Posted by Ensign Kesh (Engineer) in Internal Security Interview (Tag: Kesh)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Tom Jarvis (Internal Security) in Internal Security Interview (Tag: Kesh)

Posted by Ensign Kesh (Engineer) in Internal Security Interview (Tag: Kesh)
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
=^=Jarvis to Kesh. Please report to Internal Security.=^=

• Tom, IntSec

OOC: Please read Tom’s character profile.

Jarvis? Kesh paused, shifted her gaze side to side, then turned to the nearest computer console to inquire about who this ‘Jarvis’ is, lest she be addressing someone the wrong way.

=^=Aye, sir-rrrth.=^=

Oh that’s weird. Why does Kesh immediately picture Tom Paris, of USS Voyager fame, the moment the name came up on the ship’s roster. The face was definitely not the same, but there it was, ‘Tom’. Weird. Sure, everyone gets those odd feelings sometimes, but this stood out particularly firmly.

Probably just the jitters from… well… all of everything going on.

Along the way to the Internal Security office, that nagging feeling continued to niggle at the back of Kesh’s mind, harkening back to her first bridge shift. She had thought of Tom Paris then, too. Something about one of that human’s sarcastic quips, as if it had been somehow evoked by someone named Tom. But there had been no one named Tom on the bridge.

…

Had there?

Geh. Stress.

The Caitian engineer presents herself to the security office door to await entry, mentally brooming that thought process aside to focus on what was likely going to be a standard bit of questioning regarding all that junk in her Starfleet profile. This will be the upteenth time in the last few years since she was accepted at the Academy for the second time. Should be pretty predictable.

->Kesh, Engineering

=^=I’m not in the security office.=^= came Tom’s voice from the panel next to the door, =^=Let me light the way.=^=

The wall panel displayed a series of moving dots leading Kesh tot he crew quarters area where they ended at a door that promptly swished open for her.

Tom was a plain looking Human, dressed in the black on black of Internal Security, usually confused with the black on charcoal of Intelligence. He looked like someone that could easily get lost in a crowd. Nothing seemed remarkable about him but the desk he was sitting behind was unusual. The top was a black so deep that it looked like a window to a void. Floating displays seemed to sink into the surface. Kesh might have glanced her medical and security files sinking into the surface… Were those the classified ones?

“Come in Ensign.” Tom called with a gentle smile, “May I call you Kesh? It feels strange considering your age and previous service to call you Ensign.”

• Tom, IntSec

… Okay. One ear on Kesh’s forehead twists outward at the oddity of this statement and subsequent light guide. Certainly, she had used the computer consoles to guide her around unfamiliar locations many times before, but she requested such things, herself. Having someone else initiate it just felt… condesending?

Granted, Starfleet Intelligence officers tend to be… a bit more eccentric than most. Kesh refused to let the events that led to her resigning her commission previously taint her view of an entire department, but it was difficult to not recal that whole experience and feel lingering bitterness. Then came the momentary consideration that she was about to be shoved a second chance to refuse to do something and be forced to resign again. No. No. That would be dumb. Starfleet may love their convoluted forms of testing, but that would be several steps too far… hopefully.

A long breath and firm exhale shoves doubts and worries out of Kesh’s head, though her ears stay slanted back all the way to the door the consoles guide her to, and they remain that way when the door opens, first on that lingering discomfort, and then on the matter of what she sees inside. Yep. It’s another one of these. Time to get questioned.

sigh

A pair of long steps carry her within to let the door close behind, arms folding behind, just like her ears, while her tail pressed to the back on one shin for comfort’s sake. Along the way she peers at the human and determines that, no, she’s never seen him before, so ewhatever that Tom Paris flashback was had to be erroneous.

“There are no other proper names I go by.” The degrading statement that follows is just ignored. She also speaks in the Caitian tongue, letting the translator handle everything, thus removing her usual slurs and vocal ticks from the conversation.

->Kesh, Engineering

Tom noted her body language, voice stress, and the shift to her native tongue as a symbolic exclusion. The UT never chirped.

