The Calm After the Storm

Posted on Tue Jul 8, 2025 @ 12:04am by Lieutenant T'Lul & Lieutenant JG Anson Lee

2,405 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Time After Time
Location: Counselor's Office
Timeline: MD09 - morning

Anson was late. Ten minutes spent trying to find his comm badge, only to find it was right where he'd left it, but he'd set a PADD on top of it, hiding it from view. He ran a hand over his head, trying to get his hair to lay flat. He hadn't had a chance to comb it before he'd taken off at an almost jog to try and make up for lost time. The mandatory post combat sessions were a formality, but it never hurt to look presentable.

T'Lul knew that Anson was late. Her internal chronometer confirmed what the external chronometer read. She had learned from years of counseling that Terrans were not often exact on their timing, which, if she found to be inconvenient. IF she were human, she might claim the emotion of that habit being annoying. However, she was unwilling to do so at this time. She was about to hit her commbadge to find the Lieutenant when she heard the chime at her door. "Come in," she ordered flatly.

Anson was already apologizing as he walked through the door. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. I know I'm late. New quarters, not everything really has a place yet. Takes forever to find anything --" He stopped. He'd never heard of a Vulcan counselor before. Not that there was a rule against it. It just wasn't something you expected. Though, a lot of the mental health techniques they learned at the Academy were about using logic to process your emotions, so maybe it wasn't that weird. "Hi. Lt. Anson Lee. Again, sorry about being late."

"Your apology is noted," T'Lul responded simply. "Please take a seat and make yourself comfortable. Barring anything unusual, we should still be able to handle your mental fitness exam before my next appointment."

Despite being told to make himself comfortable, he sat up straight in the chair, unconsciously mimicking T'Lul's posture. "So, what do you want to know?"

T'Lul raised her eyebrow when she noticed that Anson had mimicked her posture. "Tell me about yourself to start," T'Lul answered.

The question was so wide open, Anson didn't know where to start. He floundered a moment before saying, "I don't know. I grew up on Earth. Uh, I have an older brother."

"OK," T'Lul affirmed. "No sisters, then? Where on Earth? The planet has many places to be from."

"No, no sisters. Just the one brother. I grew up in Singapore. It's an island on the other side of the ocean from San Francisco and the Academy." That wasn't completely accurate, but close enough for people to get the general idea of where he was from.

"Singapore? As I recall that is historically an Asian city-state in the South China Sea, once part of Malaysia. Is that correct?"

"That sounds about right. Along with a few other countries over the centuries. Earth history is, like, endlessly changing borders."

"So are people," T'Lul observed. Oriented as to time, place, and manner, so that is something. "So, tell me more about yourself. Your likes. Your dislikes."

"Mmmm." Anson thought it over. "Well, I like rock climbing in my off hours. I like helping people. Hence, you know, Security. After the fight with the Cardassians, I can say I definitely don't like being shot at, though I guess that's less a dislike and more just common sense."

"It is not incorrect to say that you dislike something regardless of whether it is common sense or not. Some people actually receive an adrenaline rush from being shot at. I do not recommend it; but I say it for purposes of illustration. As to helping people, that is a laudable trait, though usually such people go into counseling. Why did you choose security?"

"I'm not really the brainy type. More the chase down the bad guy and tackle him type. And I like working with a team."

"I see," T'Lul replied, making a note on a PADD. "Yet, you were able to get into Starfleet. So, you must have had some special talents."

Anson shrugged and grinned. "I can chase down the bad guys and tackle them."

T'Lul decided to try a different tactic, as Anson was being repetitive. "What made you want to join Starfleet?"

"Like I said, I like helping people. Plus, I like meeting new people, and you get a lot of that in Starfleet. My roommate at the Academy was an Andorian. Made for some interesting arguments over the thermostat."

This Lieutenant does not like to talk much. Maybe we should get to the point. "Tell me about your experiences in the most recent battles."

Anson shifted in his chair. "I got shot at. Which was new and not fun. I mean, yeah, it's part of security work, but my last posting, I mostly dealt with people taking a swing at me. Which, also not fun, especially when they manage to connect, but it just feels more.... fair. Like, if someone wants to hurt you, they should have to look you in the face while they do it, instead of at a distance."

"I am curious. Why do you make that distinction?"

"I don't know." Anson thought it over. "I guess because up close, you have a chance to respond, to stop them. Plus, anyone can pick up a phaser and shoot it. I get that some like them, because you don't need the strength of nine bulls and two tigers, but it just adds insult to injury if you get shot by a child or something."

"A child could still stab you with a knife, so I fail to understand the distinction."

"Not from a distance, they couldn't," Anson pointed out.

"No?" T'lul asked, raising an eyebrow. "The child could not throw it at you and cause a stab wound?"

Anson snorted. "This is real life, not a holosuite program."

"I fail to see how a child could not accomplish such a feat in real life."

"Possible? Sure. Probable? No. Most knives aren't weighted for throwing. Even when they are, it takes practice to throw them with anything resembling accuracy, not to mention actually getting them to hit point first and with enough force. If they manage to actually hit you, you're more likely to get some other part of the knife and end up with a heck of a bruise."

T'Lul nodded. She knew that this was a fact but it was good to hear that the Lieutenant understood this. He obviously had knowledge affiliated with his position. "But there is the possibility," T'Lul answered. "Life has infinite possibilities. Discounting them is not often a wise choice."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not planning to worry much about being crushed to death under a pile of breeding Tribbles while I sleep." Anson and his Academy roommate used to play 'Worst way to die' when they started getting loopy from studying for finals.

"I am not certain how that is relevant to our current discussion."

