Two Men & A Counselor

Posted on Fri May 1st, 2015 @ 3:26am by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD & Admiral Lucius Hawke

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Counselor Swift's Office
Timeline: Current

* * * Counselor’s Office * * *

Lucius had sent word to Counselor Swift as soon as he and Rick finished up with the admirals. He hadn’t really elaborated on the reason for the visit and apologized for the short notice. Lucius’ lunch had been non-existent - he spent the time reading the updates to Nico’s file and it, indeed, an eye opener. Now, it was time to meet meet with the Counselor and Rick and he stepped into the outer office.

“First time I think I’ve ever been in here,” Rick said, opting to stand. “I should visit these areas more often. Well, after…”

“After,” Lucius agreed. “You know, it’s standard procedure for our officers to see the counselor monthly, unless they’ve been in extreme circumstances. Then they come more often. He pushed up the sleeves of his shirt a little, then shrugged. “Lt. Commander Nicolao is a good example of that.”

“After all of his recent appointments, I’d think he’d be good for a few years before having to step foot back in here,” Rick smirked.

The office doors opened and Robin came out to greet them. “Gentlemen, right this way,” he said, showing them through the door to his session office for a more private location. Once everyone had entered and had taken a seat, he sat across from them and folded his hands on his lap. “What is it that I can help with, Admirals?”

“Well, for the time being, it’s not ‘admiral’,” Lucius informed him. “We are on temporary suspension. It’s rather involved, actually.” He gave Robin a quick rundown of things as they stood. “But the kicker is that they have listed Nicolao as part of the suppression of evidence charges.”

“How is that even possible?” Robin asked. “He was sent out here on the orders of Starfleet Medical, not by either of you.”

“They seem to think he knows something that could be incriminating, that I arranged it to keep him close so I could watch him, and thus make sure he doesn’t reveal anything I might not want revealed.” Lucius sighed aloud. “Despite the fact that, according to the records I have, there are numerous gaps in his memory.”

“Numerous is a good word for it. Is there something that we need to work on having him remember?”

“Anything of his time working the DMZ,” Rick replied. “I can’t go into much more than that, but we have reason to suspect that he may have knowledge pertaining to our case and we would very much like to get him back to a place where he can recall that information with clarity.”

Robin sucked through his teeth, knowing that was a tall order. “Ah. I cannot promise miracles, but we can definitely give it a try. Without violating patient/doctor confidentiality I can’t give away too much, but he has been having issues going back very far just based on the trauma that he received during his incarceration, which you both know of as it was in his file. However,” he said, crossing one leg, “we have recently made a small...advance? It’s not a major hurdle jump but it shows improvement that may allow us to go back so that he can recall more from the time you need.”

Lucius glanced at Rick a moment before he spoke again. “There’s just one concern, Robin.” He frowned slightly. “The thought came to us that perhaps whoever is behind this bogus case may not want him to remember.”

Robin dropped his leg and leaned forward. “Do you think he is in some sort of trouble? Like someone may want to harm him before you go to trial?”

“The thought did cross my mind, to be frank,” Lucius replied. He leaned forward in his seat, resting his arms on his knees. “Given the nature of the charges, someone most assuredly does not want something coming to light. There are some other considerations as well that amount to retaliation, basically. But we were most surprised when his name came up. According to the charges, several of our operatives were exposed, but he was the only one mentioned by name.”

“It should also be said, Robin,” Rick added, “that because of this information, you may also become a target. Especially if it appears that you are making progress with him. Because of our current status, we can’t order anything specific, but I would seriously consider asking security staff to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”

Robin took a moment to let it all sink in. “So this isn’t just some potentially pissed off admiral or the like who might possibly be demoted or drummed out of the fleet. We’re talking full-on secret squirrel stuff, then.” It wasn’t a question. He knew the answer.

“If you like, I can assign someone from Intel as ‘additional office staff’ until this is resolved,” Lucius offered. “Rick’s right though, where both you and NIcolao are concerned. He may be one of the pieces that can blow this puzzle wide open. I don’t mean that to sound as if we want what’s in his head no matter what it does to him. That is also a serious concern, considering his current condition.”

“He is definitely a special case, due to his species’ abilities. I’ve already had to deal with some of that.” Robin remembered the feelings and exhaustion from when Nico shared the ‘tree in the desert’ vision with him. “I will work with him, though. And I assume you don’t have much time?”

“No, I don’t think we do. As such, I’m somewhat at a loss. Rushing him is not something you would support professionally, nor would we.” Lucius reached up to rub his chest with his fingertips for a moment. “They intend to question him, however, and I am not sure how well that will go.”

“Hmmm,” Robin closed his eyes for a moment. “I believe that a patient under orders, like Nico is, for counseling is authorized to bring along his doctor should something like this arise. I believe the precedent was set for that specific thing about twenty years ago. I could probably dig up the case information and pass it along to your attorney. Of course, that is if Nico even wants me along.”

“I think that would be wise, and please. Send it to Lt. Benson. He’ll be thrilled to have one more thing to bludgeon them with.” Lucius smiled finally.

The counselor nodded and smiled as well. “Anything else I can do?”

“Prepare him? So this order doesn’t come out of the blue? Most operatives of Nico’s caliber do not like surprises.” Lucius looked to Rick now. “Anything else we need to cover?”

“That’s pretty much it,” Rick said, standing. “Seriously, Counselor, look into a security detail. It would make me feel quite a bit better.”

“I may, for me, but I’ll leave Nico’s security decision up to him.” Robin couldn’t help but smirk. “You both know how you intel types are.”

Lucius had to laugh. “Indeed. And I’ll have an extra assistant sent down from Intel. I understand yours has the week off?”

“That she does. And maybe longer, depending upon how well she recovers, mentally and physically.” Robin looked to Lucius. “By the way, a bit strange that you even know that, but...whatever.”

Rick had to laugh now. “Like you said, we all know how us intel types are. Old habits are hard to break.” He opened the door of the room and started out into the waiting area. “Thank you, Counselor. We’ll likely be in touch again soon.”

“And call if there are any problems.” Lucius followed Rick out into the corridor, silent until the doors closed. “What do you think?”

““I wish I knew more about his state of mind, medically, but I have high hopes that Robin will pull through.” Rick walked past a few cadets in medical training, nodded and smiled. “Of course, this is likely to be our hail mary, you know. Nico’s mind may be closed forever to that information. If we can get anything at all I will be genuinely surprised.”

“Same here.” They continued on out of Piper and to the turbolift eventually. “Looks like it’s time to get to work. I’ve pulled everything I can get my hands on regarding the DMZ. It’s going to be a long afternoon.”

*******************
Lucius Hawke
On A Not-So-Happy Holiday

Ricky Wegener
Praying for a Hail Mary

Lt. Cmdr. Robin Swift
Trying to Get Blood from a Stone