Starbase Bravo – Personnel Department – 0900

“I heard about the Erigone towards the end of my time on my Raven class.  Y’all were a bunch of badasses.”  Juliet Woodward sat across the table from Harris, her eyes excited as her hands moved as she spoke, “And then the Edinburgh?  Damn.”  She sat up, “I apologize, sir…I curse a little.”  She was young, Harris thought, but she had seen as much action over the last year as they had in the few months they’d been together.  Her attention to detail as he’d talked to her and her awareness of the fleet was unusual but appreciated.

He tapped through her file and application on his PADD, “Long as you don’t curse on the bridge, in front of your crew, or in dress uniform – I think I can handle that, Ensign.  You note here that you were looking for a bigger ship…talk to me about that.”

Juliet sighed, “It’s hard to lose yourself on a Raven, you know?  There’s no dilution between you and everybody else – you figure out if y’all are gonna get along or not.  There are only so many places to go running and only one holodeck.”  She sat back in her chair, “I’m a runner, Commander Harris.  I need to run to clear my head and get my body back into the work.”

He made a note or two, “Your previous commanding officer’s recommendation…”

She leaned forward and sighed, “We did not get along.”  She chewed at her top lip for a moment as his questioning glance and finished with, “He didn’t want me really…talking with the other crew regularly.  He thought I was better suited for science.”  She wrinkled her nose as if remembering the conversation, “A year into his great experiment, I am glad to say he was wrong.  Counseling and Science are not the same.”

“Did he admit his error?”

Juliet laughed and then covered her mouth with an apologetic look, “I…that was a bit unprofessional.  No, he didn’t.  He wasn’t someone who could admit his mistakes or really even talk about them.  I worried about it my first few weeks but thought it was going to great better.  It did not. I realized I had found myself in a backwater assignment.  I drank a lot of synthehol.  Wasn’t the same.”  She shrugged at his look, “If you knew him, Commander…,” she whistled.

Harris tapped at his PADD and found the ship she’d been assigned to and the captain of the vessel.  It was his turn to raise his eyebrows and chuckle, “Your former CO has been on this ship for two years?”  

She nodded and chuckled, “He cycles through command teams every six months it seems…I think Starfleet is getting tired of it.  They told me I’d never have to see him or a Raven class again in my life.  He’s peed in too many people’s cereal bowls.”

“A colorful metaphor, Ensign.”

She sat back up, “Is it gonna be a problem, sir?”  She eyed him carefully.

Harris returned her eye contact, “Long as you keep to my ground rules, no.  Your academy track record speaks about your working well with others and organizing events and places for the crew to relax and breathe.  Given the messes we seem to find ourselves in the middle of…I’m keen to have someone like you on board.”

Juliet asked, “Me or someone like me?  You’re playing the word game with me, Commander…and I’m not particularly a fan of games.”

Ambrose returned with, “Then don’t play games with your words and my ship, Ensign.  You can be free with your mouth in virtually every corner of the Edinburgh…but you have to remember time and a place – because one of those times could mean life or death for someone.”  He tapped at his PADD, “Is that a fair request?”

Woodward had to give this guy credit – he’d figured her out pretty quickly.  He wasn’t like other command-level officers she’d dealt with in the past.  This one actually listened a little…and wasn’t afraid to push back with a little fire.  “I can accept those terms, sir.”

Harris pushed out from his chair and walked over to her and extended his hand, “Ensign Juliet Woodward, I am offering you the position of Chief Counseling Officer aboard the USS Edinburgh.”

She looked at his hand, “I heard from someone y’all call her The Eddie.”

Harris chuckled and revised with, “…aboard The Eddie.”  She shook his hand and thanked him.  He handed her a PADD with her quarters and instructions on their first meeting later today.  She saluted and walk out of the room.  Harris felt relief as he collected his things.  Soon they would be back out in the blackness of space on the next mission.

He couldn’t wait.