Posted by Fleet Captain Ghubari Koraia (Captain) in Ready Room - Wallace meets Koraia

Posted by Commander Jennifer Wallace (Executive Officer) in Ready Room - Wallace meets Koraia

Posted by Fleet Captain Ghubari Koraia (Captain) in Ready Room - Wallace meets Koraia
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Well, we do have three arboreta in case you ever get the urge,” Koraia quipped with a lopsided smirk. “Our resident gardener, T’Pon, is always a great resource.”

Gazing to her left and out the expansive window, the captain was quiet for a few moments. “I feel like your assignment should have come with some large disclaimer, some warning. But my guess is that it really didn’t.” She shifted her gaze back to Jennifer. “What do you know about the Athena so far?”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

“Well, not a huge amount. I was given some of your past mission reports so read up on, and the files of the senior staff. But I, ah, haven’t had time to read them. I glanced over some of the info on the transport vessel, but I didn’t get through much.”

She joined Koraia’s gaze out the window, eyes closing for a moment. “From what I did see, it seems as though this ship and crew have been through a lot of turmoil over the past year or so. I noticed the dates didn’t line up exactly. Entire mission logs were completely missing, so my best guess is that this vessel gets a lot of classified missions?”

Wallace, XO

Koraia nodded. “Some. I wouldn’t say lots, but there have been a few. Or rather sometimes the outcome ended up becoming restricted information. But I have always made sure that my first officer is exempted from those instructions.” She looked back at Jennifer and grinned slightly. “The nice thing about doing splashy big missions and having earned a fifth pip is they tend to not argue with me too much.”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

Jennifer made a small “hmm,” noise in the back of her throat, nodding slightly. “Must be some pretty crazy missions you’ve been on,” she commented softly. She smiled at the older woman, but the smile, oddly, didn’t seem to go to her eyes. “Could you tell me about the senior staff? What kind of people are they? I talked to your CMO. I went to Sickbay before coming here. He seems like a solid officer. Knows what he’s doing.”

Wallace, XO

At that Koraia couldn’t help but beam. “They are the best,” she said with all the surety she possessed. “None of them are perfect, of course. But I can count on each and every one of them without hesitation. The same goes for the rest of the crew. Now, I have exceptionally high standards, but I never ask of them more than I myself as willing to give.” A darker look passed through her pale amber eyes. “We’ve had so much asked of us, Commander. You need to understand that the stakes are often exceptionally high. Hence the restricted and classified files. But this crew is more than its actions. It is a family. It’s a cliché perhaps but in our case it is true. And while the family is much larger than when I first took over as Commanding Officer, they are all equally dedicated. I won’t demand anything less. I can’t afford to.”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

“Is that why the other XO left?” Jennifer asked, projecting her own worries onto the woman she had seen traveling down the corridor opposite to her. The look of sadness on her eyes. “She didn’t measure up, so to speak?” Immediately after saying that, the red-haired woman slapped her hand over her mouth. It wasn’t her business to pry into that kind of stuff, and the expression on her face made it clear she was regretting those words coming out of her mouth. Well, that was sure to be a point off her. New XO couldn’t keep her nose out of others’ business. She couldn’t help that she was an exceptionally curious person, but she was supposed to be able to keep those curiosities inside her brain. She’d gotten good at that, but all the stress of the past few days had weakened her control.

Wallace, XO

Koraia couldn’t help but laugh aloud. “Ahh, Commander, if there is one thing I do prefer, it’s honesty. Besides I usually know when most people are lying.”

Taking a deep breath she shook her head. “No, Luka didn’t not leave for any other reason than family ones. She was needed elsewhere for a longer duration than we could go without a first officer. Which is how you ended up here.”

She sipped her chai for a moment. “Tell me about you as an officer. Preferences, quirks, the things that drive you absolutely crazy.”

Fl. Captain Koraia, CO

Jennifer sighed silently, relieved. Glad she hadn’t unwittingly offended her new Captain with her questions. She thought about the question for a few moments before answering. “Well, I’ll start with preferences… I’m an early riser and prefer working in the morning to working in the evening - although, granted, that can really be a relative thing on a starship. I like to be fully briefed on all the available information on a situation so that I can make, well, informed decisions.”

“Quirks. Well, as you already saw, I have a distinct lack of tact, and a high curiosity level. I try to reign myself in, but I have a tendency to seem kinda nosy because of it. I have trouble telling where I should utilize tact and just… not ask the burning questions on my mind. It’s actually quite a helpful trait for a doctor, not so much for a diplomat though. I hum or sing fairly frequently. My brain doesn’t like to be left in silence. I’ve tried meditating to quiet my head but for some reason I just end up playing music over and over inside my brain. And sometimes it spills out.”

“And things that drive me crazy… total silence, for one. Also, oddly enough, when people have a conversation in a language I understand, but only barely within the range of my hearing, it drives me nuts. Hearing the odd word but not being able to make out what they’re talking about. Some little voice in the back of my head starts to get paranoid that they’re talking badly about me. Also, when people mistreat plants and don’t take care of them. Same about their own bodies. It’s the doctor in me, I suppose. Have to make sure people are healthy.”

Jennifer Wallace, XO