Initiation?

Posted on Thu May 26th, 2011 @ 7:09am by Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad & Captain Claudia Drake

Mission: The Ties That Bind
Location: Nexus Club
Timeline: Current

Claudia decided to take a booth in the Nexus Club after speaking with the erstwhile proprietor. She was enjoying a cooling glass of iced tea when she saw a young man loitering near the door. His eyes glanced at her several times. She was familiar with his body language, most of her students looked like that when they wanted to see if she was alone and to gauge if it was safe for them to approach her.

She smiled and continued to drink her tea, she waited a further 15 minutes before she gave in and looked directly at the young man, she gave a gesture for him to come over to her. She watched as he gingerly came closer, "I assume you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes ma'am." Eli's voice held traces of an accent that was hard to place as he spoke, his tone respectful. He stood by her table, but noticeably not too close. "I am Eli Ziyad. And you are Professor Drake." It wasn't a question. "I work here but that's not why I wanted to meet you."

Claudia looked him up and down, "Well you have met me Mister Ziyad, please don't allow me to keep you any longer." she turned her head from him and continued to drink her tea.

Great. Real smooth Eli. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This would be so much easier if it didn't feel like his entire life depended on this woman's opinion of him. Time to suck it up and get down to business.

"Jackson gave me your name yesterday when we were discussing the Academy here. I want to become a part of it." There, nothing like jumping into the deep end.

Claudia looked at him in silence, "And I want to take part in a Deltan Orgy again...but just because you want something doesn't mean it is going to happen." She continued to look at him, "I know nothing about you."

His eyes widened slightly at the mention of an orgy and a faint pink colored his cheeks. "I wouldn't know about that, ma'am. And I know you don't know me at all, but I suppose that's where you ask me a million questions, and try to answer them without getting my foot in my mouth, then think of some way to prove I have the brains for it."

"So you presume to tell me how I select Cadet Candidates do you Mister Ziyad?" she said with indignity ringing in her cold voice, she stared at him, "If you don't know anything about an orgy I suggest you find out before you try to dedicate your life to Starfleet, you can be on a ship for a mighty long time and it's nice to have some warming memories." She drained her iced tea, "Be a darling a fill me back up."

He was thoroughly embarrassed now and with a bow of his head and a mumbled 'yes ma'am', took her glass and escaped back to the bar to refill it. The heat in his face felt as if it could warm the bar and Jackson, who was down the way talking to Janice gave him a curious look. Eli simply shook his head, took the glass of tea and returned to Claudia's table to meet his doom.

"My apologies, ma'am. I didn't mean to seem presumptuous. It's just that an awful lot is riding on this and it could determine the course of my life from here on out."

"First things first...I need another iced tea." she said with a glare at him, "Once I am hydrated we can talk further...now...go do that magic you bartenders are so good at...and you're not a Cadet so don't call me Ma'am. Professor Drake will suffice for now."

"Oh." He placed the glass of tea before her, now really wanting to kick himself. He simply waited for her to take a sip and see if it met her satisfaction.

"This is much like you Miser Ziyad...virginal. Your friend Jackson placed a shot of gin in my last one," she said with a slight wink. "But I suppose it will suffice." She placed the glass back down on the table "Sit." she said with a commanding tone, as the young man did so she looked him up and down and placed her fingers like a steeple, "Why do you want to join Starfleet?"

'That is somewhat complicated and involves personal and professional reasons. I am Enaran, Professor Drake, from the Delta Quadrant. I have a real knack for computers of any sort. Back ho--," he stopped before he completed the sentence. That place was no longer home for him. "Back where I came from, I discovered this early on and finished the normal school far ahead of schedule. I've already given the Club's system a thorough going over and fixed several things and improved quite a bit more. The Fleet's arrival in the Delta Quadrant is, I believe, the way of the future, a movement that will assist in making this area more stable and I want to be part of that."

He stopped now, looking down at his hands where they rested on the table. That covered the professional reasons at least.

Claudia looked at him for several minutes in silence, she drained her glass of ice tea and stood up, picking up her cane as she did so, "Good day Mister Ziyad." She gave a curt nod of her head and began to move towards the door.

Good day? That was it? Eli blinked, completely at a loss as to what just happened. He felt galvanized, frozen to the spot as Claudia slowly made her way out of the club. A frantic look to Jackson told him that the man had been watching. He nodded towards Claudia, then motioned Eli to follow her. Jumping to his feet, he did follow, catching up with her just outside on the promenade.

"Professor Drake, wait!" He hurried to stand beside her. "Did I somehow offend you? I didn't mean to." He wondered if, by some miracle, the floor might open and just swallow him up and put an end to his misery.

"Offend me? No." she said somewhat comically, "How many people do you think apply to the Academy every year?" She looked at him, not really expecting an answer. "Over 60,000, we only accept at most 2000 of them. That's it...just 3.3% of applicants make it through the Cadet Candidate stage...if you want to be one of those Mister Ziayd, you need to realise that I have heard every cock-and-bull reason for joining Starfleet that has ever been concocted." She looked deeply into his eyes, "Come and see me again when you have admitted to yourself the real reason why you want to join Starfleet. I won't consider letting you take the entry exams until you can at-least be honest with yourself. Starfleet doesn't like liars." She looked him up and down and turned on her heel and continued on her slow amble towards the turbolift.

"But it was true..." he said softly, more to himself than anyone. "It just wasn't everything..." He pressed his hands to his eyes as he breathed out slowly. Jackson was right, she was a tough nut to crack. But in the wake of her words, an idea formed, and he smiled. He wasn't done yet.

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Professor Claudia Drake
Queen Bitch/Raging Alcoholic Level 12

and

Eli Ziyad
Not Down Yet