Posted by Lieutenant Alex Cross (Chief Counselor) in Boarding Counselling Appointment - Jace Vorel

Posted by Ensign Jace Vorel (Helmsman) in Boarding Counselling Appointment - Jace Vorel

Posted by Lieutenant Alex Cross (Chief Counselor) in Boarding Counselling Appointment - Jace Vorel
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The song … particularly that last verse sent a shiver through Jace … he pictured himself being trapped on the arboretum and eaten by that plant.

“I see a snack right here! His spots are very clear! He’s a Trill working at the helm this year! He’s got a meaty thigh, I caught his wandering eye, I’d like to study all his internal geography!
So ten-der, so sweet, I really need a piece of meat! Can do, can do, This gal says the Helm will do!”

The words came to his head unbidden … and he shook again as he remembered them again.

He had been wanting to put the Counsellor visit off, but he knew that given this … he would either see the Counsellor or do something crazy … like become a dentist.

His hand reached out and tapped the Counsellor’s chime, he hoped this wasn’t too early or too late for the Counsellor.

Ensign Jace Vorel, Helm/Ops, Ark Angel

“Come.” Came the voice from within. The echoes of the arboretum singing could be heard playing softly in the background. Cross himself had been sitting in one of his wing back chairs, sipping a cup of tea while perusing a padd. Other pads could be seen strewn on the coffee table in front of him. It was obvious he was in between appointments and either reading records or taking notes. He rose from the chair, gathering the padds. “Please, come in, Ensign. Make yourself comfortable while I put these away.” Stepping up to the raised area where his desk sat, Cross placed the padds on there before turning back to join Vorel in the recessed reception area where a sectional and two wing backed chairs sat.

“Can I get you something to drink, Ensign?”

Counselor Alex Cross

“Ideally a long island iced tea, Counsellor, but I’m sure the replicator won’t permit that. So, something to calm my nerves,” Jace said, sitting in one of the winged back chairs, the other one to Alex, “if it has dairy in it … milk with A3 enzynes, lactose free … and plant friendly, please.”

Cross chuckled at Jace’s wish and nodded as he typed the order into the panel. “Ah, we could always meet after shift in 18 Forward and have a glass of Long Island.” Picking up Jace’s milk and his own tea he moved over and set them on the coffee table in front of each of them.

Jace paused, not knowing what to say, but the admonishment of his mother coming to his head, thank you and please are two little keys, that open and shut every door, if you say one, you’re sure to get some, but if you say two, you get more!

“Oh, and thank you for seeing me,” Jace added, looking around the office, “it wasn’t booked, I know. Please let me know if this isn’t a good time for you … but … I think that plant was just singing about eating me?!?”

Ensign Jace Vorel, Helm/Ops, Ark Angel

“It is quite alright! My door is always open, if I am in session it will show on the door.” Taking a seat on one of the wing backed chairs, he said to the computer. “Computer, music off. You found the music from the arboretum disturbing?”

Counselor Alex Cross

“Yes,” Jace replied, “It was almost as though I … was on the menu. It seemed as though the venus fly trap was watching me … and it was hungry. It doesn’t make sense, I know, and my oldest brother would tell me that I’m just being silly … that plants don’t sing … but you heard it. And I heard and saw it … one of those pods did say a Trill working at the helm … didn’t it?”

Ensign Jace Vorel, Helm/Ops, Ark Angel

Cross nodded, “It did indeed. My apologies, I did not realize it was actually meaning any actual persons. I may need to actually go meet the plant. I have never heard of a sentient plant like that before. And if this one is really that sentient I am quite worried about its mind frame.” After sipping his tea, he sat back and looked at Jace.
“Let’s talk about you though, Ensign. Tell me about yourself , what brought you into Starfleet?”

Counselor Alex Cross

Jace started speaking almost straight away, and it seemed he said a fair bit in one breath … (OOC: I’m putting spaces in it to make it easier for you to read, Krys) as though his need for validation through speed included when he talked.

