Flying Colors

Posted on 20 Jun 2019 @ 8:36am by Lieutenant Commander True Keading & Lieutenant JG Lilura Karakalakss

Mission: Shakedown
Location: Counselor's Office
Timeline: MD5, before departure, 1400 hours
2216 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Lilura had been up at 0400 hours and working on final warp simulations and calibrations for the engines. She almost skipped lunch, but her Master Chief Petty Officer of Engineering brought her some foot at 0900 hours. At 1350, MCPO Rynault came in and let her know if she didn't take a break for a while, he would have her hauled off by security. She gurgle laughed and took the break. As she wandered to the turbolift, she saw a tell-tale on a panel that counseling officers were open. That meant, a Chief Counselor was on board, and that meant she could get in her psyche eval before the ship left the starport, freeing her up for the whatever engineering emergencies could arise at that time.

She headed to Deck 12 where the main Medical and Counseling services were located. Stepping off of the turbolift, she went over to the deck floorplan and then headed to counseling services. She entered the Suite and into the waiting lobby. That lobby spread out to three hallways, two which were for individual counseling offices, and one which was for group sessions. She came up to the Reception/Nurse desk and smiled to the person manning it.

"Hello, I'm Lt. Karakalakss. Is there an appointment available to see the Chief Counselor? I need my psyche eval done before we leave starbase so I can be available for any engineering emergencies. Oh, I'm the CEO, FYI."

"She just had a cancellation if you'd like to wait a few minutes while she finishes up this session?" The dark haired petty officer with green eyes looked up at her, a questioning look on her face.

Lilura was used to unusual glances her direction as her race was definitely NOT the norm for this area. She politely and demurely smiled, then said, "Cool, I'm glad she can get me in. I'll wait." Lilura headed over to the benches, then sat sideways on one to leave room for her tail. She now brought up warp hyperbolic harmonic equations on her wrist computer to go over some of the outlier scenarios not fully tested yet in the simulations.

True watched as what she thought was the last patient of the day walk out the doors. She stretched, bending down to touch her toes she when realized someone was looking at her. She glanced at her schedule again and indeed realized she'd been mistaken. "Lieutenant, please come in." True didn't attempt to try and pronounce that surname. "I usually ask if you'd like something to drink or eat before we start?"

Lilura watched as a crewman and a Lt. in Medical uniform leave the center hallway. As the crewman left, the Lt. was stretching, for which Lilura was glad to see. Whenever Lilura had been working a while, she would stretch herself. She perked up when addressed by the Lt. She got up, did a small stretch herself, then followed down the center hall and into the Chief Counselor's room. She answered True, "I've had plenty of tea and coffee before coming here, so I am good." She went over to the couch and sat down, smiling to Lt. True Keading, as her wrist computer showed the pic, rank, and office number for the Ship's Chief Counselor. She grinned, then said, "Please, call me Lilura. My last name is unusual for Terran's for pronunciation, but in case you're wondering, its Karakalakss (Ka'rah'kah'lak'sss'). However, Lilura seems more equivalent, easier to pronounce, and usually used for friendship, and counseling. So, do I call you Doc Keading, Lt. Keading, Counselor Keading, Doc True, Counselor True, or other??"

"True is just fine with me. If you want to get technical then Counselor or Lieutenant are acceptable." It was not unusual for starship captains to call her by her first name. After all, she was a friend, despite her position on the ship. She wanted what was best for everyone else. "Welcome to Andromeda Llilura. So, I usually start out by asking you to introduce yourself a little bit. Of course it's all in the file but I think hearing a persons voice is important."

Lilura 'murred' as she smiled and accepted what True had said. "That's readily acceptable. Okay, I am part of a what is known as a typical nuclear family of Soliodarans, that is, Dad and One Mom. Our families can have up to three moms. My dad was a local Fixit Tech for Hovercars and House Comptuers. Mom did lessons for creating Knick knacks, crafting, and Cooking. I was born in my family's home with my older sister helping my mom and our midwife. Growing up was normal, except, well, I took apart a hovercar monitoring computer system at my Dad's work when I was six. Instead of being mad when he noticed, he came over and gave me pointers on finishing taking it apart, and putting it back together. Thus, I got into advanced placement courses for tech. I build my own computer system by the age of twelve. By graduating high school, I had taken courses in power systems, propulsion systems, besides computer systems and programming. Then, I was accepted into the prestigious Harkaris Engineering College. I worked through to my masters there. Oh, on a side note, I had the prerequisite sociointeractive tests and sessions to make sure I was adjusting well. All worlds in the L'Tandrey Protecorate have such tests and monitoring... Comes with most L'Tandrey Species being telepathic, I believe, even though mine is lacking." She paused, "Is this okay? I know its rather.... effort orientated... but I grew up rather 'normal' from what I overhear in others speaking about their past... so.. anything you want to directly ask?"

"Perfectly fine. I find it very interesting what people choose to tell me. Some people only give me surface details while others dig right into the heart of an issue for them. All species have different ways of telling stories and you know, I think the most stubborn species I've yet come across are Humans. They don't want to tell anything. I'm going to break with that tradition and tell you a little bit about me. I was born on Betazed, the youngest and only girl of three children. My parents perished in a shuttle accident when I was five and we were moved in with my paternal aunt on Earth. I grew up with a big love of animals but with a tragic event in my past that no one seemed to want to talk about in the house I really had an interest in getting people to open up to me so that I could help them. It's not been an easy path but it is a rewarding one. " True paused, forming her line of questions. "Is there anything in your past that causes you issue or that you feel I should know?" It was always best to ask this directly.

