Burning the Midnight Oil

Posted on 14 Sep 2024 @ 8:40pm by Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Lieutenant JG Hovar Kov
Edited on on 15 Sep 2024 @ 11:13pm

4,048 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 7 - Chief Engineer's Office
Timeline: MD 03, 0030

[ON]

Of all the places he could venture to, of all the places he felt uncomfortable in, it had to be Main Engineering. As Chaplain, he was permitted to go to Main Engineering. However, as a complete klutz as he is for all things engineering, he swore to himself three rules: first, do not touch anything; second, do not touch anything; third, do not touch anything! With that in mind, he ventured into the valley of ignorance and death and he reminded himself that he had a reason to be there. He wanted to make himself visible to the various departments. He also wanted to get to know all 59 of the other crew members so he could figure out how to best minister to them. As far as Engineers were concerned, more than anyone else, they were a complete mystery to him.

With that said, he found himself looking around very briefly as he went to the Chief Engineer's office. Holding a small PADD in his hands, he had a check list of tasks he wanted to do for his first shift. The tricky one was to greet the Department Heads. He will meet with Security later on, he wanted to get the more nervous one out of the way. As he neared the Chief Engineer's office, he noticed a Vulcan sitting in the office. Thinking about it for a moment, he had never met a Vulcan with blue eyes. Approaching the office, he looked at the name.

Hovar made no attempt to speak her name.

"Excuse me, do I have the honor of addressing the Chief Engineer?"

The gold-collared engineering officer raised her head from the stack of padds she had before her to look on the unexpected visitor at the doorway to the ChEng's office. She tilted her head slightly to the side in an inquisitive manner when she saw that it was a Klingon male who had addressed her. Fascinating. It wasn't often one saw one of his kind, and wearing a most unusual black and white collar.

"You do. May I assist you...?" Sera responded in a coolly accented tone of voice.

Hovar nodded only once with his head, acknowledging the fact that, like many, it is tricky to address a Vulcan. After all, it is tricky to see beneath the mask of an individual who abandoned the need for emotional demonstrations, both exoteric and esoteric.

"Only for a moment of your time. I'm Chaplain Hovar, I'm going around the ship introducing myself to as many of the crew as I can."

Sera rose from her chair in a graceful manner and motioned for him to enter with a subtle gesture. It would appear that this rather less-than-private alcove that served as her office was quite a popular place for new faces looking to speak with her.

The Klingon didn't move, and Sera belatedly recognized that she had used a non-verbal gesture that most off-worlders did not recognize as a signal to enter. Ah.

"Please enter...chaplain?, is it?" Sera had no idea what that word was, or how it related to the Klingon, but she was certain that she would find a satisfactory answer shortly.

"Would you care for a beverage? If you have not already been informed, Captain Tarin runs a...dry ship." Sera paused, again, uncertain of the provenance behind such a turn of phrase, but hoped that the Klingon would understand the rather Terran specific idiom.

"Pomegranate juice, chilled please."

Hovar contemplated the words about Captain Tarin running a "dry ship." From what little he knew about her, that should be expected.

"I see. I do have pastoral reasons why one would want to run a dry ship. You are indeed the first to tell me that she runs a dry ship."

Sera went to the small replicator and obtained this 'pomegranate' juice that the Klingon requested and motioned for him to sit in the chair opposite of the desk. Placing the strangely colored drink in front of him, Sera returned to her perch of padds and situated herself in a somewhat fussy manner back in her chair.

"Normally engineering does not receive many visitors. However, the last few days have been an exception to this norm. It is not...usual, at least in my experience, to find one who is willing to go around the ship introducing themselves."

Hovar nodded as he graciously took the chilled, bright red looking drink and took a sip. The drink became his drink of choice back in his days of his youth. The tart yet slightly sweet drink favored him especially.

"I would agree with you, especially since my Engineering instructors wished to put me in handcuffs so I would not touch anything. I am sorry to say that I barely passed Engineering 101."

With that admission out of the way, Hovar continued.

"As my title suggests, I am the ship's Chaplain. I am primarily responsible for the spiritual care and well-being of everyone on board as well as providing counseling services primarily pastoral but also clinical. Part of that job is for me to be at least acquainted with everyone on board and to be present for the crew to know and see that I am available for them whenever I am needed: a ministry of presence if you will."

Sera's brow flicked slightly at his statement regarding barely passing ENG 101. The very thought of having someone at the 'heart' of Galielo who had rather easily confessed such a thing was...concerning.

"Duly noted, Chap-lane. I will ensure that you will not be required to touch anything while in engineering." She would simply have to keep an attentive eye on this one. There was nothing else to be done about it.

