Posted by Lieutenant Cara Esmé Mardusk (Counselor / Education Specialist) in Counsellor’s Office - Intelligence Annoyance

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Counsellor’s Office - Intelligence Annoyance
It was a standard day on the USS Atlantis, members of the crew walked around going about their business. each and every one was ignoring the giant pacing outside the counsellors office.

Peter Sigmundsson didn’t generally like seeing a psychologist, especially not when the matter was so personal but he needed advice and advice that no one could speak about. He’d already booked a meeting with the counsellor and had been pacing outside her office for a good half hour. Finally he tapped the chime to her office.

CIO

The door opened immediately. “Cmdr Sigmundsson, come in,” Cara stepped back out of the way. The Intel officer was far over due for his regular eval. He was one of those that Cara had to chase down, but he’d requested this which was curious. Whatever brought him here, she was sure he would tell her soon enough.

Immediately to the left of the door was a desk. A variety of places to sit and low tables dotted the rest of the open area. Including a large and reinforced couch. The right wall was taken up with a wall to wall, floor to ceiling storage until. Books, various pieces of art, and nick knacks covered the shelves. “Help yerself te the replicator and have a seat.” O’Farrell grabbed a glass of tea off her desk and had a seat in one of the chairs.

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Peter nodded slowly as he stepped in and scanned the room, as was his habit. He clasped his hands behind his back and walked in “Congratulations on your nuptials, Mrs. Mardusk” He inclined his head in a slight bow. At her age, he’d been on his second marriage ill fated as it was. He walked to the replicator and started tapping the screen instead of verbally commanding the computer, Cara would have seen him speak with the replicator over the years so this was not a habit.

“Ever been to a Risian wedding?” He asked as he kept tapping, “Extravagant affair, my second marriage was to a Risian, we had twelve hundred guests and the celebration lasted two weeks. The divorce was nearly twice as big and lasted nearly a month” He chukled as the replicator hummed and produced a ceramic cup with some sort of tea. He took the cup and sat down. “He used to say that life without celebration is hardly worth it” Peter had the same wooden expression on as always as he spoke.

He took a sip and sighed “I’m generally a fairly private person, but not secretive. I don’t mind answering questions, but people are generally too intimidated to ask. I say this to preface that what I’m going to speak on is not a collection of secrets kept hidden, just private.” He adjusted his expression; he seemed less stiff, and it was clear that his usual wooden expression was something he put on instead of his natural expression “I resigned my commission when I was 27, my ship the Morton had been apart of the defensive fleet during the Borg attack on Earth in the Early Seventies then almost immediately after the Dominion war happened.”

Peter grimaced, usually he didn’t mind speaking about the war, especially not to his psychologist “During those three years, I discovered that I have exceptional talents when it comes to warfare, a lot of my generation discovered this and like most of us who discovered this I did not particularly enjoy that aspect of myself.” He shook his head “I’ve come to terms with that, and that’s not the point of telling you this. Apologies, I don’t usually ramble, I’m trying to build a picture of events, give context to my life.”

He took a sip “Anyway, I found myself disillusioned with Starfleet after the war, that combined with the end of my engagement, so I resigned my commission and took work on a private freighter. I did that for a decade. It was there that I met Lunama. We fell for each other hard, we married and stayed together for a while. Over that time we discovered that we were both working as operatives for our governments, I for Starfleet Intelligence and she for the Tal Shiar. We had a rather loud divorce after that and didn’t meet again for some time.” He’d put the cup down and had interlocked his fingers and was looking straight at Cara. “After tempers cooled down and we stopped trying to kill each other, we’d stay in contact on occasion, unofficially exchanging intelligence.”

“About fifteen years ago, I resigned my commission again, this time under orders to deal with some personal issues. I infiltrated a criminal syndicate with loose Intelligence support. Lunama reached out, she was undercover herself within the same group, so we worked together. She helped establish my cover and I helped her conclude her assignment. A few months after she left, she met me again only this time she was fairly pregnant. We had a long discussion, deep declarations of love and decided to get married.” Peter smiled, most people assumed that he was unpracticed at it so they were often surprised at the warmth of the expression “Amusingly, this helped cement my cover within the Cartel, men with families are easier to control” His smile was distinctly amused

“Well, in any case, I have a daughter. Latila Dís. She’s just turned twelve. She’s mostly been raised within the Romulan Empire, but she’ll spend summers in the Federation. That’s where I spend most of my time off, I have a small place on Qualor. On occasion, I visit them. Luna’s mother is a Senior Senator; her family owns a large part of one of the Empire’s earlier expansionary colonies, not far from the Neutral Zone.” Peter paused to let that sync in, it was very much like dropping a bomb in a conversation. There were maybe two dozen people who knew this: his immediate family and some senior members of Starfleet Intelligence… and now Cara.

“That leads to the reason I’m here, Luna has received a new long-term assignment. It’s a navy assignment, and the Imperial Navy doesn’t have the same views on families on starships as we do. So she’s suggested that Latila come stay with me. Originally, I’d offered to get a more settled assignment, but Lunama wants our daughter to learn more about the Federation and Starfleet so she can decide where she’d want to live when she grows up.” Peter grabbed his cup and took a long sip

“I just spent an hour getting bullied by my secret Tal Shiar wife and my Romulan Imperial Senator mother-in-law into letting our, again I emphasise, secret daughter that only exists in a data archive on Earth and some Starfleet intelligence vault, You get the idea, into getting her a place on the Atlantis” He leaned back in his seat. This was likely the most Cara had heard Peter speak in the three years he’d been assigned to the Atlantis, at least consecutively. “So before I decide to officially reveal her existence, I need some… advice?” he sounded unsure “perhaps just a neutral perspective” His half smile returned “It helps that this is confidential”

CIO