Fun with Nyx and Graves

Posted on Fri 13th Jul, 2012 @ 1:54am by Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller

2,077 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/2
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: After the mission briefing and Windsong's visit.

Paul headed down to Sickbay after the mission briefing and a light lunch. As Chief Counselor, he reported to the Chief Medical Officer, and he hadn't formally checked in with her yet, though they had met at the mission briefing.

From what little he'd been able to glean out of the meeting, he liked what he'd observed. Lt. Nyx was sharp-witted, forthright, a bit acerbic, with a sense of humor that she could cloak in professionalism when she had to. She'd be a good person to work with, he hoped.

Paul entered Sickbay and stated his name and purpose to the yeoman working the front desk. Then he waited while Nyx was informed. About ten minutes later, the yeoman ushered him back to the CMO's office.

"Lieutenant Graves, come in please." She smiled as she walked around her desk to take the man's hand. "I'm Nyx. I'm glad we finally get to meet and talk without all the blowhards." She knew Kell would have gotten after her about her attitude but he wasn't here right now. It made her grin.

Paul shook Nyx' hand warmly and smiled back at her. "Yes. That Maj. Karikkar is a bit much to take, isn't he? Usually, I like Vulcans, but I never knew any who were Marine CO's. Still, better him than the Andorian engineering officer I had to deal with on the _Ken._ That man would have made an angry cat seem sweet-tempered."

Nyx laughed. "I had heard Vulcans could be arrogant, but he sure takes the cake." She moved to the food slot in her office. "Would you like a drink?"

"Oh, thank you," Paul said. "Can it make chai? If not, Earl Grey tea would be fine." He waited as the diminutive chief Medical Officer gave directions to the replicator. "Do you prefer to be called Lieutenant or Doctor on duty?" He'd worked with CMO's of both persuasions.

"I prefer Nyx. I don't stand on ceremony. I don't remember a whole lot about my species, but I do know we don't care for titles." She grinned. "And yes the replicator makes a wonderful spiced Chai. Do you prefer sweetened or unsweetened?" She asked.

"I like it sweetened but not very," Paul said. "And please call me Paul. I can be quite formal when I choose to, but among people I work with closely, I see little need for it."

He glanced around at Nyx' office and tried to estimate how long she had been here.

"Two Chai teas lightly sweetened." She ordered and then picked up the two cups. "Well at least the food slots are still working here." She grinned. "I'm hoping they're still operational in my quarters." She shrugged a little. "I haven't had much chance to find out yet. My shuttle arrived about four hours ago and I've been in meetings and briefings since."

Paul took the cup of chai that Nyx offered him and thanked her. "I must have gotten here an hour or two after you did," Paul said. "I hope Sickbay isn't as badly off as some parts of the station I passed through. The place looks like a bit of a fixer-upper."

He inhaled the fragrant scent of the tea and smiled. "This smells delicious. If that replicator can make a Warp Core Breach that tastes this good, you might never get rid of me."

"From what I've seen, they should blow it up and rebuild, but the bureaucrats would never go for that - it would cost too much." She took her seat. "Personally, I don't even know why they brought us out here. There's a perfectly good Star Base two sectors over that could easily set up a colony on any of these planets....never mind. That's an argument for a different day." She shook her head.

"So tell me about yourself." I've read the PADD but I always like to judge people by themselves not the book that's written about them. Probably because of the things written about her but she wasn't volunteering that information at the moment.

Paul sipped from his chai and smiled for a moment at the fragrant and spicy taste. "Well...I was born on Betazed to a father who was from Earth and a mother who is a native Betazoid. I did inherit empathy from her. Dad works for a Terran pharmaceuticals company, and Mum is a cardiologist. I grew up entirely on Betazed, only visiting Earth for brief periods of time--no more than a month or so and only when holiday seasons coincided, which doesn't happen all that often. The family has an estate in Gloucestershire and a manor house that is huge--some twenty bedrooms. I used to get lost in it. Our home on Betazed was nowhere near that large.

"I got interested in Starfleet in secondary school and was accepted once I graduated. I was lucky enough to know what I wanted to study, so I dived in. The Academy was an eye-opening experience. I'd never met so many people from so many different worlds before. Just sitting in the commissary was like watching diplomats interact--just amazing. I mean, really--a Klingon and a Vulcan sitting together, discussing astrophysics; an Andorian telling an Argelian about martial arts--something most Argelians never engage in. I could go on endlessly. Stressful as it was to eat in there, I loved it; couldn't get enough of it, at least during my first year."

Paul sipped at his chai again. "Anyway, the novelty finally became commonplace, but I still look back on those days with distinct pleasure. I was among the distinguished graduates and so was offered the chance to read for a master's degree. I chose a small university on Bajor and did my master's work there. The result was an exceedingly dull thesis on gestalt psychology and the techniques the Bajoran clergy used to help their people heal after the Cardassian Occupation ended.