“Take a seat Ensign.” Tom said indicating a chair on the other side of the desk.

Tom spoke in fluent Cait, at least as fluent as the human vocal structure could be make it, with a northern accent.

The chair was made up of padded panels suspended by tight beam linear graviton fields.

“It will sense the structure of your body and posture and adjust to give you maximum comfort.”

Tom was feeling relaxed. This was his element after all.

• Tom, IntSec

Yep. Yep. They start talking in that moderately grating way humans do when speaking the Cait tongue do, offer up comfy chairs, back massages and praise, and make it seem like this is somehow a good thing. At least Starfleet Intelligence’s methods hadn’t changed since her trial in 2373. That much of it makes it easier to get through this, though she could not much help the weary sigh that escapes while settling down into the chair.

Quite a nice chair, for sure. It even accommodates her tail perfectly. Why aren’t more chairs like this?

“You have my records. No doubt you have seen how many times I have been subjected to this, so please do not patronize me with instructions and details I already know.” Oh, she was compliant and nervous the first few times, then she discovered that snarkiness doesn’t really change anything, so why not treat this like one of those grim detective holonovels she finds sort of appealing? Let go of her fears and doubts for a bit and just embrace the crass and sharp that her creators wanted her to have.

Ugh. The bile was already rising from both of Kesh’s stomachs, as acting this way just did not feel good, even though it really ought to. Going to need another self-care night.

-> Kesh, Engineering

Tom was not a mind reader. All he had to go on was what Kesh had outwardly offered him and, from the sigh, the body language, and the general look of distaste, he read it as disdain, and he was not appreciative of his attempt at being personable dismissed so offhandedly.

Tom made direct unblinking eye contact with Kesh. His hand slammed down on his desk as he stood and let go of a short hiss, the sound was deep, strong, and filled the room. “This isn’t a social call. I tried to make it pleasant and personable but you expressed disdain at the attempt, so it’s not going to be so friendly. No platitudes, no consideration for feelings. If you want direct, that’s what you’ll get. I’ll treat you as I would a Kzin if you prefer.” Was she hearing things or did his Caitian just get much much better?

Tom’s glare didn’t falter and his body language fit his expression. “Is this what you want? To be treated as an opponent rather than an ally?”

• Tom, IntSec

The slam of the human’s hand does prompt a little jolt from the caitian engineer, followed then by flattened ears and a straight glowering glare for a second before a long breath sucks in, eyes shut, then re-open in something more akin to her normal calm. This is fractured with a lopsided ear twist and shift of her jaw when the superior officer suggests treating her like a Kzin. It was not that she was sour at the prospect of being viewed as one of those distant relatives to her species, but that the human was pulling a very speciesist card. She knew what he meant, but it still sounded like one of those example holos played in ethics classes on what not to say.

The next set of questions gets her leaning forward, hands on the edges of the chair’s armrests, to sway her upper body out toward Tom assertively as her tail smacks at the back of the chair.

“What I would like is for me to be treated as an ally at all. It has been twenty-five years since my trial. The judgement was made, I paid my dues, I received my punishment. Yet it is always as if that… vague connection between me and Khan Singh just eats at Starfleet Intelligence like s-…some kind of weird crush. Eehhhghf.”

Another, longer breath is drawn after the real anger that was brewing stumbles and deflates after her own delivery of it instantly comes across as absurd. Her head rattles briskly before her eyes center back on the human.

“So, to be blunt, no. I do not wish to be an opponent.” One arm lifts and gestures in a ‘now get to the point’ manner.

->Kesh, Engineering

It was like a switch had flipped. Tom was calm again. He straightened his uniform and sat down. His demeanor was as if nothing had happened.

“Assumptions.” he said softly sliding back into Federation standard.

There was a long pause.

“My curiosity has nothing to do with your trial or the results that’s been done and I have not received a directive to dig into it and I don’t wish to. I’m interest in the here and now. You displayed an inordinate amount of anxiety on the bridge, I want to know why.”

Tom made a small gesture above the desk and a small on the desks surface glowed faintly.

• Tom, IntSec