The Counsellor is In - Part II

Posted on Tue Feb 25th, 2025 @ 12:06am by Captain Robert Burke & Lieutenant JG Gianna De Luca

1,217 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD029 1700 hours

::ON::

[And now the conclusion ...]

Gia sipped the coffee again, deciding to forego having a biscuit with it, "The way I see it, Captain, is that I would only be able to do this much on Earth," she made a small circle with her hands and then a larger one as she continued talking, "And if I was to go out into the universe, I'd be able to do so much more to help people, so the question is why not Starfleet?" She flashed him another grin and finished off her coffee.

'I can't argue with that,' Burke chuckled in reply. 'Given that was my motivation for coming in to Starfleet. Different areas, of course. I was Security for a long time before being tapped for this duty.' He shrugged, 'but I feel probably your job is the more important - if we can't look after ourselves, we won't be able to look after anyone else.'

"That's exactly it," Gia leaned back into the seat again, "I'm an advocate of sorts for all things mental health related, and I could talk for hours about it, if I'm being honest, but I get that you're a busy man with a lot of things to do and I wouldn't want to bore you with it." It was always a fine line with her if she talked too much, "What made you change from Security to Command though?"

'I wouldn't be bored with anything that would help my crew, Counselor. Of that you can be assured.' His smile reached his eyes, feeling he finally had the measure of his Counsellor - and it was a good measure if he did say so himself. 'My switch from Security to Command is due to wanting this,' he waved his arm about the room vaguely. 'My ambition was to command a starship - and I'm the first Titanian to do so.' He flashed another, brilliant, smile. 'I'm a lucky man.'

"Well Captain," Gia said as she smiled back, "Achieving a goal like that is a substantial undertaking and worth celebrating without a doubt, so congratulations for reaching it."

She shifted in her seat slightly, "I'll admit now that I haven't exactly had a chance to read up on everyone's file to get a feel for what they're like, especially you, so that will be one of my top priorities once I get settled in."

'That's perfectly alright - better to get to know your people before jumping in. Take the time you need, and we'll soon have you situated and ship-shape,' Burke reassured her. 'Of course if you'd like to observe us during our duty shifts, you're more than welcome to do so, if you feel that it would be beneficial to you?'

"Actually, yes, that sounds like a great idea, thank you." She nodded her appreciation. "Whatever shift works for everybody involved, I'm happy to take recommendations. Otherwise, I'll just be in my office, I'm guessing." She was used to being in an office for most of the day, but having an opportunity to observe people in their work element sounded exciting.

'If you don't mind, I'd like you on the Bridge occasionally too,' Burke said. 'If you're willing. It's outside what we initially signed you up for, but if you were willing and able to brush up on some xenopsychology involving the Klingons and Romulans - anyone we're likely to meet on our journey, I think it would be highly beneficial for us.'

"Yes, of course," She didn't want to come across as too enthusiastic, but she'd only studied xenopsychology a little bit at the Academy and it was an interesting subject, so any further experience with it would be greatly welcomed. "I'll admit I'm familiar with being on the Bridge, but I don't know how much use I will be if battle situations occur."

Burke shook his head, 'if we find ourself in a battle situation, I wouldn't expect you to serve outside your capacity - we're a multi-faceted organisation and we all have our parts to play. A battle occurring will be indicative of some kind of failure, so I'm hoping we won't be involved in too many of them.'

"Fingers crossed we don't, sir." Gia crossed her fingers as well. She liked the fact he was concerned with the safety and wellbeing of his crew.

'And toes where needed,' Burke chuckled. 'Now, are there any questions you have of me? I'm an open book, so ask away.'

"How about coffee? Off duty?" Gia queried before realising how that would come across. She covered the faux pas with a short laugh, "I mean that in the way that I like to get to know who I'm working with in an off-duty capacity and coffee is usually a good way to go about it, apparently."

He thought for a moment, then nodded, 'coffee is absolutely fine.' Burke arched an eyebrow, 'provided it comes with a pastry. I think that's probably the best way to get to know me.'

Gia laughed in reply again and nodded while she slowly tried to figure out how he ticked, "Pastry goes with coffee, yes. Just point me in the right direction for the best one and I'll be there." She then added, more as an afterthought than anything, "If it puts you more at ease, I'm going to be asking other crew the same thing too. Or if an event comes up where everyone is together, that'll be less awkward."

Slightly disarmed by her charm, Burke nodded. 'Thank you for taking in to account their feelings. You should of course feel free to schedule ways to meet the other senior crew, either formally or informally. I'm sure they'll reciprocate.'

"I certainly hope they do, sir, otherwise my job might prove to be quite difficult to do," Gia nodded.

'Let's hope that they're fairly enlightened.' Burke shrugged, 'people can be resistant to change, but I do expect them to cooperate.' He set his jaw. 'If there is trouble, I expect to be informed.'

"Of course. I personally don't think there will be trouble, but I come from a large family, so conflict resolution has always been a strength of mine." Dealing with three older brothers who liked to fight was a challenge in itself.

Feeling like the conversation was coming to an end, Gianna shifted to stand up as gracefully as she could from the seat, "I don't want to keep taking up your time though, sir. I thank you for meeting with me and I look forward to working with you and the rest of the crew."

'Yes, don't allow me to detain you from anything you need to do - you must have plenty of more important things than sitting here,' Burke replied with a smile, and a twinkle in his eye. 'I hope you get settled in. If there's anything you need, let the Operations department know.

"Thank you, Captain. I will." Gia nodded, taking her leave from the room back to her quarters before heading to her new office.

::OFF::

Captain Robert Burke
Commanding Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant JG Gianna De Luca
Chief Counsellor
USS Hecate

 

RSS Feed