Gould's arrival.

After returning from his most resent inspection of the Lotus's refits Gould entered his quarters and let out a deep breath.

"Shower" he mumbled, and got undressed.

He was covered in small bruises and even had some small cuts where he scraped his knuckles on the primary drive coupler earlier in the day.

He'd had been up more than 18 hours straight sense they found a flaw in the coupler, requiring the entire drive section be removed and then re-calibrated, but it had been worth it.

Nothing beats the sound of a properly aligned anti-matter flow regulator he thought and smiled to himself.

The shower lasted a full 15 minuets and had made him a bit drowsy, but his work for the day wasn't done yet so he got out and pulled his pants back on.

"Computer, start personal log" the computer efficiently complied with a happy beep.

As he was finishing up someone chimed his door, it was his Yeoman, Markel.

"Sir, you asked me to remind you about the meeting?" Gould looked at him blankly for a second then his eyes closed painfully and he started getting dressed.

"Ahh.. yes, thank you lieutenant Id been so deep into these reports.. that will be all." he shuffled around the room grabbing his PADD and jacket as he went.

"Fine.. thing.. be late for your first.." and then noticed the recorder was still on. "Computer, end log" witch it did.

When he was ready he tapped his his comm badge. "Gould to transporter room two" only seconds passed before he got a reply.

*Transporter room two here, what can I do for you sir?*

"I need a site to site transport to the level 7 meeting hall inside the base, any problems with that?"

*Well sir, we can do it but with all the safety redundancy's in place to prevent unauthorized transports, except in the main transporter room of course, non-organic equipment might not make pass the filters sir.*

Gould thought it over "Well, I'm just taking my PADD, ill risk it."

*Well sir, that would include your uniform as well.. just saying.*

What A nightmare that would have been he thought. "Fine, site to site from my position to the main transporter room, as soon as possible chief"

*Aye sir, energizing now* the room hummed and Gould was gone.

Five minuets later Gould came practically skidding to a stop in the hallway just short of the meeting room and briskly walked the rest of the way.

The doors were just being closed as he slipped into the room.

He looked around at the faces and realized he had never met any of these people personally sense he arrived at star base 10.

Not really surprising he thought, he was rushed off on his first mission and busy with the refit as soon as he returned to the station.

Still, I should have made some effort to meet some of them.

He recognized commander Jolie Bindo from her file and walked over to her, introducing himself. "Captain Vir'ell Gould, nice to finally meet you in person Doctor." and sat down next to her.

"We should compare notes before the meeting gets going."

The auburn-haired Betazoid didn't have a chance to stand at attention before the Lotus' captain sat down. "Pleased to finally meet you, Sir. Fleet Captain Samji is getting ready to start the meeting right now." She noticed the scrapes on his hands and quickly looked him up and down to make sure there were no other injuries that needed her attention. She nodded at his hands. "I'll tend to those cuts as soon as the meeting is done, Captain, unless they're bothering you too much right now."

Gould looked at her questionably then smiled "Oh these?" he held up his fist to show the knuckles better "I never even notice anymore, you get used to scrapes after a few decades commander, don't worry about it"

The doctor scanned them visually and decided they were minor enough not to override him medically. "It looks like Captain Samji is going to be a few more minutes. Is there anything in particular you wished to discuss?"

"Hmm.. well, your file says you served aboard the USS-McKenzie during the last Borg incident and even treated some of the telepaths after it was over. Do you think this event left any lasting scar on this fleet? I myself lost my last ship during the conflict and have had scant little time to reflect on it sense then."

It wasn't hard to see that it left an impression on Gould.

Jolie rubbed her chin in thought. "It was a major battle, Captain. We lost of lot of fine people, and many more were injured physically and mentally. Entire crews have had to reshuffle and reform, and that kind of change also has an impact as people have to learn their new positions and interact with new beings. The question isn't if it left a scar. The question is how big of a scar, and if it can be treated. Under normal circumstances, I would have the Counselor see anyone showing signs of distress about this, but there's been so little time. Still, I think I'll have the Lotus' Counselor do some baseline evaluations of every crew member when we get underway. We might not have a lot of time for formal long-term treatments, but we can catch problems and treat them before they become overwhelming."

Gould nodded with agreement.

"Excellent idea Doctor, see to it that everyone on board is brought in for at least one face to face session over the next few weeks."

The doctor tapped a message into her PADD. "I sent the order off to the Counselor, Sir." A few moments later, her PADD beeped. Jolie read the message, quirking an eyebrow, and then shook her head as she sighed. She looked over at the Captain of the Lotus. "The Counselor just messaged that all the senior staff should go first. She wants to see us at our earliest availability. And she made that an order."

Gould smirked "Who watches the watchers is it? fine with me, make sure no one has a poor excuse to get out of it, tell them I authorized temporary discharge of duties if you have to, and absolutely NO exceptions."

"Very well, Captain. I'll go first in order to get it done and out of the way before we get busy with any potential casualties. I recommend you go second before our tasks make us all too busy. You'll be an excellent example to the rest of the crew, too." Jolie's eyes crinkled a fraction in amusement despite her attempt to suppress it.

It suddenly dawned on him that the good Doctor had roped him into taking this evaluation himself and that was never his intent. But seeing as he was already roped..

"I can't promise ill be in the first line up doctor, this meeting should determine that. but I assure you I'll be along as soon as possible" and gave her a stiff reassuring nod of the head.