Wakey Wakey...

Posted on 18 Jun 2017 @ 10:47pm by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.
Edited on on 24 Jun 2017 @ 4:49pm

2,294 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Altirith - Sickbay
Timeline: MD -19, 11:00

ON:

It was an interesting case for sure and one that Allyndra was not sure exactly how to handle. She should call in Sandoval but then she was not sure the counselor could do more then she could. It did not seem anything was exactly organically wrong just more like things did not quite meld together.

Meld together Now that was a thought. It might be something to try but then again that was something more personal and she was not sure if she should or should not ask.

Allyndra thought about it some more and finally tapped her comm badge. If there was anyone she might trust would be someone temple trained and there was only one person that fit that bill on board.

=^=Allyndra to T'Lin, please report to the sickbay=^=

=^=Yes doctor=^= came the cool crisp reply.

A few minutes later T'Lin appeared. "What is the problem doctor. I do not have sufficient injuries to require an appointment nor would it seem logical that an exam is in order."

"Your are correct on both accounts, but please let me show you." Allyndra got up and went to where Tuula was sitting on a bed. "She seems to have withdrawn but beyound what I think counseling could do. I was wondering if perhaps a meld might help."

T'Lin observed the other doctor for a moment and then said, "It might be possible but without consent it is considered an invasion of personal space."

"I do not think she could give proper assent but let us ask and see what we can come up. Tuula, Tuula this is T'Lin she would like to talk to you."

"Jaana?" asked Tuula, placing aside the stuffed bear that Allyndra had replicated for her earlier, as she looked up at the blonde woman in front of her. Construing her lack of visible emotion as sadness, Tuula continued. "Oh, I'm so sorry those bullies were picking on you earlier today. I'll think of some way to get back at those mean girls..."

T'Lin observed before answering. She looked to Allyndra and then took a seat. "Instead would you allow me to talk to you? Share our thoughts together?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Tuula excitedly, her arms reaching towards who she thought was her sister, though she couldn't quite reach. "Did you need some help with your homework?"

T'Lin cocked her head. She then nodded and reached for the woman. "First here let me talk to you, one mind, let us become one." She established the connection trying to suddenly make sense of what she glimpsed. Events and memories scattered. She had to steady her own thoughts.

*Tuula come and sit with me* T'Lin commanded shutting out the other images and creating a sort of bubble of calm.

At that point, images of a number of Tuulas appeared in T'Lin's consciousness. A six year old blonde-haired child holding a teddy bear. A teenage Tuula, in a black top and plaid skirt, holding a biology textbook. Tuula on the first day of the Academy, in a cadet uniform and with her hair and makeup toned down a little. And finally, there was the most recent Tuula -- beaten and bloodied, cuffed to her chair, and with some gruesome Klingon neural probing device strapped to her head.

*Tuula's not here* said the six year old girl.

*She doesn't want to be disturbed* added the teenager.

*So which is it?* T'Lin asked. *She is here or not here?*

*We have to protect her,* replied the cadet Tuula, stepping forward to confront T'Lin, blocking the path between the intruder and the injured present Tuula.

*She is hurt.* said the little girl, stepping forward and tugging on T'Lin's trousers, attempting to pull her away from Tuula.

T'Lin regarded the pair. This was the mind's way of trying to protect itself but it also meant that it was fragmented as well. "I am here to help. She needs to find her center again. Please let me go to her and come with me."

*No* said the teenage Tuula, also moving up to block her path. *She needs to be protected. We can't let her get hurt again.*

In the background, the Tuula in the chair groaned in pain, reliving the psychological torture that was the Klingon neural device.

T'Lin became stern. "It is not logical to leave her in such a state. You wish to protect her, but instead you continually allow her to be in pain." T'Lin knew she had no choice but try to reason with these fragmented parts for in order to restore order the mind had to accept that help.

*We cannot trust the outsider,* said the little girl, as she looked up at the other two.

The teenage Tuula nodded in agreement. *Intruders... intruders like you did this to her,* she said, her eyes narrowing as she glared at T'Lin. It was clear that the echoes of Tuula's past were protective beyond any hope of reasoning with them.

T'Lin knew that trying to use force here would not help. Instead one had to be like water, moving around obstacles. She nodded and said, *Very well, please come tell me about yourselves. I can show you some about me.* She took a seat and held out her hands.

The little girl, the most curious, stepped forwards first and placed her hand in those of the stranger. As she did so, she closed her eyes, making a connection with T'Lin.

Before T'Lin's eyes flashed dozens of images of the child Tuula, mostly with her identical twin. In one they were climbing trees, in another they were playing ball at recess, and in a third, Tuula was sewing a teddy bear back together while Jaana wiped away tears. There was an innocence to the visions -- the sisters taking care of each other, adventuring together, and chasing butterflies, amazed with wonder at the world around them and with an insatiable curiousity.

T'Lin took in all in. This was happy times, the things that would be needed to have the rest of the scattered psyche remember. "Ah, what wonderful times. Thank you for sharing." She waved a hand over to the teenage one, "please come share. See there is little to fear from me." If that one came on over and shared while she still had contact with the young version she could then meld them together. That is what was needed to meld the memories together so she could then combine them with the older Tuula.

Clutching her book, the teenage Tuula dithered for a moment, her ankle making a circular pattern around the ball of her foot. Finally she stepped forward and, holding the book in one hand, reached out and touched T'Lin's hand with the other.

