Posted by Lieutenant Commander Janusz Korczak (Counselor) in Counselor’s Office - Alex Winters’ Boarding Assessment

Posted by Cadet Alex Winters (Doctor) in Counselor’s Office - Alex Winters’ Boarding Assessment

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Janusz Korczak (Counselor) in Counselor’s Office - Alex Winters’ Boarding Assessment

The doors slid open to reveal an office unlike most aboard the Challenger. Whereas many looked quite similar and more sterile, this office was warm and inviting. It was lit in a more subdued manner than the rest of the ship and bookcases lined one wall, filled with copies and originals of many texts on many different subjects. The desk was set against the opposite wall, allowing for a large open space in the middle. Here there was a couch and a few chairs, one of which sat in front of and facing away from the desk. Pictures hung on the walls, some were even old photographs.

Alex stepped forward, entering the office. She couldn’t suppress a small, satisfied smile at what she found inside. Bookcases taking up entire bulkheads, framed photographs on the wall, an overstuffed couch in the middle of the room, … It reminded her of home.

Seated at the desk was a plain looking human male with brown hair and brown eyes. Glasses were perched on his nose as he looked up at the new arrival. “Come in, Cadet. How may I be of service?” asked the voice with an odd accent that was hard to place.

Lt. Cmdr. Janus Korczak, CNS

Alex held her smile as she looked at him. “Well sir, I suppose you can be of service by reassuring the Captain that there are no imaginary friends living in my head, and barring severe head trauma, alien possession or both, I’m unlikely to put ship and crew in danger due to mental instability during my time on the Challenger. But I don’t know. You’re the Counselor. You tell me.”

She walked further into the office towards the couch, making sure to pass by the bookshelves on her way, hoping to glance at some of the titles. Her grandfather had had quite a collection of books of the ‘dead tree’ variety, but Alex didn’t think his had been this extensive or wide-ranging.

She arrived at the couch and looked at the Counselor. “Is it OK if I sit here?”

Cadet Alex Winters, Doctor

The man nodded silently and stood up and came around the desk. “I am Lieutenant Commander Korczak. And you would be..?” he asked, his voice trailing off as he asked the question. He picked up a PaDD and came and took a seat in front of the desk.

Korczak, CNS

She sat. “I’m Alex,” she said. “Alex Yevgenia Winters. Cadet fourth class. Traumatology resident. Smartass in chief, as my grandfather would have said.” She smiled at the memory.

“Born in San Francisco, raised on a little piece of rock called Niol. Short for ‘not in our lifetimes.’ That’s what the terraformers used to call it.” She shrugged. “It was a better place to live than that name would seem to suggest. But when my grandfather died, there was nothing left for me there. So I went back to San Francisco, which … was a bit of a quest.”

For a moment, Alex fell silent as she recalled how she’d convinced the Council of Elders, after her grandfather’s death, that to let her go would really be in everyone’s best interest. When they’d asked her how she planned on getting back to Earth, since the Colony had no space worthy vessels and there was little contact with the outside universe, she’d smiled and simply said ‘Maude will provide.’ Ten days later, Maude provided a pair of Ferengi traders, who came knocking at Niol’s door in hopes of setting up a kind of delivery service. The Elders had thanked them for their consideration, and then kindly asked them to skedaddle and never come back, as Alex had known they would. She subsequently hoodwinked the pair into dropping her off on Earth by promising them every bar of gold-pressed latinum she’d make as a Starfleet Officer.

Alex blinked, and looked at the Counselor. “Enlisted in the Fleet. Went through the Academy. Bugged the Hell out of quite a few of my professors. Charmed a handful of others. Technically, I owe two guys named Nom and Voq a lifetime of my earnings, but since Starfleet doesn’t pay its Officers, I think I’m safe.”

She smiled to herself. “What else would you like to know?”

Cadet Alex Winters, Doctor