Deciding Factors

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 4:22am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant Commander Mindo
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 7:46am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Engineering - CEO's Office

It was mid-morning on the Pandora as Captain Nyx made a bee-line towards Engineering. He greeted staff in his usual jovial manner, but internally he was still wrestling with the conversation he'd had with Lieutenant Griffin regarding their most recent crew arrival, Lieutenant Mindo. Though Griffin had endorsed Nyx's view that Mindo was an incredibly capable and talented Engineer, there remained a stigma of doubt over his head given the complicated and not-entirely-explained circumstances from his time on the Tornado.

Nyx had chosen to decide for himself and face the issue head-on, and it was with this steely resolve that he found himself at the door of the Chief Engineer's office, finger enthusiastically on the chime.

"Come in," said Mindo from inside the office. The door whished open and Nyx saw Mindo at his new desk, lowered to fit Mindo's height. Across from the desk was a normal-sized chair, and behind that a rather nice couch. On his desk were a few PADD's, the usual desk monitor, and a half-full bottle of tranya. Behind his desk on a small table sat three other bottles of various drink and a few glasses.

Mindo looked up from a technical journal he was reading about some new propulsion stabilizers. Mindo stood and greeted Nyx.

"Good morning, Captain."

"Morning, Lieutenant," Nyx began, his usual friendly smile on his face. "I hope I haven't come at a bad time?"

Nyx helped himself to a seat on the couch, after taking a moment to decide which seating apparatus was most appropriate. He thought the couch would give the proper impression of the warm conversation he hoped to have.

"Just catching up on a few technical journals," said Mindo. "Got my hourly report from Crewman Zo about twenty minutes ago. We're pretty quiet here this morning. Engines are at a hundred percent, we have a healthy warp core. A few people on Deck five are having a few issues with the sonic showers, but other than that there isn't anything out of the ordinary." Mindo turned to the mini-bar and grabbed a glass. "Would you like a drink?" he asked the Captain.

"No drink for me, I'm on duty," Temple replied politely, leaning back into the couch. "That's all very good to hear. I know you had a very quick introduction to the Pandora, we were knee deep in trouble there for a while. But you adapted and I appreciate your hard work, Lieutenant."

Mindo poured himself some of the tranya and then poured a clear liquid from another bottle into another glass. The liquid was chilled. He walked over to the couch and handed it to Nyx.

"This is cucumber water," he said. "From Earth. I keep some ready when I have guests. It's actually quite good. You can do what you want with it." Mindo climbed up on the couch and took a drink of tanya.

Nyx looked at the glass with raised eyebrows before taking a healthy sip, and was pleasantly satisfied, "Mmm this is quite refreshing, thank you."

Placing the glass down onto a nearby table, Nyx turned his attention fully to Mindo, a hesitant grimace in his gaze. The Captain suddenly wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject - at least not without appearing insensitive. "So... Your transfer from the Tornado was quite sudden. But so were Brennan and Griffin's actually. It seems to be kind of a pattern."

Mindo set down his drink as well, wondering what the Captain was getting at. "Starfleet tends to move me around a bit," he said. "My transfer had nothing to do with Brennan or Griffin's. To be honest, I don't really know why I'm here."

Nyx nodded, "Well, in the interest of full disclosure I have just had a chat with Lieutenant Griffin about you. He spoke very highly of your skills and attributes. I believe he said you were one of the best starship Engineers he's ever seen."

"Griffin told you that?" said Mindo. "Did he tell you anything else?"

Nyx chose his words carefully, "I've had seperate conversations with Brennan and Griffin regarding their personal histories on the Tornado, as there appeared to be a series of significantly tumultuous events onboard that ship. Neither went into extraneous detail, but I have full reassurances from them both that those issues were resolved, for the most part, and won't be continuing on the Pandora. Would you agree with that assessment?"

"I can't see a reason not to," said Mindo. "But I'm not going to lie to you, sir. I don't necessarily have the cleanest past. Even back home in Eloi, on Feseria, I didn't exactly belong. Starfleet has given me a chance to redeem myself... albeit again and again. But I think that dark chapter of my life is over."

The captain nodded, "The very least I can give you, Mindo, is a fresh start. But an opportunity given must be wholly taken. I won't accept dark chapters or unclean pasts as valid reasons for any dereliction of duties from this point forward. The deciding factor of your redemption is you and your willingness to move on. I won't tolerate anything less than your total commitment to that goal."

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" said Mindo.

Nyx frowned a little, knowing the Lieutenant had a way with words, but decided to allow it and so he gave a simple, "Of course."

"As much as I enjoy friendly chats and socializing, I don't like warnings or 'fresh starts' from captains who hardly know me. It's my job to keep this ship flying. I take that duty more seriously than anything else in my life. I always have. You may have heard some things about my time on the USS Rhys. I won't go into details, but as much as I hated it there it never once crossed my mind to neglect my responsibilities. So even if, somehow, I happen to dislike this ship, or you, or anyone or anything else, it will have absolutely no effect on how I perform my job."

Mindo continued, "That said, so far I really like it here. I like how you run things. You're firm, but fair. You're honest. I like those qualities in a captain. I'm ready to put my troubled past behind me if you're willing to trust me."

"Well I'm very happy you're finding your place here," Nyx began in reply, a smile now on his face, "I like your tenacity, Lieutenant, I'm a so glad we had this chat. I hope we can continue to be as honest and forthright with each other as we have been today, so we can make this tour of duty a whopping success." He clapped his hands together, giving a firm nod. "Yes, that damn old Starfleet is going to be singing our praises after this."

"I certainly hope so, sir," said Mindo, suddenly somewhat unsettled by the CO's enthusiasm... but maybe he was being too paranoid again. Mindo smiled and raised his glass. "To the Pandora," he said. "And damn old Starfleet."

Nyx chuckled, grabbed his cucumber water and raised it in a toast as well, "Here, here!"