Psych Check-In

Posted on Mon 19th Jun, 2017 @ 3:59am by Commander Paul Graves PsyD
Edited on on Mon 3rd Jul, 2017 @ 7:51pm

776 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Chief Counselor's Office, Deck 14
Timeline: Good question! MD-3

Paul studied the personnel file of Vanguard's newest Security Investigations Officer and did not envy the man his job. He wondered if Brock Johnson had been briefed by Jekkar or Michaels yet and, if not, whether it was his place to say anything before those two did. It could not possibly be a joyous experience to find out, the first day of a new posting, that your department was secretly investigating a dark, hideous scandal that apparently extended to the highest echelons of Starfleet.

He glanced at the wall chronometer. Lt. Johnson was due any minute. He would meet the guy and decide what to tell him then.

Brock did not really enjoy these assessments, but then who did. He knew that they would have to be done every time he moved positions, and liked to get them over with as quick as possible. He never really like seeing the Psych Doc always worried that they would discover that he was in fact mad. He walked up to the counsellor's office and saw that the door was open.

Brock stuck his head in seeing the commander behind his desk. "Commander, Lieutenant Brock Johnson reporting for my medical."

Paul stood and shook Brock's hand. "Come on in, Lieutenant," he said. "Have a seat here at the desk. Before we start, would you like anything to drink?"

Brock walked over to the seat at the desk, "Yes please, just water." He needed something to sip on while he thought of his replies for the difficult questions. He sat down on the comfortable chair waiting for the integration to begin. An integration full of open questions and the councilor being nice, but all the time they were assessing him.

Brock knew that he was not mad and had no real issues but his job did mean that from time to time he had to deal with the worst parts of society and see some things that no one should see. He had a flashback of the young child who died in his hands after a shuttle accident on Earth. Not a single mark on her, she looked like she was sleeping, but she was cold and did not move. He would take blood and gore over that any day.

"Here you are," Paul said as he set a glass of chilled water in front of Brock. He activated the privacy lock on his door and sat down across from the new security officer. "I will bet Lt. Commander Jekkar was glad to see you," he said. "They've been in great need of more staff. Has he briefed you regarding current investigations your department is working on?" Paul gave Johnson an apologetic look. "Normally I wouldn't delve into this with such a blunt question at the start, but your answer will influence how I conduct the rest of this interview."

“Not yet Sir, I am sure he will tell me when I need to know.” Brock replied. A little surprised that he was asking about an on-going case, but then he is Senior Management on board.

Paul nodded. "Should you need my help in dealing with any of the stress from your cases, my door is open." Paul elected to be no more specific than that, given the sensitive nature of the 49-Alpha case. He went on. "So what got you interested in investigations?"

"I always liked the Sherlock Holmes stores from Earth," Brock explained. "It amazed me how Holmes could, just by observing appearance and behavior, know so many things about a person, just at a glance. I got to where I would do that. When my mother'd take me shopping with her, I used to look at what other people were buying, and I'd try to decide why they made the purchases they did. I'd do that all the time. Sometimes I'd even be brave enough to check my guesses. Sometimes I was right; sometimes I was wrong. I never stopped loving that. So, when I got into the Academy, that's the path I gravitated toward."

Paul nodded. "My Dad's family had a collection of those in an actual leather-bound book--The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with all of the Sidney Paget drawings. They let me handle it once. After that, I had to be content with a PADD until I grew up."

He marked off an item on his interview checklist and went on. Johnson, Paul thought, seemed stable, straightforward, and ready to do his job. There would be no sense in keeping him any longer than was necessary.

Lt. Cmdr. Paul Graves, PsyD
Chief Counselor, Second Officer

Lt. Brock Johnson
Security Investigations Officer

 

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