messhall meet

Posted on Sun Mar 5th, 2023 @ 8:58pm by Lieutenant Etan tar-Lexros & 1st Lieutenant Kayleigh London

Mission: Evacuation

Kay was still exploring the new ship. It was bigger than Kumari and bustling with activity, which was something she liked as she was an extravert. Most in the family were introverts except for her older brother Tasin. But boy had it been hard to see him laying in a hospital bed not being able to move and pretending that everything was just fine.

After that she needed a break and her stomach was rumbling. So she made her way over to the mess hall and quickly overfilled a plate with food and sweets. It was pretty busy right now and she could not spot many places to sit. Then she spotted a young lieutenant sitting at a table completely alone. With a grin Kay moved over to his table and sat down opposite him.

"Hiya, mind if I come and join you... sir?"

Etan was sitting with a PADD next to him, working on a control set to use the probes as remote sensors for the transporter systems. It was coming along, but the gain in resolution meant a major reduction in range. But, if he could account for that, it would be possible to beam a probe to a location using the cargo transporter, then use the increased resolution from that sensor readout to use the same cargo transporter as a personnel or life-form transport. The idea would still need holotesting, then material testing, and finally life-form testing with a plant or an insect before it could be moved into real testing.

He was interrupted from the schematics in his head by a voice. He looked up with a wide-eyed blink, and nodded at the woman's request to join him. She called him 'sir', which could either be the polite civilian term or the Starfleet assessment of rank. She wasn't in uniform - he didn't know which it was. As a result, he decided that civilian was the best path forward. "Uh, um, sure, miss."

"Oh good." Kay plonked her tray down and then sat opposite him. "It's my first day on board, you know. So still finding were everything is. And hoping to get to know a few people as well. I am Kay. So what are you doing, sir? And it must be important that you are doing it over lunch."

First day on board - they seemed to be taking on a lot of personnel lately, and he was only vaguely aware of them. As Chief of Ops, he should have a rough picture of the ship's complement. But he'd been delegating more of that work to his team lately, especially the quartermasters' office. Having it brought to his attention like this was reason enough to take some kind of positive action soon. There was a lot that involved Ops around the ship.

When the woman asked what he was doing, he smiled, nervously. This was why he delegated that responsibility - because dealing with people wasn't his top skillset. People were unpredictable and messy. Even with the quantum instability of the transporter, it operated within a framework of probabilistic rules. People didn't have rules. Or, if they did, Etan didn't know any of them.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. It's just a design I'm developing. I'm just trying to work on increasing the resolution and range of the transporters with probes, so that we can use the cargo transporters to beam people if we have to make a mass evacuation, in addition to the main transport systems. And it might be able to help us beam people in or out at a longer range. I think it can work."

Kay's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant! You must be a genius, sir." Then she rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh god I am so social inept. I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Kayleigh London." She held out her hand while she kept smiling at him. She hoped he would not recognize the surname. But as he was an obvious genius he was sure to.

She was socially inept? She'd obviously never met him then. Comparatively, her bravery and willingness to talk made her a social butterfly. He shook his head at her assessment that he was a genius, but shook her hand. "Oh, I'm no genius, Miss London. I'm just putting together the pieces we already have, and just getting them to talk to each other." Honestly, it didn't feel like genius-level work to him. The design of the transporter, even a standard probe, that was true genius. He was just hacking them to do something that was obvious but unintended. Surreptitiously, he tapped his PADD and checked his assessment before flipping back to the CAD software - there had been a London among the refugees, and there was an Admiral London who'd been scheduled for rendezvous and protective service today. The likelihood was high that this woman was connected to that party. Still, he didn't want to press the issue. They had taken on crew with that rendezvous. "Are you a member of Starfleet, Miss London?"

