"ARGH!" Jesa yelled, releasing pent up frustration for the last hour; hitting the edge of the desk with the flat of her hands. Of course, because of this rather violent action, a whole three stacks of padds slid from the desk onto the floor. "I don't believe this! I've only had this office since yesterday and I had EVERYTHING from the ready-room cleaned up. I had nothing to forward! So how did ALL THIS accumulate in one night!?" She rudely asked the empty four walls of the office.

The echo made Jesa wince, as there was no furnishings in this room, and the carpet did precious little for absorbing Jesa's tirades. Suddenly she understood why the walls of the ready room were designed with padded fabric. But this box they called an office was extremely annoying. It was precisely that, a box, with one desk, one chair behind the desk, two chairs opposite the desk and the door. It was square, and bare, and Jesa hated it with all that was in her.

But beyond all the rest of the annoyances, the "fish tank" window was the most annoying. It was across from Jesa and behind the chairs that sat against it. And *everyone* looked in as they walked by. Everyone---from the cleaning staff, to any of the million or so officers on this base. It felt just like being on the inside of an aquarium! Jesa, being herself, hated the feeling she was being observed, and someone walking by every few second was enough to annoy her greatly. The starbase designers must have thought it was a great idea to motivate productivity, but if one more person walked past that glass... Jesa wouldn't be held responsible for the consequences.

'Just ignore it' her voice of reason urged. The woman grumbled and looked down at her padd, trying to do her best to do just that. At that moment, the detuned ping of a broken door chime was heard. The straw that was to break the camel's back---they could at least have given her an office that worked. Some officer's head was going to be bit clean off for this. Jesa took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, putting the padd down as gently as she could manage.

"Enter." She called, just as she realized the rather perilous path from the door to the desk, blocked by fallen padds. The door opened, squeaking as it went. This truly was the office from Hell. A rather petite young lady looked at the floor curiously, and began to precariously step across the debris, while doing her best to remain at a vague attention. Her balance recovered, she stood before Jesa and saluted. Jesa was about to blink in extreme surprise, but held it in for face's sake. Then she stood and returned the woman's salute more loosely than formally.

"Cadet Gear reporting as ordered, Captain." An innocent, and very naive face stared up at her.

"At ease..." Jesa said, then surveyed the desk around her. "Well, since I can't rightly recall ordering you here, I take it that some orders concerning you are on one of these padds here on the desk... and floor. And since it is very unlikely I will find it within the next minute, would you mind filling me in..." she glanced at Jelandra's collar for confirmation "Cadet?" But silently Jesa wondered what happened; last she knew Jelandra was more into the research and development end of things.

"Aye, Captain!" If she stood any stiffer, and tried to make herself any taller, Jesa was certain that this girl would rupture something. Then again, judging by the Teal uniform, she could probably fix it afterwards. "The Isannah is my practical assessment, sir. I've already sat the written assessments required by the Academy, and all I need now is a positive report here."

'She definitely should meet Alara... it'd be hard to judge which stood stiffer, between them.' Jesa thought. Jesa nodded in understanding. "Very well, as you should know, the exec is in charge of all those on their cadet cruise..." she trailed off, suddenly in realization of a slight drama that was probably going to take place with Lysander being her superior, and the one in charge of her evaluations here. 'Oh Ethan... forgive me' she thought, knowing how uncomfortable this would be especially with Lysander's displayed interest in Terah.

The Commander reestablished eye contact with Jelandra; who was looking at her curiously. "Lost in thought." Jesa explained. "So, report to my first officer," She said, deliberately avoiding the use of his name, as she might not know who was exec "...as he'll be evaluating you. Any questions?"

"Yes, Captain, just one."

Jesa nodded slightly. "Go ahead."

Jelandra looked at Jesa's eyes. Eye contact was the most important thing when dealing with superiors, her father had told her. "How did you refrain from clouting the bas-" She coughed. "I mean, Commander Gear?"

Jesa looked directly back at Jelandra's eyes, holding her thoughts and feelings out of her gaze. It was an extremely personal question, for the mode that Jesa had been dealing with her in currently---Commander to Cadet. But yet she was soon to be Jesa's sister in law, and the woman found the change a bit odd; though why, she didn't know, for Jesa did it all the time.

She remained quiet for a moment, and sat down slowly in thought. "Because I love him, and because... I think he was already doing quite a good job of that himself, Jelandra." She said, using the woman's first name. Then she changed to a more severe tone. "And though he may be your brother, and you have an understanding this way, while you wear that uniform he is your superior, and you will not speak of him in that manner, is that clear?" Jesa said, her tone firm, but not loud; quickly switching back to the former mode of speaking with her---as a cadet.

Jelandra's eyes never moved, never flickered. Jesa could tell she was Buck's sister---their mannerisms were too similar to be anything but familial. "Aye, Captain."

"Dismissed." Jesa said simply, returning the gaze in full strength but not in challenge, simply in acknowledgement.

"Aye, sir." The voice was still soft, and innocent. Jesa wondered just how long it would keep that innocence. To reach this point and still be innocent, the child was either unique in goodness, or she simply hadn't been paying attention to the rest of the Universe. Probably the latter... but such seemed the way with prodigies.

She turned around, smartly. And in a particularly discomforting manner, she marched out of the office. She marched perfectly, not missing step of changing direction, yet not stepping on any of the padds. 'Simple trigonometry' she allowed herself a little smile, but was careful to ensure that Jesa couldn't see it.

Jesa shook her head after her. "I swear that girl is showing off more than any of the wet-behind-the-ears ensigns I've just met in the last few days." She said, looking at the pile of padds and groaning to herself.

'Well, back to the grind. If they don't break ya in the field, they break ya in the office.' Jesa looked up again, and out the window, where Jelandra's form was just disappearing around a bend in the hallway. Somehow, she knew that something was hurting her. For the life of Jesa, she couldn't figure out why she got that impression... The commander shook her head and returned to work.

Loaded: 05.11.2004