Alternative Therapy

Posted on Mon Apr 25th, 2011 @ 1:23am by Lieutenant Tavish 'Tav' Ross & Lieutenant JG Erin Tal

1,156 words; about a 6 minute read

Erin was seated on her desk in her office, gazing out into the deep dark void of space, coffee mug in hand.
Work on the Calypso was great, they were her family. But sometimes she just felt the Delta Quadrant calling her home. Now was one of those times.
It was'nt to be though, as her three O'Clock appointment was scheduled to arrive soon.

Tav had his annual psychological evaluation at 1500 hours. These things, he felt, were fairly fruitless, he had never got anything to discuss, but it was apparently vital to his continued service as a Starfleet officer and therefore, here he was, standing outside the counselor's office.

He tapped the door chime and waited for the response.

''Come in.'' Erin called, slipping down unto her chair to give off more of a proffessional approach.

''Tavish Ross, isnt it?'' She asked, gesturing towards the chair in front of her desk.
''Sit down, please. I'm Erin Tal.''

"I prefer Tav, unless you're my mother," the well built man replied, taking a seat next to the desk. "Nice to meet you, Miss Tal."

She was the first Kazon he had seen, other than those in the holo-logs of Voyager, for some reason she seemed remarkably pretty.

''Well in that case, I prefer Erin.'' She replied with an easy grin, sitting back and looking the man over. ''Welcome aboard the Caly, its good to have some new meat aboard.''

She checked her computer for a moment. ''So, you're pretty clean it seems. No major physcosis' or bouts of the crazies, which makes my job alot easier. So Tav. Tell me about yourself.''

Psychologists, psychotherapists and counselors, they all made him feel on edge, and he never understood how they pretended to enjoy idle chit-chat.

"What would you like to know?" he asked, wondering how best to answer the question.

Erin raised an eyebrow and smiled. ''You're uneasy.'' She noticed, sitting back in her chair.
''Most people are around physciatrists. And even more around speices they dont know too well. I once had a guy ask me if I was going to read his mind.'' She grinned.

''I want to know about you. In order to make a proper evaluation I need to know what you're like. So tell me anything. If it pops into your mind, its there for a reason. Your career, your childhood, hell, tell me about your faveorite beer if you like.''
She grinned again. ''Relax, I don't bite.''

"So you don't read minds?" Tav replied, with a smile. "Ok, well I'm originally from Scotland, I'm 29 years old and I guess I've always wanted to do engineering, in fact this post on Calypso is a dream job really. Personal life wise, I'm looking to settle down in the next couple of years, but I'm particularly skilled at not getting attached, which is probably a problem I'm going to have to overcome."

Erin made a few notes on her PADD.
''Not getting attached... this usually points to a significant amount of moving around as a child, or the loss of someone close at an early age.'' She commented. ''But thats only the generalistations. Guesses aside, why do you think that is?''

"I'm not sure, I certainly didn't move around as a child," Tav replied. "Perhaps it's because I've always been interested in things more than people."

''A common trait in engineers.'' Erin replied calmly. ''And often a sign that they will be dedicated to their ship.''

''But here's a question. If you're looking to settle down in the next few years- why choose Starfleet? You must know that the job is addictive, from the dangers to the travels.. to the people. Starfleet and a quiet settled life. It seems like your jumping in between two different hopes there that both contrast each other.''

"You could be right," Tav agreed. "I enjoy my life in Starfleet, ideally I'd want to settle down in Starfleet with someone else who enjoyed it."

Erin laughed. ''Well you have plenty of choice there. So why did you join starfleet? Besides the love of engineering. The glory? The Adventure? The money?''

"The adventure and the access to cutting edge work was the attraction, I saw it when I was on a placement at university," Tav replied. "Wanted to get back to it as soon as I could."

Erin nodded. ''I know how you mean. When I joined Starfleet the technology was at least a century more advanced than what I was used to. Its almost a high.''

She checked his file again. ''So you have no major mental illnesses or pressing paranoia or delusionary disorders. This is always a plus. So you said you wanted to settle down- would that affect any pressing ambitions within Starfleet? No drive to rise to captaincy or further?''

"Not if I came across someone in the fleet to settle down with, but I've not really mapped out my future, I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing for the moment," Tav replied.

Erin nodded. ''Wise descision. Life has a way of... altering our plans and descisions. does'nt it?''
''When I was a child I wanted to be a mighty warrior with my own battleship. Now I'm a councellor in a different quadrent and time. Funny how plans change.''
She smiled and tapped a button on her computer and a small hologram appeared over the desk, an image of ink-blotches on white paper.
The rorschach test. A simple look into the mind of the examinee by determining what they images they precieved out of the jumble of ink-stains.
''Now if you would be go good as to tell me what you see.''

"A counselor asking me to look at ink blotches?" Tav enquired, smiling slightly.

Erin laughed outright, raising an eyebrow at him. ''Smartass.'' She commented, forgetting her professional persona entirely.
''Listen, I think we can forget the test. You're evidently not crazy or about to snap and stab someone. All you need to do is get down to the bar, get a drink and mingle.''

"You're free later then?" he asked with a slight smile.

Erin paused for a second, then returned a slightly wry grin.
''Oh would you look at that. I beleive I am.''

"Then I suggest you show me how I'm supposed to socialise," Tav replied. "How about that?"

Erin grinned. ''Okay then, deal. I'll meet you after work at the bar and I'll show you how we socialise on the Calypso.''
''I'll see you then.''

"Thanks for your time Miss Counselor," Tav replied, getting to his feet, bowing slightly with smile before heading out of the office.

Erin waved him off with a wry grin, before turning and getting back to work.

OFF:

Erin Tal
Cheif Councellor
USS Calypso

Tav Ross
Chief Engineer
USS Calypso

RSS Feed