Is That You, Padawan?

Posted on Mon Jan 7th, 2019 @ 5:46pm by Cadet Freshman Grade Gwen Morgan
Edited on on Mon Jan 7th, 2019 @ 5:49pm

Mission: The First Step...
Location: Magellan Campus grounds
Timeline: 2388/08/25 1700 (August 25 2388 5:00pm)

Gwen looked around the campus, trying to get familiarized with it. She'd already got a map, and although they were to wait til the next day to explore it, she had already made her way around most of the campus. She hadn't met her roommate yet. And it was all a bit intimidating. She'd been on stations and the like before but when it came to school she was home schooled. This was a huge campus, hundreds of other cadets, what if she couldn't hack it? A bit overwhelmed she sat under a tree as she took a deep breath. And to calm down she started reviewing the handbook on a PADD. The sight of information on a page had its usual effect of calm, at least for the worst of it.

Meandering around campus, Devin was taking the time to familiarize himself with everything, even after the tour given to him by Teri. Smiling as he thought of her, he wandered his way around with nowhere in particular in mind. Spotting a lone cadet with a PADD in hand, he decided to be social after he recognized her as the girl who had caught his interest on the station. "Excuse me, I do believe that you're in dire need of company if you're already studying before classes even start. Do you mind if I join you?"

Gwen glances up then stands when she recognizes a teacher. "Professor." She nods by way of greeting, "It..." She glances at the PADD, "Calms me actually."

"Calm? Is something wrong?" He offered her a smile as she stood up.

She shook her head not sure how much she wanted to share with this odd adult who reminded her of her father. "Just being here, bit much to take in at once..." She said lightly and even managed a smile. She held up the PADD where one could see a map, "More I learn the better I feel.."

"You know, I feel exactly the same way," Devin said. "I've been taking every opportunity to learn my way around as well. Would you believe the first day I arrived on campus, I nearly walked right into the stream because I was too busy rubbernecking?"

Gwen looked at him, she was too polite to say it but her expression said clearly she did not believe him. He seemed to 'put together' to nearly walk into anything but she appreciated the attempt to put her ease. ?I just hope the learning curve isn't as high as it feels just now.?. She shifted the PADD to a pocket. She seemed festooned with pockets, she wasn't in her Cadet uniform yet so she wore a version of what her parents wore on digs. A multipocketed jacket. Handy things pockets and she had enough emergency gear stowed in them to survive on her own for about a day or so. She may not know how to be social but she'd been on more digs on more planets than she could easily remember.

He read her expression of disbelief clearly and gave a slight chuckle. "Believe it or not, I'm human and do the same dumb things as everyone else does from time to time. I think the learning curve will suit everyone here at the campus and that you will do very well. You're already learning to judge what you see, but do you see what you judge?"

She tilted her hear briefly to one side as she considered the seemingly nonsensical phrase. "How do you mean?" She asked slowly, consideringly. She thought she had the idea of the statement but wanted to hear it fleshed out.

"It was your expression when I told you that I almost walked into the stream," Devin said. "Just because I'm Intelligence and and adult led to disbelief, yet it happened. You judged me by those facts. Now strip away the fact that I'm an instructor and Intel, add that I'm new here, and tell me what you see after those are gone."

"Someone who can easily error.." She said promptly then looked thoughtful as she considered that and looked at him curiously. It honestly had not occurred to her that adults in authority could be in error. She knew adults made mistakes but for some reason thought adults in authority positions somehow knew more. "I've made an assumption..." She said a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it," Devin said with an easy chuckle. "I was foolish in not paying attention to surroundings by being lost within them. It isn't always easy to shake preconceived notions, but there are many things that I can teach you."

Her face brightened a bit at the thought of learning something new, once a scholars child always a scholars child. "I would like that very much....Sensi..." She said watching to see if her attempt at humor was well received.

Devin turned and bowed to her from the waist, his eyes meeting hers as he did so. "Then I accept you as my student."

Gwen smiled pleased.

"So what are you thinking about going into?" Devin asked her.


She looked thoughtful for a moment then replied, "I guess I figured I'd follow my parents. Archaeology is fascinating. I always loved the gathering of knowledge. Solving the mysteries, explaining the past to the present...." She smiled, "What my mother called 'The Hunt' but I'm trying to be open there's so much here...."

