt me to brush up on things as well," Alesha said "I want my pilots ready for anything."

“I’ll get with the Chief this afternoon and see what the training Starfleet runs your pilots thru,” Alister said making a note in his PADD, “I’m sure most could use the refresher and it’ll give us something to build off of. We’ll modify some of the training we get to better fit a pilot only temporarily down behind enemy lines I doubt you’re people will need out longer term infiltration techniques.”

"I'm not sure how much they'll need either but I don't want them to be unprepared should they get shot down or even captured. I was captured a number of years ago and I know what I went through," Alesha replied.

Alister rubbed his chin, “I’ll take a look at what training they should have had. I’m hesitant to give them our full course, we tend to have a high failure rate even with the prep courses we typically put people in. We might be able to modify it somewhat but I can’t promise anything too much with that beyond the basic course they had.”

"I'll get you the training the pilots have had, feel free to do what you feel they need. I don't want them to go through what I did when i was captured a few years ago," Alesha said


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