It was a rare event when Lieutenant Luna Black swore. A choice ‘dammit’ was her general curse du jour, a tame but unmistakable utterance of annoyance that wouldn’t ruffle the feathers of a particularly prudish Peacock let alone most people. But she was annoyed now, both with the computer and herself for not being able to work out what was wrong with it.

“Shit!”

Luna clapped her hands over her mouth. The other people in the room chided her for her unladylike conduct. She looked around her Counselling office. Nobody looked back, for she was alone.

You can swear if you want, Luna she told herself. But even if she could, she wouldn’t. ‘Ladies don’t swear‘, she’d been told as a child. Her brothers were allowed to swear. It was a nasty and suppressive double standard, one of the many that had led to her leaving Setlik II eight years previously. But that was a far cry from Starbase Bravo, and now, freed from the hypocrisy of her family she had other problems, namely how to get this report to submit.

“Computer analyse report EB73240110 Alpha and explain why I can’t submit it?” She pleaded.

“Unknown,” the computer confessed.

“Oh…”

Shit? 

“…Dammit.”

Wuss.

Fresh from this round of personal chastisement Luna transferred her report to a PADD and went in search of aid.

There were quite a few counselling offices about, this was the primary counselling suite for Star Base Bravo adjacent to the medical facility in sector hotel turquoise. Luna scanned the doors for an open one and made her way over, smiling to a waiting patient who watched her go. She loitered at the door and after a brief moment stammered a greeting to the man inside.

“Um, excuse me?”

Ryke looked up from his notes and smiled, vaguely recognising the young woman in the doorway. She’d joined the counseling staff not long ago, but they hadn’t had a chance to talk yet.

“Hey there. It’s Luna, isn’t it?” Putting his padd on the small coffee table between the two couches in the room, he stood and headed over, offering a hand in greeting. “I’m Ryke. It’s good to finally meet you.”

“Um…”

People being friendly was hard. In an odd kind of way, and rather tragically given her past life Luna would have preferred he stay in his seat and wave her in or something. As it was, six foot and an inch of (probably very agreeable) man who probably weighed not far from double what she did had strode over and held out his hand and Luna being Luna fell apart, just slightly. Her large, Lemur eyes widened a bit and her features became reminiscent of brittle herbivores in the proverbial headlights.

“Y… yes. Luna Black.” Luna managed to take the large hand and offer some sort of shake. “P… p… p…”

Shit.

“Good to meet you… um…” Luna had no idea who this man was  which made her shame spiral spike as he clearly knew who she was. Internal lambasting occurred as Luna regretted the missed opportunity of getting ahead of her own awkwardness by properly researching her colleagues.

Interesting. Ryke didn’t let his internal thoughts show on his face as she let go of his hand like he’d burned her and instead kept the smile in place.

“Sorry I haven’t managed to pop my head around your door before now,” he stepped back, perching on the high edge of the couch. It put him on the same level as her, almost, which he knew from experience made him far less intimidating.

“The schedule has been utter chaos recently.” He shook his head and nodded to his padd on the table. “Fair few still struggling with the aftermath of Frontier day.”

Luna had seen a fair few patients already with symptoms relating to or exacerbated by Frontier Day. She decided she could agree with… whoever this was on that.

“Um, yes! Yes, unfortunately. B… but we do what we can.”

We do what we can? Ugh, try to say something less banal, Luna…

She looked at her colleague who was thankfully now nearly at eye level.

“I… um…”

Come on Luna, ice breaker.

“Um…”

SAY SOMETHING

“I’m sorry too… straight into work. I sh… should have come and said hello but um…”

I have crippling social anxiety and a really embarrassing stammer.

“…that crazy schedule! Anyway  I… I’m sorry. Um, what’s your name?” Luna managed the question which was a little forward for her  but the prospect of having the conversation and still not coming away with a name was potentially more embarrassing.

“I’m Ryke Ashfield.”

She was young as hell. He didn’t think he’d ever been that young… which was ridiculous, of course he had—but his life had hardened him up well before he’d left his teens. She also seemed skittish, and he was a little concerned that she’d bolt at any moment.

“I’m another of the counselors aboard. And you’re saying hello now,” he pointed out gently. “So it’s all good. Are you on a break now? I have a gap if you’re looking to grab a coffee or something?”

Actually, she was. But Luna needed this report submitting. His kindness was calming her down a little. Socialising, while scary, was probably a good idea when it came to colleagues. Luna didn’t want to be out in the dark again like she was growing up. New assignment, new opportunities to take a step or three forward.

