Cornering the Captain

Posted on Wed Dec 25th, 2019 @ 7:10am by Captain Taliserra Tigran

2,298 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The science of stars
Location: Captains ready room
Timeline: 14th March 2395

ON:

It was the Captain's time of the month. The time when she was due for a yearly psych evaluation and the timing of said evaluation could not have come at a more prudent time. With the recent deaths of some of the crew, including Deepak's predecessor who had gone on record about how 'impossible' it was at times to get the Captain to come in for a physical let alone a psych evaluation (his predecessor had doubled as Chief Medical Officer and Ship's Counselor).

He decided to make a preemptive strike. Why pull teeth and have her find some sort of loophole to wiggle herself free for several more days? If he gave her no choice...left her no room and backed her into a corner, then she would have practically no choice. If he was clever enough as to not arouse her suspicions, he could even perform a bit of a Psych eval on her without her knowing it.

Deepak made his move. He went to her rather than summoning her to him, and he arrived outside of her Ready Room unannounced. He didn't schedule a meeting with her in hopes that being caught off guard would play into his favor. The best part about being a civilian was that he could go about without a Starfleet uniform. A uniform would make anyone suspect that he was seeing them in some sort of official capacity.

Instead, he came dressed as he normally would be if he was enjoying some tea in the lounge. He stood outside her Ready Room and pressed the door chime. His hope was that in her Ready Room she would feel more 'at home' in a familiar environment where she'd feel as though she had the upper hand.

As the door opened the face he expected to see wasn't there instead the captains Yeoman opened it and quietly spoke. "Hello Dr El-Azar, the captain is resting with her daughter, can I help?"

When life gives you lemons he thought to himself, an old Earth saying that he learned along the way. You make lemonade. "Perhaps, though this is more so a matter for the Captain" he replied with a polite smile. "Doctor Seleya has raised some concern about a member of the crew, and I have a few morale updates and psych evaluations to go over with the Captain" he explained.

He could almost anticipate a potential counter, blocking to protect the captain. "I know you are probably going to tell me to file the reports and leave them with you so that she gets them, and you'll make sure she reads through them," Deepak said trying to move around the blockade of the yeoman. "However, I'm afraid a report won't due. I need to actually have a conversation with the Captain in regards to certain aspects of my evaluations."

"Ok doctor, give me a moment." Miranda knew better than to try and argue with someone from medical, even if Deepak wasn't an officer he could still cite a bunch of medical regulations that meant she had to do what he told her.


"No rush" he replied politely. "I'll see myself in" he added and took a few steps into the room.


Miranda walked across to the small bedroom Taliserra had added to her ready room during the refit, inside Taliserra lay atop the sheets mostly asleep with Lashell resting on her chest. Entering she gently shook Taliserra. "I'm sorry Captain, but it's Doctor El-Azar, he says it's important."

"I really hope it is." Taliserra replied after opening her eyes and seeing Miranda. Holding Lashell tight she sat up and swing her legs off the bed.

Leaving the bedroom Taliserra headed in the direction of the sofa. "Good afternoon Doctor, what can I do for you?"

Deepak exchanged a pleasant smile before diving into some of the 'shop talk' that he needed to. "Crew morale is up a bit, but there's still a lot of healing to be done after your most recent losses aboard, Captain," he said leading his way into small steps of discussion. "I was met by Doctor Seleya recently. She had some concerns believe it or not of the psychological nature...of the emotional well being of a member of the crew albeit I may be exaggerating on my overemphasis on emotional. She delivered it in a more subdued Vulcan way...work performance and productivity concerns and such."

Slowly sitting down on the sofa as Deepak spoke Taliserra looked up at Miranda. "You can head off Miranda, I don't think I'll need you for a while."

"Yes Captain, doctor." Miranda turned and headed out the ready room.

"Who are we talking about here doctor?" Taliserra asked, she imagined he was referring to Chief Payton after his outburst during the memorial.

"Payton, Captain. Chief Payton" replied Doctor Deepak. "He's a member of Doctor Seleya's medical staff and I believe you were present for or were made aware of the Chief's outburst of emotion at the memorial service. Emotions are of course to be expected at such an event, but there's more to that than surface level emotion. There's genuine pain there."

Taliserra nodded. "Hunter and Galatea were very close, it's clear he took her death hard."

Deepak nodded as well though with a bit more of a glow about him as he blushed a bit. "I appreciate your tact, Captain" he replied "though if we are to be completely open and honest about the situation, there seem to be indications that 'close' was beyond that of a professional working relationship or even an off duty friendship. Every which way I look at it, including ship scuttlebutt points towards a sexual courtship."

"I'm not surprised," Taliserra replied. "they worked together almost since the ship was commissioned, it's only natural they might have gotten that close."

"Agreed, and I certainly am not making any complaints about it. This ship could use a little more of a sex life as a whole" he said rather bluntly. "That's for another day" he added with a chuckle. "What concerns me is that Chief Payton is not an isolated case. I suspect you have several individuals aboard trying to move on before actually confronting the trauma and going through the necessary grieving process. This may be able to be 'functional,' but for how long?"

"I'm no counselor but I know people handle greif in different ways, some bottle it up, refuse to acknowlege it, others try and get through the process as soon as they can." Taliserra said, she knew some of the crew had a lot to grieve about, so many crewmates and friends lost in the last year.

