270: At the Top of the Tracks, Looking Down

By -=/\=- Captain Zanh
80430.1430
Concurrent with Class is in Session

-=Captain's Ready Room- Bridge of the USS Serendipity=-

"But Captain," Vol objected, "My orders were to review the mental health of every member of the senior staff as well as all bridge officers and those in especially sensitive positions, among even the junior officers,"

"I am aware of that, Ensign. I am the one who issued the order." Zanh Liis rose from her chair and moved over toward the replicator. "Tullu Leaf."

Seconds later the miniature head of bright green lettuce appeared, and she took it into her hand, tossed it up and down and caught it once or twice as one might do with a baseball, before she finally lifted the lid of Bob's terrarium and dropped it inside.

Hearing the familiar sound of his breakfast being delivered, Bob scampered out of his favorite hiding place and began to eat without looking up at her. "You're welcome." Zanh laughed slightly. The tiny lizard never paid her any mind- maybe that was why she liked him so much. No matter what she did, to him, she just didn't matter. Getting his attention eventually continued to be something to strive for.

"So, Lt. Commander O'Sullivan has really been issued a free pass this time?"

"Admiral Vox and I discussed this and I can't get into specifics, but the short answer to your question, Vol, is yes."

"That troubles me. I can't be expected to manage the mental health of a person whose records remain to be classified."

"In this case, you're not." Zanh moved over to the corner, to the adjacent private lavatory and activated the sink to clean her hands. "Activate." She instructed the sink, and she returned a moment later.

"You have to understand, this is unlike any assignment that you've ever had. At times, you will be cut off from access to an officer's files, without explanation, and you will just have to trust me when I tell you that there are reasons. In this case, the Admiral assures me that Keiran has already spoken to someone before returning from his Away mission, and Vox is satisfied that the man is fit for duty. That will have to do, for the both of us, for now."

"I still respectfully disapprove, Sir."

"I hear you. Note your objection in your log," Zanh refilled her coffee cup from the thermal container on her desk. "I'll be happy to pass it along. Is there anything else, Ensign? My schedule is quite full today."

"Yes, in fact. One more thing. I did as you asked, I had a session with Lair Arie."

Zanh's blue eyes slowly rose above the steam radiating from her cup. Once again, Vol had her full attention. "And?"

"She's precocious. Brilliant. Her IQ is off the charts. I would dare even to call her a prodigy in mathematics and physics. But more than that, she is wise beyond her years. Most surprisingly, there is none of the sense of superiority beneath the surface that one often finds in such gifted children. It's quite astonishing. The child displays no manner of conceit. She's very humble, without any grasp of the concept of her uniqueness."

*Not at all surprising given her parentage,* Zanh thought. She could tell that Vol was hesitating now, and even though the pause may only be intended as momentary, for the sake of her schedule she urged him on. "Continue."

"There's something more to this child, though. Her. . .well. . . what we psychologists refer to as Emotional Intelligence- is astounding. She has such a rare spirit. . .I sense so much coming from her that it's almost like visiting an amusement park. You cannot believe upon walking through the gates for the first time all there is to see and hear."

Zanh laughed softly, and Vol could read that she was touched by the sweet, very apt description of the girl. Though the more they talked about Arie, the more Vol sensed a shift in Zanh's emotional state. She was growing anxious over the subject.

"She's something all right. Did you have any specific concerns about her emotionally at this time?"

Vol shifted posture. "Only one."

Zanh sat up straighter in her chair. The emotions radiating from her were, Vol thought, not unlike someone who was in fact in an amusement park; climbing slowly to the top of the steepest hill of the largest roller coaster. She was poised on the edge of that precipice and looking down. She knew what was about to come, but just the same, felt trepidation over the reality of how far the drop was between her feet and solid ground.

"Can you be more specific? I know there are confidentiality issues, and if you prefer, I can certainly speak to Salvek directly."

"That won't be necessary in this case only because this concern directly involves you, Captain and you need to know it."

"Me?" Zanh feigned puzzlement. "That's interesting. I hardly know the child, really." She busied her hands suddenly with the stack of PADDS to her left.

"Ah, but you are a key player in what she considers to be her deepest secret." Vol announced softly. He had not had any luck getting Arie to explain to him exactly what this "important secret" involving the Captain was, but he could sense from the child that it was not something that caused her to be frightened of Zanh in the least.

On the contrary, the child trusted Zanh with her life, and the lives of all she held dear. He sensed only gratitude and respect for the woman radiating from the girl- but as with any secret, it fashioned a dim shroud that hung over Arie's pretty little head- and he was anxious to free her from it. He thought of an old Earth psychiatry maxim, derived from a method of recovery that they had called a "12 Step Program."

That saying was, 'You're only as sick as your secrets."

Zanh Liis felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. She didn't like where this was going.

