Philosophy, Who Needs It?

Posted on Tue Feb 5th, 2019 @ 7:57pm by Cadet Freshman Grade Benjamin Hall & Cadet Freshman Grade Molly Seol & Cadet Freshman Grade Talia Varen & Cadet Freshman Grade Catherine Wells & Cadet Freshman Grade Tarik Varen
Edited on on Tue Feb 5th, 2019 @ 7:59pm

Mission: The First Step...
Location: Miach's Lecture Hall
Timeline: 2388/08/29 0745 (Fri. August 29 2388 7:45am)

Miach stood behind the large table that lay at the bottom of the small stadium style lecture hall. It was still fifteen minutes before the first class of the day and the beginning of the last 'new' class day. He positioned pens and paper on the table. As the various early students filed in he instructed them to pick up a pen and binder before taking their seats. This was answered with curious looks and raised eyebrows.

He heard one cadet even say snarkily as he was headed to his seat "Pens and paper... have we passed through a temporal rift and stepped out into prehistory?" Miach snorted at hearing that and shook his head as he turned to the board before him and wrote in a large cursive hand his name.

"Lieutenant Commander Miach Ap Tinsha M.D. PhD" as if he was claiming the board and the room with the movement of his arm. After having completed that task he turned to sit behind his table and wait, patiently, for time to start class.

Entering the classroom after carefully shielding his mind from the barrage of untrained minds, Barim was utterly surprised when Command Tinsha ordered him to get pen and paper. While it wasn't unheard of, he wondered what the instructor had in mind for the class. Doing as he was told, he saw confused looks on the faces of other cadets who were whispering to each other about it as well. Moving to take a seat, he flipped through the binder to see if it had anything in it, and placed the pen on the desk in front of him.

Cadet Catherine Wells walked in, her gait purposeful as she swung by to pick up the pen and paper. She then found a seat near some other cadets. She wasn't sure what the Professors plan was but figured he'd tell them soon enough. She spent the next few minutes trying to remember how to use a pen then flipping through the binder and innocently commenting internally to herself how hot the professor was. As her Gran would say, "You'd have to be three days dead not to notice and even then I'm not sure...".

Sitting next to her was Benjamin Hall. His always intense gray eyes narrowed as he stared at the pen, first examining it and then positioning it in his hand. He opened his binder and started drawing symbols that were unrecognizable to anyone else there at the top of a page.

The twins entered the classroom as a unit, Tarik grabbing the pens, and Talia the binders. Tarik was almost overpowered by the nervousness/lust/disgust/amusement that was filling the classroom. Talia grasped his wrist gently and reinforced his shielding and the half vulcan cadet relaxed subtly. Her voice trickled into his mind like water ~Remember what Mother said about failure.~

~I know, She expects us home in 6 months because we couldn't handle the rigors of unshielded minds...~ Tarik's mind was colored with disgust as he spoke to his twin. A fragment of doubt darkened his mind, for he was having a hard time with that very thing. ~I had not expected it to be so...potent~

Miach watched the last of the cadets file by his desk and take their seats. His eyes flitted across the faces before him, and he saw a range of emotions as he moved from face to face. He pushed himself up from sitting and straightened his tall frame as he spoke.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Miach Ap Tinsha, M.D., PhD. Before we begin I would like to tell you all a little about me, because I think you should know the source of my knowledge. I received my medical degree from the Tinsha Monastery on Vulcan, as well as my PhD. in psychology. From there I went to Earth and got my PhD. in philosophy from Trinity College Dublin. I went to the Academy and got my commission. From there I served on the Columbia, Hood, and Mamagal's Hope before taking a position at San Francisco as Professor of Philosophy and Applied Ethics." As he had spoken he moved to stand in front of his desk. He paused before looking to the cadet to his far left and nodded to her.

"That's my resume, now tell me yours. State your name, major and minor courses of study and where you want to be in five years after graduating from the Academy." His eyes traversed the crowd before him as he continued "While you are introducing yourselves to your cohorts and myself think about why you are here, specifically in this class." He leaned back against his desk and waited for the first cadet to speak.

"My name is Barim Kalre, I'm a cadet from Betazed, and my major is Tactical Operations with a secondary in Security Operations. I'm here to understand how different beings interact and behave. In five years, I hope to be in Starfleet Security Close Protection Services."

Miach nodded to the young cadet and made sure to reign in the chaos of his mind. "Very good Cadet Kalre, we'll come back to you." Miach nodded to the next cadet as they moved across the room from left to right. "Your turn."

Catherine Wells stood. She managed to make the movement seem both efficient and unhurried. When she spoke her voice has a slight drawl that could remind those who knew of such things of long summers and honeyed tea, "Catherine Wells, here for Engineering and minor still open," She thought for a moment, "operations most like." She sounded like one still considering their options. She had gotten what she wanted most, engineering. After that well she would sort it when the time came.

Miach nodded to the woman. "Still considering your choices I take it?" His voice gave the impression that his question was rhetorical. "Understanding that you don't have all the answers is the first step, Cadet."

Catherine nodded and sat back down.

