Elevensies

Posted on Fri 23rd Aug, 2013 @ 11:17am by Colonel Horatio Drake & Commander Paul Graves PsyD

887 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: Deck 12: Drake's Ready Room
Timeline: MD-01: 1110

ON:

Drake and Graves had been sitting in the Ready Room for the past three hours going through crew psychological reports that were erroneous - that is to say those that might be becoming a cause for concern or may need special treatment.

"Jesus Christ" Drake remarked as he sat back down on the sofa with yet his seventh cup of coffee "can't we just ship them all off to Risa for a week?". He took a sip of his coffee and added, "In fact, I'll volunteer to lead the Away Team".

Paul laughed. "For some of them, that might be a very good thing," he admitted. "But for the rest of them, that would just delay resolving their problems."

He was relieved to see that Drake was drinking coffee today--a lot of coffee, true, but at least it wasn't tumblers full of scotch.

He shook his head, "I really don't understand what problems could affect someone's job so much that action has to be taken... I mean there's been scarcely any combat for years... " he said it with a streak of remorse in his voice... he had never seen proper combat, as it was during the Dominion War, but he still believed that his days would end in combat... if there was an afterlife, he might even see Patrick again.

"There are all sorts of stressors that can affect a person's job, Ashton. Often, they aren't combat-related; combat is rare. It could be any number of things, up to and including profound mental illness. Usually, we catch that last category before it becomes a problem, but sometimes people can fake being functional well enough to get by."

He felt a momentary wave of sadness and longing from Drake and considered how well Drake himself was able to fake being functional. Grief, however, obeyed no rules but its own, and Paul decided it was best for the moment to acknowledge the privacy of Ashton's feelings by not immediately commenting on them.

He would comment on them later.

"No, I'm aware there are more factors than just combat, Paul, that was just an example" He suddenly felt as he did two years ago... the 'psychological talk' that counsellor's often use had been coupled in his mind with the strongest feelings of loss. Might that explain his disdain for Counsellors? All of them, except this one... who was an exception, for some reason.

"But, what I don't understand is that we have to go through such rigorous psychological testing at the Academy, how can someone get through who has an underlying mental illness?" He changed the tone of his voice to something a bit softer and nicer.

Paul noticed the annoyance and tension too but was glad of the annoyance; he hadn't thought Drake would be naive.

"Oh, I figured you must know there were more stressors than combat," Paul agreed; "I was just trying to figure out what you were really asking. There are several ways people with mental issues get into Starfleet despite the testing. First, sometimes the illness isn't too bad when they're young; the serious collapse doesn't happen until later.

"Second, discipline in the Academy can actually help some people by providing structure to their lives. In the Academy, you don't have to decide what time to get up in the morning, what to wear, which classes to attend, how to respond to certain situations, and so forth. There are rules for all of that, and they become habits while you're at the Academy. It's only after you graduate, when you decide what time to get up in the morning, when to go to bed, how to keep your quarters, and so on, that problems start to arise.

"Lastly, some people are simply very good at faking out the tests. The tests mostly rely on the cadet's honesty. How do you think Dobbs did it for so long? He was able to pass himself off as normal--a bit of a maverick, perhaps, but essentially normal. It's why Counselors are so overwhelmingly Betazoid; we can see through a lot of the lies. Then there's the common habit people have of seeing only what they expect to see--as witness the fact that I didn't peg Dobbs as trouble when we first met. I saw him as a very charismatic and driven man, exactly the sort of person who would do the things he had done in his career."

"I see" he put his arm on the back of the sofa and cupped his head in his hand. Despite finding the answer interesting, his voice betrayed otherwise. "How many more have we got to do?" He asked, with an underlying tone of hope that it might be only a few.

"Three more, and we're done," Paul said.

"Three more... I can do three more..." He leaned forwarded again, resting his arms on his legs this time. "Right, who's our next victim?!" Ashton betrayed a small smirk, one that he was sure Paul would chastise him for.

"Lee to Colonel Drake, please report to Ops immediately" The voice came through the room like a fresh of breath air, to Drake.

"Oh thank God" He said under his breath, winking at Graves.

He hit his comm. badge, "I'm on my way, Lieutenant".

TO BE CONTINUED...

OFF:

 

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