*** Chief Counsellors Office * SB Unity ***
"Yes?"
" Sir, Commander Summers is asking to see you."
" Thankyou Kate...send her in please."
Stephen Jacobs pressed pause on the padd he was reading and
looked expectantly towards the door which soon opened to
allow Rangi into the room.
"Good morning Commander." she said brightly as she
approached his desk. " I'm fit for duty!"
As she had made her way to the Counselling Suite, she had
decided to take the same attitude that Stephen had done at
their last meeting and come straight to the point and state
a fact.He had told her to tell him when she was fit for duty
and thats exactly what she would do.
His expression was similar to that one would give a tiresome
child. He said nothing but merely pointed to the vacant
chair opposite his own.
She sat down expectantly, waiting for him to ask why she had
that opinion and perhaps to question her on the aftermath of
her recent experiences but he didnt.
Instead he pulled a blank padd from a pile near his elbow,
tapped in a few words then signed it.
" There you go." he said pushing it towards her across the
crowded desk.
She reached out to take it and saw that it was an approval
for her immediate return to duty. She stared at it then
looked at him suspiciously.
"Is there something else?" he asked and then before she
could answer added " Good." and returned to the padd he had
been reading, effectively ending what little conversation
there had been and dismissing her from his attention.
She looked down at the padd again and frowned.
" I thought we were to have an assessment." she said into
the silence.
He raised his eyes and then his head.
"We just did didn't we?" he asked.
"Did we?" she queried wondering what she had missed.
He released a sigh, pointedly switched off the padd and
looked at her with an expression that said: "' Try' to keep
up!"
" I assume you know the rhyme about nails." he said.
"Nails?" she repeated uncertaintly
"Horse-shoe nails"
"Errrr......."
He enlightened her: "For want of a nail a horse-shoe was
lost...for want of a horse-shoe the horse was lost..for want
of a horse, the battle..and for want of the battle a
kingdom."
" Riiight." she said with a touch more uncertainty than
before.
" I told you that you're not essential and thats perfectly
true as regards all of your duties on this base but you are
the nail on which greater things could hinge." he said then
leaned back in his chair, the leather creaking as he did so.
" Ohh." she said because he seemed to expect a responce.
" Commodore Guzman is, for the moment, essential and I could
make a safe wager that despite his medals and commendations,
his rank and his experience, 'you' are essential to 'him'."
He paused and they looked at each other in silence, she
beginning to understand what he meant and he knowing that
she did so.
He leaned forward, resting his arms on the desk.
"Therefore it follows, that if you place yourself under more
pressure by returning to duty after not one but two
stressful missions, then it is certain that you will fail
and the knock on effect of that will be that the Commodore
will, despite his best efforts, be distracted from his own
duties by concern for you. That makes you, in effect, a
nail. Clear?"
"Perfectly." Rangi replied.
" Good. Anything else?" he asked.
" No....thankyou."
"Good day to you then Commander."
Once again he returned to his padd and this time Rangi
stood up walked to the door and exited his office.
She did understand his meaning. She had been stressed, too
stressed to have carried out her duties efficiently and she
admitted that to herself.
He had ensured she rested and recovered.
She knew she was now ready for duty and he had trusted her
self evaluation and he had ensured that Shane would have no
personal worries added to the load he carried.
Rangi made her way to the med. Advisors office feeling
satisfied with the outcomeof their meeting.
Stephen had not watched her leave and did not think of her
again throughout the rest of the day.
*** End log ***
Commander Rangi Summers
Med.Adv. 1st Task Force
CMO
SB Unity.
&
Cmdr.Stephen Jacobs
Chief Counsellor
SB Unity (npc Rangi )