Meeting the CoB

Posted on 06 Sep 2018 @ 8:00pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Master Chief Petty Officer Kai Mazen

1,788 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Temporary Office of the CoB on Avondale
Timeline: MD111/0900hrs

ON:

Kai had been in the office since 0800hrs. He was taking advantage of the slower pace of work while he could. The Yard Birds were still tinkering with the USS Galileo-A, so he couldn't set up shop there. As such, like the Captain and XO, Kai had set up shop in a temporary office in same suite of offices they were using. He'd been going over a PaDD with all of the day's and week's tasks on them, and many, many reports as well. Some people, and he'd never understood why, felt the need to clutter their desks with multiple PaDDs, even though one PaDD had a ridiculous amount of memory available, enough to hold more reports and to do lists and most files and quite a lot of other data all at once. Kai just synced his PaDD to the computer Avondale had given him and was also able to link to the base's internet. That way, he could usually just use one PaDD for the day.

Kai's android dog, Fineagle A. Beagle, also known as Fin, lay in his bed in the corner of the office. He was currently in standby mode. From there, he could go to work, social, combat, tracking, or play mode. Usually Fin just stayed in standby unless ordered to change modes, but sometimes he changed when he detected a threat...or a friendly person who would be likely to pet him, scratch him behind the ears, and otherwise faun over him...maybe even toss a ball or other wise play with him. He was a Soong-Type android. His brain wasn't intended to imitate a Human brain, but it was programmed to imitate and extremely intelligent canine brain. Kai had been working on socializing Fin since his daughter had given the android pooch to him years ago. His programming allowed for Kai to take him around with him during the work day, usually off-lead. Fin didn't need to eat or drink and therefore he didn't need to eliminate, making him a great pet for starship and starbase service.

"Okay," Kai was saying. Thinking out loud was a sometime habit of Kai's. One of the advantages of having Fin around is that instead of looking like a crazy person who talked to himself if he was caught, he only looked like a crazy person who talked to his dog. "Our first appointment of the day is Yeoman 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror. She's going to be working for the Captain mainly, though she may help me and the XO from time to time...if I'm reading this correctly. Either way, we'll be dealing with her a lot, so let's start off on the correct foot with her. It would go a long way towards us having a good relationship with her if you didn't stick your nose in her crotch first thing."

Fin raised his head to look at Kai, and cocked his head to one side inquisitively. Somehow, Kai sensed that Fin was looking at him and turned his attention to the dog.

"Look," Kai said. "I know that's a thing for dogs, lots of scents down there, but we two legs find it more than a little intrusive. The guys all think you're going to bite their balls off, and, in general women really don't like it if you stick anything in their crotch without their prior permission, or at least without dinner and movie first."

Fin barked and set his head back down and went back to resting.

Following the directions on her Padd Jeysa walked down the corridor towards an appointment with the third person on the list of people her job meant she had to work with; the CoB.

Rounding the corner she reached what the Padd said was her destination, she took a breath and tapped the chime.

"Alright, Fin," Kai said. "Remember what we talked about. Enter!"

Jeysa stepped through and saw behind the desk a middle aged nearly bald human and laying next to him a small terran dog. "Good morning Chief."

Fin's head popped up when Jeysa entered the room and his tail started thumping.

"Yeoman Zeror," Kai replied. "Welcome. How do you feel about dogs? Fin here seems to want to say hello, but for today he seems to be obeying his training and programming...he's a Soong-Type android, if you couldn't tell from the yellow eyes. Would you mind giving him a pet or two? He's trying to balance being well behaved and being a 'real' dog, so socialization is an on-going project."

"Last time I went near a.... shepard I think it was, I came out in a rash." Jeysa replied. "But an android dog should not cause that kind of problem."

"Fin, go lay down," Kai said. Fin looked disappointed, but went over to his bed and lay down. As he passed Kai, the senior NCO gave the dog a pat on the head and a scritch behind the ears. "It's not your fault, kiddo. She's just a little allergic and we don't want to cause her any issues. His hair is a pretty good simulation of real dog hair, so let's not take any chances. So, have a seat and let's talk."

