Unorthodox Measures

Posted on Tue Mar 24th, 2009 @ 6:43pm by

1,034 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: In The Dark
Location: CSO's Office
Timeline: current

ON:

Larkin was sitting in his office, his attention only half focused on the report in front of him. In a few minutes, Master Chief Vrel would be arriving for her first duty shift since she'd been confined to quarters, and the CSO had been thinking for hours about how best to discipline her for her actions. He wasn't quite sure how effective the measure on which he had decided would be, but he had a feeling that it might be just exactly what needed to be done. In the short time that he'd known Dhindara Vrel, he felt that he'd learned quite a bit about her character, and he thought he knew just where to sting her to make the point stick.

Dhindara slowly entered the science lab. She had suffered from terrible dreams during the night, an after-effect of the trauma she had suffered in the XO's office, and she hadn't slept at all after waking up after only half an hour of rest. She had spent the rest of the night meditating, because there would have been the danger, had she gone back to sleep, that her dreams might have affected other crewmembers. It wasn't unheard of that mentally unbalanced Betazoids affected non-telepathically trained people around them and Dhindara didn't want others to suffer just because she wasn't well.

Now she had deep rings under her eyes. She looked at least ten years older than the day before, and she hoped that was only a temporary issue. She wasn't ready to look like she was in her mid-forties. After her duty shift she was planning to go see the doctor, ask him for an alpha wave inducer. She just hoped she wouldn't have to explain to him in any detail why she needed it, at least for a couple of days. As she saw her department head she nodded a greeting and said, "Good morning, Sir." Her voice was raspy and lacked the otherwise typical clarity.

Before the discourse had even begun, Larkin had already lost a bit of his thunder. The Master Chief didn't look in very good shape, and he instantly felt a great deal of sympathy for the woman. "Ms. Vrel, please have a seat," Larkin spoke in an unusually confident voice. He calmly waited for the Master Chief to take a seat in the chair across from him. "Before we discuss matters, do you need anything?"

Dhindara sat and looked at him, her black eyes large and almost expressionless, but very tired. "Just... a quiet morning", she said. "I am not myself today."

"Well, that is something I may actually be able to provide." Larkin fell silent for a moment. He was trying to sound stern and pensive, and he was doing a fairly decent job of it. "Master Chief, you've put in me something of an awkward position. I like you. From the moment I met you, you've been nothing but helpful and considerate, but the recent," he paused momentarily, looking for a subtle word. "...incidents, in which you've been involved, cannot continue."

"You do seem a bit out of sorts, so today I'd like to you assist Mr. Cren at cataloguing the new data we have regarding Citadel Prime. It's just some computer work, which shouldn't be too strenuous," Larkin had softened for a moment, but immediately his tone regained the uncharacteristically stern quality it had possessed throughout most of the conversation. "For the next several weeks, however, I have something of a special assignment for you. I'd like you to observe a series of long term experiments that several of our staff are conducting." The CSO handed her a PADD containing a list of the experiments and various pieces of information regarding them. "I want you to keep a record of everything that goes on, and report on the projects and scientists involved to me on a daily basis. But, and this is the most important point, I don't want you to have any direct involvement; you are there simply to observe and keep record."

The CSO hadn't explicitly stated it, but he had no doubt that the intelligent woman understood what he was doing. Dhindara Vrel's defining feature, as he had noticed, was her desire to help her fellow crew. It was an admirable quality, but it was something that he could exploit. He had chosen projects which were sure to be tedious and fraught with time consuming problems. He hoped that not being able to assist would annoy and frustrate her; his intent was to punish by taking away her ability to fulfil whatever desire made her so willing to help those around her.

"Obviouly, if your skills are explicitly needed elsewhere, that will take priority, but I want you to check with me first before undertaking any other duties. Do you have any questions?"

"I will try to comply with your orders", Dhindara replied. "But, pending how my meditation will go, I do not know whether I will be able to function at all. I might not be able to do more than merely gather results."

"I'm sure you'll have no trouble. Now, unless there's anything else you wish to discuss, you're dismissed to carry out your duties, Master Chief." The entire time, Larkin couldn't help but feel like he'd been putting on a show. He was significantly surprised by how well it seemed to be coming off.

Dhindara nodded slowly. It was going to be a long, uncomfortable day. She wasn't looking forward to it. "Thank you for your concern, Sir", she said.

"Think nothing of it. I hope you feel better." He sincerely did. Despite the fact that he was trying to discipline the woman, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. As soon as she'd left his office, the CSO leaned back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief. 'I hope this works,' he thought.

Dhindara then left the room and went to work. She would have to try hard not to let her mental imbalance rub off on those she'd work with that day.

=/\\= End of Transmission =/\\=

Lieutenant Junior Grade Kevin Larkin
Chief Science Officer

Master Chief Petty Officer Dhindara Vrel
Historian / Anthropologist

 

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