PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS - MACGILLIVRAY
 

37311.16 / 1015 / Counselor’s Office

 The Counselor looked around her office and it’s new configuration with a satisfied smile.  No packing crates or bails of fabric this time, but still *definitely* an ‘uncontrolled environment’.  Now it was time to chase down Lieutenant MacGillivray.  Mirifice drew a deep breath and rolled her head around loosely over her shoulders.  Then her eyes began to sparkle and a cheerful smile crept onto her lips.  She tapped her comm badge sharply with a little hint of mischieviousness.

[Talt] "Lt. MacGillivray please.  Lt.?  This is Lt. Talt.  I'm sorry to disturb you, bu-ut I'm afraid that I'm going to have to request your presence in sickbay.  Do you think you could tear yourself from the wonderful machines for just a few minutes?

The Counselor's voice started off a little tentatively but by the end of her call the humor had crept back into her voice.

[MacGillivray] With a sense of finality, Norah tapped her badge, "Dr. Talt?  MacGillivray here, I’ll be right there."  Now that the decision had been taken from her, she felt a sort of calm. "I’ll be back as soon as I can, don’t solve this without me," was her parting comment.

With feet that knew their way to sickbay from the months of working on the design of this ship, her mind wandered to the coming interview.  Finding herself at the door to Dr. Talt’s office, Norah took a deep breath, trying to still her thoughts.  Putting a calm face on, she
thought, ‘Keep your story straight girl!  Keep Oz out of it, the doctor doesn’t have to know about that.’  With that thought, a sudden rush of panic coursed through her.  ‘Stop that!’ Norah thought to herself.  Trying again for the deep breath and pushing her fears and
nervousness aside, she knocked on the door.

[Talt] The Counselor's slightly muffled voice sang out from behind the closed doors.  "Come in-n!"

[MacGillivray] Pushing her trepidation to one side, Norah resolutely opened the door and entered.  One foot across the threshold, the other in mid-air, she stood as if she were playing a game of statue tag.  Slowly the foot lowered and a look of sheer amazement crossed Norah's face.  'This is definitely not what I expected,' she thought.

 A dim reddish light filled the Counselor's office.  While the illumination was still close enough to normal shipboard lighting to see by, all the colors of the walls and furniture were shifted, obscured.  The air was hot and dry.  And the sound of a continual strong wind rushed about in the corners of the room.

Against the far wall a couch was obscured by a clutter of artifacts and sculptures - all obviously Vulcan in design.  To the right of the doorway, the Counselor's desk was likewise buried in knickknacks and mementos.  Two comfortable chairs of indeterminate color (given the odd lighting) faced the desk.  Spread on the wall behind the desk was a large viewscreen currently displaying a real-time vista of Mt. Seleya.  On the wall opposite the viewscreen, a standard ship's replicator was showing signs of hard use.  Resting inside the aperture of the replicator was a large plate holding something that the carmine light made difficult to see.

Lt. Talt's cluttered desk was a bit easier to make out.  A number of things teetered dangerously near the desk edge.  Among the datapads and scarves on her desk, Lieutenant MacGillivray spotted a Klingon D'K Tahg, a small metal flute, a stuffed doll, a miniature of an Excalibur class starship, two silver enameled plates, a copper and silver necklace with a large tear-dropped shaped pendant, a small fern in clay pot, three small books, a small statue of a wooden horse, and a large ovoid sculpture of frosted glass with the words "Take Nothing, Leave Nothing, Kill Nothing" engraved over the etched image of a Defiant class starship.  There were a number of other items too obscured by the general clutter to make out.

There was no sign of the Counselor herself until a sharp thump sounded from under the desk.  Many of the objects on the desk jittered slightly and Lt. Talt emerged from under the desk rubbing the back of her head slightly.  With a rueful grin, she glanced up at Lt. MacGillivray.

"Oh! Ahhh, Lieutenant!" she paused and nibbled on her lip. "Have you seen my stylus?"

