Time for a talk Part #1

Posted on Wed Nov 17th, 2021 @ 12:02pm by Major Naomi Sylan Griffiths & Lieutenant Commander James Trallos MD

Mission: Season Two - Incidentals
Location: First Officers Office
Timeline: Prior to Buyers Beware Mission

[ON]

- Medical Office -

The doctor finished his coffee. It was already a day, but he needed the kick. With sick bay under control, he needed to get some face time with the Major. The run-in with the counsellor took a turn for worse than she was probably expecting. He needed to bring her up to speed on the diagnosis, prognosis and then double-checked his breath for any halitosis. Once she was up to speed privately, he would do the same with the Captain. He tapped his combadge.

=/\= Trallos to Major Griffiths. Major, could I meet with you somewhere privately for some conversation? =/\=

Tapping her Commbadge =/\= My Office Doctor, we should be okay there =/\= Griffiths said

=/\=Acknowledged. I'm on my way.=/\= the doctor replied and closed his link as he made his way for the door after hanging up his lab coat.

When the doctor had signed off, she realised her Officer was part of her quarters, suddenly her eyes shot open and look like a pair of saucers oO oh hell, I better tidy the visible part of my room up Oo she thought to herself and rushed back to her quarters when she entered she quickly picked up all clothes that were laying about and chucked them into the living area and as she was pulling the curtain across the door buzzed "one moment doctor!" she said and again her eyes opened wide as she saw a bra laying on the floor "what the hell would my instructor say if he saw my quarters in such a mess!" she panicked, picked the item up and threw it behind the curtain as she made for the door giving the room one final look around,

"I will tell you what he would do Naomi, he would run you till you were sick, then after you upchucked he would run you some more and make you collect prisoners washing while still sweaty and stinking of throwup, that is what he would do!" Naomi said to herself as she opened the door and smiled "Hey Jim, I only just got here myself" she said breathing heavily.

"Well hi there. Did I stop you from a jog?" He asked noting her breathing and a little perspiration along her hairline. "I didn't want to inconvenience you. Just thought anywhere else would be more enjoyable than my office." He said with a smile. "Which we should see about you getting one."

"Not a jog, just had to tidy up a little," she said and pointed at the small area with a desk and admin stuff "that is my office, come on in Jim can I get you something to drink?" Naomi asked.

He followed her in. "Coffee would be great. You know you didn't need to tidy up on my account. I'm sure it was not that bad." He said casually looking around and going to her office area. "You would think the least they can do for the XO of the ship is give her a nice chair for her office." He said putting his hand on the chair and moving it.

Walking over to the replicator "One Coffee and one tea milk two sugars" she said to the replicator and looked back at Trallos as she tucked a strand of hair behind her right ear, "if my instructor at OCS saw the state of my room he would run me until I threw up and when I was done doing that he would run me some more and then have me clean the toilets with an old fashioned toothbrush on my hands and knees, so my room needed it. As for the chair, it suits my purposes" she said and picked up the two drinks and walked over to her desk and placed Trallo's mug in front of him as she sat down behind the desk, "I know you wanted to talk to me about something Jim, but I needed to talk to you too, it is about Addie from my end, is it the same yours?" Griffiths asked.

He nodded and took the coffee. "Thanks." He said and took a drink. "Yeah, should talk business first. Addie is the topic and I know there is always more than just one side to a story." He took another drink and smiled at her. "But, I'll be honest, I was also grateful for the extra opportunity to say hi to you during the busy schedule."

