Shrugging his shoulders and tapping his fingers against his knees, the man before her appeared not to want to share anything. This was the first of her patients from the Odyssey who was not as forthcoming as she had hoped. 

Sighing quietly, Counsellor Horin twitched her nose as she looked down at her padd to quickly skim over the service record of the officer she had before her. 

Cline Lenjir had served under Captain McCallister ever since he graduated from the academy. First posting was on the Triton, followed by the Odyssey. A steady career progression through the ranks from being an ensign on the gamma shift before moving his way up to a senior position now as a lieutenant commander. 

“Are you certain Cline, there’s nothing you want to share or discuss from your time on the Quirennal?” Horin attempted to get through to the Tiburonian again.

Shaking his head, Lenjir just simply answered back with a simple response. “No, thank you ma’am.”

Her time as a counsellor had taught her that when a patient didn’t want to share anything, then they had something to share. Horin had to find another way around this. She had another twenty minutes left of her session with Odyssey’s chief security and tactical officer and she was now contemplating ordering him to attend a second session. 

For a moment she just sat there in silence and looked at him with a neutral expression.

He returned the same look.

Lenjir was an attractive man. It was obvious he looked after his physical appearance by the outline of the muscles hanging from his arms. His eyes glinted like black beetles complimented by his satiny brown skin. Though bald, his cranial ridges pointed upwards but they did not make him look fierce, just the opposite in fact. He wore a battered maroon jacket over a sun bleached button-down shirt with black almost skin tight trousers. His leather boots were creased and soft with age. Remaining still, almost like a statue, Lenjir kept his mouth closed in a thin straight line. However, Horin certainly believed this was not the real man she had heard from her other patients. Annoyingly, she couldn’t say anything about him as she could be seen as breaking patient confidentiality. 

Breaking the silence, Horin implored the use of pure closed questioning, just to see if she could evoke some sort of response out of him that would start a conversation. “I understand from your own report and others, that you were critical in the captain’s escape plans?”

“That’s correct ma’am.” Lenjir said.

“Describe to me what that involved.” Horin told him with a stern face. “And by that I mean what you had to do.”

“I assessed potential avenues of escape.” He answered. “I observed and assessed our environment to find a route that would help us safely return to the Odyssey.”

Vanquishing her desire to scream at him and pull rank, she tried another attempt. “Cline, have you ever been imprisoned?”

“No ma’am.”

“What do you think it may include?” She asked as she got up and headed to her replicator and ordered herself a mug of hot chocolate. She purposely didn’t offer him a drink.

Considering the question for a few seconds, he eventually answered her. “Losing one’s ability to make choices for themselves. The loss of freedom.”

“It’s interesting you say that.” Horin said, taking her mug and bringing it back to her chair that she was previously sitting in. “As from what I read in your report, you didn’t appear to think that any of that had taken place.”

Confused by her comment, Lenjir looked at the counsellor. “I think I disagree with that assessment, ma’am.”

Sipping on her mug as she sat down, she shook her head as she put the hot beverage down on the glass coffee table beside her and reached for the PADD with his report on it. “I can assure you, Cline, I’ve read your report and not once have you used the word imprisonment or words to that effect. If anyone else did not know what really happened, they would assume you were all guests on the Quirennal.”

 “I will then review it and make amendments.” Lenjir responded with. 

“Please do, as I’d like to know why the security chief of one of Starfleet’s most advanced starships did not consider placing a review of what measures might want to be in place for future similar incidents based on what he learnt.” Horin stated, still looking at the PADD with his report in it. “From what I can gather, you enjoyed the time to work out while on the Quirennal and the challenge of finding an escape route.”

He eventually let his guard down. 

Lenjir clenched his fists and jawline as he reacted. “With all due respect ma’am, I think that is an unfair assessment of my work.”

“Then tell me more, tell me what I need to know about what happened and why Odyssey’s security chief didn’t do more to protect his crew from the dangers imposed by a deranged hologram that deceived an entire crew into believing they were caring for a large group of alien youngsters.” Horin continued to push. 

Raising his left hand to his chin, the annoyance was now apparent across his expression as he first attempted to hide it by leaning his closed fist over his mouth. An almost physical barrier to him from speaking. “It’s hard to put into words.” He let out. 

