Shades of Nightmares

Posted on Thu Feb 27th, 2020 @ 10:13pm by Commander Nalla Furban & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi
Edited on on Sun May 16th, 2021 @ 3:07pm

Mission: Mission 28: Those who Remain
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke
Timeline: 2000Hrs - February 22nd, 2391

Commander Torilla Yamaguchi had rushed home after having a hot shower, it had been greatly refreshing after her long workout but she had a short and sharp pain in her guts. To makes matters worse, she suspected that Elizabeth had lied to her, to her face no less with what was wrong so she was off to seek a second opinion.

She walked into sickbay. "Nurse... is Lieutenant Furban around?"

"She's not, no. Doctor Furban is, however, listed as the on-call surgeon for tonight. I can call her down here if needs be," the young nurse offered.

"I want an expert's opinion... and she's the best we got.. Yes. Please call her."

"Doctor Furban? This is sickbay.," the nurse spoke after hailing Furban's quarters.

"Furban here. What is the problem?" Furban spoke over the audio in a monotone.

"Commander Yamaguchi requests your presence for a professional consultation," the nurse added.

"Send her to Exam Room Two and have her wait there," Nalla acknowledged. "I will be there in five minutes. Doctor Furban out."

"Exam Room Two it is then," the nurse greeted and pulled a PADD from her desk which had preloaded medical questions in there. Things Siaxx was wise enough to anticipate Furban asking an awake patient.

"Doctor Furban will most likely want to know these questions, a per her process. So if you don't mind answering them while you wait?" the nurse asked as she led Torilla into the private examination area. "She really should have more than a small lab, as popular as she seems to be getting, lately."

Torilla nodded as she sat down on the nearest bio-bed. "Sure... what questions do you need answered?"

"Oh I thought you might want to answer them yourself to spare any embarrassment she typically causes," the nurse spoke with a small smile as she handed Torilla the PADD. "It's basic things. Unusual symptoms. Recent partners you've been with. Last time you had a cycle. Usual questions, Commander."

Torilla raised an eyebrow as she accepted the PADD. "I appreciate you're thinking of me." as she began listing off answers to the questions. "Mmm..." she thought about her answer to the last cycle question as she considered it.

It was almost ten minutes when Nalla came in. A bit flustered, but very much in control. Crisp, clean set of pale-pink scrubs and a matching fleece aviator toboggan.

Her dog Rosco came in behind her and sat right at Nalla's right knee while he watched his master turn the lighting levels down to a more dim setting.

"The desk nurse informed me of a private consultation," Nalla began as she had a seat on the doctor's stool. "I assume you have filled out the questionnaire, Commander?"

"You assume correctly." Yamaguchi handed Nalla the PADD. "My answers to the questions plus a quick explanation of what happened."

Nalla took the PADD gently with a unique pair of padded black gloves on her hands. Then she read it with her implants trailing the words fairly quickly. She scratched her chin as she began to formulate her approach. "We performed the fetal transfers forty-four days ago," Nalla began as she looked at Torilla's records on the computer near by. "Have you had any blood in your urine in the past few days?"

"Not that I recall.... but then... I wasn't looking." Torilla answered quietly. "I assumed my system would recover and my normal functions would return to normal..."

"Given the resilience of your species, I can agree with your assumption." Nalla nodded, then picked up a tricorder. "I wish to begin a basic medical scan, if you are prepared for it, Commander."

"I came prepared." Yamaguchi answered. "Proceed at your discretion."

Nalla was quiet and respectful in her scanning. Mostly her eyes glanced at her tricorder more than Torilla. As always, her implants never met her patient's eyes, but there were a few hints of her humanity. Frowns to indicate something she was not pleased with, blinking when something puzzled her.

"If you have not noticed, you may very well begin to when you urinate over the next few days," Nalla began once she put her tricorder away. "You have progesterone levels consistent of someone that carried a fetus at least two weeks, but given your age and activity, you have appeared to miscarry."

Torilla's eyes opened wide. "Wait... What!" Yamaguchi gasped. "Pregnant... again!?" she inquired. "I don't understand.. most Halanan women only have one or two pregnancies in their entire lives... and I'm on six... I'm in my forties and still getting pregnant.." she shook her head, as if trying to shake something loose. "No... was I lied to all these years?"

Nalla considered her next tangent very carefully, for she did not like to talk in theories all that much.

