Aria Rice's brain gets examined [2/3]

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

1,728 words; about a 9 minute read

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

[ON - Continued from part 1]

"I'm due for my annual head shrinking," Aria said and tapped her head, smiling easily before she took the water. "Thanks for this..." she took a sip, slowly, then put it down and shifted a little, leaning to rest her elbow on the armrest. She turned her head to look at him. "So yep. Just here to...you know...make sure I am not going to snap and try riding a nacelle or get a holodeck harem going. Or worse. Smuggle tribbles."

With his characteristic humor, B’Lakkam informed Aria, “I do not think that your head needs any shrinking. It looks the proper size to me.” He gave her a warm smile, trying to continue to make her comfortable. “So, tell me, do you feel l like riding a nacelle? Or raising tribbles?” He stifled a laugh and grinned harder at Aria.

"Not yet, but we're only on week one," she shot back easily, raising an eyebrow. "And I am the Assistant Chief, so that's...you know...helpful! Relaxing almost. You get to do the paperwork and the hanging out with others. Got a good team here as well, that helps a lot."

"So, if you were the Chief Science Officer, then you might feel like riding a nacelle?" B'Lakkam teased.

"Oh, Counsellor..." Aria smiled, her eyes shining. "I'm Security. Never was smart enough for the sciences..."

B'Lakkam's blue darkened slightly on his cheeks. "Science.... Security.... They both start with 's,' so you can see the confusion," he told Aria laughing off his own mistake. " But the question remains, if you were the Chief SECURITY officer, then? Would you feel like riding a nacelle?"

"Oh no, I am pretty sure I'd be dead within an hour," she said and shifted, nails tapping against the hideous standard issue boots she wore. At least she found them hideous. "You see, the Chief chair? The chair that the Chief sits in? Absolutely cursed. Way too much main character energy anyway, the vibe's all off. No, no, no...you sit in that chair and unless you're a certain sort of person, you get killed. Avalanche, weird cave creatures, Black goo monster, badly timed console explosion...you name it. Ultimately, you sit in the cursed chair, you get killed, the paperwork and responsibility grows and honestly?" she lifted her hand and waved her finger. "Not for me. No, whenever I get up to a rank that pretends it can pop me in it, the universe demotes me down. Turbolifts and Jeffries Tubes, that's what my career is. You go up...and then slide down."

"The universe demotes you down?" B'Lakkam asked skeptically, while he put a finger between his mouth and cheek. "Do tell me about this theory of yours that the universe controls your destiny. It is facinating."

She raised an eyebrow before she smiled. "It's not actually a real theory," she said, to clarify so he didn't write her up as unsuitable for the job. "It's just I've...had some bumps in my career. So it's just something I say because it sounds a lot more impressive than the truth."

B'Lakkam raised an eyebrow sensing the deception. "I think we have already established that you're not insane, so you really do not need to worry about your secrets. They're safe here. Tell me about your bumps and tell me what you really think, Aria." His tone was welcoming and sincere, as he calmly waited for her to explain herself.

"It's not a secret," she said, because it wasn't. It was all in reports and records. And besides, she didn't have secrets. Not anyone worth mentioning to anyone. Or would be a risk anyway. "I got demoted. I was Assistant Chief Security Officer on the USS Norway. There was an away team mission, I was down there with my Chief...and people died. I just didn't...object properly to what he was doing and a stupid decision...no, two...got everyone else killed. His was going where it was unsafe. Mine was not insisting we beamed back to the ship. Anyway...result...I got drummed down to Ensign and sent back to the ship I had been on before."

"But beaming back, would that have been a violation of an order from your chief?" B'Lakkam asked curiously, trying to understand all of the circumstances.

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p' and tilting her head as she looked at him. "He was old school. So...yeah, if I'd ordered the transporter room to beam us back anyway, I'd have been directly disobeying him." Her fingers shifted around the glass, thumb brushing through the condensation before she looked down at it. "And I suppose at the time I thought that mattered more than the little voice in my head telling me we needed to get out of there. I did object. He said we were staying, and he was the Chief, so..." she gave a small shrug, although some of the ease had gone from it. "We stayed."