[MacGillivray]  After surveying the room slowly, Norah still felt like she had entered a dream... maybe a nightmare.  The red lighting, the heat and that wind!  Her mind was overwhelmed by all the stimuli in this office.  The wind filled her with a sense of dread.  That sound always had made her feel vulnerable.  The red lighting added to the
"dream-scape" of the office.  The heat was making her perspire under her uniform.  The amount of clutter didn't allow for her eyes to really stop anywhere for a good look.  The sheer weight of the room made her feel small and quite alone.  Norah looked for an area refuge and found it in an uncharacteristically clear chair by the desk.  Being careful not to nudge any of the precariously balanced papers on the edge, she took a seat.

It wasn't until Norah heard the sharp thump and saw Lt. Talt appear from under the desk that she realized she hadn't seen the doctor yet.  'Sheesh,' she thought '*What* is all this?'.

Still in a daze, quite like the one that is experienced when one is woken up too quickly, Norah replied, "Umm, Your stylus Dr.?  Isn't that it behind your ear?"  With a slight hesitation, she bent forward and with a flourish, whipped the pen out from behind the doctor's right ear. Slightly embarrassed by her showmanship, she reached across
the desk, offering the pen to the counselor. " Here you go Ma'am," Norah said rather stiffly.

[Talt]  Lt. Talt chuckled.  "Thank you, Lieutenant.  Darn things - I'm always losing track of them."  She smiled to MacGillivray.  Then the Counselor's head tilted to the side and her eyes took on a quizzical look.

"My.  You're looking awfully pink today, Lieutenant."  Talt's eyes widened and she quickly stifled a giggle behind one hand.  "Oh MY!  I've left 'Vulcan' up, haven't I?  Pardon me, Lieutenant MacGillivray."  Mirifice continued to laugh gently at herself as she looked around the altered room.
 
"Computer, disengage simulation Talt 7."  she said to the air.
 
The room's lighting, temperature and sound levels faded to normal shipboard standards and the image on the viewscreen gradually shifted to what looked like a real-time feed from the forward visual sensors of the Chronos.  Talt was slowly shaking her head.  A rueful grin refused to be repressed.

"Oh, Lieutenant.  I am *so* sorry.  Honestly, I . . ."

[MacGillivray] Norah's eyes blinked as they fought to readjust to the new lighting.  She shivered as the heat was lowered to normal levels.  The sudden absence of the wind left her feeling almost as desolate as the noise of it had.  'She forgot?', Norah raged silently, 'How does one *forget* that their office is a Vulcan Museum?'  Crossing her legs and
folding her arms tightly across her chest, Norah sat and waited for the Counselor to continue.

[Talt] The Counselor stepped around her desk, gesturing and shrugging.  "Well, it's just that . . . what I don't know about datacubes and temporal travel and holoprograms would just about fill the universe.  So I decided to concentrate on what I do know - People - the Commodore."

Talt continued to chatter as she walked past the chair where MacGillivray sat over to the replicator.  "I guess I thought that all this," she gestures around the office, "would help me get a little 'into his head'."  The Counselor shrugs lightly once more.  "I guess I'm getting too used to it.  I forgot that it was running.  But hopefully I can make it up to you."

Lt. Talt returned around the chair.  Her eyes twinkled and she was smiling broadly.  In her hands was a large blue plate holding six medium sized cookies.  "Would you like a cookie, Lieutenant?"

[MacGillivray]  Unbidden, O'Connell's comment (warning?) came to mind, 'Watch out for her cookies' he had said.  'One will make you big, another make you small'.  Norah wondered where *that* bit of trivia had come from.  Giving herself a shake, she unhesitatingly reached for the nearest cookie.  Lifting it off the plate, she smiled wanly at the woman facing her.  "Thank you," she said.  Placing the cookie untouched on her lap, Norah let her eyes wonder over the cornucopia of items in front of her. Norah preferred the neat, almost stark, appearance of her own quarters.  Clutter had always made her feel she was losing control.  Besides, she hated having to hunt for her belongings and would much rather just be able to reach for whatever she wanted. ‘How does she work in this mess?’, Norah thought incredulously.