“Um, yes, th… thank you that’d be… I’d like that. B… b… b…

Shiiiiiiiii…

“…a-but first um, c… could you help me out with this report? Please?” Luna waved the PADD gently. “Um… I can’t get it to submit? I’m not sure what’s wrong.”

“Absolutely. They can be a little tricky when you’re not used to the system.” Ryke held his hand out for the padd and quickly checked over the report. Surprise washed over his face when he saw the name, and he looked up at her quickly. “Bloody hell, they gave you Barrington? That guy’s been on the patient list for years!”

Luna grimaced, looking slightly concerned. So Barrington had a rep amongst the Counseling department. Luna’s confidence she may be able to help the yeoman dropped a good few percentage points.

“Yes, I um…” She considered what to say about Elias. Ryke was cleared for everything and clearly knew the Patient, or knew of him. Luna stayed diplomatic, for now.

“…I hope I can help him,” she responded with a genuine endearment.

Ryke frowned as he scanned the report quickly, mostly noting the time the appointment had taken. “You actually got him to stay in the room… and talk as well? I’m impressed. He walked right out on James, and just ignored me for an hour.”

Luna looked surprised, perhaps she shouldn’t have been. For better or worse the effect of her rather vulnerable and unthreatening façade was that people tended to open up to her easily. Luna knew this was the case, she had been told so many times and C.B.T. dictated that therefore it was probably true. There was a flip-side to this, as with most things in life, best not thought about. It certainly made the more violent or manipulative patients a severe challenge too.

“Yes, I um, we’ll see if he manages to adjust his behaviours at all,” she said, sounding quite professional for a moment. “I hoped we’d get to talking about whether he wants to change based on his levels of guilt or if he’s punishing himself but he shut me down fairly fast when I mentioned it.”

Ryke frowned as he looked at the settings on the report. “Ah, yes, I know what’s wrong with it. Do you see this setting here? That needs switching over and it should submit.”

He smiled as he handed her the padd back.

“From what I remember of the Barrington file, my suspicion was that he’s punishing himself, but if you got some conversation out of him that’s more than any of us. You said ‘adjust his behaviours’? So he actually agreed to something as well?”

“Th… thank you!” Luna took the PADD and peered at the setting. It meant nothing to her, but she knew it needed checking now for submission. Problem sorted.

“He agreed to change his route to work once a week,” Luna explained, locking the screen on the PADD and clutching it to her navel in crossed hands. It was a defensive sort of body language that she was generally aware she did but wasn’t always aware of in the moment. It suggested her being anxious or threatened. But only generally to people who could read it or the more observational. “He said E.R.P. Hasn’t worked for him but if I can get him to do that… maybe it’s a starting point?”

“That would definitely be a good starting point,” Ryke agreed. “I would need to read the file again, but I’m assuming you’re going for a graded E.R.P. approach rather than the flooding method?”

Ryke didn’t think Barrington was a danger, not at all, but from what he remembered, the initial incident was traumatic and he didn’t know how Barrington was likely to react if he was exposed again to that level. But, he reminded himself, Luna was just as qualified a therapist as he was, and, more to the point, she’d actually gotten the patient to open up and talk.

Luna nodded Emphatically.

“Yes.” she stated, her stammer gone as she was speaking psychiatry had had the courage of her convictions behind her. “With a traumatic base and one not at all entirely irrational, flooding would be really dangerous. At least, I think it would. He totally switched off when he spoke about the base trauma, it was mechanical, almost like a brush off. I’m n… not going anywhere near that yet.”

She paused a moment, considering Elias’ past.

“I don’t think he’ll ever get past it. I know… I know I wouldn’t in the same situation. B… but I want to try to help.”

Ryke nodded. “Then I believe that he is in the best hands. At this point, with how resistant he’s been, what you’ve accomplished is a break-through. Keep me in the loop though? I’d be fascinated to know how you get on with his treatment.”

Luna nodded quickly like a daughter being told by her father to be careful on a night out.

“I… I will. Th… thanks for your help.” She gave Ryke a small smile. She wanted to follow up about the offer of coffee, but in the moment Luna found herself too scared.

Ryke stood, making sure to grab his padd as well. “I’m headed for coffee. You joining? I absolutely need some caffeine before dealing with—“ He checked his patient list and took a deep breath. “Mabel Sinclair.”

Luna gave Ryke that same nod again.

“Y… yes, thanks. I’d like that.” She smiled, not one of her nervous ones, but in a moment of feeling like she was succeeding a shaft of happiness managed to break through the clouds of nervousness and it showed, It was a sweet smile.

“Perfect! Come on then, I know just the place,” Ryke said, sweeping out an arm toward the door, and together, they headed out.