Haukea-Willow: Emotional Turmoral
Aly Drolet
((Starbase 118, Command Center, Deck 7, Commanding Officer’s Ready Room))
StarBase 118 Commanding Officers Ready Room - 118Wiki
While deck 8 of the command tower did include access to a chief security office, the chief - presently - felt more inclined to initiate the conversation within Gogigobo Fairhug’s domain, which in a sense was the commanding officer’s ready room. The conversation, in and of itself, was an intimate one - designed for divulging and expressing vulnerable emotions and actions previously undertaken during the mission.
Likewise, the chief, Haukea, had never before experienced sensations of an instinctual nature, mixed with anger, confusion and powerlessness, uncommon on Risa or among the Risian people. Further, her early conversation with Corey Wethern, and subsequent suspicions of Metet, along with McLaren’s own play acting, had left her considerably disoriented.
Certainly, in an alternate reality, as a thought experiment, McLaren would have followed through on her initial act, being sincere in her intentions to eject Metet from the airlock. Haukea found difficulty in imagining what her own reactions would have been to such a situation. What the report would have ascertained. Likewise, the fact she was more than willing to sacrifice herself, to save a fellow officer repercussions, despite knowing full well the choice, and subsequent consequences, belonged solely to them, irritated her in some respect.
And now, as was her wish, perhaps Gogigobo, as an experienced officer, in full command of an entire space station, having to consider difficult decisions daily, had a modicum of advice at his disposal.
Though realistically Haukea expected to not enter into the conversation too formally. She wanted advice from her commanding officer, though mostly from an individual she considered a friend. While most would recommend a counselor, such was not necessary at this time.
Therefore, they sat casually within the seating arrangements provided in the room. Her face was uncharacteristically hidden in her hands, uniform jacket removed for ease of comfortability.
Willow: How do you deal with it all?
Fairhug: Response
Haukea had to forcibly collect her thoughts before providing any string of words resembling the all too necessary explanation. And while she would never, in all her life, forcibly lie, she could if the situation required, otherwise, as was typical, she merely left out the information, lying by omission. Though in this case, having the desire to explain, she made an attempt at elaborating on her initial question, providing context and relevant experience.
Willow: Ever since…Well there was one time I saw Corey Wethern almost bleed out and die. And while I’m a protective type of person, I’m troubling myself far more with general wellbeing than before. I think I lost control of the situation.
Fairhug: Response
Willow: McLaren had some play-acting and Metet had already irritated me. I got what I can only imagine was angry. Far too angry. I was willing, if it came to it, to have some rather dangerously impulsive reactions.
Truthfully Corey’s near death experience while entrapped on the holodeck with failing safety measures continued to haunt her. Having encountered a small, yet brief spark, of that original fear, she had confronted it with a difficultly disguised professional conversation. To which Corey had reassured her in no less than typical fashion through humor.
Yet, when McLaren, and subsequently Metet, by extension, became involved, the Risian found an unused anger rising to the surface. In some respects the emotion could be considered justifiable, given Metet’s perfectly provided deception. However, Solaris’s own play-acting had prompted a set of reactions that directly went against what appeared biologically possible.
Fairhug: Response
Willow: Gogigobo, I’m a Risian. Such intense negative emotions are not normal for us. We aren’t naturally genetically predisposed.
She had once explained it thus: emotions were a fact of biology - linked with evolution that - for Risians’ meant their genes were not predisposed to develop mental illness - depression, chronic anxiety, bipolar etc. Still, a Risian could experience the more typical classification of negative emotions - anger, sadness, guilt, grief etc - at a reduced intensity.
Though Vulcans might dispute the comparison, it was there. Risians did not purge emotion, but like Vulcans seemed to avoid strong attachment to them, though with a more limited negative set. Positive emotions - happiness, calm, excitement, curiosity - were often overly experienced and understood.
Yet, to circle back on the negative emotions - connected with mental health conditions - they were in a sense extremely rare as to go unacknowledged among the Risian people. Few Risian medical practices existed for such occurrences.
What this ultimately meant, for Haukea, was that despite her Starfleet education, she had little cultural understanding or guidance for how to compartmentalize.
Fairhug: Response
Willow: I can deal. I can do my job. I just want to know how you manage it all.
Fairhug: Response
Lt. Haukea-Willow
Chief of Security - Crisis Response
Starbase 118 Ops
M239512BG0
Ad Astra Per Aspera/To The Stars With Difficulty - Una Chin-Riley
