thor Lt. Cmdr. Alex Brodie “Life Finds A Way”

[Alieth]

I have always regarded the position of counsellor as one of the most difficult positions on a starship by far. Their work schedule is usually the opposite of the rest of the crew's (being busier on shoreleaves than on missions) and they have such an open and flexible position that there are many times when I personally have a hard time to find their spot If i put myself in their shoes.

Only for that, this sim merits a special mention, but if we add to that Brodie's wonderful prose, how he woven together the writings and stories of other crew members and the clarity with which he advises and counsels, I think it is a reference sim for anyone who wants to write a counsellor.
Outstanding work, as usual @Alex Brodie

 

 

Quote

“Life Finds A Way”

((USS Ra, Bajoran Wormhole))

 

Brodie: Why the relics…are they bribe in case we encounter one of the Prophets?

 

The Captain shrugged in a non-committal fashion.

 

Kells: I kind of thought they were an effort to make us less profane (beat) or blasphemous, even. A kind of mobile blessing we can take along with us. (another beat) But honestly, I'm not sure.

 

Brodie: I can see that…I can certainly see why we would want to appear less intrusive. ::He glanced out of the view screen at the swirling masses in the wormhole:: Did the ministers or Vedek Assembly give any idea of what they actually are?

 

Kells: No, I couldn't get much from them, except that we had to take the relics if we were going to attempt this.

 

Brodie: Well, I can certainly appreciate the need to respect customs…and I definitely wouldn’t want to offend any deities if we can avoid it. We’ve had more than enough excitement lately.

 

Brodie turned his attention back to the monitors – everything seemed to be running fine enough. He felt the air change slightly before the question came.

 

Kells: Can I ask you something?

 

Alex turned in his seat to face Kells…he wasn’t sure he was going to like what came next.

 

Brodie: You can ask me anything you want, Captain, it’s sort of part of the job. What’s on your mind?

 

It occurred to Alex as he said it that he’d not had a great deal of time dealing with Aron Kells. He’d been all over the ship on Vel Maijan and then following the Gormagander pod…both men were still in the ‘feeling-out’ phase of their relationship.

 

Kells: Geoff. (beat) I'm not asking you to betray any confidences. But I want to be sure I'm not pushing my expectations on him unnecessarily. I don't know what you all went through in that slipstream. If I'm pushing him too quickly to come to terms with what happened...

 

He’d wondered if it would have been something like this. The man had left the Thor in one piece and had returned to find it in one piece…albeit mangled and near the point of destruction. It was reasonable to assume that it was the same for the crew and his first officer in particular.

 

Brodie: What happened was a life-changing moment – for a lot of us. I’m under no illusions that it’s going to have affected everyone to some extent. I have to say though, it had hit Geoff extremely hard. This isn’t the first time he’s lost someone under his command…although the scale is unprecedented.

 

Kells: ???

 

Brodie: His greatest virtue is his greatest curse – he cares…and he wants to fix things. It’s what makes us who we are…why we’re driven to do the things we do. ::He gestured around him:: You’re inquisitive by nature…which is what takes you to places like this…you want to understand. Geoff sees problems and has to find a solution…only sometimes...you have to accept that something is unfixable.

 

Kells: ???

 

Brodie: He will cope, in time…but he’s going to need some support to get there. I’d certainly recommend keeping him close by on our next assignment, wherever possible. I think he’d benefit from seeing you and your leadership style and knowing that he doesn’t carry that ultimate responsibility…at least, that he doesn’t carry it alone.

 

Kells: ???

 

Brodie: Life finds a way. I’ll be following up with him for sure…as well as some of the other senior staff. Hopefully command will give us some nice slow paced orders…we’re more or less on a shakedown cruise.

 

Kells: ???

 

TAG/TBC

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Lt. Cmdr. Alexander Brodie

Chief Counselor

USS Thor NCC-82607

Writer ID.: A239005BM0