Obligation of duty

Posted on Wed Apr 26th, 2023 @ 5:54am by Commander Antonia 'Tony" Stoffels

Mission: Starship Side Quest
Location: Tony's Quarters
Timeline: BACK POST- Before 'Rescue Mission'

Kay walked into Tale's office first thing that morning as she knew Tale wasn't with a client yet. "Got a minute?" She asked, her face serious.

Tale put her reading down. "I'm available. What's up?"

"I think you need to talk to Tony. I tried but as she sees me as her little sister I am not getting through. Ren and Sky are missing and she is not taking it very well."

Tale saw the brief that the Counselor and Security Chief had gone missing. She had wondered what kind of plan the ship was co-ordinating to get them back. "Kay, shouldn't the XO be spearheading the campaign to get them back?" Tale took a beat and remembered the overextended XO yelling at her. "Never mind, where is she?"

"In her office. The captain said she was too involved to go and Tony isn't taking kindly to that."

Well, someone has to take care of the ship and then again, someone should've pulled her into that conversation. Oh to be a fly on that wall, Tale thought. She followed Kay.

"She's going to be alright Kay," Tale said as she buzzed the door. She adjusted her sweater. "Commander?"

"What!" Tony growled.

"Figured you wanted to yell at someone, you like to yell at me, came to offer my services."

"Kayleigh Branwen London, I am so going to kill you." Tony growled and Kay chose that moment to make herself scarce. "Come in." Tony muttered at Tale.

Tale took in Tony's harsh expression. For her, it was clearly nothing new, except there was clear real hurt in her eyes now. "So, the Captain pulled a maneuver, huh?"

"He forbade me to go with the away mission and then he gave me command of the ship, to learn... days ago he relieved me of command and now..." She shook her head, deflated.

"Well, you haven't locked him in and you're not sailing the ship in search of them," Tale said nonchalantly. "So, personally, I don't know what he's so worried about."

"He's worried? He told you he is worried about putting me in command?"

"You're glomming on to the end of the sentence. I haven't spoken to the man. Frankly, I'm astounded he's not going in there to get his wife," she replied. She understood protocol, but honestly.

Tony gave her a bewildered look. "But you said he is worried. And my boyfriend is out there as well."

Tale did everything in her power to not shake the XO and yell to stop hyper fixating on a turn of phrase. "Yes. Commander Wagnor is out there. I've been called out to assist and before I leave, I need to make sure you're ok."

"Are you going as well?" Tony knew Kay was but she had thought someone would remain behind as support for the crew. Someone for her to lean on.

"They need another hand in medicine. We don't know what we're walking into, but I want to make sure that every contingency is covered," Tale replied, trying to comfort her. The Eldrich is skeleton staffed and she couldn't access the staff roster because of the Eldrich's classification. Even Admiral Brennan told her to just wait and see. "With Sky being pregnant and Soran's extensive wound history, I want to have that bay prepped. Just in case. They could be perfectly fine. I'd rather just be overly prepared. I figured you could appreciate that."

"Yes, no... yes." Tony waved her arms. "Hell, I should be there. He will need special care. I was his therapist, I know what he needs." She exhaled. "I need help, Tale. I can't do this alone."

"I know you can't," Tale said softly. "And I really want to be here for you."

"But you are not."

"How about this... I'm going to bring them home, all patched up for you. No more worse for wear?"

"You can't promise that. If you do, you are a really bad therapist." Tony said.

"If I don't try I might as well throw away my PhD though," Tale attempted to lighten the mood. "Brace yourself, but I'm going to bust my ass to make sure he comes back with all his limbs intact Tony."

"I am not that concerned about his limbs." Tony said very softly.

Tale shook her head. "Ooook. Well. I'll just do my best, yeah?" She rubbed her implant, the sharp spike of pain surging through her head.Tale headed to the door. "And you can burn effigies in my likeness to blow off steam. Call it self care."

"Are you alright?" Tony called out picking up on signs of discomfort.

"I'm about to barrel headfirst into danger to help save yours, with one of the worst headaches of my life and to put it bluntly Tony," Tale said with her hand on the door frame. "I can't seem to get through to you. I'd have an easier time talking to a brick on the floor."

Tony exhaled then waved Tale to come back. "I do a wicked headache relieving massage that won't take long. I can't let you go like this."

The Doctor exhaled skeptically, turning on one foot. She came back silently and sat beside Tony. Her deep olive eyes were clearly pained, if you were looking for it, but no one usually looked at Tale for her pain, only their own. She was obviously tired and over it.

"Please," she said barely audibly to Tony. Evidently, getting thoroughly riled up and then asking for help wasn't part of the plan.

"Come on, have a seat and take off your uniform jacket." Tony said kindly. She went to replicate some oil. "I am sorry if I contributed to your headache."

Tale removed her Starfleet sweater. Revealing the black tank top and numerous tattoos underneath. "It wasn't just you. Honestly, it happened during a session with a different set of patients, you are just a convenient person to blame since you're a pain," Tale stretched her neck as she spoke. Her spine crunching like carrot sticks. "I'm nothing if not honest."

