Building Relations through Active Listening

Posted on Tue Oct 20th, 2020 @ 8:38am by Lieutenant Avira zh'Kenarh M.D. & Ensign Elegy Nascimento

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Deck E - Sickbay
Timeline: Day 55, Month 2, Year 0 08:30
1381 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

"I'll tell you a secret," Elegy Nascimento admitted to the doctor. He leaned towards her, from where he was perched on the edge of a biobed. While he spoke, he absently rubbed at his bearded chin. "I couldn't decide if I should bring my problem to you or to our Chief Engineer," Elegy said. Tilting his head to one side, he said, "I think I gambled on you having the kinder bedside manner, Doctor."

Avira closed the medical scanner and looked at the Ensign, "Well, fair warning, I used to be a field medic in the Andorian Imperial Guard. This whole 'office hours' idea is quite new to me." She pushed a strand of hair out of her face and tried to give a reassuring smile as she added, "also, if it can't be fixed by turning it off and back on again, I'm afraid I won't be able to help with any technical issues."

"I did try turning them off and on again, Lieutenant," Elegy said dryly, his pleasant smile compressing into a thin line across his face. Pivoting his neck to show his ear to Avira, Elegy said, "It's my cochlear implants. I've been hearing a hiss of static the past few days." He rubbed his chin again and considered Avira head-on to make a suggestion. Elegy asked, "Is there a senior officer I could meet with?"

"Ah, alright," Avira couldn't imagine how annoying that would be, then he requested to see a senior officer, "Well, I'm the senior most medical officer on this ship, if you want to talk to my supervisor you'd have to go to the Commander." She gave a bit of a shrug, "Not sure how helpful that would be, though I do believe she has a background in communications." In the meanwhile she had opened up a programme on her medical scanner to link up with the ochular implant, "How about I run a diagnostic on the thing first, see where we end up?"

While Avira described her strategy to assess the difficulty Elegy was experiencing, Elegy maintained eye contact with her and he nodded at each of the salient points. Her self-proclaimed lack of technical skill had tightened the expression on his face, but Elegy could clearly see the ease with which she programmed the medical scanner. It brought back the smile to his eyes, and he told her, "I love that journey for us. Thank you kindly." Elegy tilted his head slightly and he asked, "Please keep talking, Lieutenant. I can let you know if I notice any difference in the sound quality. I have to say, what I'm curious to hear you talk about if you signed up with Starfleet for the duty or the adventure?"

Avira frowned a bit as she was making adjustments and having to answer questions at the same time, "I'm actually officially not enlisted with Starfleet, I'm in the Andorian Imperial Guard, joined an exchange programme with United Earth's Starfleet to help build relations between our two people." She made a small adjustment to a frequency amplifier that seemed slightly out of line with the rest of the device, it immediately started making a louder beep that was even audible to her, she immediately reverted the change, "I'm sorry, Ensign, are you alright?"

The sharp sound had left Elegy with his jaw set and his eyes screwed shut, but it had been brief. After taking a deep breath and shaking his head, Elegy said, "I felt that one in my teeth, but I'll be okay." Nodding at Avira, Elegy supposed, "It sounds like you're here for the duty. 'Building relations.' Diplomacy. Do you feel responsible for helping to keep relations between our two worlds friendly?"

Avira smiled a bit half-heartedly, "I've been damaging relations between my people and others for long enough, I felt it was time to make amends," while there was no reason to be dishonest about her intentions and motivations she kind of surprised herself with the blunt honesty about the matter. The truth was she had to get away from the destructive nature of the Guard, especially in their conflict with the Vulcans. The entire Andorian Empire had to. If she was just one drop in that ocean, that was fine with her, "so, I think I might have been able to fix it."

Tilting his head slightly, Elegy pointed a cochlear implant closer to Avira. The curiosity behind Elegy's eyes had clouded over and his lips thinned into a wince. "I'm sorry," Elegy interjected, sounding a little panicked, "Did you say 'fix it' or did you say 'f**k it'? Your voice is... it's muffled now..."

Shaking her head apologetically, "No, that's not what I said," Avira adjusted some of the settings on the medical scanner and then adjusted another setting on the earpiece. She should've paid more attention during medical aides class, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience," It didn't sound too sincere since she was focusing on getting the settings right and it came out very rehearsed, "Is this better?"

Now Elegy was nodding his head and he answered with an emphatic, "Yes. Yes, that is getting better. Thank you." Elegy closed his eyes, so he could focus entirely on what he could hear through the cochlear implants, without any lip reading to assist. "I heard you say you want to make amends," Elegy said. "What would it mean to you if you could make amends?"

Avira shrugged, "I honestly don't know. I hope it might give some sense of peace," the truth was that those she had killed were still haunting her to this day. The battles she had been in, her own people she had not been able to save. The hope was that if she did enough positive things it might drown out all of the negative. She knew, of course, that's not how it worked and that she'd have to deal with a lot of unresolved issues, but Elegy wasn't a counsellor and there wasn't one on the ship, so she'd just have to deal with it in her own way, "I think we've reached the limit of my technical ability in regards to your cochlear implant." She wanted to change the subject as the feeling of dread was slowly accumulating in her stomach.

Looking up at her, Elegy emphatically said, "You've done a wonderful job, Lieutenant." He put one hand over one cochlear implant and listened for the hum of the warp engine and life-support, and then he put his hand over the other ear. "I wouldn't knock your technical ability if I were you. Battlefield medicine is one hell of a tutor," Elegy insisted, with a small nod. "You may have come aboard for the duty," Elegy said, "but I was swayed into Starfleet for the adventure." As soon as he said, it, the smile on his lips slipped, slightly.

Deadpan, Elegy admitted, "...I don't think I could have predicted said adventure would involve an Andorian poking probes in my ears, while we're being hunted as thieves by a clan of aliens."

"I'm not sure anyone could've predicted that, and still pass the rigorous psych-eval before being allowed onboard," Avira admitted. It wasn't the most ideal start of either of their Starfleet careers, and definitely neither of them would think this would be the end of the line for them either. That thought made her antennae droop, but she tried to shrug it off with a smile, "let me know if they act up again, I'm sure we can do some more fiddling around with the settings."

Nodding at Avira, Elegy said, "I appreciate it greatly," and he signed thank you to her with his hands. He braced his palms against the biobed and he rose to his feet. "I pray the rest of your medical mysteries," Elegy said, "are just as easily curable."

"You and me both," Avira didn't quite know what the sign he gave meant, or if it was even a sign of anything other than an idiosyncrasy, she simply mimicked him as he started to move away towards the exit, figuring it was probably some sort of thing he did when saying 'see you later', "Hope to not see you in here again."

 

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