The Coward of Security

Posted on Sun Sep 28th, 2025 @ 9:58pm by Lieutenant Liam O'Riley & Lieutenant JG Christian Rogers
Edited on on Mon Sep 29th, 2025 @ 2:22pm

1,366 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: What was Lost is Found
Location: TBD
Timeline: Following mission briefing

Rogers was surprised, and a whole lot relieved, when he finally discovered that the O'Riley that Lambert mentioned wasn't in Security but rather the Chief Engineer. He should have put the information together when he met th Chief Engineer during the mission briefing but he was concentrating on other matters.

It took an exhaustive look through the security personnel files to realize the culprit wasn't security. Then pouring over the after action reports on the away team until he realized it could only be one person.

And a department head. That made it worse. But, he made a promise to Lambert and, if he was going to gain the department's trust as their new Chief, he had to make sure to keep to his promises.

"Hello, Chief O'Riley?" he asked as he made his way through Engineering.

Hearing his name Liam looked up from his work "Lieutenant Rodgers" having recognized him from the briefing "What cn I do for you; It isn't often we get a visit from Security down here" he replied with a grin.

"That needs to change," Rogers said. "I'm here to discuss issues with Lambert? It's been reported that you were unhappy with his performance on the last away mission?"

O'Riley could sense a shift in the conversation but decided to lay his cards on the table "Since you mentioned it....yes I was" he stated then continued "I realize horrendous situations affect people differently but in my opinion Lambert's actions did not exemplify how a Star Fleet Officer should conduct themselves in a crisis situation."

"You want to tell me more about his failures?" Rogers asked, his tone becoming hard and even. "For the report."

Taking a breath while organizing his thoughts "As the situation became more dire on the planet, Mr. Lambert became less and less responsive to the point of others having to more or less guide him along while picking up his slack "Liam explained then continued "And when we were finally off that nightmare of a planet he withdrew into himself sitting alone teetering and talking to himself to the point of ship's Counselor having to talk to him."

"And that's when you called him a coward?" Rogers asked. "Talk about exemplifying how a Star Fleet officer should conduct themselves. Especially a department head."

Looking Rogers straight in the eyes "Lieutenant, I don't know where you gleaned your information BUT I never called him a coward per se. I merely expressed my concern over his conduct especially where other people's lives were at stake" O'Riley stated matter of factly a little surprised at the accusation.

"That's the report I received," Rogers said, frowning as he looked at his notes on the PaDD. "That you did, in front of others, insult a member of the security department by calling him a 'coward'. Based on what you're saying, perhaps it was an uncharacteristic slip? In the frustration of an away mission that went sideways as that one had?"

Thinking for a moment "I can assure you Lieutenant my comment of neither of those things" then Liam paused "For the record what I did say was Lambert's actions could almost be viewed as 'cowardly' but I did not call him a 'coward'' then Liam paused once again "With respect Lieutenant, you weren't there....you didn't witness what I did! Lives were at stake....we all thought we were going to die.....hell we almost lost Lieutenant Yaotome and Lambert was pretty much useless in that situation; not to mention upon our return to the ship he was pretty much a basket case. I was only stated what I saw and for that I will not apologize!" he concluded sternly.

"Nor am I asking for an apology as forcing one makes it meaningless. I am, however, investigating complaints of his performance as well as complaints of conduct toward him by a senior officer. No, I wasn't there," Rogers said, which was a bone of contention since his team should have been the ones sent, "which is why I have to discuss this with people who were there in order to try to discover what happened. Not your version, not the complaint version, but the true version. You may not like it, and neither do I, because I'll still have to figure out what to do with the officer regardless of how the investigation winds up. So how about pulling back your attitude just a little bit and help me to come to the true version of what happened?"

Letting out a brief sigh "Apologies, I guess my Irish was kicking in. Yes, of course, whatever I can do to assist you" O'Riley answered.

"Okay, tell me the details that lead up to you referring to him as 'cowardly'. Don't feel like you should leave anything out to "spare feelings". I assure you, that's the least consideration," Rogers said.

Collecting his thoughts for a few moments then Liam began "The whole situation became very chaotic in a hurry. Lambert had been very jumpy from the get go. When the defiled appeared out of nowhere we all opened fire with our phasers then the ceiling collapsed and Lieutenant Yaotome was badly injured. After that Lambert was on the other side of the collapse along with P.O.Sizia, Lieutenant Wallace, and Lieutenant Thomas; sadly Wallace lost his life. I did hear P.O. Sizia yell at Lambert to get moving through all the rumble. After we were rescued Lambert was in sick bay sitting against the wall sobbing and shaking on the floor; it was like he had become introverted into his mind. The Counselor did go over and speak to Lambert to try and snap him out of it. That's about all I remember" he concluded.

Rogers nodded. Most of the information was identical to what he already gathered, but this time he was focusing on the specifics of Lambert. "Thank you, Lieutenant," Rogers said as he pocketed his PaDD. "I appreciate your time. And I'll work on coming up with some training exercises for Security where Engineering is concerned. Can you tell me," he said as he looked around, "how is the warp core protected from weapons fire?"

"You're welcome Lieutenant. All decks containing Engineering are encased in triple thick walls with Ablative Armor in-between each layer; as well as the QSD drive decks" O'Riley explained "The ship would have to pretty much explode in order to destroy Engineering."

Rogers nodded at all the words. He understood them, individually but how they all fit together was above his paygrade. That's why they had pepole like O'Reilly who actually enjoyed that sort of stuff. "No chance of exploding the warp core and the ship during training exercises then?"

"I would sincerely hope not" Liam replied with a slight chuckle "We'd all be out of a job."

Rogers scowled as he looked directly at the Engineer. "Captain Baas didn't tell me I'd lose my job if I blew up the ship. You'd think he'd mention something as important as that."

Hearing Rodgers' remark Liam couldn't help but laugh "You do know I was just trying to be funny, right?" he commented still laughing.

Rogers gave a half smile. "Of course. I understand the Captain doesn't have to tell me not to blow up the ship. I mean, I'd have to arrest myself and try to reconstitute the brig to throw myself in it. Far worse punishment than just being fired."

He looked around the area again. "I'll schedule some training in the area, working on what areas are the priorities, escape routes, weapons caches, the like. We'll coordinate with you and engineering of course."

"Sounds good Rogers, should be an interesting exercise" O'Riley replied even though this was way out of his wheelhouse.

"Thank you for your time and the information," Rogers said, putting his PaDD away. "If there is something else you need to add, something you remember later, even something you might need from me, you know where to find me. Presuming we haven't blown up the ship, of course. Then I might be hard to find."



LTjg Christian Rogers
Chief of Security

Lieutenant Liam O'Riley
Chief Engineering Officer

 

RSS Feed