Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Gillian “Gilly” Adams (Marine) in Head Shrinking

Posted by Lieutenant Cara Esmé Mardusk (Counselor / Education Specialist) in Head Shrinking

Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Gillian “Gilly” Adams (Marine) in Head Shrinking
Posted by… suppressed (15) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Gilly left sickbay and headed to her next stop, the Counselor’s office. It never failed to amuse her that Star Fleet insisted that everyone talk to a CNS. She had done so when she was in San Francisco because she had been ordered to if she was going to work with Star Fleet. It was not something that the Marine Corps really held to, but in order to avoid any conflicts before she even reported for duty, she followed protocol. Finding herself now standing outside the Counselor’s office, she rang the chime and waited.

Gilly

The door opened, and a woman with curly bright red hair, green eyes, and classic pale skin marked her as having strong Irish Terran heritage stood there. A very strong Irish accent flowed from her as she offered her hand, “2nd Lieutenant Adams? It’s nice te meet ye. I’m Lt O’Farrell. Come on in.” She pressed the control on the office door and stepped inside.

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. 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

Gilly smiled “Nice to meet you as well Lt. I’m here for my boarding visit.” She said standing at a loose attention and then walked over to the replicator “Klingon coffee strong, one cream 2 sugar” she said and waited for the drink to appear “Ahhh nectar of the gods.” She said as she took a seat with a small table next to her. Looking at Mardusk “So what would you like to know Lt. I will let you know that there are somethings in my file/history that are classified and I won’t be able to discuss them at any depth. I hope that’s not going to be a problem.” As she finished, she took another drink of her coffee. Very few people enjoyed Klingon coffee, she found it quite good and it did wonders if you were exhausted.

Gilly

“If it ever comes ta ya needin’ ta talk about yer work directly we’ll talk ta Captain Styxx and get it approved, or get ya set up with someone that is cleared for ya ta talk ta.” That was one thing Cara hated. The red tape around getting people the care that they needed. It was something she had faced personally, so she it was a headache she was more than willing to have in order to help people. “Why don’a we start with something’ I hope is simple. What brought ya ta the Atlantis?”

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Gilly smiled “That one’s easy, my previous post was ‘stale’ and I found myself requesting more and more dangerous missions and my Command team decided that it might be good for a change of scenary.” Gilly said as she took another drink of the coffee “So, here we are and I figure that this will be a good change of pace. I know my family is a bit more at ease.”

Adams (Marine)

Gillian thought for a moment “If you call more at ease, not calling me every 5 minutes to make sure that I’m still alive.” She said only half joking.

Adams (Marine)

“Family can be that way. They love us, but can be a bit… over zealous in their worry.” The Lt grinned. Her family never stopped worrying. Especially her mam. “When was the last time ya saw yer family?”

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Gillian thought for a moment “Six months ago, I was on leave and spent two weeks with my parents and visiting everyone.” She said “I usually talk to at least one of them every week and of course when they start calling and messaging.” She said “I guess I should clarify, their worry is not unfounded.” She said “I was a section leader at my last post and some of the missions we were sent on were....interesting.” She said without saying too much. If a Marine said something was “interesting” it usually meant that everything was in chaos and they were dropped right in the middle of it and expected to bring order…which they did…some times inch by inch… but order was brought

Adams

“Ah, I believe I have heard Cpt. Styxx use that term b’fore. Have any of yer family served?” Cara asked.

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Gilly shook her head “My older brother is serving near the Romulan border. He and I talk more because of the shared experiences and I know that he will understand when I say that it’s classified.” She said thoughtfully “He was actually the one that encouraged me to join. He knew I had a calm head in a crisis and if I had to lead a team into a hostile situation, that I would make sure that everyone got back in relatively one piece.” She chuckled “The second time I was wounded, he visited me in medical and promptly smacked me on the side of my head for being ‘reckless’ as he called it. I looked at him and very bluntly told him ‘I may have been reckless, but my entire team made it back, battered, bruised and bleeding, but we succeeded in our mission.” Gilly shrugged “I will not tell one of the team that I am leading to do something, that I myself am not prepared to step in and do myself. Deligation is one thing, but throwing your men to the wolves is another.”

