An Exec and a Scientist...

Posted on Fri Jul 12th, 2019 @ 4:12am by Lieutenant Alexis Aenera & Commander Ichiko Gail

Mission: Getting To Know You
Location: XO's Office

Alexis strolled along the corridor, having been assured four times in the last ten minutes by the computer that the executive officer was in her office. She quickly reviewed what she knew about the officer in question: Lieutenant Commander Ichiko Gail, Ts'Usugi, engineer. Those three things. She hadn't had much of a chance to do any research at all into the crew of the Astraea before she'd been put there, the whole transfer taking place over the span of two days from beginning to end from the Minotaur. She sighed and brushed down her uniform from sleeves to skirt as she finally sighted her destination and took the last ten or so steps to it.

She sighed and reached out to hit the admittance chime, waited half a second, "Lieutenant Alexis Aenera to see the Exec." She sounded in a soprano voice as smooth as honey, "Reporting aboard, ma'am."

Ichiko herself was going over a few reports she had received. Crew reports, situational reports, supplies and requests. The announce chime was a welcome reprieve. "Hai, hairu." she called out, allowing her guest to enter.

"Lieutenant, please. Take a seat." she offered across from her, and put her collection of PaDDs to the side. They'd be dealt with... later.

Lexi used quick but precise steps to cross the distance between the door and the desk, perching herself neatly and erect on the edge of the offered seat, "Thank you, ma'am." She gave a slight smile before banishing it from her face, resisting the urge to look around in curiosity, "I've just arrived on board, ma'am, reported to the Captain and wanted to introduce myself to you as well."

Ichiko's office held few things in the way of decorations. Either she didn't have anything put up yet, or she had nothing to put up. There were schematics of the Astraea, a picture of her and her graduating class, and the one piece held in something of a position of prestige was a simple crayon drawing of five Ts'usugi on a hill with a sun and three moons in the sky. The picture was hardly astronomically correct. For one, the sun didn't actually smile.

Ichiko herself had a soft smile on her features at the prospect of an introduction. "Introductions are a powerful thing. They stay with people for a lifetime. As such, the expression of first impressions lasting is quite accurate. Can I offer you something to drink? I'd be a poor host otherwise." she crossed over to the wall to get to her replicator unit.

"My name is Ichiko Gail. I'm the middle mouth in my family, which tends to be an auspicious sign among my people. Fortunately, my family isn't very superstitious." she giggled.

"Middle mouth, ma'am?" Alexis asked, then shook her head slightly as she interpreted it, "Myself as well, ma'am, and thank you ma'am, coffee, light and sweet if you wouldn't mind." She did smile slightly, being set a bit more at ease, "I'll admit, ma'am, I did have a wonderful older brother, got into a fight to protect my good name once, so perhaps I should be a bit superstitious?"

"Middle mouth, meaning I have an older and a younger sibling." she corrected herself as she ordered the two drinks. Tea for herself, and a coffee appropriate for Alexis. "My older brother was always looking out for me. My younger sister, well..." Ichiko handed over the coffee to her guest, then motioned to the drawing on her wall. "She's an artist."

"So, tell me a little about yourself. You have an older brother, yes, but who are you?" she asked, in a way that didn't just seem to be the 'What's your name' aspect.

"The irony is that my own little sister is a fashion designer back on Betazed, but nothing like your sister." Lexi smiled, "But as for me, myself and I? I'm a physicist, Astro and Temporal, double doctorate. taught at the Academy while working on my second, otherwise I've made something of a career of studying gravitational and temporal anomalies, mostly boring, but some of them could get interesting." She finished quickly, banishing the worst event of her career, it had been... Bad. To say the least, then continued on at a normal pace as if nothing happened, "I suppose someone thought that I should spend some time out among the stars again, however."

Lexi put on a full-out grin, "Still, I like horses, and music, and all the other things girls these days enjoy. A chocolate-cherry malted milkshake and I'm putty in your hands, ma'am."

Ichiko gave a nod, "An academic. I can respect that. I took every math and science course my division could toss at me. Then when that wasn't enough, I had the audacity to graduate a few years ahead of schedule to attend secondary school early. University, internships at power stations. Even served as a training ensign aboard a naval dark ship. Attended a continuing college on Dalacar for anti-matter theory and application." she sipped her tea. "Don't be afraid to get technical with me if you need to explain something. I promise you'll only surprise me with something once." her smirk faded every briefly.

