Pfaffenheim's Personal Log #3 - Concerns

Posted on Monday February 28th, 2022 @ 8:58pm by Gunnery Sergeant Maximilian Pfaffenheim

471 words; about a 2 minute read

"Computer, record personal log. Staff Sergeant Pfaffenheim." The tone of voice is as deliberate as ever, but a definite amount of annoyance can be picked out.

"Lesser matters first. No incidents for the platoon during the last deployment. Command was - understandably - concerned that an ambush might be sprung on the Poseidon with boarding parties. Fortunately, nothing of the sort materialized. General conduct was professional and tense, how it's supposed to be. The trainings and that baptism by fire against the Terrans seem to have worked wonders regarding platoon performance. Even Artigue stopped clowning around before and after, but alas, he'll probably be back at it once we're out of the danger zone.

"Now, the major thing..." He sighs heavily. "I don't want this to sound derogatory, but one would've thought that in the past decades... after the bloody Dominion War, and that was even before my time, that Starfleet would've learned. Granted, I suppose my platoon and I being here is proof that something was indeed learned, but if I've seen one thing time and time again in my nine years of service, it's that the lessons didn't get through to the application level.

"Not that the Captain and his staff missed the potential for danger. We were operating in unsafe space, after all, and I believe everyone on the ship acted accordingly, even though there didn't seem to be any apparent threat. In fact, I've heard that the idea was voiced beforehand that the site could have been target of pirate salvage operations at some point, and that was a damn right concern, in my opinion. All the necessary precautions were taken to defend the ship...

"But I have to ask myself then: Why no security for the away team? And I don't count a single Security operative, even if it was the bloody Chief of Sec, as appropriate 'security'. The ambush potential was there, it was recognized, yet half a dozen high ranking officers went into an abandoned hulk in regular EVA suits?! If this was isolated, if this wasn't the bloody norm on more than half the ships I've worked with in my time, I'd be calling it negligience on the part of the Captain... but as far as I can tell, this isn't an issue with any particular individual. It's a Starfleet problem, plain and simple.

"I suppose it's partly my fault. I've seen it so many times, I should've offered a fireteam for protection on my own initiative. Maybe I've just become too accepting of that kind of thing - I really shouldn't be. I'll have to bring this up to someone high-ranking... question being, who?..." Steps can be heard, as Pfaffenheim is pacing around the room, then suddenly stops.

"I suppose that's as good a place as any to start... computer, end log."

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