Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (Counsellor) in Business As Usual - Redux

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Serena Stone (Executive Officer) in Business As Usual - Redux

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (Counsellor) in Business As Usual - Redux
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Janna nodded. “Though I would also say that exciting here on the Athena often meant external factors you couldn’t have predicted if you tried. So I would caution you from tying that to your own actions. But yes, from my observations and many conversations, most security folks who have experience prefer it quiet when they can have it.”

Stone nodded. “Yeah, you can’t predict everything. Or control everything. But it’s good to be prepared. Chance favors the prepared mind.”

“How did you manage with the homework I gave you?”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

A thin sigh followed, but the redhead shrugged one shoulder. “The lounge was surprising. As well as the lady who runs the place. Everyone here has been so welcoming and friendly. I suppose some of that is wanting to make a good impression on the Ex Oh. But it feels like that’s only a small part of it. A few things I can’t talk about because of Op Sec. And there’s a lot of top-notch people here, professionally anyway. I mean, sure everybody is an expert in their field. But the Athena doesn’t just run, she hums. And I see how everybody looks out for each other here. The earmarks of a good, solid crew.”

She sipped at her raspberry tea thoughtfully, then cradled the warm mug in her lap. “It’s… eased my nerves. A bit anyway. i still have my worries, but i suppose they are more healthy ones now. People getting hurt, general risks. But that’s all stuff we’re trained for. And I know what bases to cover now too, which helps.

“I suppose the anxiety over all the new, and being thrown into the deep end is a lot lessened. New territory is always scary. but it’s not so bad. More to do, the job is never done, and it always changes. As much as I like the boredom, because it means things are going smooth, I’ve always thrived in chaos, and have been able to make order ou tof it.” She shrugged one shoulder with a small smile. “Probably one of the reasons why I’m here, and Command stuck me on the Athena in the first place. Right?”

Lt Cmdr Stone, XO

Janna grinned. “Probably. In my experience, Personnel does try to ensure there’s a balance of skills and experiences in ship command teams. And sometimes, even if there’s seems to be no rhyme or reason on the surface, maybe it’s just meant to be, for better or worse. Our job once we land somewhere is to find how to make it work for us so that we can be at our best.” In all honesty it didn’t matter what things Serena listed as surprises, just that she took the homework seriously and gave it a chance. As she correctly guessed, if given the chance to stop and really take in the ship and crew, Stone would see that there was potential here for herself.

“The Athena is a large ship, and while it’s impossible to get to know everyone, there has always been a sense of family here. I felt it the first day I boarded and it surprised me too,” Kington said fondly. Stark’s surprise greeting had really set the tone for her life here in the best possible way. She leaned in towards the XO. “I’ll confess that I was not happy to be assigned to the Athena. I was reassigned very suddenly after the death of anther counsellor in the exploratory fleet the Athena was a part of. I had just arrived at my new ship within that fleet only to be told to not unpack and head to a new and much larger ship. Not my first choice in the least. It took time, Serena, before I really settled in here, but I gave it a chance because someone believed I could belong here. I want you to know that I feel that for you, and so I will help you find your however I can.” Janna was not prone to speeches or empty words, so she hoped Serena could take her at face value.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“That sounds pretty hectic,” she admitted. “And familiar, I suppose.” The redhead lapsed into silence, her gaze turning far away, looking inward. “I know. I hear you. ‘Give it time’ and all that. ‘Get comfortable.’” The XO shook her head. “But that’s the problem. Getting comfortable. Getting complacent. Losing the edge. Getting weak and soft. All of those things allow mistakes to creep in. Mistakes that get people hurt or killed. That goes not just for me, but for everybody on this ship. We all depend on each other to do our jobs, do it right, the first time.”

She shook her head. “As much as we’d all like to pretend that help is just a call away, the reality is that .. when seconds matter, help is hours away. It’s still the wild west out here. Only the best and brightest, and maybe the luckiest, make it out here. We don’t get to sleep in. We don’t get to say ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’ Or ‘It’s not that big of a deal.’” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “There are no second chances out here. Space is an unforgiving place, and that’s without taking into account all the recent attacks along the borders, bad actors, disasters, and unexplained stuff exploration ships run into.”

“Yes, I know everyone is well trained. I know everybody is doing their jobs. And they do it well. But 99% turns into 95%, turns into 80% .. and then something slips through teh cracks. Transporter mishap. Shuttle accident. Lab explosion. Shield failure. Reactor overload. All because people got comfortable. Got complacent.”

“That concern hasn’t gone away.”

Stone, XO

Janna listened carefully and nodded here and there. After Serena finished, she gazed at the other woman with kindness. “What if, just maybe, being settled here isn’t about doing less? What if it means feeling connected to others enough that you want to do more for them, and they for you? If you died tomorrow, would you want it to matter to someone here?”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Serena listened, but as Janna asked her question her focus turned inward. She turned the query over in her head, examining it from every angle she could think of,. Confusion grew on her face, as there seemed to be no relation to … anything she’d spoken on. It was almost a complete change of topic. Trust the process. Finally, she took a deep breath. “I’m not sure .. what you’re getting at. Are you talking professionally or … privately? Or both? And what’s that got to do with anything? And sure, it would be nice. But that’s not realistic.”

Falling back into silence, she sipped at her tea in thought some more. “I’m not sure it’s ever mattered if something happens to me. I’m just a cog in the machine. I train my people to anticipate rather than wait around for orders. For me to do their thinking for them. At least that was how I ran my team back on the Valkyrie. They still checked in, got approvals, but after a while, they were all capable of operating on their own initiative, within reason. Eventually they were all capable of running, leading, their own teams with as much skill.”

Stone