Mental Health

Posted on Fri Nov 19th, 2021 @ 11:01am by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson

Mission: Breen in Paradise
Location: Counselling office
Timeline: Following Betazoids talk

As the pair arrived at Callie’s office Callie motioned Deanna inside, “Come on in, make yourself at home. If you’d like anything from the replicator feel free.”

Deanna entered and took it all in. The room was nicely decorated and spoke of tranquility, with hints of child care sprinkled in. It almost reminded her of her parents home on Betazed. She smiled and slowly strolled towards a soft looking sofa sitting down and curling up with a plush cushion in her lap like a cat. "Quite a nice office counselor. Not as spartan and clinically sterile as I might have thought it would be."

Callie smiled. “I’m a person who likes my creature comforts, plus I like those who come to see me to feel comfortable as well.”

"It has a feel of Betazed." she said with a smile.

Callie nodded. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but yes I guess it does.” She motioned to the replicator. “Would you like anything?”

"Perhaps a glass of water." Deanna got comfortable. "So, how do we do this counseling thing? It has been a while since I've had to discuss things with anyone outside of a mission debriefing."

Walking over to the replicator Callie fetched a glass of water, returning it to Deanna she placed it on the coffee table in front of her. “Well you talk about what it is that’s bothering you, I’ll offer input as it’s needed.” She took her seat and got comfortable. “So tell me what happened.”

Deanna took a sip of the water and then placed the glass back on the table. "Well, first you need to understand that it was horrible environmental conditions down there. Temperatures in the single digits, negative temperatures with the wind chill, snow knee deep and visibility was quite limited. I had to work to cut through a jamming signal that even after I did gave us limited tricorder scanning range. We got a respite of sorts when we reach the mountains and entered the cave network. We made our way forward and after a time we encountered a Breen patrol and had a fire fight."

Callie nodded as she listened, studying Deanna’s body language as the other woman spoke. “It sounds pretty inhospitable for anyone, what happened after the fire fight?”

"The only person other than the Breen that wasn't feeling the ravage of the cold was the captain. He was right in his element, which wasn't surprising to be honest. Have you ever been to Andoria? It is beautiful but so very cold. temperatures on the surface hover around freezing during the summer. They live underground, and the cities are a spectacle to behold. The planet has a massive geothermal power system and they have the most relaxing natural hot springs you can imagine." She stopped herself realizing she was babbling a bit rather than answering the question at hand. She once again took a sip of water from her glass and then placed it back on the table.

“Actually no I haven’t, but it sounds interesting.” Callie smiled, she understood the need to find a relaxing memory during a stressful moment. “It’s okay, there’s no rush. Take whatever time you need.”

"After the fire fight I checked my tricorder. The captain was under the assumption that we had indeed stumbled upon some sort of Breen base. I confirmed that no other life forms were in the vicinity and we passed out some special equipment. Um, before I discuss it with you, what is your security clearance counselor?"

“My Clearance? As Chief Counsellor I’m granted level 7 clearance, as it grants me full access to personnel files. I hope that’s sufficient?”

"Sorry, just have to make sure. Some of what I might say for security reasons isn't in the official reports, or rather, it is, so long as you have the proper clearance." She shifted herself ever so slightly in what seemed like a nervous reaction. "The equipment in question were personal cloaking devices, developed by StarFleet Intelligence. Due to the captain's connections, we happen to have, shall we say, fully tested prototypes. We used these to gain access to the Breen base without being detected. Once inside the base, things quickly took a turn to the surreal, and then it got bad."

Callie nodded. “I know you found children, and that they were experimented on and mistreated.” She sighed. “I have the young boy...Harry, staying with me at present. I’m going to do everything I can to help them all.”

"Yes, we found children. The one's we brought back were being held prisoner, stolen away from their families. What the Breen were doing with them was barbaric. But they were the lucky few we found. Before we located them, we found another facility that told us of terrible experiments that were being done, and worse, the complete disregard of sentient life. The fact that the captain didn't vaporize the entire facility was a feat of restraint I'm not sure I could have shown had I been in his position."

