“I need you to tell me what to do.”  Captain Fontana sat across from his chief counseling officer in the counseling office. He’d asked to meet with her after stewing in his juices on the bridge for an hour or so.  

She let her eyebrows fly up in surprise, “You want me to tell you what to do, sir?”  She scoffed at his question, “That’s a pretty loaded question your throwin’ at me with an itchy trigger finger.”

Geronimo leaned back in the chair, “Ensign, I’m in a tough spot.  I’m starting to wonder if I’ve been given…the wrong information.”

Woodward blinked a few times before she found the words to speak, “You’re just startin’ to wonder?  The resignation of your first officer wasn’t enough to make you think twice?”  She shook her head, “Look, I don’t know where you come from, and for what it’s worth – I don’t care.  You walked into my office and asked me… an ensign of all people, what a captain should do.”  She pointed at him, “Take a step back and look at yourself in whatever passes for a mirror in your world, Captain…and think about where whatever got you into the center chair has taken you.” Fontana moved to speak but stopped when she put her hand up, “I said…take a step back.  That means you stop talkin’, and you start thinkin’.”  She sat back and stared sharply at him until he did the same in his chair, resigning himself to thinking about what she had said. He thought long and hard.  She leaned forward after ten minutes, “Now’s when you start tellin’ me ’bout what your thinkin’.”

A sigh as he spoke, “I…”, he stopped and tried to find the right way to start off his admission.  “Gwenelda Patton was my instructor in the academy.  She’s been a mentor, a guide, and a helpful hand along the way.”  He touched his captain pips as he mused, “She’s part of the reason I got these.  She’s also part of the reason I was assigned to the Edinburgh and…well, you know the rest.”

Juliet chuckled, “Patton is a legend…but not in the way you seem to see her. She’s known as the ‘Gate Witch’ and…”, she explained as he looked confused, “She gate keeps.  She doesn’t think you deserve to be an officer?  She’ll push you harder, make things challenging for you…find a way to grade your assignments lower.  She’s been doing it for a long time…and someone must have finally talked into the right ears.”

Fontana gave her another curious look, “She’s retiring because she’s 75 years old and has been doing the job for years on years.”

The Chief Counselor chuckled dryly, “If you say so, but if you really believe that…I’ve got a sector or two in the Romulan Neutral Zone I’d like to sell ya.”

He shook his head, “I have a hard time believing that Patton is really that bad.”

She pointed out, “You were probably one of her favorites – the golden children we called them.  Some of ’em figured it out towards the end and felt terrible.  Rumor has it that something changed in the command structure, and the complaints finally made it to a desk or two…thus, she retired.”  She shrugged, “I kept my head down and hands inside the ride at all times, so I managed to stay the hell off her radar, ya know?”

Geronimo sat back in shock.  “I suppose you’re going to tell me I should ask some others about her and see what they tell me.”

Woodward put her finger on her nose, “You got it one, Captain.  You’re the doubtin’ type, I suspect.  You need to hear from a few others before you start tearing down the statue of her in your own mind.”  She sipped at her glass of apple juice, “How you feelin’ about all this?”

He glanced up from staring at the floor, “What, my entire world being rocked by the revelation that my mentor and hero is nothing more than a vindictive and punitive queen of her castle?  Feeling pretty shitty.”

She nodded, “Those feelings are important.  Don’t try and ignore them or be ashamed of them.  Sit in that feeling for a moment…but know that whatever you do with that feeling…and the need to do something about it – that’s what matters.  That’s the difference between murder and just walking away.”

Fontana chuckled a little, “That is a helluva comparison you just made, Ensign Woodward.”

“I am the only one of my kind, Captain Fontana.  They don’t allow more than one of us to be alive and kicking in the universe.”

He stood and extended his hand, “That I believe.  Thank you for this conversation.”

She rolled her eyes at him and moved quickly in for a hug, “I’m not a hand-shaking counselor, sir.  I’m a hugger.”

He was startled by her move, but after a second, he put his arms around her gently.  She pulled away after a moment and gave him a nod and a smile, “Now, get to work on finding out that everything you’ve ever known is a lie.  Good luck, Captain.”

Fontana gave her a nod of thanks and left out the door, his heart heavier than when he’d arrived.