Security - Keith R. A. DeCandido [12]
Turning to face Gomez, Tev said, “By the way, Commander, I have been studying the upgrades that you supervised to the sensors. Excellent work.” To show that he was sincere, he added, “Almost as fine as I would have done.”
Gomez said nothing in response to that, but simply walked over to the window that showed the darkness of the interstellar void in which they searched for the elusive runabout. Her back was now to Tev as she spoke. “I just got contacted by Commander Ling. It was a pretty weak signal, because their comm amplifiers were down—along with most of Avril Station’s other systems. They managed to get a signal through to the nearest relay station, but it was tough.”
This surprised Tev. The upgrades they had performed were of the finest quality. “I do not understand.”
“It seems that the diagnostic program that we provided for them crashed the entire system. That really surprised me, since I designed the diagnostic program we provided, and it should’ve been compatible with the station’s hardware.” Now, she turned to face him. “Except, it turns out, they didn’t use the diagnostic program I designed, did they?”
Tev chose his words carefully. “I felt that the best way to—”
Holding up a hand, Gomez said, “Stop right there, Tev. I told you that your diagnostic program would not suit the needs of Avril, yes?”
“I found that conclusion to be faulty, Commander. I should think that with my—”
Gomez walked around the table so that she stood face-to-face with Tev. “The reason why I came to that conclusion is because the computers on Avril were never given the Sitok upgrade because it crashed their system. The upgrade really wasn’t going to do them enough good for it to be worth overhauling all their hardware.”
That surprised Tev. He wasn’t aware of any major Federation computer system that was not given the security and diagnostic upgrade pioneered by the Vulcan computer scientist Sitok two decades ago. Soloman had been handling the computer elements, so Tev had not bothered to familiarize himself with the specifics of their network. “Why did you not tell me that?” he asked, genuinely confused.
“Why didn’t you just trust my judgment?”
“I have always found my own judgment to be—”
Waving her hands in front of her face, Gomez said, “Forget your judgment for a second, Tev. Forget you for a second. Yes, we all know you’re brilliant, and if we’re ever in any danger of forgetting, you’ll be sure to remind us. But the thing that you have continued to not get in all the time you’ve been on this ship is that the rest of us know a few things, too.”
“You’re all quite competent in your fields, it’s true,” Tev said, “but—”
Using a tone that Gomez had never used, not even when she reprimanded him while trying to decipher the pyramid the Koas had placed their planet into, she barked, “I did not give you permission to speak, Lieutenant Commander Tev! I hear one more word out of you without leave, and I will toss you into the brig.”
Tev, wisely, stayed silent.
Gomez waited for several seconds.
Then for several seconds more.
At last, she broke into a grin. “See? That wasn’t so hard. You should try it more often.”
Unable to resist such obvious prompting, Tev asked, “Try what?”
“Following orders. It’s way past time you got comfortable with something, Tev: There are going to be occasions when other people know more than you. And it won’t necessarily be because they’re smarter than you or cleverer than you, but because they have to. I’m a commander, you’re a lieutenant commander; I’m first officer, you’re second officer. Not only does that mean I outrank you, but it also means that sometimes I’m going to be given information that you’re not allowed to have because of your lower rank and position. That is one of about a thousand reasons why it is critical that you trust my judgment—more than I trust yours, because I’m the boss.”
Snuffling with disgust, Tev said, “You mean that you didn’t tell me about Avril as some sort