A chat before the chaos

Posted on Fri Apr 9th, 2021 @ 3:18pm by Ensign Will Raynada & Lieutenant JG Summer Wyse

1,175 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: To catch a thief
Location: Crew Lounge
Timeline: During hide and seek part 2

{ON}

Her first day almost done Summer settled down in the crew lounge, she’d met a few of the crew but still had plenty more to meet. Her best surprise by far was finding Nilo onboard, now they had a chance to be together at long last. She sat back in her seat and sipped her drink.

"Mind if I join you Miss?" Will asked as he approached Summers table, he carried a plate and a tall pint glass, after the day he'd had some fast food and a pint was what he needed.

“Please do” Summer smiled and nodded. “I’m Summer.”

"The new counselor?" Will asked, the name seemed familiar. "I think I proccessed your onboarding data." He sat his plate and glass down before sitting down himself. "I'm Will, from Ops."

“That’s me” Summer nodded. “It’s nice to meet you Will. When you’re available feel free to drop by and see me for your evaluation, but no pressure as to when!” She smiled.

"Oh god, I had a feeling this was some sort of trap." Will laughed hopefully letting Summer know he was just joking. "The only free table being the one with the new counsellor sat at it and me being close to my next psych check up."

Summer grinned. “Don’t worry I’m not your a-typical Counsellor, I don’t chase people until I really have to! I prefer for the crew to feel that they can trust me. So have you been aboard long?”

"About two years," Will replied. "could have transferred during our long refit but decided to stay with the ship."

“Then being here has obviously made an impression on you!” Summer grinned. “If you don’t mind me saying so, you look like you’ve had a long day.”

"Not every day you get to board a hostile ship to try and caputure it, get shot at, see a close friend of yours get shot, then have it explode just as you're escaping." He sipped his drink. "All before lunch time."

"Goodness me!" Summer looked surprised. "It sounds like you had a narrow escape. Did your friend recover?"

Will nodded. "She's in sickbay, she's stable though, I'm going to go see her in the morning if the doc lets me."

"Fingers crossed she'll have a good night." Summer smiled warmly. "The hardest part of being a ships crew is you all become friends, some become lovers and we all become one big family. I haven't met a lot of this new family yet but I'm already starting to feel more at home here."

The young human smiled back. "I'm glad you're settling in alright, took me a little while to get settled when I got here, new ship a new much larger family and all that."

Summer nodded understandingly. “Settling in isn’t always easy, I hope you’re feeling more settled now?”

Will nodded as he chewed a chunk of his burger. "More then settled yeah, there have been quite a few people come and gone in two years but there's still a good bunch of the older hands onboard, if you're in here often you'll often see me and Ensigns Larson, Turell, and Joran in here together. We all arrived about the same time and have stuck together since."

“It’s nice to have a band of friends to hang out with” Summer smiled as she picked up her drink and sipped it, before putting the glass back down. “I haven’t met your friends yet but no doubt I’ll get to meet them at some point.”

"There are over 300 people on this ship but you are a counselor, you'll get to know everyone at some point, even poor Anderson down in deck 17 section G. The arse end of nowhere." He chuckled.

Summer grinned. “Oh yes, even those in the deepest depths of the ship have to come out to see me! Though not everyone appreciates the ship’s Counsellor calling them up.”

Will laughed heartily. "The old Cmo would frogmarch you up to sickbay when your medical was due, she wasn't one for just calling you to come see her."

“That’s why I try not to be late for Medicals!” Summer smiled. “As part of the medical staff it wouldn’t look good if I didn’t attend for my medical.”

"Just don't try and frogmarch the Captain to Sickbay or your office, she'll win the argument." The old Cmo gave up trying after a few attempts.

“Is she really that bad?” Summer grinned. “I thought Doctors and Therapists were supposed to be the worst patients, not Captains! Well I’m not averse to dangling the old no evaluation, no duties carrot! Like everyone else a Captain is required to submit for a regular evaluation. Without it you can be removed from duty if necessary.”

"They say it's a very long story, but she is not a fan of counselors, she doesn't like talking about herself and what she's going through." Will told her, the older hands knew some of the Captains eccentrics were related to something in her past but even they didn't know the full story.

“Thanks for the heads up” Summer smiled. “I’ll be sure to read the Captain’s file before I ask her for an evaluation, that’s when it’s due again.”

"Good luck with that." Will said chuckling slightly, he paused to take a bite of his burger. "My turn for questions if I may counselor, what bought you here, to the Wolff."

Summer paused to sip her drink before putting the glass down. “I was offered the position of Chief Counsellor, my first posting as Chief. It was a no brainer for me, I accepted!” She grinned.

"Your paperwork didn't have you down as chief counselor." Will remarked.

“That’s true,” Summer nodded. “I came aboard as a Counsellor with hopes of making Chief eventually, the eventual part came round faster than I anticipated.”

"Ahh a sudden unexpected jump in responsibilities," Will said after taking another bite "They happen from time to time."

“They do indeed” Summer grinned. “Not that I’m not grateful for the chance to prove I can do it. I have to admit it feels weird to be head of a department, and part of the senior staff too.”

"Ahh the senior staff, maybe, one day." Will mused. "I'll have to settle for my second pip for now."

Summer smiled. “Just be glad you don’t have all the paperwork! Ive got a ton of it waiting and I’ve barely started yet.”

Suddenly the lights dimmed a little and the red alert klaxon sounded across the ship, everyone quickly left their tables and headed for the door to their duty stations.

"Looks like paperwork will have to wait a little longer Lieutenant." Will said and quickly stood up.

“Agreed” Summer nodded. “It’s been nice talking to you Ensign."

OFF:

Ltjg Summer Wyse
Chief Counselor

Ensign Will Raynada
Ops Ofificer [Npc Taliserra]

 

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