Fitting In

Posted on Tue May 29th, 2018 @ 9:26am by Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant Jordan Spencer

2,090 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Memento Mori
Location: Executive Officer's Office - U.S.S. Endeavour

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Isabella sighed as she left the conference lounge. Mentally, she was trying to sort everything out and place things in order so that she could try to move onward with her duty as executive officer. That meant pushing her personal feelings aside, if only for the moment, and stepping forward to help lead the Endeavour and the crew through an emotional and most likely dangerous time. Taking a deep breath, she slowly released it as her thoughts came together, and she nodded to herself as the first task came to her mind. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Jordan Spencer," Isabella said.

"Lieutenant Jordan Spencer is located in deck five, main sickbay," the female voice answered as though it had already known what she was about to ask.

Tapping her comm-badge, Isabella spoke as she walked along the corridor. "dei`Silvisi to Lieutenant Spencer, please report to my office at your earliest convenience," she said.

It only took about ten minutes before Jordan found himself in front of the Executive Officer's doors to her office. It wasn't too hard to find the location, as he was only 3 decks down, but still he wasn't completely sure why he was being called to her office. In some way, he felt as though he was called the principal's office. But he hadn't been there long in order for him to get in trouble... thought he thought with a slight smirk as he tapped the chime for entrance to her office.

Having arrived at her office and settled in, Isabella had taken a few minutes to check through the paperwork that was already on her desk. Most of it was after-action reports, a few were other items that the yeoman had brought for her to read through. She had just finished sorting through the Padds when the door chime rang out. Looking up, she called "Enter," and finished adjusting everything on her desk as the door opened.

Walking into the office, Jordan looked around at the area to see that she had taken time to clean up a little and get her items in order after all that was said and done from the battle. The ship had taken some tumbles and it wasn't a surprise to see debris or items knocked to the ground. "You wished to see me, Commander?"

"Lieutenant Spencer, please have a seat," Isabella said with a smile as she motioned for Jordan to sit down In truth, she did wish that her office was tidier, but she hadn't had much time to fully clean everything up. The ship had taken an extensive beating in her battle with the Romulan warbird, and she suspected that it would take a few days to remove all the signs of battle damage. "I wanted to extend an offer to you," she continued after he had sat down.

"Alright..." Jordan responded as he sat down relaxing to the best of his ability. He was tired, but no doubt, just the same for the crew. He tapped a padd that was in his hand on his knee and looked down for a second. He noticed that he still had his own holster on. Not much of a doctor, to walk around with his weapon. But the ship was under yellow alert and were cautious, as expected. He looked back up, ignoring the whole thing. " ... What is on your mind, Commander?"

"The captain and I want to ask if you would consider remaining on board the Endeavour permanently as chief medical officer," Isabella said, getting directly to the point of the meeting. She didn't always like being direct, but sometimes she had learned that it was best to simply get to the heart of the matter.

"Well, that was pretty direct, ma'am. I thought you had a doctor as is?" the doctor responded as he raised an eyebrow.

"Abi was severely injured during our battle with the warbird, and I'm afraid it'll be a long time before she's fit to be cleared for active duty again," Isabella replied quietly.

"To be honest, I hadn't really planned on it as I was doing additional training to get my counseling license," he spoke out loud as ht thought of the offer. "I hadn't really planned on settling down to one assignment or another as of yet. But it does look like you need a helping hand."

"If you want, you can take the position on a temporary basis and see if you want to keep it long term. And you can still work towards your counseling license while holding the position. I've checked, and Starfleet encourages even department heads to take continued training courses. And in closing, and to be honest, yes, we could really use the help. Medical has always been short staffed, ever since we first launched, and it would be wonderful to have a full time chief medical officer on board," she said.

Taking a moment to think it through, he took a deep breath and nodded. "That seems fair. I'll stick around full time till you find someone better. Sound fair, ma'am?" He smirked slightly as he looked at her wandering if she was stressed more than expected. He knew of her previous career history, from first hand experience, and now it was more of a command roll over multiple departments our of her set career field.

"That certainly does sound fair enough," Isabella replied, nodding her head in agreement. Reaching into her desk, she pulled out a small black box and handed it over to Jordan. "This is yours, at least until we can get the official paperwork back and get the real thing approved, but I want you to go ahead and have this in the meantime," she said.

The man looked at the box for a moment before grabbing it as he looked at her trying to understand what she was doing. But as he opened it, it was certainly clear. "Well, if you are trying to bribe me... that's certainly one way of doing it," he smirked slightly as he pulled out a bar that had the provisional rank of Full Lieutenant on it. He wasnt sure what to say but nodded as he looked at her. "I'll wear it respectfully. Thank you, but why?"

