Make it stop

Posted on Wed Oct 12th, 2022 @ 6:34am by Lieutenant Commander Michael Ki & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Ensign Kateyo Fenn & Ensign Ziahli Lorel & Jerant van Rijn

Mission: Scylla and Charybdis
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Following "Full Force"
2727 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

OLD:
Xavier slowly got to his feet, his legs almost giving way but by sheer determination they didn't. He nodded, not wanting to use more energy than he had to, to try and form words. He pulled Jerant close and somehow the two men managed to stay on their feet whilst supporting the other. He wanted to open his mind to let Jerant in but he daren't. With a slight movement of his head, they headed toward the door.

NEW:
Clinging together, the two Betazoids made it to sickbay though it had taken them a while to do so. Exhausted, Jerant pulled Xavier even closer to him, firstly to keep himself on his feet and secondly to make sure his companion was still conscious. We made it.. he thought, before mustering up the energy to call out for help. He was trembling with the effort of keeping to his feet, his hair plastered to his pale face. His normally unusually deep blue irises were now obsidian with worry. At least sickbay was quiet, in terms of personnel but it didn't diminish the barrage of mental noise.

Michael watched as the two men entered Sick Bay. For the time being there were not patients however, there had been an influx of patients with random maladies. Things he had cures for but the reasons for these maladies still eluded him. "Lieutenant, Jerant you both look like hell. What brings the two of you in? Have a seat on the biobeds."

With a great deal of effort, Jerant deposited Xavier on the nearest bed, but didn't have the energy left to make it to the next one. "First, it was too quiet," he breathed, "now it's too noisy..we hear everyone....at once...thoughts feelings... everything. Please, make it stop."

Ki immediately took a medical tricorder and scanned both patients. He made sure to help Jerant into a bio bed. "Hmmmm epinephrine levels are elevated oxytocin and serotonin as well. All of this is consistent with hyperactive brain activity. Telepathy and Empathy in particular." Michael had always been under the impression that noise was how Betazoids and the like existed. They used their minds to filter the noise down as they saw fit. "Is this louder than what would normally be?" He had to learn why they could not control it.

"Much louder," Xavier replied through gritted teeth. He was lying on the biobed, his fingers squeezing his temples in an effort to drive the noise out of his head. "It's hard to describe to a nonpath but two skilled telepaths shouldn't be struggling like this," he managed to say, hoping the Doctor would understand the severity of the situation.

Easing himself down, Jerant closed his eyes, pressing his hands over his ears. "If at all," he breathed, "we're both trained, and after months of nothing it shouldn't overwhelm us. What's going on?"

"You are too right that when someone who is trained loses control something is definitely going on. However, this like any other issue there needs to be a trial and error in looking for the cause. Lets back track for a moment. Where were you when this started? Both of you?" Michael already had a working theory in his head. He believed that the nebula they were in had something to do with it. There were medical issues all over the ship.

"When it came back?" Jerant thought for a moment, though it was very hard to focus on his own train of thought. "In my quarters, I woke up hearing everyone, feeling everyone. Last night it was only whispers, I was working with Savin on getting my telepathy back and we were making progress."

"And you Lieutenant Leiko?" Michael asked with a little fervor in his voice. It seemed that everything may be coming together. All of these medical incidents, all of his patients.

"Tertiary engineering, no, secondary engineering," Xavier said, struggling to focus on anything but the screams from everyone's heads. "This is the first time I have felt anything since Ithaca II. Do you really think the nebula is to blame for this?" He asked, picking up Ki's thoughts all too clearly.

Before the Doctor could answer the main doors parted and Tey walked in with a woman in gold Xavier had never seen before. He could feel Teyo's thoughts louder than anyone else's, maybe because of the connection the two of them had.

"Doc, I need you... Xav, what are you doing...are you okay?" Teyo asked panic etched all over his words.

Several times during their journey towards Sickbay, Zia had been forced to extend gratitude to her maternal grandmother's absolute iron-fisted insistence that children born to her line encounter the rigors of telepathic extremes sooner rather than later. It hadn't felt that great growing up, knowing that at any point you could receive the psionic equivalent of a slap to the face to expose your lack of mental discipline, but there was no denying it had developed in her granddaughter exactly the kind of resilient telepathy that their house was known for. She'd needed every ounce of fortitude to arrive upright. Now, stood just inside the doorway, the brunette squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced.

