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Stark's Quarters

Posted June 11, 2021, 2:57 p.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (CNS) (Lindsay B)

Posted by Commander Stark Nightstalker (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Stark’s Quarters

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (CNS) in Stark’s Quarters

Posted by Commander Stark Nightstalker (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Stark’s Quarters
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Hey, I don’t judge you by your profession… do me the same courtesy will ya?” she said with a wink. “People tend to assume I’m either going to traipse through their childhood, or go hunting for bad thoughts in their head. I promise you it’s nothing like that at all.”

Stark nodded his manner more serious, “Done.”

Leaning forward in the large chair, she regarded Stark. “You know our jobs are very similar. Maybe I’m not hunting out threats the way you are, but I too am responsible for the safety of the entire crew. And I feel that very deeply. Just for the record, I’m grateful to you for what you do, so that I am safe enough to be able to do what I do best. And given my health issue, of which I know you know all about, you can probably be certain of how sincerely I mean it.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“I have never doubted you sincerity Janna much as I have never doubted your courage especially in view of your unique challenges in life”. Stark sighed, “But feelings, the way people feel… those things I doubt and that’s why I don’t like to be put under the psychoanalytical microscope and it’s also why I’m worried about some of the crew. Emotions make great servants but poor masters. My greatest failures have been at the hands of my emotions when they overrode the truth and I fear that there are some out there who are near to their own greatest failures because rather than riding the waves of their emotions they are letting them drive them to the rocks of false assumptions and even worse decisions”. Stark stopped looking a little startled, “I believe that’s the longest sentence I’ve ever uttered”.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

She grinned at him. “I’ll consider myself honoured then, that you’d share so much.” Janna was quiet for a moment as she considered what he had said. “Like with anything in life Stark, it’s about balance. Emotions are no different. And each person has their own threshold point. But here’s the one thing about emotional beings. Even if you learn to control them the way Vulcans do, you still have them. More damage can be done by not acknowledging them than simply, as you say, ride the wave. Rule number one for a therapist is to not open up anything you can’t reasonably close. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not out to get anyone. I don’t take secret thrills from watching people squirm under my gaze. I am, at my core, a partner and a confident, should someone need it. I’m not saying you do, but if you ever do, I hope you can trust me and my motivations enough to come to me. After all, if there’s anyone who understands your world of secrets, it’s someone who is bound by and believes in Doctor-Patient confidentiality,” she said with a wink.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

He paused and considered her words, “I agree,” then he grinned showing a very sharp canine, “apart from the bit about watching people squirm. That just happens to be one of my own private joys, informative too”. Cocking his head to one side he reflected, “I will never trust your profession Janna, but I do trust you, I will come to you when necessary”. His paw flicked out a claw that stabbed the air for emphasis, “However, I think you’ll find that with me it is not often necessary, my rather unique life has left me well equipped for catharsis”.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

A lopsided smirk graced her face and Janna leaned forward, resting her arms on her thighs. “And what about a friend? Got a need for another one of those?” It was the simple truth that between the constant trauma-inducing missions and her own relative newness to the ship (though four years seemed like a lifetime already), Janna was most definitely friendly wth people and many were good acquaintances, but she couldn’t say she had any real friends here. And maybe it was the promotion and maybe it was the toll of recent missions, but she was decidedly ready for a change.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Stark stopped cold at that statement. Sitting up and leaning forward his eyes were heavy. “I could use a friend,” he said preternaturally still, “but I fear that I need to inform you that friends of Stark Nightstalker court danger. I care about your future and I don’t want you to take a step like that without knowing the attention it may bring you from those who want me dead”.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Kingston considered him intently. “Please, when the Exploratory Fleet was attached and we sustained all that damage, I was pinned to the floor of my office with a serious head would. S’raal had to cauterize that wound right there and then, while I was conscious. And yet I’m still here.” Here. It had many connotations within her remark and she meant all of them

“And if I may… it’s easy to give people reasons to walk away, Stark. Perhaps your next challenge is to give them reasons to stay,” Janna said softly, a tiny smile present on her lips.

~Janna Kingston, CNS


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