One Does Not Simply Meet the Captain

Posted on Mon Feb 10th, 2025 @ 2:16am by Captain Qierress & Lieutenant Aelia Painswick

3,044 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: 1 - Third Contact
Location: Ready room
Timeline: MD01 - 1100

Lieutenant Aelia Painswick, counselor, and somewhat reluctant participant in anything remotely fun, took a moment to halt the turbolift mid journey to take a breath. The breath in question was long, inhaled through the nose, held, then exhaled through the mouth. It did ease the thudding of her heart, happily lowering the beats per minute to something that didn't feel like a tribble doing summersaults against her ribcage. It wasn't that she was nervous, it was that meeting Captains for the first time brought on mini flashbacks of every encounter she had ever had with Captains - specifically the bad ones.

Because if it had been the good ones, no one would worry right?

She knew from her training at the Academy that this was a surprisingly common thing, especially amongst humans who seemed to have a overdeveloped sense of dread and internal self-importance. She also attributed her general view of 'what can go wrong, will go wrong, because that's just life' on being brought up on Earth.

The Quebec hadn't been her idea. It had happened by chance after a personnel review with the Captain, XO and Chief Counselor on her last ship. She had seen the moment it had happened as well, as the conspiracy in front of her had somehow unfolded with nods and eye contact between the three, until she suddenly the next day had been informed that she was getting a promotion. Of course, this was a realistic promotion, meaning the same rank yet with a better title. Getting two at the same time was something that only happened on the Flagship.

And who would want to be on that? Or worse, the Titan?

She started to turbolift again and ran through what she knew of the USS Quebec, which was extremely little. It was a Parliament class vessel, which she was sure meant something to Engineers. To her it just meant it was another ship shaped like - you guessed it - a starship! Saucer, nacelles, that weird handle shape...yes, classic ship. She knew the name of her Captain and had spent 20 minutes pronouncing the name alongside the computer until she sort of got the hang of it. Qierress. Like Heiress, just with a Q and...more s and no h? Oh, and the i and e changed. I before E except after C was a lie, a vicious lie and whoever came up with that...had most likely also created that name, as it followed the rule.

Once she walked out of the turbolift she caught a glimpse of herself on a relative blank and clean surface. Her hair was pinned up, the blue in her uniform marked her as one of those professions...either caring, healing or brainy.

She wasn't really any of them, which told you everything you needed to know about the randomness of good grades and that any multichoice personality test could be cheated on.

She let out a quick breath as she found the ready room and rang the chime, grimacing as it was a little too long and loud.

Qierress was studying the still bare walls of her Ready Room. She sincerely wondered how Ava Bailey was going to properly decorate this room with crystals. Starfleet had a way of making a rather sterile environment with white or steel walls. Neihter was desirable. Of course, either would be preferable to wood. She simply could not understand how some Captains in Starfleet loved the stuff. Disgusting!

Nonetheless, she was about to sit down at her desk that had a nearly transparent top when the chime rang. Her lower teeth hung over her upper lip as she called out, "Come in," to whomever might be outside. Perhaps I should install some cameras to tell me that sort of thing. It would be handy for telling someone that I was preoccupied.

Painswick entered with that sinking feeling she tended to get as she entered the ready room. They were never places of no issues. It was always mission briefings, something bad, or something social. This managed to be both duty and social, since it was reporting in - formal procedure - and introductions to her new Captain - so close to social she wished she could claim a headache and cancel. She looked at the Gelrakian with some surprise. She hadn't missed it, it was just she hadn't bothered to look up what a Gelrakian looked like. So seeing her new Captain was...well...it made an impact.

Enough to make her stop about five feet from the nearest chair.

"Lieutenant Painswick," she said, introducing herself with an almost bored expression on her face. She then smiled, in her head it was her go-to pleasant smile...

In reality it looked like a pained grimace.

"I'm your new Chief Counselor," she added after a few long seconds.

Qierress looked at the counselor, wondering if she recently had sat on a diamond. The Chief Counselor looked thin, almost emaciated to her eyes. Was she also tired? Qierress was uncertain. She knew humans but this one looked slightly off-centered from most and yet, she was a chief counselor. Qierress lightly shrugged in her own mind. Well, if Starfleet made her a Chief, she must be good. I will just have to trust that they knew what they were doing when they appointed her.

Qierress started, "I am not familiar with the customs of counselors. Where I come from, problems were solved with ritual combat," she informed Painswick. "Am I to call you Lieutenant? Or Counselor? Perhaps I should call you Lieutenant Counselor?" The Captain squinted, her lower jaw swallowing more of her upper lips as she did so. "Perhaps it is even doctor? It is such a confusing thing. Nonetheless, welcome. I am Captain Qierress. That is pronounced Key-air-ess," in case you are wondering. I am told the Q can look rather intimidating to your species when it comes to pronounciation. Perhaps it is because of the Q race? What do you think?"