"Well, Intelligence is all about 'The Hunt'," Devin said. "It's just a different kind of dirt from Archaeology, but you find just as many buried treasures."

"Really?" She asked curiously and gave a vague gesture silently asking if he wanted to walk. She thought better while moving, more than one project had been completed after pacing about with a PADD in her hands but she knew not everyone thought that way.

"Really," Devin said as he interpreted the gesture properly and begin to slowly walk away from the tree and campus. "The thrill isn't the capture. It's the culmination of events leading up to it. Seeking out the clues, putting together the story, and proving a theory. It's all fascinating."

Gwen nodded her face a mask of concentration, "I see the overlap but it must be hard to confirm something as true, what do you do if you have to act regardless? My parents don't get enough information they hold off on publishing their work, I gather its different for you?" She skipped over how he got information. She figured it was spies, diplomatic messages, and whatever else he could pull together. Her mind, always bright, was working fast. That much was similar to what her parents did, they too cast a net far and wide in their searches but if her parents had a bad day people didn't risk getting killed. As they walked she would glance around the campus as though trying to fix her position in a mental map.

"Then you approach with caution," Devin said. "If I don't get enough information, I have to dig a bit deeper utilizing every resource at my command. If that doesn't pan out, then I have to rely on my instinct. Most of the time when Intelligence gets assigned a task, there's already better than a seventy-five percent chance that the party being investigated is guilty. All we need to do is provide the proof of such."

Gwen said nothing but nodded with a serious expression she wore when trying to commit things to memory. "And I'll learn to gauge information validity?" That was her biggest worry, misjudging a situation and harm to be caused. Everything else she was sure she could learn but being wrong when it counted, that would be tough.

"You will also learn to trust your instinct," Devin said. "What you will really learn is to combine instinct with fact and come out with a result which fits. It's a thankless job most of the time. You might say that Intel is the unsung heroes of any ship. It's hard to give credit to someone officially who can't be official most of the time. Still, it's a rewarding job."

Gwen nodded her understanding, "I'm not much one for the spotlight anyway, if there its usually someone else dragging me..." She gave a sheepish shrug.

"Then it sounds like Intel is the spot for you," Devin said. "Think about it. My door is always open if you want to come by for some material...although you may be sent on a mission to get it." He grinned.

"The Game is afoot.." She grinned back quoting from one of her favorite authors.

"Elementary," Devin quipped. "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have his complete works of Sherlock Holmes in my luggage. I see that you are going to be quite a challenge."

Gwen gave him an approving look like "Good on you reading Doyle" locking him into the 'adult that isn't an idiot' list in her head. "I love his work, how he linked seemingly unrelated facts into a seamless whole...". She tended to talk at a fairly adult level being raised by two academics and home schooled. She remembered how she used to roam about her parents ship with a magnifying glass and questioning the ship cat on his whereabouts at certain times. She did not mention this however, some things one doesn't tell an adult no matter how cool.

They started to loop into a garden as others walked around the campus.

Devin glanced at his chrono. "It's getting a bit late, but I've found you fascinating to speak with, and look forward to seeing you in the classroom, Miss....?" He realized that he hadn't gotten her name.

Gwen blinked, she'd gotten into talking to him she completely forgot, "I'm sorry how rude of me..." Sounded like the Earth British background she'd come from for a moment, "...Gwen Morgan and you're Professor Devin McCall. I looked you up with my other professors on the Campus Directory." She thought to explain since she learned when you tossed out random information people tended to look at you funny...

"A pleasure, Miss Morgan," Devin said, pleased that she had done her research on professors on the campus. "I am also pleased that you are up on your game. I think you would make an excellent Intel operative."

She looked a little embarrassed, "I just hate not knowing something I want too. Anyway see you class Professor...". With a respectful nod she turned and headed in the direction of her dorm. Pleased. This intel thing sounded fascinating and she couldn't wait to learn more.

OFF

Cadet Gwen Morgan
Magellan Academy

&

LTCDR Devin McCall
Intel Instructor
Magellan Academy