Ways and Means

Posted on Mon Aug 27th, 2012 @ 1:55am by Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd

961 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Sowing the Seeds
Location: USS Ranger, Deck 2, Lieutenant Shepherd's quarters
Timeline: Mission Day 1, 1225 hrs
Tags: Telana, Lunch

"Are you all right?" asked Cedric. In response, Telana stirred her salad and quirked her mouth in thought.

Lunch had been Cedric's idea, a move toward establishing a friendship, and she had agreed eagerly, he thought. But she'd seemed distracted throughout, and the small talk about shoreleave hadn't lasted as long as he'd hoped. He'd fallen back on the classic "How's the new Chief down in Engineering?", and it had visibly rattled Telana. Cedric knew she was no marble statue (curves notwithstanding), but he also knew she didn't rattle especially easily. And now here she was, picking at her food to buy time after the question, clearly conflicted.

"Telana?" he ventured again. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she said reflexively, not meeting his eyes. "Yes," she amended, setting her fork down. "I don't know," she finished with a shrug. "That sounds ridiculous," she sighed, sitting back in her chair.

"Maybe I should skip the closed-end questions," Cedric tried an easy calming smile. "What is wrong?"

"I'm... It's probably not something I should air outside Engineering."

Cedric nodded. "What happens in Engineering stays in Engineering?"

"Stays in Engineering," Telana nodded, though her inflection didn't match Cedric's. "I'm not so sure."

"Okay, now you've got me intrigued. Give," said Cedric. "What's going on in Engineering?"

"I might not stay in Engineering," she blurted, briefly meeting his gaze. She seemed to immediately regret it, and bit her lip and looked away, embarrassed.

Cedric sat back, perplexed. "Why?"

"Chief Stensrud doesn't approve of me," said Telana. "She's concerned I could be disruptive to the department."

"Disruptive how?"

Telana gave Cedric a flat look. "I'm an Orion. I'm disruptive."

"Is Stensrud a bigot?" asked Cedric, incredulous.

"No, no," Telana waved the notion off. "It's not like that. And I don't want to sound like I've come whining to you with my silly troubles. I sound like I'm whining. I'm not whining," she paused a moment to reinforce the point before continuing. "Stensrud came at me hard and her style just... just might not mesh with mine, I suppose. I thought at first it might just be what new bosses do. I've seen new bosses. I've dealt with new bosses. I've *been* a new boss. I get that you have to establish your position. I get it. I just wasn't," she shrugged, "ready for this kind of boss."

"Straightforward?" asked Cedric, beginning to understand. "Blunt?" Blunt was a word he'd use, though certainly not anywhere Stensrud could hear.

Telana sighed. "Female, maybe."

Cedric laughed. "Of course. You've never worked for a woman."

"Not in the Federation," Telana acknowledged. "Engineering is a male-dominated field. Statistically it always has been. I mean, it's not patriarchal, certainly, but males have always outnumbered females in the Engineering disciplines. And I've never worked under a female Chief." She smiled ruefully at Cedric's unflagging smirk. "It's not funny."

"No, you're right," Cedric replied, schooling away his smile, but failing to mask the humor in his tone. "But you can't seriously be thinking about quitting just because someone doesn't immediately like you."

"I know," Telana sighed. "It was silly of me to vent at you like this."

"Hey, vent all you like," said Cedric as he picked up his sandwich again and considered his next bite. "I don't mind listening."

She considered that a moment. "Thank you. I was afraid you'd think I was trying to get you involved on my behalf somehow."

Cedric chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "Are you?"

She smiled, half-sadly. "See, this is part of my problem now. I'm a team player. It's part of my genetics. Orions work best in a unit. And one of my strengths, which has been consistently cited in my evaluations, I'll have you know, is my ability to create teams quickly. I see a problem, think of who can best fix the problem, and then support them while they do it. It's what I do."

"And looked at in the most negative light," Cedric put in, "it makes you look dodgy, like you can't hack it so you spend your efforts getting others to do things for you."

"Exactly," Telana nodded, picking up her fork and pointing at Cedric with it. "So now I have to somehow prove that I'm a competent engineer all over again."

Cedric swallowed another bite and thought for a few moments before asking, "Are you a competent engineer?"

Telana quirked her head, surprised by the direct nature of the question. "Of course."

"Then no problem," Cedric shrugged. "Just do what you do, make sure things get done, and the rest will take care of itself."

Telana smiled ruefully. "That simple, eh?"

"Did Stensrud threaten you?"

"No."

"Do you believe she's out to get you?"

Telena hesitated, then shook her head. "Ultimately, no."

"Then you know what you need to do," finished Cedric.

"Do what I do, make sure thing get done," Telana repeated, "and let the rest take care of itself?"

"Competence can't be denied," said Cedric, finishing the half of the sandwich he'd been working on.

"Is everything this simple for you?"

"Making things simple is my job," replied Cedric, wiping his mouth and folding his napkin. "People overcomplicate things all the time. And all too often, the result of that is crime of one kind or another. It's my job to simplify."

"The Orion way is to overcomplicate: create so many layers to a problem that right and wrong become relative, and the easy way gets divorced from questions of good or bad," mused Telana. "I'll have to keep you around in case my nature starts to get the better of me."

"You'll do fine, but if things get hairy for you, call me any time," Cedric shrugged his acceptance of the concept.

Telana smiled, and ate her salad.

 

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