Veera / Niemec

Posted on 15 Jul 2021 @ 9:58am by Lieutenant Callisi Veera

1,898 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Home
Location: Kenya

As the senior Cadet started giving orders, she took an involuntary step closer to the officer she'd been assigned to. As a brand new cadet, she hadn't even been on the original schedule to be here. But, the cadets choosing the Operations specialty had received last minute orders and so she'd been offered the opportunity, or sent into the torture?, to go in their stead. And so, here she was. "Errrr," she stammered in the Lieutenant's direction.

Callisi was taking stock of the situation, her location, her supplies, and this rather peculiar heat when the cadet approaching her decided to make her presence known. The cyclopean rabbitess turned to address the freshman grade, "Well hello there." a pause, "I assure you, I don't bite. Also, I lost the eye prior to my assignment to Ops." she figured she'd get those two out of the way quickly. "Callisi Veera. It is good to meet you."

Honestly, Luisa had been so overwhelmed by all of it that she hadn't even looked at her assigned officer yet. Of course, with a description like that, she couldn't avoid it. So, as she looked up at the face, she took an involuntary step back and heard her repeat herself. "Errrr," she blinked, then figured she could probably do better than that. "Luisa Niemec, freshman Cadet. Sir. Lieutenant," she spoke. "Ma'am," she added for good measure.

A smirk, "For the moment, Callisi will do. May I address you as Luisa?" she offered, a bit of familiarity to ease the cadet's obvious nerves.

"Callisi," the cadet gave it a try. She'd do her best to remember it. "And yes, sir, eh, Callisi, Luisa is obviously fine."

To that, Callisi gave a smirk, "Obvious or not, it's always best to ask. A people may put their family name first, or take offense at blatant familiarity. Ordinarily, I'd expect rank to be observed but... this is something of a retreat. A vacation of sorts. So, why not relax a little?" she offered as she moved to stand next to Luisa, "In my culture, three is an ominous number. Lucky, important, auspicious... traditionally, we limit questions to Three. It puts weight on each question, removed the frivolous inquires, and tells us a little about the questioner based on what the questions they ask are."

She giggled, "I'm going to relax that. Ask what you wish, but take no offense if I request not to answer."

Once again, Luisa found herself blinking. Damn, she'd really have to get better at this. She rehashed the complicated questions in her mind, and then decided to filter out the last part, where she was offered to ask but not guaranteed a response. She was fine with that. "Are we supposed to do anything now, sir?" she asked, referring back to the orders the Cadet-in-charge had given.

"We have an objective, a location that we have to arrive at." Callisi pointed out. "And of course, the knowledge we learn along the way." She smirked. "It should be an interesting experience."

"I can't read a map," Luisa spoke, shaking her head. She had to make sure to stick close to the group because if she got lost, they'd only find her body a century from now. Or what was left of it anyway.

"Truly?" Callisi asked, "Well then, if you wish to solve that issue we can certainly work on that." a pause, "Help you learn a little more, expand your horizon."

Luisa spoke slowly as people around her started moving. Had anything more been said? Had she missed it? Why were they all moving pretty much in unison in a general direction? "Errr-" she really had to stop saying that. "Where is everybody going?"

Callisi's lengthy ears twitched as they stood upright, "I didn't hear any specifics, but paying attention to the world around is important. Otherwise you could miss something. An Ops officer is expected to keep the ship running, from minor hiccups to full scale crashes. Engineering keeps the ship moving, we keep it running."

She paused for a moment, "Humanity is a creature of comfort. The second most decadent I've seen yet. Lounging around, sampling the wares of the cosmos, relaxing to ancient music while being hesitant to make new art, new music, new indulgences. Trapped in the warm embrace of their own history." she turned towards Luisa with a smile, "When one of those stops working, engineering is called in a panic. When everything fails, the ship as a whole almost prays to Operations to return the ship to how it was, before someone has to commit the sin of doing ... paperwork." she smirked.

"That's who we are." she was quiet for a moment, "So, tell me about your time in Academy?"

Luisa had listened attentively to what the Lieutenant had been saying. She tried to listen through the nicely worded lyrics and tried to understand what was meant. In the end, she concluded that Operations was the spine of the ship. Quite the responsibility. Perhaps she should've chosen another specialty? Though, then again, she hadn't really chosen one yet. "My time there hasn't been all that long," she shrugged. "I only started at the beginning of this year, so I'm still trying to find my way to the restroom. It's not quite like I expected though..." she trailed off, looking at the other cadets around her, wondering if they'd found their place in the Starfleet universe yet.

