Now This Makes Me Nervous (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 17 May 2012 @ 1:45am by Lieutenant JG Brayden White Ph.D. & Ensign Rhett Brubwick
Edited on on 17 May 2012 @ 1:46am

1,767 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Counselor's Office
Timeline: MD07 - 1800 hrs

[ON - Continued...]

"You made it here all right. That's a good sign."

"I did need help." Rhett held up the PaDD with the schematics on it. "I don't know why, but the new corridor designs just throw me off."

"There's no shame in using a map," Brayden assured him. "Meet anyone interesting so far? Besides Pola," he added with a slight grin.

Rhett thought for a few minutes. In the short time he'd been aboard, things hadn't been terribly eventful--aside from meeting the Irishwoman. "Not really. Mostly just wandering around, avoiding coming to see you." He didn't apologize, although his tone did say very clearly, that he thought it hadn't been as bad as he had expected.

"Of course," Brayden agreed genially. "How's the department? I sympathize with being a crew of one. Quite the task."

"Well, I was actually surprised at the size of the diplomatic suite. Well, if suite is the right word." When Rhett had visited, he had been surprised to find that there was more than one office. "It seems like they expected there to be at least three or four of us but only assigned me. I have to say, it's nice to have the space to myself, but it feels really empty. I don't have anything to fill it up."

"Anything to fill it up," he repeated thoughtfully. "Like what?"

Rhett looked helpless. "I don't know. Photos, plants," he thought for a few moments, "I mean, my office has a desk and a chair and a lot of empty space where a couch and a couple of chairs could fit. It's just barren." As he was thinking about it, his face darkened. "It can't be..." he mused.

Brayden listened, silent.

"I think the diplomatic offices were just siphoned away from the research department. It would explain why we've got a shared door into the ship's library..." It was a realization that hadn't even occurred until just then. "It would explain why that dour looking Russian gave me the stink eye."

There was an interesting idea, Brayden thought. "Dour looking Russian?" he asked, curious.

"Yeah, I heard him talking in the corridor outside the diplomatic suite. He could be Ukranian, but Russian is my guess. He's a Staff Warrant Officer. That's really all I know, other than the fact that he gave me a look that might have been able to kill."

"For what?" Brayden asked. He hadn't met everyone on board yet, but the Russian Warrant officer with the stink eye was definitely one of the ones he hadn't seen yet.

"I have no idea, other than that maybe the diplomatic offices were taken away from research. All I know is that there was an open look of hostility on that man's face."

Misplaced hostility, if what Rhett was saying was correct. He made a mental note to go through the personnel files and see if he could figure out who it was. At the very least, he could try to get a read on the situation from an outsider's perspective to see if it was anything to be concerned over. "Have you thought about talking to him?"

Rhett shook his head and couldn't suppress a laugh, "Actually, I was planning on trying to avoid it if at all possible. While I'm all about conflict resolution, I'd rather not try it with someone who seems to hate me before I've even spoken to him."

"If you're in such close quarters, it seems like avoidance might not work," Brayden murmured with a half-smile. "Is it possible that the hostility you recognized might not be directed specifically at you?"

"Do you have to make so much sense?" the diplomat asked jokingly, "I was much happier just thinking I could avoid him." He ran his hand through his hair. "If you'd like, I'll speak with him. It's always possible his face is just stuck that way."

"It's not about what I'd like," Brayden assured him. "It's about what makes you the most comfortable in your work environment. Feeling threatened isn't conducive to productivity. What would you like to say to him, if you were to speak with him?"

Rhett rolled his eyes, "Probably something along the lines of 'Hi, my name is Rhett. I work next door.'" He made the nasal adult-speaking noise from Charlie Brown. 'It's nice to meet you Mr. Angry Russian Dude. How are things going?' You know, something like that."

"They teach you all that in your diplomacy courses?" Brayden asked, smiling. "Maybe I should sign up." He sobered, leaning forward a little. "But I asked what you'd like to say. Not how you'd start a conversation." He lifted his brows. "It's an odd distinction, I know. Just play along for a second."

