It had been a long day and he wasn’t done yet. Ryke closed his eyes as the door slid shut on his last appointment, and dropped his head back. Sighing, he scrubbed at his face with both hands and blinked.

Just two more to go and he was done. Maybe he’d head to the small cafe up near the brig. Someone had been dropping homemade cakes in there recently and he really had a hankering for one of the little almond cakes… if there were any left. Then he had practise later tonight, if Theo could make it. After today, he was kind of hoping he didn’t.

The door chimes rang just as he took a mouthful of his coffee, abandoned during the appointment. Cold. He grimaced and swallowed it down anyway.

“Come in,” he called out, casting a bayful look at the coffee mug. So much for keeping drinks warm for twenty-four hours. It had been barely fifty minutes.

CPO Traan strolled in, he had not made a habit of tracking when his yearly psych evals were due. But after 2 and half decades in the service these sorts of interviews had become somewhat routine for the middle aged Andorian. “Chief Traan, reporting for my 1500h appointment.”

“Of course, pleasure to meet you Chief. I’m Counsellor Ashfield, I’ll be conducting your evalution. Please, take a seat while I pull up your records.” Ryke smiled and indicated the seat opposite him as he searched for the records on his padd. The office he preferred was a small one, with two comfortable armchairs in the middle and his desk tucked away in the corner. “I’m sure you’re more than used to these evaluations by now.”

Traan grinned, ‘Been through a few over the years, yes sir’ He had a seat, as the counselor tapped away at his console. ‘I’m still learning some of the tricks to finding my away around. This is by far the largest station I’ve ever served on.’

Ryke nodded, his professional smile becoming more of a grin. “Same here. It took me a full month to get my bearings. Kept getting turned all around, especially with the crowds during shift change.”

He had the records now, quickly reading through them again. Normally he read all the notes before his day started, but the last two appointments were new on his books, only transferred over today.

Turning the padd off, he switched his attention to the man sat opposite. He kept his body language loose and relaxed. “So, other than finding your way around, how have things been recently for you?”

“Not terrible. I was thinking there may have been a mistake with my transfer orders when i first arrived. But my asst section chief actually sent me a message a few hours ago, and offered me a temporary assignment on the USS Exeter as a training safety observer for the cadet cruise that starts tomorrow. I think that is why there was this rush to get this appointment with you. To stay within the regulations, all training staff needs to have up to date psych evals…I hope this isnt adding too much to your work load today, sir.” Traan said with a nod.

Ryke inclined his head. “Not at all. I had two free appointments today anyway, so we can take as long as we need.” Not strictly true, but counselling couldn’t always be neatly tied up in a little box, so they were all used to shifting schedules and working late.

“Why did you think there might have been a mistake with your transfer? And there’s no rank in here. You can call me Ryke if you prefer.”

Traan thought for a moment about how to tactfully respond to the question, and not appear as though he was griping. “Well I had been assigned here under the title of ‘Operations support personnel’ on my transfer orders. And then when i arrived, I was a just a bit suprised to be assigned as a basic technician on a maintenance patrol crew. My past 3 assignments before being sent here were more administrative and leadership roles, related to starship repairs and construction. But like I said I think one of me section leads had noticed I was more suited to a different duty post. Hence how they are having me fill one of the training staff positions on the Exeter starting tomorrow.”

Ryke nodded. “It seems then that your department has been proactive in getting you into a role that better suits you. How do you feel about the switch?”

Traan replied quickly ‘I couldn’t be happier…I’m always proud to serve in any capacity in Starfleet, but this assignment certainly seems to match my skills and experience a bit better then maintenance patrol.’ Soft chuckle.

Ryke smiled. “That’s always the goal. So, talk to me about the new role. You’ll be safety staff on the Exeter cruise? Is that a role you’ve done before?”

“Yes, my orders are to report aboard the Exeter tomorrow as one of 3 Operations Safety Observers, I presume theres one Observer for each station on each shift to ensure the younglings dont crash the ship or cause a warp core breach” Traan laughed lightly. “But no, I’ve never had that role specifically, though I do hold a certification as a bridge watchstander for the tactical and operations stations, and am qualified to serve as an instructor/observer due to my occupational specialty as a Senior Tactical Systems Tech. I’ve also been in mentorship and leadership positions in my last two duty stations, but no, I have never served in this exact capacity.” A quick laugh. “I guess there’s always a chance to be assigned to a certain posting for the first time in your career, regardless of how experienced any of us might be, I’m looking forward to it though…”

Traan’s body language was relaxed even with Ryke’s questioning, which satisfied him that, duty-wise, everything was okay there. So he moved on. “Tell me about your background? Your family… are you in contact with them? Not everyone is, for whatever reason, so no problem if you aren’t.”

Traan considered his response for a few seconds. “Well yes, the 3 other members of my mating group all live on Andoria, aswell as 1 of my fathers, and both of my mothers. I am in contact with them quite often, and every 3 years or so I try to make sure I take a months worth of leave to return home and fulfill my societal duties as a husband” He had a wide smirk on his face, as he was referring to his duty to help maintain the Andorian population levels. Due to the complex nature of Andorian mating practices, population growth was rarely ever possible for their species, maintenance of the population levels was usually the most that any generation of andorians could hope to accomplish.

”Very responsible,” Ryke replied, then frowned and tilted his head slightly. “How about your other father? I was under the impression that mating groups were made up of two men and two women?”

There was bit of extended silence before Traan responded this time. “The concept of 2 males and 2 females is approximately analogous, though 1 male type and 1 female type will not always easily identifiable by other species who aren’t familiar with Andorians…My father and my elder brother Farol both died during the Dominion War at the battle of Betazed…”

Usually Traan would stop at that point in a conversation. But for whatever reason he felt comfortable enough with the Counselor he had met only moments before he decided to continue and share more on the sensitive topic “My father was the First Officer on the Andorian Ship Dreysus, and my brother was with the Federation ground forces on the planet when the Jem’Hadar invaded, a few of his comrades told us that Farol had died along with most of his battalion defending the island compound of 8th House of Betazed up until the day before the planetary govt officially capitulated…they’re names and piece of each of them rest now in the Wall of Heros on homeworld…”

He frowned slightly and lowered his gaze for a few seconds, recalling the time  about a year after the war, when he had visited the Wall of Heros in the Halls of Honour. In Andorian culture, all members of the military who die in combat or as a result of their service were honoured on the Wall, and a literal piece of them(body part, blood, dna etc) was entombed behind the plaque with their name on it. He tried to refocus and continued,  “That was a dark time for the Federation and Andoria in particular, that was the original reason I left the Guard Academy and joined Starfleet, 6 weeks basic training and another 8 of basic tactical systems training and I was on the front lines building and then operating the orbital defenses of Starbase 310 and its surrounding star system. From the day I warped onto that system we were fighting weekly if not daily battles with the Cardies or the Jem’Hadar, then when the Breen entered, things got real bad for a few months… anyway, as the combined fleets of the entire Alpha quadrant Alliance were fighting the final triumphant Breakthrough to Cardassia, I was celebrating my 407th day on the front lines…”

Traans gazed was slowly drifting no longer meeting the stare of the counselor. His tone of voice also shifted slightly, as if recalling some specific event from nearly 27 years prior. “If we hadn’t contained the Dominion and held the line after they had taken Betazed, I shudder to think what would have become of Andor and Vulcan.”