Posted by Lieut (j.g.) Jarvan (Chief Science Officer) in CSO's Quarters - Killing Time
Jarvan was first and foremost a telepath. A mind reader. A master of mental magic capable of ripping through mental blocks like a laser cuts steel.

Few knew this, as the brilliant chemistry doctor’s genius often left onlookers in shock, and most, including most of the Academy staff, believed that the man’s primary function was to crunch numbers, balance chemical equations, watch compounds react, etcetera. His crowning achievement, which won him a CSO’s position straight out of the Academy, something unheard of (and something that made Captain Allen more than skeptical of his skills), was stopping a botulism infestation that could’ve killed the entire Academy had it not been stopped. Botulism, for those unacquainted, is the most contagious disease known to Starfleet. A single dropped that poisons the water supply can kill an entire city. It was deemed impossible, yet the cadet (and valedictorian of the Academy) managed to stop a potential catastrophe without a single life lost.

People assumed Jarvan had done so because of his scientific skills. The man was brilliant, nobody doubted that, and this proved his brilliance. Jarvan gets straight 100’s across the board, gets a Ph D at 24, saves San Francisco, dude’s smart. End of story.

What very few people knew is that Jarvan’s success did not come from raw intellect alone. In fact, the young Betazoid aristocrat thought very little of his endless poring over the Merck index or his long, hard hours watching the intimate details of a biochemical reaction (also known as “watching paint dry” to normal people). His mental power was derived from his ability to interpret situations based on how people would act. His framework of mind, the inherent logic of social interactions few grasped, was one of elegant simplicity yet incredible explanatory power.

The formulae and syllogisms behind it are too long to mention to the uninitiated, but they basically consisted of reverse engineering of movements based on what he called “social pressures” which lead people to act a certain way. This meant that the man could, very quickly, know exactly how everyone would act and plot a course, just like a master astronavigator, through the situation with frightening ease.

Most people think in a certain way. They jump from one thought to the next using a set of very measurable laws.

The people whom Jarvan considered at the bottom of the so-called thought ladder were “deontologists”. This term was derived from the Earth-philosophy term “deontological ethics”, namely ethics that are derived from a set of first principles presupposed to be absolute truth and held to religiously. The best example of this kind of thinking were the right-wing libertarians of 20th-21st century Earth. Extreme-right free market capitalists to their core, their entire philosophy was boiled down to a set of axioms called “non-aggression principles” which, while seeming progressive on the surface, were designed to justify massive hoardings of wealth. Their entire worldview could be boiled down to these principles, and their reaction to virtually any quandary or any situation could be analyzed as such. Other deontologists included those whom he called religiousers (people who held to certain holy books, also known as “religious fundamentalists”) and hedonists, whom held only to their immediate pleasure.

The list was long, but was topped by people whom he considered “Talleyrands” (after the famous French diplomat of the Napoleonic era who famously stated, quite rightly, that speech was invented as a thought-concealer). These people could, with ease, pretend to be someone completely different than they really were and think nothing of it, their whole internal thoughts kept behind an impenetrable fortress of mental blocks even Jarvan could not penetrate. These were dangerous people, as they could not be predicted and threw a massive spanner into the Betazoid’s works.

As the Chimera’s CSO entered his quarters, the sheer spaciousness of the locale warmed his heart. A beautiful view out onto the depth of space, surrounded by an office that seemed well-stocked. The interior design was sublime, and, for some reason, seemed to suit his tastes to a tee. Maybe coincidence, maybe it was outfitted specifically for him, he didn’t know, nor did he care.

The center piece of this beautiful decor was a small viewing gallery preceded by two large steps and offering a near completely glassed view. This was ideal for Jarvan’s favorite pastime> meditating.

The young Betazoid took a purple cushion trimmed with gold-colored lace, placed it in the middle of the viewing gallery. He’d seat himself in a lotus position upon it, eyes staring into space, and began to collect his thoughts.

Jarvan was, below his quirky attitudes and his nerdy facade, a power-hungry piece of crap. He was completely cold, almost sociopathic by Earth-psychology standards. His entire life had been designed to gain as much of it as possible as quickly as possible.

He first had to begin by climbing the ladder all the way up to the Captain’s chair. How do do this?

A drawing began to visualize in Jarvan’s mind. At the top lay the Captain. Just below lay the Executive Officer, below that, the department heads, listed in order of seniority. Below didn’t matter, at least not yet.

One conclusion Jarvan came to was that, in order to move to the top, the people there had to be removed somehow, either moving even higher, eliminated altogether, or going down.

The level Jarvan was at could be fought through easily. Do your job well, get promoted to Lieutenant Commander, and then the XO position was within grasp.

The way to there was a bit convoluted, but Jarvan had had enough for now. The complexities of the ship’s internal culture had to be assessed first hand, and this meant talking to people.

Lt JG Jarvan, CSO.