Counseling the Other Pilot (Part 1) (Backpost)

Posted on Thu Nov 3rd, 2022 @ 4:16am by Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott M.D. & Lieutenant JG Takumi Fujiwara 'Tak'

1,178 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Insurrection
Location: Counselor's office, Deck 7
Timeline: During the Myogi's time at warp

Takumi made his way down to Deck 7 to speak with Counselor Scott; given that all the right wing extremism in the news was really weighing on his mind. When he was standing outside the counselor's office, he pressed the chime and waited to be called in.

"Come in," Bree called out, the doors automatically opening upon her command. She knew she had no scheduled appointments at this time, but that only meant she was available for walk-ins like this one. It was perhaps the aspect of her work she enjoyed the most; every day was different and nothing was predictable.

When the doors opened, Takumi hobbled in with his walking stick.

"Hi, counselor;" Takumi greeted as he made his way to a seat in front of the counselor's desk. "Thanks for fitting me in on such a short notice; I have some real fucked up shit that's been weighing on my mind lately; and its not the sort of stuff you'd want bothering one of the people responsible for flying the ship. I sure hope that talking to you will help get it off my chest."

It was all Brennyn could do to keep her face inscrutable as Takumi took a seat in front of her, when all she wanted to do was chuckle. It wasn't that she found his problems amusing, but it had been some time since she had been confronted with someone speaking that bluntly. It was as refreshing as it was colorful. "I'm happy to be of service. What's on your chest?" Her question was serious, but her eyes sparkled with mirth, not as someone mocking the man before her but as someone who was attempting to meet him where he was.

"Tell me, counselor;" Takumi said, looking into Scott's eyes. "How well-versed are you with current events?"

Brennyn frowned, not sure what he was referring to. "Will you be more specific?"

"Okay, let me rephrase it, then;" Takumi said. "How familiar are you with this 'Stop the Steal' thing that's all over the news? I mean, it's kinda hard not to hear about it; apparently some butt hurt former admiral is pushing all these crazy conspiracy theories about JAG fraud, and people are buying it."

Bree nodded. "I'm familiar with the movement, of course, but I can't say I've followed every detail closely. What's happened?" It wasn't clear to Scott as yet exactly what the controversial movement had to do with his desire to speak with her.

"Well, there's this Andorian I know..." Takumi explained. "We were closer when we were younger, but we kinda went our separate ways when I found out she was cheating on me. Anyway, she recently reached out to me, and she's just been consumed by all this nonsense. I tried to talk some sense into her, but she accused me of being complacent: Of 'not having the balls to stand up and defend the Federation.' It's just... Talking to her, it seems like the person I knew when I was younger is gone, and in her place is a radicalized foot soldier. Am I overreacting being upset about this?"

"Not at all," Bree replied. "Feelings are like headaches. Most people don't spend time staying angry at themselves for having a headache or spend time figuring out whether having a headache is reasonable or what may have caused it. We embrace our physical sensations and we take steps to cope with them as best we can, and talking about it is one of the best ways I know to cope. If what you're really asking is why you are reacting the way you are, I suppose it's best to start by identifying what you are saying to yourself about this situation? In other words, what does it mean to you that someone you cared for and respected has reached out to you to share these views?"

"Personally, I think it's disrespectful, and it flies in the face of everything the Federation stands for:" Takumi said. "Maybe it's been a while since you learned Federation history at the Academy, but for me, all that stuff is still fresh in my mind. Granted, I still don't quite grasp our legal system 100%, but I know enough to know that you win some cases and you lose some cases, and for this... This motherfucker to spread lies and misinformation to undermine our core values. That alone makes me sick, but to suddenly have a personal stake in this... I guess the only real word I could put to it is treason. I feel like what she continues to do by supporting this man... This monster, is nothing short of treason against the United Federation of Planets."

"So this person you were close to, someone who cheated on you in the past, is committing treasonous acts," Scott summarized. "What does that say to you about yourself?" The counselor pressed such a question because in her experience, distressing emotions always followed distressing thoughts that were personal in nature. Situations affected one's ability to function because of what he or she said to him or herself about them. If it wasn't personal, if it didn't mean something deeper to him, they would just be talking about someone who happened to hold beliefs he vehemently disagreed with, not a situation that would necessarily be unfamiliar to a Starfleet officer now or in the future.

"I suppose what it says about me is I'm a failure." Takumi sighed. "That I fail to notice dangerous behaviors until its too late. In the first case with the compensated dating, I didn't know it was even happening until her friend blew the whistle on her. And now... I don't know what went wrong or what twisted path she went down, but if this is how she talks to me after years of silence, it makes me wonder if I should have kept closer tabs on her over all those years. If not as a romantic interest, then at least as a friend."

Now the two of them we're getting somewhere. Addressing these sorts of negative thoughts was at the heart of therapy and of helping people, in her view, manage their emotions. "Let's explore that first thought. If it's true you are a failure, that you are someone who fails to notice dangerous behaviors until it's too late, what does that mean?"

There was a brief pause before Takumi spoke:

"Perhaps it has something to do with the long stretches of time that pass between when we talk:" He speculated. "We didn't really speak much after Junior High when I punched out the guy she was dating at the time until the last year of High School. Things seemed to be going well between us until I began receiving anonymous notes that I later learned were from her friend about how she was dating a salaryman who drove a Mercedes. I didn't believe the notes until I saw her leaving a love hotel with said salaryman. That started a long and somewhat ugly breakup."

To be continued...

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