His eyes flicked to the next cadet and caught the gaze of that man and nodded to him. "You're up, dazzle me with your wit."

Ben stared at him, at first not saying anything. After a moment, he questioned, "What is my 'wit'? And how would I 'dazzle' it?"

Catherine glanced over to see if he was joking and she could see he wasn't so she stifled the instinctive laugh that wanted to come out. She noted the odd symbols on the paper and her face took on a thoughtful expression as she tried but failed to place them. She doodled a couple on her own paper to remember to look into them later curiosity, as usual, needling her. She leaned back to see what the cute, oh boy the eye candy around here, cadet would handle what the Professor said next.

Miach grinned at him and recited the definition of wit. "Wit, the keen perception and cleverly apt expression of those connections between ideas that awaken amusement and pleasure. It was a turn of phrase and nothing to be taken too seriously cadet."

Although he did not grasp all the words of the definition, Ben did get the just of it, and nodded, "Olright." deciding not to try and say anything funny. "Well, my name is Benjamin Hall. My major is Flight Operations and I am taking more than the required...courses in engineering." Then he finished quietly, "I don't know where I want to be in five years." At the moment he could only think of where he didn't want to be.

Barim looked over when the young male cadet asked the questions about wit and dazzle. Curious, he accessed his PADD and saw that the young man was a Xenexian, which he wasn't familiar with out of all the races that he had heard of, which probably explained the unusual question. Still, he was pleased to see how the Philosophy instructor handled it and made a note to be clear if and when he got the chance to speak to the other cadet.

Miach nodded to Ben and grinned "I can see you as an engineer you have the matter of factness for it. You have four years to figure out what you want. " Miach's gaze fell on the next cadet and he said simply "You're up Cadet."

"Molly Seol," she replied, her smile reaching up towards her almond shaped eyes. "I'm majoring in Components Engineering, minoring in Operations. Five years from now...I see myself graduating from Command school and having the choice to serve on an Immense-Class starbase."

Catherine caught her roommates eye and gave Molly a thumbs up , like 'Good answer'.

Miach grinned back at the lady cadet and nodded. "Got it all planned out do you Ms. Seol, or are you trying to get the gods to laugh?" his tone conveyed that he was again being joking as he allowed a touch of the Irish brogue he had picked up to come out, his eyes flicked to the two cadets that entered together.

Molly continued to smile as she got the humor, and her eyes followed Miach's.

At first glance he was concerned, they were Vulcan but the emotions that were radiating off of them were familiar some how. At that point he placed the face of the male as the cadet who had spoken to Brighid at commencement. His face broke into a smile and he waved a hand towards the male cadet who was next in line.

"At your leisure." Miach's voice gave the feeling that he had turned sound lazy.

Talia and Tarik looked at each other and shared a secret smile. ~You go first brother, he's looking at you~

Tarik, giving a one shouldered shrug- he spoke "My name is Tarik Varen, and my Primary is Medical and Psychology. Though I have to say I'm partial to the study of the mind. I have not yet thought 5 years ahead yet, having little control over my assignments past graduation."

That answer caused a slight upshot of Miach's eyebrow before nodding "Interesting, and you cadet?" he turned to the other Vulcan in the room and listened.

"Talia Varen, Command and Tactical Operations. I want to command the best and newest ships- the prototypes that the Shipyards on Mars are making. I want to help Starfleet figure out the best ways to combine tactics and science to make a new stronger reputation for Starfleet as a whole"

Miach nodded to Talia and smiled "Well that was interesting." His gaze moved to the next cadet and so on until each cadet in the class had a moment to speak. Miach paused a few seconds after the sound of the last cadet's voice faded in the room before speaking again.

Miach pushed himself up so that he was standing erect, his back straight and his large frame dominating the room. It was like a switch had been flicked from lazy to intense. He motioned to the binder and pens in front of the cadet before him.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why you have a nice, new journal complete with faux silver pen. Allow me to explain, I am not your 'typical' anything but most especially I'm not your typical teacher. The journal and writing utensil you now posses is your lifeboat. While we will be discussing the great minds of the past and you will all be exposed to thoughts grand and minuscule my job is not to make you memorize facts but to open your minds. At varying times throughout the semester I will send each of you an assignment. Could be once a day for a week or once a week for a month. You will complete the assignment in that journal, in your own hand." he paused and looked at Ben "Your own handwriting. Are there any questions before I give out the first assignment?"

Catherine looked at the Professor and at the pen in her hand then back at the Professor with a vaguely puzzled but 'I'm game' expression.

"Yes Sir," Barim said, sensing confusion from more than a few students, as well as his own. "What's the significance of writing the assignments on these journals? Would it be simpler to use a PADD?"

A devious grin spread across his face at the question that never failed to be asked. "As inevitable as the exclamation 'it's bigger on the inside!'" He said almost to himself before continuing. "Excellent question and I was wondering who would ask it. Well the simple reason is I want to slow you down and force you to think. If you use a PADD you can input anything quickly, this class is not about the fastest answer but about observing, internalizing and contemplating. The best way to do that is to write. It takes longer and forces your brains to use more resources to write than to press a button or dictate. That and I like novelty, can't say my class isn't unique." Micha smiled and waited for Barim to ask another question.

