Wrangling the Captain

Posted on Sat May 9th, 2026 @ 8:08pm by Captain Tristan Faust & Ensign Parker Gallagher
Edited on on Mon May 11th, 2026 @ 9:32am

915 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 5: The Price of Paradise
Timeline: M5 MD08 (2268.07.31) 1500

Parker pulled up the next file on her list and took a breath. The Captain. Rank didn’t scare her. Having counseled high ups during her clinical rotations, she was fine with chasing people down. She wondered if he would be one who ran or one who led by example and came to the reviews without issues. Well, she opened a comm to the Captain. “Captain Faust, We have set aside an hour for your mental health Review. It will be at 15h00.”

From the aft crew lounge Captain Faust looked up from his stack of wedge clipboards and rolled his eyes. His evaluation was up to date he wondered what was going on, probably some mental health study Starfleet Medical cooked up. He tapped the comm unit built into the table.

"Meet me in the aft crew lounge," Tristan responded before tapping the white button again.

Parker rolled her eyes but picked up the clipboard and headed for the aft crew lounge. She entered and let her gaze roam looking for the officer with the Captain rank.

The Captain was sitting in his usual booth, still surrounded by paperwork. He was deep into the stack, a steel carafe of coffee was sitting in the middle of the table.

Spotting the man in the booth Parker walked over briskly. "Captain Faust" it was not a question. "Ensign Gallagher." She introduced herself.

"Good afternoon ensign, pleas gave a seat," the Captain said, looking up from his work, "I hope the next time you plan on meeting with me in an official capacity you would go through my yeoman rather than calling over the comms as though it were an urgent matter."

Parker merely gave a nod as she sat. "It is rather urgent Captain. Your file is very... sparse."

"Ok," the Captain commented, "I'm not sure how considering I had to pass a mental evaluation before assuming command which was only a few months ago..." He paused to take a dup from the cup of coffee sitting in front of him, "I tell you what, I'll fill in the gaps. What is it you specifically want to know?"

"It seems my predecessor was.. very lax in his paperwork. So I just need to know some basics. Like what you do to reduce stress, what you require from your mental health specialist, and if you say 'leave me be', I cannot always say yes to that."

"He was a personnel nightmare..." Tristan added with a grimace, "The man had a breakdown to boot." He sighed, "Well if we were on Earth I enjoy driving my antique automobile... Shipboard I usually sit here with a drink, sometimes go for a swim... Dr. Kitchner hosts a periodic friendly poker game... I also make my rounds to different parties here and there to show my officers that I'm a human being not much older than they are."

Parker nodded as she listened. "That sounds very well rounded." She replied. "It is rare for Captain's to interact comfortably with their crew. Most crew would be very hard pressed to relax in their Commanding Officer's presence."

"Well I'm not that much older than most of the crew," Tristan confessed, "And since the Midway launched six months early, I had to crew the ship as quickly as possible. So I called in favors, reached out to family, friends and plucked more than a few cadets... Between all of that the average age of the crew is fairly young compared to most other starships, but we've been lucky so far."

"Sometimes its not so much age as personal maturity. You can be 40 years old and act like a child." Parker said with a smile. "Your crew is a good crew."

"True, true," Tristan responded, "And thank you. If nothing else we try." He took a sip from his cup of coffee, "Quite a lot of emergency situations... We're always putting out fires around this region of space."

"Which gives you and your crew experience and growth. Starfleet is not just exploring and meet and greets."

The Captain chucked at the comment, "Funny the recruitment posters say otherwise..." he commented before stretching his neck, "Would be a change of pace though... It's funny, I started my career in the middle of a war, but you already knew that."

Parker inclined her head. "Of course I knew that. I did read your file, though as I mentioned, the files on mental health were... sparse. But this conversation has helped me fill the gaps."

"Drew a conclusion already after five minutes?" Tristan enquired, "I didn't think I was that easy of a read." He smirked.

Parker smiled slightly. "You know most people say that. I am trained to read."

"So, are you going to put your cards on the table?" The Captain asked, "Did I pass? What do I need to work on?" He was genuinely curious especially from a new observer. This was his first tour of duty in the Captain's chair.

She sat a bit back in her chair and studied him for a moment before replying. "Sir, if you were a danger to yourself or others, you would have been removed well before this. And I can tell you right now, yes you passed my initial eval."

The Captain nodded with a slight smile, "That's reassuring," he commented, "Many commanders unravel eventually. Glad I'm not there yet... No time to stop and process anything." He took another generous swig from the cup of coffee.

 

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