Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Anaya (Assistant Counsellor) in Making an entrance - Anaya arrives

(snip)

“That will depend on your next answers, Lt. First what is your experience in exopsychology? And the second what is your security clearance?” The first would tell her who on their case load she could assign, the second was much the same but it would indicate if she would be able to take over any of Casela’s personal case load or if she would have to cancel all her appointments while she was on medical leave.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS

Anaya gazed out of the window at the starfield, her eyes seemingly resting on something far away.

“My last posting was aboard the Seeker as you know. She was a small deep space exploration vessel, barely big enough to rate having a Counsellor aboard at all if truth be told. We had a two year mission so I ensured I was well versed in both exopsychology and first contact protocols” she flashed the Lt a charming smile “you never know who or what you might find out there after all.”

Casela nodded, “We have a lack of experience within the department with exopsychology. Ziecest, our gamma shift counselor, has some and myself. Watkins and Bourgoughs will be starting distance training courses next week. If you would like your name added to that list, for further training or a refresher, let me know. But with your experience you will probably be picking up a lot of the case load for some of our more unique crew members.”

“As for clearances, for my last posting I was both Ships Counsellor and required to qualify as a Bridge Officer, to enable me to command a watch if needed, given the small size of the crew, so I hold all the required clearances and qualifications. In addition, prior to taking this post I was briefed on the activities of the ARU and given Delta 1 level clearance to enable me to work with members of the crew that have been exposed to anomalies, and all the..... consequences..... of that exposure.”

“Good, you’ll be able to handle most of the ARU cases while I’m out. However, I’ll have to check your regular clearances. We have many members on board that are part of intellegence, special ops, and other clandestine agencies, and much higher clearances are required to work with them. Often being read-in on the operation is required before they can talk to us. Keep that in mind if someone refuses to talk to you. 98% of the time it’s because they can’t, not because they don’t want to. The entire staff will be working on getting our over all clearance levels increased.” Casela tapped on the PaDD she was holding, “I’ve sent the beginning paperwork to you, to complete as well.” If Anaya could pass it, having someone with Casela’s clearance levels would ease the work load, but it would give Casela someone to talk to when she needed it. Poor Ziecest tried, but his clearance only went so far.

As she said the last sentence, Anaya cast a professional eye over the woman before her, just how much had her experiences effected her? Sometimes professionals could be the very worst at identifying their own trauma, and, after all, who Counsels the Counsellor?

Anaya - Asst Counsellor

“You’ll be thrown right into the deep end, Anaya. Tomorrow I’ll be gone for 8 days, and then another 5 of light duty.” Casela tapped her finger against the PaDD, a nervous twitch, maybe? Something she didn’t normally do. She despised the idea of surgery, but she hated being sedated even more, and there was no way around it. “You’ll be covering alpha shift during that time. After that I’ll be putting you on Gamma shift. I know that normally the assistant counselor would take Beta shift, but Gamma is very busy and Ziecest can’t handle the work load alone. Night terrors, sleeplessness, all the typical and even a-typical symptoms of severe stress.” She tapped several more time on the PaDD, transferring information and then passed it to Anaya. “This is a list of cases that I will need you to cover during that time. The others I have spoken to and they will come in to use some of the recreation rooms, but unfortunately you aren’t cleared for them to speak with you at the moment. Also all files have to be encrypted, ARU SOP. Dean, our admin assistant will show you the process.” Casela was tired, did it show? She was getting a headache again. If she ever found evil Hampton, she was going to make his brain melt.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

Behind her bland smile Anaya began making some mental notes about her new supervisor. The twitching finger… one eye half closed, a clear indication of a stress based migraine… clearly things aboard were as… hectic… as her briefing had indicated. After all, a vessel the size of the Leviathan didn’t usually rate more than a single Counsellor, let alone a whole department.

She tweaked up the corners of her smile before speaking again in her usual lush warm tones “Oh I have no problem with the gamma shift, I’m quite used to being up all night long if the position demands it.”

Anaya - Asst Counsellor

“We are all used to that here. It’s a small department, but it’s a good department. There has been discussion for more morale events,” Casela resists the urge to roll her eyes. “So far morale type events have focused on easing tensions between regular Star Fleet and RTF. I want these to continue, but they are scheduled at the discretion of the senior staff. And they are semi required. So anything we offer should not interfered with those. But I would like to see the recreation rooms used more. Watkins and Buroughs is working on that, feel free to add to it. Knowing them they will submit ideas to you while I’m gone.” She was tempted to ask Knox about these headaches, but he’d said she would have him until she had healed, but they seemed to be getting worse. Or maybe it was just her hot temper-probably what everyone would accuse her of anyway. Hampton…if she ever got her hands on him…her face flashed hard and angry a moment, before she blinked and it was gone, only noticed by someone trained for it.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS