Looking Forward

Posted on 06 Jan 2014 @ 10:49pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Teth Miir

1,167 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Starfleet HQ - 5th Floor, Counseling Offices
Timeline: MD 05 - 1425 hrs

[ON]

Teth was in deep concentration as he finished up some notes from his appointments earlier that day. He wasn't even aboard his new ship yet and had already found himself quite busy. He preferred manual input over the voice recognition software. Though the voice recognition was faster, he found he made fewer errors while typing. There was also something almost musical about using type, when he got into it, he felt as if he was playing some kind of keyed instrument.

The door chimed and he looked up from his screen as if expecting the person on the other side to read his mind and enter. But they of course did not.

"Enter." he said, as he saved his work and straightened his uniform in preparation for his guest.

The door quietly swished open and Lirha walked in holding a PADD in her hands while briefly glancing around the office. She noticed the distinctive features of a dark-furred Caitian sitting at a workstation, and gave him a friendly smile. He matched the physical description of the new counselor she was looking for, and so she stepped further into the room and politely addressed him. "Lieutenant Miir? I am Commodore Saalm, mission advisor of USS Galileo. I hope I am not interrupting?"

"Not at all," the Caitian said graciously, motioning toward a gray, suede chair. "please, sit. What can I do for you, Commodore?"

As he studied her face more closely, she seemed almost too young to hold such a high rank. He knew she must be close to his own age, but somehow advanced far ahead of her peers. He also remembered his mother warning not to pursue a career in psychology if he ever wanted to be promoted past the rank of commander.

Lirha lithely moved to the nearby chair and took a seat, then crossed her legs and reached up to push a stray lock of dark hair back behind her ear. "It appears you have been assigned to Galileo as the ship's newest counselor. I thought it prudent to come and check in with you before I left for shore leave," she explained. "Have you received your orders yet?" she asked, wondering if the man was aware of his new posting.

"Indeed," he said enthusiastically, "I have had the opportunity to meet with a few of the crew already as well. I am very excited to have received this post."

"Good, I am glad to hear that. Many of them are no doubt anxious to enjoy their shore leave, I imagine. We have all been in space for a little longer than originally planned during our last deployment," she explained with a casual wave of her hand. "And you? Where were you posted before your transfer?"

"The Glasgow," he said, picking up a cup of luke warm tea from his desk, "I was there for three years. It had a wonderful crew and I enjoyed it a lot, but I suppose I was just getting a little bored with it. Change is necessary from time to time. I requested the Galileo specifically, I thought I might be of more help here."

He sipped the tea, a Vulcan blend he had grown fond of during his time on the Glasgow, a regular patient of his had introduced it to him. She was a Vulcan-Romulan hybrid Named T'lara, and her two halves were constantly warring with one another. He had grown quite fond of her as well and the bitter flavor of the tea reminded him of her.

But he realized his mind was wandering, "We spent most of our time surveying the Friedlich Nebula for mineral resources. It had a rich supply of Trillium, though that isn't exactly my area of expertise."

"Trillium...interesting," she mumbled, then curiously prodded further. "What type of ship is Glasglow?" Lirha asked, unfortunately not familiar with that specific starship or its missions.

Teth drank the remainder of his tea and stared down into the empty mug before putting it back on his desk.

"It was an Intrepid class, small but sturdy. We exclusively ran surveying missions. I think we had maybe two incidents that could be described as combat situations while I was there. My background is mostly in working with patients with PTSD and combat stress, so I admittedly was rather bored at that post. Mostly unneeded, though I did enjoy forming standing relationships with many of the crew members."

PTSD and combat stress...well, there was certainly enough of that going around Galileo at the moment to keep him occupied for a while, Lirha privately mused. Their previous encounter with the Borg had been less than ideal, and no doubt many emotional wounds were still raw.

"I think you will find a decent amount of interesting work aboard Galileo," she replied. "I am assuming you have worked with scientists before, then? They tend to make some of the more...difficult counseling patients, at least in my experience," she smirked.

"Scientists and engineers are the worst. But that's fine," he curled into a smile, "I enjoy a challenge."

He stood and walked to the nearby replicator at the far end of the office where he recycled his mug and ordered another one.

"I understand that the Galileo recently had an encounter with the borg. And the CO was assimilated? You don't have to answer and this isn't a formal inquiry, but how well do you think Captain Holliday is coping with what happened?"

The Orion shrugged, not seemingly too concerned about the question. "As well as can be expected, I suppose," she answered. "I am not a counselor obviously, but the captain is a very resilient man and so far I have not witnessed anything which would give me cause for concern. He is very professional and tends to keep his feelings to himself, but if you are interested in evaluating him, perhaps you could speak with him privately when the opportunity presents itself?" There was no harm in checking in on him, Lirha thought, and it probably might be best for him to be officially evaluated at some point before Galileo re-deployed.

"Perhaps you're right." Teth agreed and made a mental note to seek out the captain later.

"Is there anything else you wished to discuss Commodore?"

"No, not particularly," she answered with a small smile, then slowly stood from her seat. "Just wanted to meet our newest counselor and introduce myself to you. I will let you return to your work, and I am sure I will see you around soon enough. If you need anything, Captain Holliday and Commander Blake should be able to accommodate you."


Teth rose from his seat to match the commodore's stance out of respect.

"Thank you, ma'am. And I look forward to working with you in the very near future."

[OFF]

Commodore Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

&

Lt. JG Teth Miir
Counselor
USS Galileo

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