Operation Counselling

Posted on 15 Mar 2012 @ 5:59pm by Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III (KIA) & Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy

1,909 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: Counsellor's Office
Timeline: MD6 1100hours

Dru leaned over to pick up the next PADD on her desk. As she noted the person's name she smiled to herself, Lieutenant Commander Chauncey William Remington the Third...now there was abit of a mouthful.

Dru settled back in her chair in order to read through the file. As time passed the smiled on her face turned to a frown before she threw down the PADD in frustration and cursed to herself. Bloody Starfleet. Three weeks ago he looses most of his crew and they don't highlight with me that I need to keep an eye on this person?!? If starfleet had their own bloody way they'd keep throwing people to the lions without giving then psycological help.

Dru continued to grumble to herself before hitting the commbadge on her uniform jacket,

=^=Counsellor McCarthy to Commander Remington; I would appreciate if you could meet me in my office within an hour please.=^=

Dru usually didn't like to order people around, but in this case she felt she needed to see the Commander sooner rather then later.

=/\=Uh... I am not scheduled for a counseling session. What can I do for you? If you need a work request...=/\=

=^=I'm trying to get the crews evaluation's done and it just so happened you are next on my list. I have some time free so I'd appreciate it if you would find the time to come see me.=^=

If Will was annoyed or upset, one couldn't tell from the calm tone of his voice. =/\=Very well, I'm on my way.=/\=

Dru frowned slightly at her commbadge at the effort it had just taken to get Will to come to her office for an appointment. Surely every starfleet officer, especially a Lieutenant Commander would be fully aware they must meet with the counsellor when first onboard. Dru decided to give Will the benefit of the doubt and sat back to reread his file so as she would be fully prepared.

Several minutes later, definitely longer than it took to get to the counselor's office, Will arrived. "Counselor," he said with a polite nod.

Dru looked up at Will as he walked into the office and a natural smile developed on her face. Dru stood in order to offer her hand to the man, having to look up at him given their height difference."Commander. Thank you for making space in your schedule for this, I know you are very busy at the moment prepping for launch but at least we can get this over and done with."

"Ah, yes, I'd like that very much," Will managed in a conversational tone, taking her hand and shaking it with a firm but gentle grip.

As Dru pulled back she indicated for Will to take a seat on the padded seat on the other side of the room while she took the one facing it, pulling her legs under her as she sat down."Well I guess first and foremost we need to establish a few things. Which in here I prefer that ranks be left outside, for me to be your counselor we need to be on equal standing so I'm Dru or Drusilla and with your permission I would like to call you Chauncey." Dru tried to set the scene so as Will would be as relaxed as he could be.

Will wrinkled his nose at the counselor as he took a seat. "Good Lord, no, Counselor." he declared, "The name's an honor to carry, but a pain to hear. Please, call me William or just Will. Don't worry about my rank."

"Will it is so. But please, Counsellor is a title, Dru or Drusilla unless you are uncomfortable with that." Dru smiled across at Will as she made herself comfortable."First and foremost let's tackle something which could otherwise hinder this session. I get the impression you are not quite happy to be here?"

"Very well, Dru," he said, saying her name as if he were testing how it felt on his tongue. He gave the counselor a look as she mentioned him not wanting to be here. "Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well why don't you tell me, Will?" Dru noted the deflection but didn't look too much into it.

Her response earned a hesitation from Will. After a pause he replied, "I have no objection to you, Dru. I simply do not enjoy having my brain picked."

"Well why don't you tell me about yourself, about the things you feel I need to know and we can see if the merge up with what I feel you need to talk about. That way I'm not picking your brain...yet anyway." Dru smiled over at Will.

"Seeing as I don't feel you need to know anything about me I tell you in the office, perhaps you had best pick my brain." There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but it was hardly noticeable.

"I'll tell you what Will. Your job on this ship is head of operations if I recall correctly. You need to know the layout of a ship in order to assign quaters. You need to know the circuitry of a ship to be apply to repair systems. You need to know all of this to do a job. My job on this ship is Counsellor. To ensure the mental well being of each of the crew by aiding and helping them where it is needed. How do you propose I do my job if I don't have the information I need to be able to do it." Dru kept the soft smile on her face to show Will she was trying to reason with him nothing more.