“Well, I’m the youngest of five Trills, I have three brothers and one sister. She’s joined, the rest of us aren’t. They are all in Starfleet, apart from my sister, she’s with the Diplomatic Corps. Her name’s Vora, and the symbiont is Kahr, she’s ‘the gold child’ Her twin, Torin is a Counselor, then there’s Ralan, he’s an Engineer and a Lt Commander, then there’s Varis, in security, then there’s me, the runt of the family, the disappointment, the black sheep of the family. They’re all much older than me, Counsellor, and all so much better than me. I just want to go fast! I just want my sister to agree with me that my ‘DH is a jerk’, not lecture me with her 7 lifetimes of experiences.” He paused, realising he called his DH a jerk, and clarified, “not my DH on the Ark Angel, of course, I haven’t met him or her or them yet.” Which may have been too much information. “My sister can be intense … and intimidating. I just want father to talk to me, not about his languages, but about piloting and going fast, but he’s so silent all the time. I want to know from mother why she got me rejected by Red Squad in the Academy and why she’s so disappointed in me. I want Torin to stop being a kill joy and talking about ‘calculated risk’ … it’s all about gut instinct, flying I mean. Ralan’s my favourite. He tells me how to tune engines to get more out of them, so I can go even faster. Then there’s Varis, he’s a loveable, suffocating mountain of muscle.”

Jace paused and thought, before continuing, “Then there’s me. I’m the youngest and least successful of the lot. I got rejected from Red Squad, and got injured in wrestling. I had 14 months of recovery, over a year longer than those I started with, Counsellor. That’s 14 months I have to make up. So, I just want to go fast, and as a pilot I get to do that. I need to do that, I mean, why orbit at the helm when you can drift? Also, when I’m going fast, I’m not having to think about being the last and least of the Vorel Trills.”

“Why Starfleet,” Jace asked, “what else was there for me? I couldn’t let down the Vorel name, even if I have to scream loudest because I wouldn’t be noticed otherwise.”

He looked at his milk in front of him, and sipped it.

Ensign Jace Vorel, Helm/Ops, Ark Angel

Cross nodded, “I get that. As the 3rd youngest of four sons, I had a lot to live up too. My brothers are all in Starfleet as well. A doctor, logistics officer, and Intelligence. It is very easy to hold ourselves up to our siblings and feel we fall short. I chose Security at first to please my father but found I was cheating myself. When I took stock of my life and realized why I was doing it, I changed course. Finding my own course and putting my all into my own career has alleviated those insecure feelings. You are a pilot. It is what you love. So, put your energy and heart into what you love and do not worry if you measure up to your siblings. You are you.”

Counselor Alex Cross

“Do what I love, understood Counsellor Cross,” Jace said, “so, what you are saying is that when I’m piloting the Ark Angel, and the captain tells me to orbit and I want to drift, I should go with my gut and drift the ship? Because I know I can do it? And I don’t want to lose my edge? And playing it safe achieves nothing? Got it, Counsellor, thanks.”

Ensign Jace Vorel, Helm/Ops, Ark Angel

OOC: Whistles innocently … Yeah, he’s got very selective hearing, Krys. :) Yeah, he’s basically wanting to treat the Ark Angel as a massive race car and pilot it as a though he’s in a car race.

“No!” Alex’s eyes widened as he realized how the Ensign had taken his words. He half rose out of his chair in consternation before forcing himself to sit back down with one hand half raised to halt the young Ensign, in case he planned to run out before he finished. “No, no Ensign. One must always listen to the Captain’s orders. That is sacrosanct, otherwise one will be facing a demotion or court martial very quickly! I meant in trusting your instincts to become a pilot, don’t let your family’s opinion dampen that for you.” He sat back a bit sighing.

Counselor Alex Cross

“Oh,” Jace said, mentally telling himself ‘the Counsellor is one of those, a killjoy like Torin’, “I think I understand. So you’re saying, become boring and like the rest of my family, conform, not think for myself?”

Ensign Jace Vorel, Helm/Ops, Ark Angel

OOC: Hope you weren’t expecting the Counselling appointment to be straight forward, Krys.

Cross blinked, “Why did you enter Star-Fleet, Ensign? Were you not aware this is a military type organization with a command structure that needs to be adhered too? If you wish to be a hot dog pilot you should have become a cargo pilot. Though even then your ships would last long if you hot dogged all the time.”

Counselor Alex Cross

Bump back onto the boards