Warning shot

Posted on Mon Jul 16th, 2012 @ 9:37pm by
Edited on on Mon Aug 27th, 2012 @ 9:50pm

1,012 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Location: USS Ranger - Main Engineering
Timeline: Shortly after SHORELEAVE! (part 2)
Tags: Telana, Mikaela Stensrud, Engineering

"Why are you here?"

The unexpectedness of the question was such that it might as well have been an ambushing stowaway, right down to Telana's uncertainly as to why she'd become its target. The answer absurdly obvious to her, she thought the same true for the asker since she had requested her presence once the ship's berthing was complete, and the rest of Engineering dismissed. The incise gaze fellow Lieutenant J.G. Mikaela Stensrud turned up from the starboard cove console gave no quarter to that supposition, however. And despite her aptitude for making out interaction subtleties, this came on too suddenly for Telana to have it thought through.

Her reply began with her assuming a similar visage, albeit lightened by her characteristic smile.

"I'm not sure I follow, chief. You ordered me to report to you once we secured Engineering, yes?"

"I did," Stensrud acknowledged. "But it's not quite what I meant." The Orion's mind might've scrambled for another perspective if Stensrud didn't promptly follow with a centering amendment. "Starfleet, Telana," she expounded as she set her chin atop clasped hands. "Why are you in Starfleet?"

It wasn't the first time someone asked her that. Whether through outright asking or behavioral nuance, Telana's awareness of the misconceptions of her people and the Federation's somewhat pretentious moralism kept her from finding the judgments that weighed past instances terribly bothersome. Numerous societies partook in personal exceptionalism, and more often than not, rising to it in anger, righteous or otherwise, only increased the odds of relegation beneath them.

Unfortunately for Telana, personal reflection was as close as she got to discerning Stensrud's intent. Drastically different than either the blustering Lieutenant Reynaldi or charismatic Lieutenant Hane, her muteness had and continued to offer little context with which to qualify her. In spite of that, keeping her eyes on the other woman somehow stirred a sense deja vu up into glinting within her mind's recesses.

So she started digging.

"Can I ask why you're interested?"

"Clarification," Stensrud answered simply.

"Of what?"

"Whether or not I think you'll work as my assistant."

Knowing it a new department lead's prerogative to shake up the totem pole, a relatively smooth week of supervising Engineering abated Telana's concern so thoroughly, explosive decompression had nothing on the rapid failure of her dazzling smile. The opportunity she'd long hoped for suddenly under fire, the serene Orion, choked up by anxiety, spoke anew with aberrant softness and a slight stammer.

"Why do you think I wouldn't?"

"Because if I were in the market for one, your service jacket would hit damned near all the wrong notes for me." If Stensrud noticed her assistant's demeanor shift, her cool denunciation bolstered ostensible indifference to it. "Your aptitude is adequate at best, and you have no accomplishments prior to or after your promotion that lends the decision credence. What you do have is a track record for testing regulations, particularly those regarding acceptable conduct. None of your past superiors really put you over their knee for it, still, I can't help wondering whether the dismissal of sensibilities all but necessary to promote you under those circumstances was willful or if you provided some kind of incentive."

One of the rare events capable of ruffling her nerve, Telana, aware that few Humans became sufficiently immersed in Orion culture to have a substantial enough understanding to make a meaningful determination, usually dismissed mischaracterizations smilingly. Yet Stensrud's not-so subtle insinuation not only spread insidious cracks through her tolerance, it gave a second wind to her sucker-punched confidence. She subsequently went on the rebound, the return of her cheery mien a bit misleading in that it spawned from the crude standing her perspective bestowed upon Stensrud's jab at the nature of her 'relationship' with Reynaldi.

"I don't deny harboring differences with Starfleet's cultural standards," Telana began in a grittier tone, "nor do I deny that I'm far from the most adept in this field." She took a step towards Stensrud. "But with all due respect, I resent, and think your rationalization petty, presumptuous, and unwarranted. I may not conform to your ideals, but I've worked hard towards becoming a positive contributor here."

"And if you want to continue doing so in your current capacity, you'll work harder while minding my ideals." The swift slotting of Stensrud's retort behind her own left Telana winded despite not having necessarily committed to continuing. "I'm not looking for a mouthpiece or a pet project, but right behind me, you're crucial to setting the tone for how Engineering operates and the staff behaves in and outside those doors," she punctuated with a leftwarb bob of her head, the general direction of the room's primary access point. "Expecting effectiveness and good order when the leadership exempts itself from the fundamentals of that - the bearing and discipline the Academy aims to instill in every graduate, is like ice-staking uphill. Physics, or in this case, sentient nature, will beat me either wiser or insane as everyone justifies their indiscretions with someone else's. I like challenges, but I won't suffer obstinacy just to have them. Give me disruption instead of value, and I'll see you moved where you'll have less opportunity to, up to off this ship altogether. Are we clear?"

There it was, although all-in-all less ominously imposed than Stensrud's brusqueness initially led her to expect. Harrowed nonetheless, it momentarily fell prey to a swell of relief at not becoming a regime change casualty. For now, anyway. While no defeatist, one of Telana's first life lessons was that in circumstances like these, watchful eyes tended to weigh foibles far more heavily than merits, especially when governance either supported it or was amenable to doing so. But it wasn't as if she had any other cards to play. . .not here, and certainly not now.

"Yes, chief."

"Good." Silence permeated the room as Stensrud regarded Telana in the midst of nodding, otherwise seemingly ever-insistent on obscuring personal traces as far as the Orion engineer could tell. "Enjoy liberty, and be ready to up your game when it's over. Dismissed."

 

RSS Feed