Jade found herself pacing back and forth. This has become a bad habit of hers but she didn’t know what else to do when she needed to brainstorm. It had been a rough week for her and she is pretty confident that she was starting to lose her mind. She stopped her pacing and sighed in frustration. She wasn’t getting anywhere at this current state. Her client needed her to think straight so maybe she should take a walk or something to clear her head.

She took a few seconds to close of all her case files and tidy her desk. Maybe the walk would help and she’d be able to clear her mind and get her work done. She left her office and turned back to lock the door. She didn’t know which direction she wanted to go so she just turned to her right and started walking.

Beryl strode down the corridor with a purpose. No, that wasn’t quite right. He didn’t have anything pressing, nor anywhere in particular to go. But after several weeks of mounting doubts and second-guessing his career decisions, he’d finally gone to see a counselor. That meeting had been invaluable, and now Beryl was occupied with thoughts about their discussion. So perhaps it was more accurate to say Beryl strode down the corridor, furiously thinking, but content with the subject of his internal monologue.

His attention span was so inwardly-focused in the moment, Beryl barely registered the officer in front of him as he rounded the corner. Yanked back into reality, he tripped on his on feet as he tried to keep from barreling into the woman in front of him.

“Ah, sorry about that Lieutenant. So caught up in my thoughts, I wasn’t paying attention. I hope I didn’t startle you?” Beryl glanced around for a door sign; anything to give him a clue as to who he’d almost flattened.

Jade looked up just in time to see the man narrowly avoid bumping in to her. “That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m find myself lost in thought often as well. Can I help you find where you are going perhaps? I myself just left my office to take a walk. It’s just around the corner here and I had just needed to clear my mind for a bit.” Jade spoke through a small smile. She could sense the man was deep in thought and she wasn’t sure if he needed or even wanted to talk about it. She was no counselor so she would not push him. She had taken this walk in order to clear her own mind so maybe it wasn’t by chance that she had run into this individual and had instead been some form of intervention. Jade didn’t believe in that kind of thing but she couldn’t help but find her thoughts drifting that way.

“Ah, well I appreciate the offer, but I’m just wandering at the moment. Just got off shift.” Beryl briefly considered how much he wanted to just blurt out to this stranger. “To make a long story short, I made a massive career change fairly recently, and while I am pleased I did, it still occupies my thoughts frequently. I find that walking about, seeing people is a better environment for my thinking than sitting in my quarters.”

Beryl paused then, looking at the woman in front of him. Did she want to talk, he wondered? Deciding she’d excuse herself if she wanted to, Beryl pressed onward. “What do you do here? I’m Beryl, by the way. Beryl Hammond.” He extended a hand.

Jade gave a small smile as she reached out and shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Beryl. I am Jade Hart. I am pretty new here still. I was assigned to the starbase just a few weeks ago. Long story short, I am a lawyer. I am currently serving as a deck officer and working my towards a JAG specialist. What about you?”

Beryl started in astonishment. “Nice to meet you Jade. What a funny coincidence: I am currently serving as a deck officer, but I’m a doctor! Decided I wanted to follow the command track, so I traded in my medical tricorder for a red shirt.” Beryl extended his hand again, this time beckoning down the hallway; an invitation to walk.

“Can I ask if you always wanted to do JAG work? Is this the path you wanted?” Beryl smiled, embarrassed. “Sorry for the questions, I just haven’t met anyone else who has done such a drastic job shift. I’ll tell you my story too, if you’re interested.”

Jade moved to follow alongside the man as he walked. “Your questions aren’t bothering me so don’t worry! I don’t mind. The best way I know how to answer is to tell you that I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a long time. I was pretty much told what I was supposed to be and that’s what I had always expected for myself. My dad is a MACO and that’s what he wanted for me. I wanted to do something different so here I am. Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than that but that’s the gist of it.”

Jade scratched her arm nervously. She wasn’t sure why but she found this man easy to talk to. Maybe talking would help clear her mind some so she didn’t mind sharing one bit. “I’m happy with my choice and have no regrets. Now, I’d love to hear your story. What brought about your change?” Jade said through a small smile.

“Oh man, that summary resonates with me pretty hard.” Beryl smiled. “Similarly, I followed in my parents footsteps to become a doctor. Tale as old as time. I wanted to – or thought I wanted to – pursue a purely scientific career, so I did both. Then a, uh, family tragedy struck and I took a long hiatus before I even began my career. Now that I’m back, I find I don’t hard the heart to follow medicine, and I realized I wanted to sit in the big chair some day. So here I am, running shifts as a deck officer, getting experience. Maybe someday soon I’ll transfer to a ship and keep working towards that dream.” Beryl took a much-needed breath. That was a lot at once.

