Aria Rice's brain gets examined [1/3]

Posted on Sun Oct 25th, 2026 @ 1:58am by Lieutenant B'Lakkam Slichez & Lieutenant JG Aria Rice

1,808 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Behind the Curtain
Location: Chief Counselor's Office
Timeline: Enroute

[ON]

Aria had spent most of the walk convincing herself that there was absolutely nothing strange about going to see the Chief Counsellor. She was due a session, people had counselling sessions all the time and, technically, this was probably a good thing. Healthy, even. Which was a slightly alarming word because whenever anyone described something as healthy it usually meant it was either unpleasant or involved vegetables. Still, she was fine. Mostly fine, anyway. Work was going well, nobody had been shot, stabbed or accidentally stunned because she had pressed the wrong control, and she was reasonably certain she was sleeping enough. Probably. She had never really understood how much sleep counted as enough when you occasionally woke up in the middle of your sleep cycle remembering something embarrassing you had said six years ago.

By the time she reached the Counsellor's office, Aria had decided that perhaps she should not open with any of that. She could just be normal. Or herself as a normal officer or whatnot. She stopped outside the door, smoothed the front of her uniform and took a small breath. "It's just a conversation," she murmured, mostly to herself, before reaching out to sound the chime. "Maximum effort, Rice."

B'Lakkam had steadily been making his way through the senior officers. It was only natural that he should get to the second tier of officers thereafter. So, he had scheduled an appointment with the Assistant Chief Security Officer. If he was going to resume his search for Lucy, he definitely needed security to look the other way. Therefore, it was imperative to befriend them.

A practiced eye would see that everything in his office was placed in the position and location very purposefully. The room itself had no large desk. Nothing would separate B'Lakkam from his patients. He believed this arrangement would make patients feel more comfortable, as if they were equals with him in conversation. In fact, nothing indicated where B'Lakkam would sit. The three places to sit in the room were situated in a loose semi-circle. One of them was a sturdy, wooden chair with comfortable cushions and arm rests. There was a comfortable looking, light blue couch that was soft to the touch. Then, there was a navy seat that was slightly reclined and allowed the person sitting in it to lie down if they so chose and use a half arm as a head rest. In between all three of these was a circular table with a deck of cards and some poker tokens.

The room, itself, contained no direct light. It was all diffused in a warm yellowish-white hue. The floor was made to look and feel like stone and had a matte finish. On a small table near the entrance of the room was a small statue of the Betelgeusian hero/arch-type Slichez. From the left of the entrance on the wall was a sand sculpture that moved slowly and malleably, changing its shape and designs randomly. On the right side of the entrance on the wall were several interstellar art pieces. Discretely built into them were sensor grids that registered micro expressions, vocal patterns, and other biometrics for his further study and use. At the far end of the room, there was a simulated viewscreen that showed the outside universe as the Fenrir flew. He wondered if Rice would notice any of this. He hoped not.

When he heard the chime, he casually responded, "Come in."

Aria stepped through as the doors opened, offering the Counsellor a warm smile before her eyes wandered around the room. It was...nice. Actually, nicer than she had expected, although she wasn't entirely sure what she had expected. A desk, maybe. There should definitely have been a desk. Her attention caught briefly on the shifting sand sculpture before moving to the three different places to sit and she hesitated. Three seats. Three very different seats. Was choosing one of them some kind of psychological test? No. That was ridiculous. Counsellors didn't secretly assess people based on chairs.

Probably, right? Like, that would be weird...she pushed it aside, because that was just silly paranoia.

"Hi," she said as she looked back to B'Lakkam, the smile returning easily. "Lieutenant Junior Grade Aria Rice. Well...Aria is fine. Unless we're meant to be formal for this, in which case Lieutenant Rice is also fine, although it feels a bit weird being called that when I'm talking about myself." She stopped, taking a breath as she realised she was already rambling, before moving towards the light blue couch and sitting down. "Sorry. I do that sometimes." Her smile turned slightly sheepish as she settled back, hands resting together in her lap. "I'm guessing you already know why I'm here. Scheduled counselling session and all that."

Interesting selection given her nerves.... At least she was more comfortable than taking the wooden chair. Perhaps the couch offers some sort of comfort to her with the arm rest? For the moment, he ignored her comment about her rambling and her belief as to why she was here. Instead, the Counselor decided to assess her comfort level more. "Just call me B'Lakkam, Aria. We're all friends here. Would you mind if I sat on the other end of the couch?" he asked softly and cautiously. "If not, I will just lounge in the reclined seat. It matters not."