"It's every third door on the right." Callisi mentioned, though the smirk told that she was being humorous. "So this is all new for you. You'll find your way, and don't ever feel like your destiny is concrete. I didn't start off in Operations, but I became an officer in the Operations department after I lost my fighter pilot credentials. Prior to then, I was a fighter ace. So being told I couldn't pilot anything more than a public shuttle was, well... it didn't sit well with me."

"I turned to salvage my career, and Operations suited me. If I couldn't fly, I could keep everything else running." the rabbitess stopped, and turned to fully face the cadet, "Starfleet is very relaxed in this. If you don't feel right in a certain area, you are free to re-evaluate your options. Operations is not an easy task, but it's very fulfilling. It's hard work, but it's honest work." a pause, "You'll need to find your confidence."

"Confidence sounds like something they insist on in pretty much every branch of Starfleet," Luisa shrugged. "I'll keep it in mind though. I'm not sure about Operations yet, as I've only just gotten started, but it sounded like something that could be right for me. Time will tell, I guess."

"Confidence is life." Callisi countered. "Confidence is what separates us from despair. What carries us when we lose everything."

"Pride took my eye. Defeat gave it back. Confidence gave me my life." a pause, "Now, that last thing you said... I want to hear you say it again, only this time, don't say 'I Guess'." despite the serious tone of her voice, Callisi had a smirk. There was no malice here, just a life lesson.

The last thing she said.. oh.. right. "Time will tell," she said obligingly. It's not like she felt it better now than before, but if that's what the Lieutenant insisted on, that's what she would try to do. "I'm confident that..." she started, but couldn't think of anything to complete it with. "...that I can't read a map. Sir."

A nod. It was a start. "Well I've never been to planet Kenya, so let's work together. Find me a landmark. Something that stands out, that you'd recognize easily." Callisi directed.

Looking off into the distance, Luisa motioned towards the East. "That's a pretty high mountain, and we've got a river running along its Western side. Is that something you're looking for?"

She gave a nod, ears wobbling ever so slightly, "Indeed they are. Now, do you have a map of the local region?" she asked.

Digging a PADD out of her backpack, Luisa scrolled through it, trying to find the map that would allow her to answer the question in a positive way. "Errr," or not. "It appears I forgot to download it in my haste to report to the beam down site, Lieutenant."

Callisi gave a nod, "Does planet Kenya have geoorbital satellite imagery?" she inquired, pointing up to the heavens. "Satnav Photography?"

"I'm assuming so?" Luisa half asked, half guessed. It took another moment for her to figure out this had been a hint for her to check, so she tapped some commands on her PADD and a few minutes later, she had a topographical layout on it. There were a lot of lines and dots and colours and marks on it, but truth be told, she didn't even know which side was up. "It does. I've got it here," she thus spoke.

Callisi gave a nod, "Excellent. Now, see if you can find that mountain on the map. One landmark won't be enough to find where *we* are, but let's start with finding the mountain." the rabbitess was there for her as she searched, but she wouldn't rob the cadet of the experience of accomplishment.

A mountain.. a mountain.. Luisa traced her finger over the digital map, but found it lingering on the water flows than the lines indicating height. So, she tried to find the flow of the river she saw next to the mountain and then traced that until she found a point on the map that had the lines very close together, indicating a very steep change in height. "Here it is," she pointed.

Callisi checked her student's work, and gave a nod, "Good. A single point won't find us, but it does find the mountain. Next, look around. Find another two landmarks. A river, a body of water, even if you have to look behind us, finding three landmarks will help find us." she instructed. This reminded the rabbitess a bit of her time back in basic. They weren't particularly fond memories, but they weren't bad.

Luisa looked at the PADD. The river and the mountain weren't hard. A third landmark was harder to find. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed an explicit clearing in the trees they'd just left. That shouldn't be too hard to find.... "Here we are!" she exclaimed after a few moments.

Callisi wore a soft smile at Luisa's success, "Sugoi, sugoi, very good." she complimented, "Excellent problem solving. With this, you can find your way anywhere. From the crowded streets of Shinjiku, to the shores of Nalabar." she paused for a moment, "Do you want to lead the way, or have you had enough excitement for the day?" she offered with a smirk.

Glancing around, Luisa saw that people had started moving, but not all that coherently. She looked back at Veera and considered her options. Normally, she wasn't one that took initiative, but she was probably the only one who knew where they were exactly and thus where they had to go. "Follow me," she squeaked at nobody in particular.

Callisi gave a smirk, "Next time, a little louder for the people without proper ears." she turned to the group, "We've got the map. Follow us." and then she turned to Luisa, "Lead on."

 

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