"Yes, yes they do, Captain," he said agreeing. "Different people deal with it in different ways, but the keyword in that is deal or handle as you put it" noted Deepak. "What Chief Peyton is doing is not handling it. He seems to be trying to avoid it, and I fear that avoidance is going to lead to more of these outbursts, but not at social events and maybe not while on duty, but there will be repercussions" explained the Counselor.

"I can't easily pull him off the survey and maybe the fresh air and being away from the ship for a little might help him but what do you recommend we do?" She asked.

"I would not pull him off the survey right now even if that were possible. I would never want to intrude on the missions of this starship or your or Commander Radek's command decisions" replied Deepak. "I know I do not need to remind you now that Doctor Seleya is Chief Medical Officer, she has the ability to medically relieve any member of this crew. Likewise, with her support I could make my case to do so from a psychological standpoint. Now, I would rather not do that forcefully. I do not believe the Chief is incapable of performing his duties. I would; however, like to mandate he attends counseling sessions. Would you be supportive of this, Captain?"

Taliserra nodded. "I agree, if his demeanour hasn't improved by the time he returns from the survey, if he argues or complains do not hesitate to send him to me."

"There are some other members of the crew who I think would benefit from sitting down with a counselor and getting assistance with their grieving process or in a certain case actually acknowledging their emotions. Should I do the same with them?"

"If you think it will help them then yes you should." Taliserra said shifting slightly on the sofa as Lashell stirred.

"Mmm" replied Deepak making the slightly pleased noise. He made a small subtle movement, reaching into what seemingly had to be a deep pocket. He pulled out a PaDD and stood up from the sofa. "Then this is for you" he said with a bit of a smile.

He handed the PaDD to the woman. "I took the privilege of looking at your duty roster and a tentative schedule, Captain. I am thrilled that you support my recommendation on counseling. I'll see you later this week for your first session" he added. "In case you find 'something' that happens to 'come up,' be sure to be rescheduled for a session. Oh, and children are always welcome. Feel free to bring Lashell."

"You can't be serious," Taliserra said in a serious tone taking the Padd and putting it down on the sofa. "I've seen more counselors in the last two years than I would like to see in a life time, I don't need to see another one."

"You also are a mother of a fairly young child, Commanding Officer of a starship that just experienced a traumatic event; your crew morale took a serious hit and you've experienced the loss of your Chief Operations Officer, Chief Medical Officer doubling as Ship's Counselor, and several other members of your crew. You've given zero time to sort through your emotions and have been pushing through with determination and commanding officer's will power. Lower your personal damn shields and lead by example."

"Just as I pushed through the Ptsd from being kidnapped, tortured, being raped and choosing to give birth to a child that rape caused." Taliserra tried to not raise her voice so not to wake Lashell.

Deepak lowered his own voice to almost a soothing cooing of a voice. "Captain, please. Please do not mistake my intentions here. I am not trying to accuse you of anything nor belittle your strength. You are stronger than most individuals I've ever encountered and I believe in your ability to carry on and push through." he noted.

"However, I also need you to recognize that this crew depends on you. It needs to be lead by example and a Vulcan XO shows no emotion, needs no help, at least that's how the Vulcans tend to make it out to be. Your Chief Medical Officer is in the same vein. If you continue to reject counseling it is only setting up the rest of the crew...those who are not at strong as you or as Vulcan as Radak and Seleya to do the same. We'll have more Chief Paytons than I could manage."

Taliserra sighed slightly, as much as she wanted to disagree with him everything he said was true. "You're right," She admitted. "To tell you the truth I still don't feel one hundred percent from everything that happened back then."

"Trauma layered atop of trauma is not good for one's psychological state. I know that you've seen counselor after counselor, but their methodology is not like mine, and truth be told I think you are excellent at faking 'fine' which may throw the hounds off your trail, but I'm a bit more relentless" he teased. "You honestly do not need to open up and talk about things if you do not want to. Counseling and therapy is not that effective if I'm forcing things out of you." he added.

He smiled softly. "The important thing is not that you get counseling. It's that you show face in doing so. If the Captain is willing to see me, the rest of the crew will be more open about coming to me, and that is what I need right now. I need them to have a role model, and they look up to you."

Taliserra picked up the Padd she'd dropped onto the sofa. Again he was right, if she was willing to bare all to this relatively unknown member of the crew who only recently took to the position, then the rest of the crew might be willing too. "1400hrs the day after tomorrow..... I'll be there."

"Excellent" he replied and began to head for the doorway. Though he stopped for a moment and looked over at the Captain. "They don't blame you, Captain. I know deep down that you are aware of this, but they don't blame you. They knew the dangers and the risks. Every one of them. None of them felt blame towards you for what happened here on the Wolff."

"I know they don't blame me." Taliserra told him, secretly she blamed herself for some of what happened.

He was somewhat satisfied with her response, but something emotionally undermined her words. There was more beneath that surface level response; However, he chose to pick his battles wisely, and now was not the time to poke his head into that void. Another time perhaps.

Deepak smiled. "Goodnight, Captain" said Doctor El-Azar bidding farewell for the evening.

"Okay you," She said holding up Lashell who was awake and squirming. "how about some dinner?"


OFF:


Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Dr Deepak El-Azar
Ship's Counselor

 

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