Kai indicated that Jeysa should sit in the chair in front of his desk.

"Always a good idea to play it safe." Jeysa said as she sat down.

"Alright, Yeoman," Kai said. "This is a platonic game of 'I'll show you mine, if you show me yours', and you get to go first. Tell me a bit about yourself."

"I joined starfleet to get away from home and see the galaxy." Jeysa started. "Ended up in the diplomatic corps straight after boot camp, been here at the embassy on Rigel ever since. Till I fancied a change."

"Well," Kai said. "That doesn't really tell me anything I can't read in your file. In fact, your file offers more details. Tell me about working for the Diplomatic Corps."

"During boot camp I caught the attention of the diplomatic corps. I could already speak multiple languages especially Orion well enough to not need a UT and I worked in admin before in joined up so I agreed to work as an aide for one of the ambassadors. It was a very interesting assignment." Jeysa told him.

"So you worked at the Federation Embassy on Rigel VII?" Kai said. "I've never been there. I've heard it's a little bleak. As I understand things, not much Caju or even Syndicate money goes back to the homeworld."

"Enough of it does and a lot of it gets spent very quickly. The Orion lifestyle is very extravagant, it took a lot of getting used to compared to living back on Trill." She paused for a moment as if decide to give away a secret or not. "It looks bleak on the outside on purpose but when you break the surface it is incredible."

"What was your favorite thing about that assignment?" Kai asked.

"Probably actually having to speak the various languages I know and getting to know much more about the Orions than your average person does." Jeysa replied.

Kai bit back the urge to sigh in frustration. This was like pulling teeth.

"Okay," Kai said. "Tell me something about Orions that the average person doesn't know. And you don't need to be so formal, Yeoman. Let's just talk here. This is as much about you getting to know me as it is about me getting to know you."

"Sorry." Jeysa said, relaxing just a little. "I've always have been very formal with people to begin with, that's the diplomatic corps for you, all smiles all the time."

Well, let's make this a little less formal," Kai said. "Why don't you ask me some questions?"

"What made you make the jump from medical to command?" Jeysa asked, "Your file says you were very good in that field."

"Because I'm ambitious," Kai said. "Not in a bad way, I don't think, but I'm ambitious nonetheless. And I'd risen as high as I was going to rise as a Hospital Corpsman. I wasn't bored yet, but I was headed towards boredom. At this point in my career, the only way to advance and stay in medical would have been to go Starfleet Medical and get my Masters in Physician Assistant Studies and become a certified physician assistant, a PA-C and get a commission. That would have meant several years of undergrad courses, I wouldn't have to get the full undergrad degree, but I would need half of it to get into the PA-C program at Starfleet Medical. A lot of work to learn to do something I'm already doing as an Independent Duty Hospital Corpsman anyway. Nah, I wanted new challenges and a change of scenery. What about you? Where do you see yourself in ten years? What about twenty?"

Jeysa took a few seconds to think about it. "To be entirely honest, I am not sure, I've a lot to learn about life on a starship."

"Well," Kai said. "Give that some thought, and we'll talk about it sometime. You're...twenty-five, right? Right now, you've got lots of options for how you want your career to go. My father used to told me when I was about to join Starfleet that while I was young and had my whole life ahead of me, everyday I had a little less of that life ahead of me, and the decisions I made then would affect me later. He told me I wasn't just making decisions for eighteen year old Kai Edard Mazen. I was making decisions for much older Kai Edward Mazens, too, only I might not see the outcome of those decisions until it was too late to change course, or at least until it would be very difficult to change course. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret much. But by the time I was your age, I was already starting to make my decisions with a bit more care."

Kai took a sip from the cup of tea on his desk, and then continued.

"I'm not saying that you should worry over every decision you make," Kai said. "But now is the time to start being aware that a much older you will have to live with the decisions you make now."

Kai rose from behind his temporary desk.

"So," he said. "I've got to meet with some other people. Think on what I said. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"I will do chief." Jeysa stood too.

OFF:

Master Chief Hospital Corpsman Kai Mazen
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A

Po3 Jeysa Zeror
Captains Yeoman
USS Galileo-A

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