Adams

“I can agree with that. The best leaders in history are ones that worked beside their people.” She knew Cpt Styx was the same way. They would get along well she thought. “I’m sure it helps to have your brother serving as well. To have someone who understands.”

“Even though you bith serve, is it hard to know the risk he takes every day?” Cara asked.

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Gilly nodded in agreement “Neither of us really knows what the other does day to day. After action reports are mostly classified and while we both have clearances, we’d rather not read what happened or should have happened.” She said “It’s more of a self preservation thing.” She had accessed some of her brother’s after action reports, especially ones that had been brought to her by her command staff so that they could be used as training for new recruits. Battle Simulations were one way of training, but actual reports and footage were a better trainer.

“We some times use missions from other teams as training for our younger Marines. Simulations are one thing and have their place, but actual footage of engagements, hearing the actual sounds of combat, the voices of the Marines that were engaged gives a different perspective.” She added “I did a brief tour as a drill instructor for Marine recruits and used several combats that I had been involved in as examples of what to do and what not to do.” She paused “One thing that I have learned, is that it is better to own your mistakes and learn from them so that they are less likely to occur again and may save someone else’s life.” Her’s was a grim reality, there really was no gray, her world was very black and white. for lack of a better term, people shoot at you, you shoot back. That simple. She did add “One thing I do try to do if possible is to negotiate a peaceful resolution, but my world is very black and white unfortunately and it boils down to kill or be killed.” She shrugged, she knew that that bothered some people, especially those that were not on the front lines of combat frequently but it was the reality of most situations that the Marines were put into.

Adams

Cara nodded, “Mistakes happen. No matter how hard ya train, study, prepare, it happens. We get better by learnin’.”

Gilly nodded in agreement “That we do.” She said.

“Have ya ever come across reports about yer brother that ya’ve had to use in trainin’? I know for me, I think it would be easier ta know ahead of time rather than be surprised by it.”

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Gilly nodded “I have, several times. Two were on the Romulan Border.” She said “They made a tactical error based on flawed intel and were surrounded.” She said, that incident in particular had bothered her, but she never questioned Seth about it.

Adams

“How do ya handle that? As you said a lot of it is classified, or need ta know. So ya can’t necessarily talk ta yer brother about it.” Cara asked. She wasn’t asking how it made Gilly feel, but rather how she handled those feelings.

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Gilly was quiet for a moment “I took the lessons from that mission and put them to use with my own team.” She said “Yeah…we discussed it in very general terms. He was very angry that they had been given flawed intel, from someone that had not been vetted. It could have been much worse than it was..but you have to learn from mistakes of others. It did teach me to vet all of my informants…if something seems off…it probably is.” She said “I think because I wasn’t directly involved, it didn’t really bother me too much. It angered me that he had been put in that situation, but that’s what we signed up for.” She said “We know and accept that any mission we go on, could go south and we will lose people. It is a simple fact of life as a Marine or really any branch of the Military.” Gilly added “My mother was more freaked out by it and still doesn’t like to talk about how afraid she was.” Gilly took a drink of her coffee “Both Seth and I have tried to tell her that we won’t intentionally put ourselves in harms way, unless there is absolutely no other option.” Gilly shrugged “It’s what we do.”

Adams

“It is hard ta watch those we love run inta danger and know we can’na protect them.” Cara knew from experience. “The only thing we can do is reassure them and do what we are trained ta do.”

“So, what do ya do off duty?”

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Gilly smiled “I cook…it is my stress release. I am a foodie of sorts, but mostly I just cook what sounds good.” She laughed “My downfall is a good old fashioned cheesecake.” She said “I also play sports and enjoy watching an occasional movie.”

Adams

“Food is universal,” Cara said thoughtfully. “I don’a know if it is the reminder of childhood or home or companionship, or the fact that it is such a basic need that all species need it. It draws us tagether in a very basic way.”

“Is there anything ya wish ta discuss while yer here Lt?”

Lt. Mardusk, counselor