Meeting the new Counselor

Posted on Sat Jun 3rd, 2023 @ 6:51pm by Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Lieutenant Vura
Edited on on Fri Jun 9th, 2023 @ 8:08am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Episode 14 - The Poseidon Adventure
Location: USS Pioneer - After 11 Lounge
Timeline: MD005 1900 hrs.

Hermia had been catching up on her paper work.

Feeling hungry, she got up and left her office.

Finding Sarah, she asked her. "Mac, can you hold down the fort, while I get a bite to eat?"

"Sure, Doc, no problem." The head nurse replied.

"Good, I'll bring you back a hazelnut coffee." Hermia replied.

"Thanks." Sarah said as her boss left the Sickbay.

The CMO made her way to After 11.

She ordered fettuccine with chicken, a small salad and a glass of Merlot. She then looked for a place to sit.

Vura had already worked a lot more than she expected. She was practically bombarded with clients when she had checked herself in, not that she minded. She liked to help. However, even counselors needed time to eat and relax.

Deciding that she wanted to find a place that would delight her sensory needs, she wandered around until she found After 11. It was secluded from the rest of the ship and Vura noticed that the proprietors had done everything possible to create a dark and potentially romantic atmosphere.

She sauntered into the restaurant and walked towards the candlelit bar. "This is delightful," she said aloud and to nobody in particular.

Hermia looked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice to see a Deltan dressed in Sciences blue.

"Hello." She called out to the woman. "Would you like to join me?"

Vura turned to see a woman with red hair, or was it brown? It was difficult to tell in the lighting. She seemed to have a friendly face, so the answer was swift, "But of course. How could I ever refuse such an invitation?" She paused and continued, "With whom do I have the pleasure of dining? I am Vura, the new Chief Counselor."

"I'm Hermia, CMO." Hermia said. "How Lucky, I was meaning to contact you and welcome you aboard." She added. "Welcome aboard, Vura."

"Thank you! It is a pleasure to meet you, Hermia!" Vura replied enthusiastically. "I have already been meeting a good deal of the crew. It seems that there have been some traumatic experiences out there." Changing the subject, Vura wondered aloud, "What should I get to eat? Decisions, decisions...."

"The pasta's quite good, I'm working my way through the recipe database, yesterday I had Alfredo, tonight its fettuccine." Hermia said.

The Counselor hummed audibly in thought. "Well," she concluded, "I definitely could stand to gain a pound or two. I shall try some of that fettuccine, as well." She looked at the doctor's food. "What sauce is that with the fettuccine?"

"It's a tomato and basil cream sauce. A little fattening, but it's a treat and I know I'll burn it off." Hermia said with a smile.

Vura looked over Hermia and replied, "I really do not think that you have to worry about burning off anything." She then continued, wondering, "How would I get someone to order this dish? Being new has a great deal of disadvantages."

"Rylek." Hermia called.

Moments later a Zelonite male appeared. "What can I get you, Doc?" He asked.

"Vura would like to order some dinner." Hermia explained.

Turning to Vura, the blue skinned humanoid said. "Good evening, ma'am, I'm Rylek, what can I get you?"

"Nice to meet you, Rylek. I'm Vura, the new Chief Counselor. Hopefully I will get to see you some more." She then turned to the subject of food and said, "Would you mind just getting me whatever she has here? And, oh, if you have some chocolate covered strawberries, I would really like those...."

"Of course, ma'am, I'll get right on it." Rylek said gave a little bow and headed off to make her order."

Vura crossed her legs and smiled back at Hermia. "Well, that's handled."

Once Rylek was gone, Hermia asked. "How are you finding things?"

"Well, I found this place," Vura responded with a small giggle. "I'm still sorting through the designing of my office but I have had several visitors already. It seems that you all had quite the experience on your last mission...."

"Yes. Personally, I was only involved in treating the wounded." Hermia said. "It was harder on the others." She paused a moment. "I'm no stranger to the aftermath of conflict, but what they went through was some serious trauma. I can fix their bodies, but their minds, that's outside my wheelhouse."

"But it is inside mine," she replied simply. She folded her arms on the table. "More accurately, it is my job to assist people into helping themselves. You have the advantage of the body assisting in the healing. I have to convince the mind to change its way of thinking and then the mental healing can begin. It can be quite a challenge but one that I find rather fulfilling. And since we will be working next door to one another, I think it is rather best if we got to know each other better. Don't you agree?"

"Indeed, what would you like to know?" Hermia said.

"Would everything be too much to ask for?" Vura replied with a melodious laugh, her head moving backwards slightly as she did so. When she finished, she leaned forward and continued, "That being said, I always find that one learns more about a person when they decide what they will reveal. So, surprise me."

