Check the Box
Posted on Fri Jan 12th, 2018 @ 10:43am by
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 9:53pm
2,141 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Enemy Within
Location: Counsellor's Office - Deck 5
Timeline: MD002 0900 Hrs
Tags: SD 71373.0900
Jack glanced down at the PADD and nodded. Deck five was a pretty busy place with sickbay, surgical wards, isolation sweets, the library, holodecks and... the counsellor's office. He stopped outside the office and smoothed his uniform. He pressed the door chime for entrance and waited.
Lounging on her seat as she tipped the chair back slightly, the counsellor's eyes were closed as she puzzled over a piece of information she had gained from her last patient. It was common knowledge, it seemed to everyone but her, that gravity onboard a ship was slightly less than that which one was used to an earth. The difference as fractional but if one paid attention enough, they could feel it in each step that they took.
Hearing the sound of her office chime, Suzie let out slight squeak as her chair suddenly went tumbling backwards, resulting in the back of her head making contact with the floor; causing an even louder shout and some swear words to echo throughout the room. It seemed that the difference in gravity wasn't quite enough in this instance to prevent a sore head. "Damn damn damn damn..." Taking a minute, the counsellor tried to refocus as she moved to her knees and rubbed her hand over the sore spot of her crown. "Enter!" The word was said at an octave higher than usual resulting in the throbbing in her skull momentarily increasing.
Jack walked in, stopped just inside the threshold and paused to look around. His eyes rolled over the sitting area and the sprawled form of what he assumed was the counselor. He moved forward and reached down to help her up.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
Suzie took the outstretched hand with a lot less finesse than intended before using the hold to lever herself back to her feet; glaring at the upturned chair. “Fine. I’m fine. I’m grand.”
It took a moment more, before rubbing her head the counsellor was able to turn to the officer. “I wasn’t expecting anybody...I guess you took me by surprise. Mr....?”
Jack smiled. "First Lieutenant Jack Cunningham, ma'am. I'm the new CO of the Marine detachment here on the Pioneer. I always like to get together with the counselor as soon as possible. Do you have time to talk now or should I make an appointment for a later date?"
“You like to get together with the counsellor as soon as possible?” Suzie stares at the man in dewilderment before looking behind him just to check no one else was there. “Men of your mindset are far and few between Jack...women too for that fact. Is that why you want to see me? To figure out why you don’t have a phobia of counsellor’s like most others on this ship?”
Jack shrugged. "I don't know anything about anyone else on this ship. I know that meeting with you is a requirement and I am not one to put things off. Get it done now," he said. "But I've also been in more than my fair share of scrapes and seen a lot of bad stuff. The kind of stuff that you don't get over easily, even if you are a Marine. During the Romulan assistance program, I dealt with a lot of young Marines who were tough as titanium in combat but cried when they thought nobody was looking. Your job is important to my command. You can make sure my Marines are combat effective and that includes having their minds right."
Suzie felt her face flush red as an uncommon shyness flitered through her mind at the man’s words. “Thank you...I think you're only the second person to place confidence in the work I want to try to do...In the work I know that I need to do. The first person was Commander Richardson but she understand because she was here before and she was a counsellor before and she...”
The counsellor cut her words short as she realised she was beginning to ramble. “Sorry...that was unprofessional of me. Can I offer you a drink Jack? If I may use your name?”
Jack smiled. "Sure. I'm not one to stand on formality. I'm more of a results oriented kind of guy. Sorry to hear about your success rate. A lot of people don't value counsellors or diplomats, which I certainly do. Both can help keep my Marines alive longer."
Moving over to the replicator, Suzie indicated to a nearby chair as she issued an invite for the man to take a seat. "Water, coffee, tea, something harder? You seem to have a big focus regarding the welfare of your marines?"
"Tea is fine, thanks," Jack said. "I think every CO should have the welfare of their people as the top priority. The difference is, I've been involved in a lot of combat and I know personally how much that can get into your head." He took the cup of tea from the counselor. "Thanks. So is an ensign typically assigned to a ship of this size as chief counsellor? Marine bases don't have the same rank systems."
Moving to her own chair, Suzie folded one leg under her before sitting back and balancing her own coffee against her knee. "Well I suppose technically I'm meant to be having a boss but somethings it's as difficult to find counsellors as it is to get patients to them. Why I was assigned here...I'm still trying to figure that one out. I'm in my second year of residency before becoming a fully qualified Doctor and this is my psychiatry placement. I guess maybe they wanted my experience to encompass being away from Earth and based around people who's main focus is protection rather than exploration? I'm not sure...I'm still trying to figure this all out if I'm to be completely honest."
