Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nytha’rae of Vael’Lume (Chief Science Officer) in Check in XO

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Finn Grady (First Officer) in Check in XO

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nytha’rae of Vael’Lume (Chief Science Officer) in Check in XO
The corridor outside the Executive Officer’s office carried the tighter rhythm of command spaces. Even here, away from the hangar and Sickbay, the Chimera’s pulse pressed through the bulkheads measured, deliberate, impatient in its own way.

Nytha’rae paused before the door. The placard identified the space as the office of Lt. Cmdr. Finn Grady. She read the name once, committing it to memory. Names were anchors. They shaped how one approached a presence.

She adjusted the strap of her pack across her shoulder and let her bioluminescent markings dim to a steady, neutral glow. At her collarbone, Nytha’kae shifted, wings folding closer as the ambient electromagnetic hum of the command corridor rippled across his senses. His jewel-bright colors dulled to a cautious sheen.

Nytha’rae lifted her hand and rang the chime.

The tone was soft but carried authority a small sound that nonetheless announced her presence into a space of command.

She stepped back half a pace and waited.

Her tail coiled loosely behind her, the black tuft at its tip brushing once against the deck before going still. She focused on her breath, slow and measured, grounding herself in the rhythm she carried from Vael’Lume rather than the one imposed by the ship.

Nytha’kae peered toward the door, then tucked his head beneath one wing. The corridor lighting was too bright for his eyes; she angled her shoulder slightly to shade him from the worst of it.

Footsteps passed somewhere farther down the passage. A panel hummed. The door remained closed.

Waiting was not emptiness. It was a discipline. In the forests of her homeworld, one waited for the living world to answer through sound, through movement, through the subtle easing of tension in the air.

Here, she waited for a door to open.

And until it did, she stood quietly at the edge of a command space that did not yet know her, holding still enough to be seen.

LTJG Nytha’rae

Finn glanced up from some personnel change reports he had been looking over at the sound of the chime. “Come on in!” he called out.

As the doors slid open he saw the Vaelari officer standing there, noting the rank pips on her collar. He stood to greet her, his face widening in a friendly grin that made his green-blue eyes sparkle a bit. The XO stood about Nytha’rae’s same height with a runner’s build and a mildly unkempt bit of wavy dark hair on his head. Glancing around the office she would notice that it was somewhat sparsely decorated at this point: there was a picture of the skyline of Nashville, Tennessee on Earth with an ancient skyscraper building with two spires sticking up on either side taking center stage. Another picture was an artistic rendering of several stringed instruments in their stands, facing each other like they were the band members though their players were absent. Finally, there was a picture of a younger looking Finn, dressed in riding gear, holding the reins of a Tennessee walking horse.

“Welcome Lieutenant, I’m guessing you must be my new Chief Science Officer? I’m Lieutenant Commander Finn Grady, the XO. Please have a seat,” he said with the faint hint of an accent from the Southern United States on Earth. He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk.

Lieutenant Commander Grady - XO

Nytha’rae paused just inside the threshold, allowing the room’s rhythm to settle around her before she stepped fully in. The hum here was quieter than the corridor, less sharp than Sickbay, more contained. The bioluminescent lines along her cheekbones dimmed to a neutral glow.

She inclined her head in greeting rather than offering the human gesture of a smile.

“I am Nytha’rae of Vael’Lume,” she said softly. “Lieutenant, Chief Science Officer.”

Her gaze moved briefly, taking in the shapes of the room—not for decoration, but for the story the images told. Stone towers against sky. Instruments standing in quiet communion. A younger version of the man before her with a living creature of muscle and breath and patience. The pictures spoke of roots, of craft, of movement across open ground. It eased something tight at the base of her throat.

She stepped forward and took the offered seat, settling carefully so her tail did not press awkwardly against the chair’s edge. The black tuft at its tip brushed once against the floor and stilled.

“Thank you for receiving me, Lieutenant Commander Grady,” Nytha’rae said. “I am newly arrived to your ship. I wish to learn her rhythms before I am asked to change them.”

Her bioluminescence warmed a fraction at her collarbone as she met his gaze, calm and present.

“I will not be loud in your spaces,” she added. “But I will speak when the land we walk upon begins to fail beneath our feet.”

LT.JG Nyth’rae

Finn nodded at Nytha’rae’s words. “I will admit that I am still picking up on some of her rhythms myself, I’m a little bit of a new bird on the Chimera as well. Also, I’m afraid that sometimes I can get a little bit loud on my own.”

He gestured to the fiddle hanging on the wall, “Doesn’t take much for me to catch the urge to go to town on those strings. I can get a little rowdy.” He gave her a little bit a sly grin as his mind went to being on stage sawing away at a good blue grass tune.

“Anyway, I do hope you will feel free to speak up when needed. I only know the basic requirements for science stuff, I came up through the security line myself. I consider you the expert and I want you to feel empowered to be that. If I recall from your file this is your first time as head of the science department, what are your feelings about that?”

Lieutenant Commander Grady - XO