"I enjoy reading romance novels, but don't tell anyone it will ruin my reputation." Hermia said. "Even though my marriage was a disaster, I'm still a hopeless romantic. Also, my marriage did give me my daughter Helena, so I wouldn't change a thing."

Vura pinched her fingers together and pulled the pinched fingers across her lips and then tossed an imaginary key away from her mouth when Hermia told her not to tell anyone about the romance novels. "So, Helena is on the ship, then? How old is she?"

"Yes, she is." Hermia smiled. She's 13, though she spent most of her life with her father. She's only been living with me for about a year. Her father was a lawyer and he pulled some strings to have me ruled an unfit parent, so I lost custody. He didn't get all his way because he had to share custody with my mother. "

"So, I have to ask...." Vura started, leaning in more closely. "How did you get custody back from him? And what happened between the two of you? I mean, you did get married, so you must have loved him at some point...."

"It turns out he was corrupt and a narcissist, in the beginning I missed the signs, I was in love and I stubbornly didn't want to admit my parents were right. They saw right through his charm and warned me about him. I didn't listen." Hermia said. "Shortly after Helena was born things got worse. He hated that I had a life outside of the home, and got jealous when I talked to anyone." She took a deep breath. Finally I had to admit things were irreparable and filed for divorce, and fled with Helena to my parents." She paused a moment. "Alejandro, my ex agreed, but at the hearing he brought up that I was an unfit mother due to my Starfleet service record. The judge agreed, which I now know, he bribed, and I lost custody." A tear appear in her eye at the thought. "About 2 years ago, all his criminal acts came out and my mother was given interim custody of Helena during the court case, he was found guilty as was the judge in our case, and I was awarded custody in absentia."

"My mother, who now lives on Emok Nor, brought her to me when the Pioneer docked there."

The Counselor listened and nodded despite her jaw wanting to drop when she heard about the bribery. "You said that your Starfleet service record was a reason to have you declared unfit. What could be so damning there? You are the Chief Medical Officer here, so I cannot imagine that it was that terrible...."

"As I mentioned earlier, I can be stubborn, and early in my career I tended to answer back to superior officer, that I believed were just throwing their weight around. Then there was that time on a rescue mission, that I struck a superior officer, read knocked him unconscious, and handed over command of the mission to one of his subordinates."
"I stood court martial for 'Striking a Superior Officer and 'Mutiny." She said. "The charge of Mutiny was dropped due to the testimony of the others present and the fact that my actions prevented loss of life and led to the successful completion of the mission. I was found guilty of 'Striking a Superior Officer', but my punishment was only 6 months confinement to quarters outside of my duties." The CMO explained.

Vura was about to reply when her food arrived. "Oh, thank you!" she told Rylek happily. She picked up a fork daintily and took a forkful of the pasta. Gracefully, the fork went into her mouth. Vura's lips lingered on the fork much longer than most would allow. Slowly, she let the pasta and sauce roll over her tongue so that each taste bud could gather sensory input before she chewed and swallowed. "That is quite a taste! I shall be enjoying this for awhile, I can see."

She then looked back at Hermia and asked, "So what caused you to change from those past days?"

"I realised I was acting out towards my father with my talking back to orders. My father is a Marine Officer and he trained all his children to follow him into the Corps, my brothers did, but I chose Starfleet instead and that led to some animosity between us." She sighed. "I just decided why spend all this time fighting a war with someone who isn't there to see it." She said. "If I could go back and change things, I would still knock out that officer, he was an idiot and would have got us all killed."

Vura considered the information impassively. Despite Hermia’s statements, it sounded to Vura like she still had a great deal of unresolved issues with her father. There was likely something more because one did not generally strike others just because of a parent. She would have to remember to tread carefully in addressing these anger and violence issues when counseling Hermia. “So, now you have your daughter here and you’re head of a department. Is there anyone significant in your life?”

"No, I've made some friendships, but nothing romantic." Hermia said.

"Is there a reason for that?" Vura wondered curiously and then took another slow bite of her food.

"Perhaps, I'm afraid, I'll make the same mistake again." Hermia replied. "The whole mess with Alejandro has left me a little gun shy."

"That's certainly understandable, Hermia. Pain and hurt are difficult emotions to process," Vura told Hermia sympathetically. "Of course, if you do not allow yourself to open up again and it is because of someone like Alejandro, you're still allowing him to control your life. Is that what you want?"

"No, I want to find someone who loves me for me." Hermia said.

"As well you should. But, if you're afraid that anyone you meet may hurt you again, then that is going to be a difficult thing to do. You have to be open to hurt in order to find love. Worse, I believe as your culture says, 'You have to kiss a lot of frogs in order to find your prince.'"

