Reporting In, Jared Nicholas

Posted on 29 Dec 2012 @ 3:57am by Lieutenant Jared Nicholas

1,699 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 2 - CSO's Office
Timeline: MD 12 1530

[ON]

Maenad was sitting behind her desk in her office with a schematic of the ship's navigational deflector in front of her. She was reviewing its specifications while picking from a bowl of unsalted shelled peanuts when she heard a chime at her door. "Come in," she said without looking up from her screen. It was probably Mister Petrov again, and she was starting to get tired of him always showing up for no reason at all, even though he kept insisting that he had plenty of reasons.

Jared took a deep breath. He knew this was nothing more than a routine check in with his department head, something he would probably go through a score of times in his career and it wasn't as if he hadn't prepared for it.

He had checked his uniform at least half a dozen times, finger combed his hair twice and checked in every available mirror or mirror-like surface from his newly assigned quarters to his arrival at the office.

He had also rehearsed, in every language that he knew, what he was going to say.

Not wanting to delay or have to think about it anymore, he stepped into the room.

Maenad heard the doors open but she was still looking at her screen. Mister Petrov could wait, she thought with mild irritation. She finished the paragraph and finally looked up. Where was Mister Petrov? There was somebody else instead, someone whom she didn't recognise but was wearing the teal collar of her department. He was quite young, in fact. He was lean, brown-haired, fair-skinned, and bright-eyed. He looked pampered, she thought, or deliberately dressed - like he was going out on a date. Who was he trying to impress? Maenad, of course rather hypocritically, didn't consider that she too was looking particularly pampered; she was wearing pale lipstick, had meticulously arranged her hair, lined her eyes, and lightly whitened her face. She thought she had met everyone by now; unless he was medical? "Can I help you, ensign?" she asked.

Jared took perhaps a second to answer hoping he wouldn't sound like a complete idiot, but knowing he had to say something or he would create the same impression without even opening his mouth.

"Yes ma'am," he finally managed to get out, "Ensign Jared Nicholas reporting in. I am your new language specialist, well the Galileo's new specialist rather. They sent me to you because I'm orally skilled."

The last had not been part of his carefully rehearsed speech and could have been taken so wrongly he didn't want to think about it. He did his best not to keep the heat from rising to his face, but wasn't sure if he was pulling it off.

Maenad inclined her head. Orally skilled. A smile stretched across her lips, meanwhile she subconsciously crossed her legs under the desk. "Language specialist," she repeated, crossing her arms. No one had told her to expect a newcomer, but she didn't want to show it. She pushed her chair out and stood, gracefully extending a hand to him. "Welcome," she said. "I'm Lieutenant, junior grade," she added junior grade with an unpronounced regret, "Maenad Panne. Please," she nodded to one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Have a seat."

He took the offered seat, "Thank you ma'am," he said relaxing ever so slightly, "So did I set any records for making an ass out of myself? I'm usually not like a teenager on a first date. It's just that this is all new to me."

"Please don't say ass," she told him, her voice cold, and without looking at him. She was stunned for a moment that he had said that. He had, in fact broken a record by being so immediately cordial. As Maenad settled back into her seat, she moved her attention back to the screen to locate his file. "So, Mister Nicholas," she said, looking at him with her green eyes. "This is your first assignment? That must be exciting," she smiled. "Since you have no previous ships to tell me about, tell me about yourself instead. How did you like the Academy, where do you want to be in a few years, why language specialist? Bore me with the details."

He had been expecting such a question, he wasn't about to go into detail with her at least now about those things he held to be private, but an abridged version would be appropriate and indeed was already prepared.

"I've always had an appreciation for languages and a gift with them even when I was a little kid, I've pretty much been in space since I was born so I guess Star Fleet was pretty much my only option.

To be honest except for the... the personal interaction, I found the Academy pretty dull. Most of what they taught, except for protocol, I pretty much knew. I actually focused on both languages and navigation but decided that I preferred talking with people rather than playing with machine.

I'm not sure where I want to be in a few years, I haven't had much time to pursue any real personal relationships so other than learning a few new languages, that is about it.

Did I sufficently answer your questions?"

Maenad narrowed her eyes at the young man. She supposed that if she wanted more, she would have start hitting him with something. She looked back to her screen and saw that, so far, he had a fine record. There seemed to be no complaints about him; she was hoping for some dramatic story of some kind, maybe there was something wrong with him that she could learn about. In time, she thought. In time. Maenad looked away from the screen and into his lovely brilliant blue eyes. "I love the colour of your eyes," she said without thinking, without inflexion, nor for any apparent reason. Her voice then became stern and thorough like it did when she was lecturing a class. "You will be assigned to Beta shift, which starts at 1600 and ends at midnight. Your immediate superior officer is Lieutenant Kiri Cho, to whom I recommend you introduce yourself. She is currently on temporary leave, but should be back within the next few days. You should check in with the first officer, Commander Holliday at your earliest convenience if you haven't already. If you haven't had your quarters assigned yet, our chief operations officer is away on leave as well, so I recommend you get in touch with Chief Petty Officer Finch or Petty Officer Darwisch to get things straightened out. You will also need to have yourself cleared for active duty by a member of our medical staff, but since active duty will not resume until the ship departs Vega, you have a few days to get that done. You may spend your time as you see fit until you are summoned back for duty, but do not leave the planet. Do you have any questions? You can ask me anything," Maenad finished instructing him.

Jred sat back in the chair, fingers steepled taking in her rapid fire orders. "Noted and understood," he said impassively, "and did I hear a compliment about my eyes?" he asked a bit surprised by both the compliment itself, assuming he had heard correctly, and its placement within her sentence.

Looking at him somewhat bewildered, she wondered where this man got his confidence. First his street talk and now asking whether she had been complimenting him. "I don't know if it was so much a compliment as much as it was an observation, but you're welcome," she said.

"My apologies again ma'am. It seems I have committed a faux pas of some kind. Have I offended you in some way?"

Maenad shook her head and formed a thin smile. "No, Mister Nicholas," and there it was again, she thought; she had already come across as jaded before she could even begin to realise it. She had complimented him, but she couldn't admit to him that she had, and she really had meant it as just an observation. Her awful tendency to think aloud had gotten her into trouble yet again. It was Maenad who had committed the faux pas, not him. She had to somehow right this. An apology would have done for most people, but Maenad wasn't sorry for telling him she liked his eyes, so what was she supposed to do? She picked a few peanuts from her dish and ate them. "Would you like some?" she asked, trying to sound friendly and reassuring.

Jared started to open his mouth to say something, but nothing would come out at first. Then he recovered and said, "Sure peanuts would be fine." He held out his hand, unsure whether he was supposed to reach for them or if she was going to put them in his hand.

Maenad looked away from his file and him holding out his hand. She just stared at it, then realised what he was doing. She slowly pushed the dish from near the middle to the edge of the desk, closer to him, and with her fingertips. "Well, Mister Nicholas, if you have no further questions or concerns, you are free to go," she said to him.

He took a few peanuts, put them in his mouth then after he had swallowed said, "No, thank you, I'm fine now. I guess I will be going."

Maenad stood and offered her hand for another shake. "Welcome aboard," she smiled.

"Thank you," he responded, "It is good to be here."

As the ensign got up and left, Maenad wondered if that awkward exchange were to be the norm, or if he were only nervous. Well of course he was nervous, she told herself. She pulled the peanuts closer, ate a few more, and shook her head. Orally skilled. A mischievous smirk spread across her face as her imagination got the best of her. If only, she thought with a quiet sigh.


[OFF]

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo


Ensign Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USS Galileo

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