Another eyeroll. "Oh dear lord, were are my manners today. Yes I am. First lieutenant London, sir. I have just been assigned to the Resolution. Still finding my feet so to speak. It's always so hard to start somewhere new and make friends all over. And then people are usually hesitant to speak to me. I am so glad that you are kind." She looked a little shy and then smiled at him.

He looked back at her with a nervous smile of his own, shrugging. "No need to worry about that, Lieutenant. Welcome aboard. I'm Lieutenant tar-Lexros - Chief Operations Officer of USS [i]Resolution[/i]. I hope my department staff made it known, if you need any assistance whatsoever, please reach out to us. The role of Operations is to make sure everyone else is capable of doing their best work." That much was true, at least in his eyes. If he was doing everything right, he was invisible - in part because Ops was 'everywhere'. From maintenance to interdepartmental secondments, the Chief of Operations could know nearly everything that happened aboard the ship. And on a Galaxy-class ship, a floating city in itself, that was a lot to know. "Why should people be hesitant to speak with you, Lieutenant? You seem quite friendly. I can talk to the First Officer, and see if rearranging your duty schedule would help bring you into contact with other people who are also friendly."

"Oh I don't want to bother Ton... I mean commander Stoffels now. I know she is pretty busy. It's counsellors. A lot of people are afraid we can just guess what they are thinking by looking at them. And I am not betazoid. And I would much rather be a combat marine anyway. But I have been assigned to counselling again."

While Etan wasn't great about recognizing social cues, he knew a backpedal when he heard one. He'd made more than his own fair share, after all. She knew Commander Stoffels well enough to call her by first name, and she was now assigned as part of the counseling section. That was interesting. "Lieutenant Jansen and I have spoken previously, and she's also aware that Operations support is available to the counseling section. If it's not too private, how do you know Commander Stoffels?"

"Oh how can ops help out with counselling?" Kay was curious about that. "She is my boss now. And commander Stoffels and I grew up together. Our fathers worked together a lot, still do so she lived next door from me for many years when I was a little girl. We are still pretty close. I hope she hasn't been hard on you or anything."

Etan actually smiled, albeit nervously. Getting into the relationship between Operations and Medical was treading on uncertain ground - one of the few places where propriety and confidentiality were absolutely essential. "There are some individuals aboard this ship, whose identities I am not at liberty to disclose, whose replicator usage is monitored by the Operations section to ensure that they replicate water to take a certain medicine with. There's also a small group who are not granted access to the holodeck without supervision due to psychiatric orders. The Quartermaster aboard the ship helps Sickbay and Counseling with requisitioning of psychiatric medicines and psychiatric testing equipment. Additionally, the Operations staff handles what you might call 'interior design'. If you need furniture moved in your office, my team can certainly support that need. We also make sure that messages are transmitted, such as appointment notifications."

He nodded at the comments about Stoffels, thinking for a moment. "Commander Stoffels has had some family-related challenges recently. I hope that you can help her."

"As a friend I will do my damnest." Her face fell. "These people are like family to me. I can't believe what happened. Lt Jansen will be her therapist." She took a few seconds to gather herself. "That is brilliant, sir. Told you you were a genius. It will make the job much easier for medical and counselling."

He nodded at her comment about Sky being Commander Stoffels' therapist; he hoped that the personal relationships wouldn't cause issues. "I only know the barest details from the officers' briefings, and from having helped to locate the missing individuals by sensors. I don't really know much about the situation beyond that. I do hope Lieutenant Jansen can help the Commander - I take my direction from her and the Captain, after all. To have Commander Stoffels grieving and out-of-sorts could seriously impact performance across the ship." The counselor insisted that he was a genius again, and again he could only shrug. After all, what he'd laid out was just the by-the-book support role Ops filled; he hadn't even considered any of the novel support they'd provided in the past for medical triage. "I guess, miss, if you say so. I like to think I'm just doing my job, and trying to help everyone else do theirs more effectively."

