There was quite some interesting conversation she already had to witness, but this one was one that she looked kind of forward to. The man himself, the troublemaker in his prime, Commander Abernathy, had quite the read on her latest records, and rather than waiting for him, Arwa was going to make a move to him. Arwa suspected from his profile that he would rather….well, never walk freely to her office, so it is best to confront the man, and now she is here for him.

Robert had set out to accomplish what he had started. He’d walked Haggis to his new shop, gotten a good look over the station without distraction, and hopefully made a friend along the way. Robert wasn’t overly social but having someone in one’s life was essential. Even more essential when that someone ran a local alcoholic established, “definitely comes in handy,” Robert muttered to himself as he left Haggis to his job.

Robert had taken notice of the Counselor and figured now was ok to start his official job, “I can see you, Counselor,” Robert gestured, “I assume you’re looking for me,” he nodded with a smile.

Hearing the man talk to her and then gesture would indicate he was in a hurry. “Yes, Captain, I am looking for you to welcome you to the base,” Arwa said while walking toward him. “I just arrived myself and trying to meet with everyone on the base to …get the lay of the land, so to say”

“I thought I had left orders I would report to Ops when I was ready,” he shrugged, “but I guess I am ready now.”  He motioned to the nearest lift, “after you.”  He regretted now that he hadn’t read more on the incoming Counselor. He was feeling a bit behind now, as it seemed the Counselor as least knew him. What exactly she knew would be determined?

Walking at his side, she nodded slightly, her hands behind her back, entering the lift and turning around, waiting for the Captain to enter. “I get the feeling you seem caught unguarded and not prepared for my surprise welcoming to this base,” Arwa said with a slight grin on her face. 

Robert nodded, “not prepared, never,” he looked at her, “I am always prepped, just don’t ask my ex-wife.”  He stepped into the lift, “Station Operations,” he ordered the lift. “I expected someone to come looking for me, eventually.” He turned to face the Officer, “alright, ask your questions; I am sure you have a few?”

“Your ex-wife, that could be an interesting topic by itself,” Arwa spoke with a grin on her face. “But we will do that another time. I believe it is more important to know how you are doing, Captain. How is your trip to this station, it is basically in the middle of nowhere, and station morale speaks chapters.”

Rob looked at the Counselor for a bit, then spoke. “I have to admit Eos wasn’t my first choice. In fact, if we are being honest here, Eos wasn’t even on the list. As I am sure you’ve read my file, you know my past. I am not exactly in a place to make demands on my assignment. So Eos it is. This station has been ignored, lacking upgrades, and from what I see, several sections are in serious need of maintenance repairs. So, we all rolled up our sleeves, and we pitch in picking up the pieces.”

“We work as a team to get this station to a semi-operational status, and we go from there,” Rob added, not really seeing that he had ventured far from the initial question. “First things first, it looks like Starfleet hasn’t assigned a First Officer, so that means extra hours for me,” he mocked a smiled. “Lucky me, right?”

As Arwa just listens to the Captain, “The station’s morale by itself is already quite some work. People tend to feel that they are being sent here because they are a burden in some way to Starfleet” She looked at the doors, “Do you feel you are that burden for Starfleet Captain?”

“Quite the opposite,” Robert looked at the Officer, “morale is a touchy subject, but that is a good place to start. We want people placed here because they want to be, not because they feel they are being punished somehow.”  He didn’t really answer the Counselor’s question and didn’t plan on going into his record, not in their first meeting. “Right now, as I see it, we have two major tasks here. The first, get things back to operational status and second, work on morale.”  He smiled, “wouldn’t you agree?”

The avoiding of her question didn’t bug her, but the optimistic mask that the Captain was putting up did. Arwa didn’t respond directly and just nodded away from his face. “Right, that does take priority. Just don’t forget your health in the bigger picture as well, Captain,” she points out as she blinks while the lights flicker. “Ahh, give it a second” The elevator stopped as an automatic message stated that there was a technical difficulty, and the engineers were alerted.

“This better not be an impromptu counseling session,” he smirked. “I wouldn’t have made it to your office in time.”  He leaned against the wall while he waited. “My health is something I’ve spent a lot of time dealing with over the last four years. You’ve read my file, I’m sure of it. You know what happened, and then you should know I worked on my issues. Enough said, right?”

He knew instantly that the Counselor wasn’t buying it. “I should never have taken that assignment aboard the Nogura, and I certainly didn’t handle things properly when I did. People died, and I have had to deal with the fallout for a long time,” he smiled, “I know my limits, and I am keenly aware that Starfleet is watching me. I will take care of  myself; there is too much at stake if I don’t.” 

Looking at the door and not directly at her Captain, Arwa simply nodded a bit. “That is why I picked you up, sir, to avoid you avoiding me because you would classically shove it off to your work schedule. Which can be hard to disproof seeing the condition of the base” Arwa looked at him now. “Knowing your limits doesn’t mean you know them, sir. So it is good to know you can take care of yourself, but also know you can rely on others like your Chief Medical and myself” The door opens she walks out. “I believe this our stop, sir.”

“Counselor,” Robert started to exit but stopped suddenly. He smiled, “why do I have a feeling I just got played?”   He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, “I trust these turbolift counseling sessions don’t happen too often?”  Before she could reply, he added, “let me guess, not as long as I see you periodically?”

Arwa crossed her arms and smiled at him. “It seems we are finally starting to understand each other, Captain. Feel free to contact me if you require assistance in diplomatic matters or personal matters” She nods to him, “Good day, Captain” With that said, she left him to resume his duties as she needed to find her next session. 

He shook his head as she walked away, “I like her,” he just smiled.  “She’s going to be a problem,” he laughed as he turned to face Operations.  He took in a long breath of air, this was going to be far worse than he was first led to believe.