Discoveries of the Self
Posted on Thu Nov 6th, 2025 @ 9:00am by Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone MD/DSAPM & Civillian Elizabeth Blackstone
Edited on on Thu Nov 6th, 2025 @ 9:01am
1,425 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Side Plots
Location: Personal Quarters - Blackstone Family
Timeline: MD009 - "Peril at the Unification Accords"
Alex sat at the table in her quarters challenging herself against the computer in yet another game of Kal-Toh; only the hundredth or so since she had been confined to quarters by Jezra. Her colleague and Chief had already been in to check on her today and she was not only bored senseless but had long ago memorized the multi-tiered board to the point that she could very nearly play against the computer on the highest level of difficulty with at least a 65% odd of winning.
She pressed a palm into her eyes to try and scrub the pain out of them that was a remnant from where a bio-bed had clipped her brow and temple but it was to no avail as the pain only lessened in intensity for ten seconds. She sighed, sweeping the Kal-Toh board to the side with a frustrated gesture across the surface of the table.
"Fuck! I am going to go insane if I sit idle in here any longer!"
She slumped back against the seat and growled in annoyance, any form of focus long ago gone for the day. Her daily meditation alone had been difficult and she had not really been able to search through the Ambassador's memories that resided in her brain to any effect worth noting. She had not managed to find all that there was to find but her ability to center herself was for the moment heavily disrupted by the lack of routine that her post as Assistant Chief Medical Officer provided. A heaved sigh slipped through her lips and she looked around her quarters for literally anything to relieve the boredom finding nothing that even remotely held her interest.
She stood and paced in a circular pattern just to wear out her muscles a bit and allow herself to see something outside of the variations of blurriness that occasionally filtered into her vision. She knew that she had a moderate level concussion that was sustained when she broke the meld with T'Varel but it was by her own choice that treatment for it had been delayed. Had she been thinking straight when she awoke from the medical coma that Jezra had been forced to put her into she would have just had herself treated. Not for the first time she swore and cursed her own decision making.
Finally she stopped mid-stride and realized by the soreness in her legs and back that she had been pacing for quite some time. She glanced to the clock near her bed and sighed at seeing the lights in its face showing nearly an hour and a half past the time she last remembered seeing. "Well; I suppose being lost in thought is good for at least one thing... if it keeps me from staring at the clock every thirty seconds, anyway."
Her voice rang out and seemed to echo weirdly back at her in the empty quarters. Elizabeth was currently out of their quarters with one of her on-board friends and she wasn't expected back until later. The sound of her own voice slowly faded from the air and she stalked grumpily back to the seat she had abandoned; though she did not even glance at the Kal-Toh board this time; let alone sit back down. The beginnings of an idea had occurred to her and it was very possible that her own research into synthetic brains could make it happen... if she could only figure out how to get access to any of her research. I need my wreath; just maybe it can help me pull things from my mind for analysis separate from my own thoughts.
Just then the door hissed open and Elizabeth stepped in, interrupting her thought process as she looked to Alex and raised a brow in perfect emulation of her mother. "Hey, Mom. You okay?"
The question forced Alex to fully pause and take stock of herself; the piercing pain in her temple, the roaring headache that thundered through her consciousness pervasively and tried to drown out any thought beyond the baseline. The aching muscles throughout her body as it fought to recover from a medical coma; something that took much more out of a person than it would ever appear to from outside. All the way down to the odd crick at the base of her neck from the angle she had been sleeping and from spending so much time playing Kal-Toh or looking at her computer.
Alex took a long moment to put together her response but accompanied it with a grimace. "No. Not really. I am going out of my damn mind and Dr. Siv seems a little reluctant to clear me for duty again..." She paused, taking in a breath and letting out a harsh laugh. "Of course; I have only myself to blame for that too. But; Alas."
"Well; since I was little I have known that you don't like to sit idle and that a dislike for being bored is a genetic thing. You remember what I used to do if I had even an inkling of boredom?" Elizabeth asked; the hint of a laugh riding the edge of her voice which was itself about an octave higher than Alex' own Alto.
Alex thought for a moment and then a smile split her face, the corners of her mouth upturned drastically. "Which thing? The one where you found creative places to stash your toys and even more creative ways to get them there or the thing where if I turned my back for too long I would find you on top of the highest surface you could reach and trying to create bizarre concoctions of 'food?'"
Elizabeth's laugh broke loose just then and she came over to embrace her mother. "The second one... though I got a lot better at concocting food. You have to admit that much." She grinned and patted Alex' back gently through their hug.
Alex herself just stopped and let herself enjoy the embrace, realizing for the first time since she had awoken just how fragile and useless she had been feeling since T'Varel had dropped in the first place. "Yes; that I do indeed have to admit. You have become a pretty fantastic cook; it is almost a shame that you don't want to pursue that as a career and would rather follow in your dad's footsteps."
She stepped back and let herself fall into the chair and rubbed her face with her hands; a wave of irritation and annoyance at not realizing what had been truly bothering her for the last week ran through her like ice in her veins. Her face had to have twisted into some form of off look because she felt Elizabeth's hand on her shoulder and vaguely registered a question; prompting her to look blankly at her daughter.
After a few moments of silence Elizabeth repeated herself. "You look like you just got slapped by the Q from across the cosmos, mom... What's going on?"
"I think... I think I actually need to schedule an appointment with the Ship Counselor for myself. Everything that has been preventing me from settling long enough to try and rest just hit me like a truck." Her voice shook slightly; she was not used to being unsure of herself and it felt completely foreign to her.
"Okay...." came Elizabeth's concerned answer. "Do you want me to stick around for the rest of the evening? I can chill with you while you figure out how to go about scheduling that appointment, it is definitely not something that you are used to dealing with."
Alex didn't answer vocally at first, merely beginning to shake her head though it became a slow nod on its own. "I don't want to take you from your plans... but if you are willing I would be more than happy for your company. Perhaps we can pull up the video archives and watch some 21st Century Disney films?"
Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "I don't mind. Alexandra and Brunel won't mind changing our plans. Disney sounds like fun, mom; we haven't done that since we left Starfleet Medical. I'll get it set up, why don't you get yourself a shower and I'll see if I can't cook some snacks for us."
Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Elizabeth Blackstone
Family Member
USS Astrea
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