Legacy

Posted on Tue Apr 22nd, 2025 @ 10:22am by Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant JG Riaothren (Ren) ch'Shaorhs

1,632 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: To Boldly Go
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD9

ON:

Ren and Jairic had been aboard the Fenir less than twelve hours, five of those hours had been asleep, but neither the assistant operations officer nor his charge were used to the time change from their transport ship to their new home.

The Orion teen could sleep in, Ren couldn't. His first meeting of the day was with his new commanding officer. So his uniform was crisp, fresh out of the replicator when he pressed the button at the entrance to the Captain's Ready Room.

"Come in," Blake called out, just as she settled back in her chair, a steaming cup of coffee cradled in her hands. The last few days had been a torrid rush of activity to get the ship ready for launch. Slowly but surely, things were starting to come together. She was superstitious enough not to say that out loud though, and she even reached to knock her knuckles against her desk, even if it wasn't made of wood.

The Andorian operations officer stepped into the room just as the Captain knocked on the table. He raised his left brow as his right antennae curled toward her.

"Good morning," he said crisply. "Lieutenant Junior Grade Ren ch'Shaorhs reporting for duty."

"Do you prefer to be addressed as sir or ma'am?"

"Actually, I prefer Captain. Thank you for asking," she motioned to the chair opposite her with a small, genuine smile. Because most didn't think to ask. She had never liked gendered titles, especially not when there were perfectly good neutral ranks to use instead. "How are you and your son settling in...Jalric, is it?" she pulled up his file for reference.

~Captain works~ he thought to himself as he took the seat she had indicated. It's a bit of an adjustment, the is a larger ship, and the shipboard clocks don't align. But we are making adjustments," He said,

"And yes, his name is Jairic. He is, well he's a lot like his brother."

"Tell me about him?" she asked with genuine interest, smiling gently as she leant back in her chair to get comfortable, although the upright posture never failed. Once upon a time, it wouldn't have been a question she even thought to ask, his personal life being completely separate from his professional one. But since having her daughter, it had changed that perspective.

The Andorian returned her smile. "He's a good kid for the most part. A little rough around the edges and stubborn as hell. As I said, he is a lot like his brother. He's whip-smart too. Far more analytical than I am He'd make a great engineer. He has that kind of mind."

"The trouble is he knows he's smart, so it makes him cocky He's not mean to anyone, he has a good heart. Most of the time. But he always thinks he's the smartest one in the room and that can make him come off as arrogant."

"I try to teach him a little humility goes a long way, but I'm not sure if he gets what I'm trying to show him. Model for him."

"What really scares me is if he decides to go into intel like my husband."

"Do you have children Captain?"

"Yes, a daughter, Lily, she's only six," Scarlet reached out to turn the picture for him, showing the dark-haired little girl that looked a lot like her mother. "Nowhere near those dreaded teen years yet. A lot of what you described can be natural for a teenager, I wouldn't worry too much," she tried to put him at ease over that much at least. "Perhaps...you could nurture his interest in engineering if you want to guide him away from other paths. We'd be happy to help with that if he's interested." Truth was, she'd developed a passion for mentoring crew whilst serving as a First Officer. She had no problem with extending that to the dependents on board.

"Here's the thing," he said candidly, "Like you said, he is a teenager, even a teenager dealing with normalstuff is going to be rebellious and not listen to a parent, or at least be tempted not to. Jairic isn't just dealing with normal things."

"That's a rather long-winded way of saying that while I will try to push him toward engineering, it might be more advantageous for someone else to do a lot of the encouraging."

"Of course," Blake nodded gently to him, understanding the point well enough. He was right...the boy was still young to traverse the trauma that had touched his life. And his new guardian was dealing with the same pain. "We have two teachers onboard who can offer expert help and advice. And...you may want to think about counselling. Either individually or as a family unit. Either way, we'd still be happy to help with any career experience he might like to try."

"I'm glad you have some good teachers; that will help, I am sure. You say they are experts. Do either of them have specialties? If so, what are they?"

"As far as counseling is concerned, we both have appointments for later today. But having family counseling sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure how open Jairic would be to that."

"I meant expertise around working with children who are part of this lifestyle," Blake motioned around, as if to indicate the ship. "Children who have to move a lot, who may have disrupted lives. Family counselling can make a huge difference, I think it would be worth trying for you both. But perhaps let him settle with some individual counselling first, perhaps he will be more inclined to give it a real shot."

"I think giving him some space is important," Ren answered, his eyes were focused on her face, but his antennae were twitching back and forth. Maybe it was a nervous habit, maybe it was just part of his Andorian physiology.

"I would also agree that family counseling is important. Not only for the trauma he's been through but as you said for all the things you mentioned, things normal teenagers go through that are Federation brats.. I was one myself."

A small smile came to Blake at the mention, as she tried to imagine him as a kid running around a starship. "What was that like? Is it why you joined the fleet in the end?"

Ren smiled in return. "I know that Starfleet brat is a pretty innocuous term for Starfleet officers' kids. In my case, however, brat had a less innocuous meaning. I got in a lot of trouble, minor trouble like fights in my defense, as a teenager. It was a ship's captain who took me under his wing and helped straighten me out. "

"Which is a long-winded way of saying yes, that's why I joined."

Blake nodded with understanding. It was natural, and why shouldn't a kid raised in the life want to stay? And a little youthful rebellion gave her no concern at all. She was more likely not to trust someone who said they hadn't tested the boundaries at some point. "Was Ops always on the cards for you?"

"Not to my second year at the Academy. I thought of either diplomacy or counseling. I was only taking operations courses because they were a requirement. But I found I had a knack for it. I'm more intuitive than analytical, but that actually works to my benefit the majority of the time."

"What about you, did you always want to command your own ship?"

Blake found the question interesting. It wasn't often new crew members asked her questions in return when they met. She liked it. It showed courage and curiosity, an instinct to build working relationships. "No...I started in the Marines, I saw my career beginning and ending there. Then I had Lily, and things had to change. So I retrained as a Starfleet Counsellor. That's when it dawned on me that I could aim for command. When I became First Officer, I realised how satisfying it was to mentor others in their career. So keep that in mind, if there's anything you ever want to try out."

Ren nodded along as she spoke. "So, if I wanted to pursue a different position, not that I'm considering it right now, that would be okay?"

"Of course," Blake replied honestly, her usually military styled posture interrupted by a casual half shrug. "So long as we get you the training and sign offs required. I want every crew member to be ready to take the next step. When they're ready." And she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy being a part of that journey for crew members. She'd had so many twists and turns in her own career. It was important to her to support others in theirs.

"I've never had a Captain like you before. Thank you. I may never take you up on it, but I appreciate that the opportunity is out there."

"The way I see it, it's just part of the job," she replied honestly, making it clear that she truly believed it, she wasn't just spinning a line. Besides, Scarlet didn't have it in her to say what she didn't mean. She didn't believe in telling people what they wanted to hear if it wasn't true. It usually just made a bigger mess of things down the line. "Is there anything you'd like to ask while you're here?"

"Not that I can think of now," he replied. "It was nice meeting you and I'm sure we will be seeing a lot of each other going forward."

OFF:

Lieutenant JG Riaothren (Ren) ch'Shaorhs
Assistant Chief Operations Officer

Commander Scarlet Blake
Commanding Officer

 

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