JP Lieutenant JG Ras El'Heem & Ensign Juliet Banks - Tropism Pt. 3

[Ras El'Heem]

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DATE: 240207.13

RECIPIENT: Lieutenant JG Ras El’Heem [RE-080-999]

SUBJECT: RE: Grow System

MESSAGE:

Lieutenant El’Heem,

I wish to offer my sincere apologies for any offense or hurt I have caused; please believe me when I say that it was wholly unintentional.

Thank you again for sharing your expertise with me.

Sincerely,

Ensign Juliet Banks

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DATE: 240207.14

RECIPIENT: Ensign Juliet Banks [NL-337-050]

SUBJECT: An apology

MESSAGE:

Juliet,

I would like to extend my sincerest apologies for my attitude towards you in my last message. You obviously know the loss I’ve suffered during our last mission. It would be an insult to your intelligence to try and sweep it under the rug, but I’ve acted like a complete and total jackass since we’ve met, and it was undue. To you and to everyone else on this ship.

You didn’t deserve the way I treated you, no matter how collateral. I chose to interpret your choice of words as an insult, when you likely couldn’t have known that I was being charged with insubordination for my actions. It had seemed a threat to whatever fragile sense of control I had left. That wasn’t fair. You’re trying to find your footing, here, and instead of offering you solid ground, I gave you a cold shoulder when we had just started to build a rapport that I admittedly had begun to cherish. There are few on this ship who appreciate botany the way I do, and I would be remiss in not saying you showed a spark of interest that could blossom into an amazing talent.

I won’t pretend that grief makes me unique. Everyone on this crew has lost something, if not in the nebula, then not long before that. But I let mine calcify into arrogance and made it everyone else’s problem. That’s not how I want to carry myself, and certainly not the kind of colleague I want to be.

If you’re open to it, I’d like to start over. I will personally see a grow system installed in your quarters whenever you are available. That is, if you will forgive my bullheadedness. 

Yesterday, I received my new prosthetic hand. Even though I am slightly heavier than I was before, I feel much lighter. This doesn’t absolve me of my actions, but I wish to turn a new leaf.

Thank you for your patience, even if I don’t deserve it. I hope this message finds you better than I left things.

Lieutenant JG Ras El’Heem

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BEGIN MESSAGE

DATE: 240207.15

RECIPIENT: Lieutenant JG Ras El’Heem [RE-080-999]

SUBJECT: Re: An apology

MESSAGE:

Dear Ras,

For the record: I didn’t see a jackass. I saw a person who was hurting, and who was doing his best to be good to all his friends regardless. It was never my intention to add to your hurts, and I really am sorry that I did so by accident. I’m glad you’d been enjoying our correspondence, momentary misstep aside – I have been as well.

I am more than happy to begin again – not to start over, because I don’t want to erase the enjoyment I’ve already had from our messages, but of course I accept your apology, and I hope you’re willing to accept mine as well for accidentally treading on sensitive ground.

Warm regards,

Jules

P.S. I look forward to playing with the grow system – I’ve managed to acquire a small but healthy (I hope!) specimen of S. trifasciata from a recent shopping trip on the station, so I have something to grow in it already. That said, if you’re amenable, I’d love to watch and/or be involved with the installation of the grow system – I will no doubt have curious questions, and it sounds like fun.

(An Academy friend once said to me “Jules, your curiosity is your most feature” but refused to insert an adjective between ‘most’ and ‘feature’ so I’ve never quite been sure if they meant it as a compliment or a complaint. Whichever they meant, I’d be hard pressed to say they were wrong!) 

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END

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Lieutenant JG Ras El’Heem

Science Officer

USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)

K240106RE3

and

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Ensign Juliet Banks
HCO Officer
USS Khitomer
K240206JB1