Posted by Cadet Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in COS’s Office Cadet Trenton Reporting for Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Nijix Tavium (Chief of Security) in COS’s Office Cadet Trenton Reporting for Duty

Posted by Cadet Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in COS’s Office Cadet Trenton Reporting for Duty
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Nijix’s lips curled into warm smile. “Take a seat please. Would you like some tea or something else? I know these interviews can leave me a bit unsettled and jittery.”

She gestured to the seat, but she didn’t pour a cup unless indicated otherwise. A mixture of lavender and sandal spread throughout the room.

-Lt. Nijix Tavium, CoS

Cadet Trenton takes a moment to examine the chair for something, not very clear what though, and when she takes the seat it’s very lightly. She holds to her professionalism and sits at attention, though the conversation seems rather casual, she would hate to make assumptions at this point. It’s better to err on the side of caution, though Trenton’s ‘caution’ looks more like paranoia like she’s expecting something to happen any minute now. “I would appreciate water, Ma’am. I made the mistake of pulling up a Galaxy-class Challenger instead of the Discovery-class Challenger and had to quickly relearn the ship’s layout. I like to know the area I’ll be responsible for as best as I can, guess my excitement caused an idiot moment.” Trenton pauses for a moment, then quickly corrects herself, “I assure you that doesn’t happen often, Ma’am.”

The Cadet’s uniform is organized, clean, and well kept. Along with her punctuality, means she got here early enough to realize that she was on a different ship and explore. The reports of lost Cadets didn’t include Trenton, so she must be self-reliant or at least able to pull up the ship’s maps from the computer without looking too suspicious save the moment she asked to be allowed to travel the Jefferies Tubes that may or may not have been reported. That nervous energy, however, is causing her to shake even in the position of seated attention that she is in. It’s small for sure, so she is practicing discipline to keep it under control, but any trained eye would notice it as an occasional twitch in the shoulder or very slight bouncing of the knee.

-Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

Nijix nodded as she lifted from her seat. She moved over to the replicator and punched in an order for water. As the bottle materialized, she took it and passed it to the Cadet on her way back to her seat. The CoS once more became comfortable as she took a sip of her tea.

“At least you didn’t manage to get yourself locked inside one of the Academy’s janitor closets. That happened to Aitum. His classmates never let him live it down.” A slight amusement crept into her voice at the memory then set her cup aside.

“We’re all allowed mistakes, especially because of excitement. Currently, you’ve recovered and that is a good trait in a Security Cadet.” Nijix’s eyes noted the nervous energy of the Cadet’s foot. She bit her lip then exhaled, letting her own nerves wash away.

“I’m honestly happy to hear you’re eager to get started. However, I like to get to know my Cadets and will be asking a few questions first.” She moved to the first question.

“Let’s start with something challenging. Why did you join the Academy and settle on the Security department?”Nijix observed the Cadet, but not enough to stir up more discomfort. She hoped the question wouldn’t make the situation worse since the whole Office had been prepared to create a relaxing environment.

-Lt. Nijix Tavium, CoS

The Cadet’s response was immediate, either she had considered the question ahead of time or she was really confident in her reasons. “I joined the Academy as the first step to being a part of Starfleet. I want to make a difference in the federation but civilians have very little to no impact. I was born on the Targent Mining Colony of Makoa III which, as I’m sure you are aware, is one of many fringe worlds of the Federation. Sadly, like many fringe worlds, there is not a sufficient amount of Federation presence which leads to corruption and mistreatment in a general sense.” Trenton stops for a moment to consider what she said then corrects herself, “I mean it happens more frequently on fringe worlds than it does in the more densely controlled regions of the Federation. Sorry, still working on the separation of ‘opinion’ versus ‘official report’. I want to help alleviate the issue so there are fewer incidents of refugees making claims and accusations about fringe world governments.” Ashlyn’s reasons don’t feel complete when she finishes, and it’s clear she has more to say but for some reason can’t or won’t. Which unfortunately means everything she did say, to include her correction, is very likely scripted by someone else and her ease of flow is hours of practice.

Ashlyn took a moment to drink from her water between her answers, collecting herself for the next wave of explanation. “I was not in a good place on Makoa III, I didn’t have medical care that I really needed, food was based on what I could find, couldn’t stay in one place for long because there were people looking for me. No sense of hope, no faith in anything, then I stumbled on a Federation shuttlecraft. Luckiest find I could make given my situation, I didn’t even hesitate when I snuck on board and started having my way with their emergency rations. When the Starfleet officers returned, the engineer wanted to take me to the authorities, but Security Chief Adam Craxton not only refused to turn me in but helped me steal the sensor mask so he could smuggle me onto the ship he was assigned to. I’m sure he got his punishment for his rash actions and disregard of so many Starfleet protocols, but he took a gamble with me and so did his Captain by helping me claim asylum on their ship. I want to be sure to make their gamble pay off, it was a huge risk they took and I don’t want to take it for granted. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the ship’s name, I spent almost all my time in sickbay being pretty messed up. I joined Security because I not only want to be able to afford others a similar opportunity should the need arise, but I want to be at the forefront of making sure such opportunities are not even needed in the same format. We should be able to see joining Starfleet as a way to further ourselves and our way of life, not a means to escape horrible circumstances.” A more honest answer, this one has the inflections that made it sound more like her own response rather than one that may have been scripted.

