Alicia’s Counselling session

Posted on Tue Oct 27th, 2020 @ 2:56am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik

Mission: SEASON 4: Episode 1: Know Thy Self!
Location: Deep space 16
1105 words - 2.2 OF Standard Post Measure

{ON}

Alicia sat in the waiting room of the counsellor’s offices, having been summoned for her turn she left Connor safely with Savar and had made her way here. Now she sat waiting to be called hoping she would be able to answer the questions that would be asked.

"Alicia?" A motherly looking ktarian beckoned her forward. "Please come through."

The counsellor's office was appointed in calm tones and soft lights. Two comfy chairs with a coffee table to the side, a glass of water waiting next to each chair. "I'm Maronil. Take a seat."

"Thank you very much" Alicia smiled politely as she took a seat. Being a Counsellor herself didn't make the having to have this session any easier.

"How do you want to do this?" Maronil asked. "We both know this is too soon for any serious evaluation. Do you want to free vent, we can box tick, or talk specifics?"

Alicia paused to think, “Let’s talk specifics. It’s probably the best way to start for now.”

"Alright then. Tell me about the incident. When were you first aware things were wrong?"

“Let me think” Alicia frowned it seemed like a long time ago. “I was on the bridge for my usual shift. The Captain seemed to be acting strangely, at the time we didn’t know she’d been replaced by a mirror universe version of herself.”

"The captain had been replaced? For how long?"

“I think she was replaced overnight but I don’t know the exact details.” Alicia paused. “It was the out of character actions of her mirror self that made us doubt her. Commander Taylor’s mirror self had our Captain captive, he made us watch her being tortured to force the Commander to hand over the ship. If he hadn’t our Phoenix Lalor would have died there and then.”

"And how did that feel, having to watch that?"

Alicia paused. “It was ... painful, in more than one way. Being an empath I sensed not just her pain but that of the crew as well.”

Maronil folded her hands in her lap. "That was what you sensed. I meant what did you, Alicia, feel?"

Alicia looked at Maronil. “I ... felt sorry for the Captain, I wanted to do something to help her but I didn’t know what to do! I guess I felt ... helpless.”

Maronil nodded. "could you have done anyting different?"

Alicia shook her head. “There was nothing we could do at the time! At least not anything that wouldn’t have gotten the Captain killed.” She sighed. The most disturbing thing was me ... her ... the mirror version of me. She was Captain Taylor’s woman!”

The ktaarian nodded. "Interesting. That you define her as an adjunct to someone else. Was it that that disturbed you, or that she was attached to the version of a superior officer?"

“I ..” Alicia paused. “Maybe ... both.” She paused again. “I thought she was as bad as him but it turns out she just did what she had to do to survive. They had a son Connor, he’s a year old, she gave him up to us so she could save his life. She wanted him to be safe and away from Taylor. Savar and I have him now he’s our son and we’re also expecting a baby of our own.”

"Thats a lot to take on."

Alicia nodded. “It is but I’ve got a lot of support. I’ve got my husband Savar, then there’s Jess ... she helped feed Connor when we needed it. There’s also Gary ... Commander Taylor, he’s accepted that Connor was the child of his mirror self and he wants to be a part of Connor’s life.” She smiled warmly.

"Then you got something positive out of it. So beyond acquiring a baby, did anything else happen once the ship was surrendered,"

“After the ship was surrendered, we were taken to a station where they kept their slaves. All the crew were dropped onto the station and left to fend for themselves.” Alicia paused. “All the slaves were collared and telepaths were collared with a special collar that blocked our senses. At least those that were caught, some of the crew managed to make a resistance cell onboard the ship.”

"And where were you? With the resistance,, or on the station?"

“On the station. I finally met up with Savar in their sickbay, that’s where I found out I was pregnant. Savar got me out of there and we spent the first night alone hiding from the dogs that were released on the station every night. After that we found some of our crew and made a larger group of survivors.”

"So you managed to keep much of your agency. That's positive. And so how did you escape? In the end?"

“A combined group of our crew freed all the prisoners to cause a revolt, they retook the ship and beamed us all onboard.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s never felt so good to be back home.”

Maronil smiled "I can't disagree. thats one hell of an adventure." She leant forward. "So, now you're back, and all your colleagues and clients have shared that trauma. How are you planning to handle that?"

“To be honest I have no idea!” Alicia paused. “I have a good counselling staff, the best! We will help each other through this, we can’t fail and we won’t.”

"But Counsellors shouldn't be emotionally involved with their clients." Maronil pointed out. "And this situation is liable to trigger traumatic memories in the counsellor as much as their clients."

Alicia nodded. “That’s true, but at the same time it gives us a unique perspective into the situation. Besides who else is going to be there to help the crew when we’re out in space? We’re all they have.”

Maronil nodded. it was a valid perspective. "In that case, as one professional to another, I'd recommend filing a contingency plan in case there are issues. As counseIor to patient, I'm not seeing any immediate cuases for concern. I am going to ask you to have a folow up in twelve weeks."

Alicia nodded. “Twelve week’s it is. If there’s any problems before then ... we’ll like I said the ship has good counselling support.”

"If there's any issues before then, you can call us here." Marinil offered. "We're equipped for holoprescence sessions, if you need them."

Alicia nodded. “I’ll do that and thank you.”

"You're welcome. Good luck, Alicia."

{OFF}