Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie - Anticipating Loss

[Addison MacKenzie]

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

 

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: The reason for my assignment was to offer me quiet and calm to work through what happened on the Arthur Royale. I’ve done that now. I like teaching, but the Academy is all storied traditions and routines. Good for giving you peace and quiet; less so for developing your own capabilities further. 

 

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: Yes Sir. I had my last check-in with the Academy Counselor seven months ago, and I got a clean bill of health.

 

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?

 

There was a small pause in the conversation, no doubt creating an intentional space for the Cygnian to weight their options in answering. They were no doubt as aware of the implications of poor answer as the woman who asked it.

K’Wara: ... I do. Experience is a bitter teacher, Captain, and it’s a lesson I intend to remember. The events that occurred on the Arthur Royale hit closer to home than I’d ever experienced before, and I was unprepared for how that affected me. I won’t be so again.

 

MacKenzie’s face softened slightly. She empathized with where the new operations officer was coming from, but they were also missing a critical piece of the puzzle: each loss is different. Each loss hits differently, and it doesn’t matter whether the loss is expected or not, anticipated or not. One might think they know how they’ll respond, but it’s never a certainty until one lives through it.

MacKenzie: I appreciate your confidence, but for as much as you think you know how you’ll respond to grief in the future, it’s never a certainty. I’ve seen more loss than you can imagine.

 

She had: as a doctor, as a commanding officer. People she had direct control over, people she hadn’t. Frontier Day…

K’Wara: Yes Sir. I understand.

MacKenzie: Do you miss the red uniform yet?

K’Wara: ::wider smile:: On the contrary, Sir, it’s nice to be back in Ops Gold. Command Red comes with too many preconceived expectations attached to it. Happy to leave that to more decorated officers.

 

She pursed her lips slightly.

MacKenzie: I suppose by that, you mean me.

 

She knew it had, as she knew that she felt the weight of the pips on her collar every day. Just as she knew the risk it was to each member of the Artemis crew that there was a flag officer aboard. It made them a potential target.

 

K’Wara: Response

 

MacKenzie: Well, the stakes are higher out here than they are in a holodeck, that’s for certain.

 

K’Wara: Response

 

Addison smiled slightly and gave the Cygnian a definitive nod.

 

MacKenzie: Very well. You’re dismissed, Lieutenant. And welcome aboard.

 

K’Wara: Response

 

 

 

 

Tag, and End Scene for MacKenzie!

 

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

Captains Council Member at Large

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