How Did I Do?
Posted on Wed Jan 17th, 2024 @ 9:43pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell
2,125 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Interlude
Location: USS Intrepid: Counselor’s Suites
Timeline: Interlude
Max entered the office where he met Petty Officer Childers again. A pretty young man with a strong chin and a slight accent. Max couldn’t place it, but it sounded almost French. “Counselor Rena is expecting me.”
“She has class for five more minutes, Captain Culver. May I get you a coffee of water?”
The man’s darker roots were obvious behind the blonde, but Max said nothing. His bright, brown eyes showed a zest for life, almost an excitement even in the doldrums of clinical reception. “Coffee, black.”
Max had also never spent much time around Childers before, but noticed his uniform couldn’t hide his muscular physique. When the Petty Officer handed him the coffee mug, Max asked, “What do you do to keep in shape?”
“Oh!” Childers blushed. “I was in the top of my gymnastics class at the Academy and almost made it into the Interstellar Olympics. Too bad I tore my rotator cuff in the semi-finals. I still think I could have won gold.”
“Why not lean into a repaired or replaced cuff?” Max asked.
“It falls under genetic or body modifications for the IsO,” Childers answered quickly. “Ah, well, shit…Miss Rena will see you, Mon Capitaine.”
Max looked up to see his chosen counselor. Not because Roaa was any less capable, but because Rena had been hand chosen by him, to deal with his special “bag of crazy cats”. He looked up at her and smiled. “Rena, my love, my dearest, my everything!!” He leapt up and wrapped his arms around her waist, gently dancing into her suite with her.
Once the show was over, Max let go and settled onto the couch for once. He found that ripping apart a comet and making friends and enemies in one swoop while saving a planet was exhausting. And then the news Albion thrust upon him…It sat heavy on his shoulders, literally.
Rena stepped out when Childers alerted her that Max was there. She smiled. "Alright, what'd you do?" She asked, escorting him into her office, and closing the door.
“I could go for a nap,” he decided.
"Me, too," she said. "The Helivans took a lot out of me, emotionally, and so does the Commander," she said, settling into the chair across from him.
"Hey, you took the couch," she said. "Are you okay?" she read him a moment - he was fine, health wise. Just seemed to need to let some things out. "Your first mission down. How does it feel, Captain?" she asked, with a smile.
“Feels lucky to still be a captain,” he admitted after Albion’s first tirade. “Feels even worse knowing he made me fleet captain!” he added, still as shocked as he was sure Rena would be.
“Add an engagement to that and I’m up to my armpits in strangely good news!”
Rena smiled. "Congratulations," she said. "Listen. I know it's a lot at once, but...no one out here could do what you did. I know Captain Taylor helped, but...really. You did the work. We got a First Contact situation under control, no one died, Lorut stepped up, and the Helivan's are safe. I have a feeling that Albion has only ever done station duty in his life. If he hasn't, he sure doesn't remember what it's like out here, and even still...we're in uncharted territory." She sighed. "Tell me about this engagement," she said. "I would say it seems sudden, but it isn't really, is it?"
Max smiled, it took him right out of the Starfleet glum to talk about Dani. “It isn’t early. It’s been a year since we met. We spent fours days in each other’s heads. And there’s no rush, but it will be soon. Before we undergo this classified mission. Just something small. Like maybe just you and Kaydren and the tree?” Max suggested.
She nodded. "That's true. We've just been so busy that the time flew," she said. "We could do that," she said. "Borrow one of the Commander's Prophets," she said. "A small party after. You could always just take a few days and go to Risa or Caspiria Prime," she said. "Anyway. I'll be there. But I am NOT wearing full dress uniform," she joked. "Hell. Maybe S'Tera and I will do it, too." She smiled. It wasn't really time for THAT yet, but the thought was fun.
"You did good. Lorut, too. I think...she might be finding her sea legs finally. I did a bit of digging into her past work with Counselors - she had managed to do quite a bit about five years ago. So there's hope that she can be well.”
“I know it's not an excuse, but try to understand - she has seen the worst things that any of us could imagine, and SURVIVED it. She's come for two sessions so far..." She sighed. "She needs more time, which I know isn't conducive to running a ship, but...hopefully we can figure out something," she said.
“Actually, as much as she butt heads with me - even on the bridge about going to the comet - the idea had merit. The problem was, and if she had read the entirety of Pike’s logs, she would have seen that as further aggression. It would have put more pressure on us in the moment. I don’t want her to tone down her curiosity but she need to understand that if she doesn’t bother to read the full report, she could have gotten us, the Opal, or worse, all of use destroyed.”
“I’ll talk to her after I talk to Admiral Albion. That should prove…interesting.”
As if an afterthought, Max added, “No uniforms - dress or otherwise for the wedding. And I just remembered, you should invite S’tera. I think I’ve seen you moving…closer?” Max asked cautiously.
