Posted by Commander Garinder’Jen th’Jir (Executive Officer) in Meeting with the XO…when the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Civilian Jessa Novar (Child) in Meeting with the XO…when the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Commander Garinder’Jen th’Jir (Executive Officer) in Meeting with the XO…when the past doesn’t match the future or the present
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip
Maybe you shouldn’t was the expression she wore looking at Jen. Jessa didn’t mean it as a threat but more a warning from her subconscious. The Union would come for her. When they did, Jessa had no idea how she could control that situation. She prayed it would go differently than it did with the Elders but her gut told her it would not. Her only hope was to convert the ship before the fleet arrived and minimize those that would be required to ascend the Altar of Cleansing with her in retribution for the death of the Elders.

“What are you thinking?” he asked her as she grew pensive.

Jessa needed to make friends or at least find a few more she could trust. Both Pellan and Vyce told her that at times you have to give up something to get something. Since all she had was information, and they seemed very keen on obtaining it, Jessa could dole out a few bits. Holding up a finger, she indicated for Jen to wait on an answer to his question.

Looking around the room, Jessa took a deep breath as she chose her target. Her training told her to direct her divination at Jen. It would make him respect her and her power. She could reach out and take his knife from the cabinet or the weapon on the table. It would also show her strength and Vyce always said that showing your strength was like exposing your jugular. Reaching out, Jessa lifted a glass sitting on the edge of his desk. The action was not perfectly smooth nor was Jessa able to concentrate on anything but the glass. Her gaze was directed solely on the object and her hand shook slightly. Jessa was not in distress but it was taking a lot of work to control the action.

Jessa Novar

He watched her, then heard the glass rattle just slightly and turned to look at it as it rose slowly with a small wobble. He glanced back to her and saw her focus. Intense. So her people were not just touch telepaths but had telekinetic ability too. That was something. And it was taking all her focus to do this. “Truly impressive, Jessa,” he said, and meant it. Surely it wasn’t something at her skill level that would be directly dangerous, but she could still open a door panel or manipulate a console or even activate a phaser when someone was wearing it. Small things but still significant.
Jen

His voice broke her concentration and made the glass shatter hitting the table. The expression on her face morphed into panic, not unlike an expression a kid wore when they broke something that wasn’t theirs. She had been thinking about too many other things than the task at hand. If the rest of the Quad had been with her, they would have helped her stabilize her divination but they were not. Seeing the mess angered her. Jessa should have not picked something so benign. If she had pushed or shoved the man sitting across from her, Jen would not have seen her failure. He would have seen her power and his mind would be wandering as to its potential. Now he would think she was weak , barely able to move a glass before she failed. Her feelings of helplessness boiled over. The crew had so many questions for her but Jessa also had a lot of questions.

“Ian will replace that,” she stated rapidly. Jessa had no idea if this statement was true or not so she added “If he won’t Rinker will.” Neither man owed her anything so it was a gamble just assuming but Jessa had no way to fix the situation at the moment.

Jen wondered .. had she not seen the replicators in action that would replace the glass in moments? Or perhaps had only seen them as food dispensers and not seen the further application of it. Quietly he moved to gather a cloth but giving her a reassuring smile that this was far from a tragedy.

“It’s okay,” he said calmly. “Perfection is a myth. Progression is strength.” He shifted to use his hand and a nearby cloth to contain the shards and to give her her moment to compose herself.

Jessa debated her next move as he cleaned up her mess. The man was nothing but patient and polite carrying his command like a well-worn comfortable shirt. It was a part of him but not something overpowering or attention-grabbing such as his uniform. This fact had Jessa far more on edge than if he tried to thrust his power and position on her like others had in this Federation. As polite and respectful as the XO was, Jessa could be beguiled into how dangerous he could possibly be. If she lashed out, Jen would just send her away which would prevent Jessa from saying something stupid and yet it could create an enemy which was the last thing Jessa needed. Quieting her flight response, Jessa decided to give Jen a bit more of her time. She could always employ the tantrum plan and get out of his space if needed.

