WOMEN!

Posted on Thu Oct 23, 2025 @ 10:43pm by Lieutenant T'Lul & Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon

3,027 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Chicken Run
Location: Counseling
Timeline: MD01

A few moments after Ace left the Arboretum, he stopped in the middle of the corridor, lost in his own thoughts. What in the hell just happened? How am I the bad guy here? What in the world did I do and why in the hell do I care? It isn't like I can't find a new woman in five nanoseconds? His stomach turned in a knot. What the hell is this feeling? ARGH! This is infuriating!

The Assistant Chief Operation Officer's feet started moving. I can walk this off, right? Rub some dirt on it and get back in the game, right? As if his own body answered him, he found himself slouching and his feet reluctantly moving forward. Whatever this sensation was, he did not like it. Besides, how in the hell did all these animals get loose? And why in the hell could they just not beam them all back to wherever these God forsaken animals came from.

That was a good point, Ace told himself. So, he headed over to ops and started exploring the scanners and transporters. They seemed operational, but whenever he tried to beam an animal anywhere, he picked up nothing. "This is their fault," he concluded, thinking about Matilda, Bri, and Paula. "If Bri had just let me do my job.... I should be able to solve this without an issue...."

Ace looked over at an unlucky young, gangly freckle faced ensign and said, "Ensign Tyme, take over. I'm going for a walk...."

Ace huffed heavily as he left ops. I need to sort this out. I can't concentrate! I need to solve this. Fuming, he started considering the situation. Women! I need to get them off my mind. What in the hell do I do? An epiphany struck him. The Counselor is a Vulcan and ostensibly female. Though, Vulcans tend to be computerish in their thinking, which actually could be useful. Never thought that I would see that strange one, but she probably could logically explain this all and solve it for me.

Moments later, T'Lul heard a chime at her office door. Curiously she called out, "Come in."

Ace barged into the room. "OK. How do we do this?"

"Do what?" T'Lul asked, even though she suspected what Ace meant. Statistically speaking, Ace Cannon was one of the least likely people to come into her office for any sort of counseling.

"This counseling thing. I don't know how to do it. Never really saw a need for it."

That confirms my original premise. This experience should prove unique. "Well," T'Lul started, gesturing to a seat. "Perhaps you could just sit down and tell me what brought you here today and why you think that I might be able to help."

Ace sat down easily, "Well, it is simple. I kind of figured that you would be the perfect person, excuse me, Vulcan for the job. I need you to help me sort this out logically because I, for one, do not understand anything of what just happened, why I am having difficulty focusing on my job, and what these sensations I'm experiencing are."

T'Lul answered, "I do not take offense at the proverbial phase of being human. I cannot be offended. I am Vulcan." She shrugged lightly, as if that should have been obvious. "Perhaps a bit of background would be helpful to my understanding your problem, so I can assist you with your conundrums."

"Sure. I guess that makes sense," Ace answered easily. "So, this goes back, I guess, before the Cardassian invasion. There's this seriously hot Lieutenant named Brianthe Oaxaca who works in the Arboretum. She's a scientist. So, when I was only here a few days, I had to help her and Commander Wells in the Arboretum with repairs. They had been neglected for days prior to my arrival. Anyways, I asked her on a date, and she pretty much blew me off." He sighed and smiled lightly at the memory. "Normally, that's not an issue. There's always another fish in the sea, well, woman. It is not a big deal, but I found myself going back to the Arboretum and then asking her out again, which is particularly out of character for myself. After an adventure that basically was me, her, Wells, and Wells' boyfriend, she finally agreed to a date at Giuliani's. So, Bri and I went on the date and in the course of the date, I found out that her parents were basically pimping her out, which started her dysfunction with me, and that her ex-fiancé' ghosted her, which I'm pretty sure cemented it. Well, when I found that out, I knew I couldn't sleep with her. I mean, she's messed up. But will she do anything about it? NNNNOOOOOoooooOOOOOO! Of course not! She's stubborn."

Vulcan raised an eyebrow and immediately considered that the proverbial pot might be calling the kettle black. Nonetheless she patiently listened to Ace as he continued.

"Anyways, I already put all this effort into her, so I really could not just ditch her. That wouldn't be right and well, she's hot! So, I couldn't just walk away from that. So, I was stuck in limbo." He sighed. "By the end of the night, I decided that she would be my first female friend, and she seemed good with that. So, we've been dancing a lot, well, until a bit before whole Cardassian invasion and then she was on Pangea most of the time. So, until she got back more recently, we were a bit out of touch."

