81: Instinct


by Zander Blakeslee
and Zanh Liis
80110.12
The morning after At First Sight and The Rain is Falling

--=Arboretum: Deck 8, USS Serendipity=--



Zanh Liis smiled as she surveyed the arboretum. It was just like the one on the ship they'd served on before, only on a smaller scale.

This actually pleased her, because while Jariel had to sacrifice two of his reflecting pools for just the one and a couple of greenhouse spaces as well, it would be a lot easier for her to track him down when he disappeared into the rosebushes, pruning.

She had asked the Vedek to create a small job for her to do here today. She would request assistance in her task from her newest officers as she went along, and this exercise would help her gauge their attitude. Very quickly.

She had found out quite by accident in the past that sides of people's personalities --which were not easily discovered or obviously apparent when they received the standard meet and greet from the Captain in the ready room-- were much more accessible if she were introduced to them in a completely different environment.

Especially if you threw them a curve- such as meeting their captain for the first time while she was dressed in grubby, bib over-alls. With dirt caked beneath her normally spotless, closely clipped fingernails.

Zanh slowly lowered herself to the freshly excavated patch of dirt. Taking care with her spine, which was still healing, she made a good show of rubbing dirt on her hands and the denim legs of her coveralls.

She heard the doors slide apart and looked over at the PADD she'd left laying beside the flowerbed, in the grass. *Zander Blakeslee, she thought. Let's see how he feels about getting his hands dirty.*

Zander walked into the arboretum and looked around, admiring the various species of trees and plants. He breathed in deeply and found the mixture of smells from the assembled plants and flowers to be appealing. Still, he frowned.

The captain, whom he had yet to meet face to face, had summoned him here. But as far as he could tell, he must have arrived first.

He figured he would take a look around while he was waiting. As he made his way around a group of what looked like willow trees, he came upon a woman digging in the dirt and greeted her.

“Good afternoon.”

"Good Afternoon. Are you Zander Blakeslee?"

Zander nodded in affirmation. "Are you Captain Zanh?"

"Zanh Liis, pleased to meet you." She held out a filthy hand to him, but Zander did not flinch. He shook it firmly.

"Do you know anything about Deleavian violets? The little. . .instruction card that the Vedek wrote up for me seems to have disappeared, somewhere."

She had, in fact, intentionally buried it in a nearby pile of potting soil. She began to dig her hands into the mound, 'searching' for it.

Zander dropped to his knees and began to help in the search for the missing instructions digging into the soil. “I don’t know anything about Deleavian violets, I am afraid. Now Deltian grape vines on the other hand, I am intimate with from working on my in-laws winery.”

He pulled out the instruction card and held it up to see if it was the correct item. He wiped it clean. “Ah here it is.” He handed the card to the captain.

"Thank you." Zanh narrowed her eyes as if straining to see the small handwriting upon the card, then her eyes opened wide. "Well, it's a good thing you found that for me. I'd have done it entirely the wrong way."

He stayed on his knees as he wiped his hands together to remove the layers of potting soil. “You wanted to see me Captain?”

She positioned her 'props', a small spade and the index card, up against the flat of violets and moved from her knees to a sitting position, crossing her legs and sinking into the deep, lush grass..

"I like to introduce myself to my senior staff officers, especially, the very first chance I get. Due to my late arrival and your busy schedule, I seemed to keep missing you. So I wanted to make the time."

She smiled at him broadly, taking a sip of coffee from a lidded, thermal mug beside her and then gesturing toward him with it. "I hear that you've had a brilliant idea for extending the capabilities of our sensors, on Sera and Alchemy both. Bravo Zulu."

Zander smiled at the compliment. “I would not call it brilliant. Inspired maybe, after all it is still a working theory. We are not sure how well it will work.”

"Still, you should be proud of what you've accomplished so far. Lt. Commander Reece must be thrilled. I haven't seen him since he got back from his honeymoon, but he's done nothing but bitch about the limitations of Alchemy's sensors since the first time he looked at her."

"He had good reason to," Zander concluded. "From what I understand, those sensors were part of a domino effect that left the crew stranded on some iceberg and nearly killed him in the crash. He was very happy when I informed him of the new range, earlier this morning."

"I'm surprised he didn't try to kiss you out of sheer gratitude."

"He. . .did." Zander replied, his expression deadpan. It took her a good long moment to accept that he was making a joke. She laughed softly.

"Knowing Reece, it wouldn't have surprised me." She tilted her head to the side and asked him one question- seemingly simple, but loaded beyond all belief.

"What do you think is the most important quality in a Starfleet Captain, Mr. Blakeslee?"

"Don't you mean in a Chief Tactical Officer, Sir?" He hoped that she wasn't really asking what she seemed to be asking.

"Nope. I meant captain. You've had multiple past assignments, under very different CO's. I want to hear your opinion."

