Evaluation

Posted on Sun Jul 28th, 2019 @ 10:54pm by Lieutenant Commander William Rogers

Mission: Getting To Know You
Location: Counselor's Office

oO Two down, one to go.Oo

The last person Bill was obliged to call on before assuming his post was the Counsellor. This trip was part of the temporal assimilation program, although Bill suspected it was also required to make sure he wasn't in danger of going full Khan Noonien Singh on anyone. The idea that he'd ever do such a thing was laughable to Bill, but the Federation wasn't going to just take his word for it even after all these years.

"Okay." He muttered before activating the entrance chime. "Let's do this."

"Please enter," Bert called out, moving from behind his desk to put his lunch dishes into the replicator's reclamation receptacle.

Bill stepped through the door, snapping off a salute as they closed behind him. "Lt Engles? Lt William Rogers. Is now a good time for my evaluation?"

"Sure it is. Come on it and get comfortable." Bert waved to an array of chairs ranging from comfortable to blocky and hard, near to far before choosing to sit in front of his desk instead of behind it and set his PaDD on his knee. "Tell me how you're doing today."

"Been a long one and doesn't seem to have an end in sight." Bill selected an old beat-up looking chair on the more comfortable end of the array. "You know how it is when you start aboard a new assignment."

"Yes, I do. A hundred things to do and counting," Bert agreed. "But you seem in a good state of mind for tackling it."

"I've not been here all that long, still plenty of time for that to change." Bill chuckled. "So, how do you want to do this? Do you want to ask me questions? Should I just talk?"

"Just talk. Tell me about yourself, how you're doing, anything you'd like to chat about." Bert said with a smile. Sessions always started off awkward. It was the nature of the beast.

"Well, name's William but most people call me either 'Bill' or 'Buck'. And yes, I'm aware of the irony of the nickname given my situation." He smiled with faint amusement. "I'm doing okay, just want to make sure I can get signed off for duty really."

"There should be no reason why you shouldn't have that happen." The counselor reassured the man. "Do you sleep well? Exercise?"

"Exercise a fair bit; weights, running, all that. Sleep is..." Bill shrugged. "I don't drop off as easily as I used to, but I spent about 375 years asleep, so I figure I've had plenty."

"Now that's a statement that I don't hear every day," Bert sat forward in his chair a little, clearly waiting for a story. "Go on.."

Bill’s eyebrows arched slightly. He’d assumed that Bert would already be aware of his circumstances. Of course, it could be that this was just a tactic to draw out more personal information, but where there was the ambiguity of intent Bill leaned towards positive intention. “Guess you’ve not had time to read my jacket, huh? Well, buckle up counselor, it’s a rollercoaster.” Bill laughed and leaned back in his chair. “I was born in 1968. Grew up in Brooklyn. Worked retail in one form or another until 1990 when I joined a government project designed to counter the growing power of foreign augmented individuals by mass-producing our own. That lasted for a couple of years before the start of Eugenics Wars shut it down. Still, the government had invested a lot of money in us so they put us to work: Special Ops mostly, but on the front lines for the really big stuff. When the war ended I moved into the Space Program which is how I found myself going into cryo-sleep and heading for Saturn. That was 1999. Fast forward to 2377 and my ship is picked up by the USS Venture out near the Delta Triangle."

"So you're a man out of time so to speak. I imagine that throws you for a loop quite a bit," Bert said, shaking his head slightly. He couldn't see how it wouldn't.

"No doubt." Bill agreed. "It's been, what? 16 years now and there's still things that seem unbelievable to me, you know?"

"You're in good spirits it seems though. Taking it all in stride?" Bert imagined that he'd have to be to be where he is now: in service.

"As much as anyone can." Bill replied. "A lot of things we run into out here are as new to you as they are to me, right? Half the fun of exploring."

"That it is," Bert replied. "Have you had bouts of depression or anxiety?"

Bill shrugged. "Not recently."

"Good. If you do start to feel depressed or anxious, please let me know so I can suggest some holoprograms and meditations. It's always good to try and let the mind and the will heal its self first." Medication was almost always last on Bert's list of things to try unless the ship's doctor suggested it first.

"Will do." Bill punctuated his agreement with a nod. "The first of your lot I saw, when I was first thawed out, recommended a meditation that wasn't entirely useless. Gotta say though, kinda surprised there's no future medicine that can just fix those things, you know?"

"Well, it'd be counterproductive in the age of enlightenment to not let one heal themselves when they are able. If I teach you rather than make you then the next time you face an issue, you know what to do. Teach a man to fish.." Bert began with a grin.

"Counsellor," Bill managed not to laugh through his faux-serious delivery, "if you were from my time, I'd think you were trying to sell me fishing equipment."

"I don't think I've ever fished to be truthful, but I do have some lovely fly fishing programs that a peer suggests," laughed Bert.

"Don't think I'd want to catch anything that could survive in the Gowanus Canal." Bill replied. "Or the Upper Bay."

"Well, I'm from New York, so I wouldn't suggest anything local. Anyhow.. You call when you need me. And I think you're just fine for duty, okay?" Scribbling down a few notes on his PaDD, Bert smiled up at Bill. "Thanks for meeting with me today."

"Oh-ho-ho." Bill wagged a finger in Bert's direction laughing uproariously. "Manhattan right? Only a boy from The City would consider someone from the other Boroughs not from New York!"

"Guilty as charged. I'm an East Village boy," laughed the counselor.

"Red Hook." Bill replied, poking his chest with his thumb.

Bert grinned broadly. "My parents are still in Little Germany. It's funny how small the universe is sometimes. We're a hop and a skip and several lifetimes apart from being neighbors."

"That's life for you." Bill smiled and shook his head. "Tell you what though, the East Village in my time? Different world to the one you know."

"I'm sure it was. Even what my parents describe it as how it was when they were younger is different from what it was in my teens. I have to contribute its openness and culture for keeping me sane," sighed Bert. As staunch and cold as his home life was, he attributed all of the high points to friends and mentors.

"Well if you want to know what it was like in my day, I've got some stories." Bill replied.

"We have plenty of time," Except that he didn't right then. A flashing light on his PaDD let him know that the next patient had arrived and was waiting. "You are cleared for duty Lieutenant Rogers. Please come in if you need to. My doors are always open."

Bill stood and gave a quick thumbs up. "See you around, Lieutenant Engels." He said as he headed for the door.

"Gladly," replied Bert with a grin.

Lieutenant William "Buck" Rogers
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Astraea

and

Lieutenant Bertram 'Bert' Engels
Chief Counselor
USS Astraea