Brain strain
Posted on Fri Jul 14th, 2023 @ 4:58pm by Lieutenant Vura & Corporal Andrew Shy
Edited on on Mon Jul 17th, 2023 @ 7:06pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 14 - The Poseidon Adventure
Location: Counseling Office - Deck 5 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD007 1000 hrs
Andrew hesitated as he caught sight of the counselor’s door and squared as he felt his feet drag. His feet scuffed on the carpet, and he started to get tunnel vision like he normally did before a mission.
He really didn’t want to do this. It was a necessary evil, but that didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t getting back into harness until the new head shrinker opened his brain and walked around in it to see if everything was copacetic.
Stepping toward the door, the sensor picked up his presence and opened automatically and he entered the counselor’s office without breaking stride, coming to a halt just inside the door and said, “Corporal Andrew Shy, reporting.”
Vura had been watering the blooming lavender plants near the entrance to her office, so she was ready when Andrew walked in. The bald headed woman had two large hoop earrings, one in each ear. She was completely hairless but had penciled in some eyebrows for show. She cooed, "No need to be so formal here, Andrew. I'm Vura. Please come on in." She gestured with her arm inwards and stepped out of the way to avoid touching him.
On a wall, over a couch, she had put up a copy of Katsushika Hokusai's "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" above a periwinkle couch that swooped up and then down in the middle and then back up again. The couch had definite sensual innuendos written all over the convenient shaping.
The walls of her office were of a deep rose with hints of purple hues. From there, she opted only for a small desk, so the desk would not set a barrier between her and her clients. It was a semi-circle and she placed it carefully in such a way where she could swivel on a chair and quickly type something on a computer or PADD and not interfere with her relationship with her client. The color of the desk nearly blended into the wall but was more mauve on closer inspection.
Warm wooded mahogany chairs were available in case her clients did not prefer to be on the couch. There was a small glass circle table between the chairs. The table contained a small zen sand garden and rake for clients to manipulate.
She waited for Andrew to seat himself before heading into the bowels of her office.
Andrew blinked at her comment, then suppressed his auto-response about Fleet types in general. He'd dropped into parade rest after she'd spoken and followed her into her office. The offices cushyness was unsettling to the him and he'd let a little of his paranoia slip when, after being briefed that there was a new Deltan counselor aboard, he'd opted for nasal filters and a bio-sensor bracelet on his left wrist.
Like the major always said, 'Trust is a fine thing but don't let stupid get in the way of sense.' "Thank you for fitting me into your schedule so soon, ma'am," Andrew said, being mindful of his tone. "I'd like to get out of hack and back to full duty. Nice digs, by the way. Ma'am."
"Andrew, please..." she told him with a sing song lilt in her voice. "The name is Vura. I'm glad that you like my office. I've tried to make it feel comfortable for people coming to see me." She paused and switched back to his statement, "What do you mean, 'out of hack'? I don't believe that I'm familiar with that statement."
"Marine term, ma'am," he said, keeping the amusement he felt from touching his features, "In hack means being removed from regular duty due to medical reasons. Or having been found deficient. In this case, until I'm fully cleared my Fleet Medical, I can't be under arms and have been relieved of bridge station duty. Also, I am unavailable for field deployment."
Then he did grin wryly, "In Enlisted terms, ma'am: I'm in the rear with the gear until you tell the Major my brain isn't permanently scrambled and all synapsis and other bodily functions are fit for duty."
Vura had to laugh at that and did so melodically. "You're a poet and you don't know it, Andrew? I would ask, though, that you call me Vura. Ranks me nothing here, nor does your enlisted status. Also, if you could save me the trouble of looking up your record, tell me why you think you've been found 'deficient.'" Vura always liked this method of query because she could check later and verify if someone was being candid with her. If not, then the question was whether a person was lying or not mentally sound, something to be explored later.
"No offense, ma'am..Vura..," Andrew said fixing her with gaze. My status as a Marine is engraved into the bone and soul. Same as any Marine who really is one. You strip all that away and I become what the entity Kivicus tried to...and did for a time. Make me a puppet. While on mission, I screwed up by not having my suit buttoned up was body snatched and used to attack my fellow teammates. I'm not really eager to strip away what makes me me to see what's left."
"The only time stripping is involved, Andrew, would be with someone other than me." She grinned at him slyly. "You could not handle it and I am obliged to keep an oath." She snickered. "But I have to ask a very obvious question, how do you know if you are you? How do you know that some of the things, whatever they may have been, were not something that you also desired to do? There's a lot of interesting questions where mind control is involved, and these are just a few of them."
Andrew met her eyes. Considered her words and said, "Easy. If I'd have really wanted them dead, I'd have tried a lot harder than Kavicus's ham handed approach. Precision strike with high explosive ordinance. Or maybe just something really sharp in the black of night. But I haven't any reason to want any of the Pioneer's crew to see harm. So I know I'm me. And if I see Kavicus again, well that's where the explosives will come in...."
"I'm not sure that's the smartest thing to tell a counselor," she replied with a wry smile. "Why don't you tell me about who you were and what you were like before this whole sordid affair?"
Andrew took a breath. Bit his tongue and gave that a thought, but then went on with it. "I'm the same person I have been, as far as I can tell you ma'am. I could roll out the standard Marine response to things like that but you're smart enough to know that we're not all the same, despite how 99% of the Galaxy sees us. We do work hard for that notoriety though."
