A Kindred Spirit

Posted on 03 Apr 2015 @ 12:14am by Ensign Ibrahim Dragovic & Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia Ph.D.

1,632 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo: Astrometrics Lab - Deck 7
Timeline: MD -02 1103 hrs

[ON]

Paul had been meaning to get down to Astrometrics for a few days. The briefing on the NIMBUS mission hadn't gone very long and very little of it applied to him, but one thing had stood out to him. Amid the smiles, giggles and small fist pumps the seemed the order of the day amongst his colleagues, two reactions in particular had stood out.

The first was his boss, Lieutenant Commander Markos who looked a little queasy. However, Paul thought little of it as he'd never actually seen her look particularly happy in his short time on the Galileo.

The second reaction, though, stayed with him long after the briefing. A young human - an Ensign whom Paul didn't recognized looked bemused, perhaps even a little annoyed when the war games were announced. Paul instantly felt something of his interior reaction externalized before him. After a quick perusal of the new staff manifest, Paul discovered the mystery man was an Ibrahim Dragovic.

Arriving at the lab, Paul pressed the chime button next to the door, announcing his arrival with a pleasant, saw-wave chirp.

Ibrahim, for once, had the astrometrics lab to himself. He sat in one of the lab's chairs, leaning back and lazily watching the blue line that represented the Galileo's course wind its way through a three dimensional project of stellar bodies. They were still in a relatively well-charted part of Federation space, so there was little for him to do until they reached the Klingon sector, the charts of which hadn't been updated in some time. He was on the verge of nodding off when the chime buzzed. Jerking his had up with a start, he wiped his mouth instinctively before calling out "Come in."

Paul entered the lab with an unusual sense of purpose. "Ensign Dragovic?" Paul inquired, knowing the answer even before he asked it.

Ibrahim spun his chair around. "Ah, yes... sir?" he said, adding the honorific as an afterthought as he spotted the pips on the collar. What was purple? Diplomatic? Hopefully this wasn't about his family's politics.

"I saw you at the briefing but I don't think we're been formally introduced." Paul extended his hand. "I'm Wakeham Alasia or, Paul, if you prefer."

Ibrahim stood and shook the man's hand. "Nice to meet you Paul. Feel free to call me Ibrahim, if this isn't an official visit. Sorry about the mess, we don't get many guests done here." He gathered up a stack of PaDDs on a nearby chair and deposited them on a desktop. "Make yourself at home." Taking his own advice, Ibrahim deposited himself in his previous seat. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Paul found a seat of his own. "I should say before I jump in, a random diplomat showing up at your door, this might look like some kind of internal intelligence gathering - rest assured, very few people aboard this ship care what my thoughts are about anything. This visit could not be less official. So, anyway, this is extraordinarily presumptuous but I happened to catch a glimpse of you during the mission briefing and, unless I misread your face you looked, uhh, I guess somewhat less than excited. Am I off?"

Ibrahim frowned. Was he really that easy to read? Or could it be that Starfleet diplomats get special training in reading facial expressions and body language? Hopefully this wasn't a thinly veiled lecture and the older man's informality wasn't a half-assed ruse to get Ibrahim to trust him. At least he didn't try to sit in the chair backwards, which was a good sign. "Not... off. I guess I had been hoping my first mission would be something a little more... scientific." He raised an eyebrow and leaned backwards. "And your own take of the mission?"

Paul smiled at the young man's hesitation. "I get your apprehension. You don't know me. But I promise I'm just looking for someone to commiserate with. I didn't join Starfleet to play phaser tag, either. I remember my mentor told me I needed to get a posting aboard a flagship and I was offered a spot on the USS Destiny, which is Sovereign Class. You figure if its a first contact situation they're going to send a Sovereign or Akira or Prometheus Class ship to be safe but I wanted a posting aboard a science ship, even though it likely wouldn't be as beneficial for my career. Right now, I feel like I'm getting the worst of both worlds." Paul looked lost in thought for a moment. "Anyway, I was just glad to see the way I felt reading on someone else's face."

