Green, Like His Eyes

Posted on Mon Apr 1st, 2019 @ 11:03am by Lieutenant MacKenzie Jordan & Ensign Nilis Adar
Edited on on Wed Apr 10th, 2019 @ 5:34am

Mission: The Team Assembles
Location: Jordan's Office
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 0815

Two down, MacKenzie thought as he settled back into his small office. He'd now met both the senior science and technical specialists. There was no update on the Operational Lead, but he knew his deputy was due to arrive soon.

When reviewing the service record for his deputy, an Ensign Nilis Adar, he was surprised that the Trill was fresh out of the Academy. He wasn't going to jump to any judgments about the Trill man, but he was interested to see how someone so green would do being pushed into a position like this.

Adar had never expected that his first posting would be on a specialty team, or nominally serving aboard one of the oldest class of vessel in the Fleet. He suspected that old prejudices about joined Trill and their exceptional abilities still rang true in some peoples’ minds. Nonetheless, he was determined to make the best of it.

Standing in front of his new commanding officer’s office, he took a deep inhale of breath, exhaled slowly through his mouth, and pressed the buzzer. “Ensign Nilis Adar, reporting as ordered.”

The doors whooshed open.

"Nice to meet you," Jordan said. "Lieutenant MacKenzie Jordan. Come on in. Have a seat." He motioned towards the chair opposite his desk. "It's a bit cramped in here...sorry about that."

Adar sat unceremoniously down in the chair, and responded, “No problem sir. These old ships tend to be a little more cramped than the Fleet’s current offerings. No complaints from my end though. Realistically I imagine we won’t be spending a whole lot of our time aboard the ship anyway.”

He shot a glance up to the man, and continued, “Truth be told I’m just honored and excited to get this kind of posting fresh out of the Academy. I think my predecessors would be proud.”

"Predecessors?" Jordan asked. "You're joined then, I take it."

“I am,” Adar smiled through his response. “It was never a desire of mine, but I was on a planet where a former host was dying. I’m sure you know we hold life as sacrosanct as a species. I wasn’t willing to let 3 lifetimes of experience die. So, here we are. I am the fourth host of the Adar symbiont. And after three lifetimes of studying science, I’m ready to do something else. I’m hoping my past lives provide some value to the team, if nothing else. And worst case scenario, it’ll be a short but interesting life for this iteration.”

He smirked, and raising an eyebrow inquired, “What’s your take on joined Trill, sir?”

"'My take?' I don't have a take. Should I?" He took his glasses off and rubbed the lenses with a microfiber cloth. "What sciences?" he asked. "Your previous hosts, that is."

“Most people outside of Trill culture have some preconceived notions,” Adar replies. “I’m always interested in hearing them. If for no other reason than to put any weird-ass rumors to bed. As for my previous hosts, it’s been a little of everything. Kandiha was a paleobotanist, Vinx was an exobiologist, and Acria specialized in advanced Transwarp theory. Basically, a bunch of stuff I have some passing knowledge of, but am wholly uninterested about.”

Jordan chuckled as he put his glasses back on. "It sounds like you'll be a good fit for the team. I know you're just out of the Academy, but do you have any command or leadership experience? You, Nilis, that is. Not the Adar symbiont."

Adar smiled genuinely, and replied, “I’ll be real honest sir, it’s a little hard to differentiate between which memories belong to whom, even on the best of days. But no, I’ve not had any real command or leadership experience to speak of. It’s largely been a lot of combat and tactical analysis training, a heavy focus on strategy and tactics, and a heavy dose of whimsy that’s lead me to this point.”

Looking down at his hands for a moment, he continued, “Some of my previous hosts have had some modicum of experience leading scientific teams though, so I have some memories to fall back on, in a pinch.”

No experience, but he was assigned as my deputy, Jordan thought. This'll be interesting.

"Well, no time like the present, I suppose. I mean, that is something people say. Though I'm not completely sure what they mean when they say it," he admitted.

Jordan smiled at the Trill man. "Anything you wanted to ask me? I figure we should get on pretty good terms, given how closely we'll be working."

"I can't think of any," Adar admitted. "Although, I suppose it would be good to ask what you think you'll need from me. I was assigned as your deputy, having never met you, and having zero leadership experience. I'm pretty adaptable, for obvious reasons, so having some knowledge of what to expect would certainly not go amiss."

Great question.

"Well," MacKenzie began, "if I'm being honest, I'm not sure." He offered the Trill man an awkward smile. "This is new territory for me, too. I think we'll just play it by ear as best we can." It felt strange admitting that to a relative stranger but they needed to trust each other. "For the most part, I think you'll likely end up in charge of one of the mission teams. When we split into smaller groups, that is. Or even run the mission if I'm not able to go. Probably command one of the runabouts if we're sending multiples out."

He thought for a second. "I'm hoping that the team leadership will meet regularly. You and me, of course, as well as the science, technical, and operational leads. Two of them are on board already. Lieutenant Mariwat and Warrant Officer Ward. I've met both of them already. You should try to sit down with both of them, too, at some point."

“I’ll make sure to set up meetings with them soon,” Adar responded. “Given the nature of the team, we’re going to have to get comfortable and familiar with each other pretty quickly. I’ve never flown in an Arrow class, but I’m familiar with them, on spec. Not exactly what you’d call roomy.”

"They aren't too bad," Jordan quipped. "Modular, like the Danubes, and we're getting a small selection of team related modules. Probe storage, specialized science equipment. Even bunks, for those longer missions." He looked at the wall and wished he'd had time to hang a little artwork. "I'm not sure how your piloting skills are, or if you're rated for the Arrow, but the team is billeted for three flight specialists. Mister Ward is one of them, in addition to his duties running the tech section. I'm qualified on them, and I'm sure some of the others on the team will be too, so we should be covered for pilots."

"The team will be pretty self-contained. We have our own medical specialist and while we're on the Polaris, we can use the ship's Sickbay. The ship's counseling staff is also available to us. Beyond that, we mostly operate on our own. You and I will be in contact with the the ship's CO, Commander Vadosia, as needed. Mostly to keep him up to date on the team's missions and how they impact the Polaris. Work with him to figure out how his missions impact ours, especially when it comes to flight paths."

He stopped and looked at the Trill man. "Any questions?"

Adar stood, and said, "None at all. If you don't mind, El-Tee, I'd like to dive right in and get to work."

El-Tee? he thought. I've been called worse things. It did bring up a good question though. "Before you go jump into the job, do you have a name you'd prefer I call you? We're a small group and we're going to be working closely in tight quarters. I'm not big on formality really."

"I've tended to do the typical Trill thing and go by Adar," he responded. "It's tradition, and it's comfortable, since we take the symbiont's name as our last name. I won't mind Nilis either though. I'm pretty easygoing about it."

"Fair enough," he said. "Most of my friends call me either Zee or Enzi. Or Ken. But let's avoid Ken," he said with a smirk.

"Zee it is then," Adar replied with a grin. "Easy enough to remember. I'll connect with you again once I've had my meetings with the others. Until then, sir."

Returning the younger man's friendly smile, Jordan wondered how the Trill would respond to the Bolian science lead.

Adar turned, and exited swiftly out the door. Turning down the corridor, he smirked to himself. This was going to be interesting, to say the least...