Posted by Fleet Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in side-sim Girl Time: Revna meets Kelly

Posted by Lieutenant Revna Edman (Counselor) in side-sim Girl Time: Revna meets Kelly

(snip)

“Centurion is an amazing ship. I’m very lucky to have served on her. She was different though. A hospital ship isn’t, well I don’t know. I’ve always served on hospital ships. My patients always said they were different though. Said they encouraged leisure and laziness. I never felt that way, but I’m glad they did.” She sips at the coffee that luckily is still warm. She looks the captain in the eye. “Honestly, I always wanted to serve on a ship like Atlantis with families, a sense of community. But I never would have requested her. I would not have made the choice to leave my patients like that. The choice was made by my previous CO.” Revna leaned back. She had a hard time accepting that Cpt. Bordeaux didn’t know what had happened. She didn’t know if the captain simply wanted to know if Revna would be honest, or wanted the full details. “I was injured, severely. My previous CO felt I needed a change. My recovery will be long term and he felt…I couldn’t do my job as effectively if I stayed on Centurion. He was afraid I might begin to suffer from PTSD.” She had no problem giving the captain more, she just wasn’t sure how much the captain wanted.
Lt. Edman, Counselor

“Well any issues from PTSD are an issue on any ship,” Kelly devoted all her attention to the young woman across from her. “At least as a counselor you are better trained than most to notice and deal with the syptoms that others. So my question I guess is why do you think your previous CO thought you could not do your job effectively on the Centurion but you would be able to do so on the Atlantis if he was worried you might suffer from PTSD. I mean the Centurion was a medical ship. It is designed for crew to help others with various medical issues. The Atlantis is not a medical ship so you can see why I am slightly perplexed,” Kelly took a long sip of her coffee. If Revna was not fit for duty, they would not have allowed her to be posted on a ship let alone treating people if she was compromised. All her files had checked out as Revna being one of the best in her field. The question Kelly posed was not debate the ability if the lieutenant could perform her duties but more why the woman seemed to feel the the last CO wanted to get rid of her instead of supporting her.

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

Revna took a what should have been a deep breath, but Kelly would notice it was much too shallow. “My department worked with trauma patients. So, patients that were, lost to themselves, self harming, suffering from their own PTSD.” Revna met her gaze straight on. “I was attacked by a patient. I’m luck I’m still alive. Cpt. Jamison thought it might be better if I recuperated away from all of that. He also knew if I stayed on board I wouldn’t stay away from the trauma patients. And like I said, Atlantis was the type of posting I always wanted. I guess he thought I’d earned it. Cpt. Jamison is one of the best officers I’ve ever served with and we were lucky that a medical doctor was made captain of our ship. I don’t feel like he was throwing me away, just doing what he thought would be best for me.”
Lt. Edman, Counselor

“Fair enough,” Kelly nodded emphathetically. She understood people needed time to get over trauma. Wounds ran deep at times and everyone had a band aid they wore superficially to cover the hidden hemmoraghing wound. Lt. Edman’s band aid was sharing her story. Nash’s was his cigar or at least it felt that way to Kelly. Mardusks’ was his gregarious laugh and defaulting to humor. Kelly’s was candy coating anything personal in more rosy image than it ever was. Everyone had a band aid to whatever ailed them and Kelly respected it. Not being a counselor meant she was able to do this. “A good CO tends to know what thier crew needs or has surrounded themselves with others that can make it happen. Captain Jamison seems to be a good man and even a better commanding officer.” Taking a long sip of coffee, Kelly desperately tried to think of another topic. While she was not uncomfortable listening to Revna’s story, she wasn’t sure how much more the young officer wanted to share about it. That was the problem with topics like this. The easiest transition that wouldn’t feel so abrupt was, “so what is your favorite thing about the Altantis and what do you miss most about the Centurion?”

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

Revna nodded, “Cpt Jamison was good at taking care of his crew.” Revna was more than willing to answer whatever questions the captain had. She didn’t want the captain to have any doubt about her ability to do her job. However Kelly had moved on to other topics. She sipped the coffee as she thought about her answer. “Laughter and the unique personalities of the crew. This crew has an uncanny ability to laugh at just about anything. And mostly at themselves with the uncanny ability to retain that steel spine they all have. There wasn’t a lot of easy laughter on Centurion. And probably I miss my colleagues the most. We were all really close we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses and working together was easy even when the work wasn’t.” Not that Revna didn’t think she would be part of the team on Atlantis, she just hadn’t found her place in it yet.
Lt. Edman, Counselor

“You gotta laugh or cry sometimes,” Kelly said shaking her head with a smile. “I am just lucky that most of my crew tend to look back on most situations with amusement because I can tell you in the middle of some of those assignments, we surely weren’t laughing.” Her tone suggested there was a story behind her loose reference to the past but while it was not the ideal mission, it hadn’t resulted in death or permanent injuries. “So you have a twin sister. What’s it like serving on the same boat? Mike and I would kill each other,” Kelly sipped the coffee waiting for the reply.

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

There was a story there, but the captain had moved on. And Revna had come to meet the CO not give her an eval. Her’s was up-to-date. Missions Centurion went on were mostly search and rescue. She often heard the security and tactical officers complaining of not having enough action while serving there. But it had been mostly joking. Revna had gone a couple of search and rescues herself, but mostly she’d been ship bound and never done more than treat patients. She didn’t regret it, but she also knew it gave her very limited experience.

At the mention of Runa, Revna smiled brightly. “Oh we used to get into a lot of trouble together. I haven’t seen her since I graduated Cambridge with my doctorate–five years now. We talked all the time though. She appears to be very nosy and gossipy but really she’s not. She’s very full of life and excitement. I think it’s working with the children, it keeps her energy levels up. She’s a hopeless romantic when you get to know her. And she never takes herself too seriously. But she has a wicked streak for playing pranks and getting even.” Revna took a sip of her quickly dwindling coffee. “As for working with her, it’s a nice balance. When I have a pediatric patient it’s good to know there is someone in the school that I can go to for non-familial opinions and that will actually follow through with suggestions on how to help them. She’s good at spotting when something is going on with a child so she is quick to make a referral before it gets bad. Other than that works wise we don’t really run into each other. Now, however I found out I have another family member on board.” She smiles thinking about that particular evaluation. “I guess he’d be considered adopted family, but family non-the-less. We grew up together as kids. After the Breen attack we didn’t see each other again. I was properly stunned when I realized that the chief intelligence officer sitting across from me, in my office, was my long lost little brother.”

Lt. Edman, Counselor