20 Questions

Posted on 01 Feb 2014 @ 2:14pm by Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Commander Scarlet Blake

1,731 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Starfleet HQ, Earth
Timeline: MD 07 - 1414 hrs

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Olsam was moving back and forth between San Francisco and Paris so much he was actually beginning to recognize some of the commuters. He could have just as easily used Starfleet's transporter system to move instantaneously between the two points, but he enjoyed taking the civilian transport. It gave him time to catch up on the latest articles in relevant medical journals and relax without having his atoms scattered and reassembled.

The transport brought him to the Presidio's civilian transportation hub and from there it was a short but pleasant walk in the crisp winter air to the administrative complex where Galileo's command staff had been given temporary offices during the refit procedures. The Bolian glanced at his personal chronometer to make sure he wasn't late for his appointment with the ship's executive officer and picked up his pace accordingly.

The administrative building was utilitarian in design, which suited Olsam just fine because he had a terrible sense of direction. Finding Commander Blake's office had been simple enough and upon arrival he activate the door chime below the temporary name plate: "Commander Scarlet Blake, Executive Officer, U.S.S. Galileo."

"Come in," Scarlet called out, her voice somewhat distracted as she finished writing on a PADD. There were so many things that needed doing first. It was trying to work out which 'first thing's first' thing that needed doing first.

"Hello, Commander Blake. Huh, you're very pretty," he said, sounding more like he was making an aloof and objective scientific observation than a statement of opinion. He crossed to the desk and stood there. For a few long, silent, and awkward moments the Bolian just stood near the desk and looked around the temporary office until he suddenly started.

"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? Sorry. My colleagues tell me I'm very scatter-brained, which I think is the most preposterous Terran expression. The only kind of person who could have their brain scattered would be a dead one, probably the result of some horrible industrial accident. But I'm very much alive and with my brain intact."

He fell silent and began looking around the room again, brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to recall whether or not there was something else he was going to say. "Was I about to say something? Because I feel like I had more to say. Before the whole brain scattering thing."

"You were about to introduce yourself," Scarlet replied softly, hiding her amusement at this charming but somewhat....yes, scatter-brained had been a very good phrase...officer. She leant forward on her desk to watch him, elbow on the table, chin resting on the top of her hand as she watched, patiently, in silence.

"Oh. Right. I'm Dr. Olsam Mott, the new ACMO. I prefer Olsam outside of Sickbay; Dr. Olsam when the occasion calls for it."

"Of course," she nodded, pulling a PADD across the desk to bring up his service record. "Take a seat and tell me about yourself. These service records have a way of providing all the facts but little of the person. And er, try to keep succinct?" she suggested lightly.

Olsam cut his eyes to the two chairs opposite the desk from the commander. They looked like standard issue chairs to him, and he had no desire to take either one of them. Really they were sort of hideous, and they'd clash with his apartment decor. He gave her an apologetic smile and sat down in one of them, hoping she wouldn't bring up his silent refusal to take one of the seats.

"Succinct," he repeated once seated, as if testing the taste of a word known but rarely used. It was sharp and crisp; he liked it. "Well. I come from a big family. I'm a pretty good doctor. I like to cook. I work well in teams. And I think we should consider relieving Captain Holliday of command. Now tell me about you."

Olsam flashed a large, happy, Bolian smile and sat back in the chair. He crossed one leg over the other, folded his hands on top of his knee and waited patiently and attentively.

Scarlet blinked, watching him with confusion as she took the stream of words in. Well, they were certainly succinct, but not what she had expect. "Hang on, rewind a moment.....relieve the Captain of his position?"

"Oh, yes, I think he's completely medically unfit for command. Did you know he was assimilated? I stopped to see him the other day, and he just outright refused to go to counseling. And then said he'd think about it on his own terms or something very command-like. I think he's suffering quite a bit from the experience and his refusal to seek long-term care makes him a liability to the ship and the crew."

Olsam took back to looking around the office, then, finishing his inspection, he settled his gaze back on the commander and smiled. The whole conversation seemed to be very routine to him.

