A word please

Posted on Thu Oct 10th, 2024 @ 7:36pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Savette

841 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The 'Eagle continues.
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: Current.

Having mulled it over long enough Isabelle approached the Ready Room door, she needed to talk to Finchley and now seemed the best moment for it. Pressing the chime she waited for admittance not wanting to get the discussion off to a bad start.

Inside, Finchley looked up when the chime sounded, he wasn't expecting anyone. "Come" he called out.

Walking in Isabelle paused in-front of Finchley’s desk. “Apologies for the intrusion Captain, I need to talk to you regarding the way you addressed me during the meeting.”

Finchley looked at his new First Officer, "That's alright Commander. You think I was harsh, talked out of turn, even talked down to you, if it is let me stop you there. You're new to the Executive Officers position, I get that, but you have a very steep learning curve ahead of you. There's something you don't do, and that something is speak openly like you did to two Senior Officers. Let me quote you verbatim 'Might I suggest both of you try and calm down a little, you’re both obviously very stressed at present but the crew need to see a calm attitude from all of the senior staff'."

He paused a moment, "Now, that indeed is very good and sound advice, however it's not something you say to the aforementioned two Senior Officers in front of the entire Senior staff. What you should have done was asked permission to speak with both Captain Tristen and myself privately 'after' the briefing, and then you could have said your piece. What you did was out of order, hence the reaction you got from me, and though you may not have liked it, as Captain, I had the right reply as I did. If you're going to get hurt feelings after being chastised, perhaps you ought to rethink taking on the position of Executive Officer."

Isabelle paused Finchley had a point. “Actually you do have a point. In which case why you didn’t put Karadis or Kilbane in their places given how they spoke to you?”

"We have a...unique...understanding between us, garnered over the time we've served together" Finchley replied, "we have the ability to ground each other, or help each other, depending on the circumstance. That's not something they can teach you at the Academy, it's something that's organic, it happens over time."

Isabelle nodded. “I guess we have a lot of time to make up for then, I barely know you compared to Kilbane and Karadis. I would...appreciate it if you wouldn’t berate me in-front of the crew though, especially as I’m your choice as First Officer.” She offered a wry smile.

"Tell you what" Finchley replied, "I'll make a deal with you, you stop stepping out of line and mouthing off in front of the Senior staff in meetings and I'll stop being a horses arse and pulling you up for it. How does that sound?"

“I hadn’t realised I had mouthed off, as you put it, Sir” Isabelle offered a wry smile. “It’s my job as Counsellor to ease tensions, that was what I was trying to do.”

"Decorum Commander, it's all about decorum" Finchley replied, "yes, as Chief Counsellor, your job is to ease tensions as you say, however, when you're in a Senior Staff meeting, you're actually First Officer, the Chief Counsellor role get's left outside. It's going to take you time to adapt to being XO, so let's just put this behind us and move on."

Isabelle nodded. “With that I wholeheartedly agree” she smiled warmly. “

"Ok, good" Finchley replied, "So, the questions I need to ask of you are, what do you want from this opportunity to be my First Officer, and what do you need from it?"

“What do I want?” Isabelle paused. “I have absolutely no idea, I wasn’t expecting to be asked to be First Officer, and at the same time I didn’t want to let you down. As for what I need” She paused again. “I guess understanding. I wasn’t prepared for the offer, hell I wasn’t planning on being anything other than a Counsellor. I will, however, work my butt off to get this right.”

"Then perhaps your answer could have been something like...I want succeed in fulfilling my role as First Officer, and I want to gain a better understanding of our working relationship..."Finchley replied. "However, sometimes the unexpected can bring out in people a drive they didn't realise they had, it does happen, I've seen it. Observation can be a great help, learning how those around you 'tick', and believe me, it's always a school day, I learn daily as well. Anyway, I hope this chat has been helpful, I'm sure you're keen to be getting on with your duties."

Isabelle nodded. “I am indeed, and I do want to gain a bette understanding of our working relationship.” She offered a warm smile. “I’ll see you later Sir.”

 

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