[BACKLOG] "A Cry For Help"

Posted on Tuesday January 23rd, 2024 @ 12:44am by Commander Kanaka Shakura & Cadet Freshman Grade Daisy Stanier

1,489 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Grand Tour: Part Two
Location: Quarter's/Counselor's Office
Timeline: Right behind Neteri's Flashback
Tags: Counselling, Neteri, Ship Transfer, 2395

ON:

Tapping her commbadge, =/\= "Counsellor, I need to see you as soon as possible, please." =/\= she pleaded. Neteri was emotionally hurting and like the time before, Kana was the only one who could reach in her mind and help.

Kana was in her office when Neteri's despondent plea came through. She was caught by surprise, but hearing the pain in the woman's voice, resolved to act quickly and decisively. =/\= "Understood, Lieutenant Commander Shannon. Are you able to make your way to my office?" =/\=

=/\= "Yes counsellor. On my way" =/\= Neteri did not walk but ran to Kana's office in tears. Her career being on the line at this point.

As she could sense that her fellow (half)-Betazoid was likely going through another painful emotional relapse, the Commander quickly made her way across to the door and to the lobby, where Daisy was sat attentively at her desk as she always was. At the moment, as this was typically "open hours" for the Counselling team, the Freshman Cadet was occupying herself with her Starfleet coursework until she was needed. Kana felt it appropriate to give her a heads-up.

"Daisy." She said softly, yet the young woman still jolted a little from surprise.

"Y-yes, Commander Shakura?" She turned round in her chair, attentive and smiling.

"Lieutenant Commander Shannon is going to arrive shortly to speak with me. Please don't be alarmed if she looks in distress; I can't explain the specifics now, but rest assured this is a known Betazoid condition. Try to remain as calm and professional as you always have, okay?"

"Oh! Uh, yes! Okay." Daisy took a brief moment to consider what she had been told, but once it sank in she was quick to her feet and stood ready to leap to action as soon as Neteri appeared. Kana couldn't help but smile; she really had taken to Counselling and had not lost her passion for it.

Almost falling flat on her face as she stumbled through the Counsellor's office door, "Kana...…help me please?" Neteri croaked. Her knees buckled and she sat hard on the carpet floor, her mind reeling from the relapse of the accident.

Before Neteri had even needed to utter a word, Kana was already over and prepared to catch her, managing to catch her just as her knees came close to the ground, meaning she could help her down gently.

"It's okay, Neteri. I've got you." She said reassuringly as she looked over to Daisy. While she was taken aback momentarily, she quickly sprang in to action, helping pick up the beleaguered Lieutenant Commander under one arm while Kana took the other. Slowly, they made their way into the Commander's office, making sure the door closed as they entered. Once they were able to get Neteri into one of the lounge chairs, Daisy set about getting hydration from the replicator.

"Okay, Neteri, I need you to focus with me." Kana wasted no time trying to help her patient regain some sense of control over the emotions afflicting them. "You're here with me, now, on the Poseidon. Not in your fighter, or in space. Can you confirm?" Daisy listened in, partly fascinated, trying to make sense of why Commander Shakura started with this line of question.

"How did this resurface? It was buried deep in my subconscious. Why now? I'm not sure of what's going on but I can't afford these flashbacks. I'm gonna lose my flight status which is the only thing keeping me focused," Neteri croaked, tears were running down her cheeks. "I know I am on the Poseidon, and here with you. But why the flashbacks," she added.

"Neteri, listen to me. These flashbacks are happening because you're suffering from an acute form of trauma, okay? A very particular form of post-traumatic stress that afflicts Betazoids that makes these flashbacks feel very real and so our emotional response is more extreme as a result. We understand this much; what we need to do is understand what triggers it, okay?" Kana tried her best to keep her patient focused and reassured.

"Can you remember what you were doing before the flashbacks started?"

"Well, I had started out for the lounge and then turned around and went back to my office. I figured I would read a WWll Aviation book and head for the holodeck. I was flipping through the book and ran head long into Lt. Hirsch," Neteri said.

Kana nodded along patiently as she listened to Neteri explain her day, picking up on every detail that seemed relevant. "A book about the Second World War?" She was intrigued how the pilot came across that piece of what was likely highly valuable Old World memorabilia. She would ask about it in a moment once she had finished her story.

"Okay, and what happened next? Did you speak with Hirsch? Were you feeling OK in that particular moment?"

Taking a deep breath, Neteri began reluctantly, "I said something, don't remember but, I began to feel myself slipping. Now how or why, I don't know or understand, but....I suddenly told Hirsch to head for the arboretum. We walked and next thing I know we wound up where Pavan and I would go when we got together," she said with tears again forming. Just talking about it was difficult.

"I see. I imagine the sight - and perhaps the smell of the flowers - took your body and mind right back to those moments. Did you feel his presence there?" Kana's line of questioning may have sounded odd to those without Betazoid sensibilities, but she knew - and so would Neteri - that the Betazoid empathy was so powerful that their memories could literally will physical senses into being, and that such could be very traumatic during phases of emotional relapse.

"It sounds crazy but I could almost feel his presence there. It was like yesterday that we were sitting there and talking. It was so real. It was almost like instead of Hirsch talking to me, it was Pavan I was talking to and be with. Kana, why now, why is this happening now? Is it because I see something in Calvin, that I saw in Pavan? Calvin is a caring guy, always knows just what to say in a pinch, hard worker. All the things that Pavan had, but I like Calvin, he's..." Neteri stopped and buried her head in her hands, her emotions all over the board.

"It's alright, Lieutenant." Kana said reassuringly as she held onto Neteri's hand with a firm grip. "I think we're beginning to understand what has happened. Those traits you recall of Pavan's - those very admirable traits - are the very qualities we look for in our officers here in Starfleet. It's understandable you would encounter them in others, like Hirsch. That of course makes it no less upsetting, but it's worth taking heart in the fact that the spirit of Pavan lives on through these qualities. Does that make sense?"

"Yes and no. Oh hell I miss him so much. Maybe I should put in for a transfer. Maybe if I get away from the Poseidon it would help me. I've never had someone imprint on me like Pavan before. My memories of us are like we were together yesterday. I can almost feel his presence with me. I'm afraid of losing my sanity to this. I am fine one minute and shortly I fall into the void of memory. There I feel the times we spent together. Times in our quarters, on the holodeck, when we were flying .... Then the horror of the explosion....his death, the......", Neteri broke down in tears as the memories surfaced again. All she could see was Pavan's ship explode and feeling his death. A feeling not just loss but guilt that she is alive.

Kana listened carefully to Neteri, consoling her as she broke down into tears. She knew that she was right; so long as she remained aboard the Poseidon, the psychic bond that she had formed with Pavan would never fully let his ghost rest, and would continue to torment the poor officer. The best thing for it was to give her a clean break on a new ship - with a good bit of down time in between - to let her rebuild her sense of self and connection with her craft which wasn't so intensely linked to the memories of the incident.

"I'll speak to the Captain, and see what we can do." She spoke softly and reassuringly to the grieving officer, as they would spend quite a bit of time talking afterwards, thinking of her next steps forward. All the while, Kana thought of how best to broach the subject with Franklin.

[OFF]

Cmdr. Kanaka "Kana" Shakura
Chief Counsellor
U.S.S. Poseidon

&

Lt. Cmdr. Neteri "Ikran" Shannon
CAG
USS Poseidon

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