"It's one of life's infinite possibilities, right?" Anson said.

"It is; however, the discussion was regarding your opinion that it would be insult to injury if shot with a phaser by a child. I just took your thread to its logical conclusion, trying to understand why there should be any difference between battle close up and far away. The result is the same: violence."

"I get that it's not logical. It's just how it feels. Or maybe it's because I've had people take swings at me before, but this was my first time getting shot at. Either way, I'll take fists over phasers."

"I see," T'Lul answered. "So, do you think that you could face phaser fire again in the future, if it was required?"

His first instinct was to say 'of course,' but he made himself stop and think. "If it was required? Yeah. I'm not going to be volunteering to be a target, because I have some self-preservation instinct, and that's what Marines are for. But if it was required."

"Have you had any nightmares or lost sleep thinking about your battle?"

"A couple times," Anson admitted. "Not the first night. That night, I was so tired I fell asleep with my boots on, which-- really not comfortable. But I had a couple nights where it was hard to fall asleep. But only a couple times. You have to learn some basic techniques for that kind of thing at the Academy if you're Security. Not my best night's sleep ever, but they worked."

"Is your sleep undisturbed now? Have their been any other occurrences other than the couple times that you mentioned?"

"Only middle of the night calls about security incidents." Anson shrugged. "It goes with the territory."

"But those are events that require your attention, not bad dreams. Right?"

"Right. I've never really been one for nightmares, except when it was time for finals. I'd have dreams about a class I'd forgotten to go to. But I haven't even had that one."

"Have you noticed any abnormalities in your life since the battle other than the ones that you've mentioned?"

Anson tilted his head, staring up at the ceiling as he considered the question. "I mean, yes, but also no. Most of them are just getting used to a new posting. Things like waking up in the morning and thinking my bed is on the wrong side of my quarters. Or thinking I need to consult someone who doesn't work here. Stuff like that."

"I see," T'Lul answered flatly. "So, you would attribute that to new location and not any sort of stress...."

"I don't know," Anson admitted. "It all happened at the same time. And transfers are stressful. I ended up breaking up with my girlfriend. We weren't serious enough to have had the 'what happens if one of us is transferred' talk, so it makes sense. But it's a lot all at once, you know?"

"I understand." The Vulcan let the words hang in the air for a few moments before continuing. "Why did you break up with your girlfriend? When did that occur?"

"Like I said, we weren't serious enough to have had the transfer discussion. If you're not serious enough to have had that discussion, you're not really serious enough to do the long distance thing. We'd only been dating about three, four months. And I talked to her before packing, so...." Anson thought through the timeline. "Maybe two hours before I left?"

"Three or four months? So, that would be out of the infatuation stage and starting to get into the reality phase. It appears based on your description, that you never considered her for serious relationship."

"That's a pretty big assumption." Anson frowned. "Maybe Vulcans always know that fast, but for humans, it varies. Maybe if we'd had more time, it would have been different. I don't know. Anyway, I never even said who suggested breaking up."

"Would you like to clarify that point?" T'Lul did not want to expand upon Vulcan mating rituals. Most were logical but others...especially during pon farr....

"Which one?" Anson asked. "I made several. My main point is that if I'd found about about my transfer more than a few hours beforehand, and wasn't in a rush to throw all my stuff in a bag, and we'd had time to actually talk about the fact that I was not just leaving, but leaving for an assignment where I was much more likely to get shot than on Utopia Planitia, we might have decided not to break up. Honestly, neither of us actually suggested it. We both just assumed that's what we were going to do. You can't do the long-distance thing if you haven't talked about the long-distance thing, and we didn't have time. Like I said, maybe it's different for Vulcans. You do the whole," he vaguely gestured his hands toward each other, "bond thing, right? So probably less need for talking."

"Bonding does occur; however, it does not occur without many considerations. However, I believe that you made an assumption with your ex that is not universally true. Many people get transferred with little or no notice and without discussion, give the long-distance relationship a try. It can work, if both parties make the effort. Based on your response, however, it seems that you were not willing to do so."

His first instinct was to be annoyed at being told what he thought, but he made himself stop and consider. Getting annoyed with the counselor was a good way to get stuck seeing the counselor again. "Maybe. I think we were headed there. To being serious enough for the long distance thing. But we weren't there yet. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it would have fizzled out anyway, and the transfer just sped up the timeline."

"Perhaps it is something to consider and revisit?" T'Lul asked, wondering why Anson's views were so fatalistic.

Anson shrugged. "I don't see why. We broke up. Yeah, if the timing had been different, we might have made different choices, but I can just as easily say that if things had been different, if she'd been assigned to, I don't know, dry dock's engineering team, we might have never met. Like you said earlier, life has infinite possibilities. But I don't have infinite spare time, so I don't spend a lot of time worrying about them."

"That is a wise philosophy," T'Lul replied soberly. She paused for several moments, "I believe that you are in sufficient condition to resume duty. I have some concerns with the multitude of negative experiences that you have had recently. If at any point you are experiencing sadness, melancholy, anxiousness, or any other abnormal system, I would ask that you contact me immediately."

Anson considered. "I'm guessing you mean unusual sadness. Because I'm human. We can get sad over lots of things. Like if I drop my dessert. Or if my favorite shirt is dirty when I want to wear it."

"True, but if those are things that you would not normally be more than mildly annoyed, you may wish to consult with me regardless."

"Depends on the dessert. By, yeah, I can do that."

T'Lul privately wondered why dessert would make anyone annoyed, but she filed the thought while she watched Anson leave.



Lt. Anson Lee
Asst. Chief of Security
Deep Space 5

and

Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor
Deep Space 5

 

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