A chime sounded in Oren-De's ready room to alert the captain that he had a visitor. "Enter," he said simply.
War'en entered and waited for Oren-De to finish what he was reading on his padd. The Trill was trying to suppress the anxiety he was feeling over what he was about to say, but he was only partially successfull. Still, if anything showed on his face, Oren-De didn't give any indication of it when he looked up.
"Ah, Commander Lok. What can I do for you?"
War'en took a breath, steeled himself, and looked Oren-De in the eyes. "Sir, I need to speak with you about crew morale. I think we have a serious problem."
At first, Oren-De didn't react at all and continued to look at War'en. Then, to the engineer's surprise, the captain let out a sigh and leaned forward in his chair. "Yes, I know. I've been aware of it since I came on board the Pandora."
War'en's look of complete surprise warranted an eyebrow raise from Oren-De, which in itself also caught War'en off-guard. "Why are you so surprised, Commander? Did you think I hadn't noticed? As I've said before, I am aware of the recent history of this ship's crew. There is also the matter of Lieutenant Roberts'... outburst... on the Bridge. Finally, there is the feeling I get from the crew when I walk the halls of this ship. It is painfully obvious that they're uneasy."
It took War'en a moment to find his voice. He hadn't expected Oren-De to be in agreement with him on the point of crew morale, so he was already having to adapt the agenda he'd been going over in his head for the last few days. Finally, he realized that in order to go further, he'd have to step outside the limits of rank.
"Sir, permission to speak freely?"
"Of course, Commander."
"Sir, if you've known about this problem with morale... then why do you treat the crew the way you do?"
Oren-De was taken aback by the blunt question, and now it was his turn to take a moment to think. After a moment, the Enhasan sat back in his chair and looked up at War'en. "I wasn't aware I was treating the crew badly."
"Well, not badly... but it just seems like you don't care. You don't interact with the crew at all, and they notice."
"Commander, it isn't my responsibility to be the ship's counselor and deal with each crew member's deep-seated emotional problems. That may have been possible back during peacetime when the Federation didn't have the Klingons, Borg, and Undine coming at it from all sides, but at present it's difficult enough keeping this crew alive."
War'en began feeling frustrated as Oren-De positioned the argument on the other, equally unreasaonable extreme. "Sir, that's not what I'm suggesting. It's just that you act like most of the crew doesn't even exist, or like they're robots. What we do out here takes a toll and it helps when people know that their captain cares."
"So what would you have me do, Commander? Should I roam the halls weeping, or perhaps I should sulk down in sickbay like Lieutenant Calvin, shirking my duties and responsibilities to both my crew and Starfleet? I doubt either would do much good when the Borg board again and assimilate the crew wholesale because I wasn't on the Bridge keeping things under control."
"It won't really matter, because you treat the crew like a bunch of drones anyway!" War'en snapped, and he instantly regretted it. The silence between the two men was intolerably uncomfortable, and War'en was the first to break it.
"I'm sorry, captain. What I mean is... there is an area, between the pity party that Lieutenant Calvin is throwing in sick bay and the hazard suit you wear with regard to the crew, that you need to find. I know that it's difficult, but this isn't an Enhasan ship. This is a Starfleet ship, and--"
"Enhasan ship? What does that have to do with this?" Oren-De asked, his voice pointed. A pit formed in War'en's stomach when he realized the mistake he had made.
"Sir... I mean... I know that Enhasan culture has a different view of individuals than most other Federation planets, and that it's... sir?"
Oren-De had lowered his face into the palm of his hand and was shaking his head. War'en looked at him quizzically. "Sir?" he asked again.
The Enhasan looked up at War'en but didn't say anything. Instead, he tapped something on his console, causing the display on the side of his ready room to blink to life. War'en recognized what came up as the official Starfleet descriptor of the Meritocracy of Enhasa, the same file that Red had shown him a few days before.
"Commander," Oren-De began with an annoyed tone, "can I assume that you've read this?"
"Yes, sir..."
Oren-De let out a sigh and scrolled down to a section of the file. It was a section that dealt with the psychological profile of Enhasans, specifically those serving in Starfleet. Oren-De began reading one line aloud. "It has also been noted that while the environment of the Enhasan caste system seems to limit the creative and synergistic thinking of Enhasan officers, they are exceedingly efficient and excel at delegation and organization."
