The Chief Counselor and the Senior Chief

Posted on Thu Jun 17th, 2021 @ 7:13pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Henry 'Hank' Keitel
Edited on on Fri Jun 18th, 2021 @ 12:39pm

Mission: The Thorion Conundrum Mission Brief
Location: Ship's Office

[ON]

Senior Chief Henry 'Hank' Keitel was sitting at his desk reviewing the latest batch of annual NCO evaluation reports. His billet as Command Senior Chief for the ship placed him in the position of not being the direct rater or senior rater for most of the ship's NCO Corp, but the professional development of the ship's enlisted crew was his responsibility.

There was a knock on his door before the voice of one of the yeoman came over the intercom. "Senior Chief, there's a Lieutenant Herria here to see you. She is the new Chief Counselor."

Hank closed down his terminal before activating the communications system as he rose to his feet. "Send them in Tucker."

Yeoman Second Class Eugene Tucker turned to the waiting Alessa. "COB will see you now." He gestured to the office door as it slid open.

Alessa stepped in, she looked tired and had bags under her eyes. Her brown hair had come out of its clip and hung loosely around her head framing her face. She rolled her shoulders, "Thank you Yeoman. Chief Keitel?" She stuuck out her hand.

"As your yeoman just said I am the new shrink around here and I wanted to put names to files."

Hank was standing at a small table with a coffee pot and several styrofoam cups sitting on the surface. "Would you like a coffee Lieutenant? It's the real deal, not that swill that comes out of the replicator."

She gave a smile, "Coffee sounds lovely...real coffee? I used to bribe the arboretum officer to let me grow a coffee plant back in Luna. You know we all have to live in domes cause the atmosphere sucks!" She said trying to make a joke.

Hank returned to his desk placing both cups down he pulled open a drawer and placed various packets of sugar, sweetener and creamers beside Alessa's cup before looking up. My apologies if I don't have what you want. I take my lifer juice the same way I take my Quervo. Straight up."

"I take my coffee like I take my dates, little sweet, little bitter and preferably fair trade." She said laughing a little adding two packets of sugar. And a creamer inside of it. She then sat down.

"So Chief Keitel, I have been going over files and meeting with officers all day. I just wanted to put a name to the face and maybe a brief conversation before I make a swift exit. Unless of course you need an emergency counseling session then we can talk till we get tired?" She said. He seemed like a man to her that was rather straight forward. So she would do the same while still being the sweet person she thought she was.

Hank took his seat and sipped coffee from his cup before speaking. "Well, I am not in need of a counseling session, but I am always available for to address any matters you feel would affect the enlisted crew, their morale or professionalism in the orderly function of this ship."

"Well I read your file you seem like a pretty hard nut to crack, but we all suffer stress from the job. Right now what I am concerned about is morale, its easy to yell at folks and order them around. Its a lot harder to sit down with somebody and listen to them or to lift spirits. What is being done in that regard here? Movie nights? Parties to ease tensions? Extra holodeck time?" She asked.

Hank's expression was unreadable as he drank his coffee and listened to her. "Well, there was a holiday party organized by some of the officers and crew. Sort of a Christmas and New Year celebration. Lead organizer was Mister DeMarco. Since then the ship's compliment has been busy with establishing the Federation Embassy on Thorion IV. Add the abduction of several members of the senior staff and that doesn't leave a lot of free time...for anyone."

"An abduction of senior staff?" She sounded concerned and a tad scared.

"Is this still going on?" She asked.

Hank looked at his computer screen briefly. "Everyone has been rescued more or less safely, though Lieutenant Blake has been put on light duty until cleared for full duty by Counselor Coleman. The other officers and the civilian scientist were held by Orion Syndicate operatives for much longer."

"Chief nobody informed me of this, not even the captain. I find that Enlisted men tend to be the fingers on the pulse of the ship. Thank you very much for informing me." She made notations on her PADD. Then she took a swig from her coffee.

~This is wild. Crew is kidnapped, Orions causing trouble.~ She thought.

"What can you tell me of Lieutenant Blake versus the Orions?" She asked flatly.

"Not much to tell. Lieutenant Blake was leading an away team to Thorion III, they encountered a group of Orions attacking a joint Andorian-Tellerite mining settlement and he was struck in the head by the Orion leader." Everything thing had been entered on the ship's log and was readily available for all members of the Senior Staff.

