[USS Charon, Chief Operations Office]
Rhiana had just left her meeting with the Councilor and decided to head to her office to get her baring and see how much things had changed. She fixed her Honor blade to her hip and her disruptor back in its proper place. It felt good to be up and around after so being unconscious. She moved up to her office's door and grinned closing her eyes...Home sweet home she thought.
Cyrin sat behind the desk going over that days reports. He had assigned a small contingent to work on some diagnostics of the secondary power units. He noticed a padd from the Medical Department notifying him that his predecessor had made a recovery, this made him nervous. He had had to fill some large shoes during his initial start in that department and had messed up a few times. Quickly setting it to one side he continued to sign off on the reports that were already late. Picking up his glass of Jestral tea he inhaled the fumes before taking a sip, thanks to Sakarra he had gotten in the habit of drinking it when he was feeling extremely stressed out.
Rhiana opened her eyes hearing the glass tinkle and noticed the boy sitting behind her desk and quirked an eyebrow in a nearly Vulcanesque fashion and closed the door behind her. She thought she might have recognized the betazoid at the desk and thought back to who he was."Cadet Cyrin? Jolan'tru..My desk looks rather...Cluttered." she said with a slight smirk.
Cyrin nearly jumped out of the seat when he heard his predecessor’s voice, “Commander… it nice to see that you are out in about finally! And it is Ensign now ma’am. How are you?” he asked. “Commander, I am afraid…” he wasn’t sure how to start what he was about to say “t’Rehu reassigned me as the Chief Operations Officer, and yes the desk is very cluttered I am a bit late on returning the reports to the Executive Officer, some of the senior staff in this department are still ‘adjusting’ to the change and fighting me tooth and nail.” He braced himself just in case she was like the Ice Queen. He had become very scared around Romulans since his incident with t’Rehu.
Rhiana stopped in her tracks hearing that though it shouldn’t have surprised her after all she had been out of it for months. "I see Ensign.."She said after a few moments and folded her arms behind her back moving over toward the boy noticing his tensing up. "You say your staff are giving you problems? What is the reason behind this if the Commodore set you up as the Department head they should follow your orders without question. What are you doing about this situation?" she certainly didn’t want her replacement appearing weak nor that her department was full of disorder.
Continuing to stay braced he looked at her, his black eyes reflecting her appearance. “I could never replace you ma’am. This staff, your staff…my staff, they respected you. I was a green when I was reassigned, they feel I am too…anal. They believe that my orders are nothing more than a boy playing soldier. As for the situation, I have made it very clear that if they do not start doing as instructed that Commander Calhoun could use their help cleaning the warp coils… and if that doesn’t work I am sure the hull could use a good scrubbing.” He watched her closely, “Please have a seat,” he said moving away from the chair behind the desk offering it to her. “Can I get you something to drink? Perhaps some Romulan Ale?” He offered.
She suppressed a smirk at the offer of the drink, "Ensign Romulan Ale is illegal on board Federation ships, But some tea would be satisfactory." she said calmly and to the point as she moved to the chair in front of the desk not behind it. "That chair is yours now Ensign you sit there. Now while I find this turn of events...Troubling we Rhinnasu are creatures of duty mine is no longer chief of operations.” she cleared her throat and looked at him again, the half betazoid boy looked about fifteen years old and nervous.
He went to the replicator and pushed in a few commands and out materialized two glasses of Jestral tea. Handing one to her still very apprehensive he took his chair slowly, “Commander please know that it was difficult for me to accept this position. And any input you would like to give me I will always welcome.” He stated taking a sip of the relaxing tea. “I am glad that you are back on duty, and if the records are correct you will be taking over the Chief Communications position?” He asked. He hoped that the facts where indeed correct. Even with the tea he found it hard to relax around her, “Ma’am forgive me insolence, however one bad experience with a Romulan has led me to be very distrusting of your species. I realize that it is unfair of me to place this unease on someone like you, especially your lineage.” His thoughts flickered to Captain t’Rehu, though he respected her he still distrusted her. He took a few deep breaths inhaling the fumes from the tea. “I hope to be able to at least not be terrified of being vaporized or being run through with a blade one day from the Rhinnasu. So again I apologize for my xenophobia.” Apologizing twice was more than adequate, at least that is what his father Ambassador Pierre Dicari had told him when dealing with those of noble birth.
She tilted her head at both comments. "I'm not sure I have not spoken to the Leith yet though it is on my to do list as the humans are fond of saying but if so that would put me under your dominion would it not?"she asked with a almost microscopic grin "And as to your other statement about distrusting my people that is natural we have been enemies for a very long time and old wounds heal slowly. This ship is a test to see if we can actually work together without killing one another." she couldn’t help but think that it was a task doomed to failure especially with the traitor in charge of the mission.
