A great first meeting

Posted on Mon Apr 14th, 2025 @ 10:16am by Lieutenant JG Annika Johnson & Lieutenant Commander Valerie Novis

2,303 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X01: Bound for Cold Frontier
Location: Counsellor’s Office
Timeline: Prior to departure

There was another check of the personnel file. Yes, this was a Counselor, not one of the medical field that would poke, prod or ask far too many questions that Valerie had very little desire to answer. For her, there were risks she could take, would take and some that could possibly shake the very foundations of the Federation, at least in regards to her own people. There were a very few, very trusted outsiders that knew the secret that the Trill had, but they weren't going to tell anyone, and they confirmed a few very critical things about her people and their secret that gave perhaps the couple dozen like her in Starfleet service. She had little to fear from telepaths so long as she kept her head about her.

That had come as a relief four decades ago to her, but the OTHER aspect had required quite a bit of finagling and hedging and careful assignments throughout that time and for good reason, one which had saved several lives in the process of losing one. Now she had to do another duty, two in fact for two different governmental entities entirely. She rounded the gentle curve that was one of the differences between Federation starships and the ships that the slowly reducing Trill navy had produced, then spotted the brunette that was right about her own size that she had come hunting for.

The redhead smiled broadly and raised her excitement level as she approached, jacket unsealed to show the green shirt that indicated her roots as a Tactical officer and raised a hand in greeting, "Good morning, Counselor Johnson, I'm Valerie Novis, the Exec here aboard Ark Royal, I just wanted to come and say hello!"

Annika hadn’t long found her office and was just unpacking a small box when Valerie had walked in, turning around Annika offered a warm smile. “It’s nice to meet you Commander, I was planning on coming to see you but you’ve beaten me to it.”

"All part of the five star service we provide here on the ship." Valerie winked at the newcomer, "Besides, as the designated ship-mom, as being the second in command details, it's my job to make sure everything and everyone are in the right place at the right time in the right order. Along with being the Tactical officer, that is. I suppose it'll be a bit interesting thinking of Captain T'Kal as the Ship-Dad, won't it?" She snorted in laughter at the image of the rather female Captain in that sort of state of dress.

“Captain T'Kal” Annika grinned. “I can’t say I’ve ever heard that reference before. Please grab a seat” she moved a soft blanket out of the way for Valerie to sit down. “I like to make my office comfortable for those who come to see me, plus I like my creature comforts as well.”

"I wouldn't have anything against that whatsoever." Valerie agreed whole-heartedly as she settled herself in a chair, crossing one leg over the other and smoothing down the pleated skirt, "Let me see... We've gone through the formalities of a greeting, I'm sitting down and well, at your mercy, I suppose?" She giggled lightly, "So, how are you settling in? Meeting the rest of the senior staff and other senior personnel so far? Got any fellows coming in to help with the rest of the crew, or are you a one woman show?"

Annika smiled warmly as she moved a folded up blanket off a chair and took a seat. “It’s just me, there’s only a small handful of Betazoids currently involved in the program to bring Counsellors to Starships. We have the job of proving that having a Counsellor aboard is worthwhile. Admittingly if the program is a success not all Counsellors will be Betazoids.”

"And you have an advantage for sure when it comes to being a Counsellor, if everything I've heard about Betazoids is true." Valerie gave the compliment freely, "I know I'm not sure which side to give more credence to, the ones that say that you all can read peoples' minds, or if it's only emotional content. If you can read my mind, of course, I'd feel sorry for you, most of what I tend to think about is boring and droll reports that come in from outlying sectors!"

Annika smiled. “As a telepath I can read minds, but there are very strict laws in place for that kind of thing when with non-telepaths. I would only read someone’s mind with permission. As for reading emotions I can sense them all the time, but to get a good reading I have to let my mental barriers down. It can be an overwhelming experience depending on the circumstances.”

'That's good to know,' Valerie thought to herself as she smiled back at Annika, "I think we can trust you to follow your conscience, not that I've got anything to hide at all in any case, I don't have a lot of information that would be considered classified to the degree that I can't talk about it, though obviously and of that would be off the table. Part of my job is to know what all of our people are able to, being the Exec and all."

Annika nodded giving Valerie a curious look. “May I ask a somewhat personal question? You can feel free to decline to answer.” She paused a moment. “I’m sensing a…duality about you. That would normally occur when being around pregnant women, but it doesn’t feel quite the same?”

Well, that answered that question. Still, this sort of question had been anticipated at SOME point and Valerie had been briefed on what to say in the situation. She would still have to report this to the authorities back home to advise others to avoid Betazoids whenever possible, "This is going to sound weird, but research into our genetic histories back at home has shown that at some point in the past, there were telepaths among us. Our geneticists haven't isolated where it was in our genome, but when we first came across races with telepathic abilities, and Betazoids weren't the first, they said the same thing, so we researched it. It's perhaps one in a few hundred of us, or even a thousand or more, that they got this 'echo' from, we call it, something like a latent ability that just didn't truly form." Her facial expression turned to one of almost pondering something, "I do have a habit of trusting my intuition, and it rarely ever fails me."

