Pilot Talk

Posted on Tue Nov 26th, 2024 @ 10:22pm by Lieutenant JG Spencer Griffith-Bailey & Commander Raiden Kosugi

Mission: The Gamma Expanse
Location: Flight office
Timeline: Before "Poseidon Paradox"
1187 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Looking over the manifest, and taking notes, Raiden's eyes stopped upon the name of one of the Pilots, Ensign Spencer Griffith-Bailey. He had not spoken to him for quite some time and that needed to be taken care of. He had been a little bit distracted with Liala leaving and that in some aspect had affected his work. He wasn't going to allow that to be the case anymore. He also didn't want to do any sort of discussion in his own office either. He looked at the ceiling.

"Computer, where is Ensign Griffith-Bailey at?"

"Ensign Griffith-Bailey is presently located in the Flight Control administrative offices on deck 15," came the automated reply from the computer.

Flight Control office, he'd not been there in such a long time. Immediately he headed for that location.

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Office
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The door opened and Raiden strode inside, looking for Spencer.

Spencer had been catching up on a bit of paperwork that Obav had left neglected while he was on leave. There was a stack of padds to do with routine maintenance, a slightly smaller stack to do with equipment testings, and an equally small stack regarding flight control training sessions for the department.

He'd begun with the bigger stack and was absorbed in looking at one of them, groaning at the length of time this particular maintenance required, and looked up when the doors slid open, "Commander, good to see you. What brings you down this way?"

"I came down to see you and check to see how you are doing since the last mission." Raiden went over to the replicator and got himself a tea. "It has been a little bit since we've chatted." giving a half smile and taking a seat across from the desk where Spencer was seating.

"How are things? Have you been kept busy as of late?"

"Ah, you know, can't really complain too much about it all," Spencer looked at the desk in front of him, suddenly realising that he was doing the Assistant Chief's job, not that the department had one or anything as of yet. "All of this is kind of keeping me being enough that I don't get to fly as much now." He did, however, wonder what the Commander was wanting, "Last mission though, that was a doozey and I'm glad we got out of it the way we did with minimal casualties."

"I agree, so, I had been going over the reports and history of the crew. Quite the task I must say. I never thought I would be an XO uh, there was a brief mention of you having been a Lieutenant, but something happened where you lost that rank. I am not here to judge; I just want to find out what happened. Reports briefings just don't do justice and do not truly shed light as to what happened."

Spencer knew this would eventually come up at some other point as a more formal conversation, but he didn't expect it to be now. After all, he wasn't about to start lying to someone he was starting to consider a friend. Leaning back into the chair, Spencer let out a long breath, "Like I've said previously, a number of events led up to my ex and I getting a divorce, and I decided that I was going to make a night out of it and celebrate... with the Captain's daughter, Lauren. I mean, we'd been friends for a little while and she was a lovely young lady and she agreed to have a few drinks that night." He coughed a bit to clear his throat, "I'll admit right here and now that I made an extremely big mistake that night and took one of the fighters out for a joy ride without authorization, with Lauren, while being under the influence. My actions were reported to the higher ups, I was berated by the Captain and forbidden to see Lauren again, stripped of my Lieutenant rank, and reassigned to Flight Control with a ban on being a Starfighter pilot again unless I could prove I was worthy of getting it all back."

Motioning towards what Spencer had been working on, "You are already proving yourself, and I hadn't thought to mention of making you Assistant Chief Flight Officer. I will bring that up to Captain Hawkins. You did well in the emergency with the Unholy Trinity in getting our people there. All that will be in my report for the captain." this time giving a smile to Spencer. He considered Spencer a friend as well.

"Wait, what?" Spencer sat up in his seat a bit straighter. "Assistant Chief Flight Officer? Really?" He couldn't believe that Raiden would even think about giving him that kind of position, but it made him happy inside to know that his efforts were being noticed, "That, that would be amazing. I promise I'd never let you or the Captain down." There was a wide smile on Spencers face.

"All I ask is that you do your best, I've got faith in you, Spencer." Raiden's smile going into a full-blown grin. "Look, Captain Hawkins believes in second chances. He doesn't look for perfect people as he stated long ago, he's not perfect, and doesn't expect others to be either. Sometimes I think he is more suspicious of people who seem to have a really squeaky-clean record. Can't say I blame him though. You know the old saying, too good to be true."

Spencer blew out a deep breath, "Yeah, I get it, no one is perfect. I can only excel to a position where I'm the best version of myself I can be, and hopefully that'll be good enough for others, especially Captain Hawkins and on a lesser note, Sarah, to see that." He had just been given a path to follow that would allow him to become Spencer 2.0 and he wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

"Where your ex is concerned, hopefully she will see the improvements you have made. Well, I had best be heading off and get about my own business. An XO's business is never done, but you know, I do not regret accepting this role, I do have my own growing pains but that is all a part of developing one's self into something more. " Raiden standing up. He clapped a hand on Spencer's shoulder. "Just to let you know, this isn't a spur of the moment thing, as I had stated, I have noticed the efforts that you have put in to improving yourself."

"Thank you, Raiden." Spencer said with a curt nod and an appreciative smile, "It really means a lot. You should probably get going to catch up on everything you're in the middle of doing, I've got plenty here to keep me entertained and busy."

"I will see you later then." Raiden replied, giving Spencer a handshake and a huge smile before leaving, "I've got faith in you." the door closing behind him. Leaving Spencer to his own thoughts.

"Thanks, Chief." Spencer said to himself with the smile still on his face before he went back to work.



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