"We don't have horses back home. Fascinating creatures though. I've met them, but I don't think I'll be able to ride them." her smirk returned, "But don't worry, we have music."

"An engineer?" Lexi let that roll across her tongue for a moment and nodded, "I think I'd be able to surprise you a few times with things if I were able to tell you about them. Anti-matter really is interesting and I'm sure I could bore you to tears if I started on about the gravitational effects of stellar bodies on the stellar phenomena that path through the galaxy. But if you ever need to know what the effects of the event horizon of a stable wormhole are, I'm definitely the right person. I like to think I'm useful in other ways too, of course."

"I have an ambition for knowledge. Physical sciences and physics intrigued me as a teenager, and still do today." she set her teacup down on her desk and offered a soft smirk, "You'll find it hard to bore me. I'm a rapt listener." she looked up towards her lengthy ears, which twitched, "Though, I look forward to seeing you in action. You seem to be the right person for the task, Lieutenant Aenera. Welcome aboard."

"It's good to be here." Alexis nodded, "I'm one of those supporting cast members, shuffled off to the side and kept in the back of the room until our particular utility is required, but at least it gives me some time for special projects! Oh, and a good amount of leisure time as well. Oh, and I'm also naturally good with the stars and general science as well, so use me as you will."

"Actually no. You're our chief scientist." the daughter of Ts'usu gave a pause, "You'll be the point of contact, the front of the line in any matters involving anything from spectral analysis up to quasar oscillations. Your particular utility is science." she seemed a bit worried, "Were you uninformed of this?"

Lexi's hands twitched, sloshing the coffee in her hands up to the edge, "N-No, ma'am." She admitted, "I'm well aware that I'm the Chief of Science on board, I'm just..." She withdrew her hands, sans coffee, to fidget in her lap, "As you've pointed out, I'm an academic, I went out as a specialist in my first assignment on a starship and that... Ended poorly." Understatement, she thought, "Then they sent me out about ten months ago as an Assistant Chief on the Minotaur before assigning me here. I don't quite know what all I'm supposed to do as a department head."

Ichiko's features softened, "I think for the time being, treat it as you did your assistant position back on the Minotaur. With perhaps one minor exception: The person you report to." she paused, "I would say that for the first few weeks you can report to me, to get your feet under you. Though the person you really should be reporting to is the woman in your mirror."

"I want you to succeed. To succeed and grow." she pointed out, "My father taught me how to swim by putting a floater around my waist and tossing me into a river. My brother was there in case things went terrible, but I learned how to swim *very* quickly." she motioned to the quarters around them. "Welcome to the river."

“Thank you.” Alexis said softly but firmly, “This is totally going to take some getting used to, but I think it will work out. I’m really not used to not having someone looking over my shoulder to make sure I don’t screw up, now I’m going to be the one looking over peoples’ shoulders. Once I get used to it? I think I’ll be fine, it’s just getting the experience, learning who my people are and what they can do.”

"Starfleet put you here, and the captain signed off on you. That alone is every confidence for me that you are right for this position. From the sounds of it, the only person left to assure of this is you." Ichiko mentioned, with a smirk. "There are a thousand plays and ballads from home concerning someone finding their way. Find your strength, find your people, and find your way."

"Just, find it fast. We are eventually going to need to consult Sciences, and I think you're the last person on this ship that needs to have the gravity of her situation explained to her." W... was that a joke?

Lexi snorted with a laugh, then waved that away as she settled down, "I'll be ready for that whenever you need me, no doubt, I just need to figure out the hows of running a department. Lots of paperwork, I'm sure."

"Paperwork is the universal constant." she assured Alexis. "If there's nothing further, you have your work cut out for you." a dismissal, but nothing so curt or direct as an actual dismissal.

"Of course, ma'am." Alexis shot to her feet, recognizing the dismissal as what it was, a direct indirect dismissal. "And ma'am?" She asked, then got a nod, "Thank you, ma'am."

A smirk, and a nod. Once the door to her office closed behind Alexis, Ichiko picked up the cheerful Chief Scientist's file on a PaDD to review. She made a mental note to also review the events of the Minotaur. Whatever it was, it shook her new Science Chief to the core.

OFF:

Lieutenant Alexis Aenera
Chief Science Officer
USS Astraea

Lt. Commander Ichiko Gail
Second Officer
USS Astraea