Brainstorm

Posted on 22 Sep 2015 @ 9:23pm by Ensign (Lagh) Cyrin Fel & Lieutenant JG (SoghHom) Jynn & Beaumont
Edited on on 22 Sep 2015 @ 9:25pm

4,156 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: IKS Saalm, Fel's Laboratory
Timeline: MD01, 1700 Hours, After Briefing

[ON]


Fel was about as pleased as he ever got these days as he and Beaumont left the briefing room. That meant his perpetual frown was not quite so severe, and his eyes seemed more blue than grey now. With his creation following him, a step behind and to his right, the Trill made his way through the passageways of the ship. He did not compliment Beaumont for his performance, which had been flawless, everything Fel might have hoped for to impress the Queen Regent. But they both knew that he was about to reward the hybrid.

The scientist's laboratory was a strange and dangerous place, but the pair moved through it with practised ease. There were a number of hand-held pistols and rifles on a workbench, disruptors that he was fine-tuning in an attempt to pierce neutronium. A gutted torpedo casing was propped up in a corner, it's innards on another table nearby. There were pulsating energy sources, refrigerated cylinders that held horrific viruses and a large assortment of chemicals and pharmaceuticals., containment force fields shielding radioactive materials. A bio-bed with an assortment of frightening looking drills, probes, and needles hanging over it was in another corner.

In the center of the room, given precedence over all the other projects Fel was working on and given a wide berth from everything else in the lab, was a small pylon about four-feet tall. The top of the black metal was twisted and separated, like some sort of ominous dark flower petals. A deadly green energy pulsed within those petals, forming strange patterns as it continuously moved and changed. Fel's greatest work, if he could actually finish the device, but Thalaron radiation was extremely difficult to harness. Until then, Beaumont was his favourite project.

Fel went to one of the refrigeration units, unlocked it, and pulled a hypodermic needle out. His eyes went to Beaumont expectantly, not saying a word. He didn't have to. Fel was confident that after the past two years of destroying this thing's mind, building it up again into the weapon it was now, that it would obey. It would come to him for what he held in his hand.

Beaumont kept his eyes averted as he approached Fel. Not out of respect as others would have thought, but because the sight of Fel disgusted him. Granted everyone usually disgusted Beaumont these days. With shaky hands he rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. His right arm had been used too much at this point, and Fel was usually slow to have the veins repaired for him. When Fel first began administering the synthetic psilosynine he would use a hypospray. It wasn't long before Beaumont was asking for the more painful hypodermic needle instead. While the drug had been enhanced to cause his veins to burn, the pleasure Beaumont received outweighed any pain that occurred from it. Pain was part of the process. He needed it. He craved it. The pain was the only thing that could shut out the outside world while the drug took effect. A world that was getting bigger and bigger as his telepathic abilities grew stronger.

Beaumont licked his lips in anticipation and began twisting a tourniquet device around his arm when he sensed someone approaching. He turned to the door with frustration to see who was interrupting them.

As the strange scene unfolded Jynn casually stepped into the room. Since seeing them in the meeting room he had a most strong desire to meet them, and maybe more, more privately. They both seemed to have the strangest of emotions about them, to say nothing of their outward appearances. He felt as though he was interrupting something important as he laid eyes on the hypo, but whatever it was could probably continue even with his arrival. "Hello," he said in a loud tone to grab their attention, a wide smiling crossing his face.

Jynn's smile was met with an unimpressed look from Beaumont. He didn't reply, nor did he attempt to close his mind off to him. Having his emotions controlled during the injection could prove fatal. Something the hybrid and Fel discovered last year during one of Fel's many, many experiments.

Beaumont presented his arm to Fel. When the needle found the enlarged vein, Beaumont closed his eyes and his head rolled back a little. His mouth curled up in a contradictory expression; a pained look in his eye mixed with the relaxed grin of a drug addict getting his fix. He shuffled off to a corner in the room, but not before giving Jynn a questioning look. He wasn't sure why he was here, and he wondered briefly if Fel had found a new test subject. But the thought didn't last long. Mainly because in this moment Beaumont cared little for anything other than experiencing the initial effects of the drug. When he found the corner of the room, as was his routine after nearly every injection he put his face close to the wall and traced his finger up and down the crook of the two intersecting walls slowly. It would take a minute for the effects to fully take place. In the meantime he was listening to the other two men.

Fel's expression didn't change much as the stranger entered his lab. Just a slight narrowing of his eyes as his personal domain aboard the ship was invaded. He hoped that this visitor knew where he was, and did not go touching the various weapons and projects Fel had here. Curious fingers could lead to unfortunate consequences. "What do you want?" Fel asked the man, his tone flat, cold. Administering the injection to Beaumont was a task he'd done many times now - he knew the actual number, stored in his mind like a permanent file as so many other numbers and figures were - and he did it by rote. The needle pierced the vein, he slowly injected the compound, thumb pressing the plunger of the syringe. It was a brilliant substance, Fel would claim, this skilfully created synthetic psilosynine. With the euphoric feeling it gave, along with the added pain of a chemical that burned it's way through every vein and artery, it had over time turned the pathetic excuse for man that he had saved from the squalor of Vulcan into his loyal and willing weapon.

Fel thought nothing of giving him pain, other than it was required to keep Beaumont malleable to his own will or as a punishment for any sort of willfulness and mistakes. He had thought nothing of turning a violent and independent Vulcan hybrid into this addicted and manipulated creature. All he wanted was to create his weapons, weapons to be used against the Terran Empire to avenge his lost family. There was no empathy in the Trill, no sympathy, only the desire for revenge and the cold manipulation of others for his own purposes.

Noting the bald head of the intruder, he assumed the man was a Deltan because the odds of a bald human walking freely around the Saalm were very, very low. Deltans had certain psionic abilities as well, and the scientist began to hypothesize about how those talents might be...upgraded.

"Just wanting to meet to interesting people," Jynn replied. "Very interesting people, it seems," he continued as he watched the administering of the mystery substance unfold in front of him. Then, all the things in the room started catching his eye. Very very interesting, he thought to himself, all the gadgets and objects fascinating him as certain ones caught his eye. His attention pulled away from the two men, but he was still listening at least a bit.

"This lab is off limits to those who have no business here," Fel replied, pulling the needle free and leaving Beaumont to bleed. The scientist discarded the used needle, and turned to face the Deltan. "You may leave now." If this man wasn't part of the crew, Fel would have been looking for a sedative to knock him out, or ordering Beaumont to handle it, to strap him down to the bio bed, and begin some rather invasive procedures to see what made him work.

"He sounds like the sea. Purple. Orange. He feels like a sunset. Let him stay." Beaumont said from the corner. He didn't allow himself to focus on just one emotion he felt, he allowed himself to feel it all. Tears streamed down his face even if his bemused smile contradicted his sadness.

As Jynn looked about the strange room he found himself in he silently showed an almost sense of gratitude at the seemingly strange description of himself as Beaumont spoke. The description sounded like something he, himself, would have concocted and so he was sure the other empath in the room could no doubt feel a sense of gratitude emanate from him. Whether he would enjoy this or not remained a mystery.

Suddenly, Jynn's eyes stopped. He had seen it before, but only on the holodecks. Safeties disengaged, it seemed so real, but it wasn't. But what his eyes currently locked on was, in fact, as real as real could be. He walked over and picked it up. It was a perfect weapon of death, and despite not pulling any trigger, he almost died. He could see the engravings. A Colt Single Action Army. Serial number 1. Whatever god Fel believed in had surely been real, for no one could have held something so beautiful without divine intervention.

Without a word spoken Jynn grabbed a .45 colt cartridge off the table and placed it into the SAA's cylinder after picking up the sacred gun off of the table. This was the part he hated most, but he had always vowed to ignore it. He spun the cylinder. To everyone else it was a whir, but to Jynn's heightened senses it was more like a ticking clock. He could hear it. Tick. Tick. Tick. Twenty-two. He'd never admit it, but he had a near one hundred percent chance of knowing where it stopped. Tick. Twenty-three.

Without hesitation the gun was brought to his head. Three pulls. CLICKCLICKCLICK. Nothing. In those moments his brain had nearly exploded despite the lack of projectile. His body almost collapsed in a deathly shot of emotion, but he had remained standing. The feeling Jynn felt was indescribable. No words could ever describe the sensations that coursed through his body as he instantaneously faced down death itself and bid it farewell for another day. It was amazing beyond amazing, but to anyone beyond himself it was beyond describable. With a maniacal grin he turned to the other being in the room who could feel emotions beyond his own. "Care to join?"

Beaumont's words, though disjointed, had made Fel pause for the moment. The weapon saw in curious ways, something that had been there even before the experiments began, and he'd learned that while it might sound like the ravings of a madman to some, the hybrid often had some insight that others - including himself, Fel could admit - lacked. Curious, he had fallen quiet, allowed the stranger to stay, and watched. But the Deltan's actions with the pistol had been even crazier than much the behaviour he'd documented from Beaumont.

The moment Jynn had reached for the old projectile weapon on the table, Fel had pulled the Varon-T disruptor he wore at his hip, leveled it, and stood as close to stunned as he ever got these days as he watched the near-suicide in his own laboratory. "Put the weapon down," he said coldly, carefully adjusting his aim as the Deltan moved, needing to be as sure as he could that a stray shot from his disruptor would not hit one of his projects or cause a secondary effect that would get them all killed. "He is to precious to risk with your fool game."

"A puzzle game with missing pieces." Beaumont said to Fel. He laughed loudly before it became a sob that ended quickly. His shoulders began to shake from silent giggling as he continued to trace the corner of the room with his finger. His cheek was pressed against the cool bulkhead as tears of bliss continued to make his cheeks wet as he continued to address Fel. "A game with ups and crushing downs, this one." Beaumont suddenly turned and made eye contact with the Deltan, "My ups are as endless as my downs. A storm to end storms. Look, don't touch." Beaumont returned his attention to the corner of the room again.

Jynn found the second gun that had been pointed at his head in less than a minute to be possibly not as threatening as it should have been. He thought for a few moments as he slowly opened and unloaded the pistol, placing both the cartridge and the gun itself in exactly the place he had found it. Jynn knew what dying thoughts felt like and because his mind was virtually disconnected from any sort of fear he had the belief that since there was no panic or terror in his head that he would not die as the gun was leveled at him. A sort of precognition of death.

He turned his gaze to the corner of the room. "Look but don't touch? I'm afraid I must say that I am disappointed," Jynn said in a serious tone before letting out a bit of a chuckle. "But nonetheless look I shall." The moment Jynn got close enough to fully feel Beaumont's emotions and read his thoughts he felt as though he had just jumped into a monsoon of the mind. For the first time in his life instead of allowing himself to drown in emotion he had felt as though his mind was literally drowning. Only a few seconds later, just before he thought he was about to die, he came back up for air.

With a look on his face that seemed to indicate he had been through the storm to end storms he turned his gaze to Fel. "Too precious, indeed." He wanted to dive back in again, but he'd have to prepare himself before looking into the tempest again.

Beaumont punched the wall violently in frustration at the disruption to his high but resigned himself after a moment to calming his anger. The majority of the high was over by now anyway. It was lasting minutes now when it initially had lasted hours. "Stronger please, next time." Beaumont breathed in and out rapidly and his skin was clammy looking. He knew Fel balanced the line with fatal doses as it was, but being desensitized more and more meant he had to at least ask. The high he got from the Psilosynine injections gave him the ability to experience all his emotions at the fullest height that his mind could go. It mixed with his unique neurological abilities and allowed him to ride the wave of hyperemotionism like a wind surfer. Though it also had the secondary effect of heightening Beaumont's ability to control other peoples minds, emotions and even their lymbic and autonomic systems. He stepped away from his corner, clamping down on all remaining emotions within his mind. Until he was clear minded. This was Beaumont, in control.

When the crazy Deltan had complied, Fel slowly lowered his disruptor, but did not put it away just yet. He had work he needed to get to, but this intruder in his lab seemed interested in his Beaumont experiment. Not liking this distraction to his work, and ignoring the weapon's pleas to make the dose stronger, the scientist walked around the table. Beaumont' Psilosynine was already maxed out, and he'd need to find some other chemical way to keep the weapon under control; Fel was confident that it wouldn't take long and to keep his promise to the Queen Regent of a trustworthy weapon. The weapon was right too, the experiments in here were terribly precious. "Is there something you need?" his voice sounded very annoyed.

Jynn turned towards Beaumont and gave a nod in his direction. "I need him. To control me. I need to feel what he did to the most unfortunate man in the briefing room." He almost sounded too eager as he spoke. True freedom was something he had not striven for in some time. Serving Lirha and the KCA certainly had more than enough freedom for Jynn to do as he pleased. Because of this he was more than willing to give up his freedom of control if it meant understanding what Beaumont's victim had felt in his last moments. "I do hope you don't mind," he questioned Fel with a smirk.

Fel's first reaction was to deny the request. If the Deltan was high in the Queen Regent's favours, having his weapon rooting around in the man's brain was probably not a good idea. Beaumont's mind could be a little...unsubtle at times. Who knew what might get broken in the process. However, Fel did record everything that happened in his lab, and would be able to prove that the Deltan had tried to commit suicide not once, but twice. Who was he to stand in the way? Besides, Beaumont needed practise on something other than quivering Terran captives who were already broken, or nearly so. "Beaumont," he said, waving negligently towards Jynn. "Do what he asks. Take over for a bit, but try not to hurt him...too badly."

What splendors await me, Jynn thought in eager anticipation as he locked eyes with Beaumont, awaiting the order to be executed in a no doubt spectacular fashion.

Beaumont extended his arm towards the Deltan without hesitation. An order had been given, and Beaumont never hesitated. Especially not now. Especially not when he felt no emotion. Nothing. His mind was a cold and dark place now. He swiveled his wrist and moved his hand as if he were moving it through a thick substance.

"Particles. That's all you are. Your physical existence is an illusion. Chemicals, hormones, electrical impulses, atoms, quarks." He dropped his hand, but continued to face his palms towards Jynn. "You're not real, Jynn. Your emotions, are not real. Your thoughts, are a trick. The voice in your head, the one you call, 'me...I...Jynn'? It doesn't exist."

Says the man on the outside, Jynn's inner monologue spoke to himself jokingly. Then again, he wasn't going to be outside for long. He was somewhat mesmerized by Beaumont's talking. Maybe he's right? What if I don't exist he wondered more whimsically than inquisitively.

Fel kept an eye on things, but got back to work. He was running a diagnostic on the pulsing green energy system that took the preeminent space of his laboratory. Once he perfected the Thalaron generator, Beaumont would be obsolete. Fel was always on the lookout for the next and greatest way to kill people.

Beaumont had already found his back door into Jynn's mind. Emotional species were always the easiest to manipulate and control. He could ride into his neural network on a single happy thought. In this case, the willingness of Jynn's request made it almost too easy. Struggle was something Beaumont sometimes used to gain access to a mind as well.

"You wish to be a marionette? A puppet to dance by invisible strings?" Beaumont asked passively. He then quirked his head to the side. His eyes cut to Fel before returning them to Jynn. Having done a cursory glance at the Deltan's stronger short-term memories, he unearthed a lot of very interesting things about him. "Tell me Jynn, tell me your favourite memory. Something that brings you pleasure."

Pleasure. There was a lot that brought Jynn pleasure. During his years aboard the two vessels he had called home he had been allowed to do many things under the service of his masters. Everything he had come to experience in his life was for the most part at the behest of another. Something that brings you pleasure?

“Servitude.” One word to sum up all of his favorite memories. Perhaps this was why he was so eager for Beaumont to take control. The strings where already there. All he needed was the puppeteer.

The answer made Fel smile for a moment as he overheard it. Beaumont should understand that sentiment. By now, he'd gotten his weapon so addicted that Beaumont knew that only complete loyalty and servitude was how he was going to survive and get his psilosysnine.

Beaumont scoffed, but still remained expressionless. He forced Jynn to raise his hand and trace the tattoos that were visible; watching and searching for all the memories that came forth.

"This name," Beaumont made Jynn stop when he got to a person's name etched into his skin, "How does this person make you feel?"

It felt so strange to move without thought or volition. He was distracted by it for a moment before he managed to answer the question.“Redkoth,” Jynn replied with a smile. Every name had a smile. “He makes me feel aggressive. Exhilarated. Why, I could almost wrap my hands around his neck right now,” he answered with a chuckle.

Beaumont caused the pain receptors in Jynn's body to fire like static pulsing a wave of intense pain for a brief moment. When Jynn relaxed, he fired them again. Beaumont watched as the memory of the person came forward. The combination of pain and the memory being produced made Jynn's peripheral nervous system open to Beaumont now too. The rush of analgesic proteins and endorphins that would have attached to Jynn's opioid receptors due to the pain ceased to synthesize. Beaumont now had total control of body sensations, memories, involuntary and voluntary bodily functions and reactions. He took the feelings Jynn had for this other person and systematically began to pull, twist and manipulate the neural paths Jynn's brain had to produce the memory. He began to warp it and change it, playing with the limbic system like he was fiddling with programming code. "Shall I make you fear this person? Perhaps make you feel sick at the mention of them? Or maybe you would forever like to remember this person with anger and fury..." He gave Jynn control over his own voice to allow him to respond.

It did not take long for Jynn to have a proper reply. The doors to his already unlocked mind where opening rather quickly. “Anger and fury,” he spoke through a grin. “I think he'd appreciate that. Klingons,” he said with a huff.

Without much effort, Beaumont continued his rewiring. Only a slight glance at Fell suggested he'd done something in Jynn's brain that perhaps he shouldn't have. Fell would have no way of knowing what tweaks, changes or modifications to how neurons were to fire. Perhaps Jynn might know. Perhaps not. It didn't really seem as though Beaumont much cared either way. Jynn had asked to feel the loss of control, and Beaumont obliged. It just seemed fitting that the flesh made weapon that was Beaumont, leave a little lasting impression. As quickly as it had started, Beaumont released his control of Jynn's mind, turned his back on him and sauntered back to his corner to enjoy the rest of his drug trip.

There was a few moments of silence as Jynn simply stared back at the architect of his new thoughts. What a strange and wonderful experience to finally be controlled and manipulated in the most literal of senses. Like being freed of the burden of being for a short time. He then beamed a large smile of thankfulness to the strange man and did a three hundred and sixty degree turn on the ball of one foot. "Hello, World," he exclaimed, feeling as though he were a new person in need of introduction to the universe at large. He then gave a bow to the two men in the room before departing. He just had to try his new self out.

"Finally, some peace and quiet," Fel said, glancing up from his work to send a glare at the Deltan's retreating back. Then he turned the dour grey eyes on Beaumont. "And if you're quite through..." he added with a frown. It annoyed him for Beaumont to be used for such unimportant tasks. His weapon was meant for something grander, the destruction of hopefully countless Terrans. Fooling around with a single, crazed Deltan's brain was beneath Beaumont. With a snort, he turned his attention back to his task.

[ON]

SoghHom Jynn
Chief of Flight
IKS Saalm
[PNPC played by Jynn]

Lagh Cyrin Fel
Weapons Designer
IKS Saalm
[PNPC played by Cyrin Xanth]

Beaumont
Weapon of Mass Destruction
IKS Saalm
[PNPC played by K'os Beaumont]

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