“Try me.” Horin insisted as she placed the PADD down and picked up her drink again. “Tell me how I’m wrong about your actions.”

“It wasn’t exactly a textbook operation. The captain insisted on using as many people to explore the ship prior to our kidnaping. I should have protested more. It left Odyssey vulnerable.” Lenjir stated. 

“From the reports I’ve read, I don’t think it matters where anyone else was. Captain Jyster had a powerful transporting system that could by-pass the ship’s shields.” Horin said. “But keep going.”

“There was nothing else to compare our situation to. Never had anyone else had to explore a huge area to gain more intel on what was happening.” Lenjir said. “So we were making up the whole thing as we went with it.”

“Not true,” She shot down. “Just over thirty years ago, the Enterprise-D encountered a rogue sect of Borg drones on a planet far from Federation space. To investigate the whereabouts of a missing officer on an alien world, a skeleton crew was left behind while others searched the planet the ship orbited.”

“That was different.” Cline protested. 

“How? It was an alien environment, up against a powerful foe while a majority of the crew were off the ship.” Horin stated back. “So I ask again Mister Lenjir, why have you not included any recommendations to your captain in your official report for future similar away missions?”

“Because…because…” He stumbled out with. “Because there was nothing I could have done and I failed in my job, for the first time and I should be punished for it.”

Lenjir leant forward placing his head into his hands. 

Victory Horin thought to herself. She finally got something out of him. “Talk to me more about this failure, Cline.”

Looking up from his hands, the annoyance he now felt was plastered across his face. “Even though we eventually were able to beat her, there was just nothing we could get past Captain Jyster initially. It was like she was everywhere and every tactic in the book we tried she would appear to be able to countermand it.” 

“So what changed?” Horin probed. 

“I suppose the captain’s decision to agree to her terms, to wait the entire thing out until we had an opportunity.” Lenjir reflected. He looked at her with his dark eyes. “So that’s why there’s no recommendations in my report, as the captain already had them in his back pocket. He didn’t need me to come up with a plan or a strategy, he just needed me to play my part with what he was doing already.”

“You make it sound like that was a bad thing?” Horin questioned. “Do you not trust the captain’s judgement?”

“I do,” Lenjir said defensively. “I really do, it was just uncomfortable to have to wait and literally sit on my hands. I suppose being made one of the mentors for the young adults that Jyster assigned to us wasn’t as engaging compared to the others who literally became parents.”

“I don’t suppose you have any insights as to why you think Jyster did that?” Horin wondered, she was typing her notes as she asked.

“I could easily say she thought I could be more of a harm to her if I was in such a role, but I think it was more like a punishment.” Lenjir answered.

Interested to know why he used that phrase there, Horin encouraged him to explain further why he saw it that way.

“I look at the likes of T’Rani, Samris and even Commander Duncan and Chief Court. They were all given a family unit and made to form a clone bond with those they were caring for. Those youngsters depended on them, but the ones I had as well as the ones that Lukiz and Commander Hunsen were placed with, none of them truly needed us. It was almost like Captain Jyster was purposely keeping us at arm’s length. Close but not too close. It made me angry.”

“Angry? Did you not take some satisfaction in the relationships you did develop with those young people?” Horin asked. 

“At the time, yes I suppose I did as I believed they were real but it made me angry that I was not considered good enough to be seen in a full time parental role.” Lenjir admitted. “I suppose that’s why I tried to focus on getting us out of there, but I couldn’t even do that right. I was like a useless add-on.”

“It must have been difficult, Cline.” Horin paused as she looked at her time. “I’d like us to revisit this and conduct another meeting while you’re still here on Mellstoxx, if you’d like?”

Accepting her offer with a nod, Lenjir thanked her for her time. 

“You need time to process all of this and I definitely recommend you speak to your colleagues you feel are the closest to who were in a similar position as you on the Quirennal or those that were left on the Odyssey. It might help you think through your issues more.” Horin advised. 

Lenjir got up and departed from her office. 

She pondered just how much support Lenjir might need and placed a note on his case to ensure her secretary followed up with booking in another appointment. Her work here was far from over.