Insight

Posted on 16 Dec 2012 @ 5:50pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
Edited on on 17 Dec 2012 @ 2:58pm

2,646 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: LTjg Liyar's Quarters/Vega IX/Sickbay
Timeline: MD 14 - 1100 hours

ON:

There was definitely something wrong. After eleven days aboard the ship, Liyar found himself unable to deny it any longer. People were acting bizarrely, the rooms he entered were filled with a strange, eerie wrongness that he couldn't quite put his finger on, and then there was the physical concerns. Pain, headaches, just-a-nosebleeds.

The attempt at meditation as always yielded little on the personal front except for another aborted round of frustration, but he had managed to achieve an internal focus that he'd been lacking for a while with the help of the Lexorin. The clarity afforded there only made the situation aboard the Galileo more obvious to him.

He stood, extinguishing the firepot in front of him and glancing at the chronometer. It wasn't that early. He wasn't exactly sure how the chain of command on ships like this worked, but the best bet was the medical bay. He was unsure how these officers operated, but knew from his limited dealings that most placed little stock in psionic interpretation.

Nevertheless, he felt it would be remiss to ignore it.

Upon reaching the medical deck, he noted it was empty. To be expected, as shore leave was in full swing. They appeared to enjoy their recreation. Liyar stepped through, a technician greeting him to no real response. He activated the comm at a spare desk. "Lieutenant Liyar to Lieutenant Kohl. I request your attendance in sickbay."

It wasn't the most spectacular request, but at least he'd evolved out of ordering people around. Sort of.

A response wasn't immediately forthcoming. The computer didn't make the customary chirp to suggest the communication link had failed, but Kohl's voice didn't carry across either. When Kohl did come through, he sounded as if he were sleep-talking: "....What? ...Attendance where? Wait, who are you?"

Liyar blinked. He had just provided both pieces of information. He checked the link, but it was working. Perhaps it was too early after all? Well, he was here now. The sooner this was figured out, the better. He suppressed the urge to physically respond to a sharp spike of pain in his temple. Not his, he knew, but the distinction was not a comfort. "Lieutenant Liyar to Lieutenant Kohl. Report to sickbay. It is not a medical emergency, but it is of intermediate concern."

"Did the, uh -- did the medical technician not direct you to Central Hospital, Lieutenant?" Kohl asked. The inflection in his tone was probably lost on Liyar. If anything, Liyar might have noticed vocal modulating from the minor exertions of Kohl getting out of a bed and bending to find clothes in the dark.

"It is not a matter for Central Hospital." And only a Vulcan could make that sentence sound as haughty as it did, but that might have been the pounding migraine. Or two. Or five. Liyar closed his eyes briefly and let out an even breath. "Rest assured that I do not concern myself with inanity. My decision to contact you was logical. I await your arrival." He reached over and cut off the comm line.

Some seventeen minutes later, Lieutenant (junior grade) Andreus Kohl strode into Sickbay's intensive care unit. As he came in from the passageway, he dragged a hand back through his honey-brown hair. Kohl blinked repeatedly, all the while, as if his eyes had become unaccustomed to the stark lighting aboard Galileo. Even his teal highlighted uniform appeared slightly ill fitting after just a few short days of shore leave.

"Lieutenant Liyar," Kohl said. He offered subtle nod in greeting and spoke in his most formal timbre of voice. As he approached Liyar, Kohl continued: "How may I address your matter of intermediate concern?"

This ship was mostly composed of psi-null or at least, psi-ignorant, individuals. At this point, Liyar had brought it up to no less than four people since he started noticing it, and been brushed off. To that end, he had a PADD in his hand with quantum energy levels to accompany his explanation. The levels reached a critical mass, lines drawing together sharply at the top and he held the data out.

"There is something the matter aboard this vessel," he said, cutting straight to it. "Nearly everyone who was on board prior to our landing on Vega IX has been affected, including yourself." It may only have been the fact that Vulcans rarely lie which precluded the possibility of him joking.

Judging by the severe look on the Vulcan's face, Kohl decided not to take chances. At the comm panel on his desk, he reached forward and typed a message out to Pola Ni Dhuinn's personal comm number. Can you come up to sickbay? We might have a problem.

