Best Served Cold

Posted on 16 May 2018 @ 10:11pm by Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Ensign Mimi

2,474 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Galileo-A - Counselor's Office
Timeline: MD 102 - 0915 hours

ON:

Mimi sauntered through the corridors of the shiny new Galileo, she'd heard the new counselor had come onboard and with Lirha requesting she make an appointment with then before they left she guessed now was the time to get it out of the way, she knew she wasn't crazy or suicidal or having emotional difficulties but the Captains word is law.

She approached the door to the counselors office and tapped the chime.

Since the Chief Counselor wasn't in the midst of a session, the door had been left unlocked by his preferences. When Mimi stood close enough to the doors to press the chime, the internal sensors detected her presence and slid the doors open. Within the compartment, the Counselor's Office remained in it's default settings. Like many of the systems aboard Galileo-A; it wasn't ready yet, while the new starship remained in dock. There wasn't even a desk, nor even a single chair. Lake ir-Llantrisant was sitting on the floor, in the middle of the room. He was staring up at the ceiling, while Romulan folk music blared from the communications grid.

"Good morning." Mimi said to the person sat on the bare floor moments before she realised who it was. A Romulan she'd met once before when she was dancing at the wave organ on the shores of San francisco, they had talked together and she had shown him a couple of the Nekomi dances for over an hour but in all that time they had never exchanged names or said much about their jobs.

Swinging his gaze in Mimi's direction, Lake said, "oh," in confused recognition that a familiar face was suddenly standing in his office. "The little wind-dancer," he said aloud the only name he knew for her. He tilted his head back and told the Computer to silence the music. When he didn't have to raise his voice to be heard above the music, he looked to Mimi with a scrunched up expression that asked more questions than the upward lilt in his voice. "How did you follow me here?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question, Sir." Mimi said finally noticing the two rank pips that adorned his collar. "I applied to this new Galileo and I got through."

"In that case," Lake said, as he planted his feet on the floor and rose to his full height, "I offer you my congratulations. You must be one Areinnye of an impressive officer to have made it aboard this ship." Taking a small step towards Mimi, Lake held out a hand in traditional Starfleeter greeting. Some days, he still felt like he was doing it wrong, like his posture was somehow awkward -- despite the simplicity of a handshake.

Mimi took Lakes hand. "You know, at the wave organ, I showed you all those Nekomi dances and never did get your name." She said looking up at the bulky romulan who towered over her.

"I'm called Lake ir-Llantrisant," he replied. Lake left his outstretched hand within her grip, while he bent at the waist to bow to the Nekomi in greeting. "It was a pleasure to meet you," Lake said, straightening up; "and from whom have I learned Nekomi dances?"

"Lan-tris-ant." Mimi said. "An interesting name, I am Mimi, just Mimi."

Lake responded by saying, "Mimi," in just as experimental a tone, as if it were proving to be just as much a tongue twister for his Romulan accented pronunciation. Feeling satisfied he had mimicked her rightly, he nodded once, and he said, "A pleasure to meet you, Wind Dancer. Now, I'm assuming you didn't come here to speak with me about the wave organ?"

"I did not." Mimi replied. "The Captain wanted me to have a meeting with you, before we leave the dock, she wants to make sure I am not crazy after what happened to the old crew."

Nodding at Mimi slowly, Lake took a couple of steps back from Mimi. "If I'm hearing you correctly," Lake said, "The Captain has ordered you to be assessed by me. She wants to make sure you're not crazy after what happened to your old crew." That last bit, he said far more slowly. He was visibly uncomfortable with the terminology, but he chose to respect the words Mimi had chosen. Tilting towards her, just slightly, he asked her one question:

"Are you crazy?"

Mimi shook her head. "No, I feel fine."