Tony snorted. "Patients can be horrible pains. Do you have a supervisor? I would really recommend it." She said as she started to gently work on Tale's neck and shoulders.

"I report directly to the Admiralty. So, I generally scream into the void."

Tony tuttutted. "You know you should have a supervisor. Especially if you are stressed by difficult patients." She said as she worked her magic. "My supervisor has just been assigned to the starbase here, I can highly recommend her. And she has a high clearance."

"Eh, I just stick it in a report and call it a day," Tale felt the muscles in her neck object and release their tension. "There's a few that when I leave, I'll be continuing video sessions with. Which is always nice. Bright side."

"Sounds very lonely as well." Tony said. "Always on the move, not making long term connections. I would strongly recommend you get a supervisor at least."

"I've got Mosey and she keeps me company. My handler is great, plus I'm really good at taking time off," Tale smiled.

"An intern is not the same. You are her boss. You know that every therapist is required to have a supervisor. There is a reason for that. It is not always easy when you are on ship duty that is why I am actually still a supervisor for some ship's counselors serving in this sector. We all need that one person we can spar with about difficult cases and who is there for us. If I am getting under your skin like this you need to offload safely."

Tale took a moment to look at Tony. "Unfortunately, due to my job, I actually don’t get one," she explained. "I got the Admiral. He's great. Because my job is effectively tearing apart ships. They give me a lowly rank generally, sometimes they give me Commodore rank. Whatever they deem necessary for my success. Not that rank matters. I'm just a doctor that goes in to remove infection and leaves. Basically, I'm my own boss... which is why, I suspect I make you extremely uncomfortable."

"Tearing apart ships..." Tony said thoughtfully. "How does that make you feel? Because those are your words."

"You break them to put em back together. It is a fun puzzle. Put everyone through the paces of caring for themselves. Myself? I'm ostensibly seen as the boogeyman, it's not like I'm anyone's favorite houseguest. I know my place in the grand scheme of things."

"Again, that is extremely lonely. And people are not a puzzle." Tony had such a different approach. "You don't know the dynamics between crews. What works for them and what doesn't. I don't like the idea of breaking and putting back together. I also think this takes a lot longer, and should be done by the counselors on board. It detracts from them if you shoot in find all that is wrong with people and fix it like a puzzle. Do you get what I am saying? this is not an attack on you."

Tale looked at her. "I know what Starfleet wants to achieve. They want perfect vessels without the “people problem". You know that as well as I do. I have a very limited amount of time to quote and fix the problem unquote. They just want answers, I give them answers. I used to go in and do it their way. It was cold. Calculated. I'd reassign the crews and leave.'

'Now," Tale exhaled. Her head was beating with the rhythm of her heart. "I take the time to get to know everyone. So yes, I say a puzzle. I try to figure out why I was sent here. In this case, you know I can't talk about that further. But, all I'll say is this... I use my process because I want people to understand I'm not the enemy and I'm here to help them. We find out if someone isn't taking space for themselves, and we get them to do so. The ship miraculously starts running better. Starfleet leaves them alone. The Admirals give me a pat on the back and ship me off."

"What do you think the counseling department does?" Tony asked as gently as possible. "Try to relax your shoulders, you are tensing up again. I am not attacking you, I am just trying to understand."

Tale groaned. Everyone always thought she was defensive when she explained herself. Perhaps it was her skin, perhaps it was her voice, perhaps it was her inexplicable need to try to explain why she is there. "I know why they are there. You have to know why someone like me would get called in. I get called in when ships need medical evaluations and psychological evaluations. Those are nice and easy. Occasionally, I get called in for something like this... where there's a problem they need to find out more information about. I'm a third party. Ship counselors are invaluable to the fleet-- they're also involved with their ship. I'm not."

"Relax!" Tony ordered. "And I can tell you now, there is no problem. My supervisor was aboard only days ago and she did not find anything wrong. I can't believe you doubt her work." She continued her massage. "Gods you are tense."

"Then why did someone ask me to come? I was assigned Tony," Tale tapped her implant.

"Someone with a grudge? Do you always follow up on those? If commodore Parri did not find anything wrong, I don't think you will." She continued to try and do something with the tense muscles.

Tale sighed deeply. "I don’t get to decide where I go."

"I am sorry to hear about that." Tony said, meaning it. She continued to work on Tale's tense muscles for a while longer, getting them to loosen up at least a little. "This is not going to go away with one massage." She then said, "We have to set something up to give you more relief."

"Thank you for trying, sincerely, I mean it."

"I would like to see you more often if you are staying on board for a while." Tony said. It was so much easier taking care of others. Somehow she would keep herself sane the days to come.

"We can work something out for sure," Tale said with a soft smile.

"Good, now go and bring them back safely. ... and make sure Kay doesn't do anything stupid. Ren is like a brother to her."

Tale stood up to leave. “Thank you. I will do my best to bring everyone home intact. Try to get some rest.”