“To be honest, I know of no one personally in the Federation who can do what you did.” There could be. He had heard of beings who had immense powers like the Q, the Metrons and the like, and a curious group from a century ago that Kirk had encountered that had powers of the mind but himself? None.

His comment shocked her slightly. This galaxy could not be absent of Divine individuals. If there was no Divine individuals she would be utterly alone. That thought scared her more than anyone on the crew.

That provoked a reaction from her, Jen thought, but not one he expected. Were these powers of the being more common where she came from? And to what extent. It didn’t bother him greatly if they had such powers. Every civilization he had come across was not mundane; each had something unique about them.

“If you want me to trust you why are you all lying to me,” she made a wide gesture with her arms indicating her comment was to more than just Jen. Da Mu was right. She should have taken a hard line stance when they arrived. She should not be talking to the Mind Seer Rinker letting him twist up all she knew to be right and true. She should not have trusted Aimee or the man that may or may not be sitting across from her. Looking at Jen with a confused expression, Jessa flopped back on the couch. “Let’s pretend you weren’t the man in the room with Aimee.”

“I need not pretend,” he said, “and do not be too quick to paint everyone with the same brush. Tell me where I have lied to you since you came here to my home.” His tone was even as he shifted broken shards but they had a slight edge to it. “To speak in absolutes is to make yourself absolutely wrong. It does not further diplomacy from an envoy such as yours and,” he looked up at her and smiled, “It is rude.” He didn’t say that on Andor that kind of outburst would have in some situations incurred an honor fight at least without proof.

His comment about her manners seemed to reign Jessa in. While her ideology might disgust the crew, she wasn’t raised like an animal. She was educated and had been taught right and wrong from a certain point of view. His comment only stung because something inside Jessa told her that she probably should not have said it or said it differently. “I did no mean to offend you in your home. You have been very hospitable aside from offering me refreshments.” It was a back handed comment but Jessa was still struggling to figure out the food system here. The crew freely offered it but never seemed to have anything just lying around due to those machines of theirs. “Its just your crew sees the Union as vile and repulsive.”

That caught Jen up short and he frowned at himself. “I’m sorry. An oversight on my part. I have few visitors. Is there anything of our food that you favor that I can get for you?” he asked. It was true that he had few visitors, or friends for that matter aboard. It was also true he had not reached out more to find them so had only himself to blame for that. Socially he was more of a lounge person rather than in home. It came from a tiny area in the field for anything personal and being a team in gatherings.

Jessa opened her mouth but stood there was a slightly blank expression as her mind raced. No one had asked her what she wanted. They all just offered choices where she would state the first or the last thing she heard. Jessa had had so many things she was forcing into her memory, the labels of their food items was least on her list of things to remember. It was however a source of great concern for her. Each time Kelly and Ian left her alone with the replicator in their quarters, Jessa attempted to learn how to use it. The issue was the replicator continued for specific items Jessa had no background knowledge about. Pizza, burgers, and coffee were amazing and things she had never eaten before. Foods tended to be specific with civilizations and planets so the fact the Federation had them was not surprising. The fact one had to ask specifically for them to receive them from the damn machine was the problem. “Waffles,” she blurted out finally having a word come to her head to answer his question. Jessa had no idea if it was the dented bread or the long yellow fruit but it was definitely something Ian gave her this morning.

“Perhaps it is that we do not entirely understand your Union, or perhaps it is the presentation. Both together is ripe for misunderstanding.”

“Why is your precious and honorable Federation trying to paint the Union as the aggressors? If I am the enemy. If I am so bad and dangerous why would someone from your perfect Federation break me out, give me a weapon,” she gestured to the table as if Jen had forgotten it, “and then killed everyone I came with after you told us you would help us escape.” Jessa might want to portray she was tough as nails and an equal to any officer on the ship but none of this made any sense to her. She understood lying but not the reality of the adult world where things appeared one way but were vastly different. Until a month ago, Jessa believed without question. Since Halston and now this mission, she was questioning everything.