He looked back at War'en. "One of my instructors at the Academy, in an evaluation of mine, once stated that my 'social behavior' was a 'likely a product of Enhasa's strict meritocratic system'. Commander, ever since my last CO showed that to me, I have wanted to take the authors of these evaluations and show them 'the business end of a phaser rifle', as Humans so elegantly put it. For all it's talk of diversity, the Federation and Starfleet can be quite poor at understanding cultures which are different from the ideals in their charters. I don't suppose it ever occurred to you that, just as Trills and Humans have a wide range of personalities, that Enhasans might as well?"
War'en felt himself shrink under Oren-De's glare. He had royally messed this up and now he just sounded like an idiot. "No... sir. I guess I didn't," he finally forced himself to say.
"Believe it or not, Commander, many Enhasans possess a great capacity for compassion, understanding, and empathy. In fact, those that have exceeding amounts of it are trained to be caretakers of our children, so that they may not only benefit from these traits but learn them as well. The only part of me that is a 'product of the meritocracy' is that, as I possessed aptitudes in skills that would make me an excellent soldier, I was raised to be an excellent soldier. Additionally, you might be surprised to know that a number other similar individuals were actually quite social and empathetic. It is simply a skillset that I, as an individual, do not have an aptitude for."
"I understand, sir."
"Good, then ca--"
"Unfortunately, sir, a captain needs to be more than just a solider."
Oren-De looked at War'en in stunned silence. War'en took the opportunity and ran with it, because he knew he wouldn't have the nerve to say the rest if he waited. "A captain needs to be different things at different times, sir. Yes, a captain needs to keep calm and control in a crisis. But a captain also needs to cultivate trust among the crew. A captain needs to know what's going on so that problems don't continue to fester and grow into incidents like what happened on the Bridge with Talona. I mean, captain, she's one of your senior officers! You see her every day in our morning meetings. Each one of those meetings was an opportunity to intervene, but you didn't. Instead, it just continued to get worse until it finally manifested on the Bridge during a critical moment. As captain of this ship, the responsibility for what happened falls squarely on your shoulders!"
More silence passed. Oren-De studied War'en, who was doing everything in his power to maintain his composure. After what seemed like an eternity, Oren-De took a breath and seemed to deflate right in front of his first officer.
"You're correct, Commander. I cannot argue with your assessment of the situation. I failed to observe Lieutenant Roberts' emotional degradation until it was too late, and it meant a failure in our standing mission."
War'en wasn't sure what to say. He just watched Oren-De, who was looking at his desk in thought. Finally, he looked up at War'en with a softer expression on his face.
"Commander, what would you recommend?"
"Well... I..." War'en stumbled, not really sure what to say. The conversation had taken so many turns that he found himself lost now that Oren-De actually seemed to agree with him. Oren-De's expectant look forced him to finally get it out.
"Interact with the crew more, sir. That goes for both the senior officers as well as crewmen. When you're off-duty, socialize. Drop by the lounge area some time, if only to get a gauge for how everyone's doing. Also, stop always referring to us by rank, please! No captain actually does that. I mean, did any of your CO's actually refer to you as a rank all the time?"
Oren-De shook his head, though it was questionable as to how much he agreed with the practice. After a moment, Oren-De spoke. "I have a proposition. I will endeavor to be more social with the crew and take an interest in their personal well-being... if you, as first officer, agree to help me. If there's something I'm missing, let me know."
War'en's face practically lit up like a warp nacelle. "Yes, sir! That would be... excellent."
The faintest smile cracked on Oren-De's face. "Then we're agreed, Comm-- Mr. Lok. Is there anything else I shou--"
Oren-De was once again interrupted, this time by the chime of his ready room door. He glanced at War'en, who shook his head to indicate he was finished. "Come in."
Maggie practically burst through the doors as they opened, her face full of frustration from her recent encounter with Lieutenant Calvin. War'en looked at her in surprise, but Oren-De took it in stride. It didn't take a Betazoid to know what had probably caused this.
"Lieutenant Calvin?"
"Completely uncooperative, and he's hiding behind Admiral Quinn's rank, not to mention any possible sympathy he can get from the destruction of the New Orleans."
Oren-De glanced at War'en, then back at Maggie. "Then I believe it's time that I spoke with Lieutenant Calvin personally. However, allow me to make a quick hail to Starfleet. I will join both of you outside when I'm finished."
Maggie nodded and turned on her heel to leave. War'en followed, already imagining the inevitable confrontation.