Scarlet just watched him for a long moment, searching his features to try and read him a little better at the unexpected start to their meeting. She finally cleared her throat. "You - realise that I was the Chief Counsellor until recently?"

"Well, that's one of the reasons I decided to bring it up with you," Olsam said, smiling so hard his eyes seemed to threaten to disappear in the squint. "I mean, I don't think I could relieve him of command by myself, especially not since the grounds are more psychological than anything. And that's pretty harsh, anyway. If we all got relieved of command when something bad happened, there'd be no one left to run Starfleet, right? So I thought I should come and speak to you about it - as the former chief counselor and current first officer - so we can decide the best course of action. It's team planning!"

Well, he was certainly enthusiastic, she could give him that. Scarlet nodded as she leant forward on the desk a little to him. "Our Captain is a - tough man. He will have issues with what happened in the last mission. Just like the rest of the crew; no one escaped unaffected between assimilation, injuries, loss of crewmates..." she shook her head with a frown. "However, he always puts duty first, and I trust him to understand that keeping his mental health in good shape is part of his duty as a Captain. He'll deal with it when he's ready."

Olsam raised what would have been an eyebrow if there was any hair there.

"'When he's ready'? Forgive me, Commander, but that doesn't seem sufficient to me. Voluntary counseling should not be an option for an individual who's experienced severe physiological and psychological trauma, especially not in a command situation. What if our next assignment brings us in close contact with the Borg, and our commanding officer hasn't even begun a course of therapeutic treatment to resolve the issues surrounding his assimilation?" Olsam sat back in the chair, suddenly looking very serious. "I believe allowing him to mandate his own treatment regimen jeopardizes the safety of the ship and the crew; if anything, his insistence on doing so demonstrates just the sort of questionable judgement that I'm most concerned about."

"He may well opt to talk about it soon," Scarlet pointed out, shaking her head gently. She had done the same thing once. After her own trauma. More, she'd terminated her counselling after hers. "Sometimes you have to understand that there are some people that the more you tell them to do something, the more they will resist it. Forced counselling is by far the least successful, because it's the patient who has to do the work when it comes to therapy. And they won't do the work if you try and force them...and it ends up one big, unhappy, waste of time."

Olsam blinked, looking as if he heard her but didn't necessarily understand or agree.

"Well, what if he never decides to go? I think we should just sedate him and lock him in a room with a few trauma counselors for a week," Olsam said, his tone of voice not making it entirely clear whether he was joking or not.

A small, wry smile pulled at the corner of Scarlet's mouth. She had worked with stubborn officers too long not to appreciate the delicate balance a counsellor had to strike with them to get a good result. "I think that we should give him the benefit of the doubt and a chance to make the choice for himself. Have you heard the expression 'don't meet trouble half way'? Let's worry about his not dealing with trauma only if it happens. Until then, I trust him."

Olsam nodded his agreement and let the matter drop altogether. Once a decision was made together, it was made. And made was made was made. "Who's Truble? Is that some troll from a Terran fairytale? Why don't you want to meet him? He sounds like troub-...oh. Oh. Oh, okay. I think I get it now."

"Good," Scarlet offered with a half smile, watching him as she sat back, glad they were on the same page now. "Captain Holliday runs a tight ship. That includes all uniform and time keeping rules. You seem very attentive though. Did you have any questions?"

Olsam wrinkled up his nose in momentary offense. "Why, yes, I'm quite attentive - always punctual," he lied. "Questions? No, I don't think I have any questions. Should I have any questions? Sometimes it seems that I should, but I don't. I mean...no questions for you. I have a lot of questions in general that I keep in a file on my PADD. I just write them down when I think of them. I think I'm up to something like 4,700..." He twisted in the chair, reaching to unclip his PADD from his belt. "Would you like to see them?"

Scarlet lifted her hand up to halt him, giving a soft cough. "I...no, that's quite alright, thank you. You're free to go. I look forward to seeing your work."

[ OFF ]

Commander Scarlet Blake
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

&

Lieutenant JG Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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