Hallo, Old Chap

Posted on Mon Feb 23rd, 2026 @ 11:55am by Lieutenant JG Constance 'Connie' Montoya & Lieutenant JG Electra Drake

2,442 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Chief Counsellor's Office
Timeline: Early 2389

Connie poured the tea...for her, it was second nature before meeting someone. Even if this wasn’t a counselling session, but a new member of the crew reporting to her. Still, for Connie there was something about the rhythm of it that helped set the tone. The pot was one of her own choosing, glaze-green and rounded, weighty enough to feel real. Two cups and saucers, milk, sugar bowl…teaspoons. The usual. It was what she was used to, what she had grown up with. Except the teaset may not look as stylish as what her mother would have used. What it would always do was to offer without expectation or asks. Lieutenant Electra Drake. One of the newest additions to the counselling team. Background in criminal psychology. Starfleet retrain. No marks against her, a good and steady record…a good reputation…she did not look before Starfleet, except the headlines that were available for her. The image had triggered the memory before the name. Oxford. Not same lectures, but there. The same halls, same too-bright libraries, same debates held over cheap drinks and too many footnotes in larger groups where Connie would sit back and watch the interactions. Electra Drake had stood out even then. Measured, poised, always observing before speaking. Connie had liked her at once. Things were different now. They were both older…and Lex was now a mother. A girl, Lucy…she looked at the attached file but did not open it. Instead she shut the PADD down. Lex could tell her about her, if she wanted to.

The chime sounded and the door only opened once Connie gave the go ahead. Electra moved inside, coming to a halt as her gaze fell on the other woman. Her uniform was pristine, her long dark red hair secured in a simple twisted knot, and she looked...thoughtful as she watched Connie. Then recognition glimmered behind the blue eyes. "I should have known," she said softly, almost apologetically, but with a lilt of amusement.

"Hardly, that would mean you'd have followed my career," Connie said with a small smile and offered her hand to her. "Welcome onboard, Lieutenant Drake. Or do you still go by Lex?"

"Lex or Electra, either is fine...for you," she added with a soft chuckle, taking the hand to shake firmly. Not just anyone got to call her Lex anymore.

Connie nodded as she met her eyes. "Well, I still go by Connie...please, come and take a seat....Lex," she tested it out, looking at Electra for her reaction...for a microexpression that might betray that it wasn't wanted.

Lex didn't react though, her faint, calm smile remaining on her features as she took a seat with her. "It must be...nearly 15 years since we were at Oxford...?"

"Yes..." Connie shook her head and sat down, a small smile coming to her. "Strange, it does feel..like yesterday in some ways. And yet, a lifetime ago in others."

"Anything before the fleet feels like a lifetime ago," Electra admitted with a soft chuckle, setting her padd on the desk.

Connie nodded as she looked at her, motioning to the tea. "Please, help yourself," she said, and considered something. "I was looking at your file. I noticed a note about your work with neurodiversity in Starfleet?"

Lex looked to her with surprise at her picking up on it. Perhaps she was interested in it herself, or had a specific question in mind. She nodded lightly as she reached to pour a dash of milk into her tea, swirling the spoon once before setting it carefully aside. "My daughter, Lucy, she was diagnosed as autistic a few years ago. I made it my business to learn more."

Connie nodded, looking at her for a moment. "There's a crewmember here, she has ADHD. Her annual counselling check in is coming up...it might be useful for you to take it, if you are interested," she said, a quick explanation as to why it had settled in her head. "Lucy's a lovely name."

"A moment of sentimentality," Electra admitted with a soft chuckle, sipping the tea carefully. It was excellent, but she hadn't expected any less. "I loved the Chronicles of Narnia when I was younger. I remember thinking how brave Lucy Pevensie was," she admitted lightly before giving her a nod. "And of course, feel free to assign whoever you think best."

"Lucy was the bravest," Connie said quietly, with a fond smile as she remembered the story. "How old is she? Your daughter?"