Shrugging dramatically, Lake said, "Fine," as if that were enough. As if Mimi had satisfied him. As if he was ready to clear her for duty. In truth, it was just an echo. He began to pace around the office, padding a circle around Mimi with the soles of his boots. "You say you're fine," he affirmed. "Tell me more about what feeling fine means to you?"

"I am not in any pain." Mimi said, she tracked Lake as he circled her feeling a little uncomforable. "I have no......problems with any of my friends."

"As you know," Lake said, "I wasn't present when the Captain asked you to have a conversation with me. I would assume her concern was about you assuming a duty station aboard Galileo. I don't imagine she was thinking about your friendships and your pain management." He finished his full circuit around Mimi and he came to a halt in front of her, staring right at her. "Given her concern," he asked, "What do you suppose the Captain was concerned about?"

"On our last mission the crew was captured and held for quite a while, while we were there I was beaten up quite a lot." Mimi began retelling what had happened on Kreanus. "My jaw was broken, my face was......huge and I lost a lot of weight because I could not get enough food."

"After an encounter like that," Lake said, folding his arms over his abdomen, "It's heartening to hear you aren't in any pain. A career in Starfleet is dangerous. Deadly, even." --The words came out of him unbidden; it wasn't what he wanted to say as a Counselor, but it was the truth of his own losses that came out of Lake ir-Llantrisant-- "Why do you think the Captain thought this would impact your ability to serve," Lake asked, "If your injuries have healed?"

Mimi shook her head. "I do not know, the cuts and bruises have healed maybe the ones in my head have not. A group of Klingons did really bad things to my species and some tried to do the same to me."

Nodding at Mimi's admission, Lake planted his hands on his hips. He tilted his head back, losing his gaze and his train of thought, as he considered what Mimi had said. "How much," Lake asked, looking to Mimi again, "Do you think the Captain knows about the bruises in your mind, and in your ancestry?"

"I told her everything, how the Klingons destroyed a colony of my people, killing everyone they found. How I was trapped under debris and the Klingons never found me and how a starfleet ship found me." Mimi explained.

Shrugging at Mimi dismissively, Lake said, "Those sound like facts and figures to me. You describe yourself, as if you're removed from events." He cocked his head to one side. With little sympathy, he remarked, "The Captain didn't send the Klingons to see me; she sent you to see me. Just you. What do you think you said or did to make her question your ability to serve Starfleet?"

"I let my feelings get in the way, I am a very passive person, all Nekomi are but when I saw one of the Klingons that attacked us up close I..... snapped." She thought back to when the occupants of her escape pod were beamed aboard the klingon ship. "I jumped on him and clawed and bit him till he died, then his friends knocked me out."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Lake nodded at Mimi slowly, as if to say, There. That's something. That's something honest. "What does it mean to you," Lake asked, "to have killed that Klingon, the one who attacked you?"

Mimi thought for a few moments. "I am not certain of the english word but the Nekomi call it panimalos That was the first Klingon I had seen up close since they destroyed my life, my home, my people. When I saw that Klingon I wanted panimalos more than anything."

"Some of the people I talk to," Lake said slowly, "they have such strong expectations about how they're going to feel about an upcoming experience. They wish for it. They pray for it. They crave it for such a long time and then the real thing feels completely different in the end." Given the context of the alien word, Lake supposed Mimi could have meant catharsis, or revenge, or ecstasy, but he didn't want to make assumptions. Lake chose his words with intention. He took a breath and he looked at Mimi; he looked right at her. "What did it feel like," he asked, "after you killed that Klingon?"

Tired of simply standing there Mimi sat down on the floor leaning back slightly against the wall "I had gotten some panimalos it felt good, till his friends knocked me out."

Staying where he was, Lake asked, "And does it still feel good now?"

"It stopped feeling good the moment my jaw got broken." Mimi replied.

"Now that your wounds are healed," Lake said, and he brushed a hand across his own jaw, "what does it feel like when you think about it?" He crouched low to the deck. He didn't move any closer to Mimi, but he brought his eye-line in line with hers. "When you remember killing that Klingon," he asked, "what do you feel now?"

