Psionic stuff

Posted on Thu May 7th, 2020 @ 3:17pm by Lieutenant Tavana Kolan, Daughter of Kretorg & Commander Natan O'Donnaghue

1,455 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Aftermath and Downtime
Location: Lounge

Tavana had just finished her meal, she sensed the Captain approaching the lounge and then saw him walking through the doors. Now would be as good a time as ever to meet with him and report in officially. Obviously he would know what her intentions were as she walked towards him and she carefully looked for signs that it was not a good time.

Natan walked in to the lounge as he was up for a bit of lunch. He hadn't eaten all morning, just a cup of coffee before he got to the bridge. He was looking at a bowl of fruit as he sensed the young diplomatic chief approach. He took an apple from the bowl and studied it before he put it next to the empty plate the chef had put there. He ordered a tuna sandwich before turning around having to picked up the apple again. "Lieutenant, so nice to meet you again. Would you like an apple?" He said as he held it out to her. "They were freshly picked from my inlaws orchard." He smiled friendly to her.

Tavana relaxed, rubbing her belly. "I can stuff another apple in there..." she smiled. "Far be it from me to say no apples from inlaws," she answered taking the beautiful from him. "May I use your lunch to report in?" she asked.

Natan took the plate with the sandwich and another apple from the bowl before heading to a table. "Of course, I will eat while you do that, I haven't had breakfast." He sat down at the table and took a bite from the sandwich.

With a cup of coffee and the apple, Tavana sat down. "Of course, enjoy your meal, Captain.." she said shaking her head internally. A sandwich would not last her long at all. "So this is me reporting for duty," she said to get the official part over,pushing her PaDD towards him for his thumb print. "Also I would like to know if there is something specific concerning my duties with the Ambasador I should pay attention to," she said taking a bite from the apple. "This is really good!" she commented with clear appreciation.

Natan looked at the padd and then just put his thumb on it. "Well, I am not so good with Ambassadors, I do my best to stay friendly, but other than that, I really have to do my best. So I am hoping you could be like a liaison between the Ambassador and command. It would mean a lot to me."

Tavana nodded. It was what she was trained for. "I will protect you from Ambassadorial ambassador-ness," she said. straight faced. She nearly said 'ambassadorial entitlement' but thought better of it.

Natan smiled, "That's appreciated," He said as he put a bite in his apple. "You know my oldest sister is an Ambassador. Even as family it's quite hard for me. I love her, she is still my sister. But Ambassadors have a certain position in the Federation and the fleet. She started as a fleet diplomat, like you, but she quickly climbed the ladder. But she is very intense and strict. But to my honest I think my sister Layla got most of the brunt of it. But still." He took another bite and changed the subject. "I am glad you like them."

Tavana grinned. "I am not so sure I like them, but hopefully I can 'handle' them," she said. "Oh please, Captain, don't tell anyone," she said smiling. "In fact, generally I don't trust ambassadors or their staff. It keeps me on edge and sharp... generally..., " she emphasized, "there are exceptions..."

Natan chuckled, "No not like like them, but more or less like them I guess. Sorry, I can be so distracted that I don't know what I am trying to say. I am a scientist not a diplomat."

"Then we are matched as i am not a scientist but a diplomat so we can we sure that we won't tread on each other's toes," she said drily. "I will keep you up to date," she added even id she knew she didn't need to explain. That went without saying. "Captain, may I ask you a question of a more personal nature?" she asked.

"Ask away," Natan said as he pushed away the now empty plate and held the apple waiting for her to ask the question.

"It is about the use of our psionic abilities.." she started hesitantly. "I know we communicate verbally, even if we don't need to. But on my previous ship, I was able to use what I have freely, and inform my CO of what I sensed, or "heard". Obviously you don't need that from me, but I am confused about to which extend I should use what I sense, or not at all. Or should I ignore it altogether?" Tavana's emotions and face conformed how this perplexed her. "Not that I have strong senses. like you, but what do you do? Do you just filter everything out?"

Natan never really had this question before. To him it was just common sense, not to read people's private thoughts, which would be against any privacy policies starfleet had if he did so. He then said, "Well, I am not familiar with half klingon Betazoids, just Half Betazoids half humans. So I don't know how much your telepathic and empathic abilities are showing for you. But I find it easier not to invade private thoughts of any non telepathic races, well at least not without their permission of course. But I do find it quite helpful to use my empathic abilities to understand the person in front of me better. Of you I expect nothing less than to be discrete about this. In your current role I would recommend you use it even. There will be times you will accompany the Ambassador alone on this missions. Or away teams where I am not present, I would rely on your ability to be of great support to your team. Do you understand what I am saying, Lieutenant?"

Tavana nodded. "I understand, and that answers my question. I am better in picking up a change in emotions than sensing a person's base line attitude or mood or feeling. I have learned that I am not very accurate there. But spikes or changes, yes, that I can. And it is good to know that I can use that," she explained. " I never invade someone's thoughts, i was trained to use filters and barriers. The thoughts are just a hum, like background noise. There also I can sense changes, when the frequency changes, suddenly higher, or faster or slower, but I don't invade people's privacy. I was trained to use my barriers and filters. Now and then there are random thoughts floating around. It is as if some people "throw" their thoughts around," she chuckled. "Because my eyes are not black and I don't have ridges, people think I am human," she shrugged. "They don't often realise that I am half Betazoid. To me that is an advantage, not here on the ship, bit on missions. Is that okay or would you prefer me to disclose that I am half Betazoid?"

Natan shrugged, "Well, other than your doctor and your captain it is entirely up to you whether you want to disclose you are half Betazoid. Is it in your public personnel file than people will find out anyways. But again it is entirely up to you."

"As far as this crew is concerned, I don't care if they knew and they should. I refer more to situations when we deal with people that don't have access to my files, like in diplomatic or new contact situations. If they are telepathic, then they will pick that up usually, but other than that, I usually just keep quiet. Is that okay with you?"

"It's fine, I leave that to you," Natan said as he smiled friendly. "That is also entirely up to you. Some find it strategically the right thing to do to reveal things like this in a diplomatic meeting, others find it irrelevant. But I am not a diplomat."

Tavana felt comfortable, she knew what her boundaries were. "Thank you for your time Captain, I appreciate it," she said.

"Anytime," Natan said finally taking a bite of his apple. After he swallowed he said, "Really good apples. He smiled and then got up, picking up his plate to put it back in the replicator. He then nodded to Tavanna, "Have a nice day, Lieutenant." He then walked away leaving her with her thoughts."

"Same to you Captain," Tavana said, getting up and continuing the said day.

OFF

 

RSS Feed