Subject: Grail: "The Great Brightness" - 'At Olympus' door'

<<Stardate 47307.29 21:00>>

<<Counselor's office>>

Mirka laid back on her office chair with a sigh. This had been a

very long ten days. Getting accustomed to all the duties that were

inquired by a ship counselor was a lot harder than she had anticipated.

She rubbed her eyes trying to shake the sleepiness out of them. She had

just finished reading the file on Lt.(jg) François DeMontigny who had

been sent to the brig a few days earlier. She thought that she might try

to understand what drove the man there by looking at his record. She

didn't need to do it, she knew François from a long time ago. But she

wanted to be professional about this and not judge a man by the past

impressions he gave her but from what he was right now. In François's

case he was the same. Men like him didn't change she thought with a

smile, they were forever stuck into teenagehood. Mirka didn't mind men

like that, they were... entertaining and always ready to serve a lady in

'distress' which could be handy at one time or the other. DeMontigny

sure had been in the past. She wondered if he would remember her. She

doubted it, guys like that rarely remembered women when they were fully

dressed. Well she would see that in a few minutes because she had

decided to do her daily stop at the bridge on the yellow shift. She had

not seen that part of the bridge crew work together yet and she wanted

to.

She hadn't seen François yet, just like she hadn't met so many crew

members. For the last ten days, Mirka had been busy trying to calm

things down by talking to people, giving them hope, so much so that she

sounded like a damn TV evangelist. But things were different now, now

passengers saw her as one of 'them', as a member of the Senior Staff.

She wasn't Mirka anymore, she was the Counselor. A barrier had risen

between her and the other passengers. She felt like a human that had

suddenly become a half-god. Now people respected her, but didn't

befriend her.

As far as her contacts with the senior staff went, things could have

been better. For them, she was a civilian, she hadn't proven herself

yet. They were all so busy doing things, trying to find a way through

the Great Brightness, keeping the peace (many fights had broken out

during the GQ) and making some kind of probe. She sighed heavily. In the

middle of all this, she felt pretty useless. She had thought she could

help them, but what did she know about Starships?

Half-god indeed, she was no longer a mere mortal, but she still

didn't quite fit in Olympus yet.

Mirka Tzavaras

Ship's Counselor