Dissociation

Posted on Tue Nov 3rd, 2020 @ 1:23pm by Commodore Jacob Kane & Commander Taeler Santu M.D.

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD-05 (late)
843 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Santu stepped past the bridge not acknowledging the call to attention from the crewmembers present, she simple stepped up to the Ready Room and hit the chime, "Come on, open up..." She said impatiently waiting for the go-ahead to enter the room and have her conversation with Kane.

After a few seconds, Kane acknowledged her signal and called for entry. He was still sat in his chair, trying to calm his nerves and hoping that she wouldn't notice the sweat lingering on his brow from the moments of anxiety he'd faced just a few minutes before.

"Commander Taeler. It's late...what seems to be the problem?" he asked, his voice cracking part-way through the sentence.

"Me... I..." Santu looked at Kane's pale skin, almost as if he had grey skin, and deep sunken eyes. She shook her head a bit, "I think I seem to be the problem, sir" It was difficult to have to admit that. It was clear as day to her that she wasn't the right person for the job, and the certainly in that was slowly but surely cementing itself in her psyche.

"You are the problem?" he replied, frowning. She looked tired; he could see the shade in her eyes belying a lack of sleep or extreme stress. It figured that they were all feeling a bit of pressure at the moment. Even his own episode just a few minutes earlier with the lighting malfunction. "You're not making sense, Commander. Talk to me."

"I've not been sleeping well since Paratus..." Santu shook her head, the light falling on Kane's face seemed to play tricks on her mind. She could swear his forehead was shaped with the distinctive Cardassian ridge, "I've been having nightmares. I seem to be regressing..." Why did Kane have such outspoken shoulder pads? Clearly Cardassian design, she shook her head again, hoping to shake the image "ehm. Dissociations..." the smell of the mines, mixed with the aroma of a fresh made meal, she looked around to find some meal in the room, "symptomatic of PTSD" When she looked back she realised she wasn't in front of Kane, she was talking to the Gul in charge of her camp. She startled back and drew her phaser, "Stand back!" What was she doing back in the camp? Did she ever leave?

"Taeler? You're not making sense." Kane rose from his seat. Something was very wrong here; judging from her expression and how pale she had turned, she was a picture of terror. "Taeler. Santu. It's okay, I won't-" He took a step around the desk but she seemed to mirror the motion to stay away from him. "This is the same as before," he murmured to himself, recalling his own experience with the darkness. "Something's happening to us."

"What did you do to me?" Santu shouted, the Gul started to round the dinner table and try to make his way to her. She circled the desk in opposite direction. The lights had darkened, the table in between them littered with food. An overabundance of it, "I will not join you, I will not betray my friends." Her eyes filling with water. He was offering her daily meals, a warm bed and clothing. She was still holding the phaser in front of her, "You'll never have me."

"Have you? Santu, it's me. What's gotten into you?"

"Don't call me Santu! You have not the right, you spoonhead scum!" Santu gritted her teeth, was she really doing this? It would surely be the end of her. Perhaps that would be for the best, she knew the people in the mines relied on her for healing, but it was just extending their suffering. She levelled the phaser to the Gul's chest, "may the prophets forgive me." She said to herself.

She had a weapon, Kane realised. Not entirely unexpected if they'd still been worried about intruders, but that she still had it...

"Put the phaser away, Commander!" Kane barked.

As the Gul made a desperate move towards the phaser she pressed the trigger, hitting him square in the chest.

Kane dived a fraction too late, the phaser blast grazing his shoulder. Thankfully the setting wasn't on a high enough level to kill; but he felt his uniform burn and his skin sizzle at the energy blast. He staggered backward, almost toppling his chair as he crashed into the wall behind it.

"Kane to sickbay...medical...emergency..." he growled, finding his breath hard to come by. He locked eyes with the crazed Bajoran in front of him, before the darkness seeped back into his vision and he blacked-out.

The name jogged something in her, suddenly the surroundings came back to the Athena, the Captain's ready room. The captain was in front of her, on the floor, singed shirt. She dropped the phaser without a second thought, luckily she had only set it to maximum stun. Still enough to do significant damage, especially at point-blank range. She rushed towards the med-kit where she knew it was in the corner of the room.