He paused before continuing, "Anyways, a couple days before the invasion, we got this hot redheaded engineer who sort of doubles in Ops. Her name is Ensign Matilda Cromwell. Well, she's a disobedient little thing. Feisty. I like that." There was a pleased lengthened hiss on the "s" in "feisty," as Ace said it. "So, after our initial meeting, I took her to Giuliani's and she was bothered by Naomi."

Ace paused for a moment to explain to T'Lul, "Naomi was the waitress that Bri and I had. Bri insisted that I dance with Naomi because Naomi had goo-goo eyes for me. I never did anything with her. She's, well, not a challenge in any way and is essentially a dime a dozen. I mean, I could have her any time I wanted her, which is only fun to a point. Anyways, Naomi and Matilda did not get along and Tilly (That is Matilda) and I ended up getting some take out, going to my place, and did the Horizontal Bop. Tilly has a lot of energy and consumes a lot of energy. I swear, I've never seen a woman eat so much. But, yes, she's quite fun. So, I've been hanging with her for some time. I hadn't gotten bored with her yet, anyways."

T'Lul considered this new information. His description of Tilly is similar to that of Bri. She's hot. Physical attributes are apparently important to Ace, as well as sexual performance. I did not hear anything about Tilly being damaged, but I also am not hearing any undercurrents of anything other than him enjoying a physical relationship.

"Though, when I mentioned the station breaks down a lot, especially the Arboretum, Tilly decided that she just had to go there to check it out. Why in the world did she insist on doing that? I explained to her that the Arboretum is my pet project and she should not concern herself with it."

The Vulcan Counselor blinked. He staked a claim to the Arboretum? And he essentially told a woman that he was physically involved with and likely has feelings for him that she should not go to the Arboretum. He should know that she is going to go there, shouldn't he? After all, he basically said there was something there he wanted to keep secret. So any person would naturally want to know why if he was not telling that person why. It is only logical. She only wondered when that was going to happen in this story.

"Then the invasion occured. So, when the invasion was going on, I naturally went to check on the Arboretum to keep it safe and protected for Bri. That's what friends do, right?"

T'Lul gave an affirming nod but silently considered that Ace had deeper feelings for this Brianthe than a mere friendship. He obviously cared a great deal about what this Bri thought of him and he was acting protective of Bri's territory, which he could not claim. More information was required for her to make an assessment, but everything that he had said so far implied that Ace did not understand his emotions particularly well, was not particularly astute, and demonstrated an infatuation with Brianthe.

"Unfortunately," Ace continued, "I ran into her assistant, Paula." He shook his head and sighed heavily. "Talk about the most miserable woman you have ever met.... I mean, the only reason I went there was to protect the Arboretum from the Cardassians. I stupidly forgot a phaser and she mocked me for that. Then, I dragged her out of the Arboretum so no Cardassians would hurt her. After all, Bri would have had my hide if Paula got hurt. Anyways, I had to get the torpedoes online, so while we were going down there, we were attacked by Cardassians and I saved her butt several times. Did she thank me? NOOOOOOOOooooOOOOOOO! All she did was taunt me the entire time. Insufferable woman! And boy, did she fly off the handle when I suggested that maybe we could reroute the torpedo controls to the Arboretum so that I could protect the Arboretum and defend from Cardassians at the same time. I never did it, but for crying out loud! It was an idea!"

T'Lul's eyebrows narrowed downwards. The man lacks logic. Yet, he came here claiming to seek it. Illogical. If he took this Paula away from the Arboretum to safeguard her from the Cardassians then why would he reroute controls to the Arboretum where he feared that Cardassians might be coming to in the first place? This Paula was right to be angry with him regarding that thought. It was illogical. Nonetheless, there is continued focus on this Brianthe, the Arboretum, and pleasing her.

"Anyways, you know how the invasion ended," Ace said for a transition.

The Vulcan mused to herself, Actually, I know two ways that it ended. In one of them, you did not survive the second battle after the station was taken over. Admittedly, you were somewhat useful in the resistance, working undercover at the Box of Delights. The Vulcan's face went flat as she thought, Your absence, Yolanthe, is notable and undesired.

"So, now we have this problem with the animals running amuck, as you have no doubt heard in the announcement. Tilly took it upon herself to head to the Arboretum, even though I told her not to. She even defied my order to not go there when she told me she was on her way. So, when I went down there, I found myself surrounded by all three of these women. Tilly defied me and pretty much outed our trysts in front of Bri, without saying it. I was not pleased and begged her to go before I wrote her up. I mean, why would I do that? I should have just wrote her up, right? Then Paula started acting crazy and I put her in her place with a comment about her being a mistake that her mother and father made. Bri told me to get out of there because she asked for Matilda, not me! So, I think she was already mad at me before I got there and I don't know why. Worse, she defended Paula, who is completely insufferable. After all of this, I tried to get back to work and found that I couldn't concentrate. I have to fix the transporters or whatever is going on so we can get these animals under control, but I'm here. Why is that?!" Ace finally exclaimed.