She took a sip of her tea and then looked back at the Ensign and wetted her hips,” As to any advice I can give you yes there is some. In your position as an Ensign promoted over higher ranking officers you cannot take any insubordination at all. If anyone under your command isn’t treating you as a superior do not go to the XO or the Leith, Take them to the Gym and MAKE them respect you. If they don't respect and fear you they will not listen to you. And on a ship in battle there can be no hesitation.” she said to him wondering why she was helping the boy..She generally didn't care about Star Fleet personnel but this mattered if her department head was weak the entire section would be weak.
He nodded, “Yes you would fall under my dominion, however you are not obligated as other personnel in this department. Instead, we will be working more closely together instead of department staff to department head.” Taking a sip, “As for killing each other, hmph, some of us have almost succeeded in doing just that.” He shifted a few padds off to the side absentmindedly trying to make some order out of the chaos that sat on his desk. This was the second time she had used the term Leith and he wasn’t aware of its connotation, “Commander was is a leith?” he asked.
“As for causing Starfleet personnel to fear me and respect me, well I think I have the fear part covered. But the respect isn’t exactly what it should be, and so yes I deal with insubordination on a continuous level. And no in battle there can be no hesitation, and that Commander is where your race supersedes Starfleet.” He slide a padd across his desk to her both outlining the communications department as well as his updated personnel record, and that of the operations department. “I figured you would like to review over the personnel who will both be working under you and with you.” The padd on his own personnel record outlined his ordeal with the t’Rehu’s ready room. “I do appreciate your input Commander.”
She reached over and took the offered PADD and glanced it over and while she read she answered his question, "It is simply a term for the commanding officer of your ship, It in my people holds an air of near divine magnitude Ensign." she said and then blinked as she read over his record and the explosion and attempted assassination of Rehu.
She looked up and over at the boy sitting behind her desk and tilted her head again. "You are either very brave or very foolish Ensign...Attempting to assassinate your commanding officer takes quite a bit of guile. You failed and yet she let you live and still your department doesn't consider you someone worthy to follow? Despite her faults if Captain t'Rehu finds you are worthy of this position then your subordinates should take it as word of law." she was actually impressed with the boy, true she would have had his family beheaded in the public square if he was Romulan but still it was impressive none the less.
Nodding to her answer to his question he took another sip, “Perhaps I was a bit of both Commander – foolish and brave. Unfortunately now they do not feel I am ‘strong’ enough if you will. Then again I had some large shoes to fill,” he said nodding towards her direction. This had also been the first time he heard another Romulan speak poorly of t’Rehu.
"When you inherit a position from another officer you must build on what they left you but never forget that it is now yours to do with as you please. I may cast a long shadow but it is your will and yours alone that is now the heart of the Operations Department. Show your people you are strong. Nothing destroys a team faster than a leader who is indecisive or lacks confidence in their self, If you act strong and command strong then in time you will find you ARE strong and others will see it as well." she said to him making sure her dark eyes were locked directly into his to amplify the seriousness of what she had just said.
Cyrin nodded, “Typically that would be what one would do is build on what one’s predecessor had done but in this case it was a particular circumstance. This department may be mine, but the staff in it are still loyal to you.” That much was obvious from the start, but he wasn’t sure just how to tell her without sounding weak. He slide her another padd outlining the meeting he had with the departments senior staff, “I figured you would like to know what is going on Commander, so here is an outline from the last departmental meeting. Perhaps, if this department see’s us working together they may come to accept me as a leader especially if their prior leader shows trust… wait that isn’t the word I was looking for, more like shows that I am reliable… then perhaps this department can regain some of its grandeur.” He offered.
Rhiana took the Padd and read over it noting his orders and his threats to the personnel and nodded, it’s what she would have done as well. " From what I have read in this outline you seem to be quite efficient and your punishments sound proper. Make sure you give them no leeway once you committed yourself to this plan you must stick to it." she said and then actually let out a small smile. "I will of course follow your directions as a department head, If they see a Commander doing it the enlisted shouldn't give you much more trouble."
“Commander you are still a department head, by no means are you a sub-department head. As I stated in the meeting I do not expect nor will I enforce you to send reports or report to me directly. You will still report directly to the Executive Officer. I suspect that our two departments will continuously be in contact and be aware of the others goings on. I do know that Ensign Rull may give you some grief especially as she was overseeing that department for quite some time.” He added.
Rhiana nodded at that and then looked over the Ensign once more, "After I get fully returned to active duty by the Leith I will contact Ensign Rull. I will not tolerate resentment or insubordination from anyone in my department, I thank you for the warning about her. And now I believe I have taken up enough of your time Ensign it definitely seems you have a good deal to catch up on, And I do as well." she said as she gestured toward the stacks of PADD's on his desk as she stood and straightened her dark uniform.
Standing up, “Not a problem Commander. Yes unfortunately I do.” Cyrin agreed, as he watched his predecessor leave his office.
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EnArrian Rhiana t'Khellian
Chief of Communications
U.S.S Charon
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Ensign Cyrin Dicari
Chief Operations Officer
U.S.S. Charon
