The New Kid

Posted on Thu Apr 25th, 2024 @ 12:58pm by Civilian Jheva & Chief Petty Officer Nevan Kayto

1,307 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission Interlude Starbase 76 & Serenity
Location: Civil Operation Planning Room, Deck 2
Timeline: MD07 1100 Hrs

Nevan sat at the table in his team's work area, scrolling through the PADD he'd prepared, double checking a few questions as well as the agreement that had been prepared. It was a boilerplate template that he'd pulled. Considering the plan had been to have Grexx and Cormus handle this, instead the need for them to prep in going over to the Serenity took precedence so Nevan instead decided he'd handle in processing Jheva as advisor. He sent a request and map for her to join him shortly.

The young redheaded Ataran joined him few minutes minutes later. She looked like she'd just come from the gym; she wore a dark blue dry-fit t-shirt and exercise pants, and there remained a couple of droplets of water on her brow, as if she'd towelled herself off in a hurry. At least she didn't smell sweaty. "You didn't specify how long you wanted me to take, so I came... shortly." She quipped. "Sorry about uh. This." She pointed at herself. "Your ship's exercise room is mad. Better than the military academy's, and even those are supposed to be much better than those civilians use."

"That's quite alright, the ships facilities are quite extensive. And you'll find that the formalities with my team tend to be less....common when it's just us." He stood up and replicated a couple of waters along with a towel and motioned for Jheva to take a seat before placing the water and towel down on the table. "As you know I've asked you to be an official cultural advisor for the Atarans to StarFleet. You'll still maintain a civilian rank and you will not become an official member however you will be afforded special permissions and protections within the Federation charter as long as you maintain behavior expected as such within the agreement on this PADD. It's standard. If you agree to it I'll have a series of questions for you next, take your time to look it over." Nevan placed the PADD before her next and sat back down in his chair at the head of the table.

Jheva took the PADD from him and read over the terms with a hum. "You people really, really like to cover your bases, huh?" She quipped, seeming quite amused at that fact. "Heh. Understandable. Okay, ask away. This should be good."

"Very well then." He wasn't quite so used to dealing with the younger generation in such a free mindset but continued on in the matter at hand "Once you sign on, you'll be part of the team and be allowed limited access to records for mission planning and we'll be relying on you as a cultural expert for your people. We'll also have you present in the meetings with the representatives and leadership, as well as have you participate in the outreach missions and be a familiar face out when we are working with the Atarans. Putting someone in this position can at times make it appear as if they are in a position of favoritism and become ostracized due to feelings of jealousy or misunderstanding from those within their own people. Is this something you're willing to potentially face ?" Nevan knew quite well the pit falls of having advisors from a local populace. More often than not they became targets of their own people.

"I can handle it. I got worse at the military academy mother and father first tossed me into." Jheva replied. "Got bullied by the older cadets all the time before I decided to stand up for myself." She added with a smirk.

He took a moment to muse over her response, while it was a bit more succinct than Nevan expected, there was a part of him that wondered if she knew everything that she was really in for. However, experience was also the best teacher and only something that one would gain by going through. As a result, he accepted the answer and continued "Very well then. As part of our team we will be providing you with quarters, assigning you shifts and expecting you to help write reports and integrating you as part of the team. Are you comfortable integrating into part of the department and separating from living with your people during the assignment?"

"Totally. Not like I have anyone there that I actually trust." Jheva replied. "No, really. Ever since my uncle and aunt died when the Romulans came for the planet I've only had myself and my parents, really, and even then I wouldn't say they were in my life because they actually cared. Trust me, living apart from them is going to be no problem at all."

"Doesn't that mean I'll need to travel with you lot wherever you go, though? You're all going to this New Sausalito place, aren't you? So I'll have to go with and spend some time helping out and getting them to settle?"

"You will. For the time being while we are helping to get your people settled and as long as my team is assigned to this mission, you will be needed to assist. If the mission is handed off to another Civil Operations team, you will be transferred to work with them as well. Now you may also voluntarily resign from your role at any time of your choosing as well. But I do want to note that the more you have to add to your Star Fleet application, the better off you'll be. I can assure you that my team will work to make things as comfortable in the transition for you as possible, but there'll be a lot asked of you as well." Nevan grabbed his glass and took a sip of water to give Jheva a moment to process and respond.

"Sounds good to me. What do I need to do first? On the job after this, of course." Jheva asked. "I'm used to big asks, and working my butt off to get something done. Trust me."

Nevan eyed the young woman for a moment, making a final consideration and then deciding it was best to proceed forward. "Once you sign that, we'll assign you your own quarters. They'll be small but they'll be yours. You'll be scanned and fitted for a uniform and I'll give you the afternoon to get lunch and get settled in. I'd say then be back here at 1430 hours and I'll have you start reading up on the policies and procedures you'll need to know, to understand how my team operates and how your role will fit in and compliment us, what our expectations are of you. After that, you start catching up on all of the reports from the very beginning. From the day we found your people up until now. Every single report that every Star Fleet Officer has written up on the situation. I'll go through all of it with you. After that, we start the hard stuff."

"I'm used to not needing a lot of space. The dorms in our military academy were tiny. Eugh." Jheva pressed her thumb to the PADD where her signature was required. "I'm personally glad that you guys give me at least a few metres all around me, even in that cargo bay of yours. So thanks. I appreciate it."

After she signed the PADD Nevan stood up and reached across the table, extending his hand. "Welcome to the team, Jheva. I look forward to making things as good for your people going forward as we can. With your help I'm sure we'll achieve that goal." He'd learned long ago not to underestimate youth, even if at times they lacked a certain level of maturity.

"I'm sure you will. You can count on me to do my best." Jheva shook his hand with a smile.

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