Aspirations

Posted on Mon Sep 5th, 2022 @ 10:15pm by Ensign Ziahli Lorel & Senior Chief Petty Officer Mason Malone

Mission: Scylla and Charybdis
Location: Security Offices
Timeline: MD03
3003 words - 6 OF Standard Post Measure

"Good morning ensign," Mason greeted cheerfully as he approached his station, "ready for today's round?"

Judging by the eagerness that radiated from the young Betazoid's grin, ready was likely an understatement. So far, Zia's experience with her first assignment, particularly with her commanding officer's willingness to support career aspirations, far exceeded even her lofty hopes. Obviously, without any actual investigation in progress, the shift wasn't likely to be peppered with excitement but it was a start. In the process of pulling her hair into a ponytail, Zia paused to offer a thumb's up. "Absolutely. What's first, boss?"

"Boss?" He arched a single eyebrow at her in amusement. "First rule, I'm not your boss. Chief will do just fine. As for what's first, we'll go inspect a few weapons lockers across the ship. Check power cells and whatnot. After that, we'll be going over some scan data that still needs processing."

It was, as Zia predicted, nothing like the actual specifics of his designated role. Much like a brig officer, security investigations only mobilised when there was something untoward happening, and thus the positions were faring best when they didn't actually have anything to do. Since she wasn't surprised, Zia pressed both hands to her chest and proceeded in optimistic jest. "Sounds riveting."

"Isn't it just," Mason laughed as he handed her a tricorder and phaser. "As we're kind of on patrol despite not having any kind of alert, things could change any second so I do prefer being armed just in case. And despite seemingly a little lame, inspection is very important. Nothing so bad as having a failing weapon because it wasn't inspected or maintained, right?" He gestured towards the door. "I much rather be facing a proper investigation or a linguistical problem. Security isn't as exciting as it's often made to appear. But all tasks are essential."

"Yeah, they hammered that home at the Academy often enough." And, to be fair, Zia didn't really mind. Despite having to navigate the constant surprise her chosen career path evoked in others, the Betazoid had no real complaints about the systematic aspects of the job. If anything, it gave her time to network, which suited her just fine. Clipping the phaser into place, Zia opted to keep holding the tricorder and settled into the task of gently interrogating her latest victim.

"So how long have you been on board?"

"A little over a year by now. Quite an eventful year too, I might add." He smiled as they reached the first weapon's locker and pulled away the cover. "But, I think things are finally settling down for me and I'm finally finding my way. I was a marine linguist and recon officer on my prior assignment. So, the career change to investigations only made sense. I wanted no, needed a change of scenery after my divorce. What about you? I mean I know we haven't really had a chance to properly chat before but I also don't know how long you've been here."

"Technically I signed on during your recent shore leave." Zia stood aside amiably and held whatever was thrust upwards for her to manage whilst her senior partner went about his inspection. "I just didn't come on board properly until right before we left. Lieutenant Zade gave me permission to ghost a senior brig officer on the USS Orion whilst she was there for repairs. They were transporting prisoners," she added. "I figured it was a good way to notch up some experience."

"Indeed," Mason agreed as he showed her how to inspect weapons, patiently taking a phaser apart and running his tricorder over the power cell, before putting it back together. "How about you do the next one?" he suggested, "best way to learn things, is going through the motions yourself. Sometimes, learning things the hard way is actually the far better way."

She had, though most people liked to assume otherwise, paid attention at the Academy. Of course, Zia had paid attention to a lot of things at the Academy, not all of them involved in any way with official protocol or standard procedures. She employed exactly the same zest for socialising to her reasonably-proficient-but-entirely-distracted disassembly of the next phaser. "You said you're divorced?"

"Yeah... happened before my reassignment here. Too many memories you know, so I wanted a fresh start even though my ex got reassigned and got custody of our daughter. Now that I think of it, I actually haven't heard from her in a while." A touch of sadness crossed his features. "I suppose they might be out of comms range, traveling here and there despite being based on Mars." He looked up, pausing the disassembly of a second phaser. "I'm happily dating someone again though," he smiled, "what about you. Any significant other?"

Zia smiled at the question, not the first time she'd heard it since boarding. Culturally, it was sometimes a difficult response to provide, there were plenty of significant people in her life. Even those who only entered it fleetingly left some kind of imprint and Zia tended to file all experiences away as necessary to personal growth. Rather than attempt to explain that, she opted for what she assumed the human meant. "Not currently."

Putting the checked and re-assembled phaser back, Mason closed the cabinet. "Who knows, maybe in time," he answered brightly. "Contrary to popular belief though, I still love my ex and I always will. We do share a child even though I don't get to see her that much. We simply....grew apart, so it was better for us that we parted." They continued on to their next target. "George knows though, and he knows my ex is no competition."

