JP: PNPC Commander Adriana Morgan & LTJG Nolen Hobart — Behind Closed Doors, Part I

[Nolen Hobart]

((The Many-Doored Room))

Nolen paced, a stranger in his own skull. Standing before him was a woman he’d never met, draped in a familiar uniform. He’d let a strange, snobbish Trill woman put her here, and he’d given her free rein over his body. Vaguely aware of the conversation she was having with his ship’s Executive Officer, he was preoccupied on keeping her out of his head, out of his memories.

He had only ever allowed one Betazoid access to his mind before, and he wasn’t on speaking terms with her. He nervously nibbled a thumbnail as he watched the dark-haired woman—or something of her echo—begin to take form. So there they stood together on a wide wooden floor in a large empty room, ringed by a series of doors packed tightly together. High above them a ceiling must have existed somewhere in the dark, for candle-laden chandeliers don't hang from nothing.

Hobart: So… you’re a Betazoid Betazoid.

Adri blinked, then raised an eyebrow as if she’d gone from taking in the place for the first time, to knowing it like she’d lived there forever. She shot a bit of a mysterious grin at her companion.

Morgan: I didn’t know such things existed, but I suppose it would be important to point out that I am an impression that resides within Niac. 

Nolen pursed his lips. He hadn’t considered how being a part of the Niac family tree might change a person’s perspective. Or even personality. He felt his shoulders lose a bit of the tension that he didn’t realize he was carrying. 

Hobart: Huh. A Betazoid Betazoid Trill.

Perhaps a bit repetitive, but it fit well enough. She chuckled and shook her head.

Morgan: Sure. That works.

Making a point of looking around she eventually made her way back to the man sharing this very interesting room. It felt very familiar, almost as if she had been someplace very much like it in the past. That familiarity led to comfort in a manner she’d not felt within the Niac symbiont. Yet at the same time, she couldn’t read him.

Morgan: So I know well enough from how this feels that you are also a Betazoid?

Nolen’s eyes narrowed.

Hobart: Half. ::further consideration:: The… smaller half.

Raising an eyebrow she playfully grinned. The earlier comments made a bit more sense now.

Morgan: So just a Betazoid. Not a Betazoid Betazoid. What’s wrong with that?

Nothing. Everything. It was alright for Betazoids to be Betazoids, but… But what? What about it struck Nolen the wrong way? It wasn't wrong to be Betazoid, just damned inconvenient. He danced a bit, forcing himself onto a different subject.

Hobart: How long were you in Starfleet when the… thing with Niac happened?

Ah, so it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. Adri looked at him for a moment, thinking on how to let the other her know to maybe make contact with this one, before shrugging it off and answering his question.

Morgan: Too long. I think ten years, or eight. Something like that. ::Grinning.:: You lose track after a while.

Nolen thought on this for a moment.

Hobart: A decade in and you lose you. ::astonished huff:: Must have been strange, going numb. Up here, I mean. ::tapping the side of his head::

The room had a lot of doors, but no chairs, and nowhere to really just sit and talk. Of course that was probably on purpose, given that she was really there to talk to the man outside, which she was. Adri always had like to multitask.

The Engineer paced the lobby of his mind nervously as the imaginary floorboards creaked. Somewhere out there, he heard his own laugh, muffled and distant, as Adri carried on capably on two fronts.

Morgan: It wasn’t a horrible experience, just one that was profoundly uncomfortable. Most of that was on account of the thing living on his face.

Hobart: ::braying laugh:: You know, the first time I met him I mistook the symbiont’s impression and thought that soupcatcher was sentient!

Now she laughed, that carefree laugh she had.

Morgan: He knows I don’t much like the beard, though I have to say, when I was running the show, it was far softer than it is now. Maybe with that Romulan in the picture, he’ll get back to that.

The statement was as much a question to herself as much as it was a jab at the budding connection the man with few connections was making.

A confused expression crossed Nolen’s face. Off in a corner, a light flicked on beyond a shut door, and the faint  whisper of rustling papers leaked out.

Hobart: The Romulan?

His black eyes darted to the illuminated door, and for a moment he thought of attending to it. But he hesitated, unwilling to turn his back on his new acquaintance just yet. Having other people in his head still triggered a fight or flight reaction that required a great deal of effort to manage. In that way, it was something of a blessing that Adriana was managing the outside of Nolen, such that he didn't have to.

Morgan: The paramedic, Ra. Not sure where it’s headed as of yet, but I can tell you it’s definitely uncharted.

She grinned most characteristically for herself. It truly was intriguing to have such insight on someone else’s life without the mental intrusion of telepathy. To say she was along for the ride was something of a serious understatement.

Nolen made a strange noise at the revelation. Something between a honk and a “ha.” The shuffling of papers behind closed doors ceased, and the light blinked out with the solid, anachronistic “click” of a wall switch. The Lieutenant resumed his slow pacing.

Hobart: I didn't realize she was Romulan. I just thought she was a… a… bad Vulcan, I guess?

Chuckling at the sound as much as the idea of a ‘bad’ Vulcan, Adri shook her head.

Morgan: Nope, just a normal Rommie/Human hybrid. 

The sounds behind the doors started to come and go and she found herself looking at one in particular.

His brow furrowed and he followed her gaze. He wasn't sure he should be explaining the layout of his mind to someone who was a stranger. But, upon reflection, he realized she must know him already about as well as Commander Niac did.

Hobart: That's, um, where I keep the faces I know. But the names are somewhere else. Here, I'll show you.

TBC

———

Commander Adriana Morgan

Communications Specialist

As simmed by:

Commander Ash MacKenna

Chief Intelligence Officer

USS Arrow

R238605KN0

and

Lieutenant Junior Grade Nolen Hobart

Engineering Officer

USS Arrow (NCC-69829)

A240001NH3