"I am sure you do." Kay said. "Maybe one of the most important but underrated jobs on the ship. And about Tony, be nice to her. She is going through a lot right now and probably not showing it. People just being supportive can be a big help in situations like that. Now, we have decided to be friends." She beamed. "What do you like doing socially, sir?"

Etan nodded at the comment regarding Commander Stoffels. She absolutely did need friends, that was obvious. She was going through a difficult time, with several deaths and missing people among her family. "I do my best to help her, miss." He didn't try to go into detail as to how - but he figured that she would find out soon enough. He shrugged at the question of what he liked doing 'socially'. "Uh, not all that much, really. Mostly I like like to work on machines, tinker with them and improve them. I'm not very socially active."

"Oh that is not good enough." Kay shook her head. "We have to find you some hobbies, find out what you like to do."

Etan had to hide the look of displeasure on his face, but shrugged. "What I enjoy doing most is working with machines and technology, miss. I enjoy the problem-solving and the ability to create novel solutions which help others. When I was young, before I signed up to the Academy, I used to help out at the equipment repair center in town, providing repair services for both personal equipment and vehicles. I still enjoy helping people solve problems. I'm just glad that I now get to do that more often."

Kay was not about to give up. "But you need friends as well. That is a psychological given. Friends make us feel better. And I already like you. So we will find something. Maybe... working out together? You need to keep your fitness up."

Etan realized that this woman was persistent, and on one hand, he respected her desire to help; same as he did Jansen's, and really anyone else, for that matter. He wasn't all that comfortable with people in a personal sense. He'd been told he was a decent manager, because he trusted that everyone on a Starfleet ship was capable and competent, and therefore once he assigned a task, he assumed it would be done on schedule. So far on the Resolution, he'd never been wrong. At the same time, all of those interactions were fairly cut and dry; focused on the work ahead of them, the problem to be solved, and the like. Once he got into situations like this, where there wasn't a clear necessary action or a defined path forward, he was cast adrift. He shrugged at her suggestion about 'working out' together, trying to figure out if she was propositioning him. If she was, he'd be likely to decline - not because she was unattractive, but because he was uninterested in creating more romantic entanglements between officers aboard ship (especially involving the Counseling department). If she wasn't, then declining would be not only rude but valueless - after all, there was a requirement of weekly off-duty exercise; she'd see him in the ship's gymnasium and be hurt, and he didn't want that. He looked at her and thought for a moment. "I suppose that could work. You said you're trained as a combat marine; could you help me learn physical self-defense?"

That would give them a specific goal and a challenge. He was aware of martial arts, after all - every Cadet did a certain amount in the Academy. He liked the rote patterns of a kata, and appreciated his exercise having clear goals and success markers.

"Of course. I'd be more than happy to." Kay beamed. "Do you mean that you are lacking in self-defense skills? That will not do at all. You could be assigned to an away mission and you have to be able to defend yourself then. So we need to take care of this as soon as possible. When do you have time to train?" She firmly took control of the situation.

Etan thought for a moment at her question. Was he lacking in self-defense skills? He shrugged, considering the facts. "I don't believe I'm explicitly lacking, as I have passed all the examinations for self-defense in the Engineering / Operations division officer's tests up to now. But I have never spent any time focusing on the practice, and I am fully aware there are nuances which I do not grasp. As you said, it would be helpful in case of an away mission." He looked down at his PADD, with the scattershot schedule he kept, between Bridge duty, office time, and hands-on hours. He'd prefer to avoid the days when he had to haul an ODN line in between decks. "Are you available tomorrow evening, between 1800 and 2200 hours?"

"Yes I can be available then and I will set up an exercise program that will come as close to the real thing as we can make it." Kay nodded. She understood what he needed now. "It will be fun."

Etan nodded with a slight smile. He wasn't sure physical effort would ever be 'fun' to him, but to quote a roommate he'd had at the Academy, it seemed better than a sharp stick in the eye. His tone was even, but not unenthuiastic. "Yes, I believe it will."