"No, he is not."

"We're not," Jerant echoed from his bed, his eyes still wrenched shut in the hope of reducing additional stimuli. "Hi Teyo," he added slowly, not wanting the man to feel unacknowledged. "What's the verdict doctor?" He then asked, doing his level best to ignore the CMOs thoughts, even though that was currently near impossible.

Michael half expected this and was surprised that there were not other patients sooner. "Ensign take the bed next to Jerant. We are going to get nowhere unless I can calm your thoughts." His voice trailed off as he went to the medical replicator and retrieved three small circular devices. "Cortical inhibitors, they will effectively shut your telepathic abilities down. At the very least it will give you all peace and quiet and allow us to get to the bottom of this." Michael placed the device on the skull just behind the right ear of each of the patients. "Now, to answer your question yes I believe the environmental systems on the Athena took in an unknown element and has been recirculating it throughout the ship. Breathing this element in can cause certain neurologic problems. I have many patients exhibiting some issues. It is possible that in you it amplifies your normal abilities."

"I'm honestly fine," Zia's protest fell on deaf ears, despite her leaning away somewhat from the intrusion of the inhibitor. "It's a little psionically chaotic, sure, but you try bussing tables for a bunch of drunk college telepaths and tell me you don't figure out ways to deal with mind-mess." She shuddered the moment the device switched on, both hands held up as if seeking surrender. "No, no, I swear, not sensing anything at all is worse."

"I understand that it may be nothing now. However, who knows what will happen in the future. For the time being I am going to recommend that anyone with telepathic abilities on the ship wear one. If I am correct this should be an easy fix. But we have to do this by the book. I also see no reason that you cannot return to duty. If there is any large discovery you will be informed of course. However, before you leave I would like to take a complete and comprehensive brain scan. This way I can compare it to your older ones and see if there are any differences. Please try to remain still during the scan." Michael began to program the scanner first on Xavier's bed, then Jerant's, and finally Ziahli's.

"I came because I could sense the others' distress. I'm fine, I don't need you to turn off my brain."

It was hard to explain, the mounting panic that threatened to render her protests null and void. It was difficult to argue that one was in complete control of their faculties, however, when they'd been artificially robbed of a major component. The silence was deafening, isolating, and far worse, in Zia's estimation, than the slight over-stimulus she'd been experiencing.

"I'm perfectly able to function," she continued, craning around to watch the doctor. "If that changes, then maybe this might be necessary, but this is like putting a blindfold on a person just because the sun got a little bright. Whatever's going on with them," she gestured to the other pair, "I was more than able to handle on my own."

"No you're not," Jerant answered, as he slowly nodded permission to the chief medical officer. While he was extremely unhappy and uncomfortable with his telepathy being taken again, it was probably the best option to preserve his sanity. Part of him felt relieved that it wasn't just himself and Xavier, that it probably wasn't an after effect from their illness. Immediately, he quenched the thought, guilt washing over him for even feeling such relief. "Is there a way to control the intensity of the cortical implant?" he asked slowly, "like, not take it all away but you know still leave us with some sense of ourselves?" He really had no idea, he was no scientist in that aspect after all.

The expression on Zia's face as she turned to face the other telepath was a far different one to the pervasive cheerfulness of their first meeting. "Don't presume to speak for me," she retorted curtly, every ounce the imperious Betazoid when backed up against a wall, especially one robbed of a primary facet of their biology without so much as a warning. "I expect," she turned to the Chief Medical Officer, "to actually be examined before you apply treatment. I'm very well aware of what these two were experiencing because they were broadcasting it across the entire ship. If you won't trust my word that my symptoms are far less severe, then at least have the decency to scan me first. What the hell useful data are you going to get with this attached to me?"

Xavier paid no mind to the going on around him instead he was lost in his own feelings. He was washed over with a wave of relief as Ki placed the cortical inhibitor on his neck. The cool metal felt like an ice-cold cloth used when one was burning with fever. He instantly felt the voices fade away into the background, as though someone was literally lowering the volume. His rational mind knew this had to be a placebo effect, no device worked that quickly, but he honestly didn't care. The effects felt real and that was all he needed for now.

However, as soon as the relief came, so did the guilt. A tsunami of guilt infact. For weeks, he had done everything in his power to be able to feel things again, and the second he could he used technology to take them away. He could all but hear his mother's voice calling him weak. A true Leiko would endure, they would suffer, they would persevere. But not the runt, not Xavier, not the failure. This is what you deserve!

Now that it seemed at least for the time being that Leiko and Jerant calmed down, Michael was able to concentrate on Ziahli. He looked at the woman as she spoke about her not wanting the suppressant and how she was fine. Fact was Ki had enough patients and did not need another one, so if she wanted to remove herself as a patient then far from him to deny her. "You are too right, Ensign. You should be examined prior to treatment. That said relax for the moment so I can get a scan and see exactly what is what."

Not that first impressions made it easy to tell, but Zia's temper was normally a particularly dormant part of her personality. Optimism mingled with a pragmatic ability to just accept life for what it was didn't lead to many outbursts, and she preferred laughing to shouting by a scale far too astronomical to calculate. She had never experienced an inhibitor's potential, however, and had no point of reference for attempting to navigate her conscious world without reliance on telepathy. Leaving Betazed had necessitated the establishment of new boundaries, and she had learnt a lot more than the coursework from her time at the Academy, but nothing changed the fact that the young brunette was a telepath in every sense of the world. Being robbed of it so suddenly was, frankly, terrifying.

Which, of course, lent a decent empathy for what the pair of men had suffered, though it was difficult to wade through her own panic to grasp at compassion for the moment. Eyes screwed shut, she had calmed just as quickly as she'd exploded, but there was reasonable grounds to suspect that the treatment was causing her more grief than whatever else was going on.

Ki looked over the scan results for Zia and it seemed that her neurocordrizine levels were evening out. Perhaps it was just the residual from the two men that caused the issue in her the Doctor thought. "Alright it seems that everything is ok with you for the time being. However, as the Chief Medical Officer I am going to order you to have a cordical monitor. If your neurocordrizine levels spike again it will alert me and then I will need to see you back here. Fair?"

Without opening her eyes, Zia nodded.

"What about us Doc?" Xavier asked tentatively. His voice almost sounded too loud in his head. "I'm needed for this mission and I am not going to spend it in sickbay." He didn't say it out loud but he was sick of the sight of Ki, since he had fallen sick, he had seen the man every few days, sickbay was becoming his second home.

"So long as you and Jerant wear the cordical inhibitors you will be fine. Well, your telepathic abilities will be subdued and you will have to deal with that. However, I see no reason to remove you from duty. In the meantime I will have to look into what is causing this. If it was just one of you that would be something, but two having the same symptoms that means there could be something environmental effecting the both of you. Jerant, since the Lieutenant is needed for this mission I would like you to remain so I can continue to run some tests. If I can develop a treatment that works for you I can then use it on Lieutenant Leiko. That is if it is ok with you?" Michael was curious as to what was going on. He was going to have to develop a method to test his theory.

"We've been trying to deal with that for the last several months," Jerant answered, somewhat unhappily, "I'm sure we can hang on for a little longer?" He looked towards Xavier, offering an encouraging smile, before giving a slow nod towards the CMO. "Someone has to be the guinea pig this time," he tried to joke, knowing he was falling short on that one, "and I got nowhere else to be. I'm at your disposal doctor."

Xavier attempted to return the smile but he was sure it ended up looking more like a grimace. "Cheers Doc," he said as he hopped off the biobed. He was mentally and physically exhausted and wanted nothing more than to have a long sleep but duty called. "I'm going to head and see what the sensor data says, maybe I can provide you with some more information. After a sonic shower," he added, realising that his uniform was very moist. He gave a curt nod to everyone in the room and left.

Michael nodded to the Lieutenant has he left. "Jerant just relax for the moment. I am going to go over the latest environmental sensor data and see if there are any elements in this nebula that can cause something like this. If there is anything you need don't hesitate to ask. I should be back shortly."