<USS Avalon> First Meetings with the Unusual

First Meetings with the Unusual 
By Marine Captain Adrian Jackson Phillips and Ensign Telea Erridim
 
Adrian was furious. He had returned back with four injured men, regardless of 
the fact that Walker seemed to enjoy using his race's unique abilities and 
causing unnecessary action from his squad. Most of the wounds were minor, but 
it didn't excuse this fact. Now of course, he had just been informed of the 
video of the assault on the Regellian officer. 
 
He was throughly aware of what Regellian punishments were like, but the marines 
had a very different tolerance for this sort of behavior, and he personally 
didn't care what sort of repercussions he would face. Turning out of his desk, 
he headed rather briskly down towards the brig, about to have a good 'talk' 
with this Jackson fellow. Talea saw him, as did Cialra, Cialra noticing his 
anger from just his body language. Talea winced and would have backed off, but 
Cialra shot her a significant glance, and Talea stopped, trembling slightly, as 
Cialra said quietly, "Greetings, Marine Captain Phillips." 
 
"Hello there Ensign and another new person who I have not met." He stopped 
where he was to speak with the girls, but he had no intention of staying long. 
"I trust you are feeling better since you have come down to Security and the 
brig, Ms. Erridim. Don't worry though, your assailant will be dealt with by 
Starfleet soon enough." 
 
Cialra said quietly, "Captain Phillips, please calm down. Talea has been 
through quite enough anger on this day." Her tone was calming, as she was 
trying to keep Talea from bolting in her growing panic over the Marine 
Captain's anger. 
 
A blink was the first response Adrian gave, then he physically relaxed for a 
moment as the information settled. "Well now. I apologize, Ms. Erridim. I had 
forgotten about your race's abilities." He knew the anger was still there, but 
now it was more replaced by determination at this point. Turning over to 
Cialra, Phillips inquired. "And you, ma'am, are?" 
 
Screwing up her courage without it being quite apparent, Talea said quietly, 
"Marine Captain Phillips, this lady," she indicated Cialra, "is Cialra, the 
avatar of my shuttle's machine intelligence." She paused, then commented, "One 
thing I do know, for I am a Regellian Marine myself. Regellian Marines are 
trained not to be glory hounds. If Walker has done something to anger you, it 
is likely that if he hadn't done whatever it was, the consequences could have 
been far worse." 
 
"Walker is on my list, but he's all right. He'll get chewed out more so for 
discipline's sake then anything, I know that happened with him and I'm not 
angry about that particular situation, at least right now." He sighed for a 
moment before looking back over at Talea. "I have personal issues with 
criminals who find assaulting women to be something enjoyable or rational, and 
that is whats got me all screwed up right now." He nodded at Cialra at this 
point, a simple enough greeting. "But no worries, ma'am, my anger will soon be 
over. How are you feeling now, however?" His face had a hint of concern in it. 
Obviously, the situation at hand bothered him. 
 
Talea said quietly, "As you will doubtless learn soon, Sir, my upbringing 
wasn't exactly kind to me. More I shall not say in present company," she 
gestured toward Jackson with a graceful motion, "lest other ideas surface in 
certain minds." Her fear was diminishing, since Cialra wasn't trying to defend 
her from the other; the man must, therefore, be one she could trust.  

She inhaled, then sighed before finishing the inhale, throttling down her fear 
with an increasing effort. "I am nervous, Captain, around any man . . . except 
one, and I have no understanding why that is. With him, I feel safe, but as I 
just said, I have no understanding of the situation, and that concerns me 
greatly." She smiled slightly. "From the way Cialra's acting around you, I 
infer that you are one to be at least not run away from, and that is a relief, 
to be quite honest." She then fell silent, wondering in the depths of her mind 
when he'd punish her for her behavior, even though it was reasonable, to her 
opinion. 
 
Adrian nodded quietly, understanding the situation to what he thought was the 
best of his ability. "Well, don't worry, Ensign. I mean you no harm. However, I 
must continue and not hold you back from any duties you have to go attend to. 
We will talk again in the future, I'm sure, and I hope that you come to feel 
safe on this ship. It's my job to make it feel that way, after all." 
 
Talea smiled slightly amd stated softly, "Thank you, Captain Phillips. I shall 
do my best to beat this problem of mine, which, I suspect, could easily have 
career-limiting potentials." She then said, "May the Lords of Light guide and 
protect thee, Sir," before quietly withdrawing to an area of the ship that was 
hopefully less noisy. She was briefly tempted to visit Walker's quarters, but 
wasn't certain that course wouldn't get them both into a world of trouble, so 
suppressed the thought. 
 
Several minutes later, she routed a brief message to the comsystem in Walker's 
quarters that read, "I am not angry or upset with you. After reviewing what was 
going on at the time, I now realize I was in serious error to take offense at 
your apparent tone, when you were, in fact, not addressing me. Forgive me, 
please?" She signed it only with her initials, but suspected he'd know who had 
sent it all the same. 
 
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