Morale Check

Posted on 21 Jun 2024 @ 9:17am by Lieutenant T’Mari Rael & Commodore (Brevet) Harvey Geisler

1,693 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Shattered Unity
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: June 19, 2390 || 1300 hours

The Black Hawk, Perseus, and the Valcour had been sifting through the wreckage for nearly twelve hours now. Between the three vessels, they'd recovered more than four hundred survivors, which was nearly ten percent of the original crew between the base and the four attached vessels. And then there were the two hundred or so from the Gaittithe. All of this extra personnel with nowhere to go...

Harvey didn't have to imagine how low morale was. He could see it on the eyes of every uniformed person he passed in the corridor or shared a turbolift with. The Black Hawk-B had been in service for seventeen days. Even Harvey thought months or years had passed since they'd left the -A behind. Only five days ago they'd left Gavara, and since then, the whole quadrant had turned upside down.

There was no sign that this would all let up soon. In just a few hours, the small group would depart for Gavara to rendezvous with all of Belvedere. Hopefully the crew would be able to rest on the way, and get some leisure time once they arrived. For now, he needed to get a true scope of the ship's morale. And there was only one person who could answer that.

"Geisler to Counselor Rael. What's your location?"

T’Mari was taking a breather while she had the chance, she’d been helping people non-stop and exhaustion was starting to set in. “Rael here Sir, I’m currently in the arboretum.”

Harvey paused in the corridor. He was currently deck seven, wandering about. He wasn't about to ask her to head his way, so he asked, "Do you mind if I come join you for a moment?"

“Not at all Sir, please do.” T’Mari was glad Harvey had suggested it, she had found a few moments peace and she wasn’t ready to give it up just yet.

* * *

A few minutes later, the turbolift deposited the Captain in the starboard catamaran. Harvey had no trouble finding the arboretum. Just after he stepped inside, he realized that he hadn't taken the time to actually visit it. Harvey expected it to be rather spartan for a freshly commissioned ship, but it seemed that the science department had taken upon the challenge. The room was aglow with fantastic flora from across the galaxy. In fact, the presence of so much plant life made it somewhat difficult to locate the Counselor.

He did, eventually, find her thanks to a simple process of looking around. The room was meant to be peaceful, so it certainly would not bode well to shout one's name throughout while searching. "Counselor," he greeted, approaching her from a direction that she could spot him.

“Captain” T’Mari smiled warmly. “Welcome to the oasis of peace as I’m thinking of calling it, it’s the one place where I can get away from it all for a few minutes.”

"Oasis of Peace?" Harvey repeated, stopping beside the Counselor. He took a moment to again survey their surroundings. There indeed was an odd feeling of peace, but he wasn't sure why. "It certainly sounds much nicer than Arboretum."

“It does doesn’t it?” T’Mari smiled warmly. “So What can I do for you Captain?”

Harvey smirked and chuckled, a seemingly natural reaction for a loaded question. "It's no understatement to say we've been through the ringer in the last couple of days. I wanted to get your take on not just how the survivors are doing, but our own crew as well."

“The survivors, are as expected Captain. They’re lost, they’ve not only lost their homes they’ve lost loved ones and friends. They’re all going to need Counselling to help them move on, and to accept their losses.” She paused. “As for the crew they’re feeling for their fellow officers, in shock at what they’ve witnessed, but determined to do what they can. You have a good crew here Captain, and it shows.”

The Commodore scoffed, even though he agreed with her. Just a few weeks ago, barely sixty people on board this ship had served together on the previous ship named Black Hawk. All it had taken was a week of crisis to eternally bond an entire crew together. "I'm glad you feel that way," he told T'Mari. "But if there's one thing I know for sure is that moments like these need to not be allowed to run for months on end. That tends to happen far too frequently under my command."

T’Mari nodded. “What we need is some good old exploration, a mystery to solve, or something like that” she smiled. “Let people get back to doing their normal jobs instead of being drafted for rescue operations. As important as saving others is, it’s hard on everyone involved.”

