Fear - Where does it begin?

Posted on 01 Mar 2013 @ 12:55am by Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Ensign Im'er Mor'an

1,363 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Bridge
Timeline: MD 01 2300

ON:

Lt. Rhodes sat at the Tactical station on the Bridge. At this hour the room was mostly quiet. All stations were staffed, but it seemed that most bridge personnel were involved in their own section. Monitoring and checking were the theme of the day.

Theron found monitoring tactical data while streaming through space to be interesting sometimes. Since there was no crisis nor urgency, he could check, activate, and diagnose systems with ease. He often found it pleasurable. Firing weapons and maintaining shield strengths during a crisis or while engaged in battle was intense and even exilerating. Yet, he prefered to be able to study and explore the system during a quiet shift. He even found it fun to find the smallest thing wrong, then to innitiate a technical workorder for operations, engineering, or even his own security/tactical personnel.

The wooshing sound of the turbolift door distracted Rhodes. He glanced over to see the resident Cadet enter the Bridge. Theron had not really got to know her yet. He wondered if her Senior cruise was all she had expected it to be?

Mor'an walked onto the bridge and looked around. Lieutenant Rhodes caught her eyes and she greeted him with a smile. "All is quiet, then?" she asked.

Turning his head slightly and looking up, Theron replied, "Yes, not much going on out here between the stars." After a moment he asked, "How do you feel your cruise is going Cadet?"

"My cruise?" Mor'an asked. "As far as I am concerned I am on a mission, the same as the rest of you." She didn't understand some of Earth's idioms.

He shrugged slightly, "I meant no offense in the term." After a moment Theron added, "You are absolutely correct. No matter our station or rank, we are all together on this Mission."

"I took no offense," Mor'an assured him, sliding into a chair with a sigh, "I simply do not understand terms that some of you on Earth use. I do not believe that I ever shall."

Theron nodded acceptance to the Cadet's position. "I do see your point, but I should correct you. I am not from Earth. I am from Tandar Prime. And I too have difficulty with those terms used by humans from Earth."

"I apologize," Mor'an said. "I do have a habit of assuming everyone who looks to be human is from Earth. I really should not, because I do not like it when people assume I am Vulcan." She paused for a moment. "Where is Tandar Prime? What is it like?"

Theron took a second to organize his thoughts. Though Mor'an was not Vulcan, providing information in a factual nature, he realized would most likely be best. "The Tandar Sector lies near Betazed. Tandar Prime, where I lived as a boy, is a beautiful world of vast habital land and ocean. There is a good balance between the large metropolitian areas and the natural world."

Mor'an nodded to show she was following, glad to hear that Tandar Prime had oceanic properties.

Theron continued, "Most industrial and manufacturing facilities have been moved off world and not been allowed on Tandar Prime in many decades."

"And why is that?" Mor'an asked, "To keep the planet clean?"

"Well . . . sort of." Rhodes began, "Much of my culture centers around being fearful of others. In this case they were fearful of industrial waste and contamination. So, being slightly dictatorial, they made the other worlds in the sector deal with it and helped Tandar Prime return to a more prestine state." Theron turned back to his console, checking the displays then added without looking at Mor'an, "Needless to say, it is not something the Tandaran leadership has done that I am proud about."

"'Fearful of others'?" Mor'an asked, "I know too well about that. My people do not like being exposed to other races. They think that it will taint our culture. I am the first of my people to enter the Academy for this reason."

Theron lifted an eyebrow at the comment and turned to face the cadet, "That is a rather interesting similarity. My brother and I were the 2nd and 3rd to be accepted into Starfleet. There is one other Tandaran in Starfleet, 2 years ahead of us."

"But are your people wary of other races?" Mor'an asked, "Is that why you are only the third of your kind to enter Starfleet?"

Theron thought for a moment then said, "Wary, non-trust, have lack of faith that they will not be corrupted by the another society."

"You should talk to Del'an, my mentor," Mor'an said, "That is her exactly way of thinking, much like everyone else on Arun-R'lantha.

"Mmm." Theron made the sound pondering which question to ask. "What is the world of Arun-R'lantha near? I am curious is it had similar social interation with the nearby sectors."

"Well," Mor'an said thoughtfully, "It is in the Beta quadrant, but it is not really near anything. I believe that is why it took so long for us to get acquainted with Starfleet. We only made First Contact in 2348."

"Very interesting." Theron began, "I was hoping there was more of a social corrilation based on distance. Had your world be contacted previously, prior to the Federation?"

Before she could answer an light began to flash on the tactical station with a small buzzer. Rhodes faced the console and evaluated the information. Smiling, he turned to the Cadet, "Just a little alarm to say that there was a spike in one of the power nodes near the port phaser array. Nothing to worry about."

Mor'an nodded, guessing that it wasn't anything major. Besides, she didn't worry -- conceded, maybe. But never worried. "To answer your question," she said, "No, my world had never been contacted before the Federation. I think that is why my people are cautious -- it happened very suddenly."

Rhodes tilted his head to the side in thought, then asked, "Was the First Contact protocal followed by standard procedure?"

"Of course," Mor'an said, "When I say 'suddenly' I mean that my people are very set in their ways. I come from ancient roots and any kind of change like First Contact is sudden. My idea of sudden may be different from yours."

"I accept your point." the security officer replied.

Rhodes felt a little anxiety now, after talking about his world. He felt this from time to time. He knew that it was normal, that inbread hesitation to speak to others about his people and world. To releave that feeling he asked, "So, what do you have planned for your shift?"

Mor'an was surprised by the sudden change in Rhode's line of questioning. "Nothing other than my normal duties," she said, "Should I have something planned?" She asked purely out of curiosity.

"No." Theron replied casually, "Just curious." He turned away slightly to look at the readings on the tactical console, then turned back with a simple smile. He hoped that he did not come across as rude, but he felt the familiar tightening in his chest when the topic of conversation got too personal. He actually now felt uncertain as to how to disengage the conversation without hurting her feelings.

It was silly of him he knew. Theron had started the conversation and how he was trying to not talk about himself. In a security or tactical situation, he would not have this option.

"Very well," Mor'an said. She could read Rhodes' body language and realized that he was uncomfortable. "Then I shall just...get to work, I suppose." She flashed him a hesitant smile and turned to her console.

Again, Theron felt bad for putting off the Cadet. He still was not sure where this fear or anxiety was coming from. He had spoken of his home planet before as well as first contact situations. Theron thought, I will have to make a point of spending time with Mor'an again, and hopefully not put her off like now.

OFF:


Lt. (jg) Theron Rhodes
Asst. Chief of Security
USS Galileo

&

Cadet Senior Grade Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad intern
USS Galileo

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