“That’s quite the journey. I commend you on finding your ‘calling’ and sticking with that. That takes some courage and I respect that. I know that after I didn’t join the military like my family had always expected, I was afraid for some time that I had made the wrong choice. Of course, the decision caused some strain within my family and still does. But even so, I have not regretted my choice at all and I’m happy to be where I am. Do you have any regrets?” Jade inquired genuinely interested in what the man was saying. She’s never met someone with a story similar to hers and she found herself intrigued.

“I don’t really have regrets, per say, but I recently found myself second-guessing… myself, ha. It was kind of… well, I started to worry if I’d done the right thing. If I was making a difference anymore. One’s contributions are obvious when performing life-saving surgery, for example, but it’s harder for me to see the big picture when I’m directing operations in the industrial replicator bay.”

“Oh, I understand completely. Unfortunately, school did not come easy for me and I had struggled my way through for a good part of it. I worked hard and did it but I find that it brings me some confidence issues from time to time. I definitely second-guess myself and whether or not I am actually helping the clients that come to me. It’s hard sometimes though and some days I’m better at it then others. I have no doubts that you are making a difference and you will see that for certain in time.” Jade provided and then flashed a smile at the man. She was sincere in her statement and hoped that he could see that.

Beryl pondered what Jade had said. He didn’t think he could be a JAG, even if he had the schooling for it. Courtroom confrontations? No thanks. “Well, thank you. I imagine you are too! It’s just easier to be hard on oneself, no?” Beryl chuckled a bit at his self-deprecating humor. “So wait, you said you’re currently a deck officer? I was going to say I’m surprised I haven’t seen you in passing yet… but I guess this is a large starbase. Plenty of decks to, uh, officiate. What kind of shifts do you end up assigned to?”

“Indeed, this base is very large. I am quite sure that I have only met a handful of the crewmembers. I’ve only been here a couple of months though. With time, I’m sure I will have become acquainted with most everyone on base. As for me, I end up working in the mornings mostly and then attending court hearings. Thankfully, I’m usually finished with my work before super late. I hope to be able to visit more of the must-see establishments on base. What about you?”

“Oof, color me a bit jealous about your duty shifts. When I put on the red uniform, I told Personnel that I’d take anything, to get the experience. Unfortunately I think they’ve really taken that to heart, because my shifts are inconsistent, and all over the place. I think I’m the guy they use to fill in the slots nobody wants; hence my shifts directing the industrial replicator bays.” Beryl sighed. “But I won’t say anything. I wanted this job, and if this is the path to sitting in the big chair some day, I’ll walk it.”

“I have been fortunate, that’s for sure! I guess you could say that is one benefit of the type of job I have. I can imagine working inconsistent shifts would take a toil on you both emotionally and physically. I hope that situation can change for you in the near future. Maybe getting off the Starbase would help but I’m not sure. Is that something you’d be interested in?” Jade replied.

Beryl rubbed the back of his neck absent-mindedly. “Oh, yeah I’d like to command a starship someday. And I don’t just mean a medical Olympic. Seems like a long ways away from manning a biobed, but it’s my goal! How about you? I know you’re working on JAG… what’s your ultimate goal?”

Jade nervously tapped her index finger and her thumb together on her left hand before speaking. She doesn’t usually tell everyone this but she found the Lieutenant easy to talk to. “If I am being honest, I haven’t really thought much farther than where I’m at now. I always knew that I wanted to be a lawyer and I worked really hard to achieve it. Now that I’m here, I haven’t given it much thought. I know that I want work my way up here but I think I need to do some genuine soul searching and figure some things out.”

“That sounds reasonable to me! No need to have every milestone planned out, in my opinion. Plus it sounds like you’ve been busting your ass to get here, and this accomplishment is nothing to scoff at!” Beryl blushed a little when he realized his word choice. “Uh, excuse my language please. For some reason, Starfleet seems more accepting of rough-around-the-edges doctors than deck officers. I’m still working out the kinks.”

Jade managed to stifle a laugh quickly. “No need to be excused. As you can imagine, I’m use to hearing much worse. And thank you for the kind words. I definitely needed to hear them today.”

As Beryl and Jade came around the bend in the hallway, the turbolift Beryl had originally stepped out of came back into view. Huh, he thought. We really walked the whole loop on this deck? Stopping, Beryl turned to face the lawyer.

“Well, I’ve gotta hit the hay. Shifting duty cycles again, so I’ll be back on the decks bright and early tomorrow. It was really nice talking to you! I appreciated meeting someone going through a big career shift like I am. I hope to see you around again!” Beryl smiled as he pressed the button to call the turbolift.

“It was my pleasure. I enjoyed our conversation and it was lovely to meet you. Good luck on swapping duty cycles again. I look forward to being able to speak with you again.” Jade smiled at the man and then gave a small wave before turning to head back towards her office. She had work to finish and now she found herself refreshed and motivated.