Orders To See The Head Doctor

Posted on Fri Mar 20th, 2020 @ 11:27am by Lu'kat

Mission: S2:1: Into The Drowning Deeps
Location: Counselor Paulsen's Office, Canopus Station
Timeline: MD 4 : 13:00

Aimee looked around her office for a little while before she had finally located the stool so that she could get another glass of cool water for herself to drink. She had tried everything from doing crossword puzzles to more complicated brain puzzles in an effort to try and break away from the notion that she wasn't thinking straight. "Computer please inform my next appointment that they may enter my office when they are ready." She said and heard it chime acknowledgement.

She had put down the PADD with her brain puzzle and picked up another PADD after taking a drink from her glass of water. Aimee closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, opened them again, and found herself ready for the appointment. Now if only she could concentrate on the task ahead.

Lu'kat sat on the chair in front of the office of the Counselor, waiting to be called in. Since his return from Carpathia he had buried himself in his duties as Representative of the Cardassian Union, keeping out of the way of regular Station business. Instead overseeing the mining activities, making sure the Cardassian Union was sent their due in resources. He had introduced himself to the Xilosians, finding some connection with them through observing how they were picking themselves up after a catastrophic event that had wiped out their civilisation, not much unlike Cardassia after the Dominion War. Ofcourse, the Xilosians were much worse off, but that made them more admirable.

In any event, slowly but surely Lu'kat began to find his place her on the station, establishing a routine and reputation as he had done before on Starbase 42. He had frowned somewhat when he got the notification that he was scheduled for a meeting with the Counselor, that was a new development. The Starfleet counselor on SB42 had never bothered with the Cardassian, just as much as Lu'kat had never bothered any of his colleagues. So he wondered why he was here.

As he got the green light to enter the Counselor's office, he was sure he was about to get an answer.

The Cardassian entered her office, and Aimee admitted to herself that this was the first Cardassian she had ever met before in her life. She smiled and raised her hands, "Before you say it I am the Chief Counselor of this station and yes I look like I'm a young girl, but I assure you that I am not." She indicated the chair across from her, "Please take a seat. Starfleet has decided that they want me to conduct a psychological evaluation on you."

Lu'kat frowned at the child-like woman in front of him. After he had taken the seat indicated by Lieutenant, he said: "No assurances are needed, Counselor. I have read your file and was already aware of your position on this station and of your appearance, as well as the cause for it." Lu'kat had never understood the human fixation on appearance, and the Counselor's comment confirmed this human obsession once again. However, all this pondering was inconsequential regarding to why he was here, and he got straight down to the point. "Starfleet has never decided such a thing before, is there a particular reason they have chosen to do so now?"

Thankfully, this Cardassian was yet another who had accepted her for what she was and didn't play into doubts about her overall appearances. That was a refreshing thing, now if only she could focus on the task at hand. "According to this Starfleet just wants something on file as a just in case sort of thing." She told him and pulled up a brand new file so that they could begin, "Have you ever suffered from any sort of traumatic experiences?"

"Do they now?" Lukat wondered aloud. They've never bothered the past 8 years... "Could you explain to me what this just in case might entail? As you can understand, Counselor, I am not big on sharing personal and private information, before I would devulge any such knowledge I would like to know exactly the reason I am divulging it for."

Aimee shrugged, "It says here that, 'in order to better serve the personnel under the command and direction of Doctor Ben Ingram...' the rest is really quite dull." She said and shrugged again. "Under the technical terms of the agreed upon work you do with Starfleet you were supposed to be getting annual examinations by a counselor. However, it appears that Starfleet was letting that slide a little bit. Not divulging information is commonplace from what I understand about Cardassians."

"Au contraire, ma Aimee", Lu'kat said in a tone that made it impossible for her to know whether he was being facetious or serious, especially because Lu'kat was not a person known to make a joke, ever (but did that also include the occasional play with words? Food for thought...). "We are just very particular about whom we share it with." He folded his arms. " Traumatic experiences you say? I've lived through the Dominion War and survived," he stated matter-of-factly. ...while my comrades and everyone I ever cared about were slaughtered. Then I was exiled to Starbase 42, a Starfleet trading post on the Cardassian-Bajoran border in the Badlands and after 8 years of trying to prove my worth, instead of being welcomed back, put away on a one-way trip to Messier 4... finishing the sentence in his mind only. "I'd say that would count as several traumatic experiences, wouldn't you, Counselor?"

