Checking in

Posted on Mon Feb 17th, 2020 @ 9:24pm by Lieutenant Commander William Gunnison

Mission: Dead Moon
Location: Chief Counselor's Office
Timeline: prior to the current mission

Will arrived at the chief counselor's office a few minutes before the scheduled appointment time. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the door chime. After being directed to enter, he said, "Good day, Counselor. I'm William Gunnison, the chief of operations. I'm to understand that there are some issues you wished to see me about concerning the recent events on the ship."

“Ahh yes come in, Lieutenant Gunnison,” Styveck said as he led the Lieutenant into his office. “You are a few minutes early, I was just brewing some tea, would you care for some?”

"No, thank you, I'm fine," Will replied, glancing around the room. Interesting decor - but then, he'd hardly decorated either his office or his quarters with anything at all yet, so who was he to judge? "I felt it prudent to arrive in a timely fashion. I know I'm certainly a busy individual at times, and I imagine that you are as well."

“We all have our roles aboard a starship,” Styveck said dryly. “Thank you for coming to meet with me. My job is to meet with the crew after the recent incident and make sure you are fit for duty. Please do not lie or hold anything back, whatever you say will remain in this office unless not acting will cause physical harm. Now then let us begin,” the Vulcan said in his notoriously monotone voice. “Please tell me a little about yourself, Lieutenant.”

"Well," Will thought for a moment, trying to organized his thoughts. In some ways, he thought this was a difficult question to answer. Sure, there were really no right or wrong answers to it, but he was always left wondering later on if something that he hadn't said should have been included or something that he had said could be considered in the realm of "too much information."

"I was born and raised on Earth, the second of three boys. Started studying martial arts as a teenager, met a nice girl who wound up becoming my wife just before I entered Starfleet Academy, and we had one son together. She was killed two years ago. She was a civilian defense attorney on Earth, and had just gotten someone acquitted of murder when the victim's father lashed out violently at the two of them. My son's on board with me, and we've been seeing counselors about it for the past two years."

“My condolences Lieutenant, a close loss is always difficult to deal with. Your son is also welcome here anytime. How have you been coping with your loss?” Styveck asked sincerely.

"Well, to say that it hasn't been easy would be a severe understatement," Will said. "Us humans may not control our emotions like Vulcans do, but we so often like to believe that in this day and age, we've overcome the worst parts of our nature. Then something like this happens, and suddenly someone who means more to you than life itself is gone, just like that." Will snapped his fingers for emphasis before continuing.

"I think in some ways, it's harder that she is the one who died young, in such a violent way. I suppose that we always kind of figured that if one of us would die in that way, it would be me, the Starfleet officer sent out into the wide, unknown, dangerous universe, not her, with her job in a secure courtroom in the heart of the Federation. I work very hard to move forward and to be there for our son, because I know it's what she would have wanted. But it's not always easy. I think, though, that our son has it harder in a lot of ways. He stayed with her most of the time, so she was in many ways the center of his universe."

"Loss, in my opinion," Styveck began, "is the most difficult emotion to deal with. It is so intertwined with other emotions like anger, sadness, despair, that it can be difficult to learn to adjust. You seem to be coping with it well and I am glad your son is doing well."

"We do what we can," Will said. "It is not easy, but life tends to be that way at times."

"I believe that is the only logical choice Lieutenant. We must continue to live while there is life to be lived. It may be difficult finding the focus, but as you said, your son is an excellent motivator. I would only recommend that you do not lose yourself by solely focusing on him or your career," Styveck explained.

"Indeed words to live by," Will acknowledged. "I've found that work can help with dealing with the pain, but it's easy to focus on the work to the extent of letting everything else fall by the wayside."

Styveck nodded in agreement, "Indeed. Lieutenant Gunnison, thank you for a refreshing conversation, it was in fact better than most of the ones I have had recently."

"Good to know," Will said. "Is there anything else you wished to cover in this meeting?"

"Nothing else today Sir, please schedule an appointment with the Yeomen outside when you are ready to meet again," Styveck said.



Lieutenant Styveck
Chief Counselor

&

Lt. William Gunnison
Chief of Operations