04-12-2024, 07:36 AM
Alex did his best to hide his reaction, but it was the same sort of struggle every parent is familiar with in trying to maintain their composure while dealing with a stubborn child who insists they know more than the parent does. The difference here was that Alex was trying not to laugh at her while Shione appeared more the parent who wanted to take her over her knee. Fortunately, Alex held up a hand to Shione and said, "Breathe...try to just breathe a moment while I give this another try. Okay?"
Alex then ran his hand slowly over his face while he quickly composed his thoughts, "Jez, you have made several presumptions that are not making this any easier. Thankfully, you're also expressing the desire to comply with what we're telling you and you're willing to work on this...issue. That is a step in the right direction. I will say again, in spite of how well you are convinced that you conducted yourself with perfect discretion on the Bridge, you did not. Take a moment to just think over how your own words tried to justify sticking your tongue out at an officer while in a conversation with the Commanding Officer you just met is suppose to be discreet. As for a mission, this ship IS on a mission and the Bridge crew is actively engaged in that mission. That's why I immediately tried to remove us all from the Bridge to have a conversation. None of that should have needed to happen on the Bridge. I've seen a Lieutenant banned from the Bridge for less, and they were performing their actual duties at the time."
He paused a moment and then continued, "My point is that you might think you're doing a great job at hiding your behavior, but that's not for you to judge. It is actually based on what others are or are not observing, not what you think they should be observing. If you have to justify it to them and explain something away, then you've failed to avoid their attention. We did not eavesdrop on your conversation. We saw the equivalent of you two leaning over and whispering into each other's ears. We saw a conversation, but not what it was. Technically, such communication is very hard to pick up on. You actually have to read the mind of the person as they are trying to send it, which is extremely difficult to do if you are trained in shielding your thoughts from the prying efforts of others. Such invasive behavior is quite forbidden and is considered a form of assault, a punishable offense."
Alex leaned back again relaxing a bit more, "I'm a bit concerned about your statement that you and another tried to use your abilities to try and prevent a hostile situation from turning violent. That insinuates something that perhaps we don't want to even discuss, because of the implications. Perhaps you simply meant to say something else in the confusion of all this talk about dangerous outcomes. How about we avoid all discussion on that matter and focus on some simple facts that I'm pretty sure we can all agree on. Does that sound good?"
He glanced at Shione and then back to Jez without really waiting for an answer from either, obviously presuming he was correct and ignoring any actual comments to the contrary. "Good, then let's say that we have established that there are things about the extent of and use of your abilities that you require remedial training on. Until such time as your supervisor is convinced that you can use them responsibly, you are being ordered to not use them other than in complete privacy. To be clear, that means we shouldn't know about any use of them at all unless as part of the training. The order you've been given is official in that it has come from a superior officer in your chain of command, though in an effort to keep this as unofficial as possible, the only record of this will be that there was a conversation about it, clarifying policies and protocols. If at any time you feel a need to speak with the Captain about it, you are always at liberty to do so, but if you feel the need to escalate it, that means the Captain will need to know...well...everything about it. We are trying to help you avoid that, so although you're always within your rights to do so, I point out that it would likely be counter productive. As per the facts thus far, this also means that you understand that we do in fact know more about this and have more experience in this field than you do. If we didn't it would be rather silly to think that we should be training you on the matter. When I say we, I'm mostly meaning me, since I am likely to be the one doing all the dirty work on this fine project I've clearly stepped in up to my thigh. This finally leads me to one final thing that I need to be clear on, because it is...delicate..."
He shifted a little in his seat, tried to say something and then stopped. He opened his mouth to try again, but stopped himself once more, making a face as if he tasted something he wasn't pleased with. Finally, he took a breath and let it out as a sigh of resignation and forced himself to carefully say the words, "At some point...should we do this...you and I are going to encounter things about each other. I promise to minimize it as best I can, but it is a it like teaching you to swim in that I can't do it without you and I both getting wet in the process. We're dealing with our minds here. We're people and our thoughts, memories and emotions...they're messy, painful and private things. We have wonderful memories too, but even the best of us are an odd mixture of what makes us who we are and all that stuff is in there. I'm not a counselor with professional techniques that were taught as part of one of my PHDs. I may have a couple of degrees, but not in this. This is more like me teaching you how to surf. It's something I know and you want me to teach you. I'm going to swear to you that I'll keep you safe, but if you think this is going to all be simple and you're not going to swallow any water, then don't bother trying. Do you understand me?"
