Getting the Okay to go back to Work

Posted on 15 Dec 2010 @ 10:46am by Captain Reva Madhava

1,250 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M7: Shore Leave - Mercer Colony
Location: Aryen's Office
Timeline: Before Reva's Conversation with Stadi Andrus

With a single word, Doctor Nelson released Reva from the Medical Bay; with another few words, he reminded her of the Captain's requirement that she meet with the ship's counselor, Ayren Kelan, before she could return to duty. Sighing heavily, Reva had nodded before leaving the Doctor to his other work. It wasn't that she minded talking to the ship's counselor. Indeed, she rather liked talking to counselors in general; anything she said was confidential, unless, of course, she was a hazard to herself or others, which she rarely was. Instead, her heavy sigh was caused by the fact that she really wanted to retreat to her quarters and determine just what was in the bag the stout man had given to her.

"Mrs Kelan," Reva greeted the woman as she entered her office, "As you can probably guess, I'm Reva Madhava, of the Recently Kidnapped Caper. The Captain said I need to see you before returning to duty."

Ayren stood up as she became aware of the woman approaching her office. She had read the report and had been expecting the young woman to come to see her. "Hallo, Ensign, you can call me Ayren," she said warmly extending her hand to Reva.

"Nice to meet you," Reva said, unsure exactly where to start. She could picture the small leather bag and the various little vials it contained, waiting for her in her quarters. "I suppose we need to talk about my little adventure and whether I'm psychologically scarred by it." She covered her nervousness and preoccupation with a small grin. "The doctor's death was a shock, that's for certain."

"I can feel that you were disturbed by that..." Ayren said, sensing the nerves, which was to be expected. "Tell me about that.." she said warmly. Her instincts were to soothe the other hybrid's mind and emotions with her own, but not without permission.

The green-skinned Ensign plopped into the chair opposite Aryen, only to hop up a moment later and start to pace. Chewing at a thumbnail, Reva let her brow angle downward and thought about how to word her angst. Finally, she spoke up: "The Doctor was an idiot." She stopped pacing and faced Aryen. She'd said the worst; she'd maligned the dead. "The man had us. There was no where to escape to. Yet..., the Doctor tried forcing him to do her bidding. I'm not at all surprised he killed her. Shocked, yes; not surprised, though." Her emotions roiled behind her words; speaking ill of the dead didn't sit well with her, but her words were the truth, as she saw it.

It was a good sign that Reva really did come out with what bothered her most. Many would talk around issues, which only prolonged healing. "How do you think she should have responded?" Whether Melanie was right or wrong was not the issue, it was how Reva experienced her decision that counted now.

"She should have just... waited... obeyed the guy," Reva said vehemently. "We would have had a chance later, a better chance to escape." Her energy died down and Reva took a seat. "If she'd waited we could have worked together to get back to the ship."

"That was a posssible outcome..." Ayren admitted. "Can you say for absolute certainty that things would have worked out that way?" she asked.

"It worked out just fine for me," Reva pointed out, ignoring that it was her resemblance to her criminally-connected mother that saved her skin. Fear bubbled under the admission - fear of what would or could have happened had the stout man not been there.

"Could be that Melanie saw no other way out, and did what she thought was best ..." Ayren started but the fear she sensed alerted her. "Tell me about the man...." she asked gently, wnating to have more context of the young woman that was in front of her. As both are hybrid Betazoids, the telepathic and empathic connections were much stronger.

The counselor's change in direction threw Reva for a moment; she immediately thought of the heavy-set man and his lackey, Davies. "Um, there's not much to tell - apparently he was a business partner of my mother. Still is, actually," she admitted. Intense curiosity sprouted, displacing the fear she'd just felt. "He... made me feel safe, sort of. Despite being a criminal, at least," she laughed lightly.

"Some of them tends to make you feel safe," Ayren commented. She herself had been drawn to strong men with a dangerous edge and that had landed her in trouble a few time, the reason she was attracted to Da'nal. At least he was on the right side of the law. "What do you think woudl have happened had Melanie not attempted to save you?" Ayren asked coming back to their earlier discussion.

At first, Reva nearly protested the idea that Melanie was 'saving her', but then she recalled the scene and Melanie's last thoughts. She pushed back in the chair and shrugged. "I don't know. We could... we could have stuck together, made a move once we were out of the little cubicles... or not," she suggested and followed her own thought: "It might be that we would have been separated with the end result being that I was rescued and she was sold into slavery."

Ayren smiled softly. "Or she was rescued and you sold, or even killed. we don't know....... Can you see that it is impossible to say exactly what would have happened had Melanie not done what she did at that point?"

Reva did, though she hated to admit it. She nodded slowly.

"Exactly. We don't know, it could have gone better for both of you, or worse...." she said. "Sometimes in the heat of the moment we do what we can, and sometimes it is a good decision, and sometimes not so, and mostly we can evaluate the decisions more clearly in hind sight," Ayren continued.

"Which is easy: hindsight being 20/20 and all," it was a phrase she'd picked up from her Earth-loving instructor. "This was a poor decision, but the doctor is no longer around to lament about it. So I will...," Reva asserted, half-smiling.

"What is important for you is to find something positive to gain from the experience. Do you think you can do that?" Ayren asked. She liked the young woman and would like to see her healed. She was complex, yet not complicated and seemed to absorb life and move on.

"That depends," Reva started to bargain with the counselor, "Am I free to report for duty or are you going to restrict me from doing so?"

Ayren grinned, quite clear on what was happening. "I can see no need to keep you from your duties, but if I do see that you are not coping, I will restrict you," she said. Sometimes working was therapeutic and helped to place things in context. "But I will need to see you in three days to catch up on your progress,

"In that case, then, I can do that," Reva answered, going back to the counselor's question of whether Reva could find something positive in what had happened. She wasn't really sure she could... she had, after all, watched a woman be incinerated; it wasn't high on her list of 'favorite memories', that much was certain. She stood and said, "I'll see you in three days, then."



OFF:

Ensign Reva Madhava
Science
USS Achilles

Ayren Kelan
Wise Civilian
USS Achilles

 

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