"Sure, I mean...your office, right?" Aria looked at him and smiled, shaking her head before she tilted it slightly, the braid showing gold streaks through her dark hair. "You can sit wherever you want. I don't mind." There was a brief pause as she glanced towards the other end of the couch, suddenly wondering whether perhaps she should mind. Was there some sort of personal space answer she was supposed to give? No. That would be ridiculous. He had asked because he was being polite. She shifted slightly to make a little more room anyway, although there was already plenty. "B'Lakkam," she repeated, giving a small nod as if committing it to memory. "Cool name, one I'll remember." Her smile softened, some of the initial nerves easing now that they were actually talking.

B'Lakkam took notice of the gold streaks. Did she like to be flashy or decorative? It seemed a bit at odds with her hesitant nature in here, but that was not uncommon with new patients. "So, no refreshments then?" He moved away from it and sat on the far end of the couch from Aria. Though there was a full cushion between them, his posture was leaning in towards Aria, as if curious what made her tick. He laughed lightly. "I'm glad that you will remember my name, though, I suspect I'm the only blue Orion that you will ever meet, which makes it easier." He pronounced the word of his race, "OR-ee-un," rather than "Oh-RYE-un."

"Refreshments?" Aria blinked, staring at him for a second before her eyes widened. "Wait, did you offer me something before? Wow. Okay. Apparently I was so busy trying to work out whether the chairs were secretly a test that I stopped listening." She laughed, shaking her head at herself as she tucked a loose strand of hair back. "Water would be great, if I've not completely ruined my chance now. Although I suppose forgetting someone offered me a drink probably gives you something interesting to write down already." She looked over at him as he settled onto the couch, running the pronunciation through her head. "Oh, I noticed you were blue and sort of tried to narrow it down and then...seat choices happened and all that...so you say it OR-ee-un?" she repeated, testing it before her eyebrows lifted. "Huh. I've not heard it like that before, but it might be the universal translator."

B'Lakkam played the conversation back in his brain and now he could not remember if he did or did not offer refreshments. It was something he would normally think to do, so maybe he misremembered the situation. Graciously, B'Lakkam rose and said, "Any particular temperature for your water? And why would you think that the chairs are a test?" Hm. She figured it out but now we will continue planning the seeds of doubt. She does not need to know the truth.

He then laughed at her continued ramblings. A lot of thoughts went through that head of hers. "I may have thought that I offered you a refreshment and failed to do so. It is a habit, so I thought I do so, but if not, I apologize for my error and rudeness." He gave her a humble bow as he stood up and walked towards the replicator. "Now, it is difficult to miss that I am blue. However, you heard me speak clearly. Blue Orions and Green ones pronouce our species' name very differently. It is just one of many of the quirks of our kind."

"Just...cold? And seriously, I most likely didn't hear it, too absorbed in some weird imagined ritual of seating plans," Aria smiled as she looked at him, tilting her head a little before she sat back and crossed her legs, then shifted a moment later to tuck one underneath her. If he was going for relaxed, Aria Rice was quite happy to oblige. "I've not really had much dealing with Blue Orions like...ever," she admitted, looking over at him with a quick smile. "But it's not like I've got a Federation Bingo Card I'm trying to fill..."

The Counselor instructed the replicator, "Water, about 2C." The computer produced a glass with cold water.

He walked over towards Aria. B'Lakkam chuckled lightly as he handed Aria her cold water. "The Green Orions like to make the universe believe that they are the only ones.... We blues, well, we do not get out as much." That's because we like to work behind the scenes. "So, there's no reason to be surprised at not having met any of my kind. I'm a bit of an anomaly myself, anyways."

B'Lakkam watched as Aria had tucked her a foot underneath her. She was becoming much more comfortable, which earned her a smile. However, she was still going on about the seating plans. She was observant but did not trust her instincts completely, which in this case, was a good thing. The Counselor sat down back on his end of the couch but now he sat with a foot on the floor, and crossing his other leg over it. Both legs had crossed the center cushion slightly, as if testing Aria's comfort levels. "So, why do you think that you're here, Aria?"

[To be continued in part 2]

Lieutenant B'Lakkam Slichez
Chief Counselor
USS Fenrir

&

Lt. jg Aria Rice
Assistant Chief Security
USS Fenrir
(PNPC Hanlon)

 

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