ILLUMINARRPG: (5 1800, 1815) Counselor Alaya Ravenstone-Hammons and COps/3rdO Lieutenant Dieter Gregory

[Dieter Gregory]

*

Mission: Death in the Shadows

Day: 5

Stardate: 2446.02.05


(USS Illuminar - Deck 5 - Counseling Suite - Counselor Alaya 
Ravenstone-Hammons  - 1800)


Alaya looked at the two names that she needed to do psych evals on and 
sighed. She knew that Quinna would not enjoy it and she had a feeling 
that Gregory would avoid her like a plague, especially after the other 
day.  Who would she start with? Gregory. May as well start with the 
harder of the two.


“Lt. Gregory, this is Counselor Hammons. I’ve been ordered to speak with 
you. Would you stop by my office at your earliest convenience?” She 
crossed her fingers and hoped.


Gregory listened to the message.  “Councilor, I am on break as per the 
order of the Captain.  I am currently  in the officers club. Can we do 
it here, where it’s less intimidating?”


“The Captain wants it to be a formal evaluation.  We can have Luma beam 
you here and back if that would be better for you, Sir.”  He did 
technically outrank her.


“I’m sorry, Councilor, what makes it more formal in your office? Are 
there going to be probes and mind reading and such? Or a conversation.   
The lounge will make for a less stressful environment.  I will even buy 
the drinks.   Not alcoholic as I go on shift soon."


“Ah, no. You made your wishes clear on that topic earlier.I’ll be up if 
that is your desire.” She closed the connection and sighed, heading 
towards the lounge.



(USS Illuminar - Deck 4 - Officers Lounge - Counselor Alaya 
Ravenstone-Hammons  and COps/3rdO Lieutenant Dieter Gregory- 1815)


While he waited, “Reolra, I need to have my head examined.  Can I please 
get another Bolian Tonic water, and if you know what Councilor Hammons 
drinks, non-alcoholic of course, and perhaps a small snack to her 
liking, I’d be appreciative.”


He took his ½ full glass and found an out of the way table for two where 
they could have their conversation in semiprivate.  Gregory didn’t 
really care for this part of Star Fleet, and was not sure why the 
Captain was ordering said tests.  As long as the telepath didn’t go into 
his mind.


Alaya came into the Lounge and the Counselor smiled. The Betazoid dark 
eyes, the blue hair, she was distinctive. She moved over to Gregory’s 
table. “Hi.” She was the Counselor that Sienna had wanted to read his 
mind a few days before.


“Hello counselor,” Gregory replied.  “I am sure my feelings on telepaths 
has become well known on the ship, so I hope this won’t be an issue with 
you. Since the Captain has ordered this, and you have the power to 
suspend me if I don’t comply, let’s get this over with. I just want your 
assurance that you will not use any telepathic or other mind reading 
abilities during this session.”


“I can’t guarantee that I will not sense your emotions if they are 
strong enough but I can give you my word that I won’t deliberately 
attempt to sense or read you. Is that fair?” She asked, arching an 
eyebrow. She was tired and this was not what she wanted to be doing.


“Very well, please begin,” Gregory replied as he sipped his second 
Bolian Tonic Water.  He hoped its calming effects on the nervous system 
would prevent any strong emotions.  One of the reasons he drank the 
liquid, and insisted on meeting here where he had a steady supply.


“I guess we should start with the obvious. I will be doing this pretty 
blunt to get it over with as soon as possible. So, how are you feeling 
right now?”


“I am feeling fine, A little tired from 6 on/6off shifts, but that comes 
with the territory.  It’ll be nice to get back to a standard 8 hour 
shift, which will allow me to train with my shift.  We usually have a 
pre-shift meal that lets us relax together.  ``I'm hoping to get them 
running with me after shift, I’ve been crashing the security NCO and 
getting some hand-to-hand training as well.”


“Any sleeplessness, nightmares, obvious stress?”


Gregory laughed, “No nightmares, no stress other than the stress of 
command.  I’m still relatively new and have lots to learn.  Holodeck 
training only goes so far.”