The deluge of words took a few seconds for Painswick to process, and during this time she stared at her new Captain. Ritual combat? Actually, that was a good idea. She could even take bets on who would win. Although, could it produce more paperwork? Consent forms? And what about cleanup? Would there be a new Sanitation Department for Disposing of Parts?

She blinked and took a breath, realising she sort of needed to give a verbal answer. "Lieutenant Painswick will do," she said, deciding if she could keep her profession hidden from most visitors, she'd be happy. Well. Happy-ish. "I honestly don't know, but I'm not used to a name like yours. I don't think the...species Q would have affected how we feel about the letter q." Although for her, both appeared to be a waste of time.

Since Qierress had asked her opinion, she added in her personal opinion about the species too. "The Q who, from what I've read, are a narcissistic bunch of time-wasters. The letter q at least has some linguistic merit."

Qierress' mouth widened, showing most of her teeth, both front and bottom. For her, this was a smile. She did not know or care whether the Counselor recognized this but so far, she was impressed. "Just some linguistic merit?" the Captain teased out. "But as to the species, while what you say may be true, what do you do when with a twitch of their finger we can be reduced to diamond dust or worse? Do you have a solution for that, Lieutenant Painswick?"

The words a few photon torpedoes and a black hole or just cut off their fingers wouldn't really be acceptable in this scenario so Painswick frowned, trying to think of an appropriate answer. "Well, some therapy to get them to understand empathy may be a start," she said and forced a smile, hoping it came off as genuine. It disappeared from her face a second later. "Or perhaps just give them Picard as a distraction, they appear to like him."

"Ha!" Qierress exclaimed. Was that a laugh? "I have heard that empathy could be the disease of all races."

Painswick looked at Qierress at the sound, unsure if it was a laugh or if the Captain was now going to write to the Admiralty and suggest Picard as a sacrificial lamb for the Q if they ever got a little bit too annoying. "Well, empathy has stopped a lot of evil. And there's different degrees of it too. Not everyone has to react emotionally to another person's projected feelings. Doesn't mean they don't care." Except 9 out of 10 times, she really did not care. Because 9 out of 10 times, what someone was crying over was something frankly small and petty.

Finding the conversation turning a little bit too philosophical, Painswick decided to ask a question of her own. "What is it you're expecting of me on this ship?"

The Gelrakian blinked twice.... SLOWLY. She considered the counselor's question and then answered, "I am told that counselors assist in the morale of the ship, advise a Captain on same, and keep everyone mentally fit. Is that not so?" She tilted her head slightly, as if to try and determine if the counselor knew what she was doing or if this was a question asking something more specifically of her. In fairness, Gelrakians did not have counselors on starships. You either explored or shot things. What use could a counselor be? Was that not something for people who had some sort of love for wood?

"I mean...in addition to the basic requirements of the role," Painswick said, realising she had left it a little bit too open. She watched her Captain, trying to think how best to phrase it. Examples! Examples were good. "For instance, do you expect me to...arrange morale-boosting activities, or give you briefings on psychological profiles of visiting...people..." she trailed off and gave a small shrug. "I've seen it done differently on most ships, depending on how pushy the Chief is on wanting those pips, or how demoralized the crew is."

The Captain blinked again, even more slowly this time. Perhaps the Counselor did not understand her job. "Welllll," she asked slightly drawn out. "What do you think that you should be doing?"

"Make sure no one snaps and ends up trying to eat the carpet," Painswick said, tilting her head slightly. "Make sure the crew can perform their duties and sleep relatively soundly at night." She let out a breath, one of pure annoyance. And then the words sort of tumbled out without her really thinking. "I'm not a babysitter. These are grown ups, I honestly don't see the point of treating them any different than adults. And remember that things could always be worse, and get worse. You could always end up on Starbase 80."

"Starbase 80?" Qierress asked. "I assume that is an undesirable place to be stationed, based on your statement but I am new to Starfleet, so I do not understand the reference. The rest of what you said, seems to make sense. We cannot treat our crew like children unless they are children."

Painswick blinked at the words, her shock obvious. That someone hadn't heard of Starbase 80. And then the rest settled in. New to Starfleet. Okay. So...maybe not scare the Captain with the horror tales of the broken station. "Good. I hope that'll you appreciate my...approach then." It seemed the safe thing to say, a bland pleasantry. Although she was a little bit curious, since Captain Qierress seemed to have a different approach. Maybe it would be okay. After all, she had promised to be more positive. Okay, taken the bet to be more positive in her attitude about her job and position.

The Gelrakian considered the counselor's statement for a moment. "How do you think that the crew is going to react to a Gelrakian Captain, Lieutenant Painswick? I'm the first in Starfleet, not just Captain, but Gelrakian."