"If I can explain with the simplest answer, it is because I feel that you more than deserve it. The captain hasn't seen your work firsthand like I have, but having seen you in action I can honestly say that you are an outstanding medical officer, and asking you to stay on board as chief medical and not promoting you would be a crime," Isabella replied with the hint of a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth as she finished speaking.

He looked at her for a moment and nodded with a slight smirk back at her. "Fair enough," Jordan started as he raised it to his collar and replaced the pips. As he palmed the old pips in his hand, a deep sigh escaped his lips as he looked at them. "If I do you well, I'll stick around for the long hall. Maybe its what I'm supposed to be doing."

"Well, you are very good at being a medical officer, and on some ships the chief medical officer does also double as the ship's counselor as well. I see no reason you couldn't cover both positions," Isabella said by way of suggestion. Indeed, it was becoming common on some smaller ship classes for officers to cover more than one position.

"Thanks," he took the compliment not completely sure of that, but knew what he was doing. "You aren't to bad yourself, Commander. What's your story?"

Isabella hesitated just for the briefest moment before she answered. It was a slight pause, and mostly to cover how uncomfortable she was at such a personally difficult situation she had had to deal that was the cause of it but to also to suppress the bitter memories that surfaced because of it as well. "I started out in the medical field, but I've always preferred the scientific fields more. That's one reason I have degrees in both. I discovered during my time on the front lines that that I simply didn't like the medical field, for several reasons, and decided to pursue my career in science," she answered.

"So why jump from Science to Command? Seems like a large leap from scientific discoveries to working side by side with a ship commander and managing people. I wouldn't think that leaves a lot of time in Science department," Jordan wandered out loud as he looked at the woman before him. She was truly remarkable, and held her self strong. But there were times that he noticed that she took time to think thing through, which was a good sign of a calmed minded person. But there was still something he could tell she was uncomfortable about talking about. It wasn't his desire to pry, but to get to know his XO he was now working for.

"I had always hoped to work my way up to a command position when I joined Starfleet, and when I was transferred to the Endeavour it seemed to be a good idea at the time,"Isabella said with a faint smile. "I actually have a lot more time on my hands than one would think, and my specialty and preference is set less towards lab work and more towards in-field encounter style situations. It did help that the captain needed someone who was more experienced in scientific matters, and the Intrepid class ships, and Endeavour specifically, are technically exploration cruisers. I also will admit that sometimes being a command officer can be a bit more stressful than I expected from time to time."

"Well that's not a horrible goal to achieve," he shrugged as he smirked slightly. "But any kind of leadership is forced to have additional stress with the additional duties and what not. I don't envy you in the least."

"I'm still learning how to deal with some aspects of the job, to be honest," Isabella admitted, tilting her head to the side just slightly as she thought over everything the Endeavour had been through since she had taken over as first officer. "And the Endeavour has a way of finding itself in stressful situations such as the one we're currently involved in."

"In the good ol' days, people would consider that job security," Jordan replied as he shrugged not sure he saw it that positive either but offered it as a possibility. "To be honest, its just a way of reminding us how messed up it can be in this galaxy. I try to just think of it all as a way of making a difference, if that's even possible."

"Job security is the fact that our galaxy alone is mostly unexplored by the Federation and that there are things to discover and defend against every single day, but I see your point," Isabella said with a slight smile touching her lips. "Fortunately for us, we have the perfect ship for anything that the universe can throw at us, or at least that's what I tell myself all the time."

"Tough little ship," he chuckled slightly as he sighed slightly. Deep down, he knew what it was like with conflict and defending their space and people of the Federation and their allies. But he left the marines in the hopes of bettering himself and help others. But that wasn't the only reason... "Well, if ya need an ear, I have been told I am a good listener," he said as he stood up and straightened his uniform. "Not that you need it, but ya know."

"I truly appreciate that," Isabella said as she stood and offered the new chief medical officer her hand. "Officially, welcome to the Endeavour, Mister Spencer."

Jordan took her hand firmly and nodded out of respect. "Thank you, Commander. It's going to be an interesting ride."

Shaking the new chief medical officer's hand quickly and releasing it, Isabella gave the your lieutenant a smile. "If there's one thing I've learned since I've been assigned to this ship, it's that that statement is forevermore true. Good luck, Lieutenant," she said.

He nodded respectfully and grinned slightly. "Thank you, hopefully I'll make ya'll proud."

"I have no doubt that you will," Isabella said with a friendly smile and a nod. "Dismissed, Lieutenant, and congratulations."

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Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Jordan Spencer
Chief Medical Officer

 

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