We Meet Again
Posted on Mon Jun 26th, 2017 @ 10:46pm by Lieutenant Alana Tovan & Lieutenant Commander Robert Takota
Mission:
Shadows and Whispers
Location: Executive Officer's Office, USS Carthage
Robert was sitting in his office going over personnel reports before giving them to the captain, drinking on a cold class of mountain dew with his puppy laying on floor beside his desk. Reading the reports, his mind kept going over meeting the lieutenant and how things could have gone more smoothly, but she's a Romulan.
Alana hesitated outside the executive officer's office. Their first meeting hadn't exactly gone according to plan, but Klingons did have a reputation for disliking Romulans. There was probably very little she could have done to have made that situation better. Now she was standing here, her tail between her legs, facing their inevitable next encounter. PADD in hand, Alana took a deep breath and pressed the chime for the door.
"Enter" shouted Robert in a deep voice. As the door opened the lieutenant walked in and stood at attention. "Sit down lieutenant." As he sat across his desk looking at the lieutenant, it was so quite you could hear a pin drop, until the dog let out a bark and back legs were moving as though he was chasing something in his sleep. Robert shook his head. "How can I help you, lieutenant?"
Alana tried not to visibly gulp, but the silence was more than a bit unsettling. But she held her own, fighting through the excruciatingly long silence. She nearly sighed in relief when it was over, but fortunately was able to refrain. "I have the maintenance reports ready for you, sir." She readied her PADD, but she didn't want to thrust it in his direction until he was ready to take it.
"Sit down lieutenant" Robert grabbed the PADD from her hand looking it over. "Very good lieutenant. I received a communication from Starfleet Engineering, they want to know the status of the warp drive, they are having trouble with the excelsior class starships warp drive failing in mid warp so send them whatever you have and have there been any issues even minor. Before you leave, Lieutenant I want you to know I don't care for Romulans. Dismissed."
Alana nodded along to the orders. "Aye, sir. I'll get on that right away. We haven't had too many issues with the warp drive on the Carthage, but she had an engine overhaul a few years back. Most of my maintenance issues have been related to the other systems." As Tovan started to leave, she was stopped by Takota's last tidbit of information. "If it makes a difference, sir, I don't care for Romulans either. I didn't ask for my green blood. That curse was my father's doing."
"Sit down lieutenant. " As Takota thought to himself that was an interesting come back. " Tell me about yourself lieutenant, and what you meant by that comment."
Alana turned back slowly and took a seat. "It's a bit of a long story, sir. My father was a Romulan citizen who had claimed to be a defector. He claimed that he had information that was valuable to the Federation. He was welcomed, but limited to a starbase near the border until Starfleet could figure out what he knew. There he met my mother, who was a Federation scientist living on the station. They were together for many years, eventually marrying and having me. Shortly after my mother made a major breakthrough in her research, my father stole that research and escaped back across the neutral zone. Along with her notes, it was determined that he had been siphoning other information from the computer banks without anyone realizing. My mother lost her grants, and she and I were forced to move back to Earth, where I spent the rest of my childhood fighting bullies who called me the daughter of a traitor and a spy. Just like you hate me for being a Romulan, so did they. I joined Starfleet to try and stop the bullies that way, but I was still never fully trusted. So I've been working my tail off ever since, trying to distance myself from the legacy of my father."
"I am sorry to hear that, Lieutenant. Romulans have no honor. I too am a child of two worlds, however my father was not a traitor and he didn't deceive anyone. My father was a security operative for the Klingon Empire, who was imprisoned by the Romulans before my 7th birthday. For a long time I thought he had left my mother and I, so I rejected that part of my heritage. When I was nearly fifteen I found out the truth; unfortunately by then he had died in prison. Lieutenant, it seems that you have a problem putting that in the past and I have a feeling that you try to live up to the expectations a fool you want your father to be maybe even think you are somewhat like him and and puts you in a position that makes you think you're not good enough for you need to be above everybody, but never forget you have the right to be here you earned it from your record anyway, I'm not sure if you had any issues on anywhere else you served or in the academy but I assure you you won't have those issues here unless you piss me off. Dismissed Lieutenant."
Alana rose from the chair. "Thank you, sir. I have a feeling that we can work well together." She took her leave without saying anything else. It was already a huge deal to her that he was willing to share that much with her. Perhaps things had got off on the wrong foot, but surprisingly to even herself, this was the first time in a while that she was feeling better about her assignment.
Lt. Commander Robert Takota
Executive Officer
USS Carthage
Lieutenant Alana Tovan
Chief Engineer
USS Carthage
