Posted by Commander Mwezi (Executive Officer) in Side Sim - Lunch

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in Side Sim - Lunch

Posted by Commander Mwezi (Executive Officer) in Side Sim - Lunch
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Mwezi tapped his toes on the floor, waiting for Gadi to arrive. He was in what would usually be the Captain’s Mess - Sara had let him book it for the lunchtime meal today. He was grateful for the opportunity to ‘hang out with’ someone who he actually knew through more than just a few occasional interactions. Gadi, he knew. She’d been a good Department Head. Still was.

Mwezi, XO

Bethany was busy, everyone was, but a request to meet from the new XO was not to be ignored. It was bad manners and bad for morale to refuse, and everyone had to eat at some point. She walked through the door of the mess at the appointed time and slid into the seat across from him. “Afternoon, Cmdr.”

Gadi, COS

Mwezi suppressed the urge to wag his tail slightly. “Chief! Thank you for meeting with me,” he gestured to the table, where a simple meal was set up. Several varieties of bagels sat on a platter, with cream cheese to the side. “I was not certain if you would like bagels, but that is what I have prepared.”

Mwezi, XO

Gadi nodded, “Of course.” Her ebony eyes looked over the selection. “I’m not picky, but I do enjoy bagels.” She chose a pumpernickel bagel and began to spread cream cheese on it. “What can I do for you?”

Gadi, CoS

Mwezi tapped his toes on the ground for a moment before giving Gadi a small smile. “There are two reasons I have asked you to join me in this meal. Firstly and most importantly, I know that you are very diligent in your work. Working under you as a junior officer had shown me that. I wished to express my gratitude for that through this simple meal. I considered baking something from my home, but in the end it was better to prepare something you were more likely to enjoy. Secondly and slightly more selfishly, I wished to spend time with someone who did not look at me like a stranger…” He looked a little sheepish at that, his wolf-like ears angling downwards slightly.

Mwezi’s time as a security officer on the Asimov, as far as Gadi had seen, had consisted of him doing his duty with skill, often signing up for extra shifts, and spending any free time either in his quarters or practicing his skills in the gym and training rooms. He had not been involved in any social situations, other than the occasional encrypted call to a planet somewhere in the galactic south - and even those calls had necessarily ended when their deep cover had begun.

Mwezi, XO

“Well cooking would have been difficult since we have no cooking facilities on board, and I would have hated for you to use your replicator rations in order to make the equipment to do so. Replicated bagels are just fine, but I do appreciate the sentiment. Perhaps if we ever get back to a decent star base.” Gadi took a bite of the bagel and slowly chewed the bite before washing it down and speaking.

“Well Cmdr, that’s your problem isn’t it?” Gadi started gently. “The entire time you were in my department you didn’t socialize, you didn’t allow your shift mates to get to know you, you didn’t make an effort to get to know anyone from another department. Even before we started this mission. The crew is only 70 people. How else are people to react to you? You are a stranger to them. Just because you were promoted to XO doesn’t mean they suddenly know you and trust you.” She took another small bite, “You’ll have to put in the effort.”

Gadi, CoS

Mwezi smiled at the comments about cooking, and shrunk down slightly when Gadi began to give him her gentle lecture. He nodded, though, agreeing with her points. “An unfortunate result of various… aspects of my service in Starfleet,” he looked down at the bagel in his hand, then turned back to her. “I did not wish to remain so isolated, but it was a part of my requirements for retaining my position on this vessel. I was not to interfere in the lives of those to whom I did not belong… Now I must go against that decree in order to fill the position the Captain has given me.”

Mwezi, XO

Gadi gave him one of those piercing evaluative looks everyone in the depth hated. “And who exactly decided you did not belong in our lives? Hmmm? Those over inflated fluff balls in Intel, those incompetent children in section 31, or those idiot time cops? You were security, and we were to put our lives in your hands every day. But instead of forming that trust, following instincts you must have, you chose to be a puppet.” Gadi shrugged, “Puppets don’t belong in command. So what are you going to do? Sit here and sulk because no one knows you and are being judgemental? Or are you going to command and fix the problem?” Gadi was nothing if not blunt.

Gadi, CoS

Mwezi sighed, staring at the ceiling for several long moments. “I suppose I did not think it would be an issue. When I first came to this vessel, it was easy to look at all these humans and human-like species with no ability to share emotions and think that I could protect them without forming attachments. I was under the impression that I could find a life for myself without interfering in the “sacred timeline.” Perhaps they were right to be cautious and I should never have come to this ship.” The final sentence was spoken with a heavy tone of sarcasm. Mwezi instinctively shared his sense of not believing the words that he spoke, even though Gadi had no mode to receive that shared sense.

Gadi was Betazoid, not that thta meant much. She had no Betazoid capabilities at all, but she knew how to read people, and so she didn’t need them or share Mwezi’s special ability to read his body language and tone of voice to know how he was feeling. She pulled a piece of her bagel off, popped it in her mouth, chewed, and then washed it down. “Why would you assume that? Your crews worked that way where you came from? Working in close proximity day after day, month after month, expicity trusting each other without knowing each other in any capacity at all?” It was a rhetorical question, she didn’t want or expect an anwers. She expected Mwezi to consider his thought process and choices since his life changed.

“I know it was a mistake. I have felt it acutely. I have never found it easy to form emotional bonds with people, even my own people, and now I find myself in a situation where I must gain the trust of a large group of people at a rapid pace. I expect it is rather unprofessional of me as Executive Officer to express this.”

Mwezi, XO

Gadi nodded, “It is not unprofessional, just honest. No one expects you to be a super hero, just mortal and a role model. Hindsight is 20/20 as my uncles say. You thought you were doing right, but no you see it was not. And not everyone finds it easy to connect with crew. I struggle with it, Mwezi, every day, every assignment, every crew member. But I am part of the leadership on this ship, and so I must work through my own struggles in order to lead. You will have to do the same thing. I would suggest you start in two places. Meet with the department heads. They are the ones that will directly answer to you, and they don’t know you. Then go find your patrol team, and spend time with them. Relax, socialize. Have a meal, play a game, watch a holo, something. Don’t be their XO, be their friend.”

Gadi, CoS