The Ghost in the Machine

Posted on Sat Feb 29th, 2020 @ 4:55pm by Admiral Jake Yamaguchi & Commander Nalla Furban & Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Yamaguchi-Solusar & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi
Edited on on Mon Mar 2nd, 2020 @ 8:41pm

Mission: Mission 33: Losing the Peace
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke
Timeline: 2200Hrs - May 13th, 2391

Commander Torilla Yamaguchi blinked as she slowly began to wake up, she felt nauseated, along with a massive migraine impact her all at once, before she let out an extremely loud scream at the top of her lungs, she was wearing a nightdress which on her might as well have been lingerie considering what little it covered.

The door opened as Jake charged into the bedroom, his eldest daughter right behind him . "Mom... easy, its okay..." Elizabeth called, she had her medkit in hand.

Torilla, in response picked up something using her mind and threw it, not at the people charging towards her but at the light as another woman slipped into the bedroom behind them. "Its so bright.." Torilla screamed a second time, this one was a massive wave of Psionic pain which affected Jake who managed to avoid collapsing but one could easily see the agony in his eyes as he felt his wife's psionic assault. Elizabeth was similarly affected but she was able to handle it better because of her own psionic shielding.

Jake dove onto the bed as he landed next to his wife as he gently embraced her. "We're here... Its okay..." he paused. "Beth?"

"I have her Dad..." as Elizabeth examined her mother with a tricorder. "Extreme dehydration, malnutrition, her lifesigns are all over the place.. Dammmit.." she hissed. "She's a mess... I need to get her to sickbay!"

"No.." Torilla cried, not as an angry, determined woman but more as a frightened child. "I'm gonna be sick.." Torilla got out as she curled into a ball before she felt a psionic feeling touch her mind, it instantly brought calm to the chaos that raged. "Huh... who's that?" she inquired softly.

'Me', Nalla spoke inside Torilla's mind, to keep her calm. 'They do not understand fully what has happened, and it will take a while for you to process it. But a part of me is in you now'.

"Mom... thats Nalla." her daughter responded. "She's not left your side since the incident in question... two days ago..." Elizabeth explained. "I'm gonna give you something that should help straighten you out.." Elizabeth added before she injected Torilla with an ampoule of medication. " This will rehydrate you and reset your electrolytes back to normal... but you're still gonna be out of it for a day or so.."

In an impressive display of physical strength, Jake gently picked up his wife in his arms as he carried her into the bathroom. "Come on sweetie. Lets help you sort yourself out.."

"No more showers.." Torilla moaned softly. "Guys... give me a moment alone with Nalla... She and I need to talk...about what happened."

Jake gently set his wife down on the ground. "Alright... we'll be outside.." and with that Jake looked at Elizabeth, she nodded before she turned and vacated the room, leaving Nalla and Torilla alone to talk.

"My foster mother always suspects my dominante Deltan genes might lead to the Deltan method of coitus and unification," Nalla admitted a bit sheepishly. "For that, I apologise... It was never my intention to initiate coital relations with anyone because of several unknown factions due to my unique genetics."

Suddenly Torilla fell to her knees as she moaned, the rush of memories flooding back to her. "Oh god.." she sighed as she regarded the smaller woman. "Nalla... Don't blame yourself for this...This was my fault... not yours.." as she sat back, making herself comfortable on the bathroom floor.. "Come over here..."

"I could have easily overwhelmed your mind into a vegetated state," Nalla remarked guiltily as she sat down beside of Torilla. "I am sorry I became so careless to your wellbeing."

Torilla gently held the small Deltan woman in her arms as she seemed to have gained an immunity to Nalla's psionic defenses. "I wonder if you know... how much you have to offer a potential mate...Once you gain control of your abilities..."

"I do not know if I should. My birth mother tore up my arranged marriage contract when I began to display erratic emotional outbursts not common with the Betazoid society," Nalla admitted somewhat in a lonely tone.

Torilla gently cuddled with the smaller woman. "You have been so cruelly treated and neglected.." she whispered. "I remember... everything that happened to you... " as she lifted a hand to her own ribcage, over bones that had never been broken due to a savage beating suffered on Starbase Twelve. "Nalla.... tell me something.... did you enjoy the shower sexual encounter?" she asked softly. "Because I did... very much so.."

"I found the experience rather liberating," Nalla admitted with a natural smile. "It was hard to tell who was doing what, due to the merging, but it was freeing."

"It was..." Torilla answered quietly. "I've never had anyone treat me like that.... not even my times with Jake...and he was gentle.." she paused. "I never imagined that intimacy for a Deltan was anything like that..." she paused. "I envy your future mate... because he is out there.."

"I shall never have one, Torilla." Nalla carried much envy in her tone when she compared her life to Torilla's. "...My unique genetic defects make everything difficult. In ways I still find hard to articulate to others. And to pass this condition on to offspring would be cruel."

