Counselor Consultation

Posted on Mon Sep 26th, 2011 @ 8:10pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Julia Neral & Lieutenant JG Reittan Ral

Mission: Tomorrow's Arizona
Location: Secondary Science Lab A, USS Arizona
Timeline: Before 'A circumstance most unusual', after 'Uneasy Alliance'

Julia yawned and stretched from her seat. In the relative privacy of this unoccupied science lab, she wasn't afraid to show that moment of weakness. It had been a busy few days, trying to get as much done as possible, and despite her part Vulcan physiology she could still tire given enough stress. Aside from spending her time checking up on the Borg modifications to the ship and trying to keep herself up to date on that business, she had her own specific duties. This consisted of running around, attempting to catch various members of senior staff during any lulls in their own busy schedules to try and talk to them about their enlisted crew as well as simply taking care of her own responsibilities as a linguist and microbiologist. It was the second of those that had kept her busy today- running a study on microbes isolated both from surface samples and from their individual resident drones.

It was fascinating work, but somewhat lonely and there wasn't much more she could do for the time being. Now she simply needed to wait and let the computer take readings. Standing up, Julie stretched again. "Computer, maintain ambient conditions in the chamber and continue to monitor."

Making her way out into the next larger section of the lab, she glanced at its sole other occupant before ordering a beverage from the replicator. It was a rather strong Trill brew that most humans found to have a peculiar taste.

"Chief Neral to Counselor Ral. Do you have time for a meeting?"

=Counseling Office=

Counselor Ral was finishing up some last minute reports that he was needing to do since he reported onboard, but hadn't had the chance when he got the message.

"Chief Neral to Counselor Ral. Do you have time for a meeting?"

Ral tapped his combadge and said, "Sure, I'll be up in a couple minutes." Then, he gave the rest of the reports to one of the junior counselors and headed off to the science labs. His Betazad senses were picking up things all around the ship, from crewmembers that were working closely with the Borg. Noone liked the Borg, especially with their history. But, it didn't take long before he reached the science labs.

He walked over to Chief Neral and said, "So, chief, what can I do for you today?" He gave a curt smile as he walked into the lab.

Julia downed the rest of her drink and returned the mug to the replicator just as he entered. "I was hoping to have a short meeting to discuss the status of the enlisted crew. You have a perspective I believe could be quite helpful to my job." She smiled slightly as she motioned for him to take a seat as she did the same.

Reit took a seat and said, "What kind of perspective is that exactly?" He then let out a slight little chuckle, wondering what it could have been.

She gave him a half smile that almost said 'don't be silly' before answering. "For one, you are the Chief Counselor, with all the training accompanying that job description. Furthermore, you're Betazoid- your empathic abilities are much stronger than my own."

He gave a half smile back before saying, "Well, what did you want to discuss with me about the enlisted members of the crew?"

"Well, part of my duties as CoB is to be responsive to their needs and status, so I wanted to ask you about any issues you might have sensed or be aware of. Not so much specific occurrences, those are usually private...but more general items." Julia shifted in her seat to reach for a PADD an arm's length away.

"Nothing apart from general apprehension, with the Borg being onboard, it has caused a lot of people to have heightened emotions of such things as fear, anxiety, and other such emotions. Also, they seem to dislike working with the Borg, but with their past history, I can see why they might be nervous actually working with the Borg." Ral said, looking at the CoB grabbing the PADD really quick.

Julia nodded. "I'm glad to see that your observations agree with what I'd expect." She paused a moment and thought. "There isn't much I can do about that, other than to be open to what is going on, and try and keep any excessive conflicts from arising." In going about her normal duties, she had come across a few officers who seemed to have a particular problem with the Borg presence.

Ral could sense her worry about the crew and being around the Borg. He smiled and said, "Everything will be alright. I think with everything that starfleet has been through with the Borg, it's normal to have at least a little bit of apprehension. Just talk to the NCOs about everything, don't let them bottle it up. If they have someone to talk to, like yourself, it'll help them feel better and maybe even perform their duties a little bit better. Even if it's something like, "Gosh, I hate the borg, I wish they would go away" or something, it'll be a good thing. They just need someone to talk to that maybe isn't someone like a Counselor. A compassionate leader always helps and I know you, you seem like a very compassionate leader." Ral smiled got a little bit brighter as he finished his little speech.

Julia gave him a pleasant smile, replying simply and sincerely. "Thank you." She slid off the edge of the seat, her feet making contact with the ground. "I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, but I'm sure you have other business to attend to...I certainly do. I'll undoubtedly run into you again before long."

Reit smiled and said, "No problem. It's always nice to have someone to talk to about things. It's not good to hold it all in. But, I'll see you around and if you need anything else, let me know and I'll be there as soon as possible." He gave another smile before heading off, so that Julia could finish up with the experiments that she was running.

She watched him leave, before returning the screen she had been at earlier. Once she finished with this, she planned on doing some rounds of the ship and talking to the crew, and maybe eating at some point. That might be nice...she'd see.