*blushes as she tucks a strand of hair behind her right ear* "same here Jim" *clears throat* "as for Addie, I fear part of her issue with me is I was the one who took it upon myself to render her unconscious while in the Nebula, the Lieutenant was feeling everyone's emotions and I could see it was starting to overwhelm her, so to save her conscience and remove a threat to the Captain and crew I rendered her unconscious, the Captain spoke with me about it too, but I being a marine means I am trained to deal with threats by instinct, this is why I am acclimatizing slowly into Fleet style Command, my training is such that I have been taught to act one way to save those that are with me. Yet it is not the same for Fleet Personnel, so that is one aspect of Addie's issues, I think the other is that she was practically ignored in the meeting, not even the Captain asked her some questions as pertains to the information she garnered or such. But I think the core issue is she feels ashamed of how she reacted while we were in that Nebula, we all go to the Counsellor when we have issues and she is responsible for our mental wellbeing, but who can the Counsellor go to when they have issues?" Griffith's asked

The doctor nodded. "Understandable concerns. That duty falls on me. What I believe is going on is what I'll call referred stress. I'm sure it has a psychological term, but I'm a doctor, not a psychologist. Anyway, the stress and reactions she is getting are not coming from you specifically, but from the previous events and she is going into anxiety attacks due to her mind replaying all these events." He said took a drink of coffee. "Time is a factor, the older it is the more some of the memories and impacts will fade. One thing I would like to do is have a chat with both of you in sickbay. It is a neutral place and in the event of an attack, I can treat her quickly. The goal would be to give her proximity to you, conversation in a controlled environment and overwrite her 'instinct ' if you will of potential harm with interactions that did not cause her harm. What do you think Naomi?"

Looks at the Doctor and subconsciously head tilts to the right slightly as a thoughtful look "I am open for it Jim, but will the Counsellor be the same, I essentially cornered her after the meeting in the turbo lift and she got quite upset and beamed out with a site to site emergency transport, so it is safe to say she currently has issues" Naomi said, hiding the surprise that the Doctor used her name for the first time.

He nodded. "True, but I think it would be in small doses, to begin with. Quick conversion, open area in sickbay and me in the middle. Then we do it again and slowly build up the time. Hopefully, that will overwrite the fear instinct that got slammed into her mind." He shook his head. "Psyc was not my strong suit in med school so I'm reaching for straws and piecing treatments together from what I can download through subspace from Iota."

"Well, you are doing better than I am Jim, I am a Marine with no prior Fleet experience, but I have found I have an aptitude for Security, but sadly in situations like that damn nebula my combat-trained instincts take over hence why I used a hypo to render Addie unconscious, the Captain was none too happy that I had done it, but I saw her in pain and a state and I envied her when she lost consciousness as by that time I was finding it hard to control my temper," Naomi said.

The doctor shrugged. "I'm a doctor and I punched out a patient in that cloud of crazy. Things happen but nobody died from it. Overall, I think it went as well as it could be. You could have gone lethal force had it pushed you too far. I'd say we had a win in the end."

"Yes, but at what cost Jim, Addie is traumatized by all the emotions we all had at one point and my actions did not help any, so I ask again if we see a Counsellor, who the hell would the Counsellor seek for help if she has emotional issues?" she asked "but we were lucky in what recently happened to all of us, so tell me Jim have you any residual anger effects? I know I do" she added.

"You bet." The doctor said and ran his hand through his hair. "To be honest, it kinda felt good punching the obnoxious crewman, but a physician should not do that in a practice setting. I found myself remembering that feeling though. The release of anger was almost like taking a drug. It was nice but short-lived. Made you want more." He chuckled. "I'm not planning on punching anyone though. But you're right, if we didn't get out of there, we all would have been in trouble." He shrugged. "Who wouldn't have thought a gas cloud could move?"

"I know I was beginning to feel the anger building beyond the point I could control it, does not mean I did not want to hit someone" she smiled and looked over as her computer bleed "excuse me a moment Jim," she said and walked over to the desk and pulled up the alert, "so it has been authorised, okay," she said forgetting for a moment that Trallos was there, then she realised as she looked up with a smile "nothing that cannot wait, please have a seat, sorry manners slipped," she said as she walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Andorian Ale and two glasses and looked at Jim "want a glass Jim? It is the real stuff not replicated" she offered, the bottle had been opened by her at an earlier time.

He smiled. "I wouldn't say no to the real stuff." The doctor said and took a chair "That looks like Andorian. That's a place on my bucket list once we get back to our side of the galaxy." He commented.

