coming on board

Posted on Thu Oct 2nd, 2025 @ 11:28pm by Lieutenant Sky Carey & Commander Antonia 'Tony" Stoffels
Edited on on Fri Oct 3rd, 2025 @ 5:08am

Mission: Those who are left behind

Commander Felix Voss, starfleet psychiatrist

Felix Voss did not like this type of assignment at all. It was that his boss had almost begged him to go. This made him feel like a medieval inquisitor. And in his experience a rushed evaluation never gave you enough time to get the full picture, mistakes were easily made. But as the admiral had stated, he was good at this and these people deserved the best.

He had spent the journey on the fast courier reading both dossiers. Admiral Jenston had upped his clearance for this one so he would get as much information as possible. Felix was not familiar with either party, another thing the admiral had made sure of. The files made for interesting reading and he had the feeling this job was not going to be easy.

So he was apprehensive when they docked with the Resolution and he went on board of the bigger ship.

Sky was standing waiting to greet Commander Vost. As ships Chief Counsellor it was her job to greet any incoming specialists and make herself available if she was needed to accompany them. In this case she was planning on being on hand for Vost’s entire stay. “Commander Vost?” She smiled as she greeted him. “I’m Sky Carey, it’s nice to meet you.” She gave him a smile as she gave the first use of her lessened surname, deciding to drop the double barrelled version, something she’d been considering for a while now.

"So nice to meet you, Sky. Is it ok if I call you Sky?" Felix had a deep voice, He kept his black hair short and sported a moustache and goatee. He spoke English with a very slight German accent. "It's Voss actually. Means fox in English."

“My apologies!” Sky gave an apologetic smile. “Must have been a typo on the arrival details I was sent. Anyway, please feel free to call me Sky it saves forever exchanging rank.” She smiled warmly. “If you’ll follow me we can head straight to my office, unless you’d like to freshen up first? We have quarters for you if you’d prefer?”

"I think quarters would be good later, if you have the room for me. This does not sound like a situation that can be solved in one day. I would like to have your professional opinion and I would also like to talk to the captain and any other officer you think could be helpful. I have been doing this sort of thing for a while but I must admit that this is pretty extreme even for me."

Sky nodded. “It’s all very complicated. Officer’s butting heads I can solve, but this is proving to be an awkward situation. As ships Counsellor I can’t be seen to be showing any favouritism, not that I would anyway. As for quarters I already have our best guest quarters prepared for you, they’re nice and spacious on this ship.”

"Well thank you." He smiled. "I feel honoured. And I do look forward to picking your brain on this. I appreciate that you need to be impartial, we all need to be in this case. And then hope that we can defuse the situation without careers being harmed."

“I’m glad they’ve sent you to oversee this” Sky smiled. “I’ll admit Toni is a friend, she’s done a lot for me. When I needed a Counsellor she was there for me, and I want to help her. If you have to put that on record then do so, but know this, I consider everyone on this ship to be important, I won’t let any of them down.”

"We will get into that in a minute when we have a chance to sit down and have something to drink." Felix smiled. "But am I correct in thinking that you were the one that requested the evaluation of the second person involved in this? Commander Price?"

Reaching her office Sky nodded as they stepped inside. “I did, Commander Price isn’t the easiest person to get along with right now, he’s of the opinion that everyone has something against him because of his career choice. I tried going to talk to him, but he more or less rebuffed everything I was trying to do to help. He and Commander Stoffels don’t see eye to eye, I was trying to reconcile things between them but he wasn’t having it, he wants Toni put under a microscope to see if she’s fit to be First Officer.”

"I see. You have already said commander Stoffels is a friend, but what is your professional opinion of her state of mind?"

“My professional opinion?” Sky paused as she took a seat motioning for Voss to do the same. “She’s currently distracted, worried about her family, which is to be expected. She’s also concerned about losing her position as First Officer, despite her worries she’s committed to her role. I’m not sure if Commander Price is attempting to protect Toni from herself, or if he’s just trying to force her into making a mistake.”

He nodded slowly taking it all in. "So under the circumstances, wouldn't it be better to pull her off duty? You do not describe someone who is doing a good job." Devil's advocate was not something he liked to play but he had to get to the bottom of this and soon.

Sky shook her head. “No, Toni needs to be keeping busy. Working gives her the drive and purpose she needs to focus, if she’s removed from duty it'll cause more problems than it cures.” She paused. “I know I’m sounding anything but impartial, but these are my crew we’ve been through a lot together.”

"I will go with from now. But if I think she is unstable I will pull her off duty in a heartbeat." He gave Sky a stern look but then relented. "I also read that she has been both your and your husbands therapist through some pretty tough times."

Sky nodded. “I was in a bad place for a while, Toni was there for me when I needed it. Without Toni I wouldn’t be back to working now, though I’m only just back from maternity leave.”

"So there is very strong loyalty between the two of you. That does not make my task easier, but thank you for being honest about it."

“No good being untruthful” Sky smiled warmly. “If you consider my opinion biased then I’ll stand aside and let you do your work. I don’t want to be risking my own career either, this is my home and I don’t plan on leaving it.”

"I think that you will do your best not to be biased but it will be hard as well. Did you want to be present when I talk to them the first time?" He asked.

Sky nodded. “In Toni’s case I'd like to be, as for Ryan you might be better off talking to him alone. My being there may make matters more complicated for you.”

"I will go with your suggestion then. Are there any officers I should talk to?"

“Perhaps start with the Captain, I think he’d prefer to speak to you as you’re assessing members of the crew. I can call him and see whether he’s available?”

"Yes of course. I was planning to meet him anyway. It would not be polite to be on board and not meet the captain."

Sky nodded and tapped her comm badge. “Carey to Carey” she couldn’t help but grin. “Our guest would like to speak to you Captain.”


TBC