— Starvase 86, Strategic Operations Office —

The human woman presented the Vulcan with a PADD. Captain Radak looked over it and restrained himself from reacting to the news and the transfer of the young keen human into his Strategic Operations section. He scanned through it, noting a sizeable jump in rank, right over the rank of lieutenant to lieutenant commander within the past year. Since nothing was mentioned he recognized that it was likely classified and not something that he wished to delve too deeply into. His eyes flickered from the page in front of him to the brunette who was watching him with excitement. She was still keen on receiving new assignments, and no longer looked upon each and every posting as a burden.

It was a trait she would get over eventually, Radak assumed.

“Lieutenant Commander Hume,” he read aloud, as if he was reading it for the first time, “I do not know what you hope to accomplish by transferring here. I work alone, there is the wider Strategic Operations department on the station that would be more suitable for you.”

Hume nodded, “I am aware of that sir. They initially tried to put me in there, but I was insistent in working for you.  Your analysis tends to be better than the broader more generalized work, and I’ve asked around and multiple people say you are the best at this.”

“Did multiple people also tell you why I work alone?” Radak said, raising an eyebrow. It was likely that she was attempting to flatter him, to build him up for both their benefits, her own so he seemed like a suitable mentor and his so he would relent and take her on. Still he knew it served nothing to have her here with him, her very human sunniness would push him into an airlock by month’s end if they were to work together.

“I have heard stories, about Frontier Day,” Hume said, she showed discretion at not delving further into the subject. It was specific enough to suggest she knew the history there, and yet she was restrained in not dwelling on the details of what had happened to his friends and colleagues under his command.

“Then you know why I work alone,” he said, and tried to go back to reading a report on Klingon activities after the closure of the underspace pathways. It was logical to assume that the Klingons were once more resorting to their natural proclivities for…

“So where do I sit?” Hume asked with a sunny smile on her face as if they had not just been talking about Frontier Day, and the attempted Borg invasion. She made her way to what was once a desk but what Radak had always thought of as a storage area for reports to read through. Ultimately they could have all fit onto one PADD, but he still liked having a separate PADD for each report, a factor of his working that drove the Operations department insane.

He gestured to the larger Strategic Operations beyond his office, “I assume they will get you a desk.”

Hume shook her head, and began to move the PADDs off the desk to a counter that ran along the wall, “I’m working with you. I used all my capital to get put under you.”

“That was not logical to do so,” he said, “given that you know why I do not take on subordinates any longer.”

“Is it logical to hide away in a cramped office and ignore the world just because of on tragedy, or more logical to live your life in the face of adversity,” she said, continuing to move things around and disrupt his workspace. It was as if she assumed that he would change his opinion if she just continued to ignore him.

“Miss Hume stop it now!” Radak shouted loudly. 

The noise did not carry though the door to the outer office, but it was enough to make her cease her movement and look at him surprised to see a Vulcan lose his cool. Radak sighed and slumped into his chair, speaking in a quieter voice, “I have Tuvan Syndrome. It affects the nervous system, I will not take you on as I am dying.”

Hume nodded, “How long do you have?”

“Twenty years maybe,” Radak said.

Hume shrugged, “So like half a human life, it sucks but you’ll deal with it. You’ve been through harder things. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

Radak blinked, not quite sure how to take that. Humans seemed to have an empathy that he had expected her to stop and console him, instead she just seemed to move on. Was he feeling sorry for himself? Such an emotion was possible, even in Vulcans, but it was not one that he had considered falling victim to. 

Hume continued, “Dying in twenty years? That sucks but there’s a lot of your life left. A lot of other people’s lives you can save, my brother is out on the USS Selene, I’d rather you get back to work and maybe save his life at one point, then sit around in a dark room feeling bad that you got dealt a poor hand. My father served with you on the USS Yukon during the Dominion War. I lost him, and it was hard. But it’s not going to stop me, and this shouldn’t stop you. Now get off your fat ass and help me clean this up in here.”

He blinked, nobody had ever mentioned his ass.

“I do not believe that is how you should talk to a superior,” He pointed out.

She nodded, “No but then what are you going to do, tell everyone you’ve got Tuvok Syndrome?”

“It’s Tuvan Syndrome,” he said, adding, “Tuvok is a name.”

“I bet so is Tuvan, nothing gets a doctor excited like naming a disease after themselves,” Hume pointed out.

Radak nodded, she was likely right at least in that Tuvan was probably a name. 

He looked at her as she went back to clearing off the desk, “Are you not going to report that I am dying?”

“We’ll all dying,” Hume said, “And if I reported you they’d retire you. I’ve still got a lot to learn.”

He gestured to one of his many PADDs, “My retirement papers are here.”

“You haven’t filed them yet,” she pointed out, “because you know you’re still doing great work.”

He was quiet, she had perhaps touched on his issues well. He had written the papers months ago, and yet not filed them because he took pride in his work and as much as a quiet life on Vulcan appealed to him, he liked being right about the universe. Captain Radak was not going to welcome her to the small one-person section, but he also had given up trying to dissuade her. She would see how illogical this was.

If she did not cause him to crack first.