"Then how are you going to enter the results into the computer, Commander?" Barim asked, still curious.

Miach nodded as he formulated an answer to the question that wouldn't give away any secrets "Simply put cadet, my entry methods will match the method the assignment is reviewed and completed, by hand. Good question, keep it up there is a spark of intelligence in you cadet."

Miach noticed the grumble of a few cadets and paused before raising an eyebrow and locking eyes with Barim again. "Ah, I see how that could be taken the wrong way, my apologies cadet. I meant that as a compliment not a sarcastic insult. I like to think of intelligence as a flame. Hopefully your intelligence now will not be the apex of your overall growth which is what I was alluding to."

Barim gave a nod and looked at the journal in his hands, thinking. "Perhaps it will also give us a physical measure of how much we grow and learn, and time to reflect back from our original entries to those that we will end up writing by the end of our time in Starfleet as well."

A little concerned about just how much more thinking the Professor thought would be helped by slow writing. Catherine felt the Academy was already making her think quite enough thank you. At the other cadets last comment she thought without heat, "but can't we do that with a personal log entry..." She was still a little puzzled willing to try it the Professor's way and just chalked it up to teacher oddness. Who knows maybe she might learn something.

Catherine raised her hand and waited to be recognized.

Miach's eyes flicked to the woman with the raised hand and nodded. "Go ahead Cadet."

"If my handwritin's illegible at first I swear I'm not tryin' to write in code...." She joked.

Miach smirked "I completely expect everyone's handwriting to be atrocious for the first few entries. It is allowed." He looked to everyone in the auditorium and nodded "The first assignment is to find something, any one thing or multiples, that you find beautiful. Be they a flower, a well formed person, or as abstract as a sunset and what it makes you think of."

Ben had been staring down at his journal and pen, feeling more and more out of place in the room. Something that was more natural for him seemed to be ancient and insignificant to everyone else. He angled his head and briefly closed his eyes as he breathed in. It was times like this he questioned why he was even where he didn't seem to belong. A farm boy from a backwards world...again he found himself questioning why he was even there. Swallowing, he reigned in those doubts and raised his hand.

Miach nodded to Ben and waited for the question.

"Does it have to be a thing, or a person...or multiples of there of?" he asked a little strongly, "Can it be...an idea? A hope? A dream?"

He liked this one and thought that he would be a good officer already thinking outside of the box. "It can be anything that you find beauty in Cadet. Person, object or a thought. What you see as beautiful. Very good question."

Catherine glanced at Ben concerned as he seemed to be in pain momentarily. Then he spoke and she relaxed and refocused on the instructor. He was sitting right next to her so kinda hard to ignore so she nudged his foot and did the subtle but universal gesture of 'you ok?' after the instructor turned his attention back to the room. She had already started to draw a Sovereign Class starship, really well but paused. She may have trouble writing but drawing that she could do.

Feeling her nudge, Ben glanced over at her and then nodded. He stared at her for a moment longer, taking her in, before turning his attention back to the professor.

She smiled in a friendly fashion, taking him in as well. She turned back to the Professor when he did. In her opinion there was simply so much to look at here she wondered if you could develop sugar allergies because of the excessive eye candy. Not that she minded in the least.

"Any other questions?" he asked as he looked up at the chronograph that was hanging at the back of the classroom. It was quickly approaching next period and he expected the bell to go off soon, as he waited for any last minute questions the cadets may have.

"Are we limited to words to make our descriptions?" Talia called out softly from her seat, looking at her twin who was unsure about voicing the question. She was the more assertive of the two and would happily cover for him.

Catherine hoped so since she was deep into trying to get the nacelles just right on her Sovereign class drawing. She was inclined to just go ahead and do it since he didn't say they couldn't and seemed to be open but she guessed there was merits to being sure.

Miach looked up at Talia and raised an eyebrow and paused before continuing. "Should you come across something that you find beautiful and it makes you draw, compose music or some other such medium of expression that is allowed. But I do want something in your words to explain what caused your reaction. So to answer your question yes and no." he grinned.

Talia couldn't help it her lips quirked upwards in response to the man. She was much more like their Vulcan mother in her mannerisms, except for the flare of scarlet at the tips of her curly hair. "Annoyingly Vague Professor..." came the wry comment as she set herself to her assignment.

Miach heard the comment and grinned as he turned back to her. "I do what I can to fulfill my quota of annoying cadet." It was at that point that the bell rang indicating it was time to change classes. He decided he would like this class, the cadets were quick and not without a sense of humor.


***


Miach Ap Tinsha
Lieutenant Commander
Philosophy Professor/Surgeon
Magellan Campus

&

Cadet Benjamin Hall
Flight
Magellan Campus

&

Cadet Molly Seol
Engineering/OPs
Magellan Campus

&

Cadet Talia Varen
Command
Magellan Campus

&

Cadet Tarik Varen
Medical/Psychology
Magellan Campus

&

Cadet Catherine Wells
Engineering
Magellan Campus

&

Cadet Barim Kalre
Tactical/Security
Magellan Campus