Rhett couldn't help but chuckle, and wanted to add You'd be surprised. By the end, however, he simply said, "I know what you meant, doc. I just didn't elaborate what I meant by that sample conversation." Rhett shook his head, "The easiest way to resolve a conflict on one end is to set it aside from the other end. If I do not acknowledge any prejudgment on my part, and actually set it aside, then I'm free to figure out his true grievances and concerns. Sometimes that's harder than others, but a Russian Stink-eye is really easy to forgive and forget."

There were the diplomacy skills, Brayden thought. And though the man was either sidestepping or simply not understanding where Brayden had been trying to go, letting him feel what he was feeling to get it out of his system as opposed to just setting it aside... he wasn't going to belabor it. There was no point. "I'm sure you're going to do just fine," he told Rhett. "What drew you to the Academy?"

"Military life intrigued me. That and I really just want to make a difference in the galaxy, in whatever small way I can." He spoke bluntly. The diplomat knew that many people joined the military for adventure, to straighten out their lives, or to escape something back home. Rhett had joined to gain purpose.

"What sort of difference do you want to make?" Brayden asked, genuinely curious. People often spoke of wanting to 'make a difference'; but the things they sought to right in the universe often said a lot about who they were. That was what interested him; not because he was looking for some kind of fault or problem in them, but because understanding how psyches worked was what had drawn him to this field in the first place. People fascinated him.

Rhett shrugged. "I have no idea. There are lots of problems, everywhere." He thought for a few moments, "Really, I guess as a part of Starfleet, I figured I'd get sent to help out with some of the ones that could get even worse." Although there were problems aplenty in the galaxy, starvation, corruption, war, not to mention the ones between people all over, Rhett had no idea what problems he wanted to solve, or what kind of difference he wanted to make. "I don't want to be in the spotlight, really. I guess I just want to have my life mean something. I want to be remembered as helping make someone's life better."

Brayden looked fondly at the diplomat. Ah, to be fresh out of school and full of idealism. "An honorable goal," he said with a half-smile. "So you joined up and found your way into... communications? What drew you to that?"

"I actually studied communication in college prior to joining Starfleet, but to answer your question: It was the only thing that really caught my interest. Believe me, I tried a lot of things. I took every kind of class from anthropology or architecture all the way to basic warp mechanics and subspace theory. Communication is the only one that kept me interested." It wasn't worth the time or effort to correct the counselor's use of communications. It always led to at least one question, and many communication scholars made the same mistake.

"Right," he agreed, accepting the correction. He made mistakes from time to time, he could admit that easily. "So what about it was interesting to you, that the other courses didn't satisfy?"

Rhett came up short on the answer to that question. "I don't really know, I guess. They didn't inspire me the way communication did. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy learning about how warp dynamics allow faster-than-light travel. I enjoy learning about everything I studied, and I try to keep up with most of it. It just wasn't my thing." It was not a definitive answer, nor was it entirely clear, but it was the best the man had.

"And communication is," Brayden came back round. "What is it about that course of study that inspires you?"

This line of questioning was difficult. "It has to do with the people, with the universality of the discipline." He gestured helplessly, "It doesn't matter if you're the best astrophysicist in the galaxy, unless you can get someone else to understand what you know, it won't do anyone any good. You know?" It was a weak description. There was a deeper appeal to his studies of communication, it was almost primal. It was so deeply ingrained that he just couldn't manage to pinpoint it.

Brayden smiled. What he described wasn't entirely dissimilar for his own interest in psychology. "I think I might," he answered. "Not too bad, was it?"

Rhett shook his head, "That's it?" He hadn't expected a session to end so abruptly, but it did seem to make sense. "No, it wasn't so bad."

Brayden nodded to the blinking black bar on the wall beside the door. "So says the timer. You're welcome to stay if you like. Or come back whenever you wish. I am curious about that talent of yours. I think, if you're interested, we might be able to find a way to get it under your control, rather than it just happening to you."

A thoughtful expression crossed the diplomat's face. "I'm game if you are," he said as he stood. "I'll let you know when I set something up with the doctor." He walked toward the door, "Until then."

"Nice to meet you, Rhett," Brayden said, slipping his hands into his pockets as the diplomat headed out. "I hope to see you soon."

[OFF]
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LTJG Brayden White Ph.D. (pNPC Kestra Orexil)
Counselor
USS Galileo

Ensign Rhett Brubwick
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

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