"Your species may have two successful pregnancies at maximum, but that does not mean your females do not miscarry," Nalla informed as she sat back on her stool and began to pet Rosco's ears. "You see, it is a lesser known fact to the general population, that miscarriages are a common occurrence. Some women believe them to be nothing more than part of a heavy cycle period. Other women experience no more than what you experienced in your last exercise session."

Yamaguchi gently reached over as she petted the dog behind the ears.
"I don't understand... How do Halanan's have so few..." she paused in horror. "the men.... my son..." she then swallowed to prevent the wave of bile coming up her throat. "oh god.."

Nalla watched the skin tone of Torilla change and instantly grabbed a bin. Gently she placed it in front of the XO.

"It is a theory, yes." Nalla thought about that for a long moment, "But it is also not a theory I would work with until we know more about his case. He is half-human as well. So the baseline comparison with him and pure Halanan males is going to be very different."

Torilla couldn't stop herself as she threw up into the bin. "Uhh!!" she moaned softly as she finished discharging her puke into the bin. "I'm gonna ask Gabriel if he wouldn't mind coming in for a checkup." she paused. "Gabe takes after me in that he can only mate with one woman... it's why he and Savannah took so long to get their relationship to work..." she said the last sentence more for her own reference rather then Nalla's.

"I would not know about relationships, thus it would be inefficient for me to judge upon them," Nalla admitted in a monotone. "But I would still need to find a willing pure male subject in your species to test this theory."

Yamaguchi paused. "That means you'll need to talk to members of my homeworlds government... they won't help as they exiled me for mating with an offworlder.."

"But if they realize I could help figure out the cause of their problem, then logically they would assist me," Nalla noted very Vulcan-like.

Yamaguchi regarded Nalla. "Lieutenant... you're a Deltan right.... why are you speaking as a Vulcan would.... Do you ever smile?"

"I suffer an unknown affliction that prevents much tactile and social interaction, due to what my foster mother Doctor Olmos thinks is a genetic defect," Nalla answered in a montone. "There are no drugs or known surgeries to fix these complications, thus I employ the only techniques I know proof-positive that prevents those bad defects from becoming too much of a problem to others."

"Nalla..." Torilla dropped her voice. "I can feel your Psionic power from the other side of the ship... Everyone else... they are like little embers... my daughters shine like warship searchlights but... you.." Yamaguchi paused. "You shine like a star... and... you fear your own power.... don't you?"

"I do not fear my own power," Nalla corrected with a bit of difficulty. She was not used to talking so openly about herself. Mostly because hardly anyone cared. "It is simply that both my mothers tried and failed many times to teach me. So Vulcan discipline and suppression techniques work more efficiently."

"You can't control it... Now that's not a bad thing... Really.. It isn't.." Torilla explained softly. "It will take some time... but my daughters and I can help you... for Rachael... it'll be good because it'll help her learn how to teach others because she's pregnant... Elizabeth because she must work with you."

Nalla's implants blinked several times in confusion. "I do not understand why you wish to help me. Only my foster mother has offered acts of kindness to me."

Torilla blinked. "Wait.... what?" she paused. "I do not understand..."

"I am in my lab except when there are major problems," Nalla pointed out very detachedly. "Of course, I do not blame the command staff for this new assignment. I get to spend my time completing projects I have had patents on for seven-point-six-five years... But it is not always fulfilling. At least with Doctor Olmos, she made it clear my presence was not daunting."

"I will speak to Captain Tane about getting you more time outside of your lab, you are the Acting Chief Medical Officer and you're boxed inside your lab... That's just unacceptable.."

"It is the way of things," Nalla noted as if she was neither bothered or happy with it. "Your efforts in trying to give me more time to use my other skills are, however, appreciated."

"I see." Yamaguchi responded. "Nalla... When you touch someone... what happens to you and to them?"

Nalla paled upon that question. Memories of a boy nearly drowing in her foster mom's pool from a harmless game of marco polo when she was a preteen.

"Bad," Nalla finally answered, as if a frightened child would when the memories surfaced. "I cannot always control my numbing technique. Especially when I spend much of my time numbing everything inside."

"Nobody has ever wanted to teach you how your abilities work?" Torilla responded. "Okay... then my daughters and I will assist you... the trouble is... you must want this... for yourself... Neither I or anyone else can tell you what to do..." Yamaguchi sucked in a lungful of air. "Not even your mother or foster mother."