To anyone else, that might have been construed as over-sharing. For a Betazoid, particularly one with Zia's predisposition to boldness, it was a very routine conversation. She smiled to herself, tucking her hands behind her as she walked. Thus far, she'd developed a knack for meeting guys dating guys, which was mildly adorable and likely to make her feel right at home. "Sounds like you both have excellent communication then." Then, because she couldn't help herself and had been partially intrigued by the other responses she'd received so far to a similar question, Zia asked, "So, any advice for a newcomer? Best crew events to attend, favourite replicator recipes, interesting crew I should keep an eye out for..."

"More like someone to watch out for," Mason chuckled. "I mean, he'll probably mean well, and I don't think he's got a bone of malice in his body...but watch out for Lieutenant Fenn... I've ah...had a few run-ins with him. And I know others have too, but I think deep down, he's a good guy just uhm...a little different I guess? Events, I'm actually not sure, perhaps we should organize something at some time, you know to boost morale or just give people a giggle." He paused, falling completely silent for a moment. "I don't really have a favourite food, I think, now that I think of it... I'll eat what I'm given, because there's always a chance there won't be anything decent to eat. Especially out in the field."

Zia's eyebrows shot up. She only knew the officer's name because this wasn't the first time it had been offered as a potential problem to watch for. "You are the second person to suggest I give the Lieutenant a wide berth. Now I'm exceptionally curious about what it is you think will happen." As was fairly typical of the Betazoid, Zia ignored most of the rest of the investigator's response to zone in on what had piqued her interest. "What exactly do you mean by 'run in'?"

"Uhhmmm..." Mason's cheeks flushed scarlet. "It's a little embarrassing," he murmured, finding a sudden interest in his tricorder. "Let's just say, we didn't really get on.... and I guess now we're sort of...okay? I don't think we're friends exactly but uhm...we get on. You know?"

The telepath took a moment to process the waves of embarrassment and diversion radiating from the human. As with most attempts to gauge an accurate reading of his kind, there was very poor context and what came out his mouth only offered a small fraction of the puzzle. "He sounds fascinating," Zia replied honestly, because someone who could evoke this response, on top of being on Kevan's 'keep watch' list, was definitely someone she wanted to meet sooner rather than later.

"Perhaps," Mason agreed, very much belatedly realizing he was dealing with a telepath and she probably had been privy to his train of thoughts and memories. "In case you wanna know... yeah the spots do go all the way down. That's everyone's fascination with Trills, right?" He offered a sheepish smile. "I uhm, hadn't intended to be that much of an open book, sorry...." He gave a flustered wave towards the weapons' locker they were inspecting. "Shall we continue?"

Having spent an entire four years on Earth completing her Starfleet degree, Zia had heard the embarrassment in Malone's voice more times than she cared to recall. She gave him her usual reassurance. "Telepathy's not like picking up a book and reading it. Most of the time, if you're not another Betazoid, it's educated guesswork at best. Humans," she teased, falling into step beside him, "in particular like to fire off random streams of consciousness whilst experiencing an emotional landscape that is entirely contradictive. You're actually pretty hard to interpret, which is why I'm more likely to just ask directly." It put her personality in context, which Zia had come to realise was important. Being as forthright as she was could be construed as invasive unless people understood that she was actually doing them a favour by not applying her own bias to the psionic barrage they sent at her.

"I meant emotionally too, not just thoughts." He didn't quite look at her this time. "I have linguistic training, body language goes a long way too. I just wish I knew how to control it, how to keep the barrage in, so to speak, so telepaths aren't constantly bugged by it." He gave her an appreciative smile once he did look up to meet her eyes. "I do appreciate your honesty, and direct questions are probably better too... Interesting to know us Humans are hard to read though... Are Betazoids more focused or is it just the familiarity of the mental landscape?"

"Kind of." Trying to explain it to someone who couldn't experience it was tricky. Even other telepathic races experienced their abilities differently. "I wouldn't confuse hard to interpret with hard to read though. Humans broadcast often, but the lack of intent means it's usually fractured and incomplete. And sometimes downright misleading. Other races have their own peculiarities. Trills, for example," Zia added, since he'd mentioned one already, "actually have a reasonably stable psionic output even though they're not technically classified as telepaths. Joined Trills in particular have pretty orderly minds, for the most part. A necessity of symbiosis, I guess."

"I guess... Is it something I could learn? I consider myself pretty organized otherwise, I mean...my quarters are neat and clean but you know... It could help with precarious situations right? To be read a bit more easily when needed? And maybe it can benefit my other duties as well..." He grinned. "Or am I too old to learn now?"

