Night Terrors

Posted on Sat Oct 11th, 2014 @ 6:13am by Commander Tressa Brislan

1,691 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 86 - Discovery
Location: Infirmary - Starbase 400

"Night Terrors"

Lt Commander Tressa Brislan
Chief Medical Officer

Rachael Yamaguchi

***** Infirmary - Starbase 400 *****

The doors opened at the teenagers approach, she came in, looking all panicked and flustered, her wrist bracelet was beeping so something was clearly wrong with this picture.

She went over to the reception desk, the lady assigned here looked at her.
"Are you alright..?" she noticed the young girls black eye.

"I need to see the Doctor. Its...something of an emergency." Rachael responded quietly.

"Okay, what's your name honey?"

"Rachael Yamaguchi..." The teenager responded, the receptionist nodded as she pulled open her data files before spotting the notation next to Rachael's name, then she tapped her combadge. "Laantis to Brislan. I'm sorry to bother you but Rachael Yamaguchi is here and she's having an emergency."

"Already on my way," the doctor responded.

Rachael nodded. "I had a mind spike..... about half the school was caught in it." she sighed softly as she tried to pull herself together but was failing. "It came with no warning."

Tressa walked quickly into Sickbay; she wore a bracelet that matched the girl's own, and hers was glowing.

"Let's go into my office," she said to the teen.

A moment later the door slid closed behind them.

"Can I get you something to drink?" the doctor asked, motioning towards the replicator.

Rachael jerked her head up and down, clearly very rattled by what happened as she half sat and half collapsed into a nearby chair. "I never felt anything like that.... The Mindquake... the entire school was hit by it... but the further away.. the less they would have felt but every telepath on the base would have felt that psionic scream." she sighed. "Xavier and Kaylee.... they would have felt it too.... probably more potently then most considering their dual heritage."

Tressa typed on a padd. "I'll just send a quick message to their learning guide, and check on them after our talk," she explained. "So tell me what happened."

Rachael thought back. "I was involved in a fight... I think that's what started the chain of events... Anthony Donos missed Paul Harrison and instead punched me in the face." she sighed softly. "I wanted to hit him back, using my abilities to augment my striking power... but I stopped myself which was ultimately foolish... I was in the middle of lunch when I and everyone around me suddenly screamed..... I think I pressed my emotions onto everyone else."

"How do you feel now?" the doctor asked gently.

Rachael paused as she considered her response. "I feel... I dunno." she admitted. "I have a headache though...."

"May I do a scan?"

Rachael raised an eyebrow as she nodded, rather then give a stupid answer, she elected to keep her mouth closed.

"Let's go into an exam room then," the doctor said, leading the way. Moments later they were in Exam Three and Racheal was on the biobed.

"We'll do a full neuro with cardiovascular, ok?" Tressa said.

"Scanning now," the computer intoned.

Rachael raised an eyebrow. "This should be good." she commented.

The bed glowed softly beneath the teen.

"Major gamma and theta wave activity," the doctor said softly.

Rachael looked at the Doctor as she raised an eyebrow, she had no idea of what any of what the doctor said made sense to her, the look on her face said
as much. "Doctor?" she inquired.

"Your brain is still in a highly active state, but your vitals are normal and steady. Not entirely unusual," she said, smiling to reassure the girl.

"So... what exactly did happen to me?" Rachael inquired. "I've never had anything like that happen to me.... asides from the incident with Captain Pike a year ago."

"I'll need to process the data to have a solid answer; right now it appears that you had a very strong emotional response. Maybe not to anything specific and perhaps hormonally related," the doctor said.

"Probably from the guy who gave me the shiner." Rachael explained.

Tressa nodded. "I can consult with another doctor who has more experience with telepaths, but for now you are calm and that is a good thing. Does your mother know about this yet?"

Rachael's eyes started to glass over, a sign that she was communicating with someone else telepathically. "She does now.... she's on the holodeck with Siaxx..... at a beach program..." Rachael sighed. "Find Siaxx a boyfriend would you.... seriously... that woman needs to get laid." there was something dirty and obscene about the sentence coming from a thirteen year old teenager who clearly knew exactly what sex was.

"Siaxx is more than capable of finding her own companions," Tressa said, perhaps more sternly than she meant. "Does your mother want to meet you here, or will you be alright without her?"

