Second Impressions

Posted on Tue Sep 8th, 2026 @ 12:08am by Commander Alexander Espersen & Crewman Erika Yang & Lieutenant M'Vatha Saelia Wadtai

2,148 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Die Hard: Chimera Edition (side posts)
Location: Executive Officer's Office
Timeline: After “New Waters”

There was something rather strange about reporting aboard a new ship as a department head. Saelia had technically already reported aboard. She had met Captain Skyie—or Cally, as she had been firmly instructed to call her—and had survived the encounter with both her dignity and her uniform intact. Mostly. Now came the other half of the command equation. The Executive Officer. Saelia made her way through the Chimera's corridors with considerably more confidence than she had possessed when she'd first stepped from the turbolift onto the bridge. She was beginning to recognise intersections now, although she was under no illusion that she actually knew where she was going without the computer's assistance. That would come. Her meeting with Cally had also given her something that personnel records hadn't.

Context. The Chimera wasn't simply a collection of officers with colourful service histories. It was a crew that had been given another chance and, somewhere along the way, had become fiercely protective of that chance—and apparently of each other. Family, Cally had called them. Saelia understood family. She was considerably less certain she understood the Chimera's particular interpretation of it yet. That was one of the reasons she wanted to meet the Executive Officer. A Captain could tell her what a ship was supposed to be. An XO usually knew what it actually was.

They dealt with the schedules, disagreements, personnel problems, exhausted department heads, junior officers who made questionable decisions, and all the countless small complications that never quite became important enough to reach the centre chair. In Saelia's experience, Executive Officers and Chief Counsellors could either become extremely useful allies or spend half their lives disagreeing over where personnel management ended and crew welfare began. She preferred the former.

Reaching the XO's office, Saelia paused outside. She resisted the urge to straighten her uniform. She had done that before meeting Cally. In retrospect, that preparation had been somewhat unnecessary. Still, there was no guarantee the entire command staff conducted meetings with their feet on desks and their uniforms half undone. Saelia smiled faintly at the memory. "One Captain does not constitute a statistically significant sample," she murmured. She reached for the annunciator and pressed it. Time to meet the other person responsible for keeping this particular family functioning.

Hearing the door chime, Commander Alexander Espersen called “Enter” and the door opened, revealing to his guest the current state of his office. “Sorry, I’ll be with you in a moment. Just finishing something.”

PADDs were stacked high on one corner of the desk, though what was much more unusual was the segment of computer core and the open toolkit, the spanner from which being handled by a Crewman wearing blue.

“That’s good, Ms. Yang,” he said. “You can see how it’s been repolarized? It’s ready to be used again.” He looked up to see a face he’d previously seen in the package of new crew files. “Counselor,” he said with a smile and nod. “Welcome aboard.” He took the tool back from the Crewman. “Bring this back to sickbay and it should just click into place. Call Ms. Tanikawa if there’s a problem. Dismissed.”

The Crewman—Ms. Yang—nodded and left with her computer piece, passing the new guest.

“Come on in, Counselor,” the XO said, inviting her in more fully. “Forgive the mess. I’m Commander Alexander Espersen.” He took a moment to put the tools away as she closed the distance to his desk.

Now this she understood. An XO who trained his crew, helped and watched. She held out her hand, human fashion. "Commander. Lieutenant M'Vatha Saelia Wadtai. Reporting." She paused. "Easier of you call me Saelia."

“Saelia then,” he said, firmly accepting her handshake. “And please call me Alex, except on the bridge. Come, take a seat while I finish cleaning up.”

Saelia slid into a seat and watched with curiosity as he moved around his office. Part of her wondered what story he had. Something beneath the official dossier. "If you want i can come back" She offered.

“No, no,” he said, waving off the idea. “A little over a year ago I identified a few of the crewmembers with greatest need for guidance here. Erika Yang, who just left, one of them. She’s a unit clerk in sickbay. It was a tough go but her and the others have come together really well. She tried repairing part of her station’s computer terminal but it was trickier than she thought.” He finished packing things up, set the toolbox on the floor, and took his seat back. “I like getting my hands dirty now and again. Anyway, welcome aboard. I trust your arrival has gone smoothly?”

Saelia smiled. "Smoothly may be a relative term." There was enough amusement in her voice to make it clear she wasn't complaining. "My quarters exist, my belongings appear to have arrived on the same ship I did, and Engineering has apparently managed the environmental modifications without anyone deciding that an Aruilaen immersion pool constitutes an unacceptable threat to structural integrity." She considered that for a moment. "So, by Starfleet transfer standards, I think I'm doing remarkably well." Her smile widened slightly. "And I met Cally." She suspected that statement required no further explanation.

The XO grinned. Indeed, no further explanation was needed.

Saelia settled back into the chair, but her attention briefly shifted toward the door through which Yang had disappeared.
"Actually, what I just walked in on makes something she told me rather more interesting." She looked back at Alex.
"Cally described this crew as family. She also told me that a lot of the people aboard were given another chance here after Starfleet had already formed opinions about who they were." Saelia gestured lightly toward the now-closed door. "Then I walk into your office and find the Executive Officer teaching a sickbay unit clerk how to repair her own terminal."
There was no judgement in the observation. Quite the opposite. "I like that." She paused. "I've spent enough years working with officers whose worst mistake followed them through every subsequent assignment. Sometimes deservedly. Sometimes not. Either way, people have a remarkable tendency to become whatever everyone around them continually expects them to be." Her expression became thoughtful. "Giving someone the opportunity to become something different is considerably harder." Saelia glanced at the toolbox on the floor. "And apparently involves spanners."

