Hard-Wired

Posted on 15 Jul 2012 @ 2:23pm by Ensign Rhett Brubwick & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle
Edited on on 16 Jul 2012 @ 10:13am

1,057 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Chief Counselor's Officer
Timeline: MD09 - 1100 hours

ON

Rhett had finished his most recent project. It was a study on Xenocentrism. He had found as much relevant data as he could. He had composed a research brief and devised several research questions. It was now time for him to try to answer those questions.

He had always favored interviewing and code comparison to other research methods. It gave him extensive material to work with, as well as presented the tone of the responses.

He approached the Chief Counselor's office. She had been assigned to Galileo at about the same time as he had. It was strange that they hadn't met on the starbase. Not too strange, but strange enough. He had set an appointment, and as he checked his watch, he realized he was about five minutes early.

He waited outside.

"You're early," came a voice from behind Brubwick as she approached the office door. The tall blonde smiled and resisted the urge to offer her hand to shake, reminded of the gentle encounter with Theron. "That's great. I like early. Delainey Carlisle, by the way."

"I saw you on the shuttle over here, right?" he asked, already knowing he had. "I've always tried to live by the old saying: 'If you're five minutes early, you're on time. If you're on time you're late. If you're late it's unacceptable.'"

Carlisle smiled apologeticallly. "Of course. Hello again. Old sayings get to be old because they're valuable," she added with a grin as she led them both into her office.

Gesturing for him to take a seat, she said, "I'm still in the process of putting the personal touches on the office, so forgive the blandness. May I get you something from the replicator?"

"Water would be great, if you don't mind." Rhett looked around the office. It was a bit impersonal, but he was sure that would change. "So, I'm actually not here just to get my official psych evaluation. I thought I might be able to ask you a few questions as well."

Turning back to face him after pressing a key to activate the replicator, she hid her surprise with a smile. She was not expecting her services to be sought outside of the required eval this soon, but she welcomed his openness. Handing him his water and returning to her own seat, she said, "Absolutely. How may I help?"

Rhett smiled, sipped his water and looked at the counselor, "I'm thinking about conducting a research study on a possible systemic inequality between human and non-human Starfleet personnel." He shrugged, "I thought about it first, when I came aboard Galileo. The corridors aren't designed by humans, and most Starfleet ships are." He gestured as he spoke, "Another example is that Federation Standard is nothing but an adaptation of old Earth English. Starfleet Headquarters is based on Earth, and according to Starfleet navigation, Earth is sector 001. Vulcans were spacefarers before Humans, yet their star system is not sector 001." He took another sip of his water.

"I don't think that humans, myself included, do most of this on purpose. But I do know that most humans in the early days of Starfleet were fairly Xenophobic, or at least prejudiced. My research is really asking if any of those prejudices were incorporated in to the fleet's structure, and whether they have been perpetuated to current times."

He took a breath, "So, really, the question I want to ask you is, in your time as a ship's counselor, have you ever heard any non-humans express concerns that would reasonably be explained by systemic prejudices?"

Delainey paused, giving his question some thought. She was impressed that he had considered such an issue. "As you stated, I don't think such human centric biases and prejudices are intentional, but as you pointed out, they are built into our systems in large part because humans played such a huge role in shaping the Federation and Starfleet. Of course, you and I, as humans, are going to label things in human centric terms because that's our frame of reference. For all we know, those same things are called something else entirely according to a non-human, who is equally just as focused on seeing the universe in their own species or race-focused way. I can't say I've identified systemic prejudices among non-humans, but I attribute that to my limited exposure to non-humans. Small samples make it difficult to generalize."

"Don't I know it." Rhett smiled, "Well, it was a shot in the dark, but worth it anyway. I'm going to keep researching it, although it's not looking good for my hypothesis so far."

Carlisle smiled. "Try not to think in terms of good and bad hypotheses. Every hypothesis, whether proven or disproven, gets us closer to understanding."

Rhett backtracked quickly, "Oh, no. It's not a bad hypothesis, I'm just saying that it doesn't look like it'll make it past the preliminary research. And that itself will teach me something. That's the real joy of it all. Although I'm sure it's nice to be published, that wasn't really the goal here. I just wanted to learn something, maybe help make the Federation a bit better for everyone."

Carlisle smiled. "Your positivity and willingness to approach a counselor even when not required is refreshing, Ensign. Reading the past department notes, I was preparing myself to be treated like someone with a communicable disease," she added with a chuckle. "I'd love to read your research when you're finished. Consider that a friendly request, not an order," she added quickly, lest he think he had no choice.

"Yeah." Rhett mockingly grimaced, "The difference is that I chose to visit. I wasn't told that I had to." He shrugged, "It makes all the difference in the world. Plus, thus far, I haven't felt like you're trying to dig into my brain."

"I save the digging for at least the third visit," Delainey deadpanned, before eventually chuckling.

"Well then," Rhett nodded, "I guess I'll just have to tape my mouth shut on the third visit." He mimicked a gruff tone, "You'll never get anything out of me, you filthy shrink!"

"But on a more serious note," Rhett returned to his normal tone, "thanks for the help. If you come across anything that might shed some light on my research, you know where to find me."

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