Just a friendly chat

Posted on Fri Jul 5th, 2019 @ 1:18am by Captain Abigail Laurens

Mission: Getting To Know You
Location: Counselor's Office
Timeline: Backpost

The Counselor's office wasn't hard to find, given it's proximity to sickbay. Through her years on the Rawlings, especially when she had started taking on more and more advanced hand to hand combat training, she had become quite accustomed to strolling into sickbay with some thing or another broken, battered or bruised, but she had remained steadfast in her ability to avoid being sent to see the counselor.

Now, as ships Commanding Officer, she knew that she was going to have to be the one leading by example, which is why she was there now, having already hit the chime, waiting for her new Chief Counselor to respond. It was not an official call in any way, more just a social visit to welcome one of her new officers to the ship.

"Please enter," Bert called out as he set the carton he was rummaging through aside. He was halfway through unpacking the office to where it looked comfortable in his opinion. He never had been a fan of sterile offices.

As she stepped into the room, Abigail took a moment to look around quickly before her gaze finally settled on the only other occupant of the space. "Lieutenant Engels?" she asked, somewhat redundantly.

"Yes, ma'am. Or Bert if you'd rather. Please come in and make yourself comfortable," he said, quickly moving boxes out of a few of the room's purposefully mismatched chairs.

Taking one of the offered seats, Abigail smiled. "Abigail," she replied as she crossed her legs neatly. "I know you're busy settling in, I just wanted to take a few minutes to make sure you had not had any difficulties getting on board and see if there was anything you needed."

"Not at the moment, no. It was a surprisingly unmomentous trip. Seatmate snored. No inflight drinks. I don't know why that stopped being a thing. But I'm here and it's so much better being in a space of my own again, I can't tell you how glad I am of that." He said, shaking a large carved mask out of a box and placing it on the floor next to a few others.

She watched as he set the mask down, raising one eyebrow slightly. "Interesting choice of decor," she murmured softly. "Not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it before... Something of a collection I take it?"

"Oh yes. A statement collection you might say. I collect masks from races and cultures all over Federation space. We all wear masks for different reasons. Our empowered mask to pull us through difficult moments. Our cruel masks that let us do what we couldn't normally bring ourselves to do. The ones that lie and portray ourselves as different personas for different people. They show up in here regularly for me. These," he said, pointing to his collection," are just the ones I bought at the markets."

Abigail paused, contemplating his words and how exactly she should formulate a reply. "If there was ever any doubt you were a counselor that would have just confirmed it," she said with a soft laugh. "A very insightful commentary on the psyche. Still, they are... interesting. I guess I can see why they would appeal to you."

Bert nodded solemnly. "I started my job in the relief corps on Bajor long before Starfleet. I was given my first few masks there. It sort of became a thing for me after that. Something important to say that I understand the importance. Like the chairs. Why I don't match them. Comfort isn't universal. Warmth and compassion are not one size fits all. We all have different needs."

"I see." Abigail watched him for a moment before shaking her head quickly and smiling. "You have some very interesting perspectives," she said warmly. "I never did more than basic psychology as required for command training, but it was never really my thing. The brain is far too complex."

People were complex. Brains were easy. It wasn't an easy ideal to explain, so Bert didn't. "This is just how I enjoy helping people. We all have our ways. So when do I get to see you, captain. Are you do for an eval soon or are you all caught up?"

"Sure, schedule me in, I may as well lead by example," Abigail replied with a smile. "But if it's all the same, I'd like you to start with our new intelligence officer. I'd really like a second opinion on how sane he is. It'd be nice to know he's not going to kill us all in our sleep before we leave starbase."

Bert blinked at that. "Is that.. actively a concern? Psyche reviews are run regularly no matter where you serve, but I'll happily run another if you feel that he may not be fit for service.."

"I would like to say it's not really a concern, but unfortunately it is. Commodore Polk gave me her word that everything is fine, but I just want to be sure. A second set of eyes would be appreciated. It's for Lieutenant Aleksander Voroshilov, he's just come on with intelligence." Abigail kept her voice low as she spoke, almost as if she were concerned of being overheard, despite how silly that concern may have appeared.

"Oh. Ohh. I will do my best and report it to you as quickly and as discreetly as possible, ma'am," the counselor said with a curt nod.

"Thank you Lieutenant, I would be very appreciative, especially with your discretion," Abigail said with a grateful smile. "Just, let me know if I should have security stationed outside his quarters to pat him down for weapons every time he leaves," she finished with a vague smile before standing up. "I've taken up enough of your time, but thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me."

He'd seen some pretty heinous cases somehow squirm through the cracks of mental health processing- usually due to nepotism- but it didn't seem like this would be one of those cases. "I'll have a session report on your desk shortly."

With one last nod, Abigail walked out of the counselor's office, sighing with relief. At least she'd have more information soon, hopefully that would help soothe her lingering concerns.