== Tags to Shione and Jez ==
Alex then ran his hand slowly over his face while he quickly composed his thoughts, "Jez, you have made several presumptions that are not making this any easier. Thankfully, you're also expressing the desire to comply with what we're telling you and you're willing to work on this...issue. That is a step in the right direction. I will say again, in spite of how well you are convinced that you conducted yourself with perfect discretion on the Bridge, you did not. Take a moment to just think over how your own words tried to justify sticking your tongue out at an officer while in a conversation with the Commanding Officer you just met is suppose to be discreet. As for a mission, this ship IS on a mission and the Bridge crew is actively engaged in that mission. That's why I immediately tried to remove us all from the Bridge to have a conversation. None of that should have needed to happen on the Bridge. I've seen a Lieutenant banned from the Bridge for less, and they were performing their actual duties at the time."
He paused a moment and then continued, "My point is that you might think you're doing a great job at hiding your behavior, but that's not for you to judge. It is actually based on what others are or are not observing, not what you think they should be observing. If you have to justify it to them and explain something away, then you've failed to avoid their attention. We did not eavesdrop on your conversation. We saw the equivalent of you two leaning over and whispering into each other's ears. We saw a conversation, but not what it was. Technically, such communication is very hard to pick up on. You actually have to read the mind of the person as they are trying to send it, which is extremely difficult to do if you are trained in shielding your thoughts from the prying efforts of others. Such invasive behavior is quite forbidden and is considered a form of assault, a punishable offense."
Alex leaned back again relaxing a bit more, "I'm a bit concerned about your statement that you and another tried to use your abilities to try and prevent a hostile situation from turning violent. That insinuates something that perhaps we don't want to even discuss, because of the implications. Perhaps you simply meant to say something else in the confusion of all this talk about dangerous outcomes. How about we avoid all discussion on that matter and focus on some simple facts that I'm pretty sure we can all agree on. Does that sound good?"
He glanced at Shione and then back to Jez without really waiting for an answer from either, obviously presuming he was correct and ignoring any actual comments to the contrary. "Good, then let's say that we have established that there are things about the extent of and use of your abilities that you require remedial training on. Until such time as your supervisor is convinced that you can use them responsibly, you are being ordered to not use them other than in complete privacy. To be clear, that means we shouldn't know about any use of them at all unless as part of the training. The order you've been given is official in that it has come from a superior officer in your chain of command, though in an effort to keep this as unofficial as possible, the only record of this will be that there was a conversation about it, clarifying policies and protocols. If at any time you feel a need to speak with the Captain about it, you are always at liberty to do so, but if you feel the need to escalate it, that means the Captain will need to know...well...everything about it. We are trying to help you avoid that, so although you're always within your rights to do so, I point out that it would likely be counter productive. As per the facts thus far, this also means that you understand that we do in fact know more about this and have more experience in this field than you do. If we didn't it would be rather silly to think that we should be training you on the matter. When I say we, I'm mostly meaning me, since I am likely to be the one doing all the dirty work on this fine project I've clearly stepped in up to my thigh. This finally leads me to one final thing that I need to be clear on, because it is...delicate..."
He shifted a little in his seat, tried to say something and then stopped. He opened his mouth to try again, but stopped himself once more, making a face as if he tasted something he wasn't pleased with. Finally, he took a breath and let it out as a sigh of resignation and forced himself to carefully say the words, "At some point...should we do this...you and I are going to encounter things about each other. I promise to minimize it as best I can, but it is a it like teaching you to swim in that I can't do it without you and I both getting wet in the process. We're dealing with our minds here. We're people and our thoughts, memories and emotions...they're messy, painful and private things. We have wonderful memories too, but even the best of us are an odd mixture of what makes us who we are and all that stuff is in there. I'm not a counselor with professional techniques that were taught as part of one of my PHDs. I may have a couple of degrees, but not in this. This is more like me teaching you how to surf. It's something I know and you want me to teach you. I'm going to swear to you that I'll keep you safe, but if you think this is going to all be simple and you're not going to swallow any water, then don't bother trying. Do you understand me?"
== Tags to Shione and Jez ==