Meet the counselor

Posted on Mon Feb 4th, 2019 @ 5:48pm by Lieutenant Commander Tyhr Th'rhaatress & Lieutenant Commander Dessa McCallum

Mission: Getting underway
Location: USS Axca

Commander S'relli sat at his desk still. not much else to do while waiting. Whoever said it was lonely at the top, they were right as he sat in his ready room alone, waiting for the silence to be replaced by some sort of activity. Meanwhile he read crew records. Had to have something to do. He picked up one at random.

"Commander Dessa McCallum..Counselor." he said to the empty room. "Good a place as any."

Dessa sat in one chair and then made a face before getting up and sitting in another. That one was too plush, it reminded her of the chairs in Rayne's quarters and she just couldn't think about that now. What happened between them had been special but she needed to move on, it was another lifetime ago. The familiar ache in her chest made her gasp for a breath and she swallowed hard to keep the tears from flowing. A distraction presented itself in the form of the door chime though and she quickly wiped away in residual wetness. "Come in."

S'relli walked in. 'Commander McCallum?" He asked. "Commander S'relli." He introduced himself.

Dessa put on a bit smile that she didn't necessarily feel. "Captain, a pleasure to meet you. Would you like to sit down? Do you like tea?" She would admit she didn't know much about Caitians.

"Tea sounds great, actually" he said. He took a seat. "Thanks."

She busied herself fixing it. "I always drink at least a couple of cups a day, you could say I'm addicted to the stuff but I think there are worse things to be addicted to." Within a few minutes he had a hot drink in front of him as well as any fixings such as sugar or milk that he might desire. "Can I be honest with you sir?"

He poured some milk to taste. "I intend to with you. So why not?"" The Caitian replied. "Shoot"

"I'm not sure I'm ready for this assignment. I intend to do my best of course, but I'm not sure my best is up to yours or anyone else's standards. I . . . I'm still dealing with the loss of someone I loved. They're not dead but we've gone our separate ways."

"Ah..I see." He said, taking a sip. "I'm sorry to hear that, truly." He said, ears drooping for a hot second. "As for standards, I'm not worried about that too much. I have only one standard. Your best." He smiled.

Dessa wasn't sure what that was anymore, she supposed it was making people feel comfortable so that they could approach her with any problems. As long as her own problems didn't interfere with help others then she thought she would be all right. She nodded. "Is this your first ship? I mean as Captain?" She asked curiously.

"Very good" he laughed. "Yeah, it is. Was on the USS Yukon for a little bit before coming here. The CMO poked me when she first saw me for some reason."

"Hmm," Dessa answered. "Did she not like you? Hopefully it wasn't with some sort of medical instrument. I could see someone petting you, because forgive me, your fur. A small human child might mistake your intlligence."

"A little of that I guess. We both laughed about it." He chuckled. " My exact response was "I'm real, if that's what you're checking"

"Yeah, maybe she'd never seen a Caitian before. I mean I haven't either but I don't have the urge to poke you. I'm sure you're grateful." She grinned. "So . . . is there a reason for your visit Sir or are you just stopping to meet your counselor?"

"Just to meet I'd say. Plus had to get out of the ready room a little bit."

"Feeling a bit claustrophobic Captain?" Dessa knew it wasn't so much the size of the room as the size of the responsibility of running a starship. Sometimes things such as rooms only represented other things.

"You could say that," the caitian replied.


"Hmm, well my office is always open. Or set up shop in the holodeck and wait for the crew to wade through the jungle to come and see you. That might be interesting." Dessa suggested mildly joking.

"That'd definitely be interesting!" He laughed. "Mind if I borrow that? Good for testing junior officers" he grinned.

"By all means. I only ask that you allow me to be there so I can watch." She studied him for a moment, taking in the shape of his face and well his . . . fur. Dessa blinked realizing she'd probably been staring and reprimanded herself for losing control of the moment. There was no excuse for this. "I can relate, to the claustrophobia I mean."


S'relli nodded. Just then his communicator beeped. "S'relli here."

"Captain, Admiral Toten on the line. Wants you to report tight away." He rolled his eyes.

"I guess I'll have to continue this at another time." S'relli sighed. "Nice chatting with you." He smiled as he turned to leave

a post between Commander S'relli and LtCmdr Dessa McCallum