Hoping that she might have actually managed to have a day off, Pola pulled a pillow over her head as she tried to block out the chirping noise of her comm badge. Having managed very little sleep, her body felt like it couldn't move without assistance as she finally came in and slammed a hand down. Hearing the words from her ACMO, she realised that she had no choice but to move. Rolling her body, she realised to late that she'd mistimed, her body hitting the floor before she realised what was happening.

Giving herself a few moments, Pola rolled herself to her knees, trying to figure out how she would manage this.

10 minutes Later

As Pola entered, Kohl turned toward her. "Liyar has just informed me that there's a problem with something on board the ship. I thought you might want to be here to see what it is about."

"You are familiar with the Zarahk'Kah-ka." It was directed at Kohl, and it wasn't a question. "You know the reason for Lexorin. My psionic abilities are heightened at this time. I can sense the disturbances in this crew acutely. The symptoms are increasingly severe."

Accepting the PADD, Kohl clasped it between his hands. "Those are some strong words you're using," Kohl remarked. They were flippant on the surface, but delivered with an undertone of distress. "Tell me more about these symptoms you've observed," he said, looking to Pola, and gave the PADD to her for her to examine herself. A beeping at Kohl's side had him looking down in distraction as Pola examined the PADD and he frowned, embarrassed a little. "I'm really sorry, but I have to take this. Family matters. Please, if you could?" He looked toward Liyar, who didn't seem to be taking no for an answer, impatiently exhausted of being shut down by psi-nulls. Kohl knew Pola would understand what that was about, and at her nod of dismissal, he hurriedly exited out the door to take the call.

The Vulcan spoke, undeterred, despite the hasty exit, answering the doctor's question for a more clear elaboration of these symptoms. "They were the correct words," he amended Kohl's previous statement. "It more than observed." He addressed Pola for the first time then. "I am certain." Liyar's countenance was steadfast, and he stared at the doctor uncompromisingly as he spoke. "Migraines. Akathisia. Epistaxis. Loss of balance. Mood swings. Cognitive disruptions. Hyperalgesia. Paranoia. Nausea, vomiting. Lack of appetite. Hallucinations." He produced another PADD outlining the rest carefully. He could feel them at the edges of his consciousness even now, and placed his hands behind his back to avoid displaying tension.

Having watched Kohl walk away, Pola now found herself extremely confused. She was trying to read through the data contained on the PADD of her hand but found she couldn't concentrate. "OK... So hang on a second. You have noticed all of these symptoms and have managed to string together that something is not quite right? A job which would be the medical department's job..."

"Dr. Ni Dhuinn, you are affected." Liyar wasn't a particularly tactful guy, so bluntly came out and said it. "As your medical department is comprised of the group I speak of, those on board the Galileo before it landed on Vega IX, I must assume they are also affected. Given that I am a level P8 receptive telempath with temporarily heightened abilities, it is unsurprising that I am capable of discerning these changes. It is not my intention to undermine your staff, Doctor, or insult you. I am experiencing these symptoms. I am not merely observing them. It is a telempathic perception. I must continue to belabor the point. There is something wrong with your crew."

"And where are your qualifications allowing you to diagnose and decide who's affected and who's not?" Normally a woman very open to everyone, Pola was uncharacteristically shut off from Liyar, focusing on the accusation that she might be suffering from something which she hadn't picked up or been able to put the pieces together. As her vision blurred slightly, she just shook her head.

"I have diagnosed no one. I am offering my perception and analysis." Liyar blinked at the hostile emotions flung in his direction, and shored up his shields. "I have observed the effects. I am observing them now."

"In case you didn't notice, this ship, and by extension this crew, has been through hell and back. Of course people are going to be tired and showing symptoms typical of exhaustion, post traumatic stress, and all the rest that comes with that."

"You focus on an ambiguous symptom. The combined presentation is not indicative of post traumatic stress." Liyar clenched his jaw. He knew what that felt like, what the saturated aura of a whole ship of people felt like under the haze. He couldn't deny that was happening here, but it was separate. He forced himself to relax, realizing the empathetic barrage was affecting him, and his countenance cleared. "Read the data. Test for yourself. There is no logic to denying my request."