“I do not understand your Union and, if am reading things correctly, your Union is not understanding us. There is a Vulcan saying to which the Federation holds to as a key ingredient in our make up. In short it is IDIC. It means Infinite diversity in Infinite Combinations.”

The furrowing of her brow indicated Jessa did not understand the term but more importantly was listening to Jen. “I don’t now what that means? Explain it.”

“What that means is that every people and world retains their own identity and purpose while being a part of a whole.”

“Exactly,” Jessa let out an agitated sigh. “When we Indoctrinate worlds they are allowed to keep their language and industries but now they are devoting those resources to the whole of humanity. We let those that choose to join us keep the same life and they are happy to accept our rules for the protection we give them. We are the same,” she protested hoping that Jen would be the first person to finally understand. If she could just make him understand maybe he could help the crew when indoctrination came for the Federation.

“It does not make everyone the same and to believe the same beyond the purpose of mutual benefit. Perhaps that is how we see your Union but perhaps we are wrong.”

“You are wrong. You don’t see the beauty and grace of the Galactic Union,” Jessa felt her volume rising as she became more frustrated trying to explain such a simple concept again. “Those that stay are blessed and happy. You can go to any planet we have indoctrinated and ask any person and they will tell you how happy they are. Those that weren’t happy are long gone. They were relocated to another world but with re-eduation they can come back if they wish.” The last part of her sentence was getting harder to say out loud thanks to her experience on Halston and her visits with Rinker.

Jen nodded. There were .. problems with what she said and that was for the diplomats and those higher up on the food chain than he. Shifting onto a seat he looked at Jessa again. “Our peoples in this galaxy have underwent many battles and wars over the past years. One with a group called the Dominion who would conquer to extend themselves and bring us under the auspices of one people - the founders. Theirs was not a people prone to diplomacy. Nor was our other foe. The Borg. A cybernetic group mind that would absorb everyone in its path to be part of their collective. As peoples who are individual losing one’s will and identity is fearsome. It is possible that this is in part what colors our thinking when another .. Union comes to in a sense .. assimilate us. Part of what I am hearing is .. be happy, or else.”

“Take me to your bridge right now,” she demanded. Her life was so regimented on this ship. Everything was planned, nothing spontaneous. If she felt like her life was a bad dream maybe it was just that

“I have seen your hologram room. It can make you believe you are somewhere you are not. How do I know I am even in a ship? How do I know any of this is real and not some ploy by the undevout to break me?”

Jessa Novar

Jen pondered this and how not thought out those statements were. “If you think that we are in a holodeck then any trip anywhere in the ship will not convince you otherwise.”

“Huh,” she looked at him before fully processing the logic in his statement. The moment the thought clicked was easily visible to Jen. A loud moan escaped her lips as she threw her head back on the couch in a very teen-like fashion versus the forced formality of her trying to be an adult. “Are you trying to make me crazier than I feel right now because trust me it is a very very short trip to that brink of a cliff?” Looking at Jen, Jessa came up with a plan that was far more logical. “Hit me,” she stated looking at him.

“You can’t feel pain in a hologram,” she announced what she knew from the Union’s holograms as a fact. “Ian and Jack freaked out when they caught me pinching myself. That earned me a one trip ticket to the couch time with the counselor so hit me. If I feel it I will know I am not in the hologram and just being interrogated. If I don’t,” she did not expand her logic.

Theirs was different, he knew. Pain could be felt. Safeties were there to halt what was greater. Klingon calisthenics programs were far from pain free. But how could he talk her off the cliff without pushing her more in that direction. “We are having a talk. It is not an interrogation. I have given as freely as you have.” He looked down at the tabletop. “When my son was about your age he and some friends went out and emboldened by one another sought to climb the Kre’hain cliffs not far outside town. One fell and was hurt but, embarrassed they sought to cover up their action with something more benign. When I sought the truth he used the same words, an interrogation, when it was that of a father seeking to draw the man out of the boy.” He looked up and smiled. “Have you been in our holodecks to see what they can do?”

