Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Quarters - Meeting the CO

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Stous (XO) in Captain’s Quarters - Meeting the CO

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Quarters - Meeting the CO
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

Stephen had, of course, not had the opportunity to explore Johann’s medical records, so while he was all-too-aware of who the Captain was, he could not help but allow his gaze to linger a moment too long on the man’s “eyes” as they darted around the room. He did not otherwise falter in his rehearsed entrance, and, stopping before Dvorak’s desk, he brought his heels together and said “Lieutenant Commander Stephen Stous reporting for duty, sir.” He pronounced it as if the “Stous” was part of the word “stout.”

~ Stephen Stous - XO

“Mr. Stousss,” the Captain said quietly, largely to verify that he could in fact get the pronunciation right. It was easier than he imagined. “I’m Captain Johann Dvorak,” this time he spoke at a normal volume. “Have a seat.” There were two chairs in front of the desk to choose from.

“Have a nice trip here?” he asked casually as he pressed a few buttons on his computer display. The implants moved seemingly instantly from Stephen’s face back to the monitor.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“Thank you” Stephen replied, grabbing some seat. The more he attempted to maintain normal eye contact with Dvorak, the more unsettled he became by the implants’ seemingly instant movement. Here’s hoping they just need some getting used to.

“Yes, sir, it was an uneventful ride but not unpleasant.” He stopped himself there, wanting to continue, not wanting to be overbearing, and stuck in a static equilibrium between the two.

~ Stephen Stous - XO

“Great,” the Captain said quickly with a polite smile. It was a smile that disappeared quickly as he decided to launch directly into discussion about Stephen’s future.

“You are here, Mr. Stous, because your predecessor in this role is moving on after several years to the next stage of her career. Part of what I consider my responsibility to people who serve under me, especially at your level, is to help them figure out what they want to do next, and achieve that thing. Do you have any pre-conceived notions about what the rest of your career in Starfleet looks like?”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Dvorak’s line of questioning was in no way expected, and it took Stephen a full three seconds of staring straight ahead to respond. “Uhhh… Well, sir. I… I’m not sure I do.” His thoughts cleared for a moment - just long enough to remember Johann’s service record. The best explanation Stephen could give would be a bit difficult to explain to this man who had seen so much.

“I’ve been defined by ‘call me and I’ll come’ for years. My old position was so specific… I don’t mean to make myself sound unqualified for this job, Captain. I just have no idea what it’ll be like. I lost those notions a long time ago.”

~ Stephen Stous - XO

“That’s fine,” the Captain said politely enough. “It’s actually quite a bit easier that way.” Indeed it could be; one of his early problems with Avik was that she had some rather definite opinions about what command should be like.

Clay to mold, Johann thought.

“You said your previous position was very specific. Your background before this point was in some kind of… data analytics, right?”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“Correct, sir. Engineering department, specializing in data analysis. I generally worked interdepartmentally wherever and whenever I was needed.” He shifted in his seat, still feeling rather uncomfortable.

The simple fact of the matter was that that Stephen and Johann were now the two superior officers of the Europa, as Stephen himself was well aware. He was also well aware that there service records were in no way correlated. What he was not aware of was how Dvorak viewed that difference - the man’s thoughts had so far been remarkably well-kept, a fact Stephen attributed in part to his inability to read the man’s eyes.

~ Stephen Stous - XO