Ibrahim relaxed... slightly. "Ah, of course. And how exactly was the way you felt?"

"How do I feel about it?" Paul thought out loud to himself, blowing air out of his mouth. "I think even the most basic starship in the Federation has a lot of toys that can make explosions and I get why the people who run those departments want to play with their toys. I don't know. I feel weirdly nostalgic for time I wasn't even really alive for. How old were you when Wolf 359 happened?"

"Er, I was actually born the year after it."

"Jeez. That's... I forget how old I am sometimes. I was eight when I heard about it. I remember being so scared. I mean, it's not like I was serving on a ship back then but from what I've read, I think something shifted after Wolf 359 and calcified during the Dominion War. I feel like I missed the Starfleet I was meant for. I don't know. There's got to be, like, 25 PhDs on board and we're going to pretend fight the Klingons. I mean, don't get me wrong, I bet it will be fun but, it just feels off to me... anyway, that was a long answer to a short question. I feel like even among the eggheads I'm the only one that feels this way."

Ibrahim nodded. "My father's a councilman with the Autonomist Party back home. I won't bore you with the minutiae of colonial politics, but suffice it say he, and the rest of my family and almost everyone I grew up with, is sharply critical of the Federation, and Starfleet's militarization in particular.

"I mean, supposedly they are our allies, right? But now we're flexing this new deflector, and they are showing off the new cloaking thing, and we're supposed to be spying on each other WHILE training to kill each other. It smacks of brinkmanship. They may not be as numerous or as vocal as they used to be, but there are factions on Earth and Qo'Nos both that would like to see another war."

Paul raised his eyebrows. "That's... yeah. God, you're better at this than I am. I completely agree. They could get a two for one if they just fired me and gave you my job. Diplomat and physicist Ibrahim Dragovic." Paul smiled warmly. "I actually don't even know what field you're technically in. You work in... uhh, astrometrics, right? That's physics training in school? Chemistry?"

Ibrahim barely managed to choke back a scoff. "Ahem, excuse me. Traditionally, as in pre-warp times, astrometry was the study of the movement of stellar objects in the sky, but today we use it to describe the study of the disposition of interstellar objects in relation to a ship, rather than one's homeworld. It's the practical application, rather than the academic study, of astrophysics." He paused as he realized there was a simpler way to convey the concept. "Navigation, basically. And I doubt I'm really cut out for diplomacy, I just learned a thing or two from growing up in a very politically active family."

Paul sat in thought for a short moment. "So, my dad's very anti-government, very anti-Federation. He was just supremely disappointed when I joined up with Starfleet. I'm curious. Given their politics how'd your family take it?"

Ibrahim shrugged. "Honestly? Better than I thought they would. Which isn't to say that they weren't somewhat disappointed, we still manage to argue almost every time we speak, but at least we're still on speaking terms. On some level I think they knew I loved the stars and wanted to be an explorer, and there isn't much chance for somebody to be one outside of Starfleet. Probably the fact that I was going into the science branch to serve on a science vessel softened the blow quite a bit. Ironic, in hindsight, considering our current circumstances. Instead of scanning for new life and new civilizations I'll be analyzing Klingon shield frequencies so that we may be better able to obliterate them 'just in case,'" he said as he made air quotes with the last phrase.

He sighed. "Speaking of, have you worked with Klingons before?"

"Never. There actually isn't a major alpha/beta power I know less about..." Paul thought for a moment. "Well, I guess the Breen. I don't know. I don't consider the Breen on the same level but I know less about the Breen. I think everyone does, though. We have a pretty solid alliance with the Klingons so diplomatic relations have been formalized over time. Less to study - sort of less to do from a diplomats perspective you know? We know what to expect of them, they know what to expect of us. The Ferengi and the Dominion, though? There are a lot of untapped possibilities there. Will you be able to get any of your actual work done during the wargames? I know I won't.

[TRUNCATED]

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ENS Ibrahim Dragovic
Science Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Wakeham Alasia
Diplomat
USS Galileo

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