Torilla regarded the smaller woman as she gently rubbed Nalla's back. "Yes... you will." she responded. "you were able to articulate well enough to me... Nalla... you have so much to offer.. you are kind, loving and gentle... you are you... your own claim to fame... you are special... not flawed... anyone who tells you otherwise is full of shit.." as she gently kissed Nalla on the cheek. "Never doubt yourself.."

Nalla returned the kiss and laid her head in Torilla's chest. "I could ask Lil'yanna to seek a mate for me... She, as my foster mom, could bypass my mother in some areas such as mate matching. Especially since my younger sister married my former betrothed."

"Nalla..." Torilla sighed. "Don't... find someone on your own.. you'll be more rewarded for your own work..." she explained. "Leave your step-mother out of it.." she paused. "I'm assuming you favor the Deltan aspects of life.."

"I am not full Deltan," Nalla pointed out with confliction on the subject. "While I identify mostly with Deltans over my other half, that does not mean the Deltan people would see me as a suitable asset to their closed-off community."

Torilla felt her system reacting to the medication. "Crap.." and with that she moved over to the toilet before she threw up. "Uhhh... I hate being sick..."

Nalla detached for a moment and pulled a washcloth from Torilla's towel rack, got it cold and wet in the sink, then bent down and placed the rag behind Torilla's neck.

"I do not know how to mate from a courtship standpoint, Torilla," Nalla admitted quietly.

"Its something you learn as you go along.." Torilla responded. "Don't worry about it... You need to find the one who's right for you..."

"I believe I prefer learning self-defense over mastering the social intricacies to mating courtships," Nalla noted in a deadpan.

Torilla blinked slowly as she struggled to process exactly what she had just heard. "Okay... then I will teach you how to defend yourself." she paused. "if... that's what you want.."

"I do not want it," Nalla corrected as she began to wipe down Torilla's chest and arms with the cold rag. "But it is a necessity. I do not want to depend on my foster mother all the time for save me from whatever evil was set upon me... And though I love my birth mother, I do not wish to fall to her wrath again."

Torilla felt the coolness of the rag help to clear her mind of the everlasting fog that had settled. "Mmm... Well you won't fall victim to her again... not if I have my way.." she breathed in and then slowly breathed out. "I will teach you how to protect yourself sweetie.." Torilla responded.

"I wish I knew why Mom hurt me," Nalla admitted after a long silence between them. There was a lot of mixed emotion in her voice too. "She loved my dad. I know that. But she could not love me."

Torilla regarded Nalla with a look of sadness and affection. "Your father was full Deltan... your mother was a Betazoid.." she paused. "Considering what very nearly happened to me... maybe she went mad.."

"What would be an appropriate criteria for prospective mates for me?" Nalla asked out of curiosity.

"Someone who is gentle, easy to talk to and relate to as they will need to be intelligent." Yamaguchi explained.

"From what I have noticed, the male population lacks greatly in the intelligence factor," Nalla pointed out, without realizing she had made a joke.

Yamaguchi chuckled softly. "Alas, thats about the long and the short of it." she paused. "But... I must deal with your mother." the larger woman whimpered softly. "She must answer for her crimes..." as she regarded Nalla. "I am a monster.. " Torilla closed her eyes. "No... I can't give into my own hatred....." she whispered before she opened her eyes. "No... I can't kill her...but I do have other ways... the proper ways..." she whimpered before she looked at the Deltan. "How did you endure all of this... and not break...? I could never have endured this..."

"I have Lil'yanna to talk to," Nalla admitted quietly, then added, "And now I have you... When I was living with my birth mother, I always believed that she loved me. She just did not understand me."

Torilla gently held the smaller woman against her, the way she would for one of her own children when they were frightened or unhappy. "Nalla... the merging showed me all of your memories... I see things differently than you do... same as you saw all of my memories.."

"Lil'yanna thinks it a blessing that I do not understand emotions the way others do, or else I would have turned out quite different," Nalla spoke quietly. "That is not a bad hypothesis, but it was never an issue I thought much of, until now... My survival was all on Hope."

Torilla regarded the smaller woman. ""Nalla, you're special in your own way, this isn't a bad thing... and you turned out as a good person...and you are far stronger then you look or act.." she explained. "you have endured some horrific things... evil things and you are still innocent.." For Torilla that was putting it gently.. "What happened to you.... was evil, done by an evil person."

"I did not wish for others to know, but I am at ease that you do," Nalla admitted with an unintended, natural smile on her face. "I want to learn to defend myself now, because of our merging."

Yamaguchi regarded Nalla. "Then I will teach you." Torilla responded with a gentle smile before she glanced at the shower. "Still... there is one little matter.... I should teach you the difference between love and lust..."

Meanwhile Jake was standing outside, watching as Elizabeth was standing next to him. She gently touched her father on the shoulder. "Come on Dad. Lets go have coffee away from here... mom's going to be busy for the next little while...with Nalla."

"Well.. I hope it goes better than it did last time.."

"It will... Captain Olmos took some time to educate me on the finer points of Deltan culture." Elizabeth paused. "Lets get out of here.." and with that father and daughter made for the door.