Zia wrinkled her nose. "I mean, mental discipline can be achieved in any number of ways. Whether or not it will render you any easier to interpret from a telepathic point of view is dependent largely on the telepath, and the circumstance." Smiling apologetically, she added, "That being said, meditation isn't a bad habit to get into, especially not in this job."

"Hmm... not something I've ever tried either," Mason mused, "nor am I sure I have the patience for it. Do you have any recommendations on where to start?"

"There's probably a whole heap of guided programs for it in the holodeck library," Zia reasoned. Meditation was such an integral part of her cultural experience that it was often difficult to remember that not everyone was as familiar with it. "I'd recommend trying a heap of different ones, see what sticks. It's a pretty personal experience, different methods appeal to different people."

"Probably..." Mason wasn't too sure if it'd work for him since he wasn't someone who could sit still for a very long time. He needed activity. Heck even if he was booted off duty for one medical issue or the other, he found it extremely difficult to abide by those orders. "I'll have to have a look sometime then." He nodded towards the weapons they had inspected while they were talking. "Ready for the next one?"

Rather than answer it, Zia considered the dilemma of trying to get a read on people you had no baseline context for. Typically, her solution was to just bombard the person with conversation that masqueraded as familiarity. At her most mischievous, the Betazoid had a knack for charming her way into situations she had no business being part of, though an obvious respect for the uniform she now wore threatened to temper that particular skill. No more gate-crashing parties.

"What's your daughter's name anyway?"

"Angelique." He said it with a full French pronunciation, though the emotion behind it betrayed how he felt upon his next words. "She's fourteen about now, and I haven't seen her in over a year. I mean, I haven't had any visual messages from her in that time. I guess she's either busy with school, or she's traveling across the galaxy as well." He did miss her, even though he knew she was probably better off being with Alex.

"An awkward age," Zia grinned, remembering only too well her own wrestle with puberty. It was slightly more elongated for Betazoids, of course, and the phases of a woman's development extended decades beyond what humans normally experienced, but there was still some empathy to be had in being 'not quite a kid but not yet an adult' in any culture. "If my roommate on campus is any judge, it's not that weird for human teenagers to stop talking to their parents." She'd never had that problem herself.

"Angelique is somewhat special," Mason smiled, "she's an orphan we saved during the witchunts way back in the middle ages. Our ship somehow got shot back in time that far and Alex found and saved her." He frowned briefly. "And brought her back with us to adopt. She's as white haired as Alex is, and she was to be burned as a witch for the way she looked. Didn't help she was fluent in French either, probably. Well is... she is fluent, and I spoke it with her all the time. Alex didn't, he just expected me to be a father to her. I tried but I really am too young to be. Still, she's my daughter, and I'll always be papa to her, no matter what." He sighed. "It wasn't easy, it still isn't, but I'm making the best of it. You'll know what I mean when you have children."

That, Zia hoped, was far enough in the future for her to claim the bliss of ignorance for a while longer yet. Of more immediate interest was the rather blasé way he addressed temporal displacement. "You were allowed to remove her from her time period?" The Betazoid's eyes widened. It seemed inconsistent with her training, not that anything Starfleet's baseline education provided really accounted for time travel in great depth. "That must have been a heck of a lot of paperwork."

"Likely, though one of us having been senior staff probably helped. As well as the girl having no family and no future as she was about to be burned as a witch." A look of anger flickered across his face at that memory. "Why one would hurt a child is beyond me anyway. Especially if she looked different. She's as white haired as Alex....and as fair skinned. Alex is an albino you see.... I'll show you a picture sometime, if you're interested." It was clear the way he spoke, that he still held his ex in high regard.

"Sure," replied Zia agreeably, content to leave her baffled incredulity to one side. It was a much larger story than Mason was playing it off to be, though it did make her wonder if being in Starfleet for a while desensitised you to things like inter-dimensional travel. The scope of it boggled her mind just a little. "Does she ever spend any time with you?"

"She hasn't since the divorce no, and Captain Kane doesn't allow for children on board. Maybe in a year or so, perhaps she could do some traineeship or something on board. I'm sure she'd like that. We do talk over subspace, just not recently. Perhaps I'll hear from her soon, I really hope so but I can't force her." He chuckled though it held a sad note. "She can't speak French with Alex, that's for sure. But he'll probably teach her some Martian dialect or the other."

"Well, life gets kind of hectic when you're fourteen," Zia pointed out with a grin. Most of her life had been 'hectic' in one way or another, it was just the pace at which she tended to enjoy herself, but there was certainly something about the first few years of reaching beyond the family unit for meaningful connection that lead to confusion and distraction. The experience for a Betazoid came with a few specific challenges but she assumed a lot of it was mostly the same.

Mason simply nodded. "Shall we continue?" He asked, feeling he had spoken enough about his personal life.

The Betazoid nodded. "After you..." Her eyes twinkled. "Boss."