"We have been testing! After S..." In her anger, Pola almost let slip something which would be unknown to Liyar given his only recent deployment to the ship. Frustrated now at herself, she rubbed a hand across her forehead as she folded her other arm across her chest. "Look...Liyar...I can fully understand your concerns but this crew has already had the fear of god injected into them. Something on the magnitude of what you are explaining could result in chaos."

"You do not need to unduly concern yourself with preventing what is already occurring, Doctor." Liyar looked at the PADDs he had given her. "The readings clearly indicate abnormalities in this vessel's quantum signature and disturbingly erratic crew life signs. The symptoms in other crew are visible to all that look. Any being with sufficient telepathic comprehension can discern sympathetic experience. I do not comprehend why these facts do not alarm you."

Feeling her temper flair further, Pola eyed Liyar with an open hostility. "How dare you...If there was something wrong on this ship I would be the first to know! To assume otherwise is to just slap me in the face, disrespect me and the position which I was awarded due to the respect that the Captain and Commander have for me." To say that Pola was seeing real was putting it very tamely, there was colours of ruby and amber moving across her vision, causing her to put one hand out to keep her balance. "What you have the letters M.D. after your name, or some other equivalent which allows you to jump to the conclusions which you have, then you can come back to me Lieutenant."

Liyar looked at her, as if she were a bug under a microscope. Or maybe an interesting fungi sample. She was completely hysterical. He didn't think he'd ever seen a human act quite that way, but he knew it wasn't normal. (If it is normal, it's at least not normal for Dr. Ni Dhuinn, who is reserved at worst.) He knew would not get anywhere further. As if he'd already decided something, eyes boring into hers, he set the remaining PADD in his hand on the desk beside him. He could feel the strange resounding crackle of energy and light suffuse the room, an alien perception and not, and the PADD hits the desk a fraction harder than it might have otherwise, nearly cracking under the weight of his thumb. He spoke evenly. "It is not a debate."

He should not have said anything at all. A lapse at this moment was unacceptable. Recognizing that he had to get away from her influence, Liyar chose then to break away, heading out of the sliding double doors of sickbay in long strides.

Watching as the Vulcan exited, Pola slumped back against the biobed as a flood of exhaustion seemed to over come her. Cupping her face in her hands, she tried to figure out what had just happened and why all of that had just happened. Nothing was making much sense to her anymore, she didn't understand what was happening to her. Never once did it occur to the Doctor that maybe what Liyar had said actually made sense, that something was effecting her, all Pola knew was that something was wrong but she wasn't sure if she could handle the truth.

When the doors of the turbolift disappeared medical deck from his vision, he exhaled, as the clutching fingers of paranoia and hysterics receded out of his head. Lexorin. He needed more. He would shore up his shields and then find the new staff and figure out what was happening and what to do about it. While he walked through the decks he made a list of possible candidates that may be able to listen to reason. (He still hasn't quite assimilated the fact that he's serving on an entire ship of these people who can't feel the psionic resonance, it just makes his hands want to curl because it's right there.) The only name he added on the list other than those who had transferred aboard after the Galileo's landing was Evelyn Coleman. She had kept a rational head almost the entire time he'd known her, at least, within the parameters he'd established for her baser pattern of behavior. Even if she were abnormal for an El-Aurian, she clearly still possessed composure.

The turbolift opened at Support and he entered his office. He sat at his desk, drafting a brief message and preparing himself mentally to withstand both the pressure outside this room of chaotic minds ramming into his shields day in and day out, and the endless, miserable drone of trying to talk to psi-nulls. He really should not be so bitter, but it was like shouting in an enclosed space half of the time trying to communicate with any of them, and he wasn't sure exactly when or how, but this thing on board was starting to affect him. He could feel the frustration, and needed to really work at it to approximate Vulcan normal. Maybe because it affected so many others, and he could feel it beating down on him from everywhere. He used the shield in his mind to repel it back, creating a dome over his consciousness, watching while the foreign invaders pelted off from a distance.

How could they not know?

OFF:

Lieutenant Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer, SFM
USS Galileo

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