“You’re not being interrogated and I have no desire or intent to do you harm.” He finished brushing the last of the shards away and set the cloth down. “Jessa, I wish to apologize to you on behalf of many of those you have met. It has caused you pain and confusion and mistrust to the extent that you are unsure if anything is real. You must be very frustrated by this.” He moved and sat down beside her. “I’ll take you to the bridge if that will help you. But first, tell me, so I can understand, apart from bringing your Union here, what do you want?”
- Jen, XO

“What do I want,” she repeated his question feeling a knot form in her chest. A few asked her what she wanted but most of the crew only asked her what she needed. There was a huge difference in the question. “In a list of the most important things,” she licked her lips feeling it hard to avoid feeling sad about this topic. “I want to find my mom and go home. Without my ship anymore that is impossible. We are too far and I am sure if you had the technical ability to take me home you would have done it by now. I want to find the Prism and take it home.” She didn’t believe that Rinker hadn’t shared his knowledge on the Prism but to save time she summarized it. “The Prism is a device we use to travel in the blink of an eye. It allows us to transport almost as fast at your transporters but across space. Our current method is fast but it took us a month to get from Vela Astria to your galaxy.”

“Your mother never came on this journey?” he asked gently. “Who took this Prism? How was it lost?” While he was beginning to fathom that this was something taken by some ‘well meaning’ people to study it for the tech it was also a festering wound with her and her people.

“Once,” she spat out word in a crisp tone before crossing her arms over her chest, “but she had no actual proof if this answer was correct or not. Jessa made no more mention of her mother. It was mainly because she wasn’t sure what was real or imagined information on her. It had been years since she had seen her mother. Jessa came her because Rogan swore her mom was waiting and yet nothing Rogan stated had come true so maybe her mom wasn’t her. Silently she cursed Rinker and all the thoughts he put into her head that made her question what she thought was fact. Taking a deep breath, Jessa started to talk again.

“The Prism is a device that allows us to transport in the blink of an eye. It’s how we crisscross the universe while you move at the pace of a Vespan snail.” Jessa had no real reason to insult Jen except as misplaced anger towards Rinker and the Federation. Her biting comment made Jessa feel slightly calmer and more in control. “It was stolen by the Undevout.” Jessa did not elaborate past that however her tone and facial expression spoke volumes. As the last word left her mouth, Jessa rolled her eyes and her mouth formed a tight-lipped straight line showing her revulsion toward the group.

Turning her gaze off Jen, Jessa looked down at her hands as she fidgeted pulling them in and out of her sleeves as she continued to talk. It was easier not to look him in the face for the next part. “I wanted to just come on your ship, get the Prism and leave but we both know that didn’t happen. This leads me to the last thing I want. I want people to not be scared of me. People are unpredictable when they are scared.” Jessa understood the last statement far more than people were giving her credit. Without her Elders, Jessa was scared of everything and had nothing to hold on to except her faith that Pellan would come for her.

Jessa Novar

“I’m not scared,” he said.

His reply was reassuring as was his demeanor. This XO was confident and didn’t seem to be easily pushed into an emotional outburst when Jessa stated things meant to cause a spike in emotions. It was as if the XO had some secret knowledge of how to defeat the Union or worse, didn’t worry about the possibility of going to war with the Union. Jack had told her the XO was a soldier. After meeting the XO, Jessa did not doubt that Commander Garinder’Jen th’Jir was probably as cunning as Supreme Commander Adar Vyce even thought Vyce was never not in uniform unlike like the man in the room.

“I have a healthy respect for your abilities. Fear comes from the unknown. I know your people wield great power. And not knowing how it is wielded causes concern. There is power and power under authority is power controlled. Perhaps they see that you are not under another and so you yourself feel a stranger in a strange land and unsure what to do.”