Rena smiled. "This isn't about me, sir," she said. She only called him "sir" when she wasn't wanting to discuss something or if he'd annoyed her. "But ok, no uniforms. Perfect. Just tell me when and where, and I'll be there. I see Lorut later this evening, actually," she said. "And as for Lieutenant S'Tera...yes. We're going slowly but it's less..weird than it was." Rena was the first to admit that it had taken her far too long to admit her own feelings to herself. She was still a work in progress.
"Ok, FLEET Captain. What else?" She asked. "It's good to see Commander Paxidor again. How are you two patching things up?" She asked.
Max actively waved the thought away. “There’s nothing to patch up. She got called away, we got reassigned. Things are going to be very exciting for her soon. But that’s more than I should say already.”
Rena gazed over the top of her glasses. She sometimes wondered if he forgot she was a empathic being or if he just didn't care. She made a non-committal "mmhmm" sound, but did change the subject.
"It was a nice party that Lorut threw the other night. Do you think there's something going on with the three that left early?! You know..." she didn't voice the thoughts, but she was sure he'd pick up on what she was hinting at. "Anyway. Back to important things. Fleet Captain...big responsibilities. You know if something happens, things fall to Lorut. We don't have a second officer," she said. The implication being that things would fall apart, and quickly.
“I had thought I’d made that clear during the mission debriefing?!” Max sat up now, maybe Rena’s studies were a lot on her mind. “Commander Lyo has accepted the position as second officer. There’s two more to hand out, so I was thinking with just a few of us…” he suggested.
Rena nodded. "I was...distracted. You all are LOUD and my head hurts," she said. "I need to teach a class in how to quiet your minds," she said. "Anyway...that is covered. So...what now? We head home...for you. And then...what?" she asked.
“This will be in the briefing later,” Max assured her. “But there’s been some smuggling of Starfleet supplies to the planet and we’re there to sus it out. Catch the smugglers and send them to the Federation for trial.”
“After that, we go back to exploring the Beta Quadrant. It’s still our tenet. Strange new worlds, new life and new civilizations. There’s still a lot we don’t know about what hides in the Beta Quadrant,” Max finished. “Though we will have help now.”
Rena nodded. "Excellent," she said, a little sarcastically. "Smugglers. Easy peasy, right?" she sighed deeply. "And then...home for you," she said. "Want to talk about that? Introducing Dani to your family?" she asked gently.
“It’s not unusual for a young El-Aurian to take a…consort before their wedding. The fact that Daniel is a male consort may make things more complicated, but the family must recognize and respect as if he was already one of their family.”
In short, though they will be unhappy, they have no say in the matter. That might be best in the situation. I expect my affianced to have her own consort.”
“It probably sounds ridiculous and antiquated, but sexual experience is expected on the night of the wedding. It is an odd, ancient tradition.”
Rena nodded. "I guess they don't know that you've already been sexually active?" she said. "Most races don't have a lot of...pretensions about that," she said. "Us Betazeds, even us halfsies, even go nude often!!" she said. "But we're taught the colloquial names and the clinical names for sexual activities, and sexual organs," Rena said. "We don't tend to use labels, either. If you're gay, that's fine. You just like who you like," she said. "For me, well...my father is human, and he's less...openminded," she said.
“Dani will be treated well. If you considered the French concept of a courtesan, that is how he will be welcomed. I have no worries that they won’t like him, of course, because I wouldn’t put him in the situation unless I knew where he stood within the family. It still…bothers me that he might not be considered as much more than baggage by some.”
Max looked up, his sudden concern gone as quickly as it descended. “Either way, I’m glad he’ll meet my family, even if it ends up being the only time.” Max shrugged. “I am a Starfleet captain who is constantly working. I’ve managed to avoid Kaitos for twenty years. I’m certain I can avoid it again for at least as long.” He chuckled.
Rena nodded. "Your avoidance of home would normally be concerning, but I do understand," she said. "I am glad that Dani will be at least tolerated," she said, with a sigh. "Send him to see me if he has any feelings about it," she said. "I can at least listen to his worries. I am sure he has some that are different but adjacent to yours," she said. "Anything else?" she asked him.
“I don’t know,” Max said. “Just this niggling sense that something isn’t right," Max mused openly. "When the Shepherds announced their intentions on our mission with the Helivans, I thought that explained it, but it’s still there. Just that something is wrong in the universe.”
Max chuckled. "It’s probably a stray chili pepper. I’ve been letting Dani cook lately.” He smiled, but he knew it wasn’t that. Maybe it was nearing home. Maybe that would finally end the feeling. ’Here’s to hoping,’ Max thought.
Rena nodded. "Maybe it is," she said, giving him a knowing look. "I am feeling a bit of...uncertainty," she said, reading him with her mind a moment. "I won't pry but...I think it's natural to feel that," she said. "Anyway, when you figure it out, you know where I am," she said. "It's time for me to get ready to see Lorut. But remember...I am always here." she smiled.
Max nodded, seeing that this was time to go. With a few more words of goodbyes, Max exited the counselor’s office. Childers had some candy on his desk most of the time. Max grabbed a couple as he left the reception area.
Just outside the door, a slight chill ran down his spine. A reminder that not all was right in the universe. ’Gods damnit,’ he thought. It was about ALL he could do.
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