[Paradise-IV] SD961202.10 Joint Log - aLt(jg) Jobel Lox (Counsellor), Cmdr Caitlin Blake (CMO) and LtCmdr Justin Lox (CO-AFS-T4)

[Paradise-IV Logs]

~.\~ Start Log ~.\~

"He was viciously attacked, yet he bears no ill will? I don't understand." Spoke a nurse softly to a wardy while she was watching Jobel go through rehab in a confined room with a physiotherapist to get all his muscles working correctly and responding to his nervous system's commands.

"Those trill, they think they can walk amongst us but they are all the same" muttered the wardy.

The startled response brought attention to the two onlookers, from both inside and outside the room.  "What!?!"

It seemed everyone was on edge lately... however the wardy dismissed the nurses concerns and they went on their way to work.

~~~~~`

They entered the room, a well known Trill engineer, Commanding Officer of AFS-T4 and once Chief of Operations for Paradise, however it was the offsider, a diminutive elfish mixture of races that bade the physiotherapist to leave the people in company.

With a raised brow, Jobel Lox lowered himself gently to a chair and waited for the arrivals to speak.

Justin raised a brow, almost mimicking Jobel.  "I am Justin Lox, Engineer." He took a seat, still looking Jobel over. "How is it you are here?  How is it you have come to have the Lox symbiont?"

Cait stood beside Justin, studying Jobel and actively scanning to get a sense of him and his symbiont as well as the truth behind anything the Trill said. She had a bad feeling about all of this....

"Interesting, I assumed since my Lox comes from a darker dimension that I would find a Lox in this dimension... however, I didn't know that the Lox would find me first."  Jobel assessed both the diminutive doctor and the engineering Trill.

Justin looked at Jobel "What is that supposed to mean?"

Well, then... let me explain." The Trill counsellor was calm, although there was a darkness to him... and then there wasn't.  It was if there was a battle waging inside himself.  "Approximately two years ago Captain Vincent Dharmajiva presented himself to Starfleet Command where I had been working as a Counsellor.  He spoke of a dark reality where humans were hunters and he was the hunted.  I didn't believe him then... I do now."

"Recently I hypnotised him, then this dark dream... that alternate reality washed over me and I was in that world... with the Lox symbiont inside me.  All trill, what is left of us... in that world have a symbiont... I just happened to have the Lox symbiont."

"Ahhh, so you are from this realm, but your symbiont is from the darker, alternate realm.  This will be... hard to integrate."  Justin looked a bit apprehensive "Who were your previous hosts?"

"Keles, Sain and then me."  The trill continued, figuring he had to prove himself to the Trill from this dimension. "Kele's was rather an introvert, never left the homeworld and was there when the humans attacked slaughtering many of us.  He was responsible for saving many symbionts getting as many as we could into Trill hosts before many of the pools were destroyed."

Jobel shook his head "Keles died violently protecting the symbionts... Sain on the other hand, overwhelmed by the symbiont, did anything she could as well to keep the symbiont community as a whole to survive."

The pause was there... , long but it was obvious that neither the other two interrupt needed to continue.  "Including negotiating with the hunters and proving our race's worth as collaborators, chroniclers of their deeds."

Cait slipped a scanner out of her pocket. "May I?"

"By all means Doctor.  You will find that although gradual, I have not fully connected with the symbiont.  You see, in this reality I never wanted one." Jobel explained to Cait.  "And it appears that this symbiont really doesn't want me either."

"That sounds like Keles." Justin replied "In this realm, he helped to maintain the pools and expand them.  Since Keles was my predecessor, I know nothing of Sain... but collaborating and chronicling?  Interesting."

"The melding of personalities and minds takes a while.  Just relax and things will take their normal path.  They really don't need all that fancy mumbo jumbo that the Joining Commission uses."

Stepping closer, Cait run the scanner over Jobal paying particular attention to his Lox symbiont. Thanks to a certain Captain, she was the expert on Trill and symbiont medicine in the 14th. "Has your Lox told you why it doesn't want you?"

"Yes, I am not the Jobel it knows.  Simple.  Apparently I have the ability to be ... I don't know how to put it even though I am a counsellor... darker I guess, but unlike it's host, my nature despite my methods, well all I want to do is help people." answered the Trill counsellor.  "And to answer you Justin, I fear that if I relax... this Lox will take me over."

"I have to admit curiosity as to the Jobel your Lox knows and how he's taken the loss of his symbiont." Cait covered her mouth as a giggle of glee tried to escape her. She'd always wanted to play with a Trill and its symbiont. Cut it out, flay their emotions, dance in their pain. The doctor staggered a moment, going white and looking like she might be sick.

Justin looked at Cait "The other Jobel is probably dying of symbiont shock at the moment."  His tone was flat and pained.

"Don't let Lox take you over.  Join and be one, but bring yourself to the joining.  Don't hide, and don't fight.  That is the way it works.  Fighting and hiding forces a dominance of one or the other.  Come together as one, equal and become someone new."  Justin was still watching Jobel. "Lox, to Lox... this Jobel is someone to work with.  Yes he isn't the same as your previous Jobel, but he can be something more."

For some reason, Jobel heard Justin's words and felt himself relax.  Only it wasn't fully him, but the combining of two.  Shock of almost letting go brought back the fight.  "I am worried Justin Lox... very worried.  Not only of joining but of what could happen if I join.  Realities have a way of correcting themselves, can this universe sustain two Lox symbionts or will one of us just cease to exist?"

"I cannot answer that question, however from the records I have read of previous crossovers, the universe will probably allow two Lox Symbionts to continue.  Will things correct themselves?  No idea.  However if things do shift back, Lox will probably die as well, since that Jobel will have already have died from the shock of losing Lox.  It also makes it all the more likely the universe will tolerate a second Lox here." Justin tries to be reassuring but his engineering and science backgrounds kept him trying to see all sides.

Cait frowned, sensing the fight, the struggle between Jobel and Lox. "The fight between you two will weaken you both before long." She addressed both Jobel and Lox. "If you let me, I can help you both find a balance between yourselves. It’s a rotten situation but for both your sakes, you need to come to a consensus and become partners."

"Yes Doctor." conceded Jobel.  He was already weakened from the violence, now his spirit was weakening from the fight within.  "Please, I need rest, but by all means... let's get that balance happening."

~~~~~~~~``

End Log.

Acting Lieutenant Junior Grade Jobel Lox - Counsellor (NPC)

Commander Caitlin Blake - Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Commander Justin Lox - Commanding Officer AFS-T4