Posted by Commander Siadra Enai (Executive Officer) in Calloway’s Quarters - A shoulder to lean on? Someone to vent to?

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Calloway’s Quarters - A shoulder to lean on? Someone to vent to?

Posted by Commander Siadra Enai (Executive Officer) in Calloway’s Quarters - A shoulder to lean on? Someone to vent to?
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

So much to say and so little she wanted to. It was the usual dilemma. She had gone through both flight and fight and now was sitting at freeze. Pale grey-blue eyes gazed down into her glass. “Too much is being asked of me and there’s no way to say no.” Micah’s words in the conference room rolled around in her head and it just made her angrier. She knocked back the liquor easily and poured herself another glass.

Commander Calloway, CIO

Siadra felt the anger rise again in the older woman and took a deep breath before downing the rest of her drink and refilling her glass once more as well. Fixing her eyes on Shara, her gaze intent, almost piercing though in a strange way full of compassion, she simply asked, “Why?”

~Cmdr. Enai, XO

“Because I swore an oath, just like everyone else, and my sense of duty won’t let me. I can walk away, but I’d hate myself for it, but staying means…” She shook her head and met the intense gaze of Enai’s. “I can tell I’m affecting you and I hate myself for it. I’ve lost my composure and that can get myself and others killed. I’m almost useless to you right now because my symptoms are flaring and it’s not going to get better. But… I’m the best damn agent for this mission. I know it. The Gents know it. And Intelligence knows it. So the way I see it, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place and just have to suck it up no matter what it costs me.”

Commander Calloway, CIO

She wasn’t usually one to touch people without their explicit permission, but this was one of those moments where that rule went right out the window, so to speak. Letting go of her glass, Siadra placed her hand lightly on top of one of Shara’s hands. “I’m a grown woman and I have been able to sense people’s emotions for most of my life. And I don’t want to say that we are feeling the same way at the moment as our situations - while in some ways similar - are different. But we are both upset and angry. So don’t hate yourself for affecting me. This is not your fault. And yes, I know that is much easier said then done.” She smiled wryly. “There are very few things I currently care about. And whether or not I’m a little angrier in this very moment because my mental shields aren’t as strong as they used to be isn’t one of them. Not right now any way. What I do care about is to make sure that we all make it back in one piece. And not only physically, but mentally as well.” Lifting her glass with her other hand, Siadra took a small sip and then continued, “I know a lot about PTSD and as you probably read in my file: I come with my own trauma and mental health problems. So while I don’t know what exactly you feel like, what it triggers in you and how it affects you, I do have at least a bit of an idea. That means what I want to know is: What can we do to make sure you make it through this okay? Not because it might put the mission and or the crew at risk, but because you matter and I want you to be okay.”

~Cmdr. Enai, XO

Shara shook her head slowly and knocked back her third glass of liquor. It felt good and she was at the point where some thing were lessened and other things came into sharper focus. The sweet spot of drinking. “What I need no one can promise, and we can’t guarantee much of anything. That’s the nature of this kind of work, Commander, and the sooner people get comfortable with that reality, the better. Including me. The possibility of success in our mission has to outweigh the negative consequences, because that’s what devoting yourself to a higher ideal requires. I just… I’ve already given so much much of myself. I naively thought that by asking for a regular duty assignment, I would finally be allowed to keep something for myself, for those I love.”

Commander Calloway, CIO