"True." Hermia said. "But, it scares me that I'm not as in tune with my emotions, as my mother's people are," she admitted.

"It is something that we could work on together, if you would like," Vura offered.

"Yes, I would like that." Hermia said. "My mother is a psychiatrist, but I can't talk to her about this, because we're family."

"At least not in a professional way," Vura agreed. "But she is your mother. Have you discussed your divorce or the custody battle with her at all? It would be unusual if you had not."

"I have and she had enough class not to say 'I told you so'." Hermia said with a brief smile.

"But that was not very helpful, either, was it?"

"No, I love her, but she can be a little intense sometimes." Hermia said. "And she always wants me to use telepathy." She gave a false laugh. "Have you ever been 'yelled at' telepathically. If not, let me tell you, its not pleasant."

"I'm Deltan, doctor. We definitely get yelled at telepathically by our parents. But, on the other hand, we also experience quite pleasant emotions and feelings with our significant others too. Flirting telepathically can be quite fun...showing visions of what you would like to do to another.... It really does not fully describe it, but it is the best I can put into words." She took another forkful of pasta and relished its textures before swallowing it.

"Betazoids can do that too, but you need a receptive partner, and I have yet to find one." Hermia replied. "Perhaps, my Imzadi is out there, somewhere."

"I believe there is at least one someone for everyone, Hermia." Her voice became more melancholy, "Just cherish every moment that you have with that person when you find that individual."

Her voice picked up to her more cheery tone. "Life is something to be cherished, to be experienced, and savored. Dwelling on the past and letting it control you is detrimental to growth." She laughed. "I know that it is easier said than done, but it does not change the truth."

"Agreed." Hermia said. "It seems I spend my time making other peoples' lives better, that I neglect my own.

"It is a common problem in our field," Vura answered simply. "But self care is very important, Hermia. Take time off, do things that you enjoy.... Live life. Speaking of which, what do you enjoy?"

"Besides a good work out, I enjoy, cooking, singing, dancing. Reading about the latest medical procedures, or new phaser designs." Hermia replied.

"I don't often like to work out. The feeling of sweat rolling down my hairless body is a little disconcerting. However, I love to dance," Vura enthused. "Is there a particular kind of dancing that you enjoy?"

"A mixture of ballroom styles." Hermia said. "I especially like high kicks." She smiled. "I use dancing as a pseudo-martial art."

"High kicks, eh? So, you like dramatic dances in ballroom. something like human tangos and Latin dances?" She asked verbally and wondered, "Have you ever considered ballroom dancing as a form of foreplay?"

"I've thought about it, I just need to find a partner whose willing to do both." She said with a wicked smile.

"I see!" Vura replied with a knowing laugh. Her voice became more conspiratorial. "Now, that's more like it.... So, tell me more about this ideal partner. What would get Hermia's motor really running?"

"I'm not looking for perfection. I want someone caring, strong and honest." Hermia began. "Also intelligent, for those times when we're not in bed." She gave a smirk. "They must like my cooking, can dance or willing to learn. Lastly, I need them to be independent, as in have a mind of their own and have interests outside our relationship."

Vura leaned in toward Hermia and said, "So you mean, me?" She laughed melodiously and said, "I'm flattered, Hermia, but you know the rules with Deltans...." She laughed harder. "Alright, seriously, then," she continued after stopping herself from laughing. "Basically, you want someone who wants to be with you want you want them to be with you and not when you don't, as well as intelligent and strong and honest. Hmmm. Sounds almost mythical."

Hermia gave Vura a wink. "Okay, maybe 'independent' was the wrong word, I meant that if, okay, when I have to work late, they're not in a mess on the floor pining for me." Hermia explained.

"Oh, but sometimes it is fun making a mess," Vura replied with a return wink. "But I hear what you're saying. You don't want someone that is completely dependent on you and lives for your existence. That WOULD be rather unhealthy. I think that you could spot someone like that right away, though. You are experienced in the dating world. Of course, if you are not certain, you could always run it by me either personally or professionally."

"Thank you, Vura, I'll keep that in mind." Hermia said. "By the way, I haven't seen you for your physical, yet."

Vura laughed lightly. "I see that I'm not the only one making this a semi-professional meal." She continued smiling at Hermia. "I admit that I had not yet gotten to it. I have been busy decorating my office and seeing several unscheduled clients." She shrugged apologetically. "If you wish to do it after this meal, I would be happy to oblige, or I could set up an appointment. Whatever you prefer."

"After the meal will suit me." Hermia said.

Before she took another bite, Vura glibly asked, "What else will suit you?"

"I'd like you to wear clown make up and play a tuba." Hermia said in mock seriousness.

