Meeting With the First Officer

Posted on Thu Jul 1st, 2021 @ 11:21pm by Lieutenant Commander Sheena Toran-Blake

Mission: The Thorion Conundrum Mission Brief
Location: XO's Office
Timeline: Back Post

ON:

First Officer's Office

Alessa beeped on the door and waited for an answer. She had read this woman was from Betazed and brought with her a bottle of Spring Water from Hanala Springs near the Jenaran Falls. She also had a bottle of Wine made in a vineyard that was near her own home in case the XO prefered alcohol. She also threw on her warmest smile. Then waited.

Sheena was going over personnel files when her door chime startled her. "Enter!" she said looking at the door. "Ah yes, Counselor is it? Welcome aboard, please have a seat. Can I offer you something?" Sheena asked.

Alessa smiled, "I actually am here to introduce myself and say hello. Have a sit down so we can understand each other as is procedure. So I brought some Ottaberry wine from the Opal shores or some water from the Springs near the falls from back home, as a way of saying hello! Which do we open?"

"I think you know counselor", Sheena laughed. "A taste of home from the Jeanran Falls is the best way to start off this meeting," she added. Getting two glasses, "How are your quarters and your office?" Sheena inquired.

Alessa uncorcked the bottle of water. "Everything is moving at the speed of a snail. I met a rather surly bozun who said the only quarters free were by the turbolift and the ODN relays. My office.. I have yet to unpack most of it. So its everything I have come to expect the military machine to move at. How about you? How are you holding up?"

She poured the liquid into each glass.

"To you and your health!" Alessa said with a smile.

"And to yours as well," Sheena said. "As for me holding up...it is trying at times, but for now it seems to be alright. The shock of finding out my Imzadi was taken prisoner and injured was a major shock for me but I survived it.

Alessa templed her fingers, "I have been trying to find out how that happened? Since I am waiting on an update of access codes I can't even look at the file. I am not an investigator I am a pick up the pieces type. How was he even allowed to take on a group of orions by himself? I mean I get it if he has a heroic streak in him, from the other officers I spoke to he seems to be like that. But thats not why I am here. I know you survived this and you will keep surviving it, but how are you holding up?"

Alessa could not forget she was a counselor. Moments like these it hung over her like a sword of Damaclese. She looked at her and smile softly. Trying to make this as unakward as possible.

Sheena knew what Alessa was asking. "Ryan and a team went after one of our officers that was kidnapped. That is how all this began. The Marine XO lead a SAR team to get our people back. What they did to Ryan was .....horrible and traumatic," Sheena said trying to shake it off but not having much luck.

Alessa cleared her throat, "Medical says he will recover, there is going to be some therapy required. But with traumatic events this sort of thing is more common then you think. Back on Luna we still work with PTSD cases from the Dominion war. Everybody I talk to has told me how brave and tough he is. You are going to be going through a lot of stages of grief."

She then heard what she said next spoken in her deep therapist voice. A part of her she hated, "You do a good job of masking your depression, throwing yourself into work though isn't a bandaid. Because what you are feeling is rage and rage is depression turned inward. Its okay to cry. I promise you, it doesn't make you weak. Because the second you cry it means you accept things. That is how the healing begins." Alessa tried to sound as comforting as she could.

"I did my crying just after I yelled for the neural blocker and Ryan reached out with the lyrics to my favorite song. Once the two eased me into a stable state of mind, I broke down crying. I accepted it then and I know that the road to recovery will be long and hard for both of us. That is why I am glad to know you are here and will be assisting in our recovery. Yet, I still cry sometimes as I pick up on his struggle to deal with it himself. It is painfull at best, but hopefully time will help heal the deepest wounds," Sheena said, not bothering to hide a lone tear.

"Well his prognosis is good, I would like you to visit him during his recovery phase. If you need anybody to talk to about anything, any time of day let me know okay?" Alessa reached over with a tissue and gently touched her shoulder.

"Thankyou," Sheena said taking the tissue. "Not to worry, I will be the first to holler at you. Coming aboard now, in this instance is a god send, and I am grateful you are here," she added wiping the tear.

"Normally I do not break confidentiality but there was a old girlfriend of mine, She was is a marine and tough as nails, She got raped by her commanding officer. They bribed her with a transfer anywhere she wanted to go for her silence. Instread of reporting the crime, she took the bribe and the promotion because she thought it was the best thing for her to do for her sanity. I counseled her against it." She said firmly.

"What I want for you to do is take the next four hours off, go to the holodeck and get some R&R in, I am also going to prescribe a drug called Klonopin for any anxiety, two days worth just to get you through the next fourty eight hours. After he has woken up I want to see you again so we can talk about things okay?" Alessa tried to sound authoratative, it ended up sounding like she was half asking.

"I have a few holoprograms that can help with that. I will do as you order counselor. One thing though, I am not a pill popper. However if you believe it will help with the anxiety, I will also do as ordered, and thankyou for your help. It is much appreciated," Sheena said smiling warmly.

"Lots of officers are not, I take a three pronged approach to all things like a stool. The seat is a metaphorical and physical one which is the counseling itself, then there is the holotherapy or the reading of self help or self education, it acts as one of the legs. Then there is medication which acts as the second leg of the stool, then there is the physical or cognative retraining that we work on . Those three things combined help or work in tandem to help make a more stable you. " Alessa smiled hoping if she broke it down in a more reasonable way it was more easy to digest.

"Ah, I see what you mean. In order for the stool to be stable each leg must be able to support the seat," Sheena said hoping she understood Alessa.

"So I want you to take the script, take medication as needed, and drop by my office if you need to talk. Otherwise I am willing to sign off on your six month eval and all of this saves you an office visit and needless paperwork. Save for when you are doing personel evaluations which we both know are a real pain in the rump." Alessa said with a smile.

"Great and thanks Alessa. Also evaluations are a real pain in the arse" Sheena said chuckling.

"Tell me about it you are a decent person I genuinely like you. So lets have lunch sometime and we can call it a visit. I tend to ask a lot of questions so it would count." She offered with a giggle then signed off on the XO.

"Agreed Alessa, agreed. Lunch would be wonderful. Well I will let you tend to your duties," Sheena said, watching Alessa leave. 'Wonderful person that Alessa is', muttering to herself.

OFF:

Cmdr. Sheena Toran
Executive Officer
USS Leto NCC-80916

LT. Alessa Harris
Chief Counselor
USS Leto