Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Joseph Rainns (Incoming Chief of Security) in Side Sim- Sprucing up the COS Office

Posted by Cadet Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in Side Sim- Sprucing up the COS Office

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Joseph Rainns (Incoming Chief of Security) in Side Sim- Sprucing up the COS Office
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Rainns smile grew into a grin as he placed his box on the desk, “Both actually Ms. McMoran, it depends on the day. Sometimes I feel like I have to be to guide others through the darkness of fear and indecisiveness and other days I feel like I must stand alone against forces that are strong and benevolent, I value both roles equally, but I prefer the second.”

L.T. J.G. Joseph Rainns- COS

Aili had energy pent up in the form of the grin which had pervaded her entire being. She nodded keenly as if to expend her enthusiasm. “Well that’s very noble. You do seem like a rare man who might be justified in that kind of self-image.” The cadet meant what she said. Not only did Rainns seem stoic and responsible in his new position but he had been emotionally supportive in a significant way only moments after meeting her, a gesture her appreciation for was still burning fiercely. “I do like the office though”, she said as she inspected the rest of the space. “I wouldn’t mind one of these myself!” With that, her playful grin made a return.

Cadet Aili McMorran - Science

“Well to be honest,” Rainns confessed, “I’m not quite sure how I got this promotion, if I am able to receive one I know you will be able to get one as well.” In the end he decided to place two books on his desk and leave the rest in the box to store in his quarters.

L.T. J.G. Joseph Rainns- COS

“The humble approach is it? Well, for what it’s worth, I think you fully deserved it.” Aili brought the PaDD she had been clinging onto up for inspection. “Damn. Right, I need to get going. I’m due on the bridge. If you ever need any interior design advice though, I quite enjoy it and like to think my quarters ended up looking not totally horrific.”

Cadet Aili McMorran - Science

“I always take it, thank you.” Rainns turned to Aili, “You are always welcome to give me some tips McMoran, have a good day Cadet.”

L.T. J.G. Joseph Rainns- COS

McMorran nodded to the man. “Lieutenant.” She was happy to be friendly with Rainns but there was more to their relationship than that. The budding careerist within her was fired up at the prospect of making a friend of a senior officer and department head. For now, however, she had plenty for the conscious part of her mind to be dealing with. Again gripping her PaDD by her side, she turned and exited the office before making haste toward her station on the bridge.

Cadet Aili McMorran - Science

As Cadet McMorran was departing, Cadet Trenton gave her a friendly nod in greeting though she didn’t give much of a facial expression. Allowing the other cadet to depart, she entered the office and took a moment to take in the new decor. The chain of thoughts that went through Trenton’s head forced her to have to stop and take another breath to re-center herself. The topic of making a place your own was another sore subject she would have to deal with later. “Pardon the intrusion sir, I’m here to turn in the evening reports.” In her right hand was a small stack of PaDDs from the night shift cadets. The engineering cadets had decided to play games with the sensors and didn’t care to notify the Security office and as a result, had them running from one end of the ship to the other responding to false alarms. When the source had been found, the cadets were escorted to their rooms, some more physical than others when they tried to resist. This meant all the night shift cadets were exhausted so Trenton volunteered to double-check and turn in the reports for them so they could get a few extra minutes of rest.

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

“Ah yes, thank you Cadet.” Rainns took the padds from Ashlyn and noticed the apparent discomfort in her face. “Is there a problem Ms. Trenton?” The chief of security asks, placing the padds on his desk and taking a seat behind it, he began reading the top padd’s report as he awaited Trenton to respond to the question.

L.T. J.G. Joseph Rainns- COS

Cadet Trenton looked around the office again for a moment, taking another chance to really link each object to the Lieutenant and how it might be significant to him. “Nothing we can’t handle sir.” Trenton reflected over the night’s events, sure everything is in the report but she was too exhausted to stop herself from repeating things already there. “Just a little extra tired, angry at some dumb cadets that tried to fight back, sad that we had to resort to force on our own people, worried about their erratic behavior.” Trenton pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath in to chase away some of the drowsiness she had been feeling. She lets out a low groan and muttered to herself, “Going to have to deal with this homelessness tonight.” There was a long pause before the cadet realized she said that aloud and would likely now have to deal with it. The cadet’s head sinks as she waits for the Lieutenant’s response.