"Seven," a small, fond smile came to Electra at talking about Lucy. "We...have to work a lot of strategies into her life, but...we make it work."

"That's good," she said, her voice soft as she watched the other woman. She was glad that she seemed to have her life...in a routine. "And you know if you need anything...you just have to tell me."

"Don't tell Lucy that, she'll take you literally," Lex teased with a slight chuckle, shaking her head before sipping her tea carefully. "She'll be asking you for book recommendations and star charts..."

Connie smiled gently, looking down. "I can do book recommendations...what is she into at the moment?" she asked, curious as she met Electra's eyes.

"Anything with new places," Lex admitted before chuckling as she tried to explain. "She loves maps...so anything with a map in it, or about a new place, a made up world or a journey she can map..."

"It sounds...oddly soothing," Connie said with a small smile, tilting her head at the idea of it. "Maps...I am sure that I can find something. In case you bring her and you want to avoid her being bored."

"Don't feel you have to," Lex assured quickly, shaking her head lightly. The last thing she wanted was her new chief to think that she was high maintenance.

"I don't," Connie said and met her eyes, holding them. "But it is something nice to do for another person, and I wouldn't want any child to be bored if they're in this room."

"It may take a little while for her to settle into a new ship," Lex admitted, a small smile masking the little flicker of concern. "But we've done it before, so we can do it again, I'm sure."

Connie studied her before she sipped her tea. It sounded to her like she was trying to convince some part of herself of it. "Maybe take her to Engineering," she finally said. "A proper tour of the ship. It'll hopefully feel and sound like home."

"Do you think they'd mind?" Lex asked as she rubbed her knee in thought. "You know, she's so used to being on a ship now, she struggles to get to sleep when she can't hear an engine."

"Get...Elen Rell," Connie said softly, meaning it as she looked at her. "She loves the ship, she'll...be more than happy to show someone around Engineering. She also has a sibling that is around Lucy's age."

Lex nodded as she took her PADD, making a note of the name. "Thank you, I'll give it a try," she rested the PADD on her knee, straightening just a touch as she shifted into a more professional state of mind. "Is there anything you'd like to know?"

Connie held her eyes for a moment, noticing the shift. "What is it you wish to achieve here for yourself? Professionally?"

Electra's eyebrow quirked at the question, not having expected it. She took a long breath, wondering how best to answer when so much of what she wanted and did these days was caught up with Lucy's needs. "I want to establish trust...and more integration between our work and other departments. Other ships I've seen in the fleet, Counselling is avoided and becomes a last resort for a lot of people, rather than a part of business as usual."

Connie nodded with agreement, a small smile coming to her. She was well aware of her own reputation, and she had been avoided in the past. Not here as much, but other ships where Counselling seemed like an afterthought. "Not only that, we can offer a lot to...away teams, logistics...we are the temperature gauge of the ship."

"Always better to prevent a fire than run around trying to put one out," Lex shrugged lightly at the image, but with a soft chuckle.

"And I do not run," Connie said with a small smile, raising an eyebrow before she nodded. "So you know about the Federation Ground Forces Detachment?"

"Yes...a rather unusual arrangement, from what I have seen at least?" Lex looked to her with question, in case there was a part of that equation she hadn't worked out yet.

"Yes, it is very unusual," Connie agreed with a small nod, holding her eyes. "But it means we have a lot of work to do with them. There's a mix of new recruits and Dominion War veterans. And the adjustment that comes from being trained for one role, and now being ship security half the time."

"Trauma, then," Electra replied quietly, taking her PADD up to make notes. "Possibly burnout...boreout...anxiety caused by cross-cultural adjustments..."

She nodded, considering something before she took her PADD, bringing up a file. She slid it over to her, meeting her eyes. "PTSD as well, in some. Luckily years after the war, a lot have had help by then. But I've hit a bit of a wall with one...he's dancing the dance too well, even if he'd never call it that."