She looked at her, considering it for a moment. "You'll have those who know what the heck a Gelrakian is...and some who only know the barest minimum and will stereotype you. And then there's those with no idea who will stare until they get used to you." Painswick was not volunteering which camp she was in, she wasn't stupid. "In a few weeks it won't matter, the uniform helps delete your individuality so that you accept the colour of it and the rank. I think it is why we go to the Academy...and also why the enlisted are so honest, the glamour doesn't work on them as they haven't been indoctrinated to the same degree."

"Interesting," the Captain answered. "I can see why Starfleet put you here. You are clearly very good at your job. I can see that the crew will have their mental fitness well in hand."

How the blazes am I doing this? I shouldn't be coming off this well, she should be throwing me off the ship! The thoughts hit Painswick, but she kept the almost bland look. "Well, I am glad to be of assistance. Hopefully we can have a nice, calm assignment and not worry about anything too interesting or dangerous."

"We're going into space. When is that ever true? I think that pointy eared race would say, 'Infinite possibilities.' Vulcans, right? They all talk like computers?"

"Vulcans. No one likes them, we all just pretend to," Painswick said with a small smile, meeting her eyes. "And I can dream. I am trying to have a positive attitude, Captain."

"I see. Well, I suppose that might be helpful to the crew. Carry on with that."

For a brief moment, Painswick entertained the idea of a more positive self.

Skipping down the corridor with the sound of music following her, bird chirping as she happily hugged passing people and they laughed and started skipping. Of sitting through Lieutenant Whatever's musical recital and enjoying every second of it. Clapping and cheering.

"Yeah, not sure I can," she admitted as she met the Captain's eyes. She wondered if the Gelrakian Captain understood that aspect of humanity. That half the time they were misery guts.

"I have faith in you," the Captain answered simply. "Because if you cannot, then how can the crew? From what I have seen in you today and the fact that Starfleet put you here, I have every confidence that you will have this crew diamond sharp."

"I am more concerned about the flawed diamonds," Painswick said as she considered it. She might have started her career as a glorified bet, but she had picked up some common sense about the job. "One wrong tap and they shatter."

"Perhaps but by eliminating the flaw, the shattered pieces may be more valuable. No?"

"Not when they're Starfleet personnel who can finds ways to destroy the ship," Painswick countered but there was a small smile that was genuine coming to her. "I'll make sure it doesn't come to that though. Make sure we don't...tap them too hard."

"I appreciate you making certain that the crew does not destroy the ship. I would not want to be remembered as the first Gelrakian Captain who also destroyed her ship. I don't think that would be a good legacy at all."

"True, but destroying a ship doesn't always hamper your career. Look at Picard," Painswick said thoughtfully before she met her eyes, holding them. And then she looked around, taking in the room. "You know, you should do something with this room, Captain. Make it more...yours. Not just another Starfleet template of generic blandness," the thought was voiced lightly, quietly. Somehow, she felt she had tricked the Captain, or maybe it was just that the woman before her had a different approach to life. And in which case, could she harness some of that for herself? She had to make it bearable to serve on a ship anyway, maybe she'd learn something from the Gelrakian.

"I would rather not look at Picard," Qierress answered. "He is not particularly attractive. As to this room, I have Lieutenant Bailey, the Science Chief assisting me with it. I agree that it is too plain but I do not have a gift for decoration. Listening to her, I should have a room full of crystals soon enough." She paused for a moment considering. "Incidentally, I will be in Engineering almost every day worshipping the dilithium crystals. I believe that alarmed the Chief Engineer a bit. You may wish to talk to her and encourage her to sing."

"Sing?" Painswick said with some confusion, her eyebrows knitting together a little at that. "Is this a Gelrakian thing? Or...does she usually sing Klingon acid punk or something?"

"She told me that she likes to sing but was too embarrassed to do it in front of me. This is the sort of thing that you assist with, is it not?"

"I..." Painswick looked at the Captain for a moment before she sighed. "I mean, I can try. Unless her singing is bad, then...I won't."

"I would assume that you would turn that over to a tutor at that point, but what do I know?"

Why didn't I think of a singing tutor? Wait, does that mean Gelrakians have singing tutors? Wonder what else they have... Painswick's thoughts were racing for a moment before she gave a nod. "Uh-huh, yep...that, that would work, Captain." She stopped and looked at her, meeting her eyes. "Is there anything else, Captain?"

"At the moment, I cannot think of anything," the Gelrakian confessed. "I'm certain that something more will come to me at some point. Regardless, as you came to me, I should ask you if there is anything else."

"I will," Painswick said as she gave a firm nod, subconsciously letting out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding all this time. "I shall leave you to your work then. I don't underestimate how busy a Captain must be."

"Yes, indeed. I'll see you at the first mission briefing."

 

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