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Captain's Quarters - Meeting the CO

Posted Sept. 21, 2022, 12:27 p.m. by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Stous (XO) (Gavin Burkhardt)

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Quarters - Meeting the CO

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Stous (XO) in Captain’s Quarters - Meeting the CO

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Quarters - Meeting the CO
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

“Great,” the Captain said quickly with a polite smile. It was a smile that disappeared quickly as he decided to launch directly into discussion about Stephen’s future.

“You are here, Mr. Stous, because your predecessor in this role is moving on after several years to the next stage of her career. Part of what I consider my responsibility to people who serve under me, especially at your level, is to help them figure out what they want to do next, and achieve that thing. Do you have any pre-conceived notions about what the rest of your career in Starfleet looks like?”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Dvorak’s line of questioning was in no way expected, and it took Stephen a full three seconds of staring straight ahead to respond. “Uhhh… Well, sir. I… I’m not sure I do.” His thoughts cleared for a moment - just long enough to remember Johann’s service record. The best explanation Stephen could give would be a bit difficult to explain to this man who had seen so much.

“I’ve been defined by ‘call me and I’ll come’ for years. My old position was so specific… I don’t mean to make myself sound unqualified for this job, Captain. I just have no idea what it’ll be like. I lost those notions a long time ago.”

~ Stephen Stous - XO

“That’s fine,” the Captain said politely enough. “It’s actually quite a bit easier that way.” Indeed it could be; one of his early problems with Avik was that she had some rather definite opinions about what command should be like.

Clay to mold, Johann thought.

“You said your previous position was very specific. Your background before this point was in some kind of… data analytics, right?”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

“Correct, sir. Engineering department, specializing in data analysis. I generally worked interdepartmentally wherever and whenever I was needed.” He shifted in his seat, still feeling rather uncomfortable.

The simple fact of the matter was that that Stephen and Johann were now the two superior officers of the Europa, as Stephen himself was well aware. He was also well aware that there service records were in no way correlated. What he was not aware of was how Dvorak viewed that difference - the man’s thoughts had so far been remarkably well-kept, a fact Stephen attributed in part to his inability to read the man’s eyes.

~ Stephen Stous - XO

“I did kind of the same thing, actually,” Johann said fairly casually. “I started out in Science, specifically in quantum mechanics, before falling into Operations Management. That’s when I started to do a lot of interdepartmental stuff. From the Bridge, anyway. That’s how I ended up on the Command track. You know, eventually. If you ignore a few dotted lines to get there.”

Maybe that’ll get him to relax a bit… he thought. Though he just left that statement hanging out there, without actually intending to.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

The Captain wanted Stephen to feel comfortable, that much was clear to Stous. His efforts worked to an extent, as Stephen’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Thankfully those dotted lines aren’t something the Admiralty chooses to ignore.” He offered a somewhat-hesitant smile.

He contemplated adding something about Johann’s scientific beginnings, but his lips were left to close as he thought it best to wait on a response first.

~ Stephen Stous - XO


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