He chuckled at that. “In my experience it often does. That’s the former engineer in me though, I suppose.” He smiled and leaned forward on his desk. “You’re right, of course. Almost everyone assigned here—yourself and a few others excepted—are here because of their mistakes. But those who exiled us didn’t expect us to thrive together. Our failings are shored up by others’ strengths.”

Saelia listened to him, his words, the way he spoke. She watched his face, his body. And when he finished speaking Saelia nodded slowly as she considered it. Then she let her lips quirk "You are different from the information provided I will give you that. The words "Oscar the Grouch has nothing on him" were mentioned in reports about your... teaching past. But what I just witnessed.. proves that statement false. And I am glad to see it."

“Maybe what I needed were the right students,” he suggested. “As I said, most everyone aboard was sent here because of our failings. But together we’ve found our footing. Put me back in that classroom, maybe I’m Oscar again, but these oddballs I can teach just fine.” He stood up and walked to the replicator. “Can I get you a drink? I need something.”

"Plain water thank you." Saelia replied with a small smile. "Its interesting, is it not, the fact that environment has a lot to do with how people act and react."

“Two glasses of water, cold,” he requested of the replicator, which it dutifully produced. He carried them back to his desk and set one in front of Saelia before sitting down with the other. “It is interesting,” he agreed. “We’ve somehow made an environment conducive to our success. It’s a bit rough sometimes, but who needs smooth?”

"Families are not meant to be all peace and rainbows as humans say. They are complex breathing and growing and ever changing organisms no matter which race or world you live on." Saelia said with a smile. "And this ship seems to be a living embodiment of that." She picked up the water glass and held it, letting the condensation roll onto her hand and it vanished into her skin instantly.

“I couldn’t agree more,” he said. “Now, I’d like for us to have meetings like this regularly. Maybe weekly to start, and adjust as we go? The main agenda item will be crew performance and wellbeing, and identifying anyone who we think would merit from further training and responsibilities. Maybe do it by department? Or find some other way to prioritize. I’m open to ideas.”

Saelia took a sip of the water as she considered the suggestion. "I'd like that." She set the glass down, although a few droplets remained against her fingers before disappearing almost immediately into her skin. "Weekly to begin with makes sense. Especially while I'm learning the crew. You know these people as they are now, whereas at the moment I have names, records and whatever first impressions I manage to collect." She smiled slightly. "And we've already established how much faith I place in old personnel reports." Saelia considered his suggestion of working through the departments. "Department by department could work initially, but I'd rather not make it too rigid. Sometimes the person who needs attention won't be the one whose performance is suffering. It might be the officer who's performing perfectly well while quietly carrying half their department on their shoulders." Her expression became more thoughtful. "I'd suggest we look at three things: people who are struggling, people who might benefit from additional opportunities or mentoring, and people who are doing well but perhaps aren't being noticed for it."

Alex nodded, knowing all too well what she meant. He thought of how they had failed Jenna. None of them had noticed the pressure she’d been under. They had only discovered her stim usage after it had become an addiction.

She glanced toward the door through which Yang had left earlier. "Erika sounds like a good example of that last two. Someone made an effort to teach her rather than simply deciding what she couldn't do." There was one boundary Saelia wanted established early, however. "Obviously, anything discussed with me in a counselling session remains confidential unless there's a genuine safety or fitness-for-duty concern. I won't bring someone's private conversations into these meetings." Her tone remained warm rather than defensive. "But I *can* tell you when I'm seeing broader patterns. A department that's exhausted. Morale beginning to slip. People feeling overlooked. Things that affect the crew without betraying anyone's confidence." She picked up her glass again. "And in return, you can tell me what you're seeing from this side of the ship."

A small smile appeared on her face. "You know, Alex, I think Cally may have accidentally misled me." She paused deliberately. "She described the *Chimera* as a ship full of misfits." Saelia glanced once more at the toolbox before looking back at him. "So far I've met a Captain who fiercely believes in her people and an Executive Officer who apparently spends his spare time teaching them how to repair computer components." Her smile widened. "I'm beginning to suspect the real problem is that Starfleet didn't know what to do with any of you." She lifted her water slightly toward him. "Weekly meetings it is."

Alex’s smile matched hers, and he lifted his glass toward her in response. “I think you’re both right. We’re misfits and Starfleet didn’t know what to do with us. Besides, we’ve taken ownership of that word. I don’t think a single one of us uses it disparagingly.” He finished his drink and set the perspiring glass on his desk.

He quickly accessed his computer screen. “I’ll send you a calendar invite shortly. Yours is still open but I want to move some things around in mine first.” He turned back to her and smiled again. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you today, Saelia. I think we’ll get a lot done together.”

Saelia smiled, finished her water and said "I agree" Then she stood fluidly. "I should get going to my next stop. Thank you for your time Commander"

He stood along with her and collected her empty glass. “Good day, Saelia.”

Saelia smiled saluted and headed out the door.

 

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