Ponn Farr Pt 2

Posted on Tue Oct 5th, 2021 @ 8:06pm by Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr & Commander Samantha Howard

Mission: Breen in Paradise
Location: Sickbay

"Sam, meet Puss, the shaggy golden sehlat sat looking at Sam as he drooled on the floor his huge canines pushing from his jaw. He pushed a huge seven clawed razor paw at her. “He needs you to touch him Sam, do not be afraid he is a sweetie unless it comes to someone trying to hurt me.”

Sam offered her hand for the creature to smell before scratching him behind the ears. She let him lay his paw on her knee and tried hard not to think about being torn to shreds by the claws.

Puss lay down besides the lamp. “We will need to reduce the illumination to a quarter.” Shoniara placed the cloth reverently on the floor and put the small decorated blue lamp onto it. “You will need to sit the other side of it a couple of feet from me. Once I say the incantation and blessing it will not take long. Most people find the scent of the spices quite pleasing and soporific. All you need to do is try to relax, don’t overthink things and try to clear your mind. I’ll tell you when I am ready and will place my fingers on your jaw, the side of your nose and temple like such.” She demonstrated gently. You might feel a little push as I enter your thoughts. So we wait for Dr Perrin…any questions Sam?”

Sam shook her head, truthfully she had a million questions, none of which she thought Dex would actually be able to answer. What would it feel like, would she be able to see Dex's thoughts or would it be the other way around? What did the cat have to do with all of this? And the spices? Instead she tried to calm her mind, sitting in the location Dex had specified and waited. Perrim entered the room, tricorder in one hand and two cortical monitors in the other.

“It is very important that once in the meld it comes to an end naturally, breaking it suddenly can do damage to both our minds.” She looked at Perrin not quite trusting him. The lights low she lit the spices in the lamp and a small flame appeared . “Look into the flame Sam” she said. The smell of the spices began to fill the room almost at once their bitter sweetness suffusing the air. Dex passed her hands over the lamp “T’nath h-an da’glic , so’n’at Sam, so’n’at Shoniar, surak n’appla-an.” The scent grew even thicker as Shoniara slowed her breathing.

Sam closed her eyes, allowing her mind to focus on the scent of the spices and the sound of the incantation. She had no idea what she was about to experience.

As Dex’s mind began to settle, or at least as much as it could with the Effects of the Pon Farr edging into her brain she breathed deeply and placed her left hand on Puss’s paw. He began to purr loudly and rhythmically in time to Sams breathing. The effect should be to relax her and to make her mind more amenable to the meld. Shoniara looked up into Sams eyes.

Dex placed her thumb on Sams jaw, her middle finger below her eye and her third finger on her temple. “My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts.” The scent of the spices increased. “My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts.”

Sam exhaled as Dex's fingers touched her face, allowing her body to relax and encouraging her mind to follow. Puss' paw was still on her leg, the low rumbling of the purring a subtle but essential backdrop to the exotic environment filling the room. The lamp, the lighting, the spices all for a specific purpose and a specific goal.

“My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts.” For a moment there was resistance then she was through. It felt like moving through snow, slow but steady. Shoniara opened her mind and slowly introduced the Vulcan part of her into Sam’s mind.

It was an odd sensation, one moment there was her own mind, her own sensations and experience, the next there was another presence, a mind very different to her own, a mind in turmoil. Her breath caught in her throat as she struggled to process the experience, causing Perrim to frown at his tricorder. Nonetheless he didn't intervene.

‘She was there inside Sam’s mind’. She held back and waited for Sam to come to her. A memory of a young child in a white dress came into her mind. She exchanged it with a thought of Kohlinar the Vulcan act of complete peace and the mastery over emotions. She allowed Sam to see her husband and child as they were when they were a family. Even with this scene Shoniara could not help a tear run down her cheek as she showed her how she learned to control the horror of their deaths ravaging her mind. She showed her T’ghrek melding with her to help her overcome her addiction to the Klingon drug J’heek. It was important to show Sam what her peace was like before this Pon Farr.

She began to feel she was loosing control of her own mind and therefore Sams. She fought to regain the peace and began again to explore Sams mind. To gain an insight into her mental state in order to prepare her for the feelings she knew she must show her. “My thoughts to your thoughts” she whispered.

Something changed, Sam could feel it. At first there was more a communication of minds, a sharing of memories and feelings and things past - and then there was something different. A struggle could be felt, Sam's brow furrowed even under the effects of the meld as she struggled to understand what was happening.

Shoniara struggled to control the raw exchange of thoughts in order not to injure Sam. It came forward as a stream of heat containing anger and lust suppressed under a thin crust of serenity. What was deep was now near the surface and the surface was being submerged. For a moment she let Sam feel the full force of her feeling then drew it back.

It what Sam had experienced already had unnerved her, she was less than prepared for what happened next. The barrage of powerful emotions swept through like a wildfire, incinerating all rational thoughts and leaving nothing but ashes behind. The inferno seeming to fuel itself, veering from one motion to the next, all equally as powerful and attempting to dominate the interaction. Sam's mind reeled as she tried to keep up but she knew she had to see this through.