“Rumor says that you and Mr. Alyl were more than ‘just friends’. Do you 
blame yourself for his injuries?”


Gregory looked puzzled, “I’m not sure why I would blame myself for his 
injuries.  Unfortunately that is the downside of being in Starfleet.  I 
blame the villains who attacked us for not just his injuries, but all 
the injuries.  My relationship with Mr. Alyl, or anyone else on this 
ship does not factor into my decisions on the bridge.  I don’t generally 
form emotional connections at that level.”


“It’s very common  for new command officers who are in their first 
battle, or have lost their first officers under their command to feel 
guilt, and to second guess themselves.”  She replied, sipping the amber 
colored liquid.


“True, but I’ve already lost an officer on the Sharlayan ship due to 
poor judgement.  I’ve been focusing on those issues in my ongoing 
training.  I feel overall we did as best as we could.  Unfortunately, 
Commander Verin is very young in her position and more focused on 
science than tactics.  She did as best as she could, we all did.”


  “Do you feel any envy that she is First Officer and you are not? 
Technically you are more qualified than she is for the role. As you 
said, she’s learning and not as skilled with technical aspects as she 
would wish.” Penetrating questions but necessary.


Gregory shook his head, “Ma’am, these promotions have been coming pretty 
fast for me.  A year ago, I was cleaning and repairing waste reclamation 
units on Deep Space 9 and taking money from officers who liked to draw 
to an inside straight.   I joined the Illuminar and in short order 
became chief of operations and then third officer.  I am not envious of 
anyone’s position.  I’m still working on learning mine and training the 
operations team to be more efficient.  I have a lot to learn before I’d 
consider myself ready to be an executive officer.  I look forward to 
learning from Commander Verin and Captain Sekal.”


“How are your working relationships with the Captain and the Commander?” 
Alaya asked curiously. This wasn’t part of the eval.


“I believe I have a good working relationship with the Captain.  I also 
believe you know my relationship with the Commander has a level of 
strain in it due to her insistence in having a telepathic scan, and not 
acknowledging there may be other options available.  My thoughts are my 
own, and I will share them when and with whom I want.  I don’t like the 
thoughts of someone crawling around my brain, no offence,” he said to 
the councilor.  “However, that doesn’t mean I cannot work with her, or 
would do anything to undermine her authority.”


Alaya could make peace, or she could continue with the eval. She chose 
to continue the eval. “One of those questions that I have to ask you. 
What do you view as your strengths and weaknesses as a command officer?”


Gregory took a sip of his tonic water.  “I have a logical mind, training 
as an engineer so I understand the inner workings of the ship.  I am not 
afraid to take calculated risks.  I am still working on my tactical 
knowledge and experience.  That is why I am practicing almost daily in 
the holodeck with a variety of simulations. I’ve started working with 
Gamma shift as well to get everyone on the same page.  Another strength 
is, I think, building teams.  I am still learning to read people away 
from the poker table.   How does that check your boxes?” he asked


“And weaknesses?” She bantered back, smiling.


“Dislike of invasions of privacy, pushy people, people who read more 
into personal situations. “ he replied


“What do you do to deal with the stress from the job? Hobbies?”


“I exercise, i am a runner.  I have taken up physical training with the 
security NCO’s.  I am a free climber, which i practice on the holodeck.  
Gambling, I am trying to learn Tongo.  And of course tinkering, like 
SPOTs over on the bar.”


“And…” She spoke with a grin, “Where do you see yourself going in your 
career? What’s your ultimate goal?”


“Command a starship, discover a new planet.  Seek out new 
civilizations.  The stuff that dreams are made of.”


“That seems a little pat. Do you know which ship you’d like? Many career 
officers decide that they want a specific ship.”


“But isn't that the dream of all career officers? I have no specific 
aspirations for a specific ship.  We will see what the next generation 
of the fleet will look like.  I guess if I had a specific aspiration, it 
would be to command the engineering trials of those ships.”