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

Rainns had been listening as Trenton talked while reading over the reports. When she stopped talking Rainns looked up. “ Uh two questions cadet, one, who is we? And two, what do you mean about being homeless?” Rainns put the Padd on the table indicating his attention was entirely focused Trenton.

LT JG Joseph Rainns- COS

While she wasn’t looking forward to having to explain the empty feeling that she planned to address later once she got back to her room, she could at least answer the first question with confidence and a little pride. “The Night Watch sir, the cadets assigned to third shift have been training and studying together with the NEs that overwatch us. We’ve built a sense of camaraderie and team cohesion to ensure we can get our patrols and inspections done efficiently and thus have more time for effective learning to better ourselves. Each Cadet’s contribution has been mostly focused on their Major from the academy, in my case that is Information Security and Counter-Intelligence. I was surprised that NE Ma’Toth had taken Xenoarcheology as their major and how much more in-depth their knowledge was compared to what I learned. Even Cadet Ryan held off on the jokes to share his information on Weapons Engineering. In fact, I think you should come to one of our sessions. I’m sure the team would love to share our methods with you.”

((OOC: Blank Space left Intentionally for a response))

The Lieutenant made it clear that he wasn’t going to drop the subject and though she tried to, he brought it back to the conversation at hand. Trenton really didn’t want to share anything this personal with others, but she needed to prove to the ship’s counselor that she could bring herself to trust others in some way and this was probably the best way to do that. Trenton turned and locked the door so as to prevent someone from walking in on their discussion. “This is something I would usually only share with the Counselor, but I’m going to trust that you will not publicize it or use it against me.” Trenton came back to the chair across from the Lieutenant, due to the personal nature of the topic there was no way Trenton would be able to maintain any bearing so she didn’t even try to. She removed her boots and brought her legs up to her chest so she could wrap her arms around them, a defensive posture for a minor sense of safety. “There are a lot of details I can’t talk about because of a gag order, but what I can tell you I will. From the age of twelve, events took place that destroyed my home. From that point, I lived in back alleys, shadows, inactive pipelines, anywhere I could take shelter from the elements. Once I made it to Earth, I lived in facilities with other refugees usually ten to twelve to a room a little larger than your office. There was no way to have a sense of personal ownership of a space and the room assignments were rotated at least once a month. The administrators claimed it was a process to encourage refugees to seek out employment and homes of their own so the facility could be used by the people that needed it most. I couldn’t argue their point so I continued to go along with it until I was able to join Starfleet Academy. I’m sure you remember what dorm life was like so I won’t go into details about the setup. I was still recovering from a lot of my problems and the dorm mates saw my worldview as strange and unwelcome. I found myself continuing to find anywhere to get rest away from them and others to avoid feeling ostracized or bullied. I spent more than half my life without a sense of belonging or a space that I can ‘own’ in a way that I can call home. It’s a strange sort of homesickness because unlike most that can take shore leave to go back to their family and feel at home, I’ve got nowhere to go and no one to go to.”

Trenton takes a moment to let it all sink in then takes a breath and continues. “All these emotions, thoughts, and memories I keep under control by putting them into the box. Before you ask, the box is a form of creative visualization and compartmentalization. I put everything ‘bad’ or ‘distracting’ into the box and each night before lights out I’ll take something out of that box and deal with it as far as I can so I can make constant progress on it. That’s why you will occasionally see a crack because something reminds me of what is in the box and I’ll have to take a moment to re-contain it until I can deal with it later. In this particular case, we have your office. The personalization, the claim of ownership on the space that not only defines you as a person but your place here on the ship. It is a place you belong to. I don’t have that and I want it, but know I can’t have that yet. It sucks, but I’ll get over it. If not this time, then next time perhaps, healing takes time and there is a lot broken.” Ashlyn takes a deep breath before unwrapping herself and putting her boots back on. Taking a second to smooth out her uniform, she started the process of putting herself back together.

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton, Security