LT Tamio K'Wara - The Highest Stakes

[LT Tamio K'Wara]

(( Captain’s Ready Room - Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))

 

Tamio knew that this was going to be the biggest hang-up of their onboarding. How could it be any different? It would be negligent of any Captain to not question their capacity to serve when their records very clearly stated that they’d been off active duty due to subpar mental health for three years.

MacKenzie: I know what the counseling report says. What I’m asking you is, do you feel better prepared to handle that grief knowing that you’re now in a situation where you may face something similar again?

Tamio felt not sure of themself, but at ease with the situation. While they couldn’t guarantee anything - no one could in this universe - they felt reasonably prepared. They had lost their best friend. Surely, nothing could trump that.

K’Wara: ... I do. Experience is a bitter teacher, Captain, and it’s a lesson I intend to remember. The events that occurred on the Arthur Royale hit closer to home than I’d ever experienced before, and I was unprepared for how that affected me. I won’t be so again.

There was a softening to the Captain’s face, a rarity that Tamio in their very recent assignment didn’t understand for the rarity that it was, as she regarded them.

MacKenzie: I appreciate your confidence, but for as much as you think you know how you’ll respond to grief in the future, it’s never a certainty. I’ve seen more loss than you can imagine.

Tamio nodded slowly. While Tamio couldn’t be certain of the memories that passed by the Captain’s inner eye, they had one particular day that they hazarded a guess featured: Frontier Day. A dark day for all, and most certainly the Cadets who had to experience the trauma of killing their friends before even graduating, and Tamio could scarcely imagine what it had been like being in the actual fray in Sector 001. And Tamio could imagine a great deal.

K’Wara: Yes Sir. I understand.

With that, the Captain seemed to relinquish this line of inquiry instead switching the conversation to a calmer and easier topic.

MacKenzie: Do you miss the red uniform yet?

K’Wara: ::wider smile:: On the contrary, Sir, it’s nice to be back in Ops Gold. Command Red comes with too many preconceived expectations attached to it. Happy to leave that to more decorated officers.

The Captain’s expression seemed to twitch slightly at that.

MacKenzie: I suppose by that, you mean me.

Tamio raised their hands in a show of peace.

K’Wara: Hey, there’s only one flag officer in this room, and it isn’t me.

They weren’t ignorant of what that meant, particularly in a region of space like the Borderlands. In the power vacuum that the severe gutting of Starfleet last year had caused, reports of criminal elements had started becoming more frequent, freighters getting attacked more frequently and complaining about lost goods by the time they reached Starbase 118. Supply runs needed more security, the major galactic highways more patrols... It was a tense situation, to be sure, and the Artemis-A - as the flagship of the Borderlands - was in the thick of it.

And both officers in the Ready Room knew that instinctually.

MacKenzie: Well, the stakes are higher out here than they are in a holodeck, that’s for certain.

K’Wara: And my performance will increase to meet it, Sir. ::lopsided smile:: And I’ll do my best to drop the teacher's voice.

That elicited a slight smile from the Captain - a victory that Tamio would claim with gusto - as she nodded at them.

MacKenzie: Very well. You’re dismissed, Lieutenant. And welcome aboard.

And with a final salute, Tamio left the Ready Room. Barely had they left the Captain’s presence, the door shutting behind them, before they breathed out uneasily.

oO I need to plan a sculpture. Oo

End Scene for Tamio K’Wara

LT Tamio K’Wara

Operations Officer

USS Artemis-A

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