"If your worried about what will be noted on your file or what will go outside of this room I can assure you what is said in here, stays in here. If something is off the record it stays off of the record unless it puts this ship and it's crew in danger. I'm here to help Will, nothing more. A shoulder to cry on when you don't want others knowing, someone to bounce things off of." Dru shifted slightly in her seat to lean forward to look Will in the eyes,"Let me do my job."

It occurred to Will briefly, as he listened in silence to all that Dru had to say, that she was probably in the least likely position to get through to him. She was human, and she was a counselor, neither of which worked in her favor. He even contemplated telling her a much, but settled on something less blunt. "In any other situation, I would compliment you on your persistence. But I can assure you, any concerns you have after reading my record are unfounded. The Phoenix accident occurred almost two months ago, I've come to terms with it and I'm not about to have a nervous breakdown."

Dru kept the soft smile as she realised Will was going to be difficult and she needed to approach this differently. "Who said my concerns are in relation to what happened two months ago? Maybe my concerns are in relation to your claustrophobia? You've just transferred to a ship much smaller then you would ordinarily be used to. How are you coping with that?"

"Oh, come now," he said with a smile, "I've been around the block more times than you know. I know what you counselors are up to." He gave her a subtle wink before continuing, "I don't have claustrophobia... I'm just uncomfortable in tight spaces like Jefferies tubes. Being on the Galileo won't bother me, though I'm used to bigger ships."

Dru took note of Will's use of flirting she assumed was to draw her attention away,"It can't make your job very easy if you've to spend time crawling through jeffery tubes in order to do sensor maintenance? Being a science ship I'm sure the sensors will require alot of maintence with the use they will get."

"I may be uncomfortable, but I won't allow that to prevent me from servicing the ship." He paused, looking quite seriously at her. "Don't you have some ink blots for me or something? Take some neurological scans?"

Dru laughed lightly before returning Will's stare, realising he is trying to deflect again,"Do you not think that ink blots would get you into more trouble? They give us an insight into how you view things and think about things, which we then pick them apart. How did you handle your claustrophobia when you had to use an escape pod to leave the Phoenix?"

"I memorized the standard answers to all your tests," Will replied with a smirk. He turned a bit more serious though when she mentioned his last ship. "Ensign Likara," he replied, "a bolian girl. I was too busy helping her to worry about myself. I was the Phoenix's second officer and the ranking officer still alive. We don't have the luxury of selfishness in emergency situations."

"Whatever happened to Ensign Likara afterwards?" Dru settled back into her seat, internally happy Will had stopped fighting her.

"She's on leave back home."

As Dru sensed Will's reluctance she decided to pull back again, giving Will some breathing space. There was time to discuss the bigger of the issues either today or another day,"So tell me, how do you plan on handling your fear of certain illnesses/infections onboard a primary science vessel?"

Will frowned at her. "Handling my fear?" he asked, "I'm not afraid of getting sick. I have a prudential caution around biohazards, that's all. I should think it serves me quiet well when we beam some sort of alien virus aboard. Don't you get concerned when you're exposed to something dangerous?"

"Honestly...we are in space, everything is a hazzard. If we are here to find new planets, new people, we need to be open. Something's will harm us, others won't, why will we find which it is if we don't take chances." Dru paused for a moment before deciding to end this session with one more question,"what are you so scared of Will?"

"Nothing," he reiterated, "whatever reservations I may have about certain activities do not effect my performance. Only a fool is afraid of nothing. Would I be afraid to face the Borg? Yes. Or species 8471? Of course. It doesn't mean there is something wrong with me."

"Did anyone say there's something wrong with you? Why would you feel there is?"

Will smiled at her. "I think I've had quite enough counseling for one day. Thank you, Dru." With that he stood up and began to leave.

Dru smiled to herself as she watched Will walk away. Before the doors closed she called out loud enough for him to hear,"I'll see you at 1100 hours in two days, Will." Even though Dru knew they would have already left for the mission, she didn't see a reason to recommend him being pulled from the ship, she was determined though that he would talk about what had happened...even if it took them awhile to get to that point.

Will paused just outside the door and looked over his shoulder. "Have a good day, Counselor," he replied before turning down the hall.


Lt. Cmdr. Chauncey William Remington III
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

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