Looking at him "It may be some time Jim, well for you anyway" she said mysteriously as she poured two glasses half full with the blue liquid and offered Trallos a glass as she reflected on the latest news she got from home, but she hid all emotion from her face as she took a sip and savoured the flavour as it went down "oh yeah that clears the sinuses" she said, before looking back at Jim "so what can we do about Addie, it is clear she needs help?" Naomi asked.

James took a drink. It was good and strong, the way he liked it. He had to love the cold brew. "I'm going to be sitting with her almost daily. She is also going to help me in sickbay as well. She has a medical background so it will give her something productive to do and help build her self confidence back up by helping others. Between that and daily sessions of conversation, I'm hoping she can get things more under control in a faster way, but I'm not going to try and push it. Let the mind repair at its speed." He said and took another drink.

"Sound and logical is that Jim, but my time on Pennsylvania will be coming to an end soon, well after this mission anyway, my actions in the nebula proved that if a Marine wants to be the first Officer on a ship, he or she would need to spend some years at Starfleet Academy, I thought that I could deal with it and I suddenly realised you were the only one who would readily interact with me, you did not see a green shirt, the Captain is distant out of requirement and what good am I to a crew who will not even come to me, I mean look at my actions during the Nebula!" Griffiths said.

The doctor nodded. "I see your point. It makes sense. I know crew rotation is normal in Starfleet, but I will be sad to see you go. If it makes any difference, I thought you did what you had to and have done a fine job in the situations we have encountered out here."

"Thank you, Jim I do not know how Addie will take it, besides you, she is the only other person that I have had any significant contact with and that did not end on a good note, so who do you think the Captain will choose to replace me then Jim?" Griffiths asked.

The doctor shrugged. "Not sure. The fleet of some kind but this far out." He said and gestured around the room. "Options are pretty limited. Probably few XO'S just sitting around Iota dreaming of working on a Nebula Class. I haven't had a lot of interaction with the Captain, but he seems pretty on point."

*gives a knowing look* "Oh he is that he has a specific plan for this tub and he knows what he wants, When I go speak to him I will put in a good word for you, I cannot say that it will be so, but I can put a word in" she said with a smile and downed the remains of her ale and offered Jim a refresher

He took the refill and smiled. "I'll take the good word." He said and lifted his glass to her. "To your new path. May the wind forever be at your back." Offering her traditional best wishes. "And if things ever look too dark, just smile. It is better than Tabula Risa by far."

"Doubt about that my friend I have none," she said pouring herself another glass of ale, "it will seem strange leaving this ship knowing the dangers she will be put in, but when you have a First Officer who has a set skillset and has trouble adjusting to fleet policies at moments notice it is time to pack up and leave. To this day I do not know why Frank Kamar brought me onto this ship, well not the real reason anyway" she added and slumped into her seat as if someone let out all the air that was keeping her up.

He tilted his head and then nodded at her statement. "Who knows the real reason for any of that whole mess? Even Frank probably does not know. The Admiralty does love their secrets and hate to share any of them. And they wonder why morale is so low in the ranks." He said shaking his hand.

She looks at him with interest "you noticed that about the Admiralty too huh?" So glad I was not the only one, but I am used to such events, even if I do not like them I am trained to accept that I will be told what I need to be told to get the mission done and nothing more. But there will be things that we should know regardless of things as I would want to keep my men alive" she said "In the end, Jim Starfleet will always do what they think is best, even if most of the time it is not, in their eyes it is and they have earned that right" she said knocking back her second glass and looking at the time "wow is it that time already! I need to prep some things and get some sleep" Naomi said looking at James.

The man nodded. "Yeah, it is getting that time. I should probably get some sleep as well. The accidents seem to start early in the morning. Have a good night Naomi." The doctor said with a smile.

"You too Jim," Griffiths said as she escorted him to the door, which promptly opened and with a final smile directed his way Trallos had left sighing heavily to herself as she reentered the room letting the doors close behind her as she gathered up the used dishes and placed them in the reclimator then headed straight to sleep.

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