“And I guess one of  my last questions for the evening should be, How do 
you handle working with Luma? Any issues?”


“I have dealt with the computer as such.  I have had little direct 
interactions with the entity known as Luma, other than the reintegration 
event when the crystal shattered.  I have assigned Bohb to solve that 
problem,” Gregory replied.


“And why are you so against working with telepaths? I grew up on Earth, 
so I know that humans in general have issues with telepaths and privacy. 
But you seem to go to an extreme.  Is there something that you fear?”


“I do not fear telepaths.  I protect my privacy and would rather not 
have someone traipsing around my inner most thoughts when I have no 
control of what they are actually doing,” he replied, “Nor do I have an 
issue working with telepaths, except when I am being ordered to let one 
scan my mind on a hunch,” he added.


Alaya pulled out her padd and looked down at the questions that she was 
supposed to ask, checking them off mentally as she went, “I’m a 
diplomatic counselor usually, I advise ambassadors and help with first 
contact and away missions. I’m not usually a personnel counselor. That’s 
why I’m checking the official list.”  She smiled, reaching up to brush 
back a strand of her blue hair.


“Check away, don't want you to miss any details or boxes,” Gregory replied.


“I’m not sure how to phrase this question so I’ll just ask it and please 
do not be offended. Do you think that you have ever been compromised by 
the Roanoke group? I know that you submitted to a scan that cleared you 
of having an implanted personality.  I think, and this is my 
speculation, that there are still agents on board, just based on the way 
the senior staff are acting.”


"With respect Councilor, I do not believe I have been compromised by 
anyone.  I had never heard of this group till now, and doubt I am on 
anyone's radar. As you said, the Doctor scanned my brain with no 
findings.  If the Captain had not been stabbed, and the incidents in 
2443, I would think this all an illusion."


"And as you can see, I have refused a security escort because I don't 
think I would be a target anyway.  Does that answer your question?"


“Why don’t you think that you would be a target? With Commander Peters 
gone, you and Commander Verin are the obvious choices to attack next.” 
She spoke quietly, “One of the reasons Commander Verin was concerned 
about you is that you came from DS9 which is a very irregular posting at 
times. Or so the rumors say.”


“Councilor, I am a Star Fleet officer, I’ve pledged an oath to uphold 
and defend the Federation and it’s ideals.  The idea that there is a 
boogieman around every corner is not how I plan to live my live.  And 
like every officer, I go where I am told.  I needed training and 
conditioning, the Deep Space Nine billet was open and a junior officer 
doesn’t have any real say in where they go.  Perhaps it is my degree and 
work in particle physics that attracted the brass to send me to DS9.  It 
seems it was a good thing too with the issues we saw there due to the 
parallel dimension orb.”


“As for an order of attack, I’m not sure I agree with your logic.  If 
the captain and first officer are incapicated, and in the absence of any 
immediate threat, StarFleet regulations demand that the senior officer 
at the time take command and return to the nearest starbase.  That order 
can be executed by the computer in an extreme emergency and is not 
something that can be readily countermanded. Except by flag staff or the 
return of senior officers to duty.  So I suspect if the Captain and 
Commander were incapacitated, Luma would not hesitate to run home.”


“So therefore, I don’t need a shadow.  It’ll just get in my way. And no, 
I don’t think it is bravado or machismo on my part, just logic.  With 
respect, Councilor, are we done?  Do you have sufficient information to 
file a report that my mental health is ok and I can resume my duties to 
the ship?”


Alaya laughed, “Yes, indeed. All the boxes have been checked. Thank you 
for not making me chase you down or having to use threats to get this 
done. I’ll let you get back to your relaxation and I’ll file the report 
within 24 hours.  I think.” And Alaya smiled, “That you were the first 
one to actually get the evaluation done, so thank you for setting a good 
example.”  She finished off her drink and moved to get up.


(Reply None)

(Posted by Mel - Councilor Hammons

Tim - Lieutenant Gregory)

*
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