The door to her office opened, and Cassidy Montgomery glanced up to find her assistant, Ensign Geraldine Parker, standing at attention with a broad smile.  She either needed something or had discovered something exciting for her, and she needed to share.  “What can I do for you, Ensign Parker?”  She continued working on her piles of PADDs.

Parker nearly squealed excitedly, “We finally have a Deputy Director of Counseling.”  She handed the PADD to an intrigued Deputy Director of General Medicine.

Montgomery started to read, “The Kennedy—and EOS station.  I know about the latter.  The place was rough all over when they stepped onboard.  From what I hear, there’s stuff in sickbay that still isn’t working.  Looks like she managed to get the counseling department into a respectable place, at least.”  She paused, a quiet smile on her lips, “It seems it is partly why she’s landed here.  I’ll take competence over stupidity any day of the week.”  Parker remained standing in front of the desk.  Cass glanced up.  She was about to ask her why she was still standing there when she made the connection, “You think I should meet with her, don’t you?”  A vigorous nod was her answer from Parker.  “I suppose it would be good to establish cross-departmental cooperation… considering we do our share of referrals to them and psychiatry.”  She stared at the neat piles of PADDS, “Schedule a meeting… preferably within the hour.  I need a break from this madness.”

Walking into the General Medicine office a few hours later, Arwa stopped at the assistant desk. “Good day. I have an appointment with Deputy Director Montgomery. I am Lieutenant el-Imam, the new Deputy Director of Counseling.” She looked at Parker with a soft smile, holding her hands crossed over each other. 

Parker smiled in return, “Welcome to the general medicine department.  I’ll walk you in.”  She stood and led el-Imam through the door, introducing the two women to each other before returning to her desk.

Montgomery offered the replicator, “Drinks are available if you have a need, Lieutenant,” she then gestured to the chairs across the desk, “Welcome to Starbase Bravo.  You worked with an old friend of mine on Eos. Doctor Longfellow worked with me early in my career.”

Giving a soft shake for the offer for a drink after sitting down “Yes Doctor Longfellow was a wonderful colleague to work with at Eos Outpost. I have not heard from him since my departure from Eos Station sadly enough” Arwa remembered her old co-works at Eos and shared many times their conversations and consults.

Cass chuckled, “He’s as constant as a star or a sun.  I hear from him every so often.  You’ll be happy to hear he’s made Chief Medical Officer on an Excelsior II class.  I don’t know if he shares that happiness, but it’s somewhere underneath the crust.”

“That does sound like the Doctor I know. He always had a thing for a good old challenge. He might get rusty on that ship. Speaking out of personal interactions, it will not take long for Doctor Longfellow to get the desired transfer if he really puts the effort into it” Arwa took a deep breath. “So, how is Starbase Bravo doing from your general medicine perspective on the counseling state? I am still catching up on all the data” 

Cass replied, “Well, we’ve not had a consistent hand in the counseling command department as of late, so I wanted to meet the new boss.  We make plenty of referrals your way.  Making sure I wouldn’t hate you was my first step.”  She smiled, “So far, so good.”

Nodding to Cass, “I am glad to hear that. Time will tell on how counseling will operate and how effective it will be.” She thinks for a second “Not hating me is an emotional option, Commander. But my goal is to please everyone as best as I can in my field of work. So I call it a win if you do not hate me” 

Cass mused, What is with everyone suddenly talking like a Vulcan around here?, and returned to her simmering black tea, waiting for the officer’s next offering.

“So, could you give me an update on the current status of the crew’s mental and physical health concerning recent events?” Arwa was well aware that Frontier Day was a sensitive topic, but a topic that shouldn’t be avoided. It should be discussed and spoken out.

She dug one of the spare PADDs out of the pile, accessed the file she could show her, and handed the device over, “A task group has recently found a solution to the problem and is in the process of rolling it out station-wide with treatment plans.  We’re working on physical health, but mental health is something else entirely.”

Arwa placed her hands on each other on her lap and said, “It is good that there is medical improvement but before my arrival. I did some digging and worried about the crew members who did not express their emotions well enough. Do you have people reporting with sleeping problems or having headaches?” 

Montgomery tapped at the console on her desk, and the holo screen next to them lit up as she played with the data, “That’s an interesting question, Lieutenant el-Imam.  We’ve seen an uptick in those symptoms after Frontier Day and even much longer after it.  I’m a doctor, not a counselor – you might be able to get more from the data with your expertise.”

“I have seen reports of counselors speaking of people feeling disconnected, the need to be in crowded areas to feel calm.” She crossed her legs and looked at the data with Cass. “However, the mental symptoms of being disconnected from the hive is somewhat….strange.” Arwa took a deep breath. “Former Borg patients that experience this were part of the hive for years…study never was conclusive on the impact of the transformation period it takes to experience the mental drawback of it.”

Cass was thinking as Arwa was speaking.  They hadn’t examined that element of the situation – so worried about the cure and race to find the result, they’d not considered elements of the Borg that may have remained, disconnection and destruction from the hive as symptoms would find ways to display.  She responded, “Fascinating.”

“Not everything can be seen on a scanner, so I am planning to set up a signals list for your department.” Arwa looked back at her. “These signals can clarify for your doctors to conclude whether a person needs a counseling session if they have sleepless nights, anxiety in empty rooms, or headaches.” Looking back at the data and points at data, “The increase of exhausting crew members have increased since Frontier Day.” Lowering her hand and taking a deep breath. “It can mean, of course, trauma because of what they have seen, but if we can filter out those registered to have Borg nano, then a treatment can be pulled together.”

Montgomery remained fascinated by the data and the hypothesis from the Deputy Director of Counseling.  She stood from her chair, “Coordinate with my assistant and myself – let’s get this working as soon as possible.  Thank you for seeing this.  It seems you arrived right on time, Dr. el-Imam.”  She extended her hand, “Welcome aboard Bravo.  You make an impressive first impression.”

Giving a nod as she stood up “I shall get my personnel working on the data Doctor Montgomery” Arwa smiled at her. “If anything else comes up in the future do contact me again, so we can work together to better the health of our people” she shook her hand. “Thank you for welcoming me. We will honestly speak to each other soon enough I expect” With that said, she let go of her hand and gave a soft nod while walking out of Cass office.