She had known- ever since they had been on the flagship last year and Kellyn and Salvek had finally been ready to accept the truth about Arie- that eventually the child would have to be told.

The truth was, that Arie was the biological child of Salvek and Lair- not of others as they'd been told upon adopting her as an infant. That she had been rescued by Zanh under orders from Temporal Investigations from another timeline because she was so valuable to the future of the Federation.

Yes, Liis knew this day would arrive. But she had hoped that Arie would be told by her parents when she was perhaps a little older- not that the child would figure it out on her own before she was ready to handle it.

*I should have given her more credit for the brain that she has,* Zanh rebuked herself. *I should have known that there would be no keeping such a truth from the daughter of Salvek past her earliest childhood.*

"Captain?" Vol tried to stir Zanh from the silent reflection which had overtaken her. "Do you have any idea what this secret might be?"

"Ensign," Zanh sighed, and began to fidget with the spyglass that sat in the center of the desk, unfurling it and then closing it back up again several times in quick succession. "I need for you to arrange a time where I can sit down with you, Salvek, Kellyn, and Arie so that we can discuss this matter more fully."

Vol was intrigued. "At your convenience, Captain. Is there anyone else who should be in attendance?"

"Yes." Zanh replied. "Vedek Jariel." Zanh set the spyglass down finally. "The sooner, the better, I believe."

"Should I clear my afternoon schedule?"

"No. Just." Zanh had taken to speaking in one word sentences as she did when she was trying to figure out the best way to handle a delicate situation. "Find us your first opening."

Vol nodded, and knowing he was dismissed, headed off on his way. His day was shaping up to be very interesting indeed. His first appointment on his list today was someone he had yet to make acquaintance with- Lt. February Grace, and now he had this Lair Arie mystery to unravel. . .

As the door slid shut, Zanh heard the chime almost instantaneously. "Forget something?" She asked, thinking it had to be Tryst.

"I don't think so," TC Blane grinned at her, holding a PADD in his hands. He looked up and down at his boots, his pants, his tunic. He felt for his pips in dramatic fashion and then tugged on his collar. "My head on straight?"

"Straighter than anyone else I know, Thomas." Zanh replied, sipping her coffee. She gestured with the cup toward the object in his hands. "I take it that is your suggested list for the next round of cross-training?"

"Yes, Captain, only I am thinking we should put a twist into this." Blane thought of his work with Jariel in the holodeck as he spoke. "I think that some may be. . .how can I put this. . ."

"Don't ever mince words with me, of all people. Just speak your mind, Thomas. You know you can." Zanh gestured for him to take a seat, and moved to pour him a cup of coffee as well. He held up his hand to wave her off.

"No coffee, thanks. If you give this idea your blessing, I would really like to get going on setting it into motion as quickly as possible."

He was so serious about this, Zanh set the cup aside. "Shoot."

"I think that honestly, some of the senior officers are bored to death by this point with proving that they have the required level of knowledge in other departments. As a result, it's hard to cut through that snowballing boredom to find out what they really need to learn- and what they're already capable of."

"They're phoning it in?" Zanh frowned.

"Not all. Some." Blane replied honestly, scratching his chin.

"You have a solution?"

"Yes. Drills. Only, they are not to know that they are drills."

"They have already been told that drills may be part of the exercises," Zanh countered. "How do you propose to get around that?"

"Site to site transport, during which only those running the drills, namely you, and Salvek and I, know that the crew is in fact being transported onto the modified training holodeck. We haven't really had a chance to put it to full use yet, and I'd like the opportunity to try."

"Lab rats in a maze?" Zanh grimaced. She hated the idea of putting her officers into drills they thought were real- after all they had been through on the 626 mission.

"It's for their own good, Captain. Remember the Kobayashi Maru? The psychological testing they did at the Academy to allow admission? They didn't announce that those were the actual drills before beginning. The students only knew after it was over."

Zanh considered.

"Very well, but make them short. Scare the hell out of them if you must- but don't drag it on. Set limits." She cautioned him. "I want to approve the scenarios before you implement them."

"Understood." TC rose from his seat, moving toward the door. "I'll get to work on it right away."

"One specific request," Zanh raised a finger into the air, "Don't separate Reece and Grace- and please, don't make either of them think that the other is dead or injured. They've been through too much lately- they don't need," Zanh didn't have to say that with their lifetimes of knowledge from past hosts, if there was anyone on the ship who did NOT need departmental cross- training, it was the pair of Trill. "Besides, you know as well as I do that they have both been through that scenario for real and never once neglected their duties."

"That's a fact." Blane nodded, and as he vanished, Zanh sighed.

Drills were a necessary evil, she knew, but she just hated manufacturing crisis for her crew when it seemed that they were never too far away from the real thing.

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-=/\=- Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012