Rachael raised an eyebrow as she regarded the Doctor with a flinty look. "I've known Siaxx a lot longer then you have Tressa" she paused. "I know that woman thinks.... anyway, moving right along.... Mom is elsewhere and no, I don't need her to hold my hand when I deal with my problems..." she responded with a lot more acid in her tone then she otherwise would have.

Tressa stopped entering her notes and turned to the teen.

"Racheal, you are your mother's responsibility," she began, her tone slow and even. "I do not treat minors without their parent's knowledge and consent, and while your mother certainly has other responsibilities you are a priority. She more than I can relate to your problems."

Rachael raised an eyebrow. "Tressa. My mom does know I'm here." she responded as the com system beeped. "Yamaguchi to Brislan?" came Torilla's voice.

"Brislan here."

"Are you two fighting?" Torilla's voice sounded almost playful. "Rachael, behave yourself and stop provoking the Doctor." the sounds of a gentle breeze as well as an oceanfront setting could be heard with waves coming ashore with seagulls flying overhead.

"I didn't realize you knew, Torilla, just doing my job," Tressa said, giving the teen a semi-stern look.

"Yes, I share a psionic connection to all my children, when something happens to any one of them, I almost instantly know about it." Yamaguchi who was in the holodeck, explained with a smile on her face. "It can be a distraction at times.." the older woman added.

"I can only imagine," the doctor said.

"Mmm... yes well... as I said.. it can be a pain." Torilla commented.
"Rachael... behave yourself.... and I will be seeing you soon. Yamaguchi out." and with that the com went dead.

"Doctor.... I don't do anything on this station without Mom knowing about it." Rachael explained. "Hell I can't talk to Paul about sex without mom knowing about it."

"I'm sure she doesn't mean to intrude..." the doctor said.

"Its... exhausting at times..."

Tressa nodded. "I think we have enough data to process. I'd like to determine the trigger, hopefully it is something you can learn to control."

Rachael raised an eyebrow. "I do not have a choice." she responded as the simply shrugged her shoulders. "I control my talents and abilities or they will control me." she explained. "my abilities do require a certain amount of energy to use... but Tressa... energy is still energy, whether its created by science or sorcery." the teenager explained. "A thousand years ago on my fathers homeworld, I would have been burned alive at the stake for my abilities." she added.

"Are you implying we don't have that option now?" the doctor said with a grin.

Rachael raised an eyebrow. "Well that's archaic." she responded evenly. "and I had no idea you wanted to burn people at the stake..." she raised an eyebrow. "Okay... different but Okay."

"So serious," Tressa chuckled. "I'll let you know when I get the results. I'm off in a few moments, walk you out?"

"Sure... so long as its not to the stake or to the gallows.." the teen responded in a light tone. "We still on for later... I know Kaylee wants to go swimming, Xavier is more interested in splashing me, he seems to love watching me crush water into ice." she explained. "He thinks its cool."

Tressa chuckled, "That doesn't surprise me in the least! Yes, we are still on, I could use a swim."

"Good. Xavier was asking last night while we were at dinner..." the teen explained. "They are getting skilled at using their abilities." she then smiled.
"Its... quiet though... no speaking."

"They have a good teacher," the doctor said with a smile.

Rachael blushed a deep shade of chocolate. "Well I try but they are excellent students.." she then paused. "however.. I've yet to test their psionic defenses." she let pout a breathe. "I'd prefer to have you present for that.... as it'll be a shock for both of them."

"That won't be a problem. Will it scare them?"

Rachael raised an eyebrow. "Oh probably but they need to face it.... because what happened to me... will happen to them someday.... except what happened to me was an accident, Captain Pike never meant to hurt me.... Kaylee or Xavier may not be so fortunate when the time comes.." the teen explained.

"True, it is easier for them to deal with something if they know it is coming."

"Lets face it Tressa, there are some real pieces of work out there... and" she paused a moment as if deciding what to say. "Well I'd prefer they have some idea of what to expect when the time comes..."

Tressa was thoughtful for a moment. "But they are only half-Betazoid. They are also half human and humans aren't telepathic."

"Tressa, you and I both know that doesn't mean anything." Rachael explained with a smile, clearly she had explained this to others before.
"There are people who have half of one race, they can still be as strong as
if they were full blooded." she raised an eyebrow. "Kaylee is quiet for a reason... she's quite strong in the telipathic arts... Xavier is not as strong but the two of them together, focused on a single goal can wear even me down."

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