A Walk in the Mental Ward

Posted on Sun Feb 27th, 2022 @ 9:53am by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr

Mission: The Orion Syndicate
Location: USS Washington

Deanna moved a chair over so that she could sit next to Dex. She looked like she was trying to relax as she stretched out her shoulders and neck and took several deep breathes. She looked in Samantha's direction as she saw the doctor with the monitor, "Go ahead, I'm ready for it" she said as she brushed her hair to the side to give Samantha access to her neck behind her ear.

" You know the drill, this shouldn't hurt a bit" Sam smiled as she placed the monitor behind Celes' ear, activating it and checking the data stream on a nearby monitor. " Do you have any idea what to expect when you get in there? I only have the mind meld we had to go on and it was more than a bit weird" Sam regarded the other woman with curiosity.

"Honestly, I don't know entirely what to expect. Usually when I telepathically link with an unwilling or unknowing person it is for interrogation purposes. That is a little secret of what I used to do with intelligence with the captain, so don't go spreading that around" she said with a smile. "With Dex, I have no idea how this might be. She will be welcoming but I am sure I have have to deal with mental barriers, defenses too. So don't get too eager to break the connection. I have a feeling this will have some ups and downs."

"I'll keep an eye on your vitals, if things get too hinky I'll use a chemical barrier to break the link. I'll try and warn you before I do but as you know its not quite an exact science all this mind meldy stuff" Sam shrugged, placing a series of hypo's within easy reach and configuring each one in turn. "Let me know when you're ready"

Celes gave a soft chuckle. "You sound a bit like the captain. He isn't fond of mindmelds. Probably the thing he dislikes most about Vulcans. You'd think after two centuries of peace and collaboration Andorians and Vulcans could get along better." Celes took one last soothing breath and let it out. "Alright, here we go."

Her home was quite beautiful, Vulcan gardens were normally very formal but this, this place was a riot of color with deep flower beds interspersed with tall shady trees. Two young children played round the larger pond laughing and chasing each other. Whilst Shon sat in her roomy wicker chair wearing a sun hat and drinking a large glass of wine. The other chair was empty but someone was expected, another person she had known many years ago, in another life. She called her grandchildren to go inside for tea and the garden grew quiet as the evening shade grew longer.

Celes found herself in a desert outside of a city. She recognized that she was on Vulcan, or more precisely, Vulcan as viewed in Dex's mind. She made her way slowly, cautiously towards the city, trying to be very careful as she sought out Dex in her mind.

Dex sighed and proceeded to tie up her long white hair she checked her chronometer, as she thought her guest was late. She went inside to find her husband asleep on the couch. Admiral Travis still had some dark hair but the rest was salt grey. She kissed him awake and he jumped up “what, what?”

“Our guest is late my love, can you please take the transport and pick her up. He mumbled about kissing the grandchildren goodnight.

“I will make sure they wait for you to tell them the story about how you got to be an admiral, you know the one with that charming Ferengi that could sing opera” He smiled and stood.

“All right, just for you.” He touched her white hair, “you are so beautiful.” He said.

“And so much older than you. Go on with you, no wonder you chose the diplomatic service. I just hope our guest does not ruin this perfect evening.

He left to pick their guest up.

As Celes neared the edge of the city she heard the rumbling of thunder in the distance. She looked behind her, the landscape was growing dark, a storm was growing on the horizon, lighting from the storm seemed to be striking the peaks of the mountains. Celes took this as an ominous sign. She heard a voice call her name and looked back towards the city and saw an elderly human dressed in an admiral's uniform. It took her a moment to realize this was Seth, not because of his age, but because she simply didn't know him well. She found it a bit fantasful that he was an admiral, but then she had to remember that she was in Dex's mind. She approached him, "Good to see you sir" she said simply.

"You're late" he replied.

Celes immediately thought of an old human book, Alice in Wonderland. The only question was, if she was indeed in Wonderland, was Seth the white rabbit or the March Hare?

He looked at her, “well, get in, she doesn’t like people being late, she has been expecting you ever since the sky turned black and we better get home before this particular storm comes in, there is a plan you know to return Vulcan to its original desert state but because this is my wife’s dream Vulcan is all grassland now.” He opened the door of the old Earth Mustang car for her, and gestured her to climb inside where a large Sehlat was sitting wearing a top hat and a gold bow around its neck. “Meet Puss, son of Puss and Puss, meh! You get the whole ‘Puss’ vibe I am sure.” Puss looked at her with disinterest. “Hello” he said.

"Curiouser and curiouser" said Celes and she made her way to the vehicle. Seth's words resonated with her. If she was indeed in Wonderland, then it sounded like Dex might be the Queen of Hearts, or at least, a version of her might be. That meant she would have to deal with a bit of madness and a force of will, and covertly seek out the White Queen. She only hoped she wouldn't need a vorpal sword to kill a Jabberwocky.

They drove in silence through the empty city arriving at last to a long drive leading to a high wall. There appeared to be no gate to enter by but the car seemed to drift on through. “One you’re in you’re in!” Declared Puss “This is your only chance to leave, it all looks wonderful but she knows why you are here so, go or stay?”

"If she knows why I am here then she knows I won't go without her. Now, where is she?" replied Celes.

“SHE is here!” Shon said as she materialized in front of Celes dressed in a diaphanous black gown her hair encircled with pearls. “Welcome Deanna I must say you took your time, but you are not dressed for dinner do you want me to choose something for you? You better hurry as the storm is nearly here.

