Somber Mentorship

Posted on Mon Mar 9th, 2015 @ 11:15am by Lieutenant Ventarus Nosplet & Captain Enalia Telvan

Mission: Temporal Kickback
Location: Conference Room

Ven paced the hall out side the turbo lift while he waited. All this time as a department head and he still had trouble talking directly to the captain. Buy he needed some advice, and considering what it was in regards to, he felt that talking directly to the Captain was his best bet.

The turbo lift came to a stop and Ven stepped inside once the doors parted. He tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach as the lift stopped and opened...

Enalia was trying to relax in the conference room, sipping at her tea and nibbling on a plate of finger sandwiches with more than she could eat. The lights were darkened and she was watching the stars race past the ship, moving off into the distance.

Ven walked up to the doors of the conference room and he took a deep breath. He braced himself, then stepped into the room. He stopped just on the other side of the door. "Captain..." he said softly.

Slightly startled from her reverie, Enalia turned to face Ven for a moment before turning back. “Is there something I can help you with?”

"I hope so." Ven said nervously. "May I have a moment of your time? I...I could use some advice." He wanted to be up front that this was not necessarily a captains issue, but Ven was seeking advice from someone he respected.

“Sure, have a seat,” Enalia said, motioning to the rest of the table.

Ven took a chance and walked over to the seat next to her. He felt it was bold move but since it was just the two of them he felt it would be safe.

"I was hoping to be advised on a crewmen transfer that might be tricky." He said.

Enalia smiled weakly at Ven as he sat down and grabbed a sandwich for herself before offering the plate of finger sandwiches to him. “May I ask who the crewman is and where you want to transfer them to?”

Ven snagged a sandwich, but didn't bite into it right away. "It's Amelia Ma'am. She's not happy in engineering and expressed an interest in Op's. But, we are seeing each other..." he explained while playing with the sandwich.

“I’d have to check, but if I remember right, she’d have to broaden her specialization field and get a few promotions to move to ops.” Enalia said, biting into her own sandwich. “Is this driven by personal feelings or issues with how our Engineering Chief runs things?”

"She had never said anything to me in an official capacity but she does not feel she's being treated well by our Chief." Ven admitted. "She said something about her last review not being very good, and from a professional standpoint I don't see how that could be. I have worked on several projects with her and her work is always superb."

“I saw a fair bit of her work myself during the refit and I’m forced to agree.” Enalia said, thinking it over a moment. “What specifically do you want to happen, then? And how serious is your relationship with her now?”

"I personally want her moved to a department where she can do her work in peace. Our relationship is...odd." Ven said. Though that didn't seem to be that out of the ordinary on a federation star ship. Odd relationships seemed to be the norm. " she's moved in with me, she bit me..." he grind a little at that last bit. He waited to see how the Captain would react to that last comment.

Enalia grinned a bit, knowing what it meant for an Andorian woman to bite someone. “As much as I’d love to know where and how she bit you, that’s a personal subject between the two of you. If she moved to ops, as my Ops Chief, where would you put her and what would you have her doing?”

"Shuttle bay." Ven said without hesitation, then finally took a bite of his sandwich.

“That makes sense. She has quite a bit of experience with small craft maintenance.” Enalia thought a bit more before replying. “If you can get her promoted, I’ll reassign her. Just promise me that you won’t let your personal feelings for her get in the way.”

"I promise Ma'am. I'll see if I can help her keep her head down and her work standards up." Ven said. This was good news. "Would it help to submit my own reports on working with her? I know it's not exactly standard procedure to submit reports on crewmen outside ones own department."

“As a department head, you have that right. You can also review and put in objections to her last performance review as well as recommend her for promotion as long as she meets the requirements.” Enalia explained as she finished off her sandwich.

"Thank you for your advice Captain. I'm still learning this department head gig." Ven said. He had always heard what a hard ass Enalia was, but his experience had always been very pleasant. She enjoyed watching him squirm a bit when she promoted him, but otherwise he felt she was very approachable and willing to help him.

“I may mess with people, but I like to be a good mentor too. Besides, after the last mission, I’m not in the mood to do my normal captaining schtick.” Enalia sighed a bit and grabbed another sandwich. “I’m just glad the away team came back with anyone at all, you know?”

Ven nodded. "I do know. I was worried for Nexi's sister." Ven admitted. He knew the rest could handle themselves.

“So was I. From what I’m told, she did amazingly well during the mission and was quite helpful on her own.” Enalia said before biting into her sandwich.

"That's excellent news." Ven said with a bit of relief. "She's a smart girl. Just a little jumbled up in the head. I would not be shocked at all to hear someday that she's all straightened out and commanding her own starship."

“If she gets her commission back, that wouldn’t surprise me either.” Enalia replied.

"She had one before?" Ven asked shocked.

“She was a Lieutenant before her capture. If she hadn’t come back messed up like that, I’m betting she’d been a Commander straight off.” Enalia sipped at her tea a bit before continuing. “What do you think of how she’s recovering?”

"To be honest I have nothing to base an opinion on. I only just met her and am getting to know her." Ven said as he gazed at the stars swooping past, the same view the captain was watching.

“I wish I knew her before all this.” Enalia reminisced. “Or Nexi to have. Someone to remember her for who she was.”

Ven nodded his agreement. "All we can do is learn who she is now and be her friend. Nexi too."

“Well put.” Enalia replied, finishing her current sandwich and following it with a sip of tea.