Old Foes, New Problems

Posted on Sun May 31st, 2020 @ 1:09pm by Lieutenant Commander Akaria Okan & Captain Aviram Drell & Lieutenant Ibem Zehl

Mission: Episode 03: "Interlude"
Location: Corridor - Deck 10, USS Vesta
Timeline: Day 1 at 1605

ON: [[Corridor - Deck 10, USS Vesta, Mission Day 01, 1605 Hours]]

Ibem was not in a good mood. They had spent the better part of their early shift on subspace with an overly talkative researcher from the science academy on Bolarus IX. The scientist had told them he only wanted to share a few things, but ended up talking for over three hours. Not only did he seem to have something about nearly every stroke of Ibem's report, not all of it was constructive, and most wasn't even essential to understanding the material. The whole experience had been rather frustrating, to say the least.

As if that hadn't been bad enough, Ibem had just finished the call when they got a message from one of the team members who'd been working on the project. The technician mentioned something about a new project they had been assigned to and that they wouldn't be able to finish the analysis as planned. When Ibem looked into it further, they discovered several others had also been reassigned, all to the same new project. And not so much as a word to them about it beforehand.

The science officer decided, rather than chasing the messages back, they'd take the matter straight to the source. Coming around a bend in the corridor, they caught sight of the Vesta's new chief science officer emerging from the turbolift. "Commander," they called out, "May I have a moment please?"

Ambushed. Just the way she hated to be tackled on matters. Stopping in her tracks, the leader of the Vesta's science team slowly turned to see who she had been accosted by. When she saw it was Lieutenant Ibem, she took in a deep breath. It was their first meeting, and one she had been putting off because she always dreaded that first meeting with a Bajoran - one never knew how they would react to a Cardassian, even after this long, and the last thing she needed right now was conflict.

Unfortunately, she was no longer able to put the meeting off and so, decided on an instant course of action. Kill them with kindness. With a large smile, the Cardassian took a step or two towards the oncoming Bajoran. "Lieutenant Ibem. How can I help you?" she queried.

"It's about Ensign Smyth..."

"Oh?" the Cardassian queried, looking at the Bajoran as little as possible without coming across as rude.

Ibem gave the commander an incredulous look. Despite the fact that Okan was still relatively new to the Vesta, one would have expected a senior officer to have at least had some sense of what was going on, especially when it came to their own department. On top of that, Okan was Cardassian. Cardassians were known for their organization and memory skills. Put together, Ibem had a hard time believing the commander didn't have any idea what they were talking about. "Ensign Smyth, from stellar sciences," they said, perhaps a little more forcefully than they'd intended, "He was working on the data analysis for the Amargosa project. At least, he was until you had him reassigned..."

"Which is entirely my prerogative as the Chief of the Science department Lieutenant," the Cardassian folded her arms across her chest, some growing sense of annoyance clear to see. "What's the problem?"

The cue was obvious and Ibem noticed. They paused, took a breath, and tried to rein in their frustration. The goal here was to let the commander know of their concern and to see if they could keep it from happening again, not to make an already difficult situation worse. "Yes, of course," Ibem said slowly, "but Smyth wasn't the only one. At least half a dozen other folks from the team have been reassigned as well. I guess I just..." They paused again and took another breath. Don't make it worse, they reminded themself. "I would have appreciated it if you had told me beforehand."

Akaria frowned as she dropped her arms to her side. "Lieutenant," she began, "the fact of the matter is that the science department as a whole needed to be reorganised and, unfortunately, that meant reassigning individuals. Now, last I checked, the only person I need to run personnel changes by is the executive officer." Her tone now was in stark contrast to the climate on her homeworld and more akin to temperatures found on Andoria - cold and icy. "My goal is to make this department as efficient as possible and that's not going to happen if I have to run assignments past everyone, is it?"

"No, commander."

Ibem realized they'd made a mistake. In their haste to get answers, they had come on too strong and put the commander on the defensive. Not exactly the best way to build a good working relationship with the new supervisor. "I apologize, commander" Ibem continued, "I didn't mean to imply anything. It's just...I would have appreciated being notified of the reassignments beforehand, rather than having to find out from my missing team members after the fact. That's all."

The cold air that had been emanating from the Science Chief suddenly evaporated as a smile came over her smooth, grey-skinned face. "Well, I'll try to remember that for the future, but I can make no promises, Lieutenant. Is there anything else you need?"

Silently, Ibem shook their head.

"You know where to find me if you need anything else," the Commander smiled, bowing just enough so that she showed respect to the Bajoran before turning and walking away. Once she was around the corner, however, the Commander let out an almighty sigh of frustration.

That was not at all how she had wanted their first meeting to go down...