"Oh I am aware of whats in the log, But its whats not in the log that concerns me. Things tend to be censored or little details left out I was hoping an experienced man like yourself would understand that. I may not be an overly experienced military officer but I am a fully certificed Psychologist, trying to understand the mindset is what I do. To be fair this smells like what I would consider a Yridian Standoff to be. Orions are many things, but they aren't brutal thugs its not in their style. I am not saying it can't happen because it obviously did. Its beyond my scope to investigate the beating itself but I will be dealing with the aftermath. I know scuttlebutt and rumor is something a Chief of the Boat hears about all the time. I was asking for a little bit of that from you. If you would rather not I understand." She said with a smile.

"Not a matter of what I would rather or rather not say Lieutenant. I wasn't there. Nor will I speculate on events I was not a party to." Hank wasn't trying to be deceptive or seem like he was covering for the away team's conduct. He simply didn't know any details other than what was in the drone video footage and what had been reported in the after action logs.

"I appreciate your honesty and your time then. I am glad we had this chance to meet and chat. I will be uploading to your office the pamphlets that shipboard services and morale requires to be handed out. Aside from that I am pretty reachable and approachable." She said as she stuck out her hand.

Hank shook hands with Alessa as the two of them got to their feet. "The privilege and honor was mine Lieutenant. Welcome to the Leto. I will see to it the Department Enlisted Advisors and Division Leading Petty Officers receive the literature you mentioned and that it's distributed to the enlisted crew."

She smiled at him, "You remind me a lot of this guy I knew back home, tough as nails but underneath was a real sweet guy!"

Hank was unsure if Alessa made the comment to elicit a response or some sort of reaction. He did raise an eyebrow though. He gestured at the terminal. "If there is nothing else Lieutenant, I do have NCO evaluation reports to look over before sending them to the appropriate reviewing officer."

~So much for ending on positive notes?~ Alessa thought to herself before giving a nod. In her mind she wanted to curtsey and say Thank you my lord the ability to bask in your presence has been great but she threw on her pleasant demeanor and prayed he wasn't a telepath.

"Thank you Chief it was a genuine pleasure to meet you. If you need help going over those reviews my office is at your disposal." She stood up and extended her hand.

Hank rose to his feet, standing tall and with his uniform immaculate. He gave Alessa a firm,but not crushing handshake. "Honor and privilege are mine Lieutenant."

"One last thing whoever you are bribing in hydroponics to grow this for you needs to adjust the coffee soils ph by about five percent upwards you will get more of a bite but the roasting will be able to be done with a standard thermal coupling in small batches. I would consider it a personal favor if you could get a pots worth of grounds my way a month." She gave him the same look she gave her father when she wanted something badly hoping the charm worked.

Hank took a sip as his expression became thoughtful, trying to judge the young woman's critique of the coffee. He finally nodded. "Laboratory Technician First Class Warren is the Botany Division Leading Petty Officer and the supplier for my lifer juice. I recommend you speak with her. I just drink it. I don't know a thing about growing the coffee beans."

She smiled, "Thank you for your time. I will speak with her, I know way too much about coffee, way way too much."

Hank smiled. He actually, genuinely smiled...at an officer. It was a rare occasion when an officer, or anyone for that matter, could elicit such a response. "You do that Lieutenant. Stop by any time for a cup if you need to until you get your own supply stockpiled. Now if you will excuse me...." His final words sent the definitive message he had work to do.

"Tell you what, why don't we plan on coffee once a week. If you bring some by my office, I have a french press and I can make amazing things with coffee. I even will entice you with tulaberry muffins! Or if you prefer bring your wife to the lounge the three of us can have dinner sometime!!" She said being friendly.

"I will consider it Counselor." Subtle wasn't getting him back to his work. He rose from his desk and walked to the door, the sensor picking up his approach and opening the door. His face remained calmly neutral and his voice didn't carry a single trace of annoyance, but his message was very clear. "Good day to you."

The Lieutenant got the feeling she ha overstayed her welcome. She made a few notations on her notebook and started to walk out the door, It was into her next appointment with a very frazzled first officer. She gave him a pleasant nod. She had found all the company refreshing and didn't understand why folks didn't want to spend all day talking. But such was the nature of things. She made it a point to read over the incident report as soon as she could.

Hank returned to his seat after Alessa left. He brought up the NCOER file he had been reviewing before the Counselor's arrival. He looked at his office door and sighed. He was an old school noncom. Something about the young woman made him like her though. She was an optimist. He finally returned his attention to the computer screen and got back to work.

[OFF]