Posted by Ensign Tabris Asam (Engineering Officer) in Construction of a cabin
Tabris had been up most of the night, his irritation had turned to some self loathing and following that it was acceptance. He had been a jerk, and even if he didn’t intend to he felt terrible about it, but soon after he realized that he needed to accept that his thoughts were like talking outload to some and even if he didn’t know that ahead of time it was still his responsibility to take ownership of the results. After all, Sharah had said that she wasn’t ‘probing his mind’ and if he had said those things verbally he’d be responsible for them, so why shouldn’t he be responsible for his thoughts too. In all the years of his life Tabris was dealing with something new and he didn’t know how to handle hurting someone like that. He had to be diligent and careful, not because he wanted to be closed off, but because he wanted to be kind.

He reflected on what he had said last night while buttoning his uniform, chastising himself for being so dismissive and rude even if no one was there to ‘hear’ him. He took a cup of coffee with him in a favorite mug of his, an enameled tin cup with rainbow polkadots, to Engineering to start his day. A meeting, a refresher, then her quarters. The meeting was about as exciting as watching a middle-aged man eat tapioca pudding in a grassy field, and the refresher course was like taking that previously described scene and imagining it being described to you by someone with the speaking ability of middle schooler with stage fright being asked to give a presentation at the next assembly.

Gathering up his tools and loading a cart with replicated bits Tabris headed towards the Lieutenant’s quarters. He had made a decision, he wouldn’t try to talk about it, he wouldn’t be upset by it, he would just try to think clearly that ‘I’m sorry for what happened last night’. Would this be successful? Only time would tell.

Ensign Tabris Asam, Eng

Sharah had left the arboretum the previous day and had wandered down to the 3rd arboretum, where no one went. It was being transformed into something totally different than the dilapidated flower garden it had been. Everything in this particular spot either had a scientific/medical purpose or it was edible. Having gotten a nod from the captain about using the arboretums to help sustain the ship on deep space assignments with little to no Federation contact, arboretum 3 was decided on for this purpose. It was near the bowels of the ship and away from family decks. She’d worked long into the night, skipping sleep she’d returned to quarters eventually to pace. She was reminded on her schedule that En Asam would be there that day to work on her redesign. She came very close to cancelling the project. But she was afraid the CE would think it was a reflection of Asam when it was not, and she didn’t want to have to explain what had happened. She was guilty and ashamed enough.

Granted his thoughts had been floating about as if he’s spoken. Sharah would never probe or violate someone’s mind. Not that she would need to, but she simply would not. It went against every fiber of her being to be so careless with a person. But she had responded to his ‘open’ thoughts. And he had not been aware she was Betazoid and that made it worse. She was startled by Geoff and had between the relaxation that the arboretum always brought and the shock of Geoff’s sentience and caused her to be careless. She hadn’t even written Joseph about what had happened, so great was her self-loathing at the moment. Sharah had recognized Tabris’ feeling of violation and she felt, well there was no word to describe how she felt. More than anything she empathized with him. Violation was a feeling she was very familiar with. It followed her every day, having the thoughts of everyone around her invading her mind. It made her sick to know she’d done that to someone else. And so she decided she simply would stay away from him. He probably didn’t want to see her again anyway.

Upon arriving at her quarters, Tabris would find the door unlocked for him. Her things had all been packed into a crate and moved out of the way. Her plants as well had been moved out of the way. Sharah was no where to be found, but it was still early in Alpha shift and she was still on duty.
Lt. jg Fayth, CSO