“Instinct.” He responded without thinking. “Don’t misunderstand me. Knowledge, competence, bravery, compassion are all necessary traits among a host of unmentioned ones. But instinct is the one that is need when all other are unavailable.”

He shifted his position to a more comfortable seated position. “When a Cardassian warship approaches with its shield up and weapons armed, all of those other traits, along with the Starfleet manual make the appropriate response clear to a captain.’

Zanh tilted her head in the opposite direction, inclining it more toward him so that he was certain she was listening, though she did not speak.

“It is the times when you are confronted by something that defies all of those other traits, that you have to rely on your instinct to guide you.” He shifted uncomfortably wondering if he spoke too soon, no matter how honest his response was.

"I'd say that's a very good answer." Zanh's expression displayed her satisfaction, and she nodded once as she picked up her spade again.

She gestured toward him with it, flinging a few errant clumps of soil in his general direction. After a moment of traveling in seeming slow motion, air-borne, they splattered loudly onto his tunic. She cringed.

"Apologies."

Zander waved his hand, dismissing the mishap and brushing the dirt away, and she continued.

"I would like you to remember my question, and your answer. Apply them to yourself, in the job that you do every day. Because if I were asked to pick a single quality that I felt was most important in a chief tactical officer, it would, in fact, be instinct." She looked at him and sighed. "You're awfully young to be so smart."

"Sir?"

"And to shoulder so much responsibility. Twenty-four, to be chief of the department of a project as sensitive as this one?" She whistled softly. "Starfleet is expecting big things of you, Mr. Blakeslee."

"Not that young. I give you my word, I will do my best, Sir."

"I know you will." She shook her head thoughtfully. "But, yes, you are awfully young." Zanh remembered being twenty-four, even though it was more than a lifetime ago any way you looked at it, considering the traveling that she'd done.

"I'll try not to hold it against you." She smiled wryly and winked at him, and then turned back to her digging.

"If your instincts in battle serve you half as well as your inspiration in revamping the sensors, we shall stand in good stead. But it's my hope we won't need to rely on your talents for anything more than precaution," she stared into the distance, thinking about Taris, and the fact that the Romulans now knew that the Alchemy existed, because of the rescue mission that saved her life.

This was something that caused her no end of guilt, if she were being honest, even only with just herself.

She knew her comment to Blakeslee- and her hopes they'd only need tactical strength as a precaution - were nothing more than wishful thinking. She turned her attention back to their conversation.

"I'm told that your wife and children have been delayed. Everything all right?"

"The ship they are traveling on had a warp coil issue. Hopefully they'll be arriving soon."

"I look forward to working with her. I've heard that she's set herself apart in her field."

"Yes," Zander replied, beaming proudly. "Samthia is unique, and extraordinary, in every way."

Zanh smiled. "I'm glad for the opportunity to serve with you both."

Zander took note of the words she chose, "serve with you" and not "command you" or "have you on the crew." She was a different breed, this one. Her reputation proceeded her, but Zander was glad to see that it seemed much of the hype about her being an unholy terror was just that- hype.

"One more thing before you go." The Captain raised the spade again in thought, but was careful this time not to gesture too wildly with it. "Did you happen to take Introduction to Universal Sign Language at the Academy?"

"No," Zander asked, intrigued. "May I inquire as to why you are asking?"

"Our ship's Chaplain, Vedek Jariel, does not have the power of vocal speech. He uses Universal Sign instead of turning to technology to communicate, whenever possible," she paused.

"Several members of the senior staff, myself included, already understand it and can translate for him. But in case of away missions, I would like everyone on the senior staff to have at least a rudimentary understanding of the language, and thereby the man. He's a former ambassador and gifted diplomat, so I am certain that his away missions will be varied and frequent."

"I will make learning a priority, Sir."

"Thank you. I'll have someone arrange a little crash course for those who need to learn, you're not the only one. It won't be bad, I promise."

"Is there anything else, Captain?" Zander was anxious to go back to his work on the sensors upgrades.

"No, you're free to go. Thank you for your time, Mr. Blakeslee, I will see you soon in the senior staff meeting if not before that on the bridge. Or, at the dinner tonight?"

Zander stood and stretched, then looked downward toward her. "Yes, and I thank you, Captain."

He turned to go, then looked back. "May I ask you a personal question, Captain Zanh?"

"Shoot."

"Do you have any family aboard ship?"

Zanh smiled. "Reece is either my first-born child or my pet, I haven't figured out quite which."

Blakeslee simply smiled politely, knowing she was evading the question but not wanting to press her further.

Zanh regarded him a moment. He seemed sincerely interested in her life, and that gave her pause.

He deserved an answer.

"Vedek Jariel is," she searched for the appropriate Standard word. "Well, if we were Terran, I suppose you would call him my fiancé. All I can say is that he's my…"

She smiled the kind of smile that one only can when thinking about the person they love most, above all others.

"He's my motivation."



---------------------------------
Lt. Zander Blakeslee
Chief of Operations
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

and

Captain Zanh
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012