"Irony is that I was legitimately fourteen when the Dominion War started and sixteen when it had ended," She said and it was in reference to her appearance as it stood now along with the conversation. The Dominion War was still something a lot of people were dealing with nearly twenty years after it had started and ended. "During my residency and before I graduated with my Psychology Doctoral I dealt with people suffering from the mental ramifications," She said. Mentally she was making a few notes about the Cardassian.

"Beyond the war, which I would assume you had many friends die, are there any other past traumatic experiences?" She asked him.

"Indeed, many of them died, if not all. Though I am sure you lost loved ones yourself. The war was devastating for everyone. As in any war, there are no victors, only survivors. But what constitutes a past traumatic experience?" Lu'kat mused. "Your definition might very well differ from mine. I grew up on Bajor, far away from the Cardassian homeworld. When I was sent to Cardassia Prime for schooling as a youngster, the other children bullied me, but then, many children were. Did it traumatise me? I think not, but would you think the same?"

"Was the bullying due to you coming from Bajor?" Aimee asked him. "As for the traumatization that may have or may not have stemmed from such things is really dependent upon the person. If you say that it did not traumatize you then I will take you at your word." She told him calmly, "Did you witness the death of a loved one where they died in a violent manner? Or, were you, yourself, tortured by someone after having been kidnapped... Those are the sorts of things that I would consider grounds for trauma inducing behaviors. If you suffered none of these and you made it through the bullying at school okay then I would say you've suffered no traumatizing events."

The corners of his mouth tightened slightly in what could be interpreted as a smile, though it could also have been something else entirely. "Partly, yes. You see, if you look at my face, and compare it to that of most other Cardassians, you'll notice my ridges are less pronounced than most. Since I have been born and raised on Bajor, it was an easy thing for the bullies to accuse me of being half-Bajoran, which is ofcourse ridiculous." He shifted his weight on the chair a little. "However, I am quite fond of Bajorans, actually. I grew up around them. They were my family's servants, the men working the fields, their wives were our maids, sometimes my nanny when my parents were away for business, their children were my playmates. Oh, yes, yes, I know the darker stories of the Occupation, but this was not so in our House. My father paid them a fair fee and treated them with respect, he taught me to do the same. So, dear Counselor, being called half-breed did not traumatise me in the slightest, it only made me miss my parental home more.

As to the other question you posed. I can answer you only that in the War we all suffered our tragedies, there is not a single Cardassian alive today who has not experienced some traumatising event, as per your definition of it, except for the younglings who were born after, naturally. Does my answer satisfy your curiosity?"

"I think it does," She said and made several notations in the PADD. "This should satisfy Starfleet Medical Headquarters," She said and pressed her thumb to the bottom box on it so that it was digitally signed. "I'll get this report off to them here soon I hope. Anyway, you're clear for continued service and shouldn't need another annual visit until next year. If I understand correctly they want to start doing these things with you each year. Now that we have a baseline we don't have to go too far down memory lane anymore either."

Lu'kat acknowledged with a polite nod. Inwardly he felt much relief the Counselor had not pried further and had instead chosen to respect his wish for privacy. Before he got up, there was one thing he wanted to make sure of, though. "My father was a wise man, one of his lessons he taught me as a small kid was: Trust, but verify . Therefore, Counselor, I trust physician-patient privilege applies concerning our conversation?", he asked.

"Of course," She said, "Only I can see this report. And, the head of Starfleet Psychology department, but they never look at these files other than to see that there is a little check mark that says they've been completed." She grinned, "Any other questions?"

"No Counselor", Lu'kat said. "I thank you for your discretion." He got up, gave her a nod of professional acknowledgement, and left the office.

Aimee watched him go with a grin before getting out of her chair, grabbing her stool, and grabbing a new glass of water out of her replicator. "For Cardassians that guy wasn't too bad," She said. "Getting him to talk about anything will be difficult in the future though, but I don't understand why Starfleet waited until now to have a psychological review done..." She muttered under her breath.