(Backlog) Unexpected Flashes

Posted on 08 Nov 2025 @ 3:29pm by Ensign Ryan Collingway & Lieutenant JG Halux-denari-vettaliin

969 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: After Tarvik
Location: Counselor's Office
Timeline: Morning

OOC: takes place before the arrival to Starbase 369

--- Counseling Offices ----

Another week passed, another meeting scheduled. The yeoman let Ryan into the office and told him that counselor Halux would be along in a few minutes. Ryan's leg jingled slightly as he waited.

He didn't like this. He had spent the last year carefully building up his personality after what had happened to him. It was a carefully constructed construct, and any attempts to poke at it guaranteed a negative reaction from him. So far the counselor hadn't done that...exactly. but he was still wary.

The door parted with its familiar hiss, and Counselor Halux stepped through, PADD in hand. His expression was calm, neutral—but not impersonal. “Ensign,” he greeted, his tone steady as ever. “I appreciate you coming in again.”

He crossed to his seat, setting the PADD aside with deliberate care. He offered a small, genuine smile as he took his usual seat. For a moment, silence filled the room; not awkward, but measured. "I know these sessions can feel like just another appointment on the duty roster,” he said lightly, “but I’m glad you’re here.”

He took a moment to study Ryan—not intrusively, but with quiet attentiveness. “How have things been this past week?”

"Eventful," Ryan said. He reluctantly talked about the previous mission, where they had been ambushed by a rebellious group of individuals while working on the surface. After holding them at gunpoint, one of the members had shot out the terraforming machine, causing it to go haywire. In the end, both he and Commander Boren had to go to sickbay, although Commander Boren's condition was far more serious and required a trip to sickbay.

"At the moment, I'm holding down the fort," Ryan finished, not willing to say he was in charge.

Halux nodded slowly, absorbing the summary without interrupting. He had seen some of the mission reports. “That sounds like quite a week,” he said softly. “It’s never easy when the mission takes a turn like that—and even less so when someone you work closely with ends up in sickbay.”

He leaned forward slightly, hands loosely folded. “That’s a lot of weight to carry, even temporarily. How are you holding up with all of it?”

"So far it's been fine. Things seemed to have calmed down afterwards," Ryan said. "I just wished the people holding us hostage had just listened to me when I told them the terraforming device needed a controlled shutdown. Instead, the idiots shot at it, and Commander Boren had been injured as a result."

Halux inclined his head slightly, the faintest crease forming between his brows. “It sounds like you did everything you could in the moment,” he said. “Like you tried to reason with them, and they didn’t listen. That kind of disregard, especially when it costs someone you serve beside, it isn’t easy to shake off.”

He paused a beat, letting the thought breathe. “When you think back on it now, what image or feeling stands out the most? It sounds to me like you may have been pretty angry?”

"Maybe," Ryan said. "But there was also fear, urgency, adrenaline running through my system. Mostly that took over. I had to shoot one of them to get them away from the machine, and I was able to shut it down. My comms were damaged. I wasn't able to hear Commander Boren's call for help. That..,might have been a good thing," he admitted. "Because she was nowhere near the machine, and shutting it down was a priority. Otherwise more people could have been injured, or even killed."

Halux listened in silence, his expression steady but not unreadable. When Ryan finished, he gave a slow, thoughtful nod.

“You made a hard call,” he said quietly. “And from what you’ve described, it was the right one under the circumstances. You prevented a much greater loss.”

He shifted slightly in his chair, voice softening. “Still...even the right decision can be difficult to make, and can certainly leave its mark. Have you noticed anything lingering since then? Thoughts, memories, maybe even sensations that come back when you’re not expecting them?”

Ryan immediately thought back to Alura offering him tea, but shook his head. "No. Not really," he stated simply.

Halux watched the brief hesitation, catching the flicker of something unspoken before Ryan brushed it aside. He didn’t press; instead, his tone stayed easy, conversational.

“All right,” he said with a small nod. “If that changes, we can come back to it. Sometimes those moments settle in ways we don’t notice right away.” He leaned back slightly, easing the atmosphere again. “You’ve been through a lot in a short time. Mission stress, command responsibility, uncertainty about Commander Boren’s recovery. What’s been helping you decompress between shifts?”

Ryan hesitated at the question, though he could be more honest with it. "Doing stuff on my own, I guess. It's hard when I have bunkmates, but I listen to music or read when I have time. I won't have CEO responsibility for long, anyway. It sounds like they've found a new one, according to the rumors."

The talk continued over the next half an hour. Halux asking questions, and Ryan answering as calmly as he could. Finally it ended, and Ryan left feeling drained.

He wished these were no longer mandated. Halux had the power to change or cancel them, but he had no indication of doing so. He had survived nanobots and a tree being thrown at him and functioned just fine afterwards. What more did Starfleet want?

With a small sigh Ryan went to his posting.

A JL by
Ensign Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

&

Lieutenant Halux-Denari-Vettaliin
Head Counselor
USS Arawyn

 

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