He appeared to be giving away a lot of personal information; perhaps more than was deemed necessary in her eyes. Was this an attempt to comfort...or to lure? Sera was uncertain. It was only logical to see this through, so she continued..."Ah...so, similar to a..." She stopped speaking as she searched for the correct word in her language and then attempted to translate into Standard. "A priest?"

Such people--at least in the 'world' she inhabited growing up on Vulcan--had the potential to wield much power and influence given their position and intimate knowledge of those they gave support to. Her own mother had been a priestess before she had been taken as her father's mate. T'Rel had been ruthless in her ministrations during Sera's childhood. To hear there was another of ko-mekh's 'ilk' aboard this ship, was somewhat alarming.

"Actually, literally a priest. I am a priest of the Catholic Church of the Latin-Rite. We are but a shadow of our former self since the secularization of Earth, but there are still lessons that can be taught."

Hovar pondered for a moment as he figured he should make his position clear.

"I am not here to convert anyone or shove my religion down everyone's throats. I am here to make sure that your religious practices, if any, are respected. I hold no command power whatsoever; I do not have the power to order anyone to do anything. The one "power" that I do have is priest-penitent privilege. Anything spoken to me, unless it involves an imminent threat to themselves or others or if I am operating in the capacity of a Counselor, stays with me. I cannot be compelled by Captain Tarin or Star Fleet Command to disclose anything without permission of the penitent."

"You...you are an adherent of an Earth religion who practices confidentiality?" Sera couldn't help it, she blew a puff of air out of her nose in a non-verbal expression of a 'laugh,' of sorts. Someone who listens to secrets but does nothing with them? Inexplicable...utterly alien.

Hovar had never seen a Vulcan "laugh" before, but the reaction did make him curious. That curiosity though would have to wait another time.

"Allow me to provide an example. Say you trust me enough to one day find me somewhere and ask to talk to me privately. Our conversation could be about questioning the moral implications of an action, or I spend that entire time listening to you, it does not matter. We part ways, hopefully with you feeling either slightly better or you have a good path forward. You are the one who holds the privilege; you are free to discuss what we discussed, but unless you free me to talk about it; baring extenuating circumstances I am unable to speak about it, even under threat of a Court Martial."

He took another sip of his drink, hoping that made sense.

Sera glanced to the unusual collar, and two the two gold pips that adorned it. "That is...beyond my experience of comprehension, Lieutenant. One did not tell others their...secrets, where I came from. Does this 'Catholic Church' truly operate in such a...selfless manner?"

Hovar realized that he would need to plant seeds to make sure he is not addressed by his pay grade.

"Yes. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, or going to Confession, is a very intimate, personal experience to cleanse one's soul of a sins as a physician would cleanse one's body of an illness. Just as the Patient expects the Physician to keep their matter private, so would the Penitent expects the Priest to keep their matter private also. That is the Seal of Confession, which is where Priest-Penitent privilege comes from."

Hovar paused for a second.

"I also provide other services that doesn't involve spiritual care. Chaplains have been known to provide any assistance that they can. In Red Alert conditions for example, I am assigned to the Security department to make sure that any threats to the ship or the crew no longer become a threat."

Sera blinked. It was a most alien concept, this particular flavor of spirituality. She had never considered humanity to have any particularly strong ecclesiastical leanings, and knew very little of their history beyond the time-frame where her own people made contact with them.

"A warrior-priest, then. And...this is a human religious construct or are you pulling from Klingon traditions? This 'confession' does seem to expose the 'penitent,' and why would a katra require cleaning?" This was a most unusual meeting, to be certain, and her curiosity was beginning to get the best of her.

Hovar was not expecting to have this deep of a conversation about the soul, but he did his best.

"If I am to understand right, your katra is your living spirit, the very essence of your mind, everything that makes you, you. It is unique to you, and to you alone. No one else is like yours, and there will never be anything like yours again.

Now, imagine there are small, imperceptible impurities to your katra. These impurities are caused by your pride, your greed, your wrath, or any number of foul intentions. You do not need to actually do them, you need only to think of them and your katra becomes more impure, more deformed, more prone to more impurities.

It behaves like a cancer. You then think to yourself you aught to do what is right, but your katra only knows what is evil, selfish, egocentric. It would be too late for you to do anything on your own. In a sense, you put yourself into damnation.

Confession would be me, if I were Vulcan, to perform a mind-meld with you, to cleanse your katra and to restore it to its beautiful glory once again. There will always be tiny impurities surely as we are all mortal, however, instead of having to perform a mind-meld, you can help restore your own impurities with tiny adjustments to your life, whatever that might be."

