Paperwork

Posted on Mon Nov 23rd, 2015 @ 6:27am by Lieutenant Valeria Mordin

Mission: If I told you...
Location: Bartlett's Office

It was rare to see a Ts'usugi being emotional. It was even rarer to see them demonstrate anything aside from professional emotion.

Valeria was livid.

With every step towards her destination some of that anger would abate, though it would then return as she recalled WHY she was making this trek. She stood before the doors to the XO's office for a solid minute, trying to calm herself to a more presentable level before she rang the announcer chime.

"Come." Michelle replied, sipping her tea, reviewing paperwork and pondering the rather... bizzare... incidents she'd been subjected to since returning from the ship.

Valeria entered Michelle's office, and for her credit the anger that beat in her heart did not show on the mask she put on her features before entering. Though, once the door closed, and it was just the two of them, Valeria took a few more deep breaths before she started. "Ma'am, I have never been that embarrassed in all of my life, and I have eight siblings." she paused, "Those three exhibited poor manners, poor judgement, and were just rude to a level I've not seen exhibited as of yet before then. To top it off, they did this rash and inexcusable behavior in front of a guest aboard our ship. Rank be damned, ma'am, Mister Smith is a guest!" She started to show a little angered excitement over the issue, but calmed herself.

"Apologies. I didn't mean to have such an outburst." she apologized.

Michelle looked up at Valeria, then towards the window, then her tea... and let out a heavy sigh. "I assume you mean the briefing?" she asked. "Or the strange incident in the lounge?"

Valeria took a moment. In her anger clouded mind she forgot to specify which embarrassing moment she was here about. "The briefing, ma'am. How Mickey embarrasses himself outside of the gaze of our guests is a different matter, but one I can summarize with the phrase 'Humanity is a puzzling species' and move along with my day. No offense intended. Some of you are just more puzzling than others."

"In fairness, I was rather put off by his blatant disregard for life." Michelle said. "But...I am rather shocked myself at the outburst towards a guest on this ship. We can't pick and choose the orders we follow, but we can certainly do everything we can to prevent a high loss of lives. Just because he's indifferent doesn't mean I am." she added before pausing and taking a sip of her tea.... "As for the latter concern... Puzzling doesn't begin to cover that one. How the hell did someone like that get assigned to a ship in a high risk area of space whilst being such a risk to himself."

"To counter your fairness with respect, ma'am, I simply assumed that someone would form a second away team with the primary task of rescuing the crew should they need such." Valeria stated.

"In the Ts'usu Empire, orders are given all the time. They do not represent the only course of action, merely the one course of action that must be achieved. We value thinkers and those who can read between the lines. We were ordered to prioritize the research data, but we were not ordered to ignore the lives on that station." she pointed out to Michelle. Then her anger at the moment returned, "As for the latter concern, I would imagine someone is good at choosing when and how they lash out, behaviorally speaking. Which means it isn't a condition so much as a choice. We forgive children because they do not yet know how to properly behave, but once they begin to make the conscious decision as to when and how to misbehave, we no longer can treat them as children."

"And on some level, I apologize for bringing this to your door, ma'am. Though, on another level, I am more sorry that no one before me has come to you about this. That it had to take a trio of outbursts in the presence of a guest to bring this matter to you. Antos I can marginally account for. All he saw was a disregard for life and he acted out. The others..." and the rabbitess just shook her head.

"I can appreciate your concern." Michelle replied. "Don't get me wrong, the gentleman from Intelligence was not someone I completely agree with, like I said. But we've an obligation to co-operate." she added. "And I intend to co-operate fully. Every effort will be made to ensure there is no needless loss of life where possible. Words will be had with those three, I just... It's the part of the job I hate."

Valeria gave a deep nod, deep enough to toss her blonde hair. "I regret that it had to come to this, ma'am, and that my actions make your position more of a burden." there was that Ts'usugi protocol again. Everything was as polite as possible. "The Science division will also fully cooperate with Mister Smith as well, as would be expected of us."

She paused for a moment, "That's all of the matter I have on my mind, ma'am. I couldn't bite my tongue further after the last outburst, but rather lose my composure here in your presence over losing it in the presence of our guest."

"There are days not all the tea in the world will keep me calm." Michelle said. "Thank god I've my own office now to.... what's the term... lose it in?" she added with a smirk. "I'll be bringing those concerns forward with the Captain before I address them myself. But if I read him, he didn't appear to be impressed."

"I suppose that all depends on which world, ma'am. The Empire has entire moons devoted to growing tea." the rabbitess added as a reply to her despair. "I am prepared to stand with you before the Captain if need be to add to the gravity of these concerns." Valeria added as a final notion. Hearing that the Captain himself was displeased worried her. Besides being the center of authority, the Captain was also the center of morale. If they faltered, so to did the crew.

"I appreciate that very much, Ms. Mordin." Michelle said. "It is a rather.. troubling development... But, I guess that's why they gave me the job."

Valeria gave Michelle a nod, "Then, with the matter spoken, I should take up no more of your time on this issue. I should return to Sciences and prep the division for the mission." and she snapped to attention. "Thank you again for hearing this concern, ma'am."

"My door is always open." she said with a grin. "I will bring those concerns forward to the Captain when we meet." she said. "Thank you for your time" she said, as she went back to her work, the door closing behind her. Some days she'd rather she was just on some boring diplomatic gig doing nothing. But that was not to be this assignment. Or this universe.