Settling In...

Posted on Thu Jun 30th, 2011 @ 9:43pm by Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn

Mission: The Fate of the Swiftsure
Location: USS Iapetus - Chief Counselor's Office
Timeline: MD2 0925 hrs

Lieutenant Elizabeth Lynn had thought to go to her quarters first, which was normally what she did when she moved to a new place. That thought was curtailed when she considered that her belongings weren't overly cumbersome given that her life could fit in three small shipping trunks no larger than standard foot lockers. The order to deck two soon changed to deck seven, where her office resided and the majority of her sessions would likely take place. It wasn't altogether likely that she would spend much time in that office the first week or so while she reviewed the work of the junior counselor who had been the mainstay of the crew's mental health. All Liz knew of the woman was that... she was a woman and her name was Duvall... granted, that was a last name, but it was something.

Lieutenant Lynn stepped off the turbolift on deck seven and found her way, thanks in no small part to the terminals that pointed her in the right direction, to her office. Upon entering, she came face to face, in a manner of speaking, with her junior counselor who was sitting at what would be her desk from now on. At first, the woman didn't know Liz from a Ferengi, which was normal since they hadn't met and no one had told it on the mountain tops that Elizabeth was her new boss. Still, it was a bit annoying to see someone in her desk, regardless of the extenuating circumstances...

"Lieutenant Duvall, I believe..." Liz stated more so than she asked.

"That's right, ma'am, can I help you?" Marie asked, sitting a little straighter.

"Yes... you can get out from behind my desk," Liz said with a bit of a frown.

"Your desk?" the woman asked in confusion before she realized she'd seen a report about a senior counselor transferring aboard, "Are you Lieutenant Lynn?"

"No, I'm the Easter bunny..." Liz huffed much the same way as her father had when she'd asked him such foolish questions at night when he'd come home from shift late.

Another puzzled look from the woman greeted Liz, but at least after the sarcasm had settled in, the woman removed herself from the chair and came around to face Liz properly. Lt. Duvall was a tad shorter... by no more than a millimeter or so... and looked every bit the part of a counselor. She had the cheerful demeanor, the pretty face, the huge chest...

Liz folded her arms under her somewhat small breasts and pushed them up unconsciously, not wanting to feel too outdone by the busty woman before her, "So, tell me what you've been working on so I know what I can expect from the crew."

"Of course, ma'am," Marie said, turning back to the desk to retrieve a few PADDs, "I'd been compiling a list of things you might find interesting. Most of these will likely become your patients since they are a bit beyond my scope of experience to deal with properly. I've also prepared the monthly record and treatment reviews for you. I'd been sending them directly to Starfleet Medical for review, but most of them take months to come back to me, which slows treatment considerably."

"This is your first posting?" Liz asked.

"Yes it is... I only just finished my residency before coming here. It was a bit of a shock to be the only counselor on board. I'll admit, I was relieved when I heard you were coming..." Marie confessed with a bit of an exhalation of breath.

"I'm sure you were..." Lieutenant Lynn said absentmindedly. She had already started looking over the records and had spotted several mistakes in her diagnoses of patients. Most of them were harmless overlooks, and nothing she'd done in error would hurt the patients' treatment if corrected. It gave her something to do if nothing else.

"I'll take about a week to review them all. In the mean time, I want you to suspend all your appointments until I've sifted through all this. Once I'm done and have corrected any errors, we'll restart treatments and I'll place you under the proper supervisory regiment. I'll give you more details as the month progresses. Oh, by the way, do you have any person effects in here?" Liz said after stopping at the third patient on the review list.

"A few things, yes..." the woman nodded.

"Take the day to clear out your stuff. I'm going to take these and head up to my quarters to unpack. Once you're done moving into the office next door, you have the rest of the day off. Go mingle with friends or something..." Lt. Lynn said as she made the move toward the door.

"Thank you ma'am... and it was nice meeting you," Marie said with a kind smile.

"Oh, trust me, you'll see enough of me soon to make you wish you'd never laid eyes on me at all," Liz countered in a sly manner that was accompanied by a malicious grin. Before the woman could respond to it, Liz was out of the office and back in the corridors, on her way to a turbolift and the quarters that would be her official home...