Pt 2, Counseling Session: LT Christopher Hartley

Posted on Sun Jul 19th, 2015 @ 8:28am by Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Chief Petty Officer Markos Ileos & Lieutenant Christopher Hartley

1,291 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Deadly Diplomacy
Location: Arnon Barak's Office
Timeline: Current

ON

"...apparently in the heat of the moment she grabbed the first thing she could find which happened to be a rubber chicken and that seems to be the origin of that part of the fetish..." Arnon was saying when his comm beeped and interrupted his dictation.

"Go ahead," he said.

"Doctor," said Chief Petty Officer Markos Ileos. "Your next appointment has arrived."

"And the flavor of the hour is?" Arnon asked.

"Lieutenant Christopher Hartley," the chief responded.

"Excellent," Arnon said. "Send him in. And Markos, is there any word on the rubber chicken I asked for?"

"Still working on it Doctor," the chief answered.

"Good man," said Arnon.

Chris buried a sigh as he entered the Counselor's office. He hated seeing counselors; mostly because when they found out about his real family, they always wanted to speak about it, how it made him feel. "Lt. Hartley reporting in." He said, standing there. He never quite knew how to greet a counselor, but usually their first response would give Chris an idea as to how the meeting would go.

"Mister Hartley!" Arnon said cheerfully. "Please, take a seat. My name is Doctor Arnon Barak. As you've probably guessed, I'm a counselor, the chief counselor to be exact."

"Yeah, kinda made that leap." Chris said, as he sat down. He leant back in his chair and crossed his legs. "So, guessing this is to do with the mandatory session all officers need to have at a new posting." He commented.

"I do like to have a chat with new officers," Arnon said. "Just to get a baseline of where you are when you arrive. It helps me be aware of changes as you serve on the Calypso, both negative and positive. So tell me about yourself. What's your mood like in general and today specifically?"

Chris raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Well, generally pretty good, unless someone is smashing up my engine room. Today I'm a little overworked, mostly because half of the engineers on board are idiots, and the other half are complete idiots. They didn't bother checking the work of the last chief when a problem arose, and almost destroyed half of the EPS relays on board the ship. I was lucky to catch the problem before it became one, but I feel like I can't really trust them with anything more than a toaster." Chris commented.

Arnon leaned back in his chair.

"I believe you'll find that in most cases your staff are only as good as the leadership they receive," he said. "If their previous leader was lax in his duties doesn't it make sense that your staff would be lax as well? Couldn't effective leadership on your part straighten them out?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I intend to make sure they shape up to be the best engineering team in the fleet. In the meantime, I've had to request my old team from Utopia Planetia, because whilst I know they will improve, I need people who can help me right away. The trouble is whether I start them off as though they're fresh ensigns, or cadets. Either way, they're gonna be pissed off with me." Chris said. "That's the trouble after poor leadership. Last chief didn't even know what a gel pack was, if you can believe it. Whoever they were, I wonder how they lasted so long in Starfleet."

"Yes," Arnon said. "So you've probably dealt with your childhood on many occasions. I've found that we revisit our childhoods more frequently than we would like to. I'm curious what your thoughts and feeling about your childhood are at this moment. I certainly don't think you should live there, but visiting isn't always a bad idea."

"What the hell does my childhood have to do with my engineers?" Chris asked, getting very defensive.

Arnon looked at Hartley with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Well," he said. "I really wasn't suggesting that one had to do with the other. Those are your words, which I find very interesting. So let me turn that question back on you. Does your childhood have anything to do with your engineers?"

"Not a damned thing. And, quite frankly, not only are you confusing me, but my childhood is none of your business." Chris said. "Session's over, I need to get back to work."

"Really?" Arnon said. "That's an awfully strong defensive reaction to a few simple questions. That tells me that perhaps this is a valid line of discussion. You see, it is clear to me that your childhood is an issue. Because if this is an issue that affects your professional or social life it is in fact my business. It is something we will be discussing if you intend to remain on duty. Now, would you like to discuss this today or would you rather discuss it during our next session?"

"My social life is my business, nothing affects my professional life, and anything else is off limits. I have no intention of talking about my childhood, and you'll be hard pressed to convince anyone I'm not fit for duty, especially since I'm overhauling the department to make sure we have the most efficient engine room going." Chris said, standing up.

"Lieutenant," Arnon said. "Your entire life is my business if I feel it affects your performance or presents a potential for problems in the future. If you intend to leave now we will simply schedule another appointment to discuss this issue. Anything you say here is confidential unless it presents a threat to the ship, the crew as a whole, or any member of the crew individually. Your reluctance to discuss this indicates a problem."

Arnon looked Hartley in the eyes.

"We have clearly stepped into a sensitive area," he said. "I am a patient man, however. It comes from having a projected lifespan of over 270 years. I've got another hundred and fifty or so years to wait. How many years do you think you have left to confront this before you look up and realize you have wasted much of your life on this and cost yourself the happiness you deserve?"

"Trust me, confronting it is something I intend to do, the second I'm able to. Trouble is, I can't confront it until I can find the cause, and that won't be anytime soon." Chris said. "Talking about it...no offence doc, but there's nothing you can say that others haven't already said."

"I don't intend to do that much of the talking," Arnon said. "I'd like you to do most of the talking. Also, talking is not the only kind of work I do. I believe that cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective when dealing with one's past. My proposal is that we work on how you intellectually process the experiences of your childhood. Changing your thought process about your childhood changes your response, your feelings regarding it. For example, this week I would like you to record in a journal whatever thoughts and feelings about your childhood come up. Next week we'll explore those thoughts and feeling and work on changing your perspective."

"Doc, talking about my past isn't one of my strong suits. Propose all you like doc, but I doubt any feelings and thoughts will crop up." Chris said. "But I'll see you next week."

"That's a start Lieutenant," Arnon replied. "My assistant, Chief Ileos, will assist you in setting up our next appointment. You may go, Lieutenant."

Chris buried a sigh, turned and left the room. He had already been forced to skip dinner, now he was being analysed. "Damn, I miss Utopia." He commented.

OFF

Lieutenant Arnon Barak PsyD, MD
Chief Counselor
USS Calypso

&

Lieutenant Christopher Hartley
Chief Engineer
USS Calypso

 

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