Working Lunch

Posted on Sunday, 30 May 2021 - 2:41pm by Ensign Oriana Skye Sety & Captain Barret Stillwater

Mission: Operation: Neu Reich
Location: Mess Hall | USS Standing Bear
Timeline: 2394 MD 11

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Captain Stillwater and Ensign Sety were tethered together by their positions aboard the USS Standing Bear, he was the starship's Commanding Officer and a candidate for spearheading a task group with the seventh fleet. From the looks of things, he was on the top of Commodore Kwan's short list, and this mission with retired Rear Admiral Kitan was definitely going to make or break it for him. Ensign Sety had been assigned to him as his aide-de-camp, and he fully expected that if he passed this evaluation and became Task Group Commanding Officer, Sety would be staying with him.

It was in both their best interests that he was as receptive to her assistance as he could be, and lean on her as he would his Yeoman. The two had met for lunch and found a table where they could 'talk shop' and get to know one another a bit. "I am going to have to deal with Ferengi soon," he said shaking his head. "I am not looking forward to that."

Oriana had been surprised by the captain's invitation to lunch but pleased. She had read the files on each of the senior staff and all the crew so that she could best help Stillwater. She gathered from his jacket that he wasn't a social butterfly so this was a way to help him. She had prepared a lot to speak to him about. She hoped that they could find a way to work together. Something, that went beyond the jacket, told her that Stillwater was not as intimidating as everyone made him out to be. He had a Papa Smurfish quality about him. "I can only imagine. They are... a bit difficult but you have an ace up your sleeves."

"The aces are only as good as the person playing them," he replied. "Truth be told, Ensign, the Ferengi are one of my least favorite species to deal with. They can't be read by a telepath or empath, they are entirely capitalistic, and they have no problem making back alley deals with opposing sides for their own personal gain. Simply put, they just cannot be trusted."

She smiled a little, "Everyone has redeemable qualities, sir." She looked up a bit shyly. "You can call me Oriana if you like."

"Give it a few months at the very least," replied Stillwater. "I still refer to my husband by his rank more often than not. Unless we are in the heat of battle at the brink of death, he's Lieutenant Zilth. You'll likely be Ensign Sety for a while, no offense. You are correct about redeemable qualities, but they do not outweigh the risk of inducing the Ferengi in this business arrangement. "

She smiled, "Very true but rely on Commander Soral. Not only does he have an estate manager on Vulcan who is Ferengi but he is also an investor within the Ferengi market, he may be more helpful then you may think."

Given Soral's recent medical situation, Stillwater was not gung-ho about his First Officer getting too involved. "Something to consider," replied Stillwater. "It is a delicate situation we have with the Zeons and Ekosians. Ideally, we would be staying out of it."

She smiled, "I understand Sir." She ate a bit of her salad. "I have been thinking about how I can be helpful to you sir."

"There are a lot of ways. Primarily, your administrative support would be helpful. My desk becomes bogged down with multiple PADDs, reports passed along to Soral which fund their way to me. If you can keep the unnecessary stuff off my desk, it will save us all a bit of a headache."

"Indeed. I have reviewed Grol's system and...I was pretty surprised. He sent to you half of the things that the commander could take care of ship wise. I will ensure that this kind of thing does not happen again. I have arranged it so that anything that is Standing Bear related that the XO can do or review will go to him. Things that I can do, in terms of supply reviews and updates I will do and as your new duties become assigned I will ensure that they are delegated properly or that instead of wadding through unnecessary reports I send you a weekly highlight of all issues that you are required to know or should be aware of." She looked up at him, "If that is okay."

Stillwater nodded. "That all sounds great," the man replied. "Grol's system was decent for a Captain that likes to be in his or her Ready Room more than in the captain’s chair, but those sorts are few and far between. You either get the captains that want to take the lead on every away mission, and set foot on as many planets as they can, or you get the ones who like to be in that chair out on the bridge having a viewscreen standoff with some Cardassian Gul bickering about border rights. I am the latter."

She smiled, "I somehow thought that. Don't worry I'll make sure that you are only really looking at things if it's an emergency or necessary. Now, to my next question. I'm a keep the distance from the crew kind of person. Not so much warm and fuzzy I think that I've only made one deep friendship on the ship and that's with Hayashi. Are you a warm and fuzzy guy or a distant but still likes to project the image all knowing kind of captain.”? She laughed a little.

"Under normal circumstances, I will not be holding a slumber party and braiding hair," he replied to the woman. "So, I will state that I am more of a keep distance sort. I like to maintain a professional distance with the crew; however, that has become increasingly more difficult as I have become a sort of father figure to many of them. Why? I do not know. Though I can clearly see it has happened."

"Actually you do give off a Papa Smurf vibe." She smiled.

"If only I were a Bolian," replied Stillwater. "This crew has become very close, practically a family."

She smiled a little. "I get that. It's a small ship." He tilted her head. "So! How about I run something by you that will let you maintain that distance but still maintain your Papa Bear vibe."

"Alright, you have me intrigued a bit. What is it?"

"I'm a bit OCD so I love this kind of stuff. I will note any important dates birthdays, anniversaries, etc.. and this will I’ll compose personalized messages that will be sent under your name. I'll track everything and this way they will get a warm and fuzzy without you getting warm and fuzzy!" She grinned.

Stillwater nodded in agreement. "I am terrible at remembering these things. Please go ahead and do that."

"Excellent." She pulled out a note pad and made a few actual pen notes. She noticed him looked and blushed. "I kind of like pen and paper in some things and then I transfer it all on the computer." She sighed. "Alright I have one more idea if you're willing to listen, sir."

"That was always my specialty, Ensign. I listened and I learned from it. What else do you have for ideas?"

"I think that we can start something fun for the crew too. A way to acknowledge things like a 6 month, 1 year anniversary with them and perhaps an all senior staff dinner once every two months and in tern departmental dinners monthly with the department COs and the XO."

Barret nodded. "Congratulations," he said to the woman. "We don't have a morale officer aboard because of reasons...namely the ship does not have enough crew nor decks to necessitate it; however, morale is important. Our doctor is not the best person for that job, my XO is a Vulcan, and our Ship's Psychologist is a new mother with a lot of duties. I believe you have made yourself morale officer de facto."

She looked a little green under the gills. “Well it’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it.” She chuckled nervously.

"I heard comedy night was attempted once. I don't think Soral enjoyed that one in particular. It was before I came aboard."

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