Posted Sept. 6, 2020, 10:13 p.m. by Commander D'Vash Odinson (Chief Intelligence Officer) (Terry Sullivan)
Posted by Lieutenant Revna Edman (Counselor) in Psch check-in
Posted by Commander D’Vash Odinson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Psch check-in
Posted by Lieutenant Revna Edman (Counselor) in Psch check-in
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
(snip)
“Well having Runa here was certainly a nice surprise after…” no time to clam up now Revna, “I got hurt on the Centurion. But she’s a bit bossy about it.” She laughs. “You remember. She always thought she was in charge. And she wasn’t, but she made everyone think she was. As for my parents, I write and call as often as I can. They actually still go to Varingskollen a couple times a year for the festivals.” She shakes her head, “I just can’t get over it, D’vash. The odds that we’d run into each other again.”
Lt. Edman, Counselor“I’ll have to ask Lt. Skul, in engineering what the odds are. No matter how ‘astronomical’ they are, we beat them.” He raised his Kool-aid in a toast. “To long lost friends.”
Picking up her glass, Revna raised her matching glass of Kool-aid. “To long lost friends, no longer lost.” She sipped her drink. “Wait till I tell Runa. Actually maybe I won’t. She’s going to start trouble eventually.”
“You mentioned an injury. Accidental or in the line of duty? If you don’t mind talking about it, that is. I’ve had my share of those over the years.”
Odinson (CIO)
“I don’t mind, really. It was in the line of duty, I guess if you mean was I doing my job when it happened. It was incredibly reckless and stupid. Brilliantly so. Well, you know.” She glances at him and waves back at the picture of the resort. “I always had to be in the middle of every conflict. Couldn’t help myself then and I’m still the same way.” How much to say? Not that she minded telling D’vash but the last time she had retold this story she’d taken several hours to deal with it after and she still had appts that day. “There was a patient, he had a break down, he snapped, as some people put it. He’d gotten a hold of a knife and was going after another patient who was confined to a chair.” Revna gives out a very humorless laugh. “I got between them. You can imagine the rest.” She sips at her drink. Who counsels the counselor?
Lt. Edman, CounselorD’vash looked at her solemnly. He understood why she did what she did. “In my opinion, Revna, you did nothing wrong. You did the RIGHT thing. You risked injury to protect someone that couldn’t defend themselves. I’m not ashamed to admit, I would have done the same thing.”
“Serious injuries and scars like yours are definitely traumatic, but if you try to look at it in another light, you may be able to find some peace and closure.”
Revna shook her head, “Don’t misunderstand, I am not ashamed. I do NOT regret it. Given the same choice I wouldn’t hesitate; I would do it again without a thought. I am at peace with my choice. I’m sure there were,” she rolls her eyes slightly in thought, “other, safer, better options, from a security point-of-view, but at the time, events moved too fast. Someone, another patient, I think, got Kealson out safely. But Walker…” She closes her eyes taking a shallow breath. “He survived, and really, that’s all that matters to me. They both survived. Walker wasn’t my patient, so I don’t know what caused his disconnect. What I regret, is Walker wouldn’t talk to me. After I mean. I ended up leaving him a letter. For some people it matters to be forgiven, and for others it doesn’t. I have no idea if it mattered to him. I have no idea what’s happened to him now. Security wanted me to press charges, but,” she shrugged, “that wasn’t what he, or I, needed.”
“What I hate,” she said looking at him, “is the way people look at me when they find out. Like what happened was about me, and not about Walker.”
“People will automatically think it was about you because you got the visible scars out of it. That’s much easier to see and respond to than any mental or emotional scars. The physical is easier to see and that’s what people will respond to. You can’t really hate people for not knowing the whole situation.”
“I don’t hate the people, just the situation. I can’t hate someone for doing what they think is the compassionate thing. It might be misplaced, but that isn’t their fault.” And that was classic Revna. She really couldn’t bring herself to hate someone who had the decency to care about someone else. And even when they were wrong and knew they were wrong she could always see the other point of view. It’s what made her so talented in diffusing difficult situations, even when she was a child.
The CIO was silent for a few moments to let his words sink in. “I’ve got a pretty nasty scar myself. The results of an injury while doing my job.” He sat up straight and turned sideways so that his left side was facing Revna. Pulling his shirt up to just below his armpit, Revna would see a long, dark, jagged scar that went from just under his breastbone around to almost his spine.
“I was betrayed by my partner in a deep undercover op. She literally stabbed me in the back, with a spear. Nearly cut me in half. I should have died, but I was able to hold on long enough for my back up team to get there. This scar, right here, it’s a reminder for me. It reminds me how strong I can be. As I lay there, half my lung hanging out, barely conscious and blood flowing from. . . . I was determined not to die.”
Odinson (CIO)
Revna had seen the evidence of physical trauma in her patients many times. She had learned early on to be accepting, calm, and compassionate without being insulting. This…this was so different. Maybe it was because their injuries were similar, maybe it was because the memory of her own trauma was too new, and certainly because this man across from her was family. Revna moved to the seat beside him and took his hand.
She didn’t need to read his file to remember D’vash talking about his father, and the type of man he became because of his mother. She had heard the story from his mother many times, on that trip, how his father had sacrificed himself for his wife and child. “You are not meant to die that way, Vash,” she said using his childhood nickname. “If a ship full of pirates couldn’t do it, a single woman wouldn’t be capable. I am very glad, my dear brother, that you have a will of iron.”
Lt. Edman, CounselorGrinning, D’vash replied, ‘And now I have an iron lung to match it. . . not actually iron, but an artificial lung. I was told if back up would have arrived 10 minutes later, I would have bled out.” Giving Revna’s hand a friendly squeeze, he stood up and began to tuck his shirt back in. Pulling her to her feet, he wrapped his arms around her in a friendly embrace.
A grin and humor to cover up the memories of that horror. D’vash always had a way of laughing at everything. He’d survived and now they were reunited and Revna wasn’t going to loose any more time. The three of them, young and silly, had vowed to always be family. Revna and Runa were supposed to go back every year and life happened and they’d all lost track. They’d been given an incredible gift. She hugged him back and shook her head with a laugh. “I always knew you’d get taller than me. We need to have to dinner, the 3 of us.”
Letting her go, the CIO asked, “If you want, I could look into this Walker guy for you? See if he got the help he needed, find out his response to your letter. . . I’d be happy to help you find some closure.”
Odinson (CIO)
She stepped back and thought about it. “I would like to know, but that would make his recovery about me, and not him. There are his wishes to consider. Maybe he wants to reach out but is afraid or maybe he would rather not be reminded. But I would like to know. Thank you.” She moved carefully back to her chair and picked up her drink, and finished what was left in it. “I have another appointment in an hour, but as far as your eval goes, you can go back to work. I’ll have it ready later today or tomorrow. But I would love to catch up more with you, and maybe,” her eyes dancing at the thought, “We can find a way to prank Runa?”
Lt. Edman, Counselor
“Did you forget what I do on this ship? Gathering, disseminating, and drawing conclusions. That’s what I do. I’m pretty good at it too. Walker will have no idea he’s being checked on, and you. . . you’ll get some closure.”
He turned and moved to the door. “Dinner would be great with the two of you. So would the prank. It seems I still owe her for one or two. Let me know where and when and I’ll be there.”
D’vash stepped through the door and stopped before it could close. “It really is good to see you again, Rev.”
Odinson (CIO)
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