Star Trek: Starbase 777 - cos′-ready-room

[PADD] From: Cadet Sauk Tral To: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey

Hello, sir! It looks like you’re my mentor, so I was wondering if you wanted to meet up at some point soon? -Cadet Tral

[PADD] From: Lieutenant Austin Whidbey To: Cadet Sauk Tral Hello Cadet, I've heard great things about you and I'm excited at the opportunity to help mentor you. Feel free to come by my office whenever you'd like Sincerely, Austin Whidbey

A knock sounded through the room.

"Come in, please." He announced to the guest at the door. He didn't really bother to take his feet off from his desk but he ran a hand through his hair quickly to straighten it up.

Sauk entered, giving the Lieutenant a nervous smile. “Sir,” He nodded politely as his emotional support cat padded in and sat beside Sauk’s feet. “Cadet Sauk Tral.”

He nodded to the Cadet. "Afternoon Cadet, you may have a seat." He gave a slightly judgemental look towards the cat, questioning why a starfleet officer would be at a point where they need a support animal.

Sauk sat down cautiously. He knew this man, but he wasn’t sure he knew who Sauk was. He caught the glance at Shoe and felt his heart plummet. He had made the wrong decision, bringing her. But it was too late now. “Thank you for seeing me, sir,” He said politely.

"You don't need to call me sir." Austin said with a wave. "Just call me Whidbey please." He offered a slight smile to the cadet. "As I said in my message though I've heard very good things about your abilities."

“I-I’m really not that great. I just…like languages. And fixing things. So I thought, ‘why not communications?’, you know?” He said, hoping he didn’t sound too nervous. This man was a Lieutenant. He was a CoS. And Sauk hadn’t even graduated from the academy yet.

He waived his hand. "Please, I heard what you did on the Sebastion. You are selling yourself a tad short don't you think? Not many cadets would have been able to do what you did." He leaned back in his chair slightly to look over the nervous Cadet. Whidbey was creating an internal checklist of things he'd need to help the Cadet fix, clearly nervousness was an issue.

“O-oh. Well- I was just doing my job- I mean, we needed COMMs, so I fixed COMMs. Really, sir-er, Whidbey, it wasn’t anything big. I just try to do my part,” Praise was anything but something he was used to, and if Whidbey wanted to fix his ‘nervousness’, he’d have to find a cure for generalized anxiety disorder.

He took a few moments to do something on his PADD and then he placed it face down on the table. "Do you like the Holodeck Cadet? I want to find a chance to meet with you there soon."

“Um- yes, I spend recreational hours there sometimes,” Sauk replied, tapping into his Vulcan roots. He felt somewhat calmer, but still worried he would screw up. The more someone believes in you, the more likely you are to let them down, his father told him.

"Perfect, we can run some programs together then. I want to see you dressed up in some sort of athletic wear, is that allright?" He smirked slightly, he had a couple holodeck programs to choose from that would allow him to properly gage the cadet.

“I-I’m not really the most athletic person…but I’ll try my best!” Sauk? With his twig ass? Stronger than you might think, due to his Vulcan blood, but definitely not a star athlete.

He smiled at the cadet. "Don't worry, it won't just be athletic challenges. Though you should be ready for some athletics." He shrugged slightly. "How does Thursday sound?"

Sauk thought for a moment. He had been hoping to work on an animation project, but obvious, his career was more important. And, obviously, getting to know the man who saved his life. “That’s perfect!” He agreed, giving Whidbey a small smile.