Lex looked to her with question before pulling the PADD closer to look. "Jace Morvan," she spoke the name on the file as she started to scroll, reading through some of the summaries of the man. PTSD not just from the war, but from a violent childhood without family. She tapped through a few observations from previous counsellors, arching an eyebrow. "This...emotional detachment and compartmentalisation....is it judged to be solely from trauma? Has there been a screening for neurodiversity?"

"No screening...but he is dyslexic," she said as she met Lex's eyes, holding them. "I'm at an impasse. I can see him anticipating me too much. It's...not good. Not when you're dealing with someone who doesn't open up easily. I want to approach the idea with him to have him see you. If he agreed, are you willing?"

"Of course," Electra nodded thoughtfully as she looked over his file. He had a lot going on, in both past and present. She could easily see the situation developing that Connie described. "And if it goes badly, he may just come running back to you with open arms..." she chuckled softly.

"I mean...I don't think he'd be that energetic, but..." Connie said, a soft hint of humour in her voice as she sat back. "It won't go badly. It might just go slow. It took...many sessions before we got anywhere meaningful."

"I have all the time in the world," Lex assured softly, a small smile pulling at her lips, almost playful, but not quite.

"Good," Connie said with a small smile, giving a nod of approval at that. "Because trust me...this ship? Needs counsellors."

Lex laughed softly at the way she had put it, shaking her head lightly. She would defer to her experience. "I...always try to work with everyone. I know you need patience, especially when dealing with people who don't want to be in the room with you. I did a lot of that."

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Connie asked as she met her eyes...curious, but more importantly willing to listen to her experiences.

Electra searched her eyes for a moment, mildly surprised that she didn't already know from her file. But perhaps she preferred to learn from people rather than documents. "I used to work in criminal psychology. I profiled crimes and offenders, interviewed them, ran therapy sessions with some. Most of them didn't want to be in that room, but you'd still have to find a way to help them open up. And the ones that did want to be there...it wasn't always for the right reasons."

"How did you navigate that?" Connie asked as she held her eyes, sitting back a little. She wanted to hear about her experiences, how she talked about it now when it was behind her.

"Carefully," Lex replied honestly, but her voice was a fraction quieter with it. "Some of them liked to play games. The attention was like fuel to them."

Connie nodded, reaching to top up their tea. She could only imagine. Her...route had been different. She had gone into exactly what and where she had wanted to be. But it meant the people she interacted with had been either too hurt or traumatised to...play games like that.

"It was a delicate balance," Lex admitted, shaking her head with a frown as she looked to the viewport, watching the stars. "Giving them enough so they'd talk...but not so much that they'd grow over confident or lie. The profiling and interviews weren't as bad, but therapy? That was the hardest part. So a few stubborn ground forces? I have the patience."

"Good," she said softly, putting the teapot down. For a moment, she looked thoughtful. "The truth is, what we have here are the aftermath of a period of time where Starfleet, and the Federation, stopped being explorers and peacekeepers and became...something different. Many bad habits still linger from that time."

Electra nodded with understanding, letting out a soft sigh, maybe of regret. "It was confusing...for everyone. The explorers and the warriors. Especially now that it is shifting back to what it used to be...only, many of the veterans aren't the same people anymore."

Connie nodded before she sipped her tea. "And many are harder than they were before," she said, thinking for a moment before she smiled. "But we can't lose sight of the younger generations either."

"And the frictions that might appear because of those differences," Lex nodded to her, but understood her meaning.

Connie nodded before she gave her a small smile. "I know we will work together. And I...hope you will be happy here, Lex. You and your daughter."

Lex nodded gently to her with a small smile. Despite any challenges, she had a feeling that this was a place they could both be happy.

---

Lt. JG Electra Drake
Counsellor
USS Guinevere

&

Lt. JG Connie Montoya
Counsellor
USS Guinevere

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