Trials of R&R

Posted on Fri Jan 2nd, 2026 @ 10:19pm by Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein

Mission: Veils
Location: Haumea Colony
Timeline: 5 days ago
1138 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Sofia pursed her lips, processing the information on Allhallows Prime. A brow lifted as she over up at the young man waiting, stiffly patient and still; in his case a sure sign of impatience and a touch of nerves. "Of course, there's no question of granting leave - as I'm sure you know, you are so overdue that some of the staff have begun taking bets on when someone orders it."

"I'm not that -"

"Bad?" she finished for him, softening the chiding interruption with a smile. "Gunnar, it's been over six months since you took an actual leave. And you worked enough double shifts through the recent crises that I probably should have handed you pass and had security walk you to the next shuttle departing for anywhere that counts as R&R weeks ago. My only concern is whether this," she tapped the summary on her PaDD, "would be R&R or something that I should block out therapy time for when you get back."

The man dipped his head, eyes falling to folded hands. "T'Ango will be there."

It wasn't a denial, but it was an explanation of sorts. Looking at him seated on her couch, Sofia could almost picture the petite felinoid next him, in spirit if not in fact. They had become life lines for each other through their individual 'Valley of the Shadow' journeys, forming the kind of bond that the chaplain sometimes thought of as a quantum entanglement of souls. She could see how a festival with rituals meant to 'confront fear and honour memory' would appeal to a marine who had been so broken by survivors' guilt, and why her beloved friend would want to be there to support her. The question lay in how the ritual would might stir his own demons. "Are you going just to support her, or do you plan to take the 'Trial of Masks' yourself?"

"I plan to go on it with her," he replied simply. "I imagine that will involve taking it myself as well." A hand lifted, forestalling question. "But I would anyway. I've been coping, but everything the Captain's abduction dredged up..." he shook his head, glanced back at her. "You're an excellent Counselor, but I've felt stuck - probably from getting in my own way again - and sometimes alternate therapies can be beneficial."

The admission was itself a sign of progress, but she quietly swallowed a sigh at the clinical tone of the last of it - as though he were discussing treatment options for one his patients rather then his own psyche. Compartmentalization. Like all medical officers, he was good at it; indeed it had become an important tool for surviving his abduction by terrorists. But by the time he was rescued it had gone into a sort of over drive, which created serious barriers to processing that trauma. As interested as she was in seeing him find a way past some of those duranium-reinforced compartments, the means here concerned her. Especially for a friend who wasn't entirely comfortable with spiritual practice.

"Not every alternate is beneficial. Mystical rituals are often not meant to be safe, particularly ones involving the word 'trial'."

"I'm aware." He tipped a brow, a slight smile curving his lips. "Just because I'm agnostic, doesn't mean I haven't studied religions. You know my philosophy on patient care involves understanding a patient's cultural background, and especially for people experiencing medical trauma, honoring religious views is an important part of that."

She tipped a brow back at him. "Academic and experiential understanding are entirely different things."

"I understand that. The faith I was nominally raised in always struck me as ...too human-centered to quite accept... but there were moments, rare, but nonetheless times when I had of sense of the transcendent." For a moment, blue eyes held a glimpse of remembered light, but then he looked aside. "I know there's a chance this ritual may involve some sort of altered state of consciousness, but I've practiced several forms of meditation and in any case this isn't an initiation - it's open to all, on a planet that values tourism, so at worst it would be something that induces a trance-like state rather than any sort of psychotics or hallucinogens that could interact poorly with some outsider's physiology."

"I won't dispute that logic, but I will point out that you're treading close to rationalization." She leaned forward, reaching across to lay a hand on his arm. "I don't expect anything nefarious, I'm only concerned that this could lead to a set back if you're overwhelmed."

His lips compressed, hearing 'breakdown' underlying 'set back'. He couldn't fault her for it; he'd taken a bad turn once after a telepathic probe had brought too much to the surface too quickly. But he'd come a long way since then. And he wouldn't be alone. "T'Ango will be with me. I know I can be ...a difficult patient, but if I spiral, you know she'll make me talk to you. Even if she has to pin me to chair in front of a comm screen," he added, joking to lighten the mood.

Sofia chuckled. It was only halfway a joke - T'Ango's head barely reached his shoulder, but she was a Dosadi Imperial marine and very determined when it came to his welfare (there were a number of cells from a certain terrorist faction that had been eliminated with extreme prejudice because one of theirs had picked the wrong man to abduct). Perhaps more importantly, T'Ango did have a personal faith and one Gunnar deeply respected. There was also a good chance he'd be too focused on helping her face the trial to be drawn into whatever spectres it might raise from his own past.

"All right, though I'll hold you to doing the same if she needs it." Sofia scrawled a signature across the leave form. "But do try to have some fun, and actual R&R while you're there."

"Hey, new world and new civilization to explore," he replied with a smile. "You know that's all recruiting Starfleet ever needed for me."

------------

OOC-Cam: Old comrades of Burnie's, and friends of Kali's family, are showing up. The festival seemed a natural for the pair's story anyway, but since we're not in OF anymore I don't have to work a crossover. For reference:

Gunnar: Lt Gunnar Arnason, Nurse Practitioner, human, 6'4", blonde, blue eyes, tends to work off stress/insomnia in the gym. Has been described as 'Thor, if Thor were a pacifist overgrown boy scout'

T'Ango: Lt. T'Ango, also answers to nickname, Tango. Dosadi Imperial Marine with spec ops background and several years as an exchange officer to Starfleet. 5'0" felinoid who resembles an earth mountain lion. She has an intricate 'honor tattoo' around her right eye.