Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Intended or not, there was a lot of pressure on Leah’s shoulders and she felt that weight keenly.

Boots off, she sat cross legged on the floor of her small quarters and closed her eyes. Something about the meeting with Captain Rende had felt off and she wasn’t quite sure what it was. She truly haven’t been looking for blanket approval, but she supposed she had wanted to feel like she had support. Instead it seemed to reinforce the feeling that this new assignment and her first patient here was some sort of big test. In reality that wasn’t true most likely, but Leah understood herself well enough to know where those feelings came from.

They had no place here.

So she sat in her uninspiring quarters and settled into some meditation. Leah understood that she needed to let all the weariness of her travels, the overwhelm of a new place, and the high, high expectations upon her, vanish into the ether. She could not take any of that with her when she went to see Alden. And thus, she dropped into focusing on her breathing and letting her thoughts float away the way S’Rinn had taught her.

Awhile later, Leah put her boots back on, made sure herself and her uniform was tidy, and left her quarters.

In his temporary quarters, Roman lay curled up on the bed, wearing the clothes he’d been issued, plain clothing made to be difficult to hurt oneself with. He wasn’t allowed his work nor his PaDD nor was Rand allowed to visit. As with before, the nurse and the security guard occasionally made conversation which he would politely oblige, but mostly lay on the bed and moped.

A PADD in hand, Hart gave a knock on the door (rather than press the chime), and then stepped in. She smiled at the nurse and security officer, before gazing at Alden. “Hello, Roman,” she said softly.

When there was a knock on the door, he sat up and looked. Kreed had earned some amount of trust with him and he didn’t mind the doctor’s visits. But he saw it was not the doctor and his hopes fell. None of it showed, he was too polite for that. Her false familiarity bothered him though and he let it show in the way he addressed her. He sat up straight on the edge of the bed with an air of formality. “Lieutenant Hart.” He greeted her.

The video call of him did not do him justice. At 5‘11, he was decently tall, with dark brown hair. Usually neat, it currently looked messy and untamed. Bright blue eyes made contrast with his dark hair, icy blue. He was very fit, as if he worked out frequently.

Leah was decidedly shorter than many expected her to be, given her rather energetic personality. She was quite short but also more broadly built, the slightly higher G of her homeworld compacting her body slightly. Her long brown hair was pulled into a loose ponytail over one shoulder, and her white nurses jumpsuit was tidy.

She gave him a nod of her head and looked back at the others. “Good afternoon, I’m Lieutenant Hart. Can you give us some privacy, please?” It was not a request, but there was no need for rudeness. Besides, she knew they were expecting her.

Once alone, Leah moved to sit on the back corner of his bed and gave him a deep and lingering look, setting the PADD beside her. “So, a lot happened in the last day. Can you walk me through it?”

~Leah Hart, NP

“I’m unsure what exactly you’d like to be walked through, Lieutenant,” said Roman in that crisp, ‘proper’ accent of his. “I’m sure you’ve been most thoroughly briefed.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She mirrored the formality in her posture and nodded. “You are correct, Commander, that I have been given notes. So I have the facts of the events that have you here in these quarters, but they don’t really tell me about you. Why do you believe Doctor Kreed believed this step was necessary?”

~Leah Hart, NP

“The facts are easily attainable, a letter was found among my possessions by my fiancée and given to Lieutenant Kreed. In response, he confined me here.” Roman shrugged then. “Anything beyond that is better heard from Kreed himself.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

They didn’t have enough of a rapport yet to discuss the letter, but it was notable that he could mention it. She filed that away for later. “Has anyone told you wha the process of a psyc hold is, what you can expect?”

~Leah Hart, NP

“I’ll be held here and watched twenty four hours per day until an eval can be performed. I’ll have no visitors, no work, no PaDD, nor anything else. Food will be brought to me and supplied and waste accounted for. If I am to attempt anything, I will be moved to the brig for the safety of myself and the crew.” Roman stated it like listing regulations. He did not sound happy about it. “I’ll be released only if an eval shows I am not an immediate danger to anyone on board including myself.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“Hmmm,” she said, frowning slightly. “Well, those are definitely the rules, but the actual purpose and process is a bit different. The goal is always to have a plan in place for when the patient is released. And that’s where I come in. You and I are going to create that plan together, because at the end of the day it’s your life, Commander, and you do get a say in what this all looks like.” She gestured to the room around them. “I can understand if that feels like a lie, but I also know you are an intelligent man and you know no one would have taken such a drastic step if they weren’t genuinely concerned for your well being. Which puts us always in a difficult spot, because we promise to do no harm, and yet we have to temporarily create an uncomfortable situation in order to support your well being.”

He knew that, but he mostly believed Rand. Kreed… Well, maybe, but he was mostly following regulations regarding what Rand had done. Now Rand… She would only do that in the most drastic of situations. Because she knew how he’d feel about it.

“But I am not you, and I am not in the position you are currently, so I’m not going to pretend to know what you’re going right now,” Hart said sincerely. “But I do want to help you find a way forward. We agreed to give it a try when we spoke before. Has that changed for you at all?”

~Leah Hart, NP

Roman shook his head. “No, it hasn’t.” He glanced at Leah and shrugged, “I just don’t want to lose my place on this ship. This is my ship. But at this point,” he tossed up his hands, “It almost feels like Kreed wants that to happen.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She nodded. “I can understand why it might appear that way. And it’s hard because while we want to help you, Commander Roman Alden, and do everything right by you, we also have a duty to the rest of the crew and to the ship itself. It puts our need to help our patient at odds with protecting everyone else. It’s not so different than you or Captain Rende trying to recover a missing crew member from some situation while also not putting the rest of the ship in unnecessary danger.”

Leah smiled ever so slightly. “You know, this is the first time in our conversations you have declared anything about this ship? Your position, yes, but not the ship itself. It’s the first time you associated yourself as a part of it.”

~Leah Hart, NP

Roman gave her a look as if she’d said something so mind numbingly obvious he didn’t think it needed saying. “Of course I’m a part of this ship. I have been on it longer than almost anyone. Kept it running through two inept Captains and during the time between Captains. I keep this crew going and I keep it together. Obviously, Captain Asam is the Captain but this crew trusts, respects, and are all familiar with, me. Why in all the space between here and Earth do you think I’m trying so hard to stay here? Do you honestly think I would agree to therapy if that threat weren’t on the table?”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“I don’t know,” Hart said honestly. “I know you don’t want to lose your role here, but you could do that anywhere. I don’t know yet what the Sentinel and the people here mean to *you.”

~Leah Hart, NP

“You think this is about being first officer!” Scoffed the Commander, shaking his head. “No. Of course my role is important to me. But of all the places I could do it, like, oh perhaps a Science vessel? I choose to stay here. Does that convince you, Lieutenant?”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO