Sometimes the Counselor needs Counselling - Pt 2
Posted on Mon Jun 8, 2026 @ 5:38pm by Lieutenant JG Kaylia Strenvale & Lieutenant JG Minh Nao Psy.D., BSc, SFPC(Xeno-Psych), Psi-Track
1,187 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
S03E01 - Something about Tribbles
Location: To Personal Quarters
Timeline: Md 02 2230
Minh didn’t trust the quiet anymore.
It used to be her refuge—the soft hum of environmental systems, the distant thrum of the station’s core, the predictable rhythm of a place that made sense. Now, the silence felt… wrong. Not empty—never empty—but watching. Like the station itself was holding its breath, waiting for her to notice something she wasn’t supposed to see.
Or something that wasn’t supposed to be there.
She slowed in the corridor, boots barely making a sound against the deck plating. For a moment, she thought she’d imagined it again—the flicker, the movement at the edge of her vision—
There.
A blur of motion, low to the ground.
Her breath hitched.
“No…” she whispered, more plea than denial. “Not again.”
Her fingers curled slightly at her sides as she forced herself to stay still. Training. Routine. Grounding.
Count it out.
Four in.
Hold.
Four out.
The air was cool. Recycled. Real.
The deck vibrated faintly beneath her boots. Real.
Her pulse—
Too fast.
When she opened her eyes again, she almost wished she hadn’t.
It sat in the middle of the corridor.
A kitten.
Small—too small. Delicate in a way that made it feel out of place against the hard lines of bulkheads and lighting strips. Its fur was pale, almost silver, with darker points along its ears and tail, like shadow had settled there and refused to leave. Its eyes—too bright—fixed on her with quiet, unwavering attention.
Watching her.
Minh’s throat tightened.
“This isn’t real,” she said softly. The words sounded thin in the corridor. “You’re not real.”
The kitten tilted its head.
A simple motion. Curious. Almost innocent.
Her stomach dropped.
Because it reacted.
Not like a projection glitching or a misaligned hologram. Not like the hallucinations she’d read about, or the ones she was beginning to fear she was having. This… responded. Adjusted. Acknowledged her presence.
Like it could see her just as clearly as she saw it.
Minh took a careful step back.
“No,” she murmured, shaking her head slightly. “No, this is—this is stress. Lack of sleep. Something neurological. I need to go to medical. I need to—”
The kitten turned.
Just like that.
Unbothered. Certain. As though her unraveling meant nothing at all.
It began to walk down the corridor.
Minh froze.
Every protocol she’d ever learned screamed at her not to follow. Don’t engage. Don’t validate the hallucination. Report it. Document it. Get help.
Do not follow the hallucination.
And yet—
Her foot moved forward.
Then another.
“Terrible idea,” she muttered under her breath, voice tight. “Absolutely terrible. This is how people end up sedated in medical with a full psych evaluation.”
The kitten padded along ahead of her, unhurried. Its tail flicked lightly side to side, and every few steps it glanced back—just enough to make sure she was still there.
Still following.
Leading her.
Minh swallowed hard, unease tightening into something sharper now, something colder.
“Where are you taking me…” she whispered.
The corridor curved gradually, the lighting dimming a fraction as she crossed into a quieter section of the station. Fewer personnel. Less traffic. The kind of place where footsteps echoed just a little too long and no one noticed if you stopped walking.
Or disappeared.
Minh hesitated for half a second too long—and the kitten slipped around the corner.
Her chest tightened.
“Of course you did,” she muttered, forcing herself forward. “Why wouldn’t you do the creepy thing?”
She rounded the corner—
—and stopped.
Empty.
The corridor stretched ahead, silent and still. No kitten. No movement. Just the low hum of the station and the faint flicker of a light panel further down.
Minh let out a shaky breath, a strained laugh catching in her throat.
“Okay. Good. Good. That’s—better. That’s normal. Hallucinations don’t stick around. That’s—”
A soft sound behind her.
Not imagined.
Not distant.
Close.
Minh’s entire body went still.
Slowly—very slowly—she turned her head.
The kitten stood behind her now.
Closer than before.
Watching.
Her pulse slammed against her ribs.
“...Okay,” she whispered, voice barely there. “Okay, that’s new. That’s—very new.”
The kitten blinked once.
Then turned again.
And began walking in the opposite direction.
Deeper into the station.
Minh stared at it, something shifting in her chest—not just fear now, but something worse.
Recognition.
Not of the kitten itself—but of the pattern. The intent. The unmistakable feeling that this wasn’t random. That it wasn’t just her mind misfiring.
It was guiding her.
Her lips parted slightly.
What if this isn’t just in my head?
The thought settled in, heavy and unwelcome.
Minh hesitated.
Then followed.
Again.
Where the kitten had turned around the corner, there now stood Kaylia. Her top ears had already picked up on the words before she even came into view and nearly the entire conversation that Minh was having with herself. Tilting her head a bit while Smokie moved forward and started rubbing on Minh's leg. "Are you alright, Lieutenant?"
Taken aback Minh studied the Half Caitian Half Human, she had questions, her eyes widened she sensed something from her... "Are you.... are you Telepathic?" Minh blatantly asked.
"Perhaps...why?" Tilting her head a little bit. Smokie running off away from them. Her tail also standing straight up.
Minh could Telepathically Zap her mind quickly as a probe to sense her, but she gets in trouble when she does that, further it is not really a good thing to do to someone you just met, further she too is in a Starfleet Uniform. Should she explain her psychotic psionic kitten?
"I've been seeing a Psionic kitten since I arrived on the Station, I am hoping somehow it is connected to you." Minh blurted out hoping she wasn't crazy. 'Huh a crazy Counselor, who would've thought.'
Minh could have tried if she wanted to, but she'd have been met with heavy resistance. "A Psionic kitten? Hmm.." Kaylia tilted her head, "I have a cat but as far as I am aware," pointing where Smokie just ran off to, "She can only communicate with me telepathically."
"I wonder if that is what I am seeing..." Minh pushed off.
Kaylia's head tilted to the side a little bit the other way for a moment, then straightened up. "I don't know why you would be seeing her, you also said it wasn't a grey cat."
Minh was reaching for an answer, deep down she knew it wasn't the officer's cat. In the corner of her, she could see the Kitten she had been chasing peak around the corner. "Oh! I uhm, err... Bye!" Minh said and hardened her run to chase that damned kitten.
"Hey! What are you!" Kaylia shifted on heel and ran after Minh.
"A counselor! Don't worry we good!" Minh disapeared.
Popping around the corner, Kaylia finished her sentence, "Doing?"
Lieutenant Junior Grade Kaylia Strenvale
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
&
Lieutenant JG Minh Nao
Counselor
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