A conversation in a hallway

Posted on Thu Jan 19th, 2023 @ 12:23am by Commander Antonia 'Tony" Stoffels & Lieutenant Commander Diane Doctrine

Mission: Traitor amongst us?
Location: somewhere in the halls

Tony had not slept well. she kept getting weird dreams and tossing and turning in her sleep. And then there were the nightmares about what was happening to her family. Thankfully Ren had been working late and had been up before her so he had not noticed much or had decided not to mention it now.

She was grateful that the captain was allowing her to work. She needed to keep busy otherwise she could only sit and worry about her granddad and her uncle and his family and not be able to do anything. Helping find all the refugees a place on the ship was important and did not involve too much of her brainpower. Going over to ops she saw Diane approach her. After hesitating for a second she decided to stop the second officer.

"Diane about yesterday. I am so sorry if I spooked you."

Diane turned around to see Commander Stoffels and was rather surprised that she had not taken time off from her duties considering the recent deaths in her family and the struggle the remaining ones were going through. As she thought about it further, she was even more surprised she’d been allowed back to perform her duties by the captain, counselor, or physician.

Diane’s eyes gave a sly smile but her mouth remained neutral, “It’ll take more than a distressed first officer to spook me."

"I don't doubt it but it was very unprofessional of me to show my grief to others. It will not happen again. The captain has put me on assigning quarters for the refugees. I think he wants me out of the way. But thankfully he has allowed me to work. I would go crazy with worry if he hadn't."

Diane inwardly felt doubtful. She looked the commander over and cautioned, "You shouldn't deny yourself time to grieve your lost loved ones. There's no shame in taking time and caring for yourself."

"I am a therapist, Diane, that is usually my line. And I know how to take care of myself. I am not doing bridge duty at the moment. And I will take time to grieve when we know more. But this not knowing what is going on on earth would drive me crazy if I didn't work."

Diane was still unconvinced, "If you knew how to take care of yourself, you'd be doing it," she challenged. "I always question any physician or counselor that claims they can 'heal themselves'." In a lighter tone she added, "It's been my experience people in the medical profession are their own worst patients."

"My therapist has cleared me for work and agrees with me. So I am not going this alone, commander." Tony was getting slightly annoyed.

Diane merely raised one eyebrow as she wasn’t entirely sure the therapist in question made the correct decision. “All right. The next batch of colonists should be beaming up shortly. We’re keeping the groups as close together as we can and filling in the spaces consecutively starting on deck eleven.”

"Right, I am on it." Tony said. "Sky should be joining me soon. We agreed to work together today."

"Probably not a bad idea," Diane commented.

"I hope that satisfies you commander. If you don't mind I would like to get on with work."

It didn't satisfy her but Diane didn't vocalize her opinion. The fact of the matter was Commander Stoffels, in Diane's mind, was a compromised individual. Grief stricken people often made poor decisions because they let their grief and other emotions shade the decision making process. That was the reason people in Stoffel's situation were often given leave time to deal with their feelings for the loved ones they'd lost. Diane herself had taken time off when Toby's father was killed. It was supposed to be a natural part of the healing process, a fact apparently lost on the former counselor.

Diane would abide by Captain Carey's decision for the time being but there would be no way she'd let the first officer compromise the ship's or crew's safety.

"The next group transporting up will be housed on deck twelve, port side," she calmly advised, "And no, I don't mind."

"That is were I will be then." With a nod she left the second officer behind.

A while later when the next batch of colonists were being beamed aboard Diane slipped into a turbo-lift behind Tony.

"Computer, halt turbo-lift," Diane ordered tersely. She faced Tony with her eyes boring into the other woman. She spoke calmly with an edge to her voice that Tony had never heard before and said simply, "I have an unpopular opinion that you need to hear. You're not going to like it and I don't care. I don't think you're mentally fit for duty, any duty, at this time, not with everything that's happened to your family as of late. Captain Carey doesn't agree and I'm willing to abide by that but... I'm telling you right now, if you start to flake out again like you did in my office I will relieve you of duty and if Captain Carey disagrees I'll relieve him of his duty. Don't think I won't and don't think I can't. The safety and security of this ship and it's crew is paramount, especially with the displaced colonists on board. There is no room for error and I'm going to do everything and anything I can to keep it that way."

Without giving Tony a chance to answer, she added, "Computer, resume turbolift."

~Bullying bitch.~ Tony said when the other woman had gone. She would show her who was the best here. If Diane was after her job she would give her a damned hard fight.

The lift doors opened and before Tony could step out, Diane blocked her way, “Think what you want about me, but all I’m trying to say is you need to be able to take care of yourself before you can effectively take care of others.” With that the intelligence officer was gone.

As Diane strode purposefully down the corridor she hoped her little speech would awaken something in Tony. If not, there was definitely something wrong and that would need to addressed before it was too late.