Gazing again at the cookie in her lap, she thought she would appear rude if she didn’t at least taste it.  Bringing it carefully to her mouth, Norah took a delicate nibble.  She smiled and nodded, waiting for Lieutenant Talt start the interview.

[Talt]  The Counselor smiled warmly.  She placed the plate with the rest of the cookies on the desk near enough so that Lt. MacGillivray could help herself to another if she was so inclined.  Then, Mirifice blew a quick breath out and dropped bonelessly into the other chair facing the desk.

As she 'seated' herself, her arm brushed the nearby desk and a few of the teetering objects dropped to the grey carpeted floor.  Mirifice looked over the arm of her chair, and shrugging turned back to face the CEO.

A giggle was quickly stifled and the Counselor rolled her eyes.  "Oh, my.  Me and my clutter.  I'm afraid that I'm still not used to being posted to a starship.  There just never seems to be enough space."  Mirifice shook her head gently at herself, still smiling.

[MacGillivray]  Norah jumped to catch what had fallen from the desk.  Seeing the counselor's shrug, Norah resisted the urge to pick them up and hand them back.  She nodded toward Talt, agreeing with her remark that there seemed never to be enough space, though she didn't understand why *anyone* would keep so much... so much.. clutter! around.   Surprised by the force of her own thoughts, Norah took a deep breath to settle herself again.  Knees tightly together, ankles crossed, back rigidly straight in her chair, MacGillivray looked frankly toward the doctor.  'Why am I wasting my time here,' she thought to herself, 'There's work to be done!'  Squirming slightly in her seat, Norah absently brought the cookie to her mouth and took another bite.

[Talt]  Lt. Talt crossed her legs up into the chair so that she was sitting 'Indian-style'.  She leaned back and turned her gaze toward the viewscreen behind the desk.  Her eyes grew a little distant.  When she spoke again, her voice was soft and wondering.

"They're beautiful, aren't they, Lieutenant?"

[MacGillivray]  Eyes brought to the view screen by Talt's comment, Norah looked at the stars.  For a moment her expression became dreamy.  Catching herself quickly, her face re-arranged itself.  She became almost blasé.  "I suppose."  As she continued looking at the viewscreen, one star in particular seemed to twinkle brighter.  Norah was sure it was flashing just for her, and her eyes took on the far away look again.

[Talt]  The Counselor rested silently for a while, just watching the stars.  A small quiet smile played on her lips and joy shown in her eyes.  Eventually, she spoke again, quietly so as not to break the mood.

"You know, I joined Starfleet to 'see the stars' but my first three posts..." Lt. Talt's smile grows a little rueful and she shakes her head slightly, "You couldn't actually 'see' the stars from them.  Now I'm finally on a starship."  There's a touch of awe in that statement. "And I don't think I'll ever be tired of looking at them."

She glances over to Norah with a companionable smile.

[MacGillivray]  Norah nods absently, her mind still out there, with the stars.  Quietly, with a reverence that is unusual for her to show others, "I know what you mean, Counselor."  With the same dreamy voice, the engineer continues, "This ship, my ship, will bring you
them," nodding toward the viewscreen, "and back home safely.  Have no fear of that."  Her voice had taken on a note of pridefull ownership.  Slowly, Norah came back to the present, noticing the counselor's eyes on her.  Straightening herself, Norah faced Lt. Talt squarely.  "You’ll have to tell me about those posting that kept you from the stars, sometime Counselor, but for now, perhaps we can begin this evaluation," she asked brusquely.

[Talt]  The Counselor grinned hugely and then quickly hid her smile behind one hand.
 "Sorry, Lieutenant.  I didn't mean to keep you from official business.  Which reminds me.  Do you think that I could impose upon you slightly?"

[MacGillivray]  The engineer suppressed her annoyance, and sighed silently.  Once she began speaking, her natural inclination to help asserted itself.  "Of course Dr.  If I am able, I would be glad to be of assistance to you."

