Inside the heads.
Posted on Tue May 27th, 2025 @ 9:52pm by Lieutenant JG Leilani & Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone
1,310 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Gone, Without Ever Knowing the Way
Location: Medical Deck
Timeline: MD 1 shortly after Into the expanse. Night one.
ON
"Don't hesitate to call again, and don't forget to keep writing in the journal." The betazoid councillor said from the door of her office as another of her patients left after another session. That was seven this morning, and they had only been in the expanse one day. She knew the ship had been struggling to get a councillor for a while, but the sudden spikes in emergency session requests certainly had something to do with the expense.
Letting out a slight sigh, she walked to the replicator before pushing in a command to replicate herself a tea, which she blew before taking a few sips. She could feel a few eyes from her fellow medical personnel on her. She could tell why it was probably odd to see the ship's councillor in one of the fleet's standard-issue wetsuits, but her sensory deprivation tank wasn't the most common form of therapy.
Alex looked up from her own office, glancing over Leilani before standing from her desk and coming to the door. “Councillor, how are things looking with the crew? I’ve travelled through the expanse twice prior to this posting and I am trying to monitor crew health carefully so we can avoid some of the worst effects that I have seen prior.”
" Not good so far. " replied the beatazoid. " I've had eight patients this morning so far. Most want to talk about rather vivid nightmares they've had over the night." She explained as she went for a padd before remembering it was back in her office. " Most seem to be from individuals with telepathic/empathic abilities, so they seem to be feeling it affects them the most."
Alex searched her memory and then stepped over to a console. “That actually makes sense… one of the prior times that I was traveling through I was aboard a science cruiser. If I can find them I had the bridge run some specialized scans of the sections of expanse we were in…” she pulled up her old files and searched through them. “You are betazoid? What has your experience been so far?”
" Full betazoid. Oddly enough, I've not experienced anything other than waking with a red lizard screaming about how our children are dying. " Lelani replied, taking a sip from her coffee. " I had to drag him to my own sensory deprivation tank to help him calm down. " She added concern in her voice. She clearly loved her husband and was worried for him.
“Hmm…” She finally located the scans that she was looking for and pulled them up, transferring them to a PaDD sitting on top of the console. “Found them; I think these should get some more study… might help us figure out a way to help insulate the crew. It’s interesting that some of the telepaths have experienced increased effects.”
" And some of us aren't feeling anything at least yet." added the ship's councillor.
“I may be able to prepare some hyposprays of Improvoline and Cortical Analeptic to dampen the effects of the Expanse; it’s only a theory but I suspect that the Expanse does some measure of Neurological Damage over time.” Alex sighed; not looking forward to the extended stretch of time they would be in the zone.
" Sounds like a good idea, but will they have any effects on the crew long term? We may be here some time." Lelani enquired?
“I’ll create them with a microdose of the Improvoline; it should at that point just be a mild sedative to combat the fatigue and make rest easier. I don’t believe there will be any long term effects.” Alex thought for a moment and nodded to herself. “For severe cases I can administer a heavier duty sedative to ensure at least six hours of peaceful rest… on an individual basis.”
" Let's hope it will be enough and last us till we can get out of this place.. I'll keep offering counselling sessions, but I can't be up and about twenty-four hours a day. " Leani said, running her hands through her hair, letting out a sigh. " and we were hoping we could see you about Travla Kazanta Syndrome. "
Alex chuckled at that. “Well; we won’t have a shortage of time across the Expanse… but we may very well both be extra busy… I am sure that we can find some time to get Travla in though.”
" I sure hope so." The councillor replied. " I remember when she was born that little ball of red scales that was already trying to sing when i carried her. Seeing her trying to cry, but no sound coming out, scared me more than anything i ever felt. "
"I can understand that pain; Kazanta has been a special study of mine at some point. I have a few papers that I have submitted to the Science Division on it. I am certain we will be able to help her." Alex gave her a comforting smile and touched her shoulder briefly.
The beatazoid gave a weak but warm smile. " Thanks. Some good news is always worth holding onto. "Swallowing in ,she straightened up, they couldn't afford to have her in this state. " Shall we get the data I've recorded from this morning's patients? "
“I think that would be an excellent step. We can compare the data against the most recent medical evals. See what is changing. I believe sickbay just completed medical evals for the majority of the crew.” Alex’s face was pensive as she thought through it.
Noding Lelani led the way to her small office. She noticed that, thankfully, there were no new patients for her to see. Stepping inside, she looked around and found the padd with the needed info sitting on top of the cylindrical tube that took up one of the walls. " Here we are." She said, picking it up. " Most of the patients have been from telepathic species or had it in their family history, though it only seems to be if the telepath was on the female side of the family." she said handing it over to the doctor.
“Well; that is an interesting correlation. I’d pray for that to be the only thing that we have to deal with but somehow…. I doubt the Expanse will be that polite.” Alex looked over the PaDD and made a small humming sound as she read through it. “I’ll set up an experiment in the medical lab. Are you okay with setting up a daily upload of your patient information for it?”
"Of course. I'll keep you informed." The betazoid said with a polite smile.
“Excellent; I figure we can put our heads together every couple of days to stay on top of this.” Alex smiled then turned at the sound of the doors opening, admitting a pair of crewmen. “Ah; looks like our respite is over for now. I will get to work on setting up the program… maybe we can develop a predictive algorithm once everything we have currently is compiled.”
" That would definitely help." The betazoid said with a smile as she headed for the two new arrivals. " I'll take to you later."
Alex nodded, perusing the PaDD from Leilani as she headed back toward her own office. She settled into her chair and rubbed her brow with a small groan at the headache that was creeping in. She sighed and muttered to herself. “I may end up having to sedate myself for a couple hours rest…”
OFF
Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant J.G. Leilani
Ship’s Counselor
USS Astrea
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