Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie - Revisiting Grief

[Addison MacKenzie]

(( Captain’s Ready Room - Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))

The Cygnian in front of her who was to become their new operations officer stood stoically on the other side of the commanding officer’s desk. MacKenzie had reviewed their service record, making note of their last posting: serving for three years as a proctor at Starfleet Academy. One would not, she might argue, join Starfleet just for the purpose of spending one’s career training other people to become officers. Thus leading to her current line of inquiry.

MacKenzie: And, I think more importantly, what is it that took you off a starship and proctoring exams for three years, anyway?

K’Wara: Ah. Yes... ::deep breath:: As for why I am here, specifically, I don’t have a good answer to offer. I didn’t request the reassignment, but Starfleet Command seems to consider my permanent position with the Academy a waste of personnel at this junction. As for the end of my service on the Arthur Royale, there was a ::searches for words:: tragic incident during a mission. It ended with the death of an entire away team, including some very dear friends I’d served with for years... ::looks out the window:: I’d lost friends in the service before - it happens, and we reconcile that fact or we end up trapped in our grief - but this time... ::looks back to the Captain:: This one was difficult to move past.

MacKenzie nodded empathetically. The permanent assignment to the Academy was a waste of personnel.

 

MacKenzie: You didn’t try?

K’Wara: I tried as best I could, attended mandatory counseling sessions for months, followed all directives to work through that grief, but in the end, Counselor Th’lon recommended that I accept a reassignment to a less demanding position, and I personally made the request for a position with the Academy.

 

MacKenzie sat back in her chair and clasped her hands, allowing them to fall in her lap. Her brow furrowed slightly at the Cygnian’s honest but perplexing answer.

MacKenzie: You weren’t interested in being among the stars?

K’Wara: I am not an explorer or pioneer by nature, Captain. I value a sense of home and family, I value connections. I enjoy watching someone at the beginning of a journey, and I enjoy seeing how their exploits and accomplishments, academic or otherwise, change them and turn them into the next version of themself. That journey, I think, is one of life’s greatest artworks.

 

She nodded again. MacKenzie, too, found joy in teaching – Lieutenant Morgan was, in fact, one of her disciples, and there were many more like him across the galaxy. While she took great pride in their accomplishments, she couldn’t imagine making it the sole focus of her work… Whether serving in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Artemis or in surgical scrubs, her own drive came from the pursuit of her own accomplishments.

 

MacKenzie: So I guess that brings me back to my original question. I guess I’ll reframe it: What made you decide that now was the time to leave the Academy and rejoin us up in the stars?

 

K’Wara: Response

 

MacKenzie rolled in the edge of her bottom lip slightly, pinching some of the flesh between her teeth.

 

MacKenzie: And you feel that you have worked through your prior grief?

 

K’Wara: Response

 

Addison cocked her head and held the silence for a moment.

 

MacKenzie: I know what the counseling report says. What I’m asking you is, do you feel better prepared to handle that grief knowing that you’re now in a situation where you may face something similar again?

 

K’Wara: Response

 

 

 

 

Tag, and TBC!

 

---

Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS
Commanding Officer
USS Artemis-A

Captains Council Member at Large

V239601AM0