I'm Not an Idiot
Posted on Sat Sep 19th, 2026 @ 10:47am by Lieutenant Sivek & Lieutenant C'Mila Juli
Edited on on Sat Sep 26th, 2026 @ 12:56pm
1,326 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
In The Nick Of Time
Location: Mess Hall - Deck 2 - USS Herodotus
Timeline: MD010 1600 hrs
Lieutenant Juli wasn't exactly hungry, but she knew if she didn't eat something soon, she'd feel it later after she had showered and reported for Bridge Duty. She'd been doubling up on PT and Combat Training ever since the incident in the caves on Kroat. Getting shot, seeing her XO get shot and thinking that she might have been killed had rattled her more than she was willing to admit to anyone, even herself.
She had trained for this, even gone on special operations assignments. But, she'd always been lucky enough to get in and out. She was surprised at her own fear, and how it had threatened to paralyze her in the field. And so she trained. Harder. Longer. More intense simulations. All while trying to absorb everything about this new technology that had been previously classified to her.
Morning workouts were the worst because they started before she was fully awake. Afterwards she'd made a habit of dragging her feet to the mess hall, usually for a smoothie: protein, electrolytes, vitamins. She'd drink it slowly on her way back to her quarters, passing the now all too familiar faces in the corridors along the way.
Today she walked into the Mess, her long hair pulled back into two braids, the tendrils that usually framed her face were slicked back with sweat and she was still wearing standard issue all black Starfleet training gear. Usually she didn't clock much going on around her on board the ship at this time of day, but today someone caught her attention as she walked to the replicator. Sitting at a table with his black hair and perma-smug Vulcan expression to match his sour attitude was Sivek.
I guess the Captain finally let him off his leash.
She used to avoid him out of intimidation, slight fear. He had spent the last sixteen years in prison for an unauthorized experiment that killed over 100 people. Yet, here he was, out early, for special skills was all that Juli could assume. But today - Today when she saw him, she didn't feel intimidated, she felt rage.
She paused, looked over to the replicator, and then pivoted, walking directly over to Sivek. She stood a couple of meters from his table and looked down to where he was seated.
"Enjoying your morning tea?"
The question was more of a statement, lacking any warmth or a desire for an actual answer.
Sivek looked up from his data PADD, his customarily neutral expression now visible in high detail. In short order, his brow furrowed slightly and his eyes narrowed as he came to realize the person interrupting him was the Orion woman.
"I'm sorry?" he replied, partly bewildered and entirely annoyed.
"Your condescending attitude and dismissiveness on the Bridge," she stated bluntly. "I don't appreciate it, and I don't deserve it. At the Academy I double-majored in Astrophysics and Chemistry, and in the thirteen years that I've been out of the Academy I've worked on a breadth of assignments, was selected for classifiec projects, and was a Chief Science Officer for three years before taking this post."
"Your problem is that you are so arrogant and you want to approach problem-solving by staying inside one narrow little lane until you get to the end like we're on some sort of luge track. But, like science and engineering and time and universe jumping of all things don't behave like that all the time. Clearly." She punctuated her point with an icy glare.
"So, what's it going to take to make you a team player already?"
Sivek found himself staring at Juli for a little longer. He had listened to everything the Orion female had said but catalogued none of it. His attention, however, remained fixed on her.
There were many things about what she had expressed that he understood. She had two degrees. She had thirteen years of service. She had held a position as Chief Science Officer somewhere before joining the Department of Temporal Investigations. These were stated facts, and Sivek had no reason to doubt or even dispute them.
Her assertion that temporal mechanics did not proceed according to the assumptions of conventional engineering was also correct, although he considered this a very elementary observation given the circumstances in which they were currently operating.
It was the rest of it that escaped him. Particularly the emotion behind it.
"Team player," he repeated, his eyes moving side to side as he attempted to make a connection between the term and their circumstances.
He carefully lowered his PADD onto the table and folded his hands together.
"I did dismiss your proposal," he admitted neutrally. "Though it was not personal."
Sivek looked up at Juli inquiringly. "I do not understand the distinction you are making," he said. "You are asking me to alter the manner in which I interact with you."
Juli had opened her mouth to respond when the comm opened, interrupting her.
[Engineering to Lieutenant Sivek. We are showing a power variance in the secondary plasma manifold, sir.]
His eyes met Juli's as he slowly rose from his chair. "I am on my way."
He gathered his data PADD and for a long moment, considered the Orion woman before him.
"Your objection has been noted, Lieutenant."
It was probably the least satisfying sentence he could have offered in that moment, but personality conflicts were something that transcended species. Sivek had decided long ago that altering his personality to somehow appease his peers was not only a ludicrous idea--it was impossible.
He continued to feel her glare as he left the mess hall.
Sivek walked the corridors toward Engineering with the matter continuing to nag at him. The power variance was real. There was no reason to doubt the engineering technician who had called him. Herodotus required his attention. That was a simple fact.
The conversation with Lieutenant Juli was considerably less simple.
He reviewed it in his mind with the same methodical patience he would apply to a technical problem. She had described her education, her experience, and her previous command responsibilities. None of those facts were especially relevant to whether her proposal on the bridge had been correct. Expertise rarely made one's argument valid. Nor rank. Nor confidence.
And somehow Juli seemed not to really be arguing about the proposal. That was the part he had initially failed to understand. Her argument seemed to be about him.
Sivek felt the slight tug of a frown as he passed a pair of technicians carrying a section of sheathing for a plasma conduit between them. Her accusation of arrogance had been difficult to classify because it contained an emotional component he had no useful metric for measuring. Yes, he had been dismissive--that was accurate. He had also been dismissive because, from his own perspective, the proposal had contained assumptions he considered unsound.
Those two facts apparently could exist together and there was an irritation of truth in that.
He had assumed that if he performed his duties, communicated necessary information, and avoided interfering with the work of others, he was contributing to the crew. That was apparently insufficient.
Somehow, in the disquiet of that revelation, he found her assertion to be correct.
He didn't need to become sociable and he had no desire to become sociable or amiable. He doubted his peers would benefit from such an experiment.
He did, however, need to become more integrated into the social fabric of Herodotus. Though, exactly how Sivek might achieve this seemed to be the most mysterious consideration of all.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant C'amila Juli
Chief Science Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant Sivek
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
RSS Feed