From: Bethany \ (mouse3of3_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Wed May 16 2007 - 09:35:10 PDT
"Just an Interview" Cont. from Rahul's "R & R" --------------------------------------- Location: USS PATRIOT Stardate: 2.70516.1146 Scene: Counselor's Office Tam waited for Samuels to arrive. They had set the appointment for 1300 hours, and it was already ten after. This was not the best way for him to start his evaluation. In the meantime, she was doing yet more paperwork (in between impatient looks at the chronometer). Finally, the door hissed open, and she looked up to see the Marine alternately shaking his hand and putting one finger in his mouth. She sighed. "What happened?" "I, um..." He looked embarassed. "I forgot. And I was repairing something. When somebody else reminded me, I lost my focus and got my finger caught." "I see. Please, have a seat." She watched him amble over to the couch, then retrieved a medkit and sat next to him. Understanding, he held out a finger for her to run the tricorder over. "You gave yourself a greenstick fracture." "Oh." Samuels picked then to pale slightly. "Can you fix it?" "Of course. But you have to be more careful." She ran the knitter over his hand for a moment, then scanned it again with the tricorder. "You're fine now, just don't stress your finger too much today." She looked up to see him grinning. "Maybe I should just keep you on standby," he said, inspecting his finger. "I can't think of anyone better to heal me and not tell sickbay." She felt the corners of her mouth threaten to twitch into a smile. "Unfortunately, I'm just a counselor. All the medical experience I have only covers nursing techniques. If you were to seriously hurt yourself, it wouldn't help. Do you want something to drink?" she asked, changing tactics suddenly. She had to stand and turn, putting the medkit away, to prevent the full smile from showing. "Yes, please. And I'm sure you could help." He waited until she handed him the mug to ask, "But you didn't ask me to come in to talk about injuries, did you?" "No. I'm doing evaluations for my files of most of the Marines, and your name came up." She sat back down with her own mug, putting the PADD down next to her. "I just wanted to talk about some things with you." "Sure." She went over the biological and career information easily, with Samuels confirming or clarifying everything. It was only when she got to the psych aspect that it got interesting. "There are a lot of notes in your profile about your... habit... of trying to 'upgrade' things, especially weapons. Why?" He shrugged. "I get a lot of ideas for improvements and I want to use them. They just don't always seem to go right." Tam looked at him, evaluating. "Before you came here, were you repairing something or trying to upgrade something?" She could have sworn he blushed before replying, his voice so soft she could barely hear him. "Upgrading." "Why didn't you say so?" "I knew that's what you wanted to talk about," he told the floor, his ears still a lovely shade of red. "I've had so many counselors and doctors asking me about it, it gets old." "Well, what have you told them?" "That I get bored. That I want to try things and be the first to make sure they work. You know, the truth." Tam considered him. He was still staring at the floor, the forgotten mug steaming in his hands. This was apparently just a habit, but it still needed some control. "Why didn't you go into engineering instead of the Marines?" Samuels apparently wasn't expecting that, and he jumped a little. The hot coffee sloshed over the side of the mug, and he nearly dropped the coffee when he yelped and flinched. "Ow! Dammit, son of a -!" "Shall I get the regenerator again?" Tam interjected, trying to stem his flow of words. She rescued the coffee as he stammered and shook the burnt hand. By the time she had retrieved the regenerator, he had calmed down and was merely holding his hand. "It's only a first-degree burn," she informed him, but healed him anyway. "That's the third time since I've come onboard, Mr. Samuels. I probably should be on retainer." He laughed, sheepish. "Probably. Thank you again." He contemplated the coffee again, then apparently decided not to risk it. "I don't know. Just the appeal of the Marines, I guess. You know, the 'best of the best.' Maybe I should go back and get an engineering degree." "That might be a good idea. But until then, can you at least work with an engineer if you decide to upgrade? Or else the Marines may be short a person." The grin returned. "Yes, ma'am! Should I take that as being the end of this?" "Yes. Thank you for coming in." "Thanks for patching me up." After the Marine left, Tam considered the PADD and her notes before she entered them into the computer. She would have to recommend that Samuels be given either a more challenging position or one that incorporated weapons tech, or else he'd kill himself soon. That was something to worry about later, as she had to enter the data into the system and then get ready for a welcome party for a new crewmember, if she remembered correctly. Something about their new chief engineer. ------------------------------------------------- NRPG: So now a party? That should be interesting. It sounds like it's going to be everyone's next post! I'm sorry about the length, but Samuels amuses me and Tam both, and I wanted to spend some time on both of them. Bethany B. Ensign Tam Niala Counselor USS PATRIOT --------------------------------- Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. Check it out. From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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