Catching up

Posted on Sat Feb 3rd, 2024 @ 8:24pm by Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Coleman & Cadet Freshman Grade Ryan Sampson IV

1,154 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 119 - "Shattered Mirror"
Location: Chief Science Officer's Office
Timeline: ----

[ON:]

Commander Coleman was sitting down in his office as he looked over several things that had been sitting on his desk for way too dang long. Coleman was happy that he was able to finally catch up a little bit and reach out to several officers and cadets that were under him.

One such cadet was the Freshmen Cadet Ryan Sampson that had talked about his interests in the sciences. He had talked to both K'Lar and Dr. Vale about his interests in the sciences, as well as to Coleman himself. So, Commander Coleman wanted to reach back out to him to see if Sampson had made a decision on any which way he wanted to within his career.

Tapping the comms panel on his desk, Coleman said, "Coleman to Cadet Sampson. When you get a free moment, can you report to my office?"

Closing the comms, Coleman knew that Sampson would report up as soon as he was available to come up. Coleman decided to work on a few sample reports that K'Lar had sent his way, as well as several Historical reports that Dr. Vale had sent over.

However, it wasn't too long before the door chime to Coleman's office rang out and Coleman said, "Come in." The door opened up and Cadet Sampson entered into Coleman's office, saying, "Cadet Sampson reporting for duty, sir."

Coleman got up from his seat behind his desk and said, "At ease, Cadet. We're not here for a formal dressdown or anything. We're just here to catch up, especially since you've last talked to us at the meeting for the various cadets onboard the Starbase. I was wanted to see if you had picked a certain path or if you'd given it any thought?"

Cadet Sampson had relaxed a little bit as he came to ease before replying, "I had been thinking about it a bit sir. But, nothing had come straight to mind. There was so much that you, Dr. Vale, and Lieutenant K'Lar talked about that made me think about what I wanted to do. It's all beyond interesting and I want to do everything, sir."

Coleman appreciated where the young cadet was coming from. Coleman himself was older than most people on the Starbase itself and that lent him to love History. But, Coleman understood that everyone had a passion. It was just a matter of finding it out for yourself.

Coleman smiled as he came forward and put his hand on Sampson's shoulders. "You know, you actually remind me a lot about myself when I was younger. I didn't know what I wanted to do until much later in my life, but even then, I was till unsure of it until I really got into it."

Sampson looked up at the older man and replied, "Really, sir? How long did it take for you to find your passion?" Coleman shrugged his shoulders and replied back, "At least 200 years. But, that was due to the fact that I was actually living most of the History that I had studied."

Sampson's jaw dropped to the floorboard and he was a bit aw struck for a moment. He wasn't sure what to think or say in the moment except for "wow." When he was finally able to speak, Ryan asked, "Why did it take you so long to find what you were passionate about? I'm sure that someone as....experienced as you are would be able to find something you were passionate about way sooner than that."

Coleman shrugged his shoulders again and said, "Well, when you've lived throughout enough History like I have, it doesn't phase you as it does some others, quite like yourself. I ended up loving History because of how inaccurate it can be sometimes. We've always known that Captain Archer was the Commanding Officer of the NX-01 Enterprise, but do we know everything he did perfectly while he was in command of the Enterprise? Of course not! That's where History, Archeology, and Anthropology come into play. They help us to figure stuff out and to see what he did while he was in command of Enterprise, as the Ambassador to the Andorian people, and the president of the United Federation of Planets. There's just so much we can learn and have learned. It just depends on what you're passionate about kid. Plus, you don't have to just study one thing or another. Think of people like Ensign Tilly of the USS Discovery. She was an engineer that began working in the Command program before the Discovery was lost."

Sampson smiled as he realized something that he hadn't thought about beforehand. He asked, "So, we don't have to to just study one thing or another, even within the division? Cause, I'd love to study a couple things, especially while I've got so many amazing mentors onboard the Starbase."

Coleman nodded and said, "Yeah, I've actually studied several things, including History, Archeology, and Anthropology while I was at the academy. Don't limit yourself to one thing or another. Talk to your professors and advisors, so that you can hopefully learn as much as possible. The future is as open as you and your advisors allow it to be. But, don't get burnt out either. I don't know if I'd want someone studying under me to burn themselves out because they're too excited either."

Sampson nodded understandingly. He had just needed someone to push him gently into the direction that he already wanted to go. Looking back at Commander Coleman, he smiled and said, "Thank you, sir. That actually helped out a lot and it gave me a lot to think about. I'm still going to think a little bit about it, but I'm thinking I might double major at the academy in History and something biological. What Lieutenant K'Lar showed us at the showing and Dr. Vale talked about were both interesting and I'd love to study with them sometime soon."

Coleman nodded approvingly and said, "Good, I'm glad to hear it. Whenever you're ready to talk about the final decision, I'd love to help you out with that. Otherwise, I'll let you get back to your studies."

Cadet Sampson smiled and nodded before turning back towards the door to head out. As the doors opened and allowed him to walk back out into the hallway, he turned back for a brief moment and said, "Thank you, sir, for all of the encouragement that you've given me over my time here. It means a lot." With that, Cadet Sampson headed out of the office and back towards the Cadet quarters onboard.

Coleman sat back down at his desk and made a note of the conversation that he had with the cadet within his file. He sighed and said, "This is why we do this, Coleman."

[OFF:]

Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Coleman
Chief Science Officer
Starbase 400

&

Cadet Freshmen Class Ryan Sampson
Science Cadet

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