The Cadet finished her water before continuing, “I’m also hoping to be able to work my way into Starfleet Intelligence, I feel being able to investigate internal affairs will afford me more opportunity to prevent tragedy from happening within Federation Controlled Space, to include the fringe worlds. Given my history, I’m sure my chances are slim at best but I’m still gonna try. So if you do know someone with a connection to Starfleet Intelligence, I’d appreciate an introduction so I may be able to work out a plan and some mentorship for that direction.” The Cadet showed a lot of discomforts asking, but given what she was asking it was more like a kid asking for something they know they shouldn’t have but would like any way, the whole thing making her look sheepish and exposing her youth. It was also the only time she wasn’t looking directly at Lieutenant Tavium, as if expecting some form of hard rejection.

-Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

OOC (Out of Character): Wow! This is an amazingly detailed post that shows so much about your character! Just a gentle reminder… we do use the past tense to post here in STF.

• Sarah, CO

OOC: I’m glad you liked it, though I am troubled with the past tense posting. I’m apparently missing this a lot and am in need of quite a bit of help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

OOC: I feel it might be more ‘retraining’ yourself to do past tense. When I write a post, I tend to keep the mindset of retelling something that’s already happened. It makes it a little easier for me.

You could try writing your next reply on a document, then going back and altering the verbs, etc to past tense. And with new replies, try to write in the mindset I spoke of earlier. It won’t happen fast, but it might help.

IC: Nijix absorbed the Cadet’s answer. It wasn’t an uncommon one and the sincerity appeared to be there causing her to smile a bit. Once again, she noticed the corrections and scripted answers, but she didn’t say anything. No point in drawing attention over it.

“I’ll let you know something, while I will not always agree with my Cadet’s opinions, I do respect and value them. I also encourage for you speak your thoughts in a healthy and respectful manner. So far, you’ve done it well.”

Nijix leaned back into her chair, debating on something. Her finger scrolled through the data pad then she spoke.

“I would have never done what Craxton or his Captian did. That said, I would’ve kept in touch and tried to be a positive influence in your life. Likely helped you get into Starfleet if you desired.”

She paused, thinking a bit more. Finally, she shared a memory of Raji’s. “One of Tavium’s past hosts, Raji, has done something that reckless before. So I fully understand the reasoning behind it, but I don’t agree with the approach.”

Reaching for her tea, she took another a sip and continued.

“I hope I can count on your trust, even if our opinions clash. Trust is very important on a ship in the middle of space and contributes heavily to everyone’s safety.” Having gotten that off her chest, she moved onto the Intelligence part.

“My first suggestion for your career toward Intelligence is to build up a positive reputation. No one’s record is spotless and for that branch of Starfleet, actions speak louder than words. It’s better to start off small and gradually rise, then hit the top and fall on your face. Don’t you agree?”

-Lt. Nijix Tavium, CoS

Cadet Trenton watched the Lieutenant carefully, reading her relaxed positioning, her facial expressions, even where she put her hands. Feeling restless, the cadet stood and began to pace behind the chair to think of an appropriate response. “Trust is a difficult thing for me. By no means am I saying I wouldn’t follow orders or would spend time questioning them.” Trenton stopped moving for that moment and covered her face with a groan, “Okay, that was poorly communicated. Let me try again. I do have a difficult time trusting people as I’ve had to live with a history of deceit and misdirection. People constantly trying to sabotage each other to get the upper hand for promotions, extra rations, better living space.” Once again the cadet stopped pacing and shook her head, “I’m getting off-topic, the point I am trying to get to is that I trust your experience, and I trust you to be the leader that was selected for me. I will have to get to know you better to trust you beyond that…uh…no offense.” The cadet again stops to moan and run her hands through her hair, “I apologize, trust questions are really hard for me. How did the counselor put it? I will trust the crew with a heavy-I mean healthy amount of suspicion.”

The Cadet took her time to consider the second question, while trust is important, this one felt more important to her. “I will agree and disagree. I agree that slow and gradual growth is preferred to falling on my face, however, I believe we learn the most through our failures and the true value of our character can be measured by how we react and recover from failure. For example, as shown in my record, I had an altercation with a Klingon Cadet during unarmed training. What happened was a bad pairing honestly, the Klingon was teasing my inability to take him down so I told him I could if I didn’t use Federation fighting styles. He gave me permission to try so I punched him below the belt. He understandably bent over so I used his knee as a platform while I grabbed his ears and drove my other knee into his nose. It stunned him, but he didn’t go down. Did make him mad though, he grabbed my ankles and spun me around before slamming me into a support pillar. Lesson learned, fighting dirty with a Klingon doesn’t work, so don’t do it. We both took it well though, Kal’sang was my primary visitor while I was recovering and provided a great deal of Klingon encouragement as well as some alternatives to use when dealing with larger and stronger opponents when anbo-jytsu isn’t working.”

-Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

OOC: To keep the thread from getting too long, I’m going to apply what we call a snip. It means going back and deleting a few replies and inserting a (snip) where they would otherwise be located before hitting reply. Some members use phones to read the IC threads. Look above for the example. I usually snip 2-3 replies from the top. Feel free to give it a try in your next reply. ^-^
-Janice B.

IC: Nijix listened to the Cadet, gaining a good insight of her personality. After the last of her statement, the silence stretched a bit. She took an inhale then addressed it.

“Fair enough. I rather know what I can expect than be surprised by it in a situation later on.” Nijix said, her tone calm and unfazed by the Cadet’s pacing.

“We do have training exercises that develop our skills, from cooperation to trust. Maybe these will help you?”

She noted the ending of the Cadet’s last story had a decent ending compared to others. While she had experienced a few of those herself, she knew it often didn’t end well.

-Lt. Nijix Tavium, CoS