"A fascinating explanation Chep-lane. It would appear that your Catholic-church of the Latin rite's dogma is built on the foundation of emotions. You speak of feelings in which stain you somehow...wrath, grief, fear...if I follow this line of reasoning, no doubt there would also be lust, and it's foil...hate. These dark sentiments are not permitted to be expressed in my culture. Surak's teachings instruct us to control such urges, that giving into them will only lead to suffering...annihilation."

"Cheerfulness...affection...camaraderie...romance..."

The Klingon nodded gently as he finished his drink.

"Just as much as the negative influences of our lives plague us, I find most people seldom appreciate the beauty with creation. As much as I am ignorant of how a Warp Core works, I cannot help but find awe and wonder at it as if I would a work of art or of creation by the laws of nature. That is my more important job, to share the Good News that Jesus of Nazareth preached all those millennia ago, which is there is goodness in the universe, a universe of aspiration, of feeling, of curiosity, of poetry, of godlike spark that we all play a contributing part in."

Hovar took a breath, damning himself for preaching again.

"It is that goodness which I mostly fight for, one which does not need me to carry a blade for."

"However, a blade can help...if you are expecting to engage in battle.

"A warp core can only be operational within a small set of functional parameters. Quite unlike esoteric matters which could be structured upon all sorts of transcendental beliefs. I find it curious that you would bring up an analogy regarding battle and weaponry in discussion of Terran mysticism. Does this religious tradition lend itself to warfare? It would be in alignment to the societal strife of Earth's 21st century." It was an observation, nothing more, but oftentimes 'playing' the stereotypical Vulcan allowed for further data to be accumulated.

"You certainly appear quite...fervent towards these theistic beliefs. Are all priests of your order like this or is this a unique...mannerism given your Klingon heritage?"

Hovar recalled his Church History course, and it was not pretty. He also recalled his fellow priests, and they were...well...cannon fodder would be a compliment.

"I cannot speak for the others. Because of my upbringing, I do not have any reservations of taking someone's life. How it was explained to me is that of a Shepherd tending to the flock of sheep; in our case, on a spiritual level. However, there are wolves who wish to devour said sheep, and will hide in sheep's clothing to do their work. The Shepherd must be ready to fight against the wolf, or wolves, to keep the flock safe. The reality is, I am killing someone, even if it is justified, and I will have to answer for that in the Final Judgment. There are those even in the Corps that takes my analogy on a metaphorical level. Their view is they are not warriors, they are clergyman, therefore, they should not fight. They should be tending to the wounded or helping the medical team."

A shrug appeared from the Klingon as he spoke the following words with a rather unusual calmness. There was no pride, just sorrow and acceptance.

"Since Captain Tarin wants me to help the Security department in a Red Alert situation, I only have one choice: tell the poor soul "rest in peace" as I am the last mortal being they will ever see."

Sera looked away from Hovar for a moment in a thoughtful manner. What an unusual exchange this was, and the hypothetical scenario he had just described? Fascinating.

“That is a most mercenary interpretation of shepherd hood, Chep-lane. Yet, I will not fault your logic. To protect the majority, sacrifices inevitably must be made. I support this.”

Hovar had a suspicion that what he was about to say next might not process for the Vulcan,

"I beg your pardon, but I would not use the word mercenary. The more appropriate word is slave. I am bound by the vows of celibate-chastity, poverty, and obedience. In other words, I will never have a mate, the only children I shall have are those who address me as Father Hovar, I am to give what I have in excess to the poor, and I shall obey my bishop. If I somehow became a bishop myself for whatever reason, I would swear obedience the Church."

Hovar leaned back slightly as he did not know if her Vulcan inquisition would demand answers.

Sera blinked. She did not understood what drove people to such extremes of 'faith,' not seeing the correlation between his subsumption of desires to the autocratic cultural requirements of her own people. She chose, instead, to look at it from the willing relinquishment of one's status for what...guilt? To cleanse the smut of weakness? Such an act was incomprehensible to her. A Klingon slave?

"Your religion requires you to willingly enslave yourself to it? I can neither see the value or the appeal in such a thing."

Of course, the Klingon thought.

"I can say the same thing about the Kolinahr ritual. From what I have read, Vulcans purge themselves of all emotion, and surrender themselves to logic. According to what I read, the ritual offers clarity and the ability to see oneself without bias. I am curious, do you see any value or an appeal to put yourself through such...enslavement to logic?"

Hovar paused as he considered all of the passions that dwell within his heart. He thought about all of the beautiful women that he could not have relations with, not even as a "girlfriend." He thought about all the times he wanted to tell someone to either shut their mouths or he will shut it for them. In a way, he envied the Vulcan ritual of Kolinahr, even though envy is one of the deadly sins. Not being overrun with emotions is the perpetual risk of a clergyman.