Callie nodded. “I completely understand, as someone whose lost a child before I’m not sure I could have left that place in one piece.” She shook her head. “How could they be so barbaric?”

"I remember once during the war, we were aboard DS9 in a meeting with several high ranking members of StarFleet and the Klingons and Romulans giving an intelligence briefing sometime after the Breen entered the conflict. Chancellor Martok, who was a general at the time was speaking with Captain Sisko and and the captain and made mention that Breen attack on Earth was a warning to showcase that they were cunning and bold warriors, and that the fighting against them and what we had learned up to that point showed they knew how to keep themselves shrouded in mystery. The captain has always viewed them as cold warriors, but he respected them. I don't think that is true anymore. We destroyed that base, and while the captain didn't vaporize the whole place, he did bury it under a mountain and ensure that no Breen nor any of their equipment or work would survive." She once again took a drink from her glass. "What concerns me the most is that while the Breen did all these horrible things, they did so with outside help."

Callie looked at Deanna in surprise. “Outside help? Others were involved in this?”

"It is speculation at this point, but he has a lot that points to it being true. I mean, the Breen couldn't have grabbed all these people without anyone being aware of it. Someone, an individual or an organization inside the Federation had to help them. Certain groups you might expect that from, the Orions, the Ferengi perhaps, but neither of them would do something this repulsive I don't think."

“I don’t think the Ferengi would, who knows what the Orions would do.” Callie paused. “Was there anything to suggest how long these experiments have been going on? How long the children were there?”

"Difficult to say. I'm sure Dex or Samantha would have a better idea. I would say for the better of a year at least for at least a few of the children though. The Denobulan girl had been impregnated, so long enough for that to happen to her; something that was no easy feat."

Callie shook her head. “Pregnant! That’s horrible, especially under such circumstances. I understand why you needed to talk about this, it’s a horrific thing to have witnessed all of this.”

"I saw my share of horrors during the war. Being on the front lines and in intelligence at that time, it was hard not to, but this is something different. This is something monstrous. Experimenting on children, I mean, it makes you just want to snap."

Callie nodded. “It does indeed. For something like this to happen to children...” she shook her head. “You can take some comfort in the fact that you helped save some of the children.”

Deanna nodded as she took a sip of her water. "It does. But the most cathartic thing will be destroying the Breen and making them understand that the Federation will not be trifled with, and messing with children comes with consequences."

Callie nodded. “In the meantime back to you, do you feel able to come to terms with what you witnessed down there?”

"Yes" Deanna replied, her voice indicating a hint of remorse. "It is amazing what you can live with and get past the longer you are in the service." She raised a hand to signal, "Not to say that this will be something easily forgotten. I'm sure I'll be haunted by this for a few days, maybe a haunted night or two if I'm really unlucky. But yes counselor, I'll get past this. I only hope the children will get past this trauma with some ease."

“Well Harry is settling well with Jon and I, I’m glad to say. As for the other children...only time will tell.” Callie offered a smile. “If you should have any problems with nightmares, or anything else I’ll be here to help.”

Deanna finished her water. "I appreciate that. And I hope everything does turn out for the best. I think I should head to my quarters. A good night's sleep before my next duty shift should make things right as rain on a Spring day again." She stood up and gave a smile, "Thank you counselor," and she gave another smile, "Callie. And though we might be past this point already, welcome aboard."

Callie smiled warmly as she rose from her seat to walk Deanna to the door. “Thank you Deanna. It’s nice to be here.”

Deanna exited and made her way to the turbolift so she could return to her quarters. Callie was friendly enough, and Celes liked having another Betazoid on the ship that she could talk to. As a counselor, she found her to be welcoming, much as she had found Eislyn and even Estella. It would be interesting getting used to having these new counselors aboard.