[Talt]  Mirifice tilted her head slightly and smiled at the starscape on the viewscreen once more.   "You see, I really *don't* know much about this ship, my home."  Her voice is equal parts wonder and self-consciousness.

"I've been studying a little with Ter . . . Lt. Sharpe.  But that's been mostly theoretical mathematics and calculations and such."

[MacGillivray]  Norah's eyebrow raised a little at the use of the familiar name during an official interview.  As quick as the thought occurred to her, it left again.

[Talt] As the Counselor speaks of Lt. Sharpe, her eyes begin to sparkle and her grin returns.  But as she turns to face Norah, her expression calms down to one of warmth.

"During the briefing this morning, I realized that I don't even know what the Chronos can and can't do.  I can't base any investigations or make any suggestions or anything concerning the ship as all whole because I don't understand it."  Lt. Talt's voice ends on a note combining frustration and a bit of . . . petulance(?).

"Anyway," Mirifice leans a little toward Norah in her chair, her face showing sincerity and mild entreaty.  "Do you think that maybe later . . . I know that you're very busy right now.  But sometime later you could see your way to giving me a layman's briefing on the Chronos?"

[MacGillivray]  Confusion wound it's way through Norah's mind.  She opened her mouth to answer with an enthusiastic positive, but after thinking for a second, replied instead, "Of course Counselor.  But you realize that even though I was in on the designing of this ship and it's engines, it'll take a while before I can tell you *exactly*what this ship is capable of."  Musing as much to herself as Talt, Norah continued, "So *much* of it was theory, so much untested... I need to see the logs of the last mission, find out what was done and what that navigational problem was."  Jumping as she caught herself talking aloud, she offered the counselor a small, self-conscious smile of apology.  "If you have a pressing need for knowledge about some part of the ship right now..."  Realizing what she was about to say, Norah trailed off, then added reluctantly, ".. feel free to 'pick my
mind', so to speak."

[Talt] The Counselor smiled warmly.  "Why, Lieutenant, that's a very gallant offer, however it's not *that* pressing a need.  It's just that sometime in the future - when you have the time," she nods to Norah, "I would really appreciate it."

[MacGillivray]  With a nod in Lt. Talt's direction, Norah visibly relaxed.  "Of course Dr. Talt, I would be honoured."

[Talt] Mirifice's face startled suddenly and she stood up.  Leaning over her desk, she picked a PADD up out of the clutter.  She turned back to Lt. MacGillivray and grinned.
 "Oh, and if you'll let me put on my 'cruise director's' hat for a moment, I'll tell you about some of the shipwide activities.  Just in case you are interested."  Talt smiles brightly and then consults her PADD as she practically sing-songs.

[MacGillivray]  With a heart felt sigh of resignation, Norah listened to the doctor's list, settled back in her chair.  'This is gonna take a while,' Norah thought to herself, 'Might as well get comfortable.'  Half her mind listened to what the doctor was saying, the other half
wandered to engineering.  She mentally went over the checklists and start up protocols and tests that would need doing before they could leave the dock.  'So much to do, so *much*.'  With barely concealed impatience, she brought herself back and made herself pay attention to the counselor.

[Talt]  "Lt. Skald hosts an open meditation session in his quarters every morning at eight o'clock."  She looks up to meet Norah's eyes. "It's really quite relaxing and makes a good start to the day.  Lt. Agoyr and myself have been attending regularly for  almost two weeks now."

"I have a open breakfast invitation to all crew members for nine o'clock in the messhall.  Though the food served can be quite . . . exotic.  But if you have a taste for spicy foods and a little gastromical adventure, it can be really fun."  Talt laughs and winks.

"Also, Lt. Skald hosts a weekly activity called D&D every Friday night at 1900 hours in the Time Out.  It's a bit hard to explain but it is fun.  Currently, Lt. Skald, myself and Lt. Sharpe are 'playing'.  Lt. O'Connell's expressed an interest and will probably be joining us for our next session.  But we could certainly use another player.  Again, there's an open invitation for all crew members."  Mirifice smiles once more but with invitation, not with expectation.