"My foster mother wanted this for me but she was never sure of how to teach me. I am not full Deltan, so I believe that is where the complication lays," Nalla pointed out as she looked back to Torilla's scans.

"Training Psionic's is always the same." Yamaguchi responded evenly. "Its a matter of self-discipline and control.... But you know what you need to control before you can sort it out for yourself.."

"I thought I had a high level of discipline, given how hard I work for a kolinahr-like mindset," Nalla spoke with bafflement.

"You can't control your abilities... You always numb yourself... which tells me you're always in pain.."

"I suffer sensual overload," Nalla noted quietly, looking at her feet. She had to put her shades on to spare the rising pain from her implants. "I see, touch, hear, taste, and smell on a scale Doctor Olmos believes is at least fivefold of what a Deltan does. But I cannot access them properly because of poor genetics."

Yamaguchi nodded as a sigh escaped her lips. "Ouch.." she paused. "That explains why you're always numbing yourself..."

Nalla just nodded in agreement. Unsure, really, of what to say on the matter.

"Given your age and health concerns, I would like to recommend that you consider having a hysterectomy." Nalla once more kept her implants glued to the readouts. "Given your blood pressure and previous pregnancy issues, that is."

Yamaguchi regarded Nalla with a curious look. "I'll consider your request.... If... you will request mine.." as a smile graced her lips.

"I have considered learning to become normal for a long time," Nalla admitted as her implants looked up to Torilla. "I suppose it has always been something I desired, but never found a safe way to attain."

"Then we can try it now.." Yamaguchi paused. "The best way to attain mastery of oneself is if you use your abilities." the Halanan explained. "Try and enter my mind... but.. please be gentle about it."

"Very well." Nalla took a deep breath and tried to do as she was asked.

Torilla was a very strong telepath. A defensive barrier like no other. What felt like eternity, was really about ten minutes. It took that long for Nalla to plow through Torilla's barrier.

Loneliness from exile. A strength from the love she had with her her family. Glimpses of things Nalla did not understand beyond savagery. It left her blinking with confusion, as well as a massive migraine when she pulled away just as quickly.

Yamaguchi gasped as she grasped the edge of the biobed otherwise she would have fallen off onto the deck. She saw Nalla as a terrified little child who had her hands up before her, almost begging someone unseen to not strike her or attack her.

She then saw another woman, older attacking the child. Torilla watched in dismay and then anger as she watched the woman beating the child. "No!" she called, as if to attract the attention of the other woman.

"I... apologise for that," Nalla spoke with a flush face.

Torilla didn't realize it but she had kicked the other woman out of her mind with the force of her anger. "Nalla..." she whispered. "What happened... why did it happen...?" she moaned softly.

"I do not know," Nalla answered both honestly and quietly. "I ask myself that many times. My foster mother says that you simply cannot understand evil without becoming it. And she believes my mom is exactly just that."

"Your foster mother is right.." Yamaguchi responded. "Nobody can be that... evil.." Torilla slowly sat up. "No wonder... you are the way you are.." Yamaguchi sighed softly. "However... you are safe aboard ship.... nobody will harm you... anyone who does... will answer for it.." she paused. "I need your permission to share this with select others.... I need help to process what I saw..."

Nalla gave a vague nod of agreement. "I do not see any issues with that, Commander."

"Alright.." Yamaguchi sighed softly. "I am sorry Nalla... but I must go... I apologize..." she gently picked herself up off the biobed as she nearly stumbled

Yamaguchi noticed a few others looking at the two of them as she waved the attention away. "Go on back to your work people... nothing more to see here..." she paused. "Now!" she snapped loudly.

The medics and nurses all turned and did exactly as Torilla had asked as the massive woman turned back to Nalla. "I'm sorry this didn't work as we planned.." she commented.

"Your attempt was admirable," Nalla pointed out at Torilla left.

"I'm sorry Nalla.... I wish I had been more successful." she paused. "We can make other attempts later... if you wish..."

"That would be acceptable," Nalla agreed with a dutiful nod.

Torilla nodded. "Sounds good..." and with that she left sickbay.

Nalla was left a bit confused as to why Torilla was so touched by those memories. For Nalla, those were normal experiences, after all.