"Glad that I did it but at the same time bad that I let 'that' side of me take over." Mimi said after some thinking.

At that, Lake sat on the floor too. Folding his legs under him, he squinted at Mimi briefly and leaned towards her, despite the expansive space he'd left between them. "What do you mean when you say that side of you?" he asked, his curiosity plainly piqued.

"Nekomi are very..... passive." Mimi started. "But certain things like a need for panimalos can make it hard to stay in control. When I saw that Klingon up close I lost control and let my..... animal side take over."

"If I'm hearing you right, your people are normally placid, and they maintain it by caging a beast within. How much of the Captain's concerns about you joining the crew," Lake asked, "have to do with that animal side of yours?"

"I think she is not certain I will follow orders if that side of me is made to come out, as that is what happened last time." Mimi said recalling the events on the Du'ja'q.

"Will you kill the next Klingon you meet?" Lake asked, entirely directly. He looked Mimi in the eye as he said it. He did not blink. "To satisfy panimalos again?"

"I do not think I would." Mimi eventually said. "But if they had any thing to do with what happened to my world..."

Echoing Mimi, Lake nodded emphatically and he said, "If the next Klingons you meet had anything to do with what happened to your world." --he drew circles in the air with his hand, his timbre suggesting that this was simply the next logical progression-- "Then you would kill them. To satisfy panimalos. Because they would be a justified target."

"They deserve nothing less, they killed everyone they found on Kemi and some they cut their tails off after." Mimi said, she hated retelling the events of what happened.

"Do you suppose," Lake asked, bracing his palms on the deck and leaning back slightly, "that may be a concern to the Captain and your duty to Starfleet?"

"Maybe." Mimi said shrugging slightly. "But until then I had never acted like that, I was angry that the Klingons had destroyed my new home."

"What I'm hearing," Lake said, "is that you had never behaved in a violent way before and that you were justified in what you had done." He ended the sentence with an upward lilt; it was almost a question. Lake leaned in. "Do you think the Captain should forgive you for what you've done?"

"I think she understands why I did what I did and that I tried to follow her orders not to get involved with the Klingons but things got a little out of my control, so yes I think she would."

"Hmmm," Lake said, narrowing his eyes on Mimi. He looked at her for a prolonged heartbeat, looked right at her, as if his x-ray eyes could examine the contents of her soul. And then the moment passed. He clapped his hands together, and then he jumped away from Mimi, moving towards an LCARS panel set into the bulkhead. "All right, Ensign Wind Dancer," Lake affirmed, "I'm granting you conditional fit-for-duty status. That said, my condition is that you come back here. I'd be more comfortable if we continued our conversation, perhaps on the weekly..."

"Weekly?" Mimi said hopping up to her feet a little after Lake did, she didnt feel she needed any more. "If that is what you want counselor."

Swiping his fingertips across the LCARS console, Lake began the scheduling of follow-up appointments for Mimi, not only cognitive behavioural therapy, but bloodwork and neuroimaging to assess her underlying cognitive functioning. Pivoting his head, Lake looked back over his shoulder to consider Mimi. "Please don't misunderstand me, Ensign. This isn't about what I want," he said gently. Lake returned his attention to the computer interface and paused his scheduling with a couple of more taps against the screen.

Turning towards Mimi, Lake affirmed, "It's not a routine event for a Captain to make a counseling assessment mandatory. There's only so much I can learn about you from a single conversation, really. We're going to continue meeting for the sake of your own safety, and the safety of this crew."

Mimi relented fairly quickly. "Understood."

At that, Lake offered Mimi a salute. "You may return to your post, Little Wind Dancer."

"Good day Lieutenant." Mimi said and headed for the door.

As Lake watched her go, he wouldn't exactly describe her movement as a saunter this time.


[OFF]

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A

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