Puss growled menacingly as Perrim could see Sams frontal lobe acuity spike and he actually leant forward as if to break the meld.

Dex pulled the fire back and blunted the power of the fury and confusion running from her into Sams mind. She wanted Sam to see how it affected her day to day. As she was not full Vulcan it took much more rigorous daily meditation. That was what Puss helped with. His Sehlat brainwaves were fused with hers allowing her to drop into and out of meditation more easily. As if to calm Sam Puss licked her hand. She now wanted Sam to see how far she could go in the throes of the unrequited Pon Farr.

She felt inside the walls of Sams mind to see how much she had built up within her over her life as brick by brick, cell by cell she pushed further into her mind. Dex opened her eyes to show Sam that she harboured thoughts of murder when the greatest urge of anger overcame her and so far she had managed to repress that deepest part of her. She let Sam know that if the Pon Farr overtook her she would end her own life rather than commit the unspeakable. That was the full horror of it.

Perrim frowned at his tricorder, the cortical monitors beginning to emit a series of warning sounds. He couldn't tell exactly what was happening inside the meld but the readings on both women for neural activity were way outside the norm. Whatever was happening - it was traumatic for both of them.

Sam could do nothing as the urges and sensations surged through her, her body reacting as though the thoughts were her own. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as her mind struggled to reconfirm its identity.

Dex knew that Sam was near to the limit of what she could take from her. Now it was time to show the serenity and peace that She had when she was not in the agony of the Pon Farr. She forced a curtain of clouds into Sams mind, hiding the horrors she had shown her. It was so difficult for her to show that serenity when all she wanted to do was overpower Sams mind, take it over and rip it to pieces. She brought up a memory of the absolute peace of emotionless being, no pain just a calm lake suffused with the occasional ripples of a thoughts like a breeze on the surface. She began to withdraw from within the depths of Sams mind.

Where once there was rage and anger, all the hot emotions that fuelled all kinds of fires in Sam's mind and body, there was a strange serenity, the cool of peace and calmness prevailed across the tempest, giving her an understanding of what life was like for a Vulcan in balance and harmony.

Puss took his paw from Sam and licked her hand. Still in the meld Dex saw it and smiled. She knew she had managed it. For a moment she wished she had let Sam into some of the times in her life when she had done some good. Her brain whispered to Sam, ‘I am leaving you now take the love in this heart along with you and be at peace Sam Howard. Her fingers dropped from Sams face and Shoniara cried.

Perrim was there in an instant, tricorder scanning the both of them now that the meld was broken. Sam drew a shuddering breath, her mind confused in ways she could never even contemplate. There was so much anger, hate and rage yet there was also a calm serenity - none of which was her own yet it still lingered, like a powerful ghost reminding her of its presence.

Shoniara sat cross legged looking at Sam. “How are you feeling?”

" I..... I have no idea how you deal with that in your head all the time" Sam replied after a moment's silence. The battle between hot and cool, good and bad raged behind her eyes.

Dex blew out the flame and put her hand over Sams. “You have seen the worst, the rage of unrequited Pon Farr, you can see why Vulcans have gone insane, committed terrible crimes. It is there all the time. It is easier for me as I am half Riasan but, I have chosen the path of Kolinar and I have much to learn.” She sighed.

“Sam, I have to tell you that we are bonded now, you will know if I have times of great pleasure or great pain. You will know if I die and I will know those things about you. You may also have some side effects from our meld. Extreme emotions and rage may, at times sweep through you and you may be reminded of things you have long forgotten. You have shown me that my Pon Farr is now very near and when it comes I will be unable to control it. If the program does not work you will need to lock me in the brig as as you have seen the rage makes us uncontrollable. Sedation may help somewhat but…..Sam if anything happens to me will you see Puss is returned to my brother?”

Sam exhaled, trying to compose a rational answer to the war that had begun to rage inside her. Thoughts and feelings that weren't her own but were now hers to deal with. She leant forward, pressing her forehead against Dex's " I understand the struggle, I will attempt to formulate a drug that will help your mind become more suggestive to the program to increase the odds of it working. Together we will devise a regime to help all Vulcans. I won't let anything happen to you"

“Thank you Sam. I am so sorry you had to see what is in my mind. After the Pon Farr program if it works I suggest you meditate with me at least once every three days. It will help you come to terms with some of the things I have left you with. I suggest you take me off active duty until this is settled in whatever way. I am no longer safe around people.”

Dex looked at Doctor Perrim, “That is all there is, I'm sure Doctor Howard will want to see your tricorder readings as they may help her. Sam we both need to rest but I want you to call me at any time day or night. I need to ask you for some sedation for tonight and have me secured in my quarters, I do not feel safe any more.”

" Of course" Sam said quietly, rising and heading to the medical dispenser replicator in the room and ordering up a sedative " This will give you a good night's rest. Dr Perrim will continue to monitor you through the cortical monitor and will alert me if your condition changes through the night. We'll get you through this." Sam promised.

Shoniara rose as did Puss, he licked Sams hand. “He likes you” she said. “Try to get some sleep yourself Sam, Dela leaf tea can help with that also.” She grasped Sam’s hand. “Thank you, you know where I will be.”. She gathered her things and left sick bay Puss padding along besides her.