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Side Sim: Alternate Timeline - What Does Security Do All Day In-Between Missions? [Tag Lt. Rodier]

Posted Feb. 3, 2023, 1:53 p.m. by Lieutenant Henry Rodier (Chief of Security) (Gavin Burkhardt)

<snip>

“Oh…I will get to that later. Let’s get you in better spirits first.” She said as they walked to the lift. She turned to him and asked, “Now if I remember correctly, each pawn can move two squares on the first move, correct. Or is it the opening pawn can move two squares and each subsequent one can move only one square?”

Halcyone, Counselor

He allowed a small smile at Halcyone’s efforts, deciding to allow her to keep at it. It is - was her job, he thought. Might as well let her try. “Two squares on the first move, one after that. Good memory.” Entering the lift, Henry opened his mouth to instruct it where to go, then frowned in mild confusion. “Deck eig… nine. Deck nine.” The lift began to move, and his frown mostly cleared, though a slightly furrowed brow remained.

~ Lt. Rodier - CoS

Pilar gave a competitive smile then said, “That is all I needed to know, Lieutenant. Are you prepared to lose to a novice chess player. I say that because I think you are so distracted that I just might have a chance to beat you.” She presses the stop button on the lift and looked the man in the eyes. “Henry, I am worried about you. Why don’t you tell me, really, how you have been. I know you are not fine. You are not…yourself and I cannot in good conscience ignore the situation.”

Halcyone, XO

Henry had not expected such a forward confrontation from Pilar. He had not had the chance to develop enough of a professional relationship with her to adequately predict her moves, and even if he had, he wasn’t exactly in the state of mind to do so. Regardless, he stuttered as he started to answer, the hint of a smile remaining eerily frozen on his face. “I don’t… doh… don’t know. I’ve… it’s not great. I’m not fine. My dad, he’s normally who I’d talk to, he’s good with people, emotions. But… I can’t. It’s classified, and what I was able to say… it’s just a unique thing. Unique situation. For once, not even… he can’t help. I don’t know…”

He put out a hand to steady himself against the wall, drawing a deep breath. The smile had disappeared by now, replaced by a very set expression, teeth partially clenched, eyes staring ahead, voice hard and almost angry. “I can’t even take my own advice, because I was… am… could be the problem.”

~ Lt. Rodier - CoS

Pilar carefully placed her hand on his shoulder. “I think you are being too hard on yourself.” She felt she had failed him in some way because he had not been comfortable enough to to her and talk about what he was going through. “I really want to help you. Tell me what can I do. I am not a counselor anymore but I am willing to act as an interim counselor for your sake. It’s going to take time for you to…get through this, but you can’t if you don’t talk about it with someone.”

Halcyone, XO

He looked up at her. “I… I don’t know exactly how I messed up in that future, I don’t know if I still will do something similar. I feel like I should be scared of what other people think, how their views of me have changed. But I’m not. I’m just scared of how my view of myself has changed. I don’t know what to do with that, with this… with anything. It’s like I was given a shield to protect against something, but I don’t even know what to look out for.”

“Henry. Listen to me. You haven’t done anything! How can you be at fault?” She shook her head trying to find the right words. “Whatever is going to happen is not your fault, you can’t know what is to be therefore you can’t be at fault unless you intentionally and maliciously do something to cause something terrible to happen.”

He shot her a look of frustration. “That legal speak. Yes. I know. I’m not at fault. Nothing’s happened. I’ve heard it all before. It’s just the ambiguity of it. This big thing, was it me in a bad place at a bad time? Or was it some massive error on my part? It just felt so… preventable, whatever it was. Like I was truly the one at fault. So even if I haven’t done anything, even if I don’t plan on doing anything, isn’t that enough to be scary?”

“It’s not. At this point, there is nothing you can do about it. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, things will happen as they are supposed to and that is the truth of it. I know that seems like its easy for me to say because I am not the trigger to the event, but in all honestly, there is probably nothing you can ever do to change what is going to happen. What we need to focus on is mitigating the damage it will cause.”