"That's a really bad joke, Hermia," Vura replied, shaking her head. "Besides, I wear makeup every day. Couldn't see myself as a clown. I think that would give people nightmares.

"Now that I think of it, I can see children running for their lives, young women screaming in terror, and men beseeching their deities for deliverance from the sheer horror." Hermia teased.

"Usually men cry out for their deities when they're in my chambers," Vura replied with a mischievous grin.

Hermia rolled her eyes. "I can imagine." She said taking another folk full of her pasta.

"Oh, come now, Hermia," Vura answered, catching Hermia rolling her eyes and stabbing some more of her meal. "Tell me that you do not want to have a man so wound up that he does not cry out for his deity, or at least you...." She sighed. "Honestly, why is it that other cultures pretend that they do not enjoy pleasure?"

"Usually Betazoids have no problem admitting they enjoy pleasure, but I must be too human." Hermia said.

"Oh, please!" Vura started, stifling more laughter. "There's no such thing. Sure, humans are stereotypically more prude than Betazoids but, well, let's just say that neither of you truly have freed yourselves. Even so, there are some humans that I have met that would put your stereotypical Betazoid to shame, so please don't box yourself in like that, Hermia. If you would like I could help you work out a regimen to give you more confidence there...."

"Does this regimen entail the consumption of large amounts of alcohol?" Hermia asked.

"Not usually. It is about building up confidence in yourself and allowing yourself to express everything about yourself without feeling self-conscious. Sure, alcohol will do that, but it interferes with performance."

"Okay, I'm in." Hermia said. "I like the odd drink, but I never drink to intoxication, I don't like the loss of control."

Vura nodded. "Losing control can be quite fun. In fact, your desire to hold on to control may even be something that is problematic." She ate another bit of her meal, chewing on it for thought, and hoped that Hermia would do the same.

"I need to retain some control, I'm a department head and therefore I'm looked up to by junior officers and enlisted." Hermia replied before taking another bite of her food.

"That may be true in your professional life but it should not be true in your private life, Hermia. There, you should allow yourself to be free and vulnerable with your partner. I don't mean by that that you should be exchanging command codes, but it is a place you should not have to keep any part of a facade up."

"I know you're right, but I've been hurt before. Once bitten, twice shy." Hermia said.

Vura folded her hands lightly over one another and ignored her food. "It is quite normal for pain to cause us to withdraw. But if you think that 'your control,' is helping you, it is not. That's still your pain controlling you, Hermia. Giving power to the past holds us there. I don't think that you want your ex-husband to have that kind of power over you still, do you?"

"No, actually I'd like to see him torn limb from limb by a mugato." Hermia said.

"Just based on that statement, I must conclude that you have not yet fully dealt with the pain of what he did to you. So, if you want, we will work that and then...then you should be ready for your prince charming to come."

"Sure, but I'm not going to limit myself to a prince." Hermia said and winked at Vura.

Vura scrunched up her nose. "Besides, princes come with all those aristocratic issues and expectations, not to mention conspiracies that often end up with a royal dead...."

"Also, I'm open to a relationship with a woman." Hermia said.

"Good to know, though I'm off the table. Sorry," she replied apologetically. "Still, princesses can be just as bad as princes...or good for that matter."

"More's the pity." Hermia said. "I'll just have imagine what its like to run my hands and tongue over your beautiful naked, hairless body." She added with a sigh.

Morosely Vura nodded. "That is true. The hazards of being a Deltan in Starfleet."

"Maybe we should go and do your physical, before I try and tempt you to break your oath." Hermia said.

"Oh, my, doctor!" she put a hand to her chest. "Do I need to get a fan to cool you off? I believe I have contaminated you with my personality."

"Well you did say I should allow yourself to be free." Hermia said.

"I did," Vura readily agreed. However, it is not often that I see the results so very quickly."

"You've given me a lot to think about." Hermia said. "I feel comfortable with you, so I thought I'd give things a try." She said with a smile.

"I'm glad that you feel comfortable, Hermia. You can feel free to test anything you would like. I'm happy to be of assistance." Vura genuinely was happy to see Hermia starting to come out of her shell. Although what non-Deltans thought flirting was, was juvenile to Vura, the fact that she was freeing herself to do it, was impressive and Vura would do all she could to continue to encourage it.

Hermia smiled. "Let's get to that physical done." She said. "Then I can have myself a cold shower." She added.

"Oh, yes, absolutely. I probably need to get back to work soon thereafter. Let me just get a box for this and take it back to my office. I'll meet you there shortly."

"Okay, see you." Hermia said standing and grabbing her dishes for the recycler. She placed them in said machine and left for Sickbay.

-----

Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke
Chief Medical Officer, USS Pioneer



Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer

 

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