You don't really want the answer, T'Lul thought to herself. You can't digest it, yet. You can't admit to it. You care about Matilda as something more than a casual partner, which is obvious from the nickname. But, you have romantic inclinations towards Bri, which you cannot admit to yourself because of some sort of problem in your past, which is why you were so quick to recognize her problems. It also is why you keep focused on the Arboretum. You don't want to take on her problems because you would have to face your own. Yet, you want to be with her. It is patently obvious. However, as you can digest none of this, we will have to take this in baby steps.

"May I call you Ace?" T'Lul finally asked.

"Sure," he answered simply.

"Do you have any idea why Bri might have been upset with you?"

Ace sighed, "Well, she said I insulted her assistant, Paula."

"There is that," T'Lul stated. "Go on."

"Well, she called Tilly and not me to come down there," he continued.

"Uh huh," T'Lul answered, encouraging him to consider it further.

"Maybe Paula said something about the invasion to her?" Ace offered. "I don't think Tilly said anything about our situationship to her before that. Do you?"

"You and Bri are friends," T'Lul countered. "That's what you said. Why would you have not told her about your situationship, as you call it, with Tilly, or be concerned that Bri knew about it?"

"Well, I really don't think it is any of Bri's business who I hook up with. I mean, why WOULD I tell her?"

"Indeed, why would you?" T'Lul asked raising an eyebrow.

Ace's face started to redden. "Just what are you trying to imply?!"

"The fact that you ask that question, Ace, suggests that you know the answer to your own question and mine."

Ace crossed his arms across his chest.

The Counselor continued, "If you would like, I could meet with you and Bri together and perhaps I could both of you at the same time?"

Ace's eyes grew wide. "Oh, no! No, no, no. I don't think that's necessary. I just need to get out of this funk, so I can work. All this will blow over, and then everything will be fine."

"I doubt you will listen to my advice, but I will give it regardless, as you came seeking my assistance. You may not be ready to hear what I am saying now, but if your problems continue, perhaps you will remember what I say. You need to talk with Bri. A real heart to heart talk, not one that is filled with innuendo. Everything that you have told me comes back to her: Your desire to protect the Arboretum. Your desire to keep Paula safe, even if you do not like her. Your unwillingness to share your situationship with Tilly. Your distraction from work after Bri told you to leave. She is a focal point for you. And, in addition, if I were you, I would apologize to Paula for your conduct."

"WHAT?!" Ace yelped. "Just why would I do that? The woman needles me at every opportunity!"

"And you do not do the same to her?"

"Hey! She started it!" Ace cried out like a wounded grade school child.

The Vulcan sighed. "Paula obviously means something to Bri. You do not have to like her, Ace. However, your r..." The Vulcan quickly changed her word from what she was going to say, being "relationship" to "friendship with Bri demands it. By insulting Paula in front of Bri, you basically told Bri that her valued friend and employee was worthless and that therefore your opinion of Bri and her choices are poor, or perhaps you are superior to Bri in some way."

"But that's not true at all!" Ace protested. "I just don't like Paula. She's a complete waste of space who has an over inflated value of herself."

Once again, pot, meet kettle. Perhaps I should simplify this further for him. "What is more important to you, Ace? Bri or Paula?"

Without hesitation, Ace answered, "Bri."

"Well, then it would seem logical that if Bri is more important, that you would take the required actions to make Bri feel better about you, which would be to reach some sort of accord with Paula." It would probably be too much to tell him to break off anything with Tilly at this point. He is not ready to admit anything further than a friendship. A frank discussion between him and Bri would probably help but he likely has done some damage by not waiting for her, if he wants a relationship with her. However, his nature is probably a problem for them both. They both could use my guidance but they have to be the ones to come to me.

Ace grumbled audibly, clearly not wanting to do what T'Lul asked but also finding it impossible to argue with her logic. "Maybe when these animals are sorted," he conceded.

The Vulcan counselor gave Ace a nod, satisfied with her likely victory for the day. "Perhaps. Do you think that you will be able to focus now, though?"

Ace sighed heavily. He did not know but he was not about to admit anything else. "If I can't, maybe I'll come back." Ace doubted it, but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say to a woman and counselor.

"Maybe," T'Lul confirmed neutrally. "I am available should you need, but since you appear to have recovered to work, I must insist on you returning to your post to handle the current animal emergency."

Grumbling, Ace said, "Yeah, I'll get to that." He rose from his chair and with his back turned, he gave a short half-wave to T'Lul. "See you later, Counselor."

 

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