He sipped his tea. "Well, I think we are all trying to figure things out. That never changes. With my job, it means making sure that people get the training and support they need so that when phasers are firing, they have the best possible chance for a positive outcome. You might not have the phaser fire in here, but I'd bet that your end goal is similar. right?"
“I guess so. But with you people do it willingly and if not, you can order them because you know the training and support are necessities in marines being able to fulfil their jobs. With me, a superior officer can order a person to my door but getting that person to open up is a further task in itself. How do you get marines, intelligence officers, security officer to open up when their training is to be able to shut down on command when they don’t want to talk?” Suzie’s vouce was relaxed for once, she felt that she could talk to this officer without fear...he seemed so open and seemed to understand.
Jack nodded as he listened to her talk. "I've often found that when Marines have something really bad happen, the last thing they want to do is talk about it. They'll talk about everything else. Maybe you should just get them to talk about anything else. The crew doesn't know you yet and that means they don't trust you. You're putting way too much pressure on yourself from the get go. You can't win the war in the first battle. Remember it is a campaign. And, if I may say, you are the chief counsellor and I'm pretty sure that if you tell the CMO that someone isn't fit for duty, they won't be doing anything. Play hard ball when you have to," Jack said and grinned.
Suzie blanced a little...the sheer thought of walking up to her commanding officer and demanding someone be removed from duty...surely he’d laugh in her face quicker than take her at her word. She was an Ensign...a second year residency student...heck she had no experience yet behind her beyond what books and the academy had thought. “Perhaps...so what would you like to talk about today Jack? You mentioned earlier you too had had some bad things happen?”
"Ah. Yeah," Jack said. "I was involved in a bad firefight against some Romulans on a previous posting," he said and handed over a PADD. "I went to a counselor for months and he was good. Helped me a lot. This is my counseling report from him to bring you up to speed. Or whatever the technical term is."
Taking the outstretched PADD, Suzie settled herself back into her chair as she debated reading the information or just getting it second hand. Allowing curiosity to get the better of her, she gave the information a glance. "How long ago was the posting? From this I believe you came here from one of the marine camps where you were an instructor?"
"About five years ago when I was stationed at Camp Caesar. We were right on the border of Romulan space and when everything went downhill there, we had a ton of refugees and people trying to prey on refugees. Ended up getting drawn into a trap and five of my platoon died. I've been dealing with this for a long time and my last counsellor really helped me make sense of things. I haven't had anything like that happens since, thankfully, although the constant stupidity of privates is a close second," Jack said with a grin.
"In my last positioning during my general practice rotation, I met a man who's daughter was involved with a marine. I believe she was their camp Doctor or something." Looking up from the PADD, gathering what information she needed, Suzie folded one leg back under her in a relaxed position. "The be all and end all was she lost him in a similar situation as you have just described. Five years can sometimes be a short time, when it comes to living with the repercussions of your job. How does is feel to be back in the role of a Marine Commanding Officer once more?
"I'm not sure yet. This is the first time I'm working on a fleet ship instead of in a Marine unit. A lot of the things that are done here make no sense to me. Once I figure out whether the officers around me know what they are doing, I'll have a better idea of how I feel to be here. My Marines don't appear to be completely screwed up, so that's good. I am happy to not be training new recruits though," Jack said.
"How do you plan on going about figuring out if the officers around you know what they are doing?" Suzie smiled with the question, trying to see where she could go with this session given most of her work had already been done for her.
Jack laughed. "I think that I'll watch to see whether they make fools of themselves and how they treat their people. Those two things usually tell you all you need to know about a person in uniform. So far, I know for a fact that the Chief Counselor is ok. I'll let you know how the rest of it goes," he said and then emptied his tea cup. "I suppose I should go do some work and make sure my enlisted Marines aren't running amok."
Suzie fet a little disappointed that the meeting was coming to an end, her cheeks still a little flushed from the compliment. "Well feel free to send some of them down here...I'm sure they'll easily see it as an act of punishment and it'll give me a chance to experience Marines better."
Jack set his cup down and stood, extending a hand. "Ma'am, I can assure you that you will have no problem with any of my Marines." He said it with his command voice and he knew from experience that people took him very seriously when he spoke that way.
Suzie hesitated a moment before taking the man’s outstretched hand in her own. The change in his tone of voice was a little disarming but she understood where it came from. “If I can be of any further help Lieutenant, my door is always open.”
"Same to you, ensign. Even you need someone to talk to and I am a good listener. I'll have my people come your way soon," Jack said.
Joint Post By:
1st Lieutenant Jack Cunningham Jr
Marine Commanding Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer
Ensign Suzanne Quinn M.D.
Counselor, USS Pioneer
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