LT Gila Sadar - My Final Frontier
LT Gila Sadar
((USS Griffin - En Route to Kahines II))
Imril: ::Moving after Sadar into the next section of the shuttle:: Doctor? May I speak with you privately?
Gila exhaled slightly, though she attempted to hide the fact that it was an exasperated sigh as best she could. Her nerves weren’t well-suited for this ‘leadership’ thing, as was plenty apparent from her performance in the cockpit already, so it was no wonder that Ensign Imril, the newest Ensign of the three, had more questions about the incoming mission.
Sadar: Of course, Ensign.
Opening the door leading into the small hybrid space that doubled as both mess hall and conference room on the limited space available to the Griffin, Gila gestured to one of the chairs, before taking another one slightly further away. She sincerely hoped they weren’t planning on quizzing her on the incoming mission for the entirety of the trip.
Gila missed the ability to seek shelter in personal quarters already, and they’d only been en-route for an hour or so.
Sadar: What’s on your mind?
Imril: Response
Gila squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. He could feel clammy moisture gathering in-between her nuchal folds, and resisted the urge to reach back to aerate. Leadership did not come naturally to her. Frankly, she was quite certain she had developed something akin to an actual allergy towards the concept, as every single usage of her proper rank (far too high for her own liking) as well as the necessity of her presence during things like Ensign evaluations and senior staff meetings never ceased to make her feel like an imposter.
Now, unwittingly - due to her educational background - she’d been made the leader of a team filled with Ensigns, responsible for making this mission succeed. The very notion of that made her legs shake beneath her, and her anxiety ring started twisting quite naturally as she struggled to find out what to do with her fingers.
And yet, while she understood that it was her own poor conduct that had prompted the Ensign’s concern, and that she was in no way acting in a manner befit the station that Captain MacKenzie had deigned to force upon her, she also found herself ashamed on the Ensign’s behalf. It was an illogical sensation - she was certain Larok would be very disappointed with her - but to a Mizarian, the notion of correcting a senior officer so readily was unthinkable.
The fact that this was startlingly similar to her own improper conduct when she first boarded the Artemis wasn’t lost on her.
oO All that goes around, comes around, Captain Oo
Sadar: C-Concern noted, Ensign, thank you. ::shaking sigh:: Do you have much experience collaborating with Klingon scientists?
Imril: Response
Sadar: I see... ::looks down at her anxiety band:: ‘Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.’
What kind of leader would she be? What kind of Lieutenant would she make?
oO There’s a reason you’re in Starfleet, there’s a reason everyone is here - to offer diverse opinions. That’s your strength - your unique perspective. Remind yourself of it sometimes, before reminding others of it also. Oo
Commander Jashkaa had told her to ‘bend’. When first joining Starfleet, Gila had thought that she had to choose. To either be Mizarian or be Starfleet, but such a way of thinking had only led her to suffer, to regret. The Starfleet Gila hadn’t voiced her objections to Commander Adea when he decided that assassinating the Romulan Diplomat was the only way to set the timeline back in place, but the Mizarian Gila kept putting her colleagues in danger because of her own shortcomings... She had been unable to support Sil-net when he most needed it, hindered by fear and a need for distance, a need to respect the rules that formed her very foundation.
She couldn’t be just one. She had to be both. But what did a ‘Mizarian Starfleet’ look like? She was the first. So that was something she had to find out for herself.
Her own ‘final frontier’. The concept was simultaneously deeply terrifying and uniquely enticing.
Tightening her lips to a line, Gila looked up at the Bactrican Ensign, not exactly filled with intent, but she hoped she looked less vulnerable than she had previously.
Sadar: I am sorry if my poor conduct as a senior officer has caused you to have concerns about the coming mission, Ensign, but allow me to make one thing clear: I am not going to be respected by the Klingons, nor am I going to make any attempts at earning that respect.
oO Can’t ask them to respect someone I don’t think deserves it… Oo
Gila smiled, though there was a distinct bitterness to it.
Sadar: If my suspicions are correct, they will already have written us off based on my presence on the team alone. Klingons are no strangers to Mizarians and our culture, and we did not leave a very favorable impression on our former occupiers.
Imril: Response
Sadar: I may not be the most inspiring or confident leader, but if there is one thing I won’t lose in, it’s work ethic. ::wry smile:: We’ll work ourselves to the bones, if that’s what it’s going to take.
oO ‘Resist not the turn of the Wheel and let the guidance of the ancestors provide the lessons of the future.’ Oo
Gila wasn’t sure what kind of guidance her ancestors could provide her when it came to collaborating with a group of her planet’s former invaders to unearth a piece of major historical architecture while also reminding a settlement of terrified colonists that the Klingons were allies, but it would have to be a whopper.
((Two Days Later - Conference Room of the Vahr’sto, Wallace Colony, Kahines II))
Gila sat at the conference table in the dim interior of the Vahr’sto, a civilian Klingon vessel that had transported the Research Team from Brestant to Kahines II. Aside from her, the other participants around the table were Ensign Imril, Colony Administrator Baum - a middle-aged man with all the signs of a past as a farmer - and the five most senior members of the Research Team.
Baum: All right, so this’ll be everyone then. This is Lieutenant Sadar and Ensign Imril. And these ::he gestures to the Klingons:: are our guests from Brestant.
He indicates the Klingons one by one, introducing them by name and research specialty, though a few of them grumble someone about ‘being fully capable of introducing themselves’. The team was very diverse in specialties - xenology, geology, xenofauna and more - but the one who seemed to be helming the expedition was an older Klingon woman known as Chief Archaeologist Ebova of House Krilvaj.
Baum: And you all, of course, know who I am.
Administrator Baum did not look enthused to be part of the meeting.
Sadar: Thank you for hosting us, Administrator. ::to the Klingons:: My team aren’t scientists, but we are here to support the dig in any way possible.
Imril: Response
Ebova: ::disinterested snort:: The facility is mostly unearthed, though the easternmost wing is still buried underground.
The screen on the wall shimmered to show schematics of the digsite, with numerous lines and symbols identifying which parts of the structure had mostly survived the test of time. The Klingon hadn’t been at the colony for very long, but they’d clearly already done some great work at establishing the boundaries of the digsite and labelling the different areas according to characteristics.
Sadar: Have you discovered anything that could identify the ruin yet?
Ebova: My team is going to be working in this section ::indicates an area of the ruin on the western edge:: and working our way inwards.
Administrator Baum’s expression tightened slightly, an action that Gila presumed meant that he’d caught the Chief Archaeologist’s attitude.
Imril: Response
(((OOC: Colony Administrator Baum, Chief Archaeologist Ebova and any other Klingon researchers are considered General NPCs, meaning anyone can write for them. Feel free to commandeer them to push the narrative!)))
TAGS/TBC
LT Gila Sadar
Medical Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1