From: Gershon
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 17:47:26 -0500
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Tiger by the Tail
[from Lynnaea's post]
"Allright, then," she said disgustedly. "I'll go when I get cleaned
up."
"No, sir."
"WHAT?"
"You're going now, or you won't go at all."
[3.0800, in the Counselor's Office.]
It was a sullen and red-eyed Aelyria Keyrin that slumped in the seat
before Counselor Tats-Marush.
"She's here for her session, sir," Torr said behind her.
"I see," came the Counselor's calm reply. "Thank you, Officer
Torr. You may go."
*****************************************************************************
Tats-Marush looked over the new acquisition. Her visitor looked like she could
spit burning coals at 15 meters, and grabbed both arms of her chair with
a death-grip.
Meeting ENS Keyrin under these circumstances was not Stavay's idea of fun.
"So...how are you, Ensign?"
"Oh fine. I suppose." Good thing those chair arms are sturdy, Stavay told
herself.
"Ooooooo.....kay. Well, Ensign," continued Stavay, leaving her side of
the desk to take an adjoining chair, "my job is to see that you are, well,
to put it nicely...sane. Normally, we'd talk about Macren Semala's latest
holo-film and swap shop talk, and I'd give your file reading a little
checkmark. However...you seem to be in some, uh, *distress*."
Keyrin checked her posture. It looked as if she were waiting for a call from
the governor. She moved her arms into her lap, the left arm more slowly
and properly when she thought of what an ass she was making of herself.
"Lieutenant...uh...Tats-Marush? I just thought I should mention that
all of my psych-records are up to date." There, thought Keyrin.
That will get her off my back.
"I know they are. I've read them." Stavay picked up a PADD. Aelyria
saw her picture on the PADD screen and realized that Stavay knew more than
Aelyria thought. "Your Academy records. Your private records on Calyx
that you had to submit to gain Academy entrance. Quite a bit of ground has
already been covered. I don't know if I could dispute the
testimony of seven medical doctors and two Ph. D.s. All in all it makes
interesting reading."
"So what do you want to know?", asked Keyrin, settling into client-mode.
Stavay relaxed. "Maybe you could summarize it in your own words."
********************************************
"And basically...that's what I hope to achieve here. I think I've gained,
an, oh...I don't know. Something of a sense of center." It had taken
thirty minutes to wrap up the story, but by now, it was old hat to
Keyrin.
Keyrin had noticed that Stavay had never touched a PADD during the entire
conversation. She merely tuned in with those intense brown eyes of hers.
Keyrin had expected green eyes--green eyes, green skin. But those eyes
remained locked on her throughout the entire story.
"Very nicely put, Ensign. I only have one question."
"What was that?"
"Why do you have such contempt for me?"
Huh? "Counselor...I don't have any contempt for--"
"Knock it off! *Sopa*! This story has all the hallmarks of being very
well rehearsed. First, there's the part about your mother and father,
which I really like. About how you loved your father...but how he was
somehow kind of distant. Then it climaxes in Act III with how your
father dies, and then the gratuitous rape scene, which made you angry at
the world. However, the heroine wraps in up in the following acts, where
a team of specially-trained counselors help the heroine make the discovery
that the rape triggered repressed anger at her father for not being
able to rescue her, indeed, for being emotionally distant when she wanted love.
Our heroine, now cured, goes to Starfleet Academy to bring order and
justice to the world. The end. Roll credits."
Keyrin sat up. "What the hell kind of counseling job is **this**?"
"I don't know, Ensign. All I am is a 'little green nurse from Orion'. But
I can tell when someone's giving me a sob story. I recognize all the
arcane jargon, how you manage to give me that 'I'm just taking it one
day at a time' vibe that makes psychiatrists all over the Alpha Quadrant
wealthy men.
"You're very good at this, Ensign. But you can't fool me. Because I've
been *in* an institution! As a resident! I've been *crazy*, and I know
how to rehearse stories and I know all the lies you have to tell, because
I've told them all!"
"I'm leaving!!" Keyrin stood up to leave.
"You'll leave when I *say* you can leave, Ensign!! Or your career in
Starfleet will be very, very *short*. Now sit down!!" Keyrin stared
at the Counselor with a murderous look and sat down with a loud THUMP,
letting her entire body weight collapse to the seat. That meeting at the
airlock with th'Tellan was starting to look really attractive...
"Well...it seems that we're off to a wonderful working relationship.
I'm just...I'm just pissed off. Usually, the people I have *want* to
come here. It's usually, 'Counselor, what's wrong, can you help me?'
I never did like these kinds of sessions, because there's nothing you
can say or do that is ever going to get through to the person."
"There is *NOTHING* wrong with me," Aelyria hissed.
"Aelyria...I'm worried about you. Now every counselor you've had
has told you 'I'm worried about you', but I'm going to tell you
why. I have no interest in being your friend, or a fath---mother
confessor or anything. If you want to stay at arms length from me,
then fine, at least we can have a civil working relationship.
"But I'm going to come from two different directions. One, I'm afraid
your security crew is going to burn out. I've had four people complain
to me already, and the complaint is always the same: 'unreasonable
expectations'. You've pulled a lot of 'gotchas' on them so far, and I
have the impression that some day, someone is going to say, 'oh, this
is just another stupid drill'. They'll walk through it. When you ask
them why they failed to perform, they'll give you a little speech like
the one you gave me just a while ago. They'll tell you what you want
to hear. You have to learn to pick and choose your moments with people.
You have to know when to crack the whip and when not to. Because if you
keep cracking the whip all the time...they'll become dull to the noise."
Keyrin's mind was reeling. Her staff had complained? She hadn't heard
anything from them.. they'd told her nothing... it felt like betrayal.
"Two...look at yourself. You look tired. Exhausted. Like a steel cable
bearing too much weight. If you keep going at this pace, you'll snap, and
lives will depend on what you do for the rest of your Starfleet career.
You can't afford to drive yourself this way. A landcar needs a power source.
*You* need a power source, and you can't run on low batteries, or you'll break
down. And you'll break down at the worst possible moment.
"Now that's my speech. You can absorb it, you can let it go, but I've said
it. Unfortunately, this isn't like the Academy or at Calyx. I can't just
let it go, Aelyria. This is my ship. Lives might depend on what I say
to you here. And I have...I **have** to make an impression. And that
includes telling you, probing you, threatening you, *pleading* with you
to hear things that you don't want to hear."
Stavay moved back behind the desk. "Counseling Evaluation #1 Over. I'm going
to write my report later. It will say, 'ENS Aelyria Keyrin has a great
deal of creativity, and no obvious neuroses, but has little sense of pacing
herself. To avoid the strain of overwork, it is strongly suggested that
she make use of one of the holoprograms listed under Stavay 200-210 at
the Holodecks."
Curiousity got the better of Keyrin. "What are they?", she asked, suspiciously.
"Scenic planetary environments. A lake on Shrevashal. Yosemite on Terra.
Pirsach Mountain at night on Tellarus. Level One Safety. Nothing to do
but...but think."
"Right now...", answered Keyrin, "right now, I don't see how that's going to
help me."
"Suit yourself. At least at the zero level of technology, you'll have no
distractions. Solitude can be a blessing." Stavay's mind flashed back
to a rooftop on Shrevashal. A patch of lost memory somewhere.
The sweat was clinging to the back of Stavay's uniform...in a climate-
controlled office. They had spent, what, hours in this room? Stavay
smiled. "I let my mouth run the clock. Dismissed, Ensign." Aelyria
stood up, shoulders aching from the tension, and walked out of the room at a
guarded pace.
Stavay wondered if the session had been a failure. If she had failed Aelyria.
If she had failed herself. But on some level, instinct took over. Were
they kindred spirits, on some level? Stavay did not know what had happened.
She merely hoped for happier times for both of them.
************************************************************************
Respectfully submitted,
LTJG Stavay Tats-Marush ENS Aelyria Keyrin
COUNS, USS CHESAPEAKE CSO, USS CHESAPEAKE
jrbowman@london2.skn.net AND rneces@mastnet.net
JBowman489@aol.com
All: More of the "Stavay Chronicles". Next, a visit to the MD....
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