"I wasn't aware I was coming to dinner. I was sent to, well, I suppose retrieve is the best way to put it. Captain sent me in, and you have several people quite worried about you."

“Well I suppose that I should choose for you then?” Dex said completely ignoring her. She moved her hands and Deanna found herself dressed in a blue Tholian silk sheath dress. Dex continued. “I think you are mistaken, all that was a long time ago, you all died, I watched it. Now get with the program or get out of my mind!” She spoke in a low threatening tone.

The sky grew dark as the storm front moved in. Dex screamed at Celes “see what you have done! You have ruined a perfect evening and made me remember. GET OUT OF MY MIND,”

Celes could feel the mental pressure as Dex got angry and tried to force her out. She held her ground though. Dex's mind was powerful to be sure, as expected, but Celes was trained to deal with this sort of thing. She looked at Dex, "I am not going anywhere" as she returned to her normal uniform.

Sam struggled to keep one step ahead of the alarms, trying to keep both stables whilst their minds were link was a task in itself.

Celes knew that she needed to find a way to calm Dex as this anger was probably manifesting as something serious on the outside, and she couldn't risk Samantha pulling the telepathic plug. "We haven't died. You aren't an old woman. You are stuck in your own mind and we need to get you unstuck."

“I am one hundred and twelve years old and have lived here since the destruction of the ship. I saw it happen, I know what took place and tried to punish those who used that weapon on the pretence of help….I failed. I see this again and again in my mind but nobody was willing to listen so have built this home where I am happy.

I have children, grandchildren and YOU DARE TO TELL ME THIS IS NOT REAL! Dex’s voice grew louder in tune with the thunder overhead, lightening coursed down and hit Dex. She went down and lay still. Then it seemed as though there was another Dex overlaid pulling herself out of the prone woman. She stood and looked at Celes, Dex as she was, In uniform, hair dark and bright eyes.The restful scene had vanished leaving only the heat of the sand underneath their feet. “Deanna I am not going back, tell the Captain not to go to Orion, and now unless you leave me alone I will destroy my mind whilst you are here.Now…. go away.” She walked over to a solitary tree in which Puss sat draped over a branch.

The alarms sounded again, making Sam swear as she called the medical team over to assist. Something dramatic was happening but if she intervened too early, they may not get another shot and reaching Dex.

Celes walked over to her. "I'm afraid leaving you alone simply isn't an option. It would appear you have experienced a phenomenon known as a future echo. I can understand why it might have caused you a great deal of mental strain. But seeing events in the future doesn't mean they will happen as you saw them. We can work to prevent certain things from happening, but that will require you to stop sulking and to return to the world of the living, where your friends and loved ones are waiting and working right now. If you want to have any chance of saving any of them, then you'll have to get out of this mental fortification."

Dex looked at her coldly not believing what she was saying. “You are a past echo and I am sorry you choose this.” The darkness of the storm became quiet and began to shrink in on itself as she began to shut her mental processes down. “You need to go now Deanna I really do have no wish to hurt you!"

"I am no past echo. We are in your mind, but your body and mine are both in sickbay at this very moment with Samantha keeping tabs on us, along with your Sehlat and Seth. Knowing the captain he has moved forward with our mission and if we aren't in orbit of Orion we will be soon. You know something, and if you have any hope of changing it you have to get out of this funk and break free of this mental prison you have created for yourself. You can try to deny what I am saying, try to shoo me away if it makes you feels better, even attempt to hurt me, but in the end you'd only be failing yourself and letting everyone on the ship down if you did that. That isn't you. Now get up and let's get going!"

Something in Celes speech began to worm its way into the back of Dex’s mind and the darkness stopped shrinking. “I do not know how to leave?” she whispered.

"I'll help you" Celes replied. "We'll have to locate an escape hatch. Depending on how difficult you want to make this on yourself will dictate how easy or difficult it is for us to find, but I'll stay with you until we get you back to the land of the living" Celes said with a determined smile.

Howard hadn't dared to even breath for the last few minutes, her own heart racing as she tried to keep them both alive and mentally intact. There was going to be one hell of a headache for everyone involved after this.

“Well if there is any chance what you say is true then I must return but, I worry that my ‘instability’ will return until this, whatever this is has come to an end. I have created a life for myself here. In my mind I have been here for over 40 years and leaving will be difficult and the memories residual.

The gentle undulation of the grassland and the beautiful house and garden had rematerialised with Seth in his green chair with Puss, son of Puss, son of Puss asleep beside him. She smiled and looked at Celes. “How can I leave this Deanna? Children, which I cannot have in real life, even grandchildren, you are asking me to say goodbye to all this?”

"It is wonderful, but it is also a fantasy. Illusions, no matter how grand are ultimately nothing but shadows. You'd be just as satisfied with living in a holodeck for all these fantasies will get you. I'm not saying you have to forget them. If they bring you happiness by all means do remember them, but never forget they are hollow."

She nodded understanding Celes. She turned and looked at the scene that he been her life. “Goodbye” she whispered and the scene of beauty and peace vanished leaving a dark box enclosing them. She turned business like to Celes. “Now all we need is to get out of here so I can take my medicine.” She paused….Deanna we have to get out of here NOW, I must be on the away team.” She poured her mind into the four corners of the box and pushed. She began to sweat with the force as Puss appeared swinging from a thick tree branch. …”do….not….go! ”he hissed, his long fangs stretching into a grimace. She closed her eyes and with one last thought blew the room apart. The welcoming sight of Sam Deanna and Seth within the familiar environs of sickbay greeted her. She sat up. “I MUST speak to the Captain urgently?”