"After that, I was assigned to several starships in positions of gradually increasing responsibility. My first posting as a Ship's counselor was on a Defiant-class ship, the Audacious. I was terrified. The crew was so small that I was the only counselor onboard. The entire ship could have fit inside either of the ships I'd served on previously, and our missions took us out into the middle of nowhere. Deep space can become rather...daunting if you're out in it for long enough."

He paused and glanced back at Nyx. "Feel free to stop me if I'm rambling."

Nyx grinned. "I asked you to tell me about yourself." She looked at the PADD. "I was orphaned on Risa VII at three years old when our family's shuttle crashed. I don't know a whole lot about my people or my birth parents. I was adopted by Betazoids and raised on Betazed near Lake Catoria on Kherazed." She sat back in her seat holding her own steaming tea. "As a Chameloid, I'm a touch telepathic and a shape shifter." She shrugged. "I don't have the ability to control my shifting so I wear a device that keeps me in this form." She smiled but didn't give the whole story.

"That must be difficult for your other form, as well as you," Paul said. "I don't know a lot about Chameloids. Are you your same personality in your other form, or are you entirely the animal personality?"

"Entirely the beast. I believe it was an evolutionary device to protect our 'humanoid' side during invasions." She looked away slightly embarrassed by her predicament. "Not having my parents, I was never trained to 'control' the beast part of me. As a teen I started shifting uncontrollably and nearly killed my adopted parents. I was sent to Vulcan where they fashioned this appliance to assist in controlling my shifting..."

Paul wondered how that worked, physiologically. For a moment, he tried to reason out how two brains and minds in one being (or was it two?) could work in serial...and then he decided that this question, like temporal physics, made his brain hurt. It would make a fascinating doctoral dissertation...for someone else.

He noticed that Nyx seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable discussing her appliance, so he moved on to a different subject. "How would you like for the two of us to work together, Nyx? Do you want to meet with me individually or as part of the regular Sickbay staff meetings? Are there any other counselors on the station? I'm guessing there must be; this place is huge. But I notice it's pretty dilapidated, so perhaps its staff has been reduced until recently?"

Nyx snickered. "To be honest. I'm not sure what the staffing is like. I imagine it's pretty scattered at the moment and we'll pick up as we grow." She looked at the man again. "I prefer one meeting with everyone but if it's merely to pass on information from a briefing, feel free to sit out the mundane. It would be redundant for you after sitting in on the senior officer's briefing to have to sit in while I inform the rest of the staff of the information. Although you're more than welcome to come if you prefer." She looked at the man. "I prefer to let the Counseling department be led by the Chief Counselor, so I'm giving you carte blanche on making decisions."

"At the moment, as far as I can tell, the Counseling Department consists of just me," Paul said. "I suppose we can adapt as that changes. I like your idea of one meeting to cover everything--cuts down on unnecessary meetings. I've been on ships where the chief counselor sat in for part of the Sickbay staff meetings and then left at a certain point. That way, I can get acquainted with Sickbay routine and learn to work with your medical staff as smoothly as possible. In particular, I'd like to meet your psychiatric staff, as we might find ourselves working closely together."

Nyx laughed again. "I'm sorry. As of this morning, my staff consists of six med techs, an orthopedic surgeon, four general practitioners and six nurses. We're a little short in the Psychiatric department, cardiac and thoracic department, and god forbid any of our females get pregnant or have a baby." She frowns just a bit but her eyes lit up again. "I've put in requests for twenty-seven more staff...we'll see what happens."

"I'll make sure to not need open-heart surgery until they get here," Paul said with a wry smile. It faded. "Is there any way I can help you?"

A part of him wondered why he asked. He could likely be of the most help to her by simply doing his job. But with them being so short-staffed, he could imagine that they would all need to cross-train and pinch-hit for a while. "I can do some of the psychiatric things," he said, "assessments for mental illness, cognitive testing, neuro-psych evaluations--possibly more, but that's all I can think of at the moment."

"I'm hoping the whole team pitches in until we get more staff." She shrugged. "I've done cardiac repair and any GP can mend broken bones. I'm able to write prescriptions for anti-psychotics and anti depressants but I can't diagnose. I'm legally able but not qualified." She admitted. "I'd appreciate your help with any psychiatric cases...and if an enlarged ego is medically curable, let's put Major Karikkar on the list please." She had to add it. "As for the rest of us that actually accepted orders to the hell hole...maybe we all need to have our heads examined."

Paul burst out laughing at Nyx' mention of Maj. Karikkar. "I'm afraid what he needs is surgical removal of the steel rod up his spine," Paul said, "and without a qualified neurosurgeon, he might remain that way for a while!"

Nix grinned. She'd really have to be more cautious about speaking about the major like that. He wasn't here to defend himself and if were 'listening,' she might find herself standing before his desk staring up at him. It wouldn't be pleasant. Not to mention how Kell might feel about it when he heard.

He chuckled a bit more and then nodded at Nyx. "Division of labor sounds like a plan. Whatever you need from me, let me know."

"Thank you." She grinned.

OFF

Lt.(jg) Paul Graves
Chief Counselor
SB Protector

Lt Nyx
CMO
SB Protector

 

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