"I do not know what the process is regarding becoming Kolinahru. It is not a personally desired state, Chep-lane Hovar. I would not consider the completion of such distasteful ritual to be an enslavement but rather...an evisceration of essential self. However, I postulate that this is skirting a discussion of semantics more than anything else."

Sera recognized that her point had not been clearly made. "I believe I find your willingness to deny that which is generally considered to be necessities for optimal functioning for the purpose to serve others to be...incongruous. Your dedication to this faith appears to go well beyond the subsumption of personal wants and desires. That I am quite familiar with."

Hovar smiled as he listened to the Vulcan. She was an extraordinary individual, then again, most Vulcans are extraordinary to Hovar. Priests are trained to minister, to read the room, and to understand the emotional needs of a person. With Vulcans, they are near impossible to read, unless under extraordinary circumstances. He was advised in his counseling class that if one wishes to enter the mind of the Vulcan, look at what they do and use inductive reasoning to get a clue.

The Klingon was sure that his success rate would be minimal. He was also sure that he didn't want to take too much time away from the Engineering department.

"Speaking of familiarity, I do hope that your familiarity of me will be of benefit to you. And I assure you, I will endeavor to ensure that I will benefit your department by keeping my hands exactly where you instruct me too, probably away from anything of consequence."

“Naturally.” Sera responded quite readily. She might be Vulcan but she was and engineer; she could not help but be somewhat possessive of her ship. “However, it is a glaring inefficiency to have absolutely no practical training on basic engineering concepts and simple troubleshooting. Given our distance from the core, all of us should have some proficiency in the basics. We will be speaking again regarding this, Chep-lane Hovar. Perhaps a practicum in the relative safety of the holodeck would be an appropriate starting point?”

Hovar contemplated her invitation, and his face began to show signs worry. It was not that he would not appreciate the course, in fact is was the opposite! Hovar appreciated the idea of being more helpful to the ship and the crew. However, grasping Engineering concepts was his biggest failing, and he did not know if such a course would be useful.

"As much as I would desire to participate in this venture, I respectfully submit that such a course should be focused on those who have the aptitude for Engineering. I fear that I would be dragging the others back. If it is okay with you, making sure that the others are safe to perform what you desire would probably be the most ideal solution."

Sera did not look convinced if the imperious brow raise was any indication, however, she wasn't uncouth enough to outright argue with the priest. "As you wish, Lieutenant. Although one could deduce that you are avoiding engineering due to negative preconceptions which will no doubt color any future interactions you have with the subject. Might I suggest discussing this with Counselor Carlisle?"

Hovar sighed, he didn't like his greatest failing being front and center.

"It is not that I have a negative preconception about being part of a course. It is more along the lines of if your course is 20 work-hours long, it will take me twice if not three times as long to pass the course with any kind of competency. In short, I will be slower than the rest of the class. I will go through the course and pass, but do not expect me to be on the same time table as anyone else."

Sera's brows twitched in a micro-expression that denoted a form of bemusement. "You may find that time is something you shall have an abundance off, out in the frontier. Nonetheless, the offer for assistance on your deficiencies has been made. Perhaps your Klingon mind should look at the subject of engineering as a complicated foe that you must...vanquish?"

Hovar nodded as he got further clues as to what life would be like on the frontier. Then again, he was worried about somehow being able to blow up a Holodeck. Then again, he was sure that such an event would be as probable as slim to none.

"I will take whatever assistance you are willing to offer, as well as trust in your judgment as to our confidence for me to be of any assistance to you and your department. If you have any questions for me, my quarters are on Deck 1, and I am in the Counseling Office during my watch. You are more than welcome to visit whenever you need someone to talk to, or, you need someone to be silent with."

Sera blinked a few times, uncertain how to answer him. Such an offer was quite alien to her. Her default position was to mistrust him utterly - for such altruism did not exist in the world she grew up in before leaving it behind to join Starfleet. "I will take your offer under advisement, Chap-lane Hovar." She looked down to his empty glass of pomegranate juice and then nodded to herself. "I would also extend the same offer to you, Lieutenant. I do not believe I would me much help you regarding spiritual matters...but I may have some practical insights."

Hovar smiled as he stood up, ready to make his exit.

"I look forward to your mentorship in those practical insights. Take care."

Making his exit, Hovar was true to his word. He, as the humans would paraphrase, left Main Engineering without going near anything. He did not pass Go, he did not collect 200 credits. Instead, he did collect the hope that his new acquaintance would become a new friend.

[OFF]

======

Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

&

Chaplain (Lt JG) Hovar Kor
Chaplain
USS Galileo-A

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