Lilura performed a ritualistic bow with a crossed arms semblance to it. She intoned, "I thank you for sharing part of that who you are." She came out of the 'ritual' and smiled to True. "So you're telepathic/empathetic, that is soo cool. And, I am glad you turned your tragedy into a positive. As far as my end... ummm.... not really?" Lilura performed this last with a higher pitched voice. "I mean, I have nothing in my past to (deeper voice) to turn me into the gal I am today. (end voice) *gurgles from chest* I am a well adjusted CEO, as far as those go for understanding tech better than people." She thought a bit, then said, "Maybe just understanding Terrans better? I mean, some of the duplicitous nature throws me off, and then, my appearance doesn't seem to lend itself to a 'Hey, there is a person to get to know' persona. So, is that okay, from a counselor point of view? Only having minor problems that can be dealt with?" Lilura hoped that was okay. From what she was told by 'terran' acquaintances, if there wasn't a deep, impending doom issue in your life, you weren't normal.

"Oh no, I'm human. My parents were in Starfleet and were stationed on Betazed. I can certainly help you with Terrans. Starfleet officers should know better about appearances but it's hard to break through years of conditioning and make the brain think a different way. Is there a specific behavior you want to discuss?"

Lilura's muzzle cheeks turned darker as she blushed. She felt bad, and replied to True. "Oh, I am sooo sorry. I assumed, when I shouldn't have. I am just so used to part Betazoid humanoids being proud of having 'Betazoid' and or 'Royalty' in their background that I... fudge." She sighed, looked abashed, then continued with, "Here I am complaining about duplicitous humanoids, and here I am guilty of carrying on without further information." She shook herself, muttering, "Counselor, Terran, Betazoid Five, Parents gone, Aunt Earth, Relax." Her demeanor changed lightly as she overcame her initial embarrassment, then said more to herself, "Mistakes happen, you can't know everything, you didn't know, True is here to help, be yourself and just hope she understands."

True nodded. "You're fine Lilura. A lot of people might have assumed what you did." Though, if True thought about it, most Betazoids had very dark eyes, but maybe she didn't know that.

Lilura takes in a breath, smiles, and now says, "And, yeah, a little thing for you to know about me in your file. As I grew up around telepaths, all the L'Tandrey are Telepathic, while I am not, I kind of talk myself through my thoughts to be transparent to L'Tandrey, Soliquoy, and others. Now, while totally acceptable in L'Tandrey Society, I have had Starfleet friends say its not really needed, and actually rather, umm, oddish, in StarFleet culture. So, if this is part of what you can help with, I could use some help in knowing what should be private and what should be said for dealing with non-telepathic cultures."

"Well that certainly clears things up for some people, knowing your thought process. It kind of makes you an open book so to speak. They won't have to be around you much before they start to understand your point of view which could make it easy to make friends on this ship," True said encouragingly. "But you should not be nervous about assumptions with me. I think most counselors are used to people assuming things. As for helping you, I would think it's fine to tell people how you arrived at a particular place in your thoughts. But perhaps things like how you feel about about a person should be kept to yourself, at least negative impressions. Individuals are not used to such feedback in their daily lives."

A 'hrmm' came from Lilura's chest that started mid range, went up a touch, then went down the scale. She now said, "Yeah, I've ran into that some... rather, I have voiced out critiques, and it has been taken as negative." She snorted out in humor, and continued with, "now that you've said it, I've seen mainly that, those around me, more so in civiie, less so than Starfleet, tend to take anything not positive and immediately ascribe it as negative and against them. That has always been farthest from my mind, and its kind of .ummm... *gur-giggle* alien.. to my mind." She grinned at True and finished, "Thank you. For this being an initial psyche eval, you've given me some behavioral aspects to think about in understanding others. Again, thank you."

"You are very welcome."

Lilura stretched slightly in her seat to keep comfortable, then genuinely asked, "Is there anything else you need to know, or ask, to finish your initial assessment of my mind's state for being cleared for duty? You know, besides the big three checkmarks against.. those being of a venomous species, being a 'stereotypical' engineer, and having a gregarious personality?"

True laughed. "No, I think we're done here. You have passed with flying colors, a human expression. You know," True said thinking about it. "I'm not even sure where in Human culture that comes from. I will have to look it up. My door is always open if you need anything."

Lilura gurgle-laughed herself, then replied, "Being from a Warrior culture, to me it means to come home victorious from a skirmish, as in a squad flying their colors, whether air, land or sea. But, for a human expression, who knows? Could be a hunting party with their dogs 'flying their colors high' with their tails to show cornering the prey." She stood up and curtsied, her voice taking on a ritualistic tone, and said, "Thank you for your time and consideration with my duties and yours, Counselor. May your travails always show growth in those who learn to trust you." She proceeded out of the Chief Counseling Office with her wrist computer once again showing warp dynamics. She expertly stepped around an ops person coming in for tuning equipment, even though her eyes were fully intent upon her display.



OFF:

●○ Lieutenant JG Lilura Siana Karakalakss
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Andromeda

●● Lieutenant True Keading
Chief Counselor
USS Andromeda