Exam Before Boarding Psych 101

Posted on Wednesday, 3 June 2020 - 1:42pm by Lieutenant JG Maximus Mackenzie & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali

Mission: Operation: Recall
Location: USS Standing Bear | T’Lanna’s Office
Timeline: Before change of command ceremony

{ON}

First morning back after her return T’Lanna was back in her office going over reports. It seemed there were a few new faces onboard, as such she’d have a few psychological evaluations to do although Ryan and Emerick were helping out as well. Getting up from he desk she was just heading towards the replicator when the door chime rang.

Max stood outside the door and sighed. He hated this part. He rang the chime and waited. Still not on duty he opted for black dress pants a blue dress shirt and a leather jacket. He'd tamed his hair and shaved and felt...less like himself as he entered.

T’Lanna smiled warmly as the doors opened. “Hi, please come on in. I was just on my way to the replicator can I get you anything?”

"No thanks. I'm not a great lover of counseling as is my poor stomach can't take food or drink and counseling." He looked up. "Sorry it's not you."

T’Lanna nodded. “Fair enough, trust me you’re not the only one who doesn’t like Counselling. I’ll make it quick and painless I promise!” She got herself a drink before returning to her seat. “Please take a seat, it’s an invite not an order so no problem if you’d prefer to stand.” She grinned. “You must be ...” She rifled through some PADDs. “Ahh here we go, Maximus Mackenzie.”

"Yes ma'am."

“Please feel free to call me T’Lanna” She motioned for Max to sit. “Do you mind if I call you by your first name? Just saves the titles.”

"Maximus is fine ma'am.. T'Lanna."

“Okay, so tell me about you Maximus” T’Lanna looked at him curiously.

He shrugged as he perched on the edge of his seat. "Not much to tell. I was born on Capella. I left Capella when I was 13 with then Commander Mackenzie and his wife and entered Starfleet academy a few years later. I served on the Essential and Firestorm in SEC/TAC capacity and left Starfleet about a year ago and thanks to a damned loophole I was tracked down and dragged back."

“According to your personnel file there’s a fair bit more to it than that” T’Lanna smiled. “You’ve just been demoted back to Lieutenant JG after losing your rank? Tell me about that.”

He compressed his lips. "Those records were sealed."

“Sealed to those with lower clearance levels, yes.” T’Lanna nodded. “Not to me. What is said here is strictly between us so you don’t have to be concerned.”

He sighed. "Not much to tell we did what was right, what was in keeping with Starfleet's spirit and we were busted. Both of us got reprimands although Soral took the brunt of it and eventually I left Starfleet."

“Soral?” T’Lanna looked surprised. “Curious ... so you’ve been drafted back into service. How does that make you feel?”

"I had no intention of coming back." He rubbed his eyes. "It is what it is. I'm back and I must deal with it now."

T’Lanna nodded. “So are you prepared to work as part of a crew again? To take orders?”

"I have no choice. Logic and honor demands it."

“Logic and honour?” T’Lanna looked at the man in front of her curiously. “You sound more like a Vulcan Lieutenant.”

"Well it does come down to it. Duty, honour and logic a warrior's creed of sorts." Thus far this wasn't so bad. He started to relax a bit sitting back from the edge of the seat and allowing his back to touch the back of the chair.

“Okay, So now the hard one.” T’Lanna smiled. “Tell me what happened, what was serious enough to get your rank reduced?”

"It's in my file he said. I ignored Starfleet orders." He shrugged.

“I prefer to hear facts from the person involved, not read a record that may not reflect the entire truth.” T’Lanna smiled. “Tell me about what occurred with you and Soral.”

"Soral and I are old friends. We have served on two ships together. The last of which...proved to be an issue." He leaned back. "We were patrolling a sector close to the Romulan space boarder. There was a distress call from a cargo ship an old one. There was much debate but finally the Captain decided to go. The cargo ship engines had a problem."

T’Lanna nodded as she listened. “So what happened?”

"The ship was on its way to Romulus, it was filled with the Romulan Nuns. They are no engineers. The senior staff debated what should be done. In the end they agreed to fix the ship. The nuns...they begged the CO for help. To go with them to help them save some of the people."

T’Lanna nodded. “Let me guess the Captain refused to help?”

"He did. Soral and I were in the TAC/SEC department and our Department head .... he was quite insulting about Romulans. He blamed them for not having resources on Mars. Didn't sit well with a lot of the crew but the senior staff was united." He shrugged and then shook his head. "All those poor people. We were a big ship. A galaxy class ship with five shuttles a runabout...Soral spoke to the XO and CO but they refused him."

T’Lanna shook her head. “I can’t say I’d agree with that either. The Romulans deserved better.”

"Soral couldn't agree with it. He's always been...a reunification supporter and saw the Romulans as brothers. Misguided ones, but brothers nonetheless. So he and I had a plan."

T’Lanna looked curious. “Which was?” She was curious what Soral got himself into.

"Well the less you know the better. In the end once the cargo ship was fixed we....filled the brig with the senior staff and those who supported them. Soral took command and we headed to Romulus. In the time it took us to get there Soral moved the Starfleet crew out of quarters and to places like Engineering and any other sensitive areas. That freed up a lot of quarters. People slept on the ground literally. When we got there we filled the cargo ship including the attached escape pods from it. Soral released the shuttles and runabout which were filled to the brim. He filled the ship so full that people were literally shoulder to shoulder. Escape pods, cat walks, corridors basically everything was filled with Romulans." He sighed. "We made our way slowly to Vashti."

T’Lanna looked on in surprise. “You more or less committed mutiny against your Captain! Wow!” She grinned. “Between us ... well done. Don’t tell the Captain I said that though, although if you’d had Commander Stillwater you probably wouldn’t have had to resort to such measures.”

"Perhaps. It wasn't a Mutiny per say. The CO wanted to help but could not help the XO had more powerful friends and he was afraid to go against Starfleet Orders He helped us knock out the senior staff and helped keep them secure until we make our first run."

He paused. "You should have seen it. Romulans in the corridors and on the lifts for the whole trip. We had to go on low warp so the trip back took forever. When we got there...Soral offloaded and we would have made another run but the senior staff got loose. Anyway short of it is we wound up in the brig but in the end what were they to say? At the Starase hearing we got ours. I got demoted the rest of the crew that helped reprimanded Soral...he took the brunt of it. He'll never reach a rank higher then Commander and he'll never be given a command of his own. But it could have been a lot worse. The lower punishment welll that was due to the captain's help and he was very convincing of what would happen if this all got out and the chaos and disunity it would cause all over the Federation."

“Never?!” T’Lanna sighed and nodded. “Thank you for that Maximus. I take it that you and Soral are friends?”

"He is, by choice, my brother. The entire crew looked up to him. Even the ones that supported the senior staff. In addition to the CO's threat to the admiralty they, the staff, all threatened to leave so we got off lighter then we should have. I admired him too but I think that incident forged us as brothers. I know him better then anyone. I was there when he almost died four years ago. He's saved my life I've saved his on a number of occasions."

“I’ll admit he’s a friend and a mentor to me, I have great respect for Soral.” T’Lanna smiled. “Even more so since hearing what you just told me. I will, of course say nothing to Soral about what you just told me. Everything said here will stay strictly private.”

"Indeed."

“Well I’m happy with your evaluation Maximus, I’ll sign you off as ready for duty.” T’Lanna smiled warmly. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy working with Soral again.”

"Indeed." Finding him drunk had been a shock but the fact that he was married to a member of the crew...he'd talk to Soral about that. They'd both believed in no relationships with the crew. Nevertheless he had another question for the counselor. "So. I have yet to meet my roommate." He'd asked the doc he might as well ask the counselor. "As a SEC TAC on this ship I have question about one of the crew members."

“Okay, may I ask to whom you’re referring?” T’Lanna looked at Maximus curiously.

"Chief Petty Officer Eyelaya”

“Very well, as you’re aware I can only answer certain questions nothing personal. What is it you want to know about the Chief?”

"What is she like?" He asked.

“Eyelaya is ... a very private young woman. She has a love of all things synthetic so my being onboard made her day when she realised I was ex-Borg.” T’Lanna smiled. “You May have to win Eyelaya over but once you do she’ll be a friend. She’s a young woman in need of friends, if she’ll admit it to herself.”

"Fascinating. She is to be my roommate. I asked the doc but it's always good to get a few opinions." He stood. "Oh I do have something for you." He pulled out a chocolate bar. "The doc said you might like this."

T’Lanna grinned. “I most certainly do! Betazoids and chocolate go hand in hand. Plus being pregnant also gives us women a few bad habits when it comes to snacking.”

He smiled and handed her the bar. "Then I am glad the doctor passed it to me."

T’Lanna grinned. ‘I’ll remember to thank him later.”

{OFF:}