“There is, though! I told myself so!” He sighed heavily, eyes sinking to the ground. “This will take time to work through, but I’ll come to you as needed, with your permission.”

“There is nothing you can do.” She said firmly. “And yes, I would like you to start checking with me weekly, then we can move it to bi-weekly, then monthly and from there we will see what happens. We can discuss it more when we get to the lounge, after our game and after we eat.”

A breath. “Fine.”

He took a breath. “I just need you to be honest, to tell me what you see wrong, what you see me doing. And not to stop giving me work, treating me like a broken thing. Slow me down, fine, but please. Don’t make me stop.”

~ Lt. Rodier - CoS

She looked at him as she pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow. “Alright then. Sure. Why don’t we start now. I am going to be honest right now and tell you what I see. I see someone who is carrying the whole entire universe on his shoulders. Trying to go out of his way to ensure that those he care about the most will not succumb to his actions, which he cannot perceive. This scares you because you don’t want to hurt anyone and you certainly don’t want to be known to anyone as a destroyer of” she shrugged, “....anything. You do not have one malevolent bone in your body. I know that, you know that, and anyone who knows you know that. You know you hardly make mistakes. So right now you doubting yourself is the first thing you are doing wrong.”

Halcyone, XO

He said nothing, stunned to silence for a moment as he took in the Commander’s words. “Thank… Thank you, Commander. That… helps. I suppose I just feel that I should be more careful about something, and it’s very frustrating not to know what.”
The lift opened onto Deck 9 just as Henry finished.

~ Lt. Rodier - CoS

She nodded, “Let’s not think about all that for the time being. My chess strategies are stirring in my head and if we don’t get to a chess board soon, I am afraid I will lose them all.” She patted him on the back and said, “Come on, let’s go find us a table, get something to eat, and play chess.”

Halcyone, XO

“Aye. One thing I’m still confident in my abilities to do.” As depressing as that statement was, his face had taken on a placid look and he seemed to be calming.

~ Lt. Rodier - CoS

She glanced around and saw a table. “There, come on.” She hurried so no one would beat them to the spot. The pieces of the chess board were not in order. It looked like someone had abruptly left the game. It appeared the player who had the black pieces was losting badly. “I call the black pieces,” she said as she collected them from their current positions on the board and rearranged them. “How about something to eat. I will go to the replicator to collect the food. I am going to have a normal garden salad with a grill cheese. What you you?”

Halcyone, Counselor

“Just half a grilled cheese sounds good. Thank you.” As Halcyone walked away, Henry re-arranged the whole board with hands that had clearly done it a hundred times, placing all pieces back in their original places. He had little doubt Pilar had taken black on purpose to allow him to go first.

~ Lt. Rodier - CoS

Pilar looked at him, “You are going to eat a half of a grilled cheese? I am half your size and I can’t eat half a grilled cheese. I will get you a whole one…just in case. What ever you don’t eat I will.”
A few minutes she came back with two plates. Both had grilled cheese sandwiches and a side of carrots and broccoli. She also held bottles of water under both arms. “Bon appetite!” She said as she placed the plates on the table one in front of him and one on the side she was going to be sitting. The she did the same with the bottles of water.
“Oh look you set up the board.” Protect the king she said the phrase over and over in her head. “You know, I never understood why the goal is to protect the king. He is one of the weaker pieces on the board. May as well be a pawn. The goal should be to protect the queen. I mean she is the star. The most powerful piece on the board.”

Halcyone, XO

Henry didn’t argue, but cut the sandwich in half and began to eat one half of it in small bites, supplemented now and again by carrots. “I suppose that’s the point. As the weakest unique piece, it’s a feat to be able to protect it. The queen can take care of itself, and, conversely, it’s actually a feat to be able to take it.” He took another bite and leaned back. “It’s a lesson in strategy, really. The king’s weakness can be used as an advantage, and the queen’s strength can be a weakness.”

~ Lt. Rodier - CoS


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