Harvey couldn't help but laugh at that. "We certainly have a mystery to solve, and that's finding out who's taking out our ships. It's certainly a challenge when we have a ship that's overcapacity and not enough access to sensors and equipment for everyone to get a piece of the action." He sighed and looked at T'Mari. "I completely agree though. Search and rescue... recovery efforts... they are difficult. We do need to get back to normal, and hopefully we'll be able to do that as soon as we link up with the rest of the task group back at Gavara."

“We can but hope” T’Mari smiled. “In the meantime I’ll do everything I can for those who need my help. I’m somewhat outnumbered right now, but I’ll do my upmost to help as many as I can.”

"Any efforts are greatly appreciated," Harvey confirmed. "That said, I have a feeling we've found just about everyone we can. Have you been able to check survivors against manifests? Hopefully there's a couple trained counselors in there that might be able to help."

“I think any Counsellors I might find are going to be struggling themselves. I don’t want to put more weight on them after what’s just happened.” T’Mari paused. “I was considering the idea of a memorial wall, for people to use to add memories of their colleagues and friends, it’s worked for other counsellors. Do you think it’d be worth a try?”

The Commodore could see her point. As someone who worked in a field hospital right after he evacuated a starbase so many years ago, he could relate. Still, there was that duty of every medical professional to stay on the line until every last critical case was tended to. He wouldn't push it for now, instead he replied, "I don't want to put more weight on anyone either, I just want to make sure you don't get overwhelmed and be unable to help yourself. The memorial wall is a great idea. I think you should move forward with that. How can I help?"

“Good question” T’Mari paused to think. “I’d like to have a medical ship to greet us, they’d have the extra counselling staff we need to take over care of the survivors. I don’t know if that’s already the plan or not?”

Harvey had expected this question, but it did not stop him from frowning. "Unfortunately, no. Later this afternoon, we'll be falling back to Gavara. A medical ship will meet us there, but that's at least two or three days away." While the strategist in him understood the decision, the physician in him hated it. Two or three days without proper medical and psychiatric care meant that too many lives were in jeopardy. And it wasn't just the wounded, there was no telling what would happen to innocent bystanders if someone cracked.

I’ll do my best to help as many as I can, there’s been no one I’d describe as a risk, yet!” T’Mari sighed. “It just worries me that I could miss warning signs.”

"It worries me, too," Harvey admitted. He could relate, having gone through several emotionally devastating experiences throughout the war, and again in just a few short years in this quadrant. "If we can't count on the medical personnel among the survivors, then it may be best to loop in Commander Di Pasquale. The security teams will need to be vigilant until we get to Gavara."

“I think that’s a very good idea, distraught people do uncharacteristic things.” T’Mari picked up a PADD she had lying on the grass. “I’ll forward a list of behaviours to be on the look out for, just incase.”

"Much appreciated," the Commodore confirmed. "Anything else we need to be aware of? Or anything you'd observed that merits caution or action?"

“To be honest any number of things.” T’Mari paused. “There are people onboard who’ve lost all they had, not just belongings but family too, desperate people do desperate things. I’d be on the lookout because desperation can cause out of the blue actions. It’s not pretty when things go south, I’ve been through it once it’s not something I’d care to repeat.”

"Tell me about it," Harvey sighed, speaking rhetorically. "All right. Make sure Commander Reynolds and Commander Di Pasquale both get this list. I think with all of the traffic on board, keeping the survivors to designated areas would be a good idea, at least until we can settle reassignments."

T’Mari nodded. “I’ll do my best to keep any incidences between people in hand, I know it’s hard right now I just hope we can avoid any major problems.”

Harvey nodded in agreement. "Do your best, Counselor. And don't be afraid to ask for help. Just because we're all stretched thin doesn't mean that any of us have to go it alone."

T’Mari nodded. “Thank you Sir, I’ll do my best.” She offered a warm smile before standing to head on her way. It was time to get back to work.

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