That punishment seems unusually harsh to me. She followed orders. She objected. It was noted. There has to be more to this story. Perhaps I'll look into it more when I have some time. "Well, that certainly seems like a no win situation. Did that seem fair to you?" B'Lakkam wondered, as he pressed to discover more of her personality.

"Not really about fairness for that," she said and gave a small shrug. "But it was the best thing that happened to me. Bumped me down to Ensign again, which meant...I got to actually work for a living."

"You aren't working as an assistant chief?" B'Lakkam asked skeptically.

"Different sort of work. Higher you get, more paperwork comes with it," she said and stretched a leg out, thinking about it. "Sometimes...being a junior officer means you do the job. The glamorous day to day which...matters so much more. Not everyone's a Captain Archer, or Kirk, or Pike...but those people also had people under them, doing the jobs needed that gave them the time and space to be heroes." She met his eyes and smiled. "And I like being one of those people."

"So, why Starfleet, then?" B'Lakkam asked with genuine curiosity. "Why not civilian work? Certainly there are lots of positions available to do security, police, and even detective work without the hassles of Starfleet ranks. What keeps you out here?"

"Sense of duty, family history..." she said and bit her lip, thinking about it. "There's been a Rice serving in Starfleet since the founding of it. Oh, not anything special...I mean, never Captains or serving on a flagship. But they've always been there with a weapon ready to defend. Dad used to say that we had the blood of protectors in us. Not warriors...protectors. And Mum she...wanted me to be a prima ballerina. I'd...have preferred to be a Marine. But I'm not. So I am Security...but Starfleet? For me, that was never a question. Even with the rank. Even with all the BS that comes with it...I serve the Federation as a member of Starfleet. That matters."

B'Lakkam chucked at first. "If everyone was meant to get to Captain level, we would have a great deal of chefs cooking in the kitchen. That's simply not everyone's path or desire." He moved slightly more inwards towards Aria and crossed his legs. "It feels like you have shackled yourself," B'Lakkam observed. "Tradition is important but so is happiness. I'm no Betazoid but that's not a sense that I get from you." He paused for a longer than normal length of time. "Why not transfer to the marines if that is what you would have preferred. What's stopping you?"

She looked at him, some of the warmth fading. It was an old bruise he was pressing and she didn't like it. "Because the physical requirement's different," she said and shrugged. "I never managed to...pass them, to be a Marine."

B'Lakkam noticed the change in Aria's demeanor. "How many times did you try?" he wondered audbily, yet with a good deal of concern in his softening voice.

She looked at him before she shrugged. "Twice," she finally said, her voice soft with it. "First time I didn't pass the medical. Second time it was the physical bit. Starfleet had...more holistic view on those things. You become the sum of your achievements rather than judged on one. I was going to try again later but...by then? I sort of liked Security. I am not sure I'd...like being a Marine. Or taken seriously..." she looked at him and smiled, giving a playful wink as she tried to change the mood.

The Counselor was not going to fall for the playful wink. After all, he pattened that look. "So, twice is where you draw your line?" B'Lakkam inquired politely. "How long ago was the potential third try going to be and why would you think that you would not be taken seriously?"

She looked down at her nails, picking at them for a moment. "Well, you sort of realise after a while where you are, who you are...and that it's not a bad place to be. So I just stopped wanting it."

"Why?" B'Lakkam asked patiently, as he watched Aria pick at her nails. The open ended questions always were the best ones to get people to speak more.

Aria considered it before she looked at him. "You remind me of Lily," she suddenly said with a smile. "Why. Always a why. The why and what are...well, the sum of it all, right? Doesn't priorities shift as we grow?"

B'Lakkam laughed easily and heartily. "Oh, my! Being compared to Lily!" He laughed again. "I have yet to meet her, but I'm starting to like her already. I shall have to make an appointment with her. She sounds like she has a wonderful mind."

The Counselor then turned back to Aria, his laughter having abated and becoming a mischievous smile. "Oh, priorities shift. This is true. However, from what you are telling me, this is not a priority shift but something else completely."

[To be continued in part 3]

Lieutenant B'Lakkam Slichez
Chief Counselor
USS Fenrir

&

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

 

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