Another jumble of images washed into T'Lin's consciousness. Walking home from school with Jaana, trying to help her sister study, and sitting at the back of math class with a group of girls who dressed all in black. After several moments, the image settled on Tuula at her locker, wearing an outfit that was not out of place for her: Red and black striped leggings, a plaid skirt with a studded belt and chains, and a skull-emblazoned tank top over a black fishnet shirt. Looking in the mirror on her locker door, she smiled. She had replicated these clothes herself, and the way the outfit came together was all perfect.

But she dug through her locker for a notebook, a small group of blonde-haired girls walked by, laughing and chatting to themselves. One of them paused for a moment, turning to stare at Tuula and gather ammunition for a withering attack on her self esteem.

"Oh my god, Kari, I thought Halloween was two weeks ago," said the other girl to her friends, before they burst into vicious laughter.

At her locker, Tuula gritted her teeth for a moment before looking in the mirror again and putting on a smile. At least they didn't make fun of her sister again. She didn't want to have to hurt them.

T'Lin pushed the emotions that she felt aside. She noted though that many things that she had been shown revolved around Tuula and her sister. That gave her an idea. "Come in order to help Jaana we must be united with each other. You do want to help her do you not?" Tuula's mind might not be ready to help itself but this was the hook that might bring everything together.

The cadet Tuula walked forward, sizing up her companions, and gazing into T'Lin's eyes suspiciously. Putting aside her concerns about this stranger who had so surprisingly appeared, she touched T'Lin's hand carefully.

This vision was different. It was darker; taking place inside a dimly lit transport on a rainy night. There, Tuula was lying back in her window seat, a PADD on her lap, when she was jolted awake by a rumbling. The transport lurched to the right, smacking her head against the side wall right near the window. Her fellow passengers started screaming, sirens began blaring, and Tuula looked out the window. Out of control, the transport spiraled towards the ground, getting closer, and closer, and...

Tuula ducked down into the brace position, and then everything went black.

T'Lin observed, as though she was watching a vid episode. This was another piece of memory but she noted that she did not observe the sister in this one.

*Scary, tell me what happened* she asked in that calm way. One more piece if she could integrate and then there was only the final bit of mind to bring together. Already she knew how to help there but just a few more steps.

After a flash of white light, Tuula blinked. Everything was all blurry, but she could make out two figured amongst the white background. One was wearing a white coat; a doctor or lab technician. The other, she just knew was Jaana. She felt pain all over, except for in her legs.

Squinting, she tried to make out the muffled conversations between the doctor and her sister. As she tried to reach up towards them, she passed out again, leaving T'Lin back in the depths of Tuula's mind, surrounded by the three Tuulas.

T'Lin held onto the other three and then said, *Call to her, tell her Jaana needs her urgently. She is calling to her, come to us so that her sister can be helpled.*

*Come on,* called out the three Tuulas, looking back at the badly beaten one in the chair. Trying to push herself forward, the injured Tuula managed to get partway before collapsing forward in pain again.

T'Lin said, *Again!* She almost had her that time before the image collapsed back. She poured her own thought into the odd meld and said, *For your sister come with us*

There, finally, the fourth Tuula came forward, coughing and choking up blood from the exertion required to bring her towards T'Lin. *Jaana...* she whispered, staring up at the strange pale-skinned Vulcan as she slowly approached.

T'Lin brought that aspect in and then melded the various aspects to reforge the whole. The hardest part was not becoming a part of the new reformed schizophrenic pieces but finally she was satisfied that it was done the best she could. As she did, she was overwhelmed with the images of Tuula strapped to a chair, being tortured by the Klingons, every crevasse of her mind being probed by the neural device.

T'Lin broke the link she had with Tuula and actually sagged slightly from the effort. She looked to the doctor and said, "I think her mind is whole again, or at least as best as I could do."

Allyndra nodded and knelt. "Tuula?" She asked gently.

Awakening from the meld, Tuula turned her head towards Allyndra. "Allyndra?" she gasped, smiling at her for a moment before slipping unconscious, going into another deep coma.

T'Lin got up and placed a hand on her and then shook her blonde head. "She is exhausted from the ordeal as am I. She will recover physically, I can not know just how much mentally yet. She has a powerful attachment to someone named Jaana, a sibling if I understood correctly."

Allyndra nodded, "Yes, her sister, who has transferred back to earth with some problems."

T'Lin raised an eyebrow. "Ah, I see, there is a powerful bond there. I do hope that she will not take it badly that I used that image to reforge her mind."

Allyndra nodded, "I do not think so." She needed to check on Tuula so she gave her something to revive her and see how she was doing. "Wakie wakie eggs and bacci." It was a little ditti she remembered from the Academy though she could not partake of either.

Gradually, Tuula awakened again, her eyes fluttering as she regained consciousness. She let out a groan; the splitting headache she had was worse than any she had had before. And the bright lights of the sickbay didn't help much either. "Allyndra?" she asked, blinking at her silver-haired friend. "Wh... where am I?"

"In a medical facility. Safe and back on Earth. How are you feeling?"

"I'm..." Tuula winced and held her head. "I suppose I could use a sauna..."

"You are going to rest first. That was quite an ordeal. Then maybe you can sauna. Did I tell you I tried one finally?"

Tuula smiled and lay back in bed. "Fine." As she did so, her stomach growled. "But I could go for some mustamakkara. And lingonberry jam..."

OFF:

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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