The Career Guru
Posted on Sat Jul 2nd, 2022 @ 8:03pm by Lieutenant Sakie Urano
Edited on on Fri Sep 16th, 2022 @ 8:09pm
Mission:
S1, E2: Unexpected Changes
Location: USS Oxbow - Deck 5 ['The Watershed' Lounge]
Timeline: MD001, ~0800 hrs
900 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure
“Now hear this. . .now hear this," proclaimed a male voice over the intercom, a faint echo confirming its broadcast over the ship's main communication circuit. "All transporter operations personnel on standby immediately report to duty stations. All transferees report to designated transport sites in t-minus ten minutes from mark. Crew and materiel transfers will commence promptly t-minus fifteen minutes from mark. Mark.”
“So, are you ready?” Lieutenant Fanis Ariti—Oxbow's deputy operations manager—inquired of the diminutive, like-dressed Asian woman seated with him in a booth near the viewport, lowering his watch. The distinctive format of action announcements aboard Oxbow was in part to facilitate alarm programming, a prolific element of the ship's culture given the executive officer's bent for timeliness.
The woman's pointed gaze at her dark-skinned host suggested disdain for the question that should’ve been second nature to him.
“No,” Lieutenant Sakie Urano clipped, her mien threatening to radiate vexation to him and beyond. Yet almost as suddenly, a broad grin swept all trace of it into oblivion. “But when has that ever stopped me?”
Ariti acknowledged what was arguably her life's motto with a chuckle. "Hard to argue with that perspective when you've made OPSMAN first." With a gaze at the lower rear three-fourths panorama of Lexington leading Oxbow further into deep space, he remarked, "And of a Constitution at that."
"That makes me sound like some sort of. . .career guru," stumbled Sakie through her own chuckling. Her words weren't quite in tune with the perspective borne of thoughts cultivated by her exposure to broader Federation culture, the language of which still sometimes challenged her due to the necessity of forging context and the vast spectrum of words she could use to that end. "I'm not entirely sure how or why this happened beyond having said yes to a future sister ship," she added before taking a sip of her tea.
"Well as my father would say, coincidence also covets convenience. Things don't happen out of the blue so much as we don't always recognize the interconnectedness of the affected aspects. You did something to make giving you this billet convenient."
Sakie knew he wasn't referring to any particular action or cause, and as more or less aforementioned, she couldn't isolate many amidst the flurry of activity incited by the successors of Federation officials and brass ousted by Starfleet's poor performance in the recent war piling a restructuring plan atop the fleet replenishment directive. Not even her previous CO—a flag officer—could give her definitive insight into why her transfer to exploratory operations was unexpectedly expedited.
"I actually looked forward to observing Challenger's construction," mused Sakie as she slid to an end of their booth and stood, tea mug in hand.
Ariti duplicated her maneuvering into standing, though on the opposite end.
"You could've declined Lexington," he ruminated, their paths reconverging into mutual egress.
"With no guarantee that Challenger remained an alternative. I thought being sought out for reassignment foretold such." Through a sheepish smile, she admitted, "I may've also been tempted by the immediacy with which Lexington is beginning her mission."
"Fair. So, is Challenger still on track?"
Sakie nodded, having deviated, and stopped momentarily to place her mug into a food synthesizer for recycling.
"Yes." Even so, her prior CO did speculate that Challenger would see reallocation from exploratory operations. . .another factor behind her capitulation. "Why?"
"Just scoping possible opportunities. My boss isn't looking to cede the reins here any time soon, so I may have to move out to move up. Were you in correspondence with the captain?"
Sakie fired another pointed gaze at Ariti, albeit with a spark of playfulness as she started them for the exit anew. "You wouldn't happen to be seeking a recommendation to displace me from my hard-wrought network, would you?"
Ariti cast a pained counter-gaze under-toned by similar frivolousness. "I prefer to view it as offering an alternative to your unavailability."
"Have you considered a post in support operations? They're looking to build more bases, yards, and outposts." A benefit of the war was that other Federation member-states realized that command and control couldn't lie with Earth and the other founding states. A key element of the fleet restructuring plan was to decentralize the Starfleet's command, control, and logistics, making it better able to respond against the sort of multi-prong assault the Klingons launched against it.
Mutual possession of that knowledge didn't keep bafflement from overtaking Ariti's expression, however. "You wouldn't be trying to shun me from your network, would you?"
"I prefer to view it as offering alternative opportunities," Sakie replied in a cadence emulative of his as they cleared the lounge's threshold and advanced into the lightly trafficked corridor that bisected it. "Besides, how is suggesting that you join my last subdivision shunning you?" It indicated how highly she thought of him if anything, as she valued her path and past colleagues too much to foist someone incompetent upon them.
Ariti shrugged in concession. "Well, you know I'm not keen on standing still."
"Yet you regard me as someone with valuable perspective on advancement. So perhaps the one thing you should take from our mini-class reunion is that you shouldn't judge an assignment by its warp factor."
