Ensign Sival: Finding Vulnerabilities
James Scott Schumann
(( OOC: I’m so sorry this has been late in coming! I’ve brought Sival up to the latest moment with everyone else. Namaste.))
Sival didn’t believe the entity he was seeing was real. He denied any emotional attachment to it. He focused on the other crew members instead.
T’Lea: Screw this. Computer end program.
Everything that Sival knew to be an illusion vanished, including Emily, leaving the four standing in the holodeck’s empty black and yellow grid.
Empty except for one unattractive, albino vole.
Vole: Heeheehee. What are you afraid of?
It hopped and jumped about, perhaps performing some kind of dance, then it vanished.
oO Curious. Apparently white voles can’t dance. Oo
T’Lea: I-that-no.
Before the four could discuss what had happened, a crew member rushed into the holodeck, wielding a phaser. He had a panicked, crazed look on his face.
Crewman: Commander! It’s the Borg! They’re in main engineering!
Kendrick: ::at T’Lea:: We must find the Captain.
Kendrick: … And start preparing a counterattack before we lose control of Engineering.
T’Lea: =/\= T’Lea to Captain Oddas. =/\=
Crewman: That won’t work. They’re jamming comms.
Trovek: The Borg? That can’t be possible.
What was happening certainly did not fit the mould of a Borg attack. Borg were not known for their ability to discreetly appear on vessels, favoring a more direct approach. There had been no battle or interaction with Borg ships lately.
Borg also were not known to be able to communicate telepathically with non-Borg. It was unlikely they were related to the mass hallucinations. It was more likely the Borg were another hallucination themselves. On the other hand, it was possible their tactics and approaches had changed.
Sival: I shall concede it is possible, but it is highly unlikely.
Crewman: Don’t you understand!! They’ve taken over main engineering!! We have to abandon ship! They’ll assimilate us all!
Starfleet had developed numerous tactics for dealing with the Borg, and abandoning ship as a first option was not one of them. The crewman was reacting out of fear. Fear seemed to be a common reaction elicited by the hallucinations.
Sival: That would be an illogical and unnecessary course of action to take at this time, crewman.
Trovek: I need you to calm down.. take a deep breath, there are no Borg here… you’re safe with us. Just please lower the weapon and we can ta-..
Crewman: No!
Keeping his phaser pointed at the four officers, the crewman ran down the corridor and into a turbolift.
T’Lea: Kendrick use the other wall terminal to identify and track the crewman’s location.
T’Lea: Engineering is locked down for some reason, but there are no alerts. ::she looked at the two psychologists:: What’s your assessment?
Trovek: So let’s look at this logically. Neither of us is going crazy, that’s great. We can be sure it’s not a glitch in the holodeck program, and it’s not hallucinations in the traditional sense because others can see them too. :: She looked at Sival:: What do you think?
Sival was impressed with the counsellor’s rational assessment.
Sival: I agree, Counsellor. That leaves open the possibility of an outside, perhaps psychic, influence at work.
Kendrick: The man’s name is Mikhail Kerensky. We’ll be able to track his movements. ::pointing at his combadge:: The computer will keep us updated.
T’Lea: Good.
T’Lea: Keep an eye on him, but dispatch a security team after him. I’ll try to make contact with the Captain by other means. And then we head to engineering to verify.
The Commander input some commands into the console, then she returned her attention to the group.
T’Lea: Done.
Trovek: You know… I... wonder if they can do actual harm….
Kendrick: If we can indeed perceive each other's hallucinations, does that mean they are actually "real"? Of flesh and blood?
T’Lea: When I tried to whack the Vole the weapon appeared to go through it. But it may have disappeared before contact. I can’t be certain.
The three raised some interesting questions. Sival was inclined to believe that the answers lay with their own fears and other unresolved emotional traumas. Controlling them might be the key.
It was as if every hallucination was a PTSD flashback on steroids.
Sival: One thing does seem for certain - the hallucinations seem to feed upon our own fears and vulnerabilities. When I was not afraid of and ignored mine, it disappeared. I would suggest we try to keep our fears under control in order to prevent any possibility of the hallucinations becoming ‘real’.
Trovek: I am just asking because this one isn’t very happy to see me.
Kendrick: I guess we’ll soon find out.
Sival looked down the corridor. The Klingon that they had seen earlier was back, this time holding a blade. She was in a nondescript Starfleet uniform, and she appeared to be pregnant. She also seemed very angry.
Sival: We should learn about this entity to see if we can gain any insight into what is happening. It might also help Ensign Trovek retain control.
T’Lea: Agreed. ::at Arys:: Who is she to you?
Trovek: Her name is Kaala. She’s not here, she’s dead.
Kaala: You are unworthy to speak my name, k'pekt! :: She turned her attention to Kendrick:: Get out of the way, human. This is between me and the fraud.
T’Lea: Easy. Perhaps you can control the illusion, Arys.
Kendrick: response
Sival: The hallucination may attempt to pull you into some past trauma. Don’t allow it to do so. Only focus on what is real in this moment, myself, Commander T’Lea and Lieutenant Kendrick.
But it was too late. The hallucination was strong. Its emotions were almost palpable. The Ensign was pulled into it.
Kaala: Our dishonorable death is her fault::She once again moved a hand to her stomach:: And now she will pay.
Trovek: I… Kaala, I didn’t-.. it wasn’t my fault… I wasn’t even your doctor, I was just consulting… I got assigned here, I just didn’t have the time to…
Kaala: And you couldn’t have done that for two more weeks?! You abandoned us, and for what?!:: She gestured to the others:: Them? I trusted you!
Apparently the entity, or whatever it was, felt threatened by the perceived intervention of the three officers. It seemed to show disdain especially for Lieutenant Kendrick.
Kendrick: response
Kaala: COWARDS!
The woman disappeared.
Arys was breathing rapidly and shallowly. She appeared to be in distress.
T’Lea: Doctor…
Sival acknowledged the Commander’s cue and rushed to Arys’ side. He felt her pulse and noticed that she appeared to be having the symptoms of a panic attack. He encouraged the ensign to take deep and slow breaths.
T’Lea: Did you notice anything, feel anything?
T’Lea: I wonder if Ensign Trovek had anything to do with how the vision reacted to you. Perhaps a certain amount of the laws of physics, coupled with belief in perception may be at play. She saw you do something and knowing the boundaries of possibilities formed a logical conclusion.
Sival: We may have found a weakness. It is logical to conclude the entities are aware of it.
Kendrick: response
T’Lea: It is the illogical conclusion that would worry me. The imagination. ::beat:: How is she, Doctor?
Sival: Her breathing is slower and deeper now, and her heart rate, while still accelerated, is returning to normal.
Sival looked at Arys with an expression of compassion, trying to communicate that everything was okay now.
Trovek: response
T’Lea: We need to continue to main engineering and we may have need of both your expertise along the way. ::at Arys:: Are you able to continue?
This very well may be a war of the mind more than anything else where our imagination is one of the enemies.
Trovek: response
T’Lea: Is anyone here claustrophobic?
Trovek / Kendrick: Response
Sival: I suggest we all do our best to suppress all fears and any other vulnerable feelings that the hallucinations attempt to exploit. Watch your imagination. Keep a rational mind.
Sival knew this was easier done for the two hybrid Vulcans than the other two officers, but it seemed to be the best defense they had at the moment until they could come up with something else.
The four made their way to the turbolift.
Any: response
TAG / TBC
Ensign Sival
Medical Officer
USS Juneau, NX-99801
J239808S11