Assuage Your Concerns, Vulcan Style

Posted on 22 Mar 2014 @ 8:25pm by Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Ensign K'os Beaumont

1,477 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD -07 - 0945

[ON]

K'os sat at his workstation pouring over strings of algorithms on the left hand monitor. Every once in a while he would frown then make a change in the coding. His task was to perform a simple daily diagnostic on the replicator headends but as usual he found himself digging through the tiny details. The monitor on the right was playing a video describing details of the planet Lyshan III. Every once in a while he would jot down a note on to his PADD when something interesting was said about the planet. Though his attention was split between the two projects he turned to look at Asahi, who he'd heard approaching.

As per usual, Asahi had made his rounds before making an attempt to speak with any of the other engineers. A few of the other Alpha shift personnel had made a point to object to being thrown down into a mine full of Cardassians. Despite his reassurance that he was fairly certain any interaction with said Cardassians would have been minimal, he had to reassure those with concerns that they would not be sent down to said mines.

It was why he wanted to talk to the young hybrid petty officer. K'os hadn't raised any concern about Cardassians, and was instead much more interested in collaborations and actually solving the issue. As he approached, Asahi had a small bubble of doubt that the young man would have had his own concerns, but he hoped none of them would be related to miners or any of that nonsense.

That was all this racism was to him; nonsense. "... Petty Officer Beaumont, do you have a moment?"

K'os smiled and nodded, "Yes, sir." His arm reached out and paused the video about Lyshan III before swiveling his chair back around to face Asahi again. He was glad the Lieutenant stayed behind, he had wanted to talk to him after the meeting but wasn't sure when he'd have a chance to. "What can I do for you, sir?"

"Always hard at work, aren't you?" Asahi chuckled, shaking his head. He would have made a jab at K'os overworking himself if it wasn't so ironically hypocritical of him to say. "I wished to speak with you about the mining colony and the research surrounding that." He smiled. "I was thinking about sending you down there. You did have the most cohesive..." What was the word Asahi was looking for... "Hypothesis?" There was a reason scientists did the science thing, and it was clear Asahi wasn't fit for it. "It wouldn't seem right to not send you down when you seemed the most enthusiastic. I just wanted to make sure you didn't have reservations about... ah... the more 'social' issues involved."

"Thank you, sir." He looked a little puzzled. He didn't mean to come across as having social issues. He knew sometimes he preferred to work on tasks alone, but that was because he had his own efficient way of multi-tasking that others found hard to follow. He had no idea Asahi was talking about his willingness to work with Cardassians. K'os was the complete opposite of xenophobic and it never entered his mind that that would be a problem for anyone. "I'm sorry, sir." He blurted quickly. "I am trying to work on it, sir. I just sometimes get focused on my tasks. I didn't realize I wasn't being sociable enough. If you add me to the away team I will make sure that isn't an issue." He added a warm smile as if trying to prove he could do it.

Asahi stared at the clueless petty officer, before he let a small snort of a laugh escape his lips. "I hadn't meant it like that. If at anything, you're the one I have the fewest amount of issues with, at least in that respect." At the very least, K'os tried to be amiable with most of his colleagues, or at least pleasant enough to get through the task. "I was more referring to any reservations you may have had about the miners we're going to be aiding..." He paused, realization washing over him. "... Though I suspect you'd have more reservations about certain members of engineering than you would about miners with a potential chip on their shoulders."

Both K'os' rounded eyebrows raised, making him look a little shocked. "Oh I see." He mumbled. His smile faded into a scowl as the frustration he felt about the warrant officers slipped through his usually iron grip on his emotions. The Vulcanoid brow ridge above his eyes, which was usually hard to detect, was now visible as he scowled. "I dislike xenophobia and racism very much, sir. I have been the subject of both and it is very hurtful. His face became passive briefly as he carefully reined in his emotions. It threatened to turn to anger and he didn't want to make a scene in engineering. Slowly his usual smile crept back on to his cheeks. "My roommate is a Cardassian and I enjoy his company a lot. Interacting with the miners will not cause me grief, I assure you. I am more concerned, sir, with not being given access to the science teams. I believe that if engineering is to do a proper analysis of the equipment used in both the mining and the terraforming we need to know exactly what things science is working on. There are a lot of theories that can contribute to this type of phenomenon and we need to start eliminating possibilities."

If Asahi showed his relief, it would have been in tears and hugs. He instead settled for a smile, as he didn't mean to scare the younger man by his actions, and nodded. "Excellent. I'm not entirely sure how much contact you'll have with the miners, regardless of what anyone says. I think the Support department's in charge of calming the masses." It hadn't really crossed Asahi's mind that the engineers would have had minimal contact with Cardassian miners, or any miners at all for that matter. "It'll be something to think about, in case you had questions for them specifically, but that can easily be saved for another time." Preferably after Asahi tracked down the Intelligence chief and had a talk with her as well.

Which brought up the other matter. Frowning, Asahi took note of the other's concern. "I had actually meant to speak with the Science Chief on that after science had had their meeting." He paused, small smile returning, an apologetic hint added onto it. "We've just barely been given the information about the mines ourselves. I figure it's best to let everyone acquaint themselves to what we can get a hold of before we all start knocking heads together."

K'os thought about what the other engineer said. "I agree that more information is needed." He was a natural problem solver and wanted to be right in the middle to help solve it. "I can get enthusiastic when a tricky problem presents itself, sir. Don't mind me. I will collaborate with the teams I am put with, and do the tasks that I'm assigned. Can I request access to preliminary reports from the support department as well?" It might have been a lot to ask, but if K'os couldn't interview the miners he wanted to at least read the reports about them. He was still firmly, almost stubbornly, of the belief that engineering needed all facts to properly assess the equipment.

Nodding, Asahi made note to contact the Intelligence Department in his PADD. "I can see what I can do. If I can't do that, or get you some contact with the miners themselves, I'll see what I can do about making alternate arrangements." He hadn't heard anything good about Lieutenant Markos, and while he didn't doubt she was good at her job and knew how to make decisions about what she was good at, he couldn't help but feel a little leery. The woman had not been well-known for having a positive, rainbow-splurting attitude.

After a pause, he placed a hand on the other's shoulder, making a point to make eye-contact. "K'os, don't be afraid to be a little enthusiastic, especially if you're making a good point. I spent eight years of a Starfleet career keeping my mouth shut and going through the motions. Don't let that happen to you, hm?"

"Thank-you, sir." K'os cocked his head. "All I want to do is help out. Being on the away team is an honour to me. Thank-you again." His smile spread from ear to ear. Even if he wanted to hide his enthusiasm in that moment, he didn't think he could.


END


Lt. Asahi Kita
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

&

PO3 K'os Beaumont
Matter/Energy Systems Specialist
USS Galileo

RSS Feed