Shrugging, he continued. "Some probably call me quiet. I like to think my way through things, when I can, rather than just jump in and take whatever however it comes. I consider myself a good, solid marine and all of my evals point that way."
"I don't think you're quiet. I just think you need a little encouragement to talk," Vura replied, crossing her legs, slowly and sensually. "I just wonder if you can think of yourself as anything other than a marine."
He gave the counselor the once over, his analytical mind churning. "I'm a heart breaker and life taker, ma'am. One of the Federations misguided children. Being a marine and being Andrew aren't separable. When and if I retire, I'll still be a marine down to my roots, regardless of what may come between here and there. I do have a personal life, but my actions and activities during off hours are still governed by my marine-ness. But that doesn't mean I don't have a personal life."
Then he decided to probe. "I've torn up my share of bars and bed-mates over the years with no fatalities."
Vura smiled at the marine, "Well, if you had, you would be behind bars and not in them, right?" Defense mechanisms of humor and relying on identity. "So why don't you tell me about some of your personal life? Are you married? Have kids? Dating anyone?"
"Doc. I'm sure you know most of it," Andrew replied, keeping his tone even. "I've seen personnel jackets with medical attachments. They're fairly comprehensive. But to move this along. No, I'm not married and haven't been. I date some, like most people probably. I haven't found anyone that seemed to fit the bill for a longer term commitment."
"Life happens as it comes at you. I like to live in the present, not dwell on the past and if someone comes along that seems special enough, we'll see."
"Alright, then let's go back to the body snatching, as you called it. Tell me more about that. You said that you did not have your suit buttoned up, which was how this Kavicus got you, right? Was the entity amorphous or something breathed in? Or am I not understanding completely?"
"Right. Kavicus," Andrew said taking a breath. "Jutari evil scientist who was running various experiments on humanoids. In the underwater lab we investigated, he was running tests on telepathic Jutari. I think it was gene and DNA experimentation because certain subjects became telepathically animated zombie like creatures that attacked our party. Kavicus himself was... Well I'm unsure. An ooze? Or at least he could control and move himself about through this black medium. I had my helmet off and that ooze was able to make skin contact. At least I'm assuming thats how he was able to puppet me. He was communicating telepathically and doing weird mind games with everyone else too. That was the telepathic stuff though..I was the only one that was taken over."
"Do you have any idea why you were the only one taken over? And what do you mean when you say, 'weird mind games with everyone else'?"
Andrew bit his lip but nodded. "I was the only one that was taken over. As far as the mind games, he was telepathically planting what they feared most or what might upset them into their heads and manipulating the environment to put us all in waking nightmares. Maybe. It's confusing."
"Maybe?" Vura asked. "Do the best you can in explaining."
Andrew bit back the impulse to tell the Counselor she should see the obvious. He reminded himself that she was a Fleetie. And a non-line officer at that so he took a breath and said, "I can only tell you what I experienced and the theory that came out at debriefing. No one is really sure how Kavicus was able to do what he did. We had no idea they were experimenting on telepaths. Didn't even know they had telepaths or the approach would have been a lot more different, ma'am."
"OK. So can you tell me anything more in what you experienced?"
Andrew thought about that and said, "Kinda like going to sleep, I suppose. The sensation of blacking out crept up on me and I didn't catch it until it was too late. Then I was just no-where. Like in a waking dream of nothingness. I wasn't even aware of what was happening or what the prick was doing. I was just...all alone in my head in the dark."
"So did you actually know that you were in your head or was it more like a dream, as you said? Could you feel your body doing anything without your consent or was that cut off from you, as well?" Vura wanted to understand all of this, especially as Rowena said she just went blank. Corporal Shy seemed to have more information and if she was to help, she needed to gather as much as she could.
"Both and neither," Andrew said. "There's hazy images of things but they're like half-memories in the form of old pictures."
"Can you tell me who else was controlled by this thing?" Vura asked, now knowing that Rowena and Shy had some commonalities. "Could you feel them when you were possessed, as you called it?"
"Who...," Andrew side glanced the doctor and asked. "Doc. Are you fishing? I thought this was about digging through my synapsis, checking the filters and making sure I'm fit for duty. I'm starting to get the idea you're cooking around for some other reason. If you haven't been read in on the mission, then I don't have any business doing so. Which means I guess this session is at an end." Andrew wasn't quite sure what she was playing at, but he was done.
“I admit that I am fishing, as you called it, but it is both for the reason that I am checking if you are fit for duty but also for reasons that I am not at liberty to discuss. So, if you will indulge me a bit, I would appreciate it.”
"Right," Andrew said. Now he understood the Major's attitude better. "Still done doc. My report is my report. When Kavicus took over. He made sure I knew it was him before he pulled the blinds. After that, it's all just flashes and the footage pulled from the MARVEL suits. I don't have anything further to add beyond that. So. I guess you or someone will be letting me know."
"I see," Vura replied thoughtfully. "Well, I'll definitely note your opinion when I'm writing my report on your potential fitness for duty. You have given me a lot to consider."
Andrew nearly sighed. He might be digging himself into a hole but he was done with the banality of it. She was digging around for something and not necessarily concentrating on his individual case. He came to attention and said, "Right. By your leave then, ma'am?"
How am I going to write this report? He is wound up so tight and refuses to explore much of anything. I can't force him to stay. "As you wish, Andrew. I have a feeling that we will be talking again."
A Joint Post By
Major Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Commanding Officer, The Cure
Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
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