“An echo? I can’t say I’ve come across it before” Annika gave Valerie a more studied look. “If you had telepathic ability, even latent I wouldn’t be able to read your emotions at least not easily.” She paused. “You do realise that whatever you say to me would be in the strictest confidence, as a Counsellor I’m bound not to go talking about people.”

As if practiced several times, which is had been, well over a hundred times, both Valerie and Novis gave a mental sigh simultaneously, though Valerie included one physically, “When I say the past, I do mean effectively time immemorial, only in some of our oldest written records are those called ‘Mystics’ mentioned, those who could tell the future theoretically.” The Trill shrugged. If Annika could indeed read her emotions, or even her mind, it would appear that she was telling the truth, so many times had this been practiced that even Valerie just about believed it, “I have always valued our counselors, and if there were something I was trying to to hide that I needed to talk about, you would absolutely be the one I’d go to, in a less public setting of course, but there’s nothing under that category going on. Unfortunately, that’s the best explanation I have for why you’re sensing a ‘duality’ within me. I know I’m definitely not pregnant right now, and if you’d like I could forward you my medical file to go along with my psych profile that you already have. I had my yearly physical a couple weeks ago, so it’s fresh and accurate.” Being open and generous with that, she could do without fear. It had been a Trill doctor, after all, who had expertly omitted certain things in his scans.

Annika shook her head. “No need, I trust you. Maybe it’s just that I’m not used to your species you’re the first Trill I’ve ever met.” She smiled warmly but she still had to wonder if there was more to it. For now she let the subject drop. “So tell me more about your people, your homeworld.”

"Trill is a largely arboreal world, with about fifteen major population centers, but really there are a lot of differences between the hemispheres. The north is definitely greener than the south, and there are actually two subspecies of we Trill, one being like me, with the spots, and another with a set of ridges on their head," Valerie traced them on her forehead, "But no spots. My kind developed in the South where there's more variation in terrain, with some beautiful beaches and the Teneran Ice Cliffs. I grew up in Kakravel, one of the largest population centers in the south, it was... Interesting to say the least." There was a definite hesitation there.

Annika gave Valerie a curious look. “I sense some…hesitation there? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I’m just curious is all.” She smiled warmly.

Valerie took a glance around the room, mostly to make sure they were still alone in the room, "As you said, everything I say to you is in strictest confidence. I grew up in a well-to-do family, father was a doctor, a very well known one, and mother was one of Trill top geologists." The way she nearly spat the words 'father' and 'mother' indicated that there had been family turmoil, "At least for a while. I found some people who helped me take care of me, not the nicest group, you see, but they cared for me more than my parents. I'm sure we could go over the details when no one can just walk in at random? It's not something I'd want just anyone to know."

“Of course” Annika nodded. “I don’t want to delve into anything too personal when not in counselling it’s not very polite.” She offered a wry smile. “Feel free to ask me whatever you’d like, it’s only fair to let you ask me something.”

"Oh, just one, and only out of curiosity:" Valerie smiled with a mischievous smile, "Why did you want to be a counselor? I know that there are many who go into it just to get to help people, but I'm sure there's more to it for even them. So why, for you?"

“For me it seemed logical to follow in my mother’s footsteps, she’s a Counsellor too.” Annika smiled. “That and I wanted to help others, put my empathic abilities to a good use.”

"Something I can definitely relate to." She paused for a moment, then chuckled, "Not empathic abilities, just the wanting to help others out. My parents did nothing to make me want to follow in their footsteps, so I struck out on my own and just as you pointed out, voila, one of the few Trill currently in Starfleet." Valerie gave a wry grin.

“Then we have a few things in common” Annika grinned. “A lot of people tend to shy away when you say you’re a Counsellor, so it can be a little lonely at times. I’d like to make friends, not just acquaintances.”

"Oh, that can be arranged, no doubt." Valerie shrugged with only a half-hearted attempt, "Command itself is a lonely position, which is why I guess that Captain T'Kal is going to excel, being a Vulcan and all. It's almost as if they were born to be commanding officers, with a lack of emotion and all that. But me? I also prefer to be at the least friendly and all."

Annika nodded. “Vulcans aren’t quite as emotionless as you’d think, they just control it well.”

"Well then, Madame Counselor," Valerie gave a smile, "I'm afraid that I must be going at the moment, lots to do, lots of time to get everything done in, mostly, but we are going to have to definitely schedule that counseling session, just so that you can get to know all about me in person. When would you be free?"

“Right now I’m free anytime from tomorrow morning onwards. I want to spend today going over personnel files and organizing my appointment schedule. I’ll send you a time, just let me know if there’s any problem with it and we’ll rearrange.” Annika smiled warmly.

"Unless the Captain has other plans for me, it'll be a good time for me, no matter the time." Valerie promised, the need for sleep much lessened in her very particular case, "Since you're responsible for my mental health, you get to know basically everything about me, you poor, poor soul." She winked at Annika to let her know that she wasn't actually serious about THAT.

Annika grinned. “That’s what I like someone with humour in the face of spending time with the ship’s Counsellor. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

"Until tomorrow." Valerie agreed, excusing herself and departing.

OFF:
by
Lieutenant Commander Valerie Novis
Executive Officer/Tactical Officer
USS Ark Royal

Lieutenant (jg) Annika Johnson
Counsellor
USS Ark Royal

 

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