After Action Review

Posted on Thu May 16th, 2024 @ 9:41pm by Commander Kevin Lance & Lieutenant Tracey Walker Jr

Mission: Starbase 364
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Current

on:
{Main Engineering, Deck 3}

Kevin found Lieutenant Walker where he expected to. In the Engine Room. Despite Lieutenant K'ner placing him on light duty, the Chief Engineer hobbled about his engine room with the assistance of a cane. Seeing the officer's injury almost made Kevin lose his nerve but he pushed down on the emotion that was welling up inside of him as he asked, "Finding everything in order?"

The Lieutenant forced down his urge to complain about what the Chief of Security had done to his engine room in his absence...such grumblings were not for the ears of one's commanding officer. "Couple things out of place, but overall in good shape," he said. "Glad to be back at it though, I was getting cabin fever sitting in Sickbay."

He thought back to the time he spent there, recovering, and the potency of the poison that had ravaged his system. He hopes the other two survivors would be back on their feet soon.

“You were in pretty bad shape when we retrieved you in the past,” Kevin observed, “The Gorn poison did quite a number on you. Lieutenant K’ner was barely able to bring you back.”

Trace shrugged. "Gorn are no joke, and neither is their venom. I've been sick before, but never like this and never so long. K'ner says it'll take a month before I'm back to full strength. If I ever needed a reason to take it easy, this is it."

“Ensign Thorne was quite concerned for your welfare.” Kevin said, changing the subject.

"Yeah." He said softly. "Being near to death gives one a perspective on one's life. Things your scared of don't seem that scary any more and you wonder why you waited so long to do the things that would bring you joy." He said. "Needless to say, I told her how I feel about her."

“I assembled a video of the fight against the Gorn,” Kevin continued, “You handled yourself very well.”

"Not well enough." He said, turning to tap in a few commands in the console. "Hare to prepare for a thing like that."

“Seems that the Gorn Hegemony is making a push to expand,” Kevin stated, “Any thoughts on how the fight against the adolescents could have gone better?"

Trace was silent for a moment before answering. Maybe it was his brush with death or maybe he'd known Lance long enough to be candid. "Permission to speak freely, sir?" He said, barely remembering that Lance was XO now.

Lance nodded. "Granted," he said, steeling himself for a dressing down for leaving him in that dangerous situation.

"You expect me to tell you you made a mistake, that you shouldn't have put crew members in harm's way like that. But I won't, because that's horseshit. Hindsight is twenty twenty, but regardless, we were aware of the danger, as is any Starfleet Officer. We're not here just to explore the galaxy and see the sights. Starfleet is more than that. We're protectors of a superior way of life, and sometimes that means paying the ultimate price. You lost men, so did I. We learn from that and come up with a better strategy next time, but we don't stop taking the risks."

You lost men, Trace had said and the words reopened the wound of guilt that Kevin felt upon his soul. Regardless of the Chief Engineer’s protestations that it was horseshit, Kevin had an obligation not to waste the lives of those entrusted to him.

Keeping his features neutral, he responded, “And that is exactly the point. What can we do to be better next time. I want you to give it some thought. Study the recording when you feel up to it. I’ll revisit this point with you in a week to see if you have any insight.”

“Meanwhile, can you do something about this?” Kevin held up a handful of cloth and stuffing that was once a child’s toy.

:off

Lieutenant Tracey "Trace" Walker
Chief Engineer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris