Head Shrinking (Backlog)

Posted on Sunday 30 October 2016 @ 19:27 by Major Richard "Wolf" Johnson, Psy.D. & Major David Scarlet

Mission: Old, New Ship
Timeline: MD8 (Backlog)
2078 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Wolf was sitting in one of the Counselors offices reviewing both the senior officer and senior enlisted officer records. The Marine had just started his new job the day before and already he was making a splash between Save'ena and Melody. Johnson sighed and rubbed his face, he had been ordered to talk to Melody on a regular basis, even the CO could see there was something deeper driving the young woman's actions. Richard shook his head and slapped his commbadge, "Johnson to Scarlet, do you have a few minutes, Crewman?" the Counselor asked, deciding to start his evaluations with the senior personnel he hadn't made angry yet.

Crewman David Scarlet finished inspecting the phaser rifle before placing it back in the weapon rack. He tapped his comm badge.

=/\= Yes sir. I can be there shortly. Do you require a security detail?=/\=

Even before Wolf replied, Scarlet pulled the cover down over the phaser rifles and electronically locked them. The armory of the Merlin was outfitted with basic supplies and weapons, and he had to make sure everything was in working order to be able to be used at a moments notice. He thought of councilors in the same way; they were assigned to a ship and had to make sure everyone was able to work smoothly and efficiently even in times of high stress.

Richard sat back, leaving his hands on the desktop, "no, just you, Mister Scarlet, it's time for me to start digging around in your brain," the Counselor replied then grinned, "um, figuratively, of course," he added after pausing for a second like he just remembered he should hide that, deciding to joke with the Master at Arms a bit.

Scarlet frowned a bit at the attempted joke.

=/\= Very well sir. I will be there shortly. =/\=

After locking up the armory and ensuring the other crewman on duty knew he would be gone for a short time, David Scarlet took the short turbolift ride up to the counseling offices. He stood sharply outside the office door and pressed the chime to announce his arrival. He stood tensely as he waited for permission to enter.

"Yup," Wolf called simply from a living room type set up with two black leather arm chairs, a black cloth love seat and a glass and steel frame coffee table. The Marine stood with a smile and extended his hand, "Master at Arms Scarlet, he greeted as the security officer entered the room, which was a valence between being brightly lit and relaxing dinners.

David hesitated for a moment and then reached out and firmly shook Wolf's hand. "Do you prefer Major or councilor when you are on duty sir?" He asked quietly. "Back on earth the councilors preferred to be councilor, but on my ship postings I have run into both."

David didn't mention that he found the ones who usually preferred to be called by their rank were either young and thought way too much about an extra stripe, or so full of themselves that the sessions became more of a lecture than proper a counseling session.

"Just Wolf, I don't care much about ceremony unless I need to," the Counselor replied with a smile before sitting down.

The Crewman motioned toward the chair opposite where Wolf stood. "If I may," He walked over and sat in the comfortable leather chair. He ran his hands over the smooth cool leather and then looked over at Wolf. "Maybe I went into the wrong field... then again I don't know how well I'd deal with having to listen to everyone's problems day in and day out." He paused for a moment, a bit more serious. "I can assume you've received and reviewed my file from the Kingston?"

Richard nodded, "you took the post training security recruits after recovering from an injury suffered in the line of duty," the Marine replied, looking up and right for a moment as he visualized the file he had read.

With a slight dip of his chin, David agreed. "That's correct. It took a while to recover, I was paralyzed for what seemed like a long time before I was able to walk again." Sighing a little, he continued. "And even longer before they would approve me for duty again. The training post as as much for their benefit as my own. They wanted me to ease back into duty, I just wanted to get back out here again."

Richard nodded, "injuries like that can be hard to come back from," he replied then grinned, "us type A's never seem to stay down long though," the Marine added, "and it seems like you came back strong, senior NCO in security on a ship heading for a deep space tour, I'd say you got commands faith back."

He couldn't help but bristle a bit at that comment. He shifted in his chair. To him, nothing he'd done should have ever made him have to get their faith 'back' in the first place. Rationally he knew there were reasons, but personally he couldn't help but feel slighted by that sentiment. "I saw that Commander Barstow was the CO, and I recognized his name. As much as I enjoyed training cadets I did feel that it was time to..." He grinned. "Start working for my living again."

The Major chuckled, "I can imagine some of those Cadets made you want to be looking at a pieced off Klingon instead," he replied jokingly, "and from I've heard the Commander had the same feeling coming back."

"I'm just happy that I haven't been asked so far if I really can't feel my legs." He shook his head and chuckled. "I got stabbed in the leg with a fork once by a cadet. He thought I would react and scream or something. I actually grabbed his hand, pushed in a bit farther and stared him in the eye while I did it." David leaned forward in his chair. "He screamed, I got stitched up in medical, and we had this nice understanding afterward that any extra duty or horrible task I had in mind, he was going to do it. Never complained once, kind of took it as a challenge. Good kid, assigned to the USS Merryman now with my reference."

"I can imagine he needed to change his drawers after that," Johnson replied with a laugh, "sounds like you straitened him up though. So, tell me, have you taken any classes in psychology?"

Leaning back in his chair, David crossed his arms and grinned. "You're not the first person to ask that. But no, I haven't. I just know how to listen and I then go with my gut instinct. Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong." He uncrossed his arms and motioned to Wolf. "As you'd know, in this line of work you have to trust your gut without hesitating."

Richard nodded, "yeah, same with counseling," he replied, "you seemed to read what was going on with Save'ena pretty well from that recording, I was impressed, it was a little beyond just a gut feeling."

David just shrugged. "A little, training as well sir. Ideally we're supposed to locate and neutralize an issue before it becomes a threat. So I watch for signs, changes in behavior, changes in speech, people not following their usual routine, or where they usually aren't. I'm new to the vessel, so I haven't really had time to get a feel for everyone's routines. " He leaned back. "In the recording, there were obvious changes in Lieutenant Saveena from the start to when she attacked Lieutenant Jones. It was a mental break, but she also began to refer to herself my a different name and not recognize her own. While it may not have been, it's a sign of programming."

Wolf nodded and sat back in his chair with a smile, "well, it's very intuitive."

He grinned a little. "My job is to think the worse, to assume that those signs are a sign of something worse, and come up with a plan to make sure that doesn't happen. You job is to figure out what it actually is and how to fix it. I don't have the patience for that part of it. See a sign, confirm a threat, neutralize the threat."

Richard chuckled, "yeah, let refrain from saying neutralize the threat around the command staff in regard to Sav," he said and paused for a second, "so, tell me, why did you not peruse an officer career path?"

"I prefer to work for a living." David replied with a grin. "In all honesty, I've always been one who prefers to get my hands dirty, to stay on the front lines and get the job done that needs to get done without having to go through a dozen different levels of bureaucracy." He leaned forward. "Just always felt I wanted to be the one doing something as opposed to the one telling someone to do something."

"Yeah, you make us lazy officers look good," Wolf said with a grin jokingly then nodded, "you know the best officers do that. They lead from the front, not just bark orders. The best officers, in all honesty, that I've seen started as NCO's, you may shoot me for this but I think your make a good officer."

Scarlet laughed. "Doubtful. The officers I've been close with generally all have the same problem. They're limited in what they can do. The pips shine this big spotlight on you and everyone is just looking for an infraction or some 'behaviour unbecoming of an officer'." He frowned and looked down at his legs. "If I'd been an officer when Cadet Roach stabbed me with a fork, he'd have ended up locked away in brig and drummed out of the academy. Not because I would have done it, but someone would have gotten their undies in a bunch because he 'assaulted an officer'. The way it was, I am an NCM, so no one noticed and I was free to use that incident as the excuse I needed to get him to put some hard work in and actually earn something. Pips would have destroyed that kid."

Wolf nodded, "possibly, but on the flip side even if they tried to press charges pip's could have saved him too. It isn't about rank as much as respect earned, and enlisted or officer your file shows you earned a lot of respect," the Marine replied, "however, I will say it is good to have our enlisted rates filled with NCO's like you, too. A lot of officers...well, they missed the day brains were being handed out. I've dealt with my fair share of those on other assignments," he added with a chuckle.

Scarlet shrugged. "I suppose, but in the end I have just never considered myself an officer." He sighed. "Been happy where I am and what I do. So I never really bothered."

Richard nodded, "I can understand that. I wasn't trying to push, just to get a feel for you," the Counselor explained, "there are more than a few in the enlisted rates that I've met that think they are owed a commission and a full command, and they don't have much more than five years in."

Scarlet smiled a little. "Understood. To be frank sir, you can also find out a lot about a person based on the type of questions they ask." He leaned back in his chair. "I believe sir, that your hour is almost up."

Wolf grinned, "yes you can, and yes it is. Alright, Scarlet, you're sane...ish," he replied with a smirk, "do you have anything for me at all?"

"Nothing else for today sir." Scarlet replied calmly. "I'll let you know if anything comes up, otherwise we can schedule for next week."

"Sounds good," Richard replied with a nod, making some quick notes on a nearby PADD before standing up and smiling, "though, you don't need to schedule another meeting unless you need to," he added then extended his hand, "I pronounce you sane.....ish."

"Thank you sir." Scarlet said as he stood up. The major wasn't like the other councilors he had seen back on Earth. His methods were unorthodox, but that could be due to his marine background. It had been an interesting session none the less.

OFF

Major Richard "Wolf" Johnson
Counselor
TDY USS Merlin

Crewman David Scarlet
Master-at-Arms
USS Merlin