[MacGillivray]  Norah was surprised to hear about the meditation, then considered who had started it.  'Not so surprising after all' she thought with a small smile.  For the first time since entering, Norah offered Lt. Talt a smile that reached her eyes too.

"Thank you Doctor.  Perhaps once I am settled I will look into these activities.  Though they do start a little late in the day for me.  I'm afraid I've gotten into the habit of rising early.  I find I tend to get more work done while everything is still quiet."  'Besides,'
she thought, ' I like to be alone with the my ship, get a feel of how she is ....'  Her thought trailed off and she looked to the counselor again.  She suddenly felt a sort of kinship with this woman who could look with such open awe and wonder at the stars, a woman who perhaps she could share a dream with.

[Talt]  The Counselor nodded. "Of course, Lieutenant.  Quiet times are wonderful, too.  I just didn't want you to feel left out of anything.  Whenever you're ready."  Mirifice smiled warmly.
 
[MacGillivray] Norah nodded once to show she agreed.

[Talt]  A small musical chime sounded from beneath the clutter on the desk.  Mirifice gave a little pout and turned around.  Pushing aside some of the clutter - this time knocking nothing to the floor - the Counselor looked at the inlaid desk chronometer.

She looked back over to Norah.  "Oh, I'm sorry, Lieutenant.  It looks like our time together is up."

[MacGillivray]  The engineer looked startled at this pronouncement.  'Over?' she thought to herself, 'when did it start?'

[Talt] Mirifice's eyes showed a little sadness but then the twinkle came back into them.  "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to report to Dr. Zimmerman fairly soon now.  I promised him that he'd be able to do his physical evaluation promptly.  But before you go . . ."

Turning back to the desk, Lt. Talt picked up the plate.  "Would you like another cookie?"  As Mirifice turned back to Lt. MacGillivray, she accidentally caught the side of the plate against the large glass sculpture on her desk.  The resultant chiming collision tossed three of the cookies off of the plate.  One landed on the floor at Norah's feet, but the other two ended up squarely in the engineer's lap.

"Oh, MY! OH, Lieutenant, I am *so* sorry."  Mirifice blushed furiously, deep embarrassment showing in her eyes.

[MacGillivray]  Norah bent quickly to retrieve the cookie on the floor, hiding the flash of humor that threatened to break loose.  Picking it up, she gathered the other two from her lap, and with the same flourish as before, presented them to Mirifice.  "Here you are
Ma'am."

[Talt] As Norah returned the cookies, Lt. Talt repressed a giggle and dropped a slight curtsey.  "Thank you, Lieutenant."  Her grin revealed her appreciation of the humor in the situation.

[MacGillivray] Barely concealing the twinkle in her eyes, Norah placed the two back on the plate and the other the desk.  "I think I will pass on the cookies, thank you.  Have to watch my figure, you know."  With a small, comraderly smile, Norah faced the counselor.  "If there is nothing else?"  Standing at attention, Norah waited to be formally dismissed.

[Talt] The Counselor looked a little startled at Lt. MacGillivray's formal posture and paused briefly.  Then Mirifice smiled self-consciously once more.  "Oh, I'm sorry, Lieutenant.  I don't think I'll ever be caught up on all the 'official' protocols."  She shook her head slightly.  "No, Lieutenant.  That will be all."  Dr. Talt pronounced and then broke into another warm smile.  "Thank you."

Mirifice turned away and gathered up the plate to return it to the reclaimator, chuckling slightly at herself.

[MacGillivray] Norah hurried from the office, most of the conversation already gone from her mind.  She had been up for more than 24 hours now, with only a short nap on the shuttle that brought her here.  "Wherever here is," she mumbled aloud.  The name of the place didn't help at all.

She stumbled over her feet as the adrenaline from the past day began to wear off.  Just a day ago, she had been sitting at her desk at the Antares Shipyard, daydreaming about this ship.  Shaking her head wearily, she smiled ironically and reported to Dr. Zimmerman.