“I know my mission,” Jessa stated starting to exert an air of authority. She had not done this for the past quarter of an hour but suddenly needed to put some distance between the budding relationship with this man. Commander Garinder’Jen th’Jir needed to know his place. He needed to understand the power she weilded as an Elder and the leeway she was allowing him right now.

He paused then added a tone of command to his voice. “Who here knows about this Prism?” While he understood that there was a power issue here with powerful alien tech to be had, he also knew there was an emotionally struggling girl who wanted her mother and wanted to go home who in herself wielded technology beyond them, who in herself was still apprenticing. It behooved her to have a true ally here. The threat she played was obvious. She was not going to yield up this armor or weapons so the next obvious step was to bring this power to bear appropriately. This may not mix with what the Captain and others might be hoping but there was a problem here and Jen saw next steps to resolving it. If Jessa’s group came here by accident traveling a month in that speed to cross galaxies truly they should not be worried about incursion anytime this century and may cause them to overlook them entirely in favor of others nearer if they could indeed expand that quickly.
Jen, XO

Her shoulders sagged slightly hearing the change in tone as Jen spoke as her eyes widened slightly. She recognized the tone as playtime being over and Jen wanting answers. Squirming slightly, Jessa tried to brush off the discomfort she was experiencing. It was not that Jessa was scared of Jen in the fight or flight sense but more in the uncomfortable way a kid reacts when popping off to an adult who suddenly decided enough was enough. Back home, Pellan and Adar used this tone as did Ian and Jack here when they were done with her antics, attitude, and double talk.

Her immediate instinct was to lie and tell him he was the only one but she had mentioned it to Rinker.
Jessa’s face took on a slackened stare as she rapidly tried to figure out all her options. She needed an ally so starting their burgeoning alliance on a lie didn’t feel right. Telling him all about the secret mission to obtain the Prism and bring it back as a payment for sorts for her mother’s release felt wrong too. Jessa played stupid with Rinker about the Prism only being for travel. Now she was starting to see how others might use it for more nefarious pursuits. “Well, I didn’t tell you or Aimee before you gave me the shaft,” she answered his question laced with sarcasm. Jessa no longer believed that the man before her and the man she met with Aimee were the same however she needed time to think. Rinker, much like Jen, seemed to have way to make her be just a lost kid and forget that she was a soldier on a mission.

“Okay,” she blurted out starting to fiddle with the sleeves of her shirt as a way to distract herself partially in the conversation.

“Before we came here, Rogan and the other members met with a group of Undevout on Halston.” Jessa averted her eyes and refused to look at Jen as if confessing to a wrongdoing instead of relating a story. She was uncomfortable talking however a lot had changed in seven days for her. She had gone from a clear mission objective to more of a paper treasure map with an X marking the spot. Her merry band of mercenaries, as Ian called him when he thought she could not hear, were all dead and she was alone. For as terrible as Rogan and the others could be they did teach Jessa an important lesson while she was assigned to them: Make yourself important or at the very least useful if you expected to be kept around. Jessa had to make friends but also make herself useful and important which was why she suddenly displayed a new sense of sharing information instead of coveting it. Jessa continued to look everywhere but at Jen as she spoke. “They gave us the coordinates to the Prism and a name. Captain Ian Bordeaux. We sent a signal announcing our arrival and you were at the spot when we came out of the Celestial Web you were there.” The hurt in her voice was evident although maybe not clear as to why. The why came a moment later as Jessa looked directly at Jen with a pleading expression.

“You know the price of treason is death. Speaking to the Undevout is treason. When the rescue force comes to save me I will have to answer for this and even with the Prism I might still have to go to the Altar of Cleansing. I have to find the Prism and none of you seem to want to help me.”

“So know you and Rinker know everything. Happy?”

Jessa Novar

Self bump while I try to